Vice Principal - Academic Affairs

Job Title: Vice Principal - Academic Affairs

Management Structure

Reporting To: Head of Programs

Direct Reports: All HOD, Learning Lab, and CBT Supervisor

Work Location: Birendranagar-1, Surkhet

About Kopila Valley School

Kopila Valley School (KVS), located in Dharapani, Birendranagar, Surkhet, is a green and sustainable school providing quality and inclusive education to more than 450 students from preschool to Grade 12, primarily from Karnali Province and other parts of Nepal. KVS combines Nepal’s national curriculum with experiential, environmental, community-based, and global learning. The school encourages students to learn from their surroundings while developing academic, social, leadership, life, and career skills. Beyond academics, KVS prioritizes students’ overall well-being through learning materials, meals, counselling, health-care services, and career guidance. Through its focus on sustainability, inclusion, and community engagement, the school aims to nurture confident, caring, and responsible young people.

About the Role

The Vice Principal – Academic Affairs at Kopila Valley School plays a key role in leading and strengthening the school’s academic program across ECV, Primary, and Secondary levels. Reporting to the Head of Programs, the role works closely with the Principal, HODs, Coordinators, teachers, and other departments to ensure that the school’s academic priorities are effectively planned and implemented. The Vice Principal supports and guides HODs and teachers through classroom observations, regular feedback, coaching, professional development, curriculum and academic planning, and assessment. The role also uses student learning data to identify areas where students need additional support and works with teachers and relevant teams to improve learning outcomes. The role also focuses on creating a safe, inclusive, engaging, and student-centered learning environment where students feel heard, encouraged to think critically, and motivated to learn. Through strong collaboration with teachers, students, parents, and school leadership, the Vice Principal helps strengthen teaching practices, improve student achievement, and continuously enhance the quality of education at KVS.

In collaboration with the BlinkNow Foundation, this role will help strengthen a positive, inclusive, and high-performing school culture—characterized by respect, collaboration, accountability, solution-oriented thinking, and professionalism—aiming to position KVS as a globally high-performing school.

Core Responsibilities

1. Academic Leadership & Instructional Excellence: Lead the academic vision, curriculum implementation, instructional quality, and continuous improvement across all school levels.
2. Student Learning, Performance & Teacher Development: Strengthen student learning outcomes through data-driven approaches, targeted interventions, assessment systems, teacher supervision, coaching, and professional development.
3. Academic Culture, Safeguarding & Student Engagement: Foster a positive, inclusive, safe, and academically rigorous learning environment that promotes student voice, critical thinking, holistic development, and safeguarding.
4. Stakeholder Engagement and Academic Coordination: Build strong collaboration among school leadership, teachers, students, parents, and relevant departments to ensure academic priorities are aligned with the overall school strategy.

Detailed Responsibilities

1. Academic Leadership & Instructional Excellence: Lead the academic vision, curriculum implementation, instructional quality, and continuous improvement across all school levels.

• Lead the overall academic vision of the school and ensure effective implementation of the curriculum across ECV, Primary, and Secondary levels.
• Supervise and support HODs in academic leadership, including department meetings, lesson planning, markbooks, assessment practices, and student-teacher feedback.
• Promote and model student-centered, inquiry-based, experiential, and innovative teaching approaches across all grade levels.
• Conduct regular classroom observations independently and in collaboration with the Principal and HODs, providing structured, constructive, and actionable feedback.
• Ensure teaching and learning practices are aligned with internal academic standards, CDC requirements, and relevant international best practices.
• Lead academic planning processes, including the annual academic calendar, timetables, curriculum mapping, instructional planning, and regular professional development for HODs and teachers.
• Support the implementation and monitoring of the student Code of Conduct in collaboration with the relevant school supervisors.
• Teach 1–2 classes daily for relevant grades and subjects, to model exemplary teaching practices, strong student engagement, and effective instructional strategies.

2. Student Learning, Performance & Teacher Development: Strengthen student learning outcomes through data-driven approaches, targeted interventions, assessment systems, teacher supervision, coaching, and professional development.

• Establish systems to diagnose, track, analyze, and improve student learning outcomes using relevant academic data.
• Ensure timely and effective implementation of assessments, including ReAL, EGRA, EGMA, BLE, SEE, Board Exams, School Finals, DAP, and other relevant assessments.
• Ensure assessment results are effectively analyzed and used to provide meaningful feedback and improve student learning.
• Design and implement targeted intervention strategies for academically at-risk students in collaboration with the Learning Lab, HODs, Coordinators, and relevant teachers.
• Develop and oversee additional academic support and tuition programs before and after school, during weekends, and school breaks as required.
• Ensure timely and effective implementation of the KVS Teacher Evaluation process and provide constructive feedback for professional growth.
• Mentor, coach, and support HODs, Coordinators, and teachers to strengthen instructional practice, classroom management, and student engagement.
• Identify teacher capacity gaps and lead professional development initiatives, including training, workshops, orientations, peer learning, and coaching.
• Work with the administration team and relevant KVS departments to develop effective student and teacher schedules that meet CDC requirements and organizational academic priorities.

