Reliance Foundation Schools Academic Council (RFSAC), comprising a team of academic Leads and administrative personnel based out of Reliance Corporate Park (RCP), Navi Mumbai, works with the 13 Reliance Foundation Schools/Reliance Schools located in Jamnagar, Surat, Vadodara, Dahej, Koparkhairane, Lodhivali, Nagothane and Nagpur, which are affiliated to CBSE, Gujarat State Board and Maharashtra State Board, and supports them in various academic, administrative and developmental areas.

Following is a summary of the Job Description of the RFSAC Academic Lead:

The main role of the Academic Lead is to facilitate the schools in improving and standardising their academic policies, systems and processes; supporting the professional development of teachers by sharing resources and conducting training programmes; and working towards continuously improving students academic performance and holistic development. The Academic Lead is expected to do all that is possible in achieving these key objectives, working in close coordination with the RFSAC leadership team in Mumbai and the leadership team of the schools.

Specific Responsibilities

• Focus on strengthening and continuously upgrading the academic policies, systems and processes after thoroughly understanding the existing ones in the schools, the expectations of the affiliation boards and the regulatory requirements, as well as appreciating and incorporating the high standards of excellence that Reliance Foundation Schools are envisioning.
• Support the Schools in implementing the academic policies, systems and processes and monitoring their effectiveness, and suggest course corrections wherever required. Institutionalising a system-centric culture in the schools, with required checks and balances and school leadership team driving it, is central to its success.
• Work with the schools in developing and implementing key teaching and learning resources and tools – Curriculum Handbook, Classroom Transactions, Classroom Observation, Notebook Correction, Evaluation & Assessment, Question Papers, Annual Academic Plan, Annual Academic Performance Review, Academic Performance Dashboards, etc.
• Work with the schools in analysing students performance in various examinations including board examinations and developing ways and means in enhancing students achievements including through remedial sessions for students who need additional support and enrichment programmes for gifted children.
• Support the Schools in developing an effective student care support system – Student Counselling, Special Needs Education, College Counselling departments with qualified and experienced staff, required resources, systems and processes.
• Guide the schools in optimally making use of the available teaching and learning resources including digital resources and enhancing such resources continually.
• Work with the schools in providing students with a wide range of opportunities in sports, co-curricular activities and co-scholastic engagements, their participation in various competitions at local, state, national and international levels.
• Guide and support the schools in conducting various events Science exhibitions, Arts exhibitions, inter-school competitions, career fairs, and so on.
• Ensure that the schools have a pre-planned, well-defined academic calendar, listing all important events and activities and that the same is adhered to.
• Support the Schools in fostering a strong professional development culture help them develop the professional development calendar, suggest relevant programmes and institutions that conduct those programmes, conduct workshops in the schools as well as in Mumbai as a resource person, encourage teachers to pursue relevant online professional development programmes including workshops, webinars, certification courses; ensure knowledge-sharing by teachers who have attended training programmes (sharing training programme resources in the library and their respective departments), and so on.
• Source and share academic resources and best practices with the schools through circulars, web-links, e-books, templates, articles, names of books, etc.
• Work on aligning the academic programme in the schools to develop skills and competencies in students which will help them participate in competitive examinations and improve their chances of pursuing higher education in reputable institutions.
• Support schools in improving the communication skills and computer skills of teachers, as well as their skills in organising and expressing their knowledge, so that the quality of teaching and learning is enhanced.
• Work with the schools to guide and enable them to continuously explore and implement pedagogical innovations, creative and engaging ways of teaching and learning, experiential learning, project-based learning, digital teaching and learning, etc.
• Support the Schools in continuously benchmarking their academic standards and performance with the best schools in the country and abroad.
• Play a pivotal role in making and updating the School Improvement Plan, monitor and review its effectiveness from time to time.
• Review the current system of teaching and learning and assessment through digital platforms like Microsoft Teams, Adobe Spark, Exam.net and such other educational Apps, and recommend improvements.
• Explore how the schools can develop students problem solving and knowledge application skills through opportunities like Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Maker Lab, etc.
• Review the existing system of collating, curating and systematically organising the teaching and learning resources for each class and making them available on our iSlim library software, and their effective use by teachers and students.
• Explore ways and means to extend all possible support to students in their preparation for the board examinations, including helping them with Frequently Encountered Doubts (FED), sharing with them good resources and apps, techniques for effectively writing the examinations, time management, stress management, etc.
• Ensure that the schools are optimally making use of the academic-related modules of the School Management Software and advise on improvements to be made to the software on an ongoing basis.
• Build on the culture of Professional Learning Communities (PLC) through an organised system and calendared programmes with the participation of school leaders, master trainers from within the schools as well as from other RF Schools, and putting place a structured digital platform for sharing and reviewing academic resources.
• Create a robust system and structure for archiving all relevant academic resources including training materials and a scheme to effectively access them as and when required, including with the support of digital archiving systems.
• Strengthen the current culture of developing FAQs for various academic requirements and ensure that the same is effectively made use of by the teachers, including those newly joining the school from time to time.
• Review and improve the existing system of teacher appraisal by benchmarking the same with leading school systems in India and around the world, and put in place a system and structure for their effective implementation.
• Evaluate and strengthen the current system of collaboration between school leaders, teachers, special educators, counsellors and librarians of all RF Schools as well as schools within the same cluster/location.
• Visit the schools periodically for reviewing their current academic practices and accomplishments, and to suggest improvements; this could be conducted even virtually as much as possible.
• Ensure a culture and structure of regular communications with the school leaders and teachers through emails, phone calls, Microsoft Teams, etc.