Simon Etherton

Director , UK Higher Education sector

Almaty Kazakhstan, - Outside India

Senior Manager of complex large-scale programmes and strategic partnerships. Skilled in developing innovative and creative digital solutions as well as designing, developing, and evaluating large-scale education programmes. Experienced in conducting effective Quality Assurance and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning. Extensive experience and success in leading and inspiring diverse teams.

Contact Simon Etherton
Area of Expertise:
  • Administration, HR, Management, Accounting/Finance
  • Capacity Building, Training, Advocacy
  • Director, CEO, COP, President
  • Monitoring, Evaluation, Policy, Research
Professional Experience:

Over 35 years experience in education, teacher development, education management and programme management. My last five job assignments are described below:

February 2022 – Date
Director Centre for English Language Learning and Head of Quality and Compliance
De Montfort University Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan

Driving the development of the Centre for English Language Learning (CELL) at De Montfort University Kazakhstan (TNE partner of De Montfort University Leicester). In addition, I am the Head of Quality and Compliance for the university, responsible for ensuring full academic compliance with De Montfort University Leicester as well as QAA and OFS (Office for Students).

April 2019 – October 2021
Director Future English Programme (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan)
British Council, Wider Europe

Director of Future English, a three-year £3 million regional programme, focussing on improving the quality of teaching and learning English in secondary and high schools in six countries in the region from Central Asia through Ukraine to the South Caucasus. Responsible for the design and implementation of this ambitious programme, including the development of a new innovative digital platform ‘Online Teacher Community’, enabling over 10,000 teachers a year access to meaningful professional development through online communities of practice.

September 2016 – March 2019
Head of English
British Council, Ukraine

I led the British Council’s grant- and partnership-funded work in English in Ukraine, developing and delivering a broad portfolio of projects supporting school and higher education reform, building strategic partnerships, and increasing the recognised impact of the British Council’s work in English. I ensured projects had significant impact on national strategy and policy, including directly informing the government policy on English in Higher Education. In addition, I also led on the English regional CSSF project activities in Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.

I built positive and long-lasting relationships with senior figures in the Ukrainian Government and institutions, companies and the wider education sector across Ukraine. This included effective and productive partnerships with the Goethe and French Institutes, the US Embassy, publishers and national NGOs.

November 2012 – August 2016
Senior Academic Manager
British Council, South India

I provided the academic lead for English Partnership projects in South India for four years, with a reach across four states and the direct training and professional support of 2,240 teacher educators delivering professional development opportunities to over 350,000 English teachers in schools across the region. This involved exploring and developing appropriate interventions in partnership with state governments, including innovative solutions to ensure impact on the quality of teaching and learning of English in schools on such a large scale.

During my time in post the British Council established positive and productive partnerships with senior state and SSA officials as well as funders such as Unicef and the MacArthur Foundation. I worked closely with the regional and national team to deliver and report project activity to a high-quality standard, including large scale monitoring and evaluation.

September 2008 – August 2012
Teacher Education Consultant /Head of English Teacher Training
Ministry of Education, Sultanate of Oman

I managed all in-service teacher training of over 6,000 state school English teachers across the 11 regions of the country and acted as Teacher Education Consultant to the Ministry of Education.

Education:

October 1993 – October 1994
M.Ed in Language Teaching (Distinction)
Department for International Development (DFID) EDS Award
School of Education, University of Exeter, Exeter, U.K.
Research thesis: the design and use of teacher training materials, specifically looking at developing teacher knowledge through interaction in a task-based methodology.

September 1988 – July 1989
Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE)
School of Education, Bangor University, U.K.
In Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language, incorporating a comprehensive linguistic component and focused on teaching ES/FL in both primary and secondary education.

September 1983 – June 1986
B.A. (Hons) in Geography with Development Studies
School of African & Asian Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, U.K.

Affiliations and Achievements:

Extensive experience in research, in particular developing and supporting action research.

Articulate and experienced presenter, having presented at around 30 international and national conferences.

Available for:

  • Consulting assignments
  • Job opportunities
  • Being headhunted – make me an offer

Years of Experience:

More than 20 years

Highest Qualification:

Masters

Languages:

English, French

Nationality:

Non-Resident Indian