Area Manager (Learning and Development Officer) at Bridge International Academies

Location: South-South

About the Role

• The Area Manager (Learning and Development Officer) role at its heart is to ensure that every school is led by talented and passionate school leaders and teachers. 
• To accomplish this, the L & D Officer is responsible for leading a classroom of teachers or head teachers through an intensive multi-week training to empower them to lead powerful schools.
• When not leading training, L & D officers will continue to develop their teachers and head teachers as they conduct support visits in schools to provide intensive coaching and mentoring. You will be responsible for the supervision and supportive management of 10-14 schools. Head teachers will have a direct reporting relationship to you, with whom you will work closely, and for whose behavior in the school you are responsible. You will travel to these schools on a daily basis and be in the field at least 80% of the time. The performance of the head teachers you supervise, and the performance of the teachers in each school, is how your performance will be measured.
• You will focus intensely on instructional leadership, including each teacher completing the scheduled lessons each day; on positive classroom and school management without corporal punishment; and school strength through retention, which is a sign of parents’ belief in the positive contribution of the school.

What You Will Do

• Execute the support process for head teachers and teachers  to ensure that we understand the current capacity and preparation of school staff and match training to their needs;
• Provide professional development to head teachers and teachers, ensuring that each of them has a renewed vision of their role as a changemaker in building the future of their community, state and nation; ensuring that each believes without doubt that every child can learn, and every teacher can succeed in ensuring learning for her class; and ensuring that every head teacher knows that the entire performance of the school is her responsibility.
• Prepare and support great head teachers and teachers by executing all training content during both training and in-school visits with fidelity, ensuring all school staff engage in rigorous and meaningful practice and providing thoughtful feedback and coaching.
• Continuously seek ways to improve professional development content, systems and processes by taking initiative and sharing feedback with the L&D team.
• The measure of your success will be the learning outcomes delivered by teachers you trained and the overall performance of the group of head teachers you trained.

What You Should Have

• A fundamental belief that great teachers are “made,” not born
• Teaching experience is highly valued.
• Experience in adult education or other adult training or professional development is highly valued by not mandatory.
• Agreement that a teachers performance is measurable by how the children in her classroom learn
• Agreement that what enables children to learn can be measured, and that those results should drive decisions in teacher and school leader training and management
• A belief that a strong and tested lesson plan that incorporates best practices improves a teachers foundational knowledge and classroom management skills
• Belief in systems and best practices should guide school management
• Belief that corporal punishment is not an effective disciplinary method
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills with the ability to engage a large group of individuals
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to easily form relationships and influence and motivate others
• Flexibility and a strong work ethic
• Strong organization and time management skills
• Strong people management skills – holding adults to high expectations
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint or a strong aptitude to learn new technology
• Desire to spend time in schools improving school leaders and teachers performance. This includes a willingness to travel in all weather at least 80% of the time.

You Are Also

• Proactive – You don’t always need supervision and you are a self-starter. Your personal drive to succeed and deliver keeps you working when you may not have a supervisor with you.
• A detailed doer - You have a track record of getting things done.  You’re organized and responsive.  You take ownership of every idea you touch and execute it to a fine level of detail, setting targets, engaging others, and doing whatever it takes to get the job done.  You can multi-task dozens of such projects at once and never lose sight of the details.  Likely, you have some experience in a start-up or other rapid-growth company.
• A networking mastermind- You excel at meeting new people and turning them into advocates.  You communicate in a clear, conscientious, and effective way in both written and oral speech.  You can influence strangers in the course of a single conversation.  Allies and colleagues will go to bat for your ideas.
• A creative problem-solver- Growing any business from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges.  On top of that, Bridge works in volatile, low-resource communities and runs on fees averaging around $7 a month per pupil.  You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and affordably with the materials at hand. 
• A customer advocate- Our customers – these families living on less than $2 a day per person – never leave your mind.  You know them, get them, have shared a meal with them (or would be happy to in the future).  You would never shrink back from shaking a parent’s hand or picking up a crying child, no matter what the person was wearing or looked like.  Every decision you make considers their customer benefit, experience, and value.
• A malleable learner -You believe you can always do better.  You welcome constructive criticism and provide it freely to others.  You know you only get better tomorrow when others point out where you’ve missed things or failed today.