Schools Examinations Manager at British Council Nigeria

The British Council is the UK's international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We work in over 100 countries worldwide to build engagement and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people.

The British Council is looking for a suitably qualified and experienced individual to join the organization as Schools Examinations Manager.

Job Title: Schools Examinations Manager

Location: Abuja
Duration of Job: Indefinite
Reports to: DCEM Nigeria

Purpose of Job
To support Examination Services in Nigeria in developing markets for and delivering Schools exams; to maintain them at the highest professional standards as set out in the British Council's EQS (Examination Quality Standards), project outcomes, examinations boards and partners.

Context and environment:

• Nigeria Exams is the largest British Council exams business in the Sub Saharan Africa region. It administers exams in four subject areas: Schools, Professional/Vocational, Educational on behalf of UK institutions and IELTS. In 2013-14 we will deliver roughly 75,000 exams to 25,000 candidates. The team comprises 22 people and are based mainly in Lagos with 5 in Abuja and 4 in Port Harcourt.
• This role will lead on business development of UK schools exams in Nigeria and will also lead the development of the Exams offer of teacher professional development with other British Council departments.  The post will support the delivery of Schools Exams in Abuja and Port Harcourt, in addition to other administrative duties.  The post holder will lead of a team of 3 in Lagos who administer the growing Schools Exams business in Western Nigeria, ensuring quality and compliance as well as control of income and expenditure to deliver on target.

Accountabilities and responsibilities:
(including people management and finance)

• Financial control, monitoring and reporting: to manage the School exams business to target by monitoring and reporting income and costs on a monthly basis
• Business growth: to grow the business and set country business strategy with CEM
• Reliability: to ensure examinations are delivered securely according to board requirements
• Quality: to deliver a high standard of customer service to our schools and their candidates. As measured by our own Exams Quality Standards and the inspection visits from Cambridge International Exams.
• Leadership: to manage and motivate the School Exams team to achieve challenging objectives
• The Schools Exams Manager is responsible for developing relations with current and future attached schools in order to meet business targets.
• Impact: to achieve impact for the UK and the BC through providing access to quality UK qualifications

Main duties:

Examination delivery

• Responsibility for the full cycle of operations of school examinations. To ensure that Schools Examinations in Nigeria are delivered to examination board, partners and EQS standards. To assist in delivery at peak times.
• Compliance: To manage regular inspection visits from examination boards as well as for carrying out regular inspections to schools themselves, monitoring security processes against standards set by the examination board and EQS. Good record keeping is essential of all visits made. To conduct spot checks where necessary.
• To respond to and implement appropriately recommendations from exam boards, partners and EQS reviewers.
• To identify areas for increased efficiency in examination delivery and prepare plans to implement these.
• To keep a database of malpractice cases, to monitor these nationally and investigate cases further where necessary.  To work towards minimizing cases of suspected malpractice.
• To substitute for schools exams colleagues in Lagos.

Business Development, Marketing & Customer Service

• Planning for Growth: responsibility for increasing the number of school examinations as outlined in the Marketing Action Plan (MAP); working with CEM on the Schools section of the MAP and planning targets for future years.
• To develop and manage a programme of visits to schools to build relationships with existing and potential clients to meet business targets.
• To issue a quarterly newsletter to all attached centres.
• To collect and analyse qualitative and quantitative marketing data in order to contribute to the marketing action plan and support business development.
• Seek and use customer feedback to improve service delivery.

Teacher Training & Educational Projects

• To develop and manage a Nigeria-wide network of teacher and schools co-ordinator development groups for current and future attached centres.
• To plan teacher training and schools co-ordinator development events for attached and potential attached schools.
• To work with CEM/GFS project managers in the planning and delivery of schools-specific events.

Venue Staff

• To oversee the recruitment, training and monitoring team for schools exams venue staff for Nigeria.
• To ensure training of venue staff in Nigeria for schools examinations is appropriate and takes into account feedback from partners and quality checks.

Budget Management

• To assist CEM in planning activity and then to assist on monitoring and managing income and expenditure to agreed targets. To report on these targets monthly.
• To identify areas for budget savings while retaining value for money.

Finance

• To oversee the preparation of Lagos income reconciliations to agreed timescales.
• To ensure income is recorded correctly on the FABS system and in a timely manner. Copied: www.hotnigerianjobs.com

Line Management

• To line manage up to 6 members of staff according to essential HR standards.

General Management

• To contribute to Nigeria Exams team objectives by attending and contributing to staff meetings.
• To substitute for management team members.
• Key relationships:
• Internal: Outreach Schools Officer, Country Exams Manager, Deputy Country Exams Manager, Centre Manager Port Harcourt, Schools Officers in Port Harcourt and Abuja; Country Director.
• External: CIE UK and SSA representatives, School Principals, Schools examinations co-ordinators, professional teaching associations, venue staff, enquirers, candidates, customer service staff, Regional Exams Managers.

Other important features or requirements of the job
(e.g. travel, unsocial/evening hours, restrictions on employment etc)

• Travel to administer/monitor/promote examinations and training events in centres outside of Lagos is required, as are overnight and weekend stays. Examination delivery deadlines are absolute; therefore, out of hours working may be required in order to meet these deadlines.

Qualifications and Skills

• Minimum of first degree in an education-related field or NCE.
• Minimum of 3 years relevant teaching/work experience at secondary level, preferably in an international context.
  
• Business Management and Development - Level 1
• Computer Skills - Level 1
• Marketing and Customer Service -Level 1
• English Language proficiency to IELTS band 7.0 in all areas (or equivalent).
• Good presentation skills. Copied: hotnigerianjobs.com
• Knowledge of the education and qualification systems in the UK and Nigeria.

Application Closing Date
12th June, 2013

Method of Application
Interested and qulafied candidates should please read through the Schools Examinations Manager role profile. Download and complete the British Council application form . To help you understand and complete the application form, read through the "How to complete the application" document on the jobs page. Listed within the role profile document, you will find a number of listed "behaviours" and "skills and knowledge". Evidence against those criteria will need to be provided in your role application form. To help you understand those criteria, we have provided a "behaviours" and "generic skills" dictionary at the top of the jobs page.

Completed application forms should be submitted to: [email protected]

Note: Only applications received on the British Council application form will be considered and only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
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