Senior Academic Manager English and School Education

We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. For 90 years we have shaped brighter futures through education, arts, culture, language, and creativity.

Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries.

We connect. We inspire.

British Council Payband 7

Contract Type: 1-year Fixed-Term Contract, with the possibility of renewal.

Location: Jakarta, Indonesia

Closing Date: 21st October 2026 (22.59 WIB)

You must have the legal right to work in Indonesia at the time of application.
There is no relocation or visa sponsorship support.

Role Purpose:

This role provides technical sector expertise to the English and School Education portfolio of contracts and programmes. The postholder contributes to business development and quality, compliant delivery of programmes and contracts to improve standards of the teaching, learning and assessment of English. They also actively share knowledge, expertise and best practice from their country’s operation with the global English and School Education team and externally.

Role Context

Cultural Engagement (CE) is one of two global strategic departments within the British Council. It brings together our work in Arts, Education, English & School Education and research. With a workforce of approximately 1000 globally and an income in 2024/25 of £200 million CE delivers impact through research and insight, sector engagement, policy dialogue and a mixed portfolio of commercial and Grant and Partnership Funded (GPF) work globally. CE delivers much of its work through a suite of global programmes/ programmatic frameworks aligned to the British Council’s strategic outcomes.

The aim of the English and School Education portfolio of work is to support the improvement of teaching and learning in formal and non-formal basic education systems. English and School Education’s work is organised into three globally-operating programmes, each of which has a range of projects all working towards common objectives and outcomes:

English Connects – open and online professional development opportunities, communities, events and resources for school leaders, teacher educators, teachers and other education professionals

School Systems – support to international basic education systems and governments, with particular focus on language policy and practice, foundational learning, professional development, equitable access to and utilisation of education technology, and supporting women and girls to access quality education 

Empowerment – building English language, digital and core skills where it empowers disadvantaged girls and young women, displaced people, economically and ethnically marginalised youth and disabled people.

The English and School Education team delivers these programmes in country through policy advice, research and insight, and the delivery of grant, co-funded and full cost recovery contracts and programmes in more than 50 countries in collaboration with UK and international partners, ministries of education, education and donor agencies.

In Indonesia, we deliver School Systems and Empowerment global programmes. We Governments of Indonesia at the national and sub-national level to improve teaching quality, English in education, life skills for young people, and girls’ education. The focus of our work under School Systems is to support the implementation of reintroduction of English in primary school starting grade 3 in 2027. Under the Empowerment programme, we support marginalised young people including those with disabilities to enhance the English‑language abilities and life skills of marginalised youth and persons with disabilities to support their aspirations and improve future opportunities.

To learn more please visit: https://www.britishcouncil.id/en/programmes

Main accountabilities

Strategy and planning 

• Contribute to business planning process (aligned to the corporate planning annual timetable). This includes providing inputs for quarterly business reviews, reviewing of progress against global financial and non-financial targets and driving continual improvement to successfully deliver the plan for global and agreed UK-led sector programmes, as part of the global business plan.
• Plan and manage learning and development and capacity building for English and School Education colleagues and others, in relation to academic areas.
• Contribute to developing effective impact narratives related to the themes within our English and School Education portfolio, aligned to the strategic vision and corporate strategic evidence map.

Consultancy, analysis and problem-solving

• Support the technical writing for evidence-based bids / proposals ensuring mainstreaming of EDI and a minimum of gender sensitive programming.
• Work with global and country colleagues to ensure compliance during the proposal process.
• Develop English-focused projects in line with global English and School Education (ESE) strategy and under the three global programme areas (see above).
• Contribute to the development of global programmes by sharing experience and expertise from the country of operation.
• Promote and support the integration of evidence-informed principles for effective continuing professional development (CPD) with project participants and partners.
• Ensure mainstreaming of EDI and a minimum of gender sensitive programming within ESE programme development in line with British Council policy.

