Roger Bowers Teacher Participation Grants

About the Grants

The Roger Bowers Teacher Participation Grants have been set up to celebrate his contribution to ELT and the work that he did in support of teachers of English worldwide.

Under this scheme teacher associations are awarded grants (maximum £500) to support participation of teachers from marginalised or under-represented groups in events they are organising. Any bona fide Teacher Association working for English teachers in low- or middle-income countries is eligible to apply for grants under this scheme (see this list for eligible countries).

Who can apply?

Bona fide Teacher Associations for teachers of English from low- or middle-income countries. 

How can the grants be used?

The grants can be used by TAs to support their members to participate in a specific teacher development event (a conference, a workshop, etc.) through subsidising the cost of attendance for teachers who would not otherwise be able to participate. The event may be one that is being organised by the TA. It can also be an event organised by others that they would like their members to attend.  

What costs can the grant fund?

The funds can be used to cover the cost of participation such as travel, accommodation and registration fees. 

What the grant cannot fund? 

• the costs of organising an event
• expenses of the event organisers or TA leadership
• expenses of overseas participants
• significant sums of money that benefit only a small number of people.

About Dr Roger Bowers

Dr Roger Bowers, CMG OBE, who died in 2020, was influential in English language teaching (ELT) for nearly five decades. For around half of his 42 years with the British Council, he led their English language teaching project work and continued his interest in the Council’s role in English language work internationally on becoming one of its Assistant Directors-General. After ten years’ service as a Hornby Trustee, he became Chair in 2007, a role which he held with distinction until 2014. He worked for some 12 years in Ghana, India and Egypt in the 1970s and 1980s, and while in the UK, travelled widely to countries where English had status as a principal or second language. During this time, he came to value the experiences and opinions of teachers working with limited resources and saw the wisdom of giving these priority over commercially-driven fashions in methodology and materials.