The role of educators at Amala
At the heart of Amala's transformational education model are our dedicated educators who guide students through their courses, both for the Amala Global Secondary Diploma and our Changemaker Courses.
The naming of educators for Amala’s Global Secondary Diploma (GSD) programme has evolved. Previously known as Learning Facilitators, these professionals are now called Amala Educators, to reflect the full scope of their responsibilities and abilities. Amala Educators are responsible for the teaching, learning, and overall wellbeing of a group of Amala students, supporting their development throughout their educational journey here at Amala.
Our educators are hired from the local communities where our programmes are run, and many educators, like our students, are refugees themselves. For the Amala GSD, we recruit those who have a deep understanding of the context of our students, which enables them to adapt the curriculum to ensure that learning is meaningful and relevant to students’ circumstances.
“Our students come from communities affected by wars, hunger, and many other challenges. We contextualise learning by using relevant examples from our communities, use local materials for activities that resonate with our community, incorporate learning that is applicable in the local context, and ask students to do research in the local community.”
Our alumni are the fiercest advocates for the strength of the Amala learning model, and those who have learnt on the Amala Global Secondary Diploma (GSD) have an even greater understanding of how transformative an educational experience the programme can be. This is why many Amala alumni apply and are hired by us as educators to facilitate the GSD: it is an opportunity to both recreate the learning experience for the following cohorts of students, and to secure an employment pathway after graduating.
“Being both alumnus and educator helps to create transformative learning experiences by having dual experiences helps to build trust and rapport with students. They see me as someone who has successfully navigated the path they are on, making my advice and guidance more credible and impactful. Also, I’m able to make learning more relevant and meaningful by connecting it to real-life experiences and future opportunities. This relevance helps to engage students more deeply and fosters a sense of purpose in their learning.”
The role of an Amala educator goes far beyond the classroom. Our educators also provide one-to-one support with learning, wellbeing, and pathways advising. For the Global Secondary Diploma, educators work closely with students to ensure that they are evidencing their learning and demonstrating competency across different areas in order to meet the requirements to graduate from the accredited programme.
“I really enjoy the educator role as it is different to just teaching. With teaching you mainly focus on passing on the information without having the students develop their skills. It’s like in school or university where you memorise information. Whereas being an educator is all about helping the students discover their skills and developing their personalities into the best versions of themselves.”
Amala Educators do not need formal teaching qualifications, and instead, all new GSD educators take part in the Amala Educator Development Programme, where they learn about designing, facilitating and improving transformational learning. Beyond this programme, educators partake in ongoing training such as workshops, professional learning, and coaching in order to continuously improve the impact they have on student learning and outcomes.
“This programme helped me develop meaningful learning experiences that students use to change things around them. Without the programme, I would not be capable to create equivalent learning experiences.”
Amala Changemaker Courses are delivered by mission-aligned partner organisations across the world, through a wide network of educators. In the next strategic period, Amala will extend our educator training to Changemaker course educators, further embedding our approach to transformational learning and investing in educators who are from the communities that they serve.
This interview is the third in our series about Amala Educators. To make sure you don’t miss out on future stories, follow us on social media (amala_edu on X and Instagram, Amala Education on Facebook and Linkedin) and sign up to our newsletter.