By empowering teachers to become better educators, students and learners from across the world stand to benefit greatly.

That’s the central ambition of South African teacher training and development organisation Global Teachers Institute (GTI), which was launched three years ago.

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The organisation is now on a mission to help produce more skilled teachers, not just in South Africa but globally.

“We are dedicated to strengthening teacher capacity in South Africa and across the world by changing the way we train the teacher,” reads a statement on the organisation’s website.

But the way in which some teachers were — and still are — trained doesn’t necessarily meet the current standard, according to the organisation’s experience.

The training that many teachers receive at traditional higher learning institutions doesn’t properly equip them to adapt to new methods of teaching — which could then hinder a child’s progress in school.

Often, according to GTI, learners and students are the ones who are burdened with the work of having to understand the programme or curriculum offered — without adequate support from their teachers.

Global Teachers Institute in action... Hamlin Says Farewell to Nonhlanhla Ntshengila https://t.co/s1ovmAOQtp via @hamlin

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GTI and Global Citizen joined forces to encourage teachers and students to become more actively engaged in global issues — and inspire them to drive positive change in the world.

To stand a chance of earning tickets to Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100, presented and hosted by the Motsepe Foundation, at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium on Dec. 2, teachers were asked to do two things:

• Create a lesson plan that would encourage learners and students to strive for a more equal and inclusive world.

• To become a Global Teacher outside of the classroom too, by creating a community after-school project and registering to join the Global Teachers’ Society. The organisation said it was thrilled to have partnered with GC on this initiative.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Global Citizen to offer the teachers in our network an exclusive chance to earn tickets for the Global Citizen Festival,” a spokesperson for the organisation told Global Citizen.

Tens of thousands of people filled the stadium on Dec. 2, bringing together Global Citizens, world leaders, and some of the biggest names in the music industry to help win the fight against extreme poverty.

“Global Citizen is building a movement to end extreme poverty by 2030 and we believe that fighting for education and supporting our teachers is critical,” continued GTI.

As well as its teacher development programmes and its annual Axis Summit — which brings together learners and teachers to exchange ideas and explore global perspectives — GTI is also working hard to extend its work beyond these existing programmes too.

For example, it’s new ambition is to develop a mentorship scheme to inspire and empower people who are new to the teaching profession.

“We wish to build an inclusive community of aspiring teachers across South Africa, along with experienced in-service teachers who can support new entrants into the profession by acting as mentors,” read a statement on the organisation’s website.

It said its members have access to GTI’s teacher development resources and systems as part of the benefits of signing up to its programmes.