Amala’s Collaboration with the Mastery Transcript Consortium

Creating a transcript for the Amala High School Diploma

According to the most recent statistics from the UNHCR, almost half of the 79.5 million people displaced worldwide are children. While basic primary education is provided to refugees, many displaced youth are unable to access a secondary education, let alone think about continuing on to university. In fact, only 23% of displaced youth have the opportunity to go to high school.

This was one of the driving factors that spurred Amala into developing the first international secondary education programme for refugees. While a huge emphasis of Amala’s learning model is on agency, innovation and problem solving, to enable students to become changemakers in their communities, the programme is also designed to improve their prospects of higher education, work and entrepreneurship opportunities.

One challenge in creating the Amala High School Diploma has been in developing a student learning transcript that both reflects the learning that takes place within Amala, and which will be recognised by higher education institutions and workplaces. We are delighted to announce that we have been able to do so, and formally ensure that our Amala students will be graduating from the programme with a transcript in hand, thanks to a partnership with the Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC).

Amala joins MTC as part of their growing network of member schools who are introducing the MTC Mastery Transcript,™ a digital high school transcript that opens up opportunities for each and every student to have their unique strengths, abilities, interests, and histories fostered, understood, and celebrated. MTC is a nonprofit organisation focused on supporting schools in their journey to mastery or competency-based learning and ultimately to the new transcript. MTC is also working collaboratively with higher education to ensure the Mastery Transcript meets the needs of a diverse range of college admissions offices.

“Education and gaining credit is changing and there is a growing movement away from central examination boards to relevant education which helps to demonstrate competence and learning in action,” said Theresa Forbes, Head of Recognition and Progression Pathways at Amala. “Along with a number of other learning organisations Amala has opted at this stage to register its student learning through the MTC, whose values and mission strongly align with Amala.”

“The Mastery Transcript Consortium® (MTC) is honored and excited to partner with Amala and displaced youth in the newly launching high school diploma program,” says Patricia C. Russell, Chief Education Officer at MTC. “Amala is an important member in the global network of schools introducing a digital high school transcript that opens up opportunity for each and every student — from all backgrounds, locations, and types of schools — to have their unique strengths, abilities, interests, and histories fostered, understood, and celebrated.”

The Amala Core team has been working with the Mastery Transcript Consortium to develop a transcript tailored to the Amala High School Diploma. The transcript will be made up of individual credits which can be achieved at Foundational or Advanced levels. Each credit sits within one of the Amala Diploma’s seven mastery credit areas:

Throughout the Diploma, students will have opportunities to curate and gather evidence of their learning to help make it visible to others through a variety of media. A sample of the transcript overview can be seen below:

The transcript will enable Amala students to graduate with a Diploma that paints a picture of how they have developed during their studies. With this in hand, young refugees will be better placed to pursue university or employment options, unlocking more opportunities.

Learn more about Amala and the Diploma Programme here.