Language Development Lead Practitioner - South Asia & East Africa

Function - Education & Academics

Location - South Asia & East Africa

Reports To - Head of Academic Programmes

Background - Development of Multilingual Learners

The majority of Aga Khan Schools (AKS) students and staff are multilingual learners. For most students, English is not their dominant language upon entering school, and for many English is their third or fourth language. The schools use English as the sole or as one of the mediums of instruction. Therefore, an important goal of our educational offering is that students, teachers and school leaders are proficient in academic English.

AKS seeks to implement a model of additive and dynamic bilingualism, which builds strong academic English whilst maintaining and developing students’ other languages. One measure of the success of this programme is that AKS staff and students are highly proficient users of academic English. Students will be:

• Qualified for entrance to university courses delivered in English, in their own countries and overseas; and

• Equipped to benefit from a wide range of employment opportunities and continuing education both locally and globally.

The Language Development Lead Practitioner is expected to be able to lead English language training and/or student lessons and to team-teach, model best practices and work with local teams to build their capacity. The work will be scalable and sustainable and support the system by providing training, enabling local teams to support their workforce to develop their language skills to meet the language requirements of their roles.

English language proficiency for both students and staff will be referenced to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) using the Cambridge English international standards.

Responsibilities:

The Language Development Lead Practitioner will be a member of the Education Team at the AKS Global Office and will work collaboratively with those Education Team members and with the local teams in each country/region and school to drive the following:

• Audit current practice in language instruction and development (including reading, writing listening, speaking and comprehension) across the network of schools, including English, other languages of instruction (where relevant) and home languages, identifying best practices, lessons learnt and challenges.

• Produce and oversee the implementation of a comprehensive Language Improvement Strategy for students from early childhood to higher secondary, encompassing English and other relevant national languages (setting benchmarks, desired outcomes, timeframes, necessary professional development and clear measures of success).

• Develop the quality of language acquisition teaching, focusing on an additive approach to language development.

• Produce and oversee the implementation of a programme for the staff’s English development, (including baseline assessment and language learning opportunities in line with the needs of their role).

• Evaluate and make recommendations on the effectiveness and cost benefit of English language intervention support (documenting case-studies, lessons learnt and principles of effective practice, online tools and platforms for staff and students and training).

• Liaise with the Cambridge English Language programme and other providers to achieve cost effective English language materials, assessment and professional development.

• Work with other AKDN agencies to leverage the work they are doing to support English Language acquisition and improvement, share expertise, provide training and support as needed.

• Work to support actions in this area as part of AKS’ ongoing work, for example, the Education Technology and Teacher Development Strategies.

• Work with other AKDN agencies and outreach schools to share expertise, provide training and support, as needed.

The Language Development Lead Practitioner will be supported to:

• Consult with relevant AKDN staff and external experts, as needed.

• Participate in strategic meetings, as requested by the Head of Academic Programmes.

• Travel to AKS sites, as required.

Qualifications and skills – essential

• Masters in Language Acquisition or Applied Linguistics or related field.

• Qualified and experienced language teacher in a K-12 school

• Experience in strategy development and project management.

• Excellent oral and written language proficiency in English, ideally C2 on CEFR.

• Fluency in at least one language other than English.

• Experience with curriculum mapping, development and assessment.

• Experience in developing and delivering professional development and supporting adult learning, including the use of instructional technology.

• Ability to motivate and work collaboratively within a team.

• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office and digital learning platforms

• Inclusive approach to language learning across the curriculum.

• Positive disposition to linguistic diversity in schools

Qualifications and skills – desirable

• Experience of working or living in sub-Saharan Africa and/or Central Asia.