Regional Managers, Schools at KwaraLEARN (Government of Kwara State)

KwaraLEARN (Leading Education Achievement and Reform Now) is a core new education programme by the Government of Kwara State to deliver dramatic improvements in learning outcomes in public schools for all children across Kwara State. KwaraLEARN will transform all government primary schools across the state into powerful public schools using an innovative technology and data-driven platform, coupled with high-quality learning materials, effective training and ongoing coaching for teachers and school leaders, and technology-enabled support teams to create 360-degree support for learning outcomes.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Regional Manager, Schools

Location: Kwara

Schools Group

• Schools is the heart of our work. The team is mandated to inspire teachers to teach with passion, pupils to learn with purpose, parents to believe in a better future for their children, and communities to become the change they want to see in the world.
• To achieve this vision, the team ensures schools are smoothly run – the school team is motivated and inspired, delivering life changing lessons, creating an experience that makes parents stay with us, and also cultivating interest and excitement in our work in communities where we serve.
• Schools is responsible for ensuring all of the work created by our expert teams, including Instructional Design, Leadership & Development, Technology, Communications, Creative and Insight, are used in each school, and each school is managed to achieve its goal of ensuring every child enjoys a learning environment that develops her core skills, knowledge and confidence. The performance of the entire organisation is led by the Schools Group, which is responsible for day-to-day management of each school.
• Schools work to strengthen school enrollment and student retention, ensuring every school is regarded as the strongest school in its neighbourhood and delivers on improved learning outcomes for children and earns the trust of the parents.
• We engage with school leaders and teachers every day, ensuring ongoing professional development, performance management, and intensive coaching.
• We are always seeking effective ways of ensuring every school is supported with data-driven practices.
• We measure our success through both the financial sustainability of the school and the learning outcomes of the children in the classroom. We are performance driven.

Schools Leadership:

• Schools is the heart of our work. The team is mandated to inspire teachers to teach with passion, pupils to learn with purpose, parents to believe in a better future for their children, and communities to become the change they want to see in the world.
• To achieve this vision, the team ensures schools are smoothly run – the school team is motivated and inspired, delivering life changing lessons, creating an experience that makes parents stay with us, and also cultivating interest and excitement in our work in communities where we serve.
• Schools is responsible for ensuring all of the work created by our expert teams, including Instructional Design, Leadership & Development, Technology, Communications, Creative and Insight, are used in each school, and each school is managed to achieve its goal of ensuring every child enjoys a learning environment that develops her core skills, knowledge and confidence.
• The performance of the entire organization is led by the Schools Group, which is responsible for day-to-day management of each school. Schools work to strengthen school enrollment and student retention, ensuring every school is regarded as the strongest school in its neighborhood and delivers on improved learning outcomes for children and earns the trust of the parents.
• We engage with school leaders and teachers every day, ensuring ongoing professional development, performance management, and intensive coaching. We are always seeking effective ways of ensuring every school is supported with data-driven practices.
• We measure our success through both the financial sustainability of the school and the learning outcomes of the children in the classroom. We are performance driven.

About the Role

• KwaraLEARN ensures efficient management of its schools through a school’s organizational structure that divides schools into regions and territories and assigns management oversight of each region to one Schools Supervisor.
• A Schools Supervisor is responsible for the management of a group of schools and Schools Supervisors report to a Regional Manager who in turn is responsible for the success of that school region or territory.
• The schools are situated in various communities across the state in Nigeria to which you are assigned.

