Since beginning our transformation into an academy for teacher training at the end of 2011 we have had a "murky view" of our direction and process, something that needed more meat on the skeleton, something created by all our stakeholders who wanted inclusion, something to be agreed.
Well, now we have it in 6 stages over 5 years, a linear sequence but with natural overlaps. Some stages can commence before others have finished, but there is a natural order to the journey.
Stage 1 can only be "Develop The Service" and this will continue for 4 years. Key training elements are our Foundation programme which is currently up and running as a 5 days course with 180 teachers already trained, and an Advanced programme of short workshops with English Literacy, Phonics, Values 4 Children already up and running, with Assessment 4 Learning, Accelerated Maths, Magical Spelling to be developed in the next 8-12 months. Next is the Consultancy service operating at 3 levels, an inspection of school's implementation of our methods, demonstrations of our techniques with teacher observations, and an advisory "visit" over 2-3 days working with the Principal and groups of teachers to develop a range of quality education practices. We are also developing an on-line resources service too.
Stage 2 is "Establish A Presence" to as wide a community as possible, mostly via referral marketing and using our influential network in Kathmandu. For example through simple marketing we have now got 50 schools registered with us for teacher training with enough teachers to fill our Foundation programme across 2012. Our presence is also enhanced because of our follow up work in schools which is supporting and helpful rather than inspecting and judgemental.
Stage 3 is "Build A Team" of trainers and consultants who are productive and approachable as well as having a high level of expertise. We currently have a team of three but expecting them to meet all of our high standards from day 1 is totally unrealistic and we know it could take a full 12 months before we reach a level of satisfaction. But this is not a problem, they are all learning together, working hard and ........ doing their best. The feedback from the 50 Principals and 180 teachers trained so far tells us just that, and they are our most important stakeholders! Also a part of this stage is to build a team of UK experts and we are very fortunate to have Janice Brockbank as our educational advisor and John Cullen as our UK Consultant for Assessment Strategies, Resources Creation, and Accelerated Maths Teaching.
Half way through our first year and all three stages 1-3 are now running with an intensive period of team learning taking place to deliver the Foundation programme brilliantly and to fully establish our presence in Kathmandu as a first class teacher training organisation.
Stage 4 is "Build A Reputation" and you might be thinking "why isn't this sooner?". Well, we only have one goal with this stage ...... and that is to have the reputation of being the best teacher training organisation in Nepal. This will not occur just because we run good courses, it will only happen if we can demonstrate that the quality of education increases in schools who have been trained by us, that we are respectful and approachable by all, and that the methods and techniques we use are being absorbed into the Nepalese education system. We expect to see this occurring from late year 2 onwards and we will launch a RAISE process and programme to help schools "Raise Achievement and Implementation in Schools Evaluation".
Stage 5 is "Build A Business" and this does NOT mean that we are trying to create a profit making organisation in Nepal. Far from it, we are trying to achieve the ultimate in sustainability by running down the dependence on UK funding and UK expertise. In essence we want to create an organisation in Nepal which is "not for profit" in which private schools pay for the training and consulting, with businesses and government funding development projects, and where all income arises in Nepal and is spent in Nepal to pay for the development of government and community schools. A big task, and one frequently misunderstood by our larger donors who see it as "walking away without developing an infrastructure of management etc". But this is a gross assumption and an incorrect one too!
Stage 6 is "Strategic Withdrawal" and should be a stage that calms the nerves of those who think that NSA gets dumped in 2016! This is a full year of ensuring service stability, ensuring a steady income stream, developing and underpinning a management structure etc. However this is a long way off and it would be impossible at this time to say where the income will come from, who will be part of the management structure, what premises will we have, what UK support will be needed! Plenty of time for that to be developed by our Trustees, UK advisors and Kathmandu team.
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