Background
Leadership For Skilled Education Foundation (branded as
Leadership for Equity
, LFE) is a non-profit organisation based in Pune, Maharashtra, working to strengthen India’s public education system so that every child learns and thrives. We envision public education systems that refuse to let children down.
LFE partners with state and district governments across multiple states—including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Haryana—to improve teaching practices and build sustained academic support structures within the public system. Our work is anchored in the belief that public education systems are the gatekeepers of social equity, and strengthening them is essential to ensuring that every child has access to strong foundational and future-ready learning.
Approach
LFE’s systems-change approach focuses on improving classroom practice and enabling government ownership through three core levers:
Co-creating high-quality curricular resources and building teacher capacity
Developing academic leadership to coach and mentor teachers
Providing data-driven advisory support and policy implementation guidance
Our model empowers teachers as instructional leaders and embeds long-term support through government-run mentor cadres, continuous classroom observation cycles, and in-system academic structures. Technology plays a critical role, including an in-house Classroom Observation App for real-time monitoring and a WhatsApp-based teacher support chatbot for contextual resource delivery.
The approach is iterative and context-responsive, grounded in classroom realities and tailored to state and district needs. Implementation varies across geographies—whether working directly with teachers or through government-appointed mentors—ensuring relevance and feasibility within existing structures. A continuous feedback loop of training, observation, and coaching moves beyond one-time interventions toward sustained practice change. All programs are co-designed and co-implemented with government partners to ensure scale, sustainability, and systemic ownership, ultimately leading to improved student learning outcomes in foundational and future literacy.
About Centre For Excellence in Teacher Education, TISS
Established as CEIAR in 2015, the CETE has been engaging with and promoting innovation in school curriculum, teacher education, and higher education curriculum and pedagogy. The Centre of Excellence in Teacher Education (CETE) will work towards revitalising the education sector through research, academic programs, teaching, field action, policy advocacy, partnerships, and collaborations. Their goal is to improve the learning outcomes of children across schools in India by equipping teachers with the necessary skills, knowledge, and attitudes.
CETE envisages its role as a "Catalyst for Transformation in Teacher Education" through multiple activities. The Centre continues to build on its contemporary academic programs to provide relevant skills and perspectives to new entrants, practising teachers, and professionals. It continues to strengthen deeper, meaningful, and impact-orientated engagements with various stakeholders in the sector, incubating and promoting the innovative use of new technologies and media to raise relevance, quality, and standards of education.
About Sadhana Teacher Excellence Lab
LFE, in partnership with CETE and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has established Sadhana Teacher Excellence Lab in Pune to revitalise the pre-service education space. The Centre aims to offer a part-time fellowship programme to strengthen the professional skills and academic competencies of young people aspiring to enter the teaching profession. It also seeks to improve the job readiness of aspiring teachers. To support this goal, the Centre will partner with schools and educational institutions to facilitate the placement of successful programme participants as teachers in these institutions.
The Centre will undertake the following activities:
Run reflective and immersive practice-oriented certificate programmes for youth with teaching degrees but who are unable to secure employment as a teacher.
Run online and in-person in-service certificate programmes to strengthen teachers’ pedagogical and subject competencies.
Function as a resource centre for teachers to learn and experiment in the spirit of continuous learning and development.
Blended courses in partnership with CETE-TISS
Theme-based workshops to enhance subject-based pedagogy
The scope of work for the project will be as follows:
Design and execute a fellowship for aspiring teachers rooted in immersive and reflective practice.
Conduct classes, field internships, and reflection sessions with course participants to enable successful mastery of learning competencies.
Partner with schools and educational institutions to facilitate placement for the successfully certified course participants.
Conduct ongoing monitoring and evaluation to assess project progress and outcomes.
Job Description and Responsibilities
The Senior Academic Associate will play a pivotal role in advancing the goals of the Teacher Excellence Lab by working closely with the Academic Lead to design, implement, and evaluate impactful teacher professional development initiatives as a part of the Sadhana Fellowship.
This role is a combination of high academic rigour with strong field engagement, contributing to shaping learning journeys for aspiring teachers, mentoring their growth, and ensuring strong collaboration with institutional partners. At the heart of this work is our mission to make teaching both aspirational and effective. The ideal candidate would be someone with prior classroom teaching experience, a strong understanding of adult learning principles, and an understanding of the role that attitude and mindset play in skill development. We are looking for someone who is both a reflective practitioner and a proactive contributor who thrives in a dynamic, collaborative environment.
