Teach The Nation Leadership Development Officer

Teach the Nation is a non-profit leadership development organisation that develops leaders through a unique Graduate Development Fellowship. We build sustainable relationships with government, civil society and corporates to ensure our young leaders significantly improve the achievements and aspirations of their students in high need communities. After the Fellowship, we support alumni to build on their teaching experience through strategic career guidance and access to high impact employment opportunities. Our alumni receive training to progress into leadership roles in their varied professions.

Apart from being qualified for the job, we are also looking for a team member to join us in this movement of change. We need inspiring people who share our vision and mission and are aligned with our Core Values: Excellence, Collaboration, a greater sense of possibility and purpose, passion, and a continuous Growth Journey. These Core Values are a vital component of our organisation's culture to ensure long-term and sustainable success, and therefore we view them as an important component for the selection of new team members and Fellows.

While our compensation package is fair and competitive, we do not expect this to be your key reason for joining us. After all, we are not just offering you a job; we are looking for a like-minded future leader to grow with us and help us in our mission to end education inequity in South Africa.

Our collaborative working environment ensures abundant opportunities for you to expand your network and learning opportunities with other team members, Fellows, corporate partners, the Ministry of Education, other education stakeholders, as well as other like-minded leaders from our network partners in over 57 countries within the Teach For All network.

The Leadership Development Officer (LDO) is a direct influencer on student impact by managing, coaching, and mentoring fellows. The LDO is the conduit between Teach the Nation and Fellows by compiling data on fellow impact to help drive organisational decisions.

LDOs are critical roles who are at the heart of Teach the Nation's work. LDOs manage and develop our Fellows to fundamentally transform the lives of students and inspire Fellows to become lifelong advocates for educational equity. At the end of a successful year of work, LDOs will have built leadership in their cohort of Fellows in their classrooms as well as the long-term movement. They will be able to see Fellows on a new path of extended life opportunities, due to major academic and personal growth. They will also be deeply involved in our communities, our schools; engaged with our principals, students and families. They are leaders in every sense.

To reach this vision, LDOs work directly with a cohort of approximately 20 teachers. They regularly collaborate and problem solve with other team members to ensure the success of their cohort. They play important roles in achieving critical organizational goals in multiple functional areas (for instance, selecting new Fellows, recruiting alumni to join staff, or helping out at events). LDOs report to the Director of Teacher Training and Support who manages and develops the LDOs to achieve these goals.

Responsibilities

Set Big Goal

• Hold fellows accountable for students making academic and non-academic achievement in classrooms.

Invest in Team & Stakeholders

• Planning and coordinating professional development trainings for Fellows.
• Provide support to Fellows in challenging times and provide continuous mentorship to them in developing and strengthening their problem-solving skills.

Plan Purposefully & Execute Effectively

• Observe classrooms to understand issues in classrooms and have follow-up conversations to plan and strategize for immediate improvement.
• Conduct training workshops at Institute and ongoing professional development training series. Collaborating with teachers, school-based mentors, parents, and principals to build good relationships with other instructional stakeholders.
• Collaborating with cross-function leads for organisational special projects. Provide regular progress updates to Head of Teacher Training & Support for issues that arise, such as retention risk and Fellows struggling in the classroom.

Continually Increase Effectiveness

• Spend time analysing stories, notes, feedback from fellows about the situations happening – reflection on what’s happening in the classroom and use as a guide to create strategies for fellow improvement.
• Collaborating with team colleagues, LDOs to share best practices that can enhance the entire cohort. Being actively engaged in weekly training team meetings: providing feedback from fellows on what’s happening in classrooms/schools and finding solutions to help them.
• Aggregate common themes among fellows in group and discuss with training team on broader approaches.

Approach to work

• Deep commitment to Teach the Nation’s mission and core values.
• Constantly keep "eye on the prize" and remember the end goals- even when the going gets tough.
• Great at connecting and building deep relationships, even with people who are quite different from you.
• When things are very busy, make smart choices about what to prioritize and what matters most.
• Reflective and proactively work to grow and improve.

Required Competencies

• Ability to drive student achievement outcome by leading and supporting Fellows.
• Strong mindset around the importance of data-driven instruction.
• Ability to invest others in strategies and ideas for improvement.
• Ability to listen with empathy and remain objective in the face of challenges, while managing with high expectations.
• Ability to be proactive in identifying Fellows needs, determine proper strategies to actively support those needs.
• Ability to organise training sessions to increase fellow competencies.
• Ability to guide Fellows towards discovering a course of action.
• Ability to use charisma, inspiration, personalisation, and critical thought into ideas for the group.
• Ability to reflect on own strengths and weaknesses and adjust course when necessary. Operates with humility and respect when receiving feedback.
• Ability to surface conflicting ideas professionally and responsibly.
• Ability to make decisions when necessary.

Preferred Competencies

• Proven record of success in achieving ambitious goals.
• Creativity in identifying solutions/strategies.
• Ability to engage with external stakeholders strategically.