Head of Teaching and Learning

ROLE SUMMARY

LEAF Academy is entering its second decade. Having established an international reputation for learning-centered education, we are creating the role of Head of Teaching & Learning to make our programs even more intentional, learning, and societally relevant. 

We are looking for a leader who is energised by this challenge, someone who:

• holds high standards without being rigid, 

• knows what good learning looks like and practices it, and

• builds and maintains relationships and structures that support it.

Your mission is to ensure the Academy’s learning programs are intentional, coherent, consistently delivered, and forward-looking in ways that meaningfully enhance student learning. 

Your key deliverable is a learning community where curriculum is coherent, teaching practice is improving, and the structures that make this possible are clear and sustainable.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

Curriculum & Academic Standards

• Program Architecture: Lead curriculum development and oversight across all learning programs. Ensure clear learning paths for various students’ goals and needs.

• Quality Assurance: Use class-level data and classroom walkthroughs to monitor learning quality. Ensure feedback to teachers is evidence-based and focused on learner outcomes.

• Compliance: Ensure all academic policies in the Student Handbook are current, enforceable, and applied meaningfully across the learning community.

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Teaching Staffulty Development & Leadership​

• Professional Standards: Mentor staffulty to ensure professional behaviors are understood, consistently lived, and documented across the learning community.

• Training & Growth: Lead training that deepens teaching practice and strengthens the link between how teachers teach and how students learn. 

• Climate: Nurture an environment that balances high expectations with genuine support, empowering colleagues to reflect on and elevate their professional practice.​

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Innovation & Future Design

• ​AI Emergent Strategy: Model the use of AI to improve teaching and learning quality.

• Interdisciplinary Design: Support teachers to build curriculum connections around shared skills and values so that what students learn in one context deepens and applies in another.

• Pedagogical Innovation: Track developments in teaching and learning. Introduce evidence-based approaches that strengthen the school's shared understanding of what effective learning looks like.​

Selection Criteria

Candidates will be evaluated on the following weighted evidence:

• Culture of Competence: High-quality teaching evidenced by student and colleague respect. Consistently on time, organized, and professional.

• Appetite for Change:  Ability to identify where current practice falls short and articulate a clear, evidence-based case for improvement. Committed to rigor without rigidity.

• Interdisciplinary Design: Proven ability or clear vision to design learning experiences that connect academic content to the school's values across departments.

• Climate & Motivation: Ability to inspire colleagues. Open-minded and energetic approach to leadership while maintaining high standards.

• Student Rapport: A track record of building trust-based relationships with students that result in better academic engagement and progress.

• System Building: Documented success in creating or improving structures that improved an underperforming situation — a colleague, a process, a student, or a program.

• Innovation & AI Integration: A practical strategy for AI use to improve student learning and operational efficiency. An active AI user with demonstrated classroom or operational application.

Why LEAF Academy?

The Academy is right for you if you want to contribute to a brighter future for Slovakia and Central Europe by transforming our education. At LEAF Academy, work is more than a job: it’s a calling to help young people understand and develop Character, Excellence, Entrepreneurial Leadership, and Civic Engagement.

What we offer:

• A Learning Community: As an NEASC-accredited institution, we uphold the highest global standards of educational excellence while fostering a sense of local belonging.

• Deeply Purposeful Work: You’ll mentor and inspire young minds, helping students turn their ideas into real-world projects that improve their communities.

• Your Own Growth Engine: We believe in our staff as much as our students. You’ll enjoy a supportive environment that encourages you to innovate, take risks, and develop yourself and others.

• Innovation in the Heart of Bratislava: Join us in our modern building where tradition meets future-oriented pedagogy. You will have the scope to build and improve systems that affect every person in the school — staffulty, students, and families. It is operational work with genuine institutional impact.