The key responsibilities:
Program Implementation (50%)
Coach and mentor fellows through classroom observations, mentoring conversations, debriefs, demonstrations, and feedback sessions.
Design high-quality sessions for Modern Pedagogy to strengthen fellows’ pedagogical skills.
Conduct weekly in-person and virtual learning sessions for fellowship batches, with emphasis on engagement, reflection, and peer learning.
Contribute to the design and delivery of hands-on workshops, blended learning courses, and interactive learning content.
Design, execute, and support fellowship assignments across the program cycle.
Research, design, and create interactive content for teacher professional development courses.
Create PPTs, narration scripts, session plans, and digital learning materials like Google Sheets, Google Docs, Canva, Google Slides, etc
Design and implement assessments to measure knowledge mastery and application.
Conduct classroom observations or beneficiary interviews to gather feedback and refine learning content.
Support the operations team in organising workshops and sourcing fellows where needed.
Partnerships (25%)
Liaise effectively with schools, universities, and knowledge partners to ensure alignment, coordination, and collaboration.
Coordinate with internal and external facilitators for the smooth execution of fellowship courses.
Support the operations team by handholding the fellows for placement by preparing resumes and interview preparation, and also participating in the onboarding process with the recruiter.
Contribute to report writing for funders, internal teams, universities, and schools.
Support partnership-related coordination for programme success and external engagement.
Team Management (10%)
Design and execute effective fellow-mentor coaching mechanisms.
Create group structures for elevated coaching and mentoring support.
Manage a small team for effective programme implementation.
Coach team members to support their own professional growth.
Participate in organisational learning spaces and collaborative structures to contribute to team learning and growth.
Support the Academic Lead in coordinating work across the team to ensure timely execution.
Monitoring and Evaluation (15%)
Update and maintain data management systems and trackers as per the requirements of the programme using Google Sheets/Microsoft Excel
Design, execute, track, and evaluate fellowship assignments, progress, and outcomes across the programme cycle.
Design and implement assessments to measure learning outcomes and application.
Conduct classroom observations and beneficiary interviews to gather feedback for course refinement.
Support the Academic Lead in ensuring timely and quality project reporting.
Track outputs and help ensure achievement of intended outcomes.
Use evidence from observations, feedback, and assessments to refine learning content and program delivery.
Requirements:
Education & Experience
Postgraduate
degree in education
or a related field (M.Ed., M.A. Education, or equivalent).
Minimum 2 years
of classroom
teaching experience is mandatory.
4–5 years of experience
in education, teacher training, instructional design, or academic project coordination.
Prior experience mentoring teachers or fellows and facilitating teacher development programs.
Experience in designing blended learning or e-learning content preferred.
Familiarity with foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) initiatives and classroom practices.
Experience with conducting capacity-building workshops for adult learners (Age 19-40)
Experience with audio-visual content production or comfort exploring emerging AI tools for educational media development is desirable.
Knowledge, Skills & Capabilities
Strong functional command of
Marathi and English
, both oral and written.
Excellent writing, copy editing, and report synthesis skills.
Strong facilitation and presentation abilities.
Proficiency in digital content creation tools such as Videoscribe / Filmora, Articulate 360, and Adobe Premiere Pro.
Experience in setting up and managing Google Classroom, Google Sites, or other learning management systems (LMS).
High level of ownership, initiative, and ability to manage multiple priorities independently.
Strong interpersonal skills to build and sustain relationships with diverse partners and stakeholders.
Adaptability to evolving project needs and resilience in the face of challenges.
Openness to continuous learning and reflective practice.
Location and Compensation
Location
: Pune, Maharashtra, but with regular travel to schools across the city on a weekly basis.
Compensation
: In addition to being part of a young and dynamic learning team, the individual will receive healthy compensation at par with the non-profit sector benchmark for this position, commensurate with the individual’s prior experience and qualifications.The current compensation band offered, based on fit and experience
, is 6.5 - 7.5 lakh INR
per annum CTC
.
Leadership for Equity is an Equal Opportunity Employer and Prohibits Discrimination and Harassment of Any Kind. We do not discriminate on the basis of caste, race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other non-merit factor.
