Extending Professional Literacy Development to Chitral

During Fall 2025, educators in Chitral participated in a professional teacher-training programme conducted by Tahira Sheikh as part of a pilot-project initiative organized by Jolly Learning UK.

The programme focused on strengthening teachers' understanding of systematic phonics instruction and providing practical approaches that could be transferred directly into classroom teaching.

Strengthening Teacher Capacity

Supporting educators is fundamental to sustainable literacy development. Teachers need more than resources; they require a clear understanding of how literacy develops, how learning should progress and how children can be supported when they encounter difficulties.

The Chitral training explored essential components of early literacy instruction, including sound knowledge, blending for reading, segmenting for spelling and the progressive development of reading and writing skills.

Participants were encouraged to consider how multisensory teaching and active learner participation can help make literacy instruction accessible and engaging for children.

Extending Professional Learning

The programme also reflected the importance of extending professional learning opportunities to educators working across diverse geographical and educational contexts.

By investing in teacher knowledge and practical classroom skills, pilot initiatives can create an impact that extends far beyond the training itself. Every participating educator has the potential to apply that professional learning with successive groups of children.

The Chitral Pilot Project training therefore represented an important contribution to strengthening teacher capacity and supporting the development of confident young readers and writers.