How we work with schools

During the enrolment process

Our Enrolment Info page has detailed information on the enrolment process and course pricing. But sometimes it's nice to communicate directly with a real person. Our School Services Managers in Oxford are there to answer any questions you may have, and are ready to enrol your students now for courses starting September 2011. You can contact a School Services Manager by email (anytime) or call +44 1865 636 100 (during UK office hours, or outside of these hours by appointment). You may also contact a School Services Manager using one of the Expression of Interest forms on the Enrolment Info or Contact Us pages of this website.

School Services Managers are part of our academic administration team, reporting to our Principal. While they share our entire team's enthusiasm for what we do, you can expect their guidance and support, not a "hard sell". It is in the interest of students, schools and Pamoja Education to ensure that there is an optimal match between students and the courses they will be taking online.

During the course

A successful and rewarding online course experience requires close cooperation and communication between the student, the Pamoja Education teacher and the student's school.

Pamoja Education teachers

Pamoja Education teachers are experienced IB teachers who have received special training in online pedagogy. They understand the unique opportunities, but also the inherent challenges (e.g. student self-discipline and personal organisation) presented by the online environment, and they work with students to develop the necessary personal, organisational and academic skills. In addition to leading and moderating classroom discussions and activities, teachers interact frequently with their students on a 1:1 basis, through real-time online discussions. They also conduct regular office hours, during which they can communicate with students, individually or in groups, through VoIP or videoconference.

Pamoja Education teachers provide regular and detailed feedback to IB World Schools® regarding the performance of their students and are available by email or phone if schools have questions or concerns. Students (and their schools) receive a written evaluation of their performance every two weeks.

School Site-based Coordinators ("SBCs")

The Site-based Coordinator ("SBC") is our primary point of contact within a school, and is appointed by the school administration. The SBC role is to facilitate communication between the online teacher, the student and (when necessary) the student's parents or guardian. An SBC may be a teacher (in any subject), a school administrator, a guidance counsellor, librarian, technology specialist, or another person able to provide the necessary support and guidance.

Ordinarily, the SBC will check in on a student´s participation and performance once a week. This could be as simple as spending a few minutes looking over the student´s shoulder while he or she works online. However, there will also be occasional situations in which an online teacher asks for the SBC´s support. This might be the case when a student isn't logging in to the course regularly, or is logging in but performing poorly, and the online teacher is uncertain about the reasons. Similarly, there may be situations where a student feels overwhelmed or in some way dissatisfied with his or her course or course performance. In such cases, the SBC can help us to get things back on track.

Pamoja provides SBCs with comprehensive online training, using many of the same tools students will be using in their coursework. Our School Services Managers would be happy to discuss SBC qualifications and training with you in more detail.