3. Academic Culture, Safeguarding & Student Engagement: Foster a positive, inclusive, safe, and academically rigorous learning environment that promotes student voice, critical thinking, holistic development, and safeguarding.

• Promote a learning culture that encourages critical thinking, curiosity, student voice, creativity, and active participation.
• Ensure the consistent implementation of child protection and safeguarding policies across academic activities and functions.
• Serve as a focal point for academic safeguarding concerns and ensure timely reporting, follow-up, and appropriate resolution.
• Strengthen student engagement through meaningful co-curricular and extracurricular activities aligned with academic and learning outcomes.
• Promote an inclusive learning environment that recognizes and responds to diverse student needs.
• Ensure academic expectations and student behavior standards are consistently communicated and maintained.
• Collaborate with the Health & Wellness, Learning Lab, Sustainability, Futures, and other relevant departments to support students’ holistic development.

4. Stakeholder Engagement and Academic Coordination: Build strong collaboration among school leadership, teachers, students, parents, and relevant stakeholders to strengthen academic outcomes.

• Work closely with the School Chairperson, Head of Programs, Principal, HODs, Coordinators, HR, and other school departments to align academic priorities with the overall school strategy.
• Build positive and collaborative relationships with students, parents, teachers, and the wider community to support student learning and well-being.
• Facilitate regular academic meetings with HODs and teachers and ensure effective follow-up on agreed actions.
• Communicate academic priorities, expectations, progress, and areas for improvement clearly to relevant stakeholders.
• Collaborate with school leadership and relevant departments to address academic challenges and identify opportunities for innovation and improvement.
• Support school-wide initiatives, events, and programs that contribute to student learning, leadership, community engagement, and holistic development.
• Represent the academic function in relevant internal and external meetings and contribute to the continuous improvement of KVS’s academic programs.

Additional expectations

• Build positive working relationships and foster a solution-oriented, professional working environment.
• Demonstrate professionalism, accountability, and integrity in all interactions and responsibilities.
• Report to the Principal on a weekly basis, and provide updates as needed for urgent matters.
• Ensure alignment of the team with organization-wide decisions and priorities.
• Maintain strict confidentiality in handling all data and sensitive information.
• Actively promote gender equity, inclusion, and sustainability across academic practices.
• The above list of responsibilities is not comprehensive, and the Vice Principal - Academic Affairs may be required to take on additional responsibilities, as determined by his/her Manager.

REQUIREMENTS

Education

• Master’s degree in Education or a related field.

Experience and Skills

• At least 7 years of relevant professional experience in the education sector, with demonstrated experience in school administration, academic leadership, teacher development, and areas relevant to this role.
• Strong understanding of education-related laws, policies, standards, and compliance requirements, including relevant Government of Nepal and CDC provisions.
• Demonstrated experience in academic leadership, curriculum implementation, instructional supervision, teacher coaching, and student learning improvement.
• Experience working with international organizations, international education standards, or multicultural teams is highly desirable.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills, with the ability to work effectively with students, teachers, school leadership, parents, government stakeholders, and other partners.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, mentoring, and problem-solving skills.
• Strong organizational and planning skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and work independently.
• Proficiency in using digital tools and technology for academic planning, communication, data analysis, assessment, reporting, and school management.
• Commitment to child safeguarding, inclusion, gender equity, sustainability, and student-centered education.

Language

• Excellent command of spoken and written English and Nepali.

Key Characteristics

• You believe that we can change the world, in the blink of an eye
• You believe in making decisions that put children first
• You are self-motivated, organized, and approachable
• You enjoy creating systems, keeping records, and increasing efficiency
• You are always looking for new ways for our team to work smarter instead of harder
• You are detail-oriented and conscientious. You make sure nothing slips through the cracks
• You have a strong work ethic and a willingness to pick up new skills. You are comfortable multi-tasking
• You are experienced and comfortable talking with a wide range of people from nursery children to government ministers
• You are positive, patient, and a clear communicator who is comfortable working with both Kopila Valley staff in Nepal and the BlinkNow staff in the United States
• You are an empathetic person, with a knack for putting out fires before they start and soothing conflicts brewing beneath the surface
• You require little supervision and are flexible. You understand that you will be wearing many hats in this role, many of which are not explicitly included in this job description

Application Procedure

If you think this career opportunity will amplify your career growth, we encourage you to apply by clicking “Apply for this Job” and submit all required document before If your application is a good fit, we will follow up with you directly for the screening process. No telephone inquiries will be entertained. We accept and screen applications on a rolling basis.