Job Opportunity for Director of Learning at Akanksha Foundation in Mumbai

Working at The Akanksha Foundation

Akanksha is on a mission to build one of the largest and most innovative networks of schools in India, serving children from low-income communities, to maximize their potential. Our aspirational vision for students integrates academic excellence with life skills (including socio-emotional development), that will enable each child to live an empowered life. We believe an empowered citizen must possess a sense of mastery to pursue excellence, a sense of agency to make informed choices and a sense of purpose to serve their communities.

Over the last 30 years, Akanksha has been at the forefront of proving what’s possible for children from low-income communities in Mumbai & Pune. Our 4,500 alumni are on the path to living an empowered life. Today Akanksha runs 27 schools in partnership with governments of Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Navi Mumbai and Nagpur serving ~13,000 children in grades Jr Kg – Gr 10.

Our schools are led by competent, passionate and purposeful educators who believe in demonstrating excellence. And our central staff teams are committed to the ideal of building a high performing institution in alignment with our core values: Be the CHANGE

• We Collaborate – We unite as a team to achieve our vision, support each other in securing our goals and find joy in each other’s success.
• We Have Belief – Every Akanksha member lives and breathes the organization’s mission and believes in our ability to achieve challenging goals that go beyond expectation.
• We Act with Integrity – Our team takes ownership of their actions and we take pride in holding ourselves accountable to our set commitments.
• We Never Give Up – We are big believers in learning and continue to stay strong and resilient till we reach the very end.
• We Give Respect – At Akanksha, we embrace the diversity all around us and treat each other with dignity.
• We Excel & Enjoy – We raise the bar and push ourselves to go the extra mile as a team, all the while ensuring that we enjoy and celebrate our wins along the way. We believe it is important to help each other succeed.

What Can The Akanksha Foundation Offer You

• An opportunity to be a part of one of the most reputed organizations in the education sector in India, that focuses on transformative impact on children by getting them out of poverty.
• An environment that is challenging, offers a significant degree of autonomy and is focused on holistic well-being of its people, so they can be the best version of themselves in life.
• Access to learning and career growth opportunities in a steadily growing organization
• Remuneration that is competitive in top one-third of Indian NGO scales and benefits that include medical insurance (covering your family including parents), provident fund and access to free counselling support.

Overview of the Team: The Instruction Specialist team is uniquely positioned to implement Akanksha’s vision that aims at the holistic development of each child. At Akanksha we teach using a self-designed curriculum based on the principles of authenticity, inquiry and skill-development. The team designs and develops content for the Akanksha curriculum. It trains teachers and School leaders to develop strong instructional practices. The team works to identify and bridge achievement gaps through systematic data-driven inquiry. The team also supports schools in identifying and executing goals that build soft skills in children and helps the schools identify spaces and ways to work with parents as our partners.

Position Summary: This role will provide network-wide leadership, to schools and other departments, in the development of structures, systems, professional development, curriculum and assessment practices for K-8 academic learning in all curricular areas. The DoL will work with the COO to conceptualize, implement and lead Akanksha’s foray into Blended Learning. This will be a core part of the role as we drive this change over the next 3-5 years. The leader will be expected to draw on existing work, design and implement our network wide curricular response to covid-19 induced school closures for the last 18 months to ensure we can effectively support all of our children who’ve been impacted in myriad ways.

You will be reporting to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and managing the Instruction Specialist Team.

The person can be based either in Mumbai or Pune.

What your role will entail

• Academic Vision and Systems – In close collaboration with other directors (SEL, PCED), design a comprehensive instruction model that promotes excellence in teaching-learning for all Akanksha schools aligned with Akanksha’s holistic student vision.
  • Directs the development, evaluation, and revision of curriculum and instruction and assumes responsibility for the implementation of approved programs.
  • Takes ultimate responsibility for academic alignment at all levels, ensuring instructional quality and academic performance across the network.
  • Demonstrate expertise in instructional research that informs curricula choices and instructional practices.
  • Ensure that the designed instructional model meets the needs of all students.
• Implementation and Measurement of teaching-learning
• Develop implementation of the Akanksha instructional model and all of its enabling systems, ensuring that the model is implemented to achieve desired student outcomes.
• Offer support to School Leadership teams, including curriculum and assessments, instruction, and continuous improvement.
• Support and retain academic talent by building relationships, encouraging them to seek out challenging roles and providing ongoing coaching.
• Provide ongoing measurement and improvement of teaching-learning in the following areas:
  • i. Define and monitor key metrics to determine the success of Akanksha’s teaching and learning.
  • ii. Continually improve instructional models and professional development systems to drive improvement.
  • iii. Create a data-driven culture in curriculum and instruction.
  • iv. Actively contribute to and seek best practices in teaching and learning in K-8
• Program Leadership – Serve as a member of the network’s program leadership team.
  • Partner with the COO / Other directors to ensure that the entire organization is leading for learning (e.g. central office departments keep schools and students in mind as they are making decisions).
  • Ensure the decision around future growth (to potentially including new schools in other cities) can be effectively supported by the academic vision and systems.
  • Partner with other organizations to learn best practices and collaborate with other academic leaders.
• Effective Talent Management
  • Help set organizational standards of excellence in instructional performance and articulate standards for instructional staff (teachers, Instructional specialists etc.).
  • Ensure clear performance evaluations systems for instructional staff, including clear performance frameworks, timely evaluations and accessible data.
  • Set vision for instructional staff professional development and ensure that professional development supports implementation of the Akanksha instructional model.
  • Mentor and coach curriculum and instruction specialists team; develop a clear career path in schools to drive retention and growth of high-performing staff.
• Driving Culture
  • Support in building a school culture that values joy and rigor, that prioritizes observation and feedback, that drives lessons with data, and results in exceptional achievement gains for children.
  • Collaborate with schools to develop instructional programs and to implement reform models designed to improve achievement of all students; develop a two-way feedback loop from schools to the Chief Operating Officer.
  • Actively listen to others, understand nuance, and effectively interpret motivations/perceptions and data (both quantitative and qualitative); able to integrate feedback from others and additional data points to achieve better results.

What you need for this Role:

• Minimum 10 years of professional experience with specific experience in curriculum development or program leadership. School Leadership experience is preferred.
• In depth experience in the design, integration, implementation, and management of an instructional model, including knowledge of curricula, instructional practices, school operations and management and talent development.
• An advanced degree in Education is preferable.
• The ideal candidate will be result oriented, determined, skilled leader with a strong track record of academic excellence.
• Ability to analyze and use data on a regular basis to drive decision making.
• Commitment to building relationships and trust with leaders, teachers, students, families, and community.
• A track record of leading, motivating, and developing diverse and high performing teams.
• Values rooted in high expectations, going above and beyond, and deep humility.