Teacher Professional Development
Promoting excellence in teaching, both on campus and more broadly, is a fundamental goal of the Aga Khan Academies. Each Academy has a Professional Development Centre (PDC), which strengthens the profession of teaching in the region by investing substantially in teachers’ professional development.
Developing strength in teaching
We identify and develop teachers of the highest quality who are committed both to the all-round development of young people and to their own professional growth as excellent teachers.
Our PDC supports excellence in teaching by promoting best practices in teaching and learning. We provide ongoing, collaborative training for Academy faculty as well as outreach programmes for teachers and head teachers from neighbouring government, private and not-for-profit schools. Our faculty members also have the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues across the globe and to teach abroad within the Aga Khan Academies network.
Outreach programmes
Our outreach progamming includes a course from the Professional Learning for Educators Series (PLES). The PLES programmes are designed by the Aga Khan Academies. They respond to the need to improve the standard of teaching and learning identified during extensive market research and interaction with government and departments of education.
The series includes programmes for teachers in various subject areas as well as specialised programmes focusing on skills and understandings related to education. We build professional competence by enhancing teachers’ subject knowledge and by examining how to teach that subject effectively. Each programme provides participants with a balance of intensive learning activities followed by an extended period of assisted application and observation within their own classrooms.
Strengthening curriculum and community
Through our professional development provision, we help create a professional community of competent, well-resourced teachers. These teachers will continue to support and collaborate with one another on materials development, by sharing best practices, and in establishing diverse academic, cultural and social projects.
Teacher Professional Development
Promoting excellence in teaching and learning, both on campus and more broadly, is a fundamental goal of the Aga Khan Academies. Each Academy has a Professional Development Centre (PDC), which strengthens the profession of teaching in the region by investing substantially in teachers’ professional development.
Developing strength in teaching
We identify and develop teachers of the highest quality who are committed both to the all-round development of young people and to their own professional growth as excellent teachers.
Our PDC supports excellence in teaching by promoting best practices in teaching and learning. We provide ongoing, collaborative training for Academy faculty as well as outreach programmes for teachers and head teachers from neighbouring government, private and not-for-profit schools. Our faculty members also have the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues across the globe and to teach abroad within the Aga Khan Academies network.
Learning at the PDC
Progamming at the Academy’s PDC began in June 2010 with a course from the Professional Learning for Educators Series (PLES). The PLES programmes are designed by the Aga Khan Academies. They respond to the need to improve the standard of teaching and learning identified during extensive market research and interaction with government and departments of education.
The series includes programmes for teachers in various subject areas as well as specialised programmes focusing on skills and understandings related to education. We build professional competence by enhancing teachers’ subject knowledge and by examining how to teach that subject effectively. Each programme provides participants with a balance of intensive learning activities followed by an extended period of assisted application and observation within their own classrooms.
Strengthening curriculum and community
Through our professional development provision, we help create a professional community of competent, well-resourced teachers. These teachers will continue to support and collaborate with one another on resource development, by sharing best practices, and in establishing diverse academic, cultural and social projects.
Parent Teacher Conferences
AKA Maputo will host Parent Teacher Conferences for students in Grades 8-10 on Friday, 20 November. Please book your appointment via email or ManageBac.
Junior School teacher selected to represent Mozambique in the US
Junior School teacher awarded for literacy initiatives
PYP and MYP Parent Teacher Conferences
AKA Maputo will host Parent Teacher Conferences for its Primary Years Programme students from 7 - 10 December. Middle Years Programme students in Grade 6 and 7 will have their Parent Teacher Conferences on 14 December. Please book your appointment via email or ManageBac.
Meet Our School Community
The students, faculty and parents of the Aga Khan Academy are a socially conscious group of people committed to the development of their communities, their nation and civil society in the world at large. They understand that knowledge is a lifelong process of inquiry that leads to intellectual and personal growth. In this section we offer vignettes of members of the Academy family who are driven by the common goal of making a positive contribution to their society.
View spotlights on:
AKA Maputo faculty members receive training for their professional development
Welcoming the 2019 Teacher Preparation Programme cohort
Clare McLaughlin: Encouraging growth at the Academy
Before we enter the 2019 – 2020 academic term, we would like to spotlight a few staff from AKA Mombasa who are going on to pursue new adventures in the upcoming academic year. Here, we take a look at Academy fellow Clare McLaughlin and her two years at the Academy.
Clare McLaughlin is from Warren, Vermont and was an Academy fellow at the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa. Clare was focused in the Service Learning programme
and involved in other programmes around the Academy.
During her time at the Academy, Clare said she is grateful for the various people she was able to work with.
“My time at AKA Mombasa has been an incredible opportunity to learn and grow,” Clare said. “Foremost I’ll miss the students who were immeasurably thoughtful, hilarious and motivating. Students were the center of everything I did and valued in my time at the Academy so I’ll miss them the most. I’ll also miss the friendships I’ve made with staff across the Academy - from the Administration block to the dorms - the Academy staff always kept me laughing and learning.”
Clare said she was able to recognise the value of pluralism at the Academy, which she believes will help her in her future.
“I feel fortunate that on each team I worked with, I heard different perspectives and had to challenge myself to see problems and solutions from every angle,” Clare said. “I value this immensely and will carry with me this standard of listening and collaboration.”
Throughout her fellowship, Clare said she enjoyed the opportunities she was given to work on various projects and programmes, while also improving the Service Learning programme for the years to come.
“The best part of the fellowship is its flexibility to try new things, work with an array of groups and interests in the Academy, and propose creative solutions to challenges,” Clare said. “I especially enjoyed serving as a mentor, working on the girls’ football programme, working on the Exchange Programme with the Academy in Hyderabad, and working to make Service Learning more community-centered, effective and sustainable.”
For her next adventure, Clare said she plans to go back to school for her Master’s degree.
“I am attending Stanford University to pursue a Master’s degree looking at education for sustainable development,” Clare said.
George Kamau Gachoya, an Environmental Systems and Societies teacher at the Academy who Clare worked with as a teacher’s assistant, said he admired Clare’s work ethic and the various new ideas she introduced to his class.
“Clare is a diligent and an outspoken person with whom I have had an opportunity to work with in the last two years as my protégé in the ESS class,” George said. “She is meticulous in planning; the resources she prepared for the lessons she helped deliver were always enriching and promoted deeper understanding of concepts. She introduced Freakonomics radio to the class and organised for class discussions initiated by students on hot environment topics of the week that they could pick from the media. She is friendly, but also very firm when dealing with students. Her keen eye could quickly pick students who were not using their lesson time productively.”
