The Royal Academy consists of the School, Teacher Development Centre (TDC) & Educational Research Centre (ERC). Together these create an environment of active learning which the students can feel. Creating opportunities for teachers to play an active role in their own and the school's development facilitates a culture of engagement and ownership, developing a strong teacher professional identity.
The Teacher Development Centre facilitates teachers to take ownership of their own growth, helping their colleagues and students grow in the process. Students & teachers create personalised learning Roadmaps based on 5 Areas of Development; Cerebral, Emotional, Spiritual, Physical and Social. These roadmaps are collated by coordinators who create an integrated whole school roadmap. By including teachers' development aspirations within the context of the whole school roadmap, we are able to design unique opportunities for teacher development. This creates opportunities for teachers and students to be involved in each other's growth. In this manner everyone is a learner and a teacher within our learning community. Students are involved in providing professional development for the teachers.
We have partnered with institutions around the world to create custom courses for our teachers. Since 2014, we have been designing professional development workshops with teachers in Bhutan, India & Oman ranging from a week to 15 months.
In 2020, we began creating an online course for in-service teachers who wished to further their professional development. This course was piloted by the Royal Academy in 2020 and launched to in-service teachers in Bhutan in January 2021. By December 2021, we are hoping to make the course available to anyone interested.
A preview of the course is available here - https://theroyalacademy.learnworlds.com/course/introduction-to-the-five-areas-of-development
1. Students and teachers create individual Roadmaps
2. Establish coordinators (volunteers) to review & collate individual roadmaps into a whole school roadmap
3. Engage in identified opportunities (e.g. research, peer mentoring, collaboration, incorporating technology)
4. Reflect & Review
- Community evolves the roadmap to constantly Raise their Bar
