What's your Ikigai?

Didn't think I'd start off Avinya's Week 3 Weekly Update with that question, but it's been an eventful and insightful week as well as a week of reflection as we take concrete steps to firm up the (pun intended) foundation of our foundation!

What's Ikigai?

"Ikigai (ee-key-guy) is a Japanese concept that combines the terms iki, meaning “alive” or “life,” and gai, meaning “benefit” or “worth.” When combined, these terms mean that which gives your life worth, meaning, or purpose." (https://positivepsychology.com/ikigai/)

I think personally I am getting close to answering this question as we close in on the three-week mark of our new venture or should I say adventure that is the Avinya Foundation! The more we do what we do with Avinya, the more I realise this is very much a part of my Ikigai. What about you?

Before I digress any further, let me tell you about what has been set in motion this week.

The wheels of our Foundation Programme Educator recruitment milestone are churning. It's been tough self imposed deadlines to meet, but we've got an amazing team behind the scenes making it all look somewhat effortless.

Of course as with everything that is new (and old), we learnt some things this week:

  • there are so many wonderful people out there who have a deep passion for our cause, share the same dreams for our children's future and who are devoted to making an impact in education in Sri Lanka
  • the true meaning of open source and open and transparent discussion thanks to our team and their experience with this over the years
  • the value of what we are doing and the potential for great and lasting impact
Here's more about what's been happening behind the curtain at Avinya...

Foundation Programme Educator Recruitment
  • Application submissions are now closed
  • Our team carefully reviewed each and every application received - 232 applications in total!
  • We made some very difficult decisions on applications and sent out notifications to applicants. If by any chance you haven't heard back from us, please do drop us an email: contact@avinyafoundation.org
  • Next steps
  • The applicants who have made it into round 2 will submit a short video task and the successful applicants from this round will proceed to the interview rounds.
We can't wait to have them on board!

So, we have been asked about what's unique about our Foundation Programme and how will this defer from our vocational programme.

Well the simple answer is we will run the same Avinya ethos through both. However, in reality the vocational curriculum has industry specific learning outcomes and will be complemented with our own focus on bridging employability skills.
On the other hand, our Foundation Programme will use the instructional method of project based learning. It is interactive, engaging and empowering for students. See more here: https://www.pblworks.org/what-is-pbl

Through the Foundation Programme we will build students' confidence, support them with developing their English, Numeracy, Logical Thinking, 21st Century Skills and other Soft Skills.

As a part of this programme they will be exposed to these areas not as subjects but look at it like the 'sum of parts'. They learn all this through the project. The students will evolve as the project progresses and teachers will use a combination of personalised and formative assessment tools to ensure that every student has a clear learning pathway. That's our hope and vision :)
Click here to find out more about what we at Avinya love about PBL: https://fb.watch/fpyif-weYe/

Other exciting things in the works this week

A lot of thought and long hours are going into the development of our HRM and Admissions systems.We are close to finalising the tech stacks. 
Guess what? 
It'll all be open source :)

And...
drum roll...

We are very close to finalising the location of our first Avinya school! 

Watch this space!

-Anju

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