Professional Development for Teachers
Each Academy hosts a Professional Development Centre offering learning opportunities and a supportive community to teachers throughout the region.
"Not only will we need highly professional instructors, but we must also be sure that our instructors are well-instructed…. We seek not only to train the next generation of expert leaders, but also to develop a professional corps of world-class teachers."
His Late Highness Aga Khan IV
Hyderabad, September 2006
Continuous Development
The Academies select high-quality teachers dedicated to developing not only their students but themselves. Once they have joined the Academy family, each one is supported by the educational experts at their Professional Development Centre. Here they deepen their knowledge and are assisted to put their training into practice in the classroom.
Developing Best Educational Practices in the Host Country
The Centres consult with teachers, school leaders and government education bodies to design and implement a range of outreach programmes.
Teachers gain insights into teaching literacy, using activities in science lessons and participatory maths classes. They learn how to use technology effectively and strategies for classroom control. Instructors can take advanced lessons in English so they are prepared to help their students communicate internationally.
Meanwhile, education leadership and management sessions enable educators to raise standards across their school. Local teachers learn to train others, multiplying the reach of each Centre. The Academies aims to create a network of collaborative teachers and school leaders, ready to support each other in raising the next generation.
"By the end of the course, I felt very confident and could handle my day to day school activities easily with a lot of professionalism… [Now] I'm better equipped for handling issues of under-resourced schools."
Chief Education Officer, Ministry of Education
Kwale, Kenya
Resources for Schools Worldwide
Built around the framework of the Aga Khan Curricular Strands, the Academies offers freely available resources for schools to download and use for education purposes, with appropriate attribution. We welcome feedback about your experiences using these resources in your school. If you have comments, ideas for improvements or would like to know more about our work, please email us at curriculum@agakhanacademies.org.
The following units have been developed as part of a collaborative project between the Aga Khan Academies and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. They follow the guidelines for the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme units, but can be used in any curriculum.
An interdisciplinary unit for MYP1 (Grade 6) students bringing together learning from language and literature or language acquisition (Phases 3–5) and the arts.
A unit to promote student well-being, which could be used as part of a pastoral or PSHE programme in MYP2 (Grade 7).
A music unit for students in MYP4 (Grade 9) or MYP5 (Grade 10).
