Job Description Ref no:

/ Role Profile
Job Title / Head, Research and Development, Schools India
Directorate or Region / South Asia / Department/Country / India, Education
Location of post / Mumbai / Pay Band / F
Reports to / Assistant Director Schools, India / Duration of job / Indefinite Contract
Purpose of job: The post holder will be required to provide academic direction, leadership and management of the School Programme section of the Education and Society Strategic Business Unit.
The job will support the development and contextualisation of British Council’s global offer for the Indian schools sector as well as develop suitable programmes and proposals that meet the needs of the schools in India and the requirement of the funding organisation as well as the British Council. It will ensure that the school programme in India has academic rigour and meets the quality standards in training and development and are properly impact assessed.
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Context and environment:
South Asia Region: The region is of high priority for the UK covering both high-growth economies (notably India, with a population of 1.2bn) and other countries important to the UK from a security perspective, principally Pakistan and Afghanistan. The region comprises India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iran (non-represented) and Nepal. Programme priority areas are English, where there is a need to develop a stronger product offer for teachers and learners; Higher Education (with large opportunities in market intelligence and knowledge transfer) and the Arts.
India:
The UK has challenging ambitions for its engagement with India in Education, English and the Arts and British Council India’s role is to help create the conditions which will lead to their achievement.
Education: The UK’s ambition in higher education is to attract the best students from India and send students to UK to strengthen future links. The aim is to significantly increase the institutional partnerships, in research, teaching and innovation, and support India’s reform agenda, including TNE and MOOC provision. In Skills and VET, the UK’s ambition is to play a critical role in helping to skill 500m people. The UK schools sector’s ambitions are to build cultural links and share best practice.
English: The UK’s ambition is for all learners and English language trainers and teachers in India to have access to English language training, teaching, learning, and testing solutions and professional development opportunities from the UK. We aim to significantly increase the number of UK-India institutional level partnerships and research collaborations (particularly in the fields of language of instruction, English skills for employability and CPD) which will support the Indian government in achieving its reform agenda.
Arts: The UK’s ambition in the arts is for strengthened collaboration and exchange between cultural institutions, leaders and professionals; to engage new audiences in the UK’s creativity and ideas leading to an enhanced appreciation of the UK’s cultural assets.
Our operations in the four main metro cities and through our centres in five further cities engage with over 2.5 million people a year. We aim to increase our reach to 3 million (including 1.5 million enquiries) by 2014.
We have three teaching centres in Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. Our nine libraries and information services have a membership of more than 60,000, while our Exams business offers UK qualifications to more than 120,000 Indians wishing to enhance their English language, academic and professional skills.
We operate through centres in New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai. In partnership with the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, we run five more centres in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, and Pune. India also hosts the British Council Management Services office in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, which provides finance and IT services for the global network.
Our work in Schools
Our work in schools is to engage with the school community in India and the UK to nurture committed global citizens by facilitating learning about each other, with each other and from each other.
Accountabilities, responsibilities and main duties:
(including people management and finance)
The post holder will be responsible for
§  academic quality assurance of the schools programme objectives by leading on the following:
a.  Quality assurance of schools digital and other format published contents such as research reports, impact assessment and project monitoring reports, schools online newsletters etc.
b.  ensuring that materials development production / adaptation meets minimum quality standards
c.  management of network of up to 30 local training consultants, British Council school ambassadors and local facilitators.
d.  contribute to the academic management of national events and conferences, in particular the annual schools conferences, global teacher action research, International School Award, Enriching Education Workshops and schools online professional development workshops in India in collaboration with Global Schools CPD team and Assistant Director Schools, India.
e.  Ensure that all training modules and capacity building content are high quality and comply with global SBU standards and are appropriately contextualised to Indian context of delivery.
§  contributing to strategic and financial objectives of schools programme by leading on the academic management of at least two school development project annually such as the Gen UK, Education Quality Improvement Pathway for Schools (EQUIPS), Curriculum Mapping for ISA and schools online content development etc.
§  contributing to financial planning and management of the schools budgets particularly for the develop research commissioning and management and costing and pricing of specific CPD projects.
§  Contribute to the writing of project proposals and bids for funds as and when the opportunity arises for the same.
20% Overseeing programme delivery
§  The post holder will also be responsible for overseeing the delivery of the programme in West India and supporting the Senior Project Managers in this region in day to day delivery of the programme.
§  The post holder will line manage the Senior Project Manager Digital and Marcomm, Schools and quality assure schools online content
Key relationships: (include internal and external)
Internal
·  Colleagues within school team, other strategic business units, resources team and the global and regional teams in UK and South Asia.
External
·  Senior State Government Bureaucrats in Department of Education and MHRD, Special Project Directors, RMSA and SSA.
·  Education Consultants, other educational organisations such as CBSE, NCERT, SCERT etc.
·  British Council School Ambassadors and Local Facilitators
·  Principals and heads of schools, chairpersons of chains of schools and members of Board of Governors of school
Other important features or requirements of the job
The job may require moderate travel across India and to UK. It would also have occasional unsocial hours.
Please specify any passport/visa and/or nationality requirement. / Post holder will need legal right to work in India.
Please indicate if any security or legal checks are required
for this role. / Reference Checks as per British Council India HR policy.

Person Specification

Essential / Desirable / Assessment stage
Behaviours / Shaping the future – Most demanding.
Changing the nature of what we do and benefits we gain by thinking and planning creatively.
Creating Shared Purpose – More demanding.
Creating energy and clarity so that people want to work purposefully together / Interview only
Connecting With Others – More demanding.
Actively appreciating the needs and concerns of myself and others
Working Together – Essential.
Establishing a genuinely common goal with others
Being Accountable - Most demanding.
Showing real dedication to the long-term mission of the British Council or the team
Making it Happen - More demanding.
Challenging myself and others to deliver and measure better results / These behaviours will be needed to successfully carry out the role, but will not be assessed for recruitment purposes
Skills and Knowledge / Communications Skill Level 3
Understanding Audience, Understanding Purpose and Monitoring and Evaluation.
Business Management and Development Skill Level 2
Managing Relationships, Market Analysis and Intelligence and Business strategy
Project and Contract Management – Level 2
Context, market and stakeholders, Managing risk
Report writing and project plan writing / Short listing
and Interview
Short listing
and Interview
Short listing
and Interview
Test to be conducted only for shortlisted candidates
Experience / Seven years’ experience in working in schools sector with responsibility for developing and managing developmental projects and or capacity building workshop content and modules. / Experience of Research in Humanities areas or managing research projects
Teacher training / Short listing
and Interview
Qualifications / Master’s Degree in humanities, education/basic sciences / Degree/other professional qualification in teaching or Education / Short listing
Submitted by / Assistant Director Schools India / Date / 18 August 2014

1 of 5 Recruitment Team June 2011