The Toastmasters Education Program has two aims:

To help members become
    •  Better Communicators
      and
    •   Better Leaders

To address this, the education program is divided into two tracks - communication and leadership. Each member has the opportunity to set and achieve his or her individual goals within the Pathways learning paths or the legacy program tracks.

Pathways Learning Experience
Members choose from 10 unique learning Paths and work through five different levels of increasing complexity with two to three projects per level for a total of at least 14 projects per path. Each project focuses on a single, specific theme to help members improve their communication and leadership skills in a particular area.

Legacy Communication & Leadership Program
District 4 members who joined Toastmasters before September 19, 2017 have the choice of continuing with the legacy C&L program, switching to the new Pathways program or continuing with the C&L program while also working projects in the Pathways program. Note that achievements in one program are not transferable to the other. The legacy program will remain available for two years after Pathways rolls out worldwide To achieve DTM under the legacy C&L program, members must complete all requirements by June 30, 2020 (see Legacy Education Tracks).

The Communication Track
Beginning with projects from the Competent Communications "Basic" manual, this track is dedicated to improving a member's speaking and listening skills.

The Competent Communication Manual is designed to give a strong start in developing a core set of skills for public speaking. Each of the ten projects in this basic manual focuses on a certain aspect of speech making -- from organization to delivery.

The Advanced Communication Manuals challenge members to further improve their skills in a specific area of public speaking. Some manuals focus on "real life" situations such as public relations and technical briefings, while others help develop more widely applicable skills such as humor and storytelling.

The Leadership Track
Beginning with projects from the Competent Leadership manual, this track focuses on developing a member's leadership skills through a variety of Club and District activities.

The Competent Leadership Manual focuses on different leadership skills through ten projects, each providing the member background information and an assignment that requires serving in one or more specified meeting or club roles in which the aspects of that skill can be practiced.

The Advanced Leadership Manuals challenge members to further improve their leadership skills. Members learn and develop leadership skills as they deliver presentations in a variety of topics

Leadership Opportunities
Toastmasters members may take advantage of many opportunities to strengthen their leadership skills. Many members take on leadership roles within the organization while others prefer to conduct specialized workshops to help their fellow members or their community.