Relationship and stakeholder management

• Develop and maintain an active English sector network to augment and raise awareness of the British Council’s / UK’s expertise and engagement in English.
• Undertake a proactive role in identifying, developing links with and maintaining a network of strategic partners in-country and in the UK for project collaboration.
• Build relationships with partners, stakeholders and clients in the ESE portfolio.
• Play a proactive role in the global network of ESE colleagues for knowledge sharing, communications and developments within ESE.

Portfolio and product improvement

• Quality assure project inputs – e.g. resources, publications, etc. – and support teams / consultants to develop and finalise.
• Deliver timely project outputs to a high standard, ensure best practice in monitoring and evaluation.
• Support the professional development of academic resource (internal and freelance) in country and globally, where appropriate.

Sector expertise: Monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL)

• Support robust MEL approaches across the ESE portfolio.
• Undertake monitoring reviews of contracts and programmes in the portfolio to check for delivery against expectations, indicating to senior management in advance where delivery issues are arising. In partnership with delivery teams, develop strategic responses to any perceived or actual failings identified.
• Collate, analyse and disseminate country-level data to communicate about project impact, internally and externally.
• Identify and contribute to the development of reusable intellectual assets, sector specific ‘products’ arising from delivery and ensure that lesson learning is captured, disseminated and used to inform future programming.

Sector expertise: thought leadership

• Oversee research and scoping exercises as required. Contribute to the development of a bank of ESE data, including trends in the field of English in education systems and data on competitor and partner landscapes. Participate in the insight analysis process associated with this and make recommendations from this which informs and supports discussion on country strategy.
• Use English language teaching (ELT) sector expertise to represent the British Council’s perspective and demonstrate the UK’s thought leadership in relevant external forums.
• Develop and maintain an authoritative knowledge of the local context with particular relevance to ESE project activity in relation to our seven thematic areas (English in education; Teaching quality; Leadership in education; Girls’ education; Crisis and displacement; Life skills for young people; Language in foundational learning) and ensure that knowledge is shared internally.
• Support internal and external communications to showcase ESE activity and impact, through reports, case studies, blog posts, articles, presentations, etc.

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)

• Consistently create an inclusive and anti-racist organisational culture, being aware of your own biases and taking action to mitigate against these. Ensuring people feel valued and are treated equitably, with support for people’s well-being and mental health particularly through periods of significant change.
• Have a deep understanding of and take accountability for putting the British Council’s approach to equality, diversity and inclusion and anti-racism into practice. To make time for and visibly engage with learning and development related to EDI and anti-racism.

Role specific knowledge and experience: 

Minimum/Essential Requirements

• Postgraduate qualification in related field and/or Diploma ELT (TEFL-Q)
• English teaching qualification
• Experience designing and delivering professional development programmes in national education systems at pre-school, primary, secondary or tertiary level (including with substantial use of educational technology)
• Experience of leading monitoring, evaluation and learning processes (including design) for English projects
• Experience managing teacher education content development projects and/or advising on produce and service development for use in projects
• Experience of engaging with diverse stakeholders including multilateral agencies, donors, government officials, academics the global / UK English language teaching sector

Desirable Requirements

• Qualification with specialism in use of educational technology for English language teaching / education
• Experience of contributing to research projects, conference presentations and publications in the field of English language teaching
• Experience of leading on quality assurance of teacher education projects
• Understanding of issues in English Medium Education in education systems – pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary
• Understanding of the UK’s English language teaching sector and how its expertise and resources could contribute to education projects overseas

Language Requirements

The British Council systems and global processes operate in English. Written and verbal proficiency in English is required.

A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Statement

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from all sections of the community as we believe that a diverse workforce gives added depth to our work. The British Council is a Disability Confident Employer. The Disability Confident scheme helps challenge attitudes, increase understanding of disability and ensure staff are drawn from the widest possible pool of talent. We guarantee an interview for disabled applicants who meet the minimum role requirements. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities.

Safeguarding Statement

The British Council is committed to safeguarding children, young people and adults who we work with. We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19, UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989. Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed in line with legal requirements and with the British Council’s Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children.

If you experience any difficulties with submitting your application, please email askhr@britishcouncil.org