Inside this edition Intercultural understanding Striving for excellence Campus design underway Spotlights News and Events Dear Friends of the Aga Khan Academies: On June 12, the fourth cohort of IB Diploma students graduated from the Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa. In addition to admissions to highly selective programmes at the University of Nairobi, AKA graduates over the last four years, have been admitted to outstanding universities including the Imperial College and University College London, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, McGill University, University of British Columbia, University of Waterloo; and National University of Singapore. As highlighted in this newsletter, many have been awarded significant university scholarships. We are particularly proud of the contributions Academy students are making to the greater Mombasa area through various service projects, often leveraging development initiatives of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). For example, students interning with poverty alleviation programmes of the Aga Khan Foundation are conducting needs assessments and are developing and implementing useful interventions, all under the experienced eyes of development practitioners. These experiences provide students the satisfaction of helping others through their ideas and actions while deepening their awareness of the challenges faced by many in Kenya. As the network grows I am pleased to welcome to our team, two new Heads of Academy: Rob Burrough to Mombasa and Jackie Kearns to Hyderabad. With their excellent professional records and commitment to our mission, we are confident that they will bring continued success to the Academies Programme. Construction of the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad, is well underway, and outreach programmes for teachers and school leaders are already taking place at the Professional Development Centre on campus. Similar outreach programmes have been launched in Maputo and Mombasa. Architectural design work is progressing well for the Academies in Mozambique and Tanzania. As you will read below, we are excited about our close collaboration with IB in developing curriculum content as well as using AKDN resources. Thank you for your continued interest and support. Very truly yours, Salim A.L. Bhatia Director of Academies

ARTICLES
Intercultural understanding: Exploring Muslim contexts to extend learning
The Aga Khan Academies (AKA) and the International Baccalaureate (IB) responded to a need specified by schools and educators for concrete examples of classroom practice to enhance student understanding of Muslim cultures and contexts through the online publication of unit plans for use by AKA and IB schools.

Led by a joint AKA and IB team of curriculum developments staff, experienced IB teachers came together twice in 2009 to enhance existing Primary Years Programme (PYP) planners and Middle Years Programme (MYP) units of work through the integration of aspects and perspectives reflecting Muslim history or cultures.

The first meeting took place in Zanzibar, involving a rich mix of cultural visits and intense curriculum development work, with participation from staff from the future Aga Khan University’s Faculty of Arts and Science in East Africa. An important aspect of this pilot project involved modeling the process by which existing school resources can be collaboratively enhanced by adding specific cultural dimensions. That collaboration continued within a virtual environment after they had returned to their schools.

The units of work developed through this small pilot project are published on the IB’s Online Curriculum Centre (www.ibo.org) and also available to AK schools upon request.

Learn more on the development of curriculum strands at the Aga Khan Academies

Striving for excellence: Professional development programmes for educators
A significant goal of the Aga Khan Academies is to promote and support whole school development within government schools through the provision of on-going professional development outreach services. In seeking to achieve that goal, the Academies network is creating a suite of high quality programmes called the Professional Learning for Educators Series (PLES), for teachers in various subject areas. Several attributes will give these programmes special value for teachers. Each will seek to build professional competence by focusing on both enhancing teachers subject knowledge as well as on how to teach that subject effectively. Each will provide participants with a balance of intensive facilitated learning activities followed by an extended period of assisted application and observation within their own classrooms. The first programme developed is a 450 hour intensive programme for teachers of English, run in 3 tiers.

The programme was successfully launched in Mombasa in August 2009 followed by initial offerings in Maputo and Hyderbad. So far more than 60 teachers have benefited from the programme and exit test results indicate strong learning gains with respect to increased fluency and confidence in using English as well as enhanced skill in using communicative methods in language teaching. Participants have expressed a high degree of enthusiasm for the programme. Several participants in Hyderbad indicated that they found the programme extremely valuable as they had never had an opportunity for such in depth training before. A condition which is likely to be true for many future beneficiaries of the programme. Additional courses, in collaboration with the Aga Khan University’s Institute for Educational Development, on educational leadership and management have been developed. Participants of the programme are school leaders working in the same schools from which teachers are selected for the PLES programmes. The leadership programme is targeted at equipping head teachers with the knowledge and skills needed to meet the changing and growing demands of their roles as educational leaders.

Through these initiatives, the AKA network seeks to build systemic capacity by enhancing the skills of its teacher trainers. It does this through “shadow” facilitation. In collaboration with government, selected teacher trainers from local teacher education institutions are orientated on both the language and leadership programmes and appointed as co-facilitators. The ultimate aim is to develop training of trainers modules for all school-based courses of AKA.

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Designed to serve intellectuals and visionaries: Campus design underway for new Academies
“Exceptional individuals are as abundant in the developing world as anywhere else. Therefore we must strive to create institutions of learning that can help them maximise the potential to study, to learn and to function at the highest international intellectual levels.” His Highness the Aga Khan, at laying the foundation stone of AKA, Dar-es Salaam, 17 March 2005

Each Aga Khan Academy is an embodiment of a unique vision that demands that the educational mission of AKA must be framed and sustained by architecture, landscape, and campus design of equal imagination and distinction. The challenge that the site planners and architects face is to identify the cultural influences of each proposed Academy and develop an architectural language to express those influences within the context of world class architecture. The buildings and spaces of the Academy are to provide an aesthetically well-conceived environment, conducive to reflection, to study, and enjoyment within an appropriate cultural context. Every building constructed, every tree planted is expected to be an expression of the over-arching vision of excellence. Architectural design work by a global architectural firm has been launched for the Academies in Maputo and Dar-es-Salaam. The Aga Khan Academy, Maputo is being developed on land which was kindly donated by the Mozambican government. The 21.8 hectare site is located in the district of Matola approximately 20km from the city centre.

View more information on AKA, Maputo   |   View more information on AKA, Dar-es-Salaam

NEWS AND EVENTS
AKA, Hyderabad launches its professional development services
As will be the case in all AK Academies the professional development services at the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad will work in part to promote best practices in teaching and learning within schools and the professional education community around the Academy. Initially they will be housed in a newly opened building, the first on the campus, which will host workshops, seminars, and small conferences focused on education. The new building will also house the team of lead teachers of the AKA, Hyderabad. In anticipation of the Academy’s opening this team will be charged with developing its curriculum incorporating both the principles of the IB and the Academies’ specific areas of focus (AK Strands) within an Indian context.

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AKA Diploma student trains school children on leadership in student government
After spending her summer participating in a service internship with the Aga Khan Foundation project, Education for Marginalized Children in Kenya (EMACK), Sarrah Sheikh, an Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa Diploma 2 student, traveled to a variety of public primary schools and discovered that often students were not being provided with opportunities to take on leadership roles in their school communities. As a result, in conjunction with EMACK’s Children’s Council initiative, Sarrah created an Outreach Project that utilized the skills and experience of AKA, Mombasa’s long standing Student Representative Council (SRC), to offer peer to peer learning on leadership to nearby schools.

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