Staff Development: The Aga Khan School, Kharadhar

Teacher Recruitment
The Aga Khan School, Kharadhar with support from the Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan is strongly committed to promoting and enhancing quality education. Better-trained and skilled teachers provide a more varied, interesting and enriched learning experience for the young people.

Teachers are carefully recruited through a rigorous selection process. Candidates present a demonstration lesson to assess their teaching skills and are interviewed by the School Administration. The teacher selection criteria include: competence and experience in the subject area, understanding of modern teaching methods and commitment to student-centered learning, motivation towards the teaching learning process and openness to change.

Professional Development
School faculty regularly undergo an ongoing professional development programme. The Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan regularly organises workshops and seminars for management and teaching staff according to identified needs. Topics include teaching methodology, classroom management and use of information technology in teaching.

Teachers are also nominated for courses conducted by various renowned organizations including the Aga Khan University-Institute of Educational Development (AKU-IED), Centre for English Language (AKU-CEL), Teachers Resource Center (TRC), Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers (SPELT), Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) and the Karachi University.

At the beginning of the 2003 – 2004 academic year, all teachers participated in the “Intel Teach to the Future” Program, a 40-hr workshop conducted by the Intel Corporation on using computers in the classroom. The course focused on integrating Information Technology as a learning tool across subject areas. The faculty acquired and enhanced their computer / Internet research skills and prepared animated and three-dimensional presentations.

Staff Appraisal
Besides regular attendance and involvement in various training programmes, the school follows an intensive appraisal system to monitor the progress of its faculty and staff. Staff appraisal takes place periodically throughout the year. A formal appraisal, which takes place at the end of the year, analyses the following factors in order to assess the performance of the staff:

Achievements after the appointment
Professional Development and Growth
Quality of teaching
Quality of pupils’ learning
Quality of relationship with peers
Professional Responsibility

Academic Development
School academics work closely with their peers by discussing educational issues, theories, current pedagogical research and applying them to the classroom. This interaction, mainly through panel discussions, meetings and workshops coupled with training, facilitates communication, collaboration and idea exchange to implement new teaching techniques. A faculty Academic Forum to encourage teamwork is a regular feature for senior academic staff. All Learning Area Coordinators share their views and discuss issues related to their daily academic work at the forum.

International Exchange Programmes
The School encourages staff professional development within country and extends it internationally through the following partnerships:

IEARN
Apart from student programmes, the International Education and Resource Network (IEARN) also offers professional development opportunities for teachers. Teaching faculty have enrolled in distance and local courses in online collaborative project design and using the worldwide web for teaching.

Conference and Presentations
To achieve high academic standards, the school faculty are encouraged to participate in various national and international conferences as participants and/or presenters. Some conferences recently attended by the staff include the SPELT (Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers) 18TH International Conference, National Conference on Teaching of Physics, AKU-CEL (Aga Khan University, Centre for English Language) Seminar on English and Higher Education, AKU-IED (Aga Khan University, Institute for Educational Development) 10th Anniversary Conference.