What Will You Do

• Work closely with a large group of Schools Supervisors in your territory to ensure that they are operating at the highest levels.
• Work closely with the Training Manager to ensure feedback from the field is translated to effective training content, systems and processes which further empower Teachers and Headmasters to lead successful schools.
• Empower Schools Supervisors to focus intensely on instructional leadership, including each teacher completing the scheduled lessons each day; on positive classroom and school management without corporal punishment; and school strength through retention, which is a sign of parents’ belief in the positive contribution of the school.
• Provide management oversight to Schools Supervisors in your region or territory and ensure operating performance and instructional learning targets are met.
• Provide coaching and mentoring to Schools Supervisors in your region to help develop their management skills and support achievement of their academy goals.
• Regional Managers completely own (and therefore, are accountable for) the performance metrics of all of the schools in their territory, as measured by operational and instructional benchmarks.
• This role requires a constant presence at the schools and close interaction with each School Head or School Administrator to ensure that there is continuous bi-directional communication and coaching.
• In addition to interactions with schools, the Regional Manager is expected to build close relationships with the local and state level government officials, the traditional and local community leaders, and Parents of the children in the school to promote the importance of education, garner support for the school and education ministry’s activities as it relates to their children and to keep a constant monitor on their feedback.
• Must be ready to travel on a daily basis to schools in your region. The schools are situated in various communities across the state in Nigeria to which you are assigned.

Requirements
What you should have:

• High level of energy and enthusiasm so as to be effective in a fast paced environment with multiple demands.
• This role would suit someone who has extensive experience doing community based work, field management expertise and strong people management and program management skills.
• An Education Degree is a MUST, with at least 5 years of professional work experience
• Prior team leadership experience using a hands-on role model approach to management and the ability to coach and motivate others to achieve results
• Proven ability to drive results
• Passion for providing outstanding customer service
• Excellent practical problem solving skills with the ability to multitask and prioritise effectively
• Previous experience building relationships with government and community officials
• A passion for what we do is essential and experience in low cost education environments or in the public schooling environment is an advantage.
• Must be dynamic, articulate, organised with an attention to detail
• Must have demonstrated capacity to plan, prioritise and deliver tasks on time to meet goals in a high pressure environment
• Must be passionate about following processes and procedures and be extremely data-driven
• Must be passionate about education and schooling in general
• Must be comfortable working in low income communities
• Must have respect and sensitivity towards cultural, gender, ethnicity and religious diversity
• Must have maturity and confidence in dealing with high ranking official of government institutions, international institutions and non- government institutions
• Willingness to have tough conversations when circumstances require it and to take a “no nonsense” approach to driving business results.

You’re also:

• A detailed doer – You have a track record of getting things done. You’re organized and responsive. You take ownership of every idea you touch and execute it to a fine level of detail, setting targets, engaging others, and doing whatever it takes to get the job done. You can multi-task dozens of such projects at once and never lose sight of the details. Likely, you have some experience in a start-up or other rapid-growth company.
• A networking mastermind – You excel at meeting new people and turning them into advocates. You communicate in a clear, conscientious, and effective way in both written and oral speech. You can influence strangers in the course of a single conversation. Allies and colleagues will go to bat for your ideas. You have an existing network from prior experience in the country, preferably in the regulatory, education, or business sectors.
• A creative problem-solver – Growing any business from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges. On top of that, KwaraLEARN works in often fragile, sometimes volatile low-resource communities and with complex government systems. You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and affordably with the materials at hand.
• A relentless advocate –The children we serve and teachers we empower never leave your mind. You know them, get them, have shared a meal with them (or would be happy to in the future). You would never shrink back from shaking a parent’s hand or picking up a crying child, no matter what the person was wearing or looked like. Every decision you make considers their benefit, experience,
• and value.
• A malleable learner –You believe you can always do better. You welcome constructive criticism and provide it freely to others. You know you only get better tomorrow when others point out where you’ve missed things or failed today.
• A data-driven decision-maker – When making decisions, you don’t rely on your intuition alone. You collect data, you analyze it and make decisions with clear justifications.
• A curious investigator – You ask why a lot. You don’t just take what you see and accept it. You wonder why it is that way, and are aware that the world we see is created by human choices and actions – and it could be different. You wonder, and see the world as wonderful even when you want to change a part of it that is unjust.

Deadline: 30th September, 2022.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note: When the link opens, scroll to the Job Title and Apply.