Global research indicates that the quality of our educators is the single most important in-school factor affecting students’ performance, quality of learning and student achievement. This fact is unchanging, even as schools must adapt, morph and continually plan ahead to meet the demands of the present and the future in terms of curricula, infrastructure, technology and human resources.
With this in mind, the King David Schools group has recognised the centrality of our educators, for now and for the future, and the importance of designing a talent management strategy in order to build and position our schools. The overarching aim of the strategy is to ‘attract, mdevelop, manage and retain top talent and to continually improve the quality of our educators thus maintaining excellence for the future’.
The Talent Management department is fully mandated to bring this strategy to life in all 10 of our King David Schools and is forging ahead with talent initiatives to best position our educators and schools for the demands of the future. It is interesting to explore and share some of the programmes that have been initiated and embedded as part of the talent strategy:
- The King David Schools Learnership Programme.
- The King David Schools Leadership Development Programme.
- Ongoing Professional Development.
- Digital Transformation.
The King David Schools Learnership Programme
In the interest of building a future supply of teachers who are aligned with and invested in the ethos and future vision of our schools, King David Schools offer a four-year learnership programme. This is available to students who are interested in entering the teaching profession and developing themselves beyond the university curriculum.
The aim of the learnership programme is to train, grow, develop, and support talented new teachers by subsidising the tuition of their studies and offering continuous mentoring and in-school exposure. We also provide workshops, courses, and in-service training, and give them access to a community of other learners and mentors so that they can share ideas, resources, and best practice.
The learnership programme proactively develops a pipeline of young, enthusiastic, talented teachers who are well poised for the demands of schools, now and in the future.
The King David Schools Leadership Development Programme
The aim of the King David Schools’ Leadership Development (LEAD) Programme is to build and strengthen leadership capability across our schools. It is acknowledged that by solidifying and enhancing leadership capacity within and across our schools, we have a profound impact on our teachers, learners and parents and also on the broader community.
The LEAD programme is a targeted transformational leadership development programme in partnership with international leadership development experts, LEAD. This programme espouses a completely novel paradigm that focuses on leadership identity through a deep and intense experiential programme built on the pillars of leadership, ethics, altruism and decisive action, leading with heart and backbone and daring to dream.
The shift is a profound move from accepted practices regarding leadership development to a transformative, self-managed and experiential leadership learning environment. Thus far we have successfully trained three LEAD cohorts and have been privileged to have had front row seats to witness the growth and evolution of current and future leaders in our schools.
Ongoing Professional Development
Aligned to our talent strategy for the future, is an ongoing professional training and development programme to develop teachers’ skills on an individual, interpersonal, and professional level. To meet the demands of the future, it is widely accepted that proactive, focused and continuous development of staff is key.
Development initiatives include:
1. The King David Schools Empowerment Series
Provides inspiring development opportunities to all staff on topics such as self-awareness, building resilience, developing your coaching and mentoring skills, managing change, innovation and creativity, communication, crucial conversations, and emotional intelligence.
2. Dare to Series
Presenting Dare to Love, the application of the love languages in school, Dare to Lead, based on the work of Brené Brown, Dare to Speak, and Dare to Listen, which focusses on enhancing communication skills.
3. #daringclassrooms
Teacher circles explore the resources of Brené Brown for in-school development.
4. Financial Management Training
In collaboration with WORTH, offering a free online financial education programme to equip staff with knowledge, skills and confidence to better manage their finances and to enhance financial planning for the future.
5. King David Schools Wellness Programme
A wellness programme offering access to top speakers and experiences to enhance staff wellness.
6. King David School Teacher Channel
A platform offering inspiration, connection, guest speakers, information, articles, videos and podcasts to our teachers and all other support staff members.
Digital transformation
At King David Schools we have embarked on an incredible Microsoft Digital Transformation journey. The programme is in full gear to supercharge the way our educators teach, giving them tools to teach out of the box, extend themselves, develop new skills and be a part of the future of education.
While this sometimes pushes our teachers out of their comfort zones, and is therefore sometimes a little frightening, we are supporting and guiding all participants to ensure theyare well equipped and confident to use their new skills in the classroom.
The world of education is increasingly complex, and it is our responsibility to be forward-looking and prepare teachers and leaders to be empowered, relevant and continuous learners themselves. This in turn will enable schools to ensure that education continues to be meaningful.