​BagoSphere PH Inc. welcomes new Director of Studies, Steven James Finch

BagoSphere is excited to have Canadian-born Steven James Finch on board. BagoSphere’s new Director of Studies marks another milestone in the fast-growing social enterprise based in the Philippines.

A Director of Studies (DOS) oversees all areas of the curriculum development and teaching delivery of our training programs. He will design, pilot, and develop effective functional language learning programs in line with the company’s strategy and market needs. Working together with the training team, he will take lead of BagoSphere’s teaching, learning systems, and teacher development programs.

Steven James Finch is an experienced Director of Studies with a Master’s in Applied Linguistics in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). In his twelve years of related experience, he has also been a Curriculum Designer, Language Assessor, Language Teacher, Trainer and Mentor, lending his expertise in such countries as South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, India, Panama, Canada and the United States.

Steven was the Head of Learning and Development at Future Perfect Ltd., Manila for nearly seven years. While in Future Perfect, Steven provided high level consultancy on Learning and Development solutions through critical analysis of current practices to a number of multinational BPO firms in the Philippines, India, and Hong Kong.

His passion for sharing quality learning not just to professionals but more so to those who could not afford formal education have led him to partner with local children’s charity, Virlanie, where he set up vocational intern program for beneficiaries and taught teachers how to teach English more effectively. His This involvement have paved the way for Steven to continue with what he started and join BagoSphere in helping underprivileged youths gain language competence for employment.

The search and the successful hiring of BagoSphere’s Director of Studies is the result of BagoSphere’s partnership with the British Council Teacher Development Centre, one of the leading entities for teacher training work in Singapore and worldwide.

BagoSphere approached British Council Singapore in mid 2014 to help with the search of the DOS because of its expertise in working with a wide range of network of leading innovators in English language development and English Language Teaching (ELT) programs worldwide.

In support of the goals and objectives of BagoSphere, the British Council has generously provided professional support for the recruitment of a qualified Director of Studies. The British Council helped BagoSphere design a rigorous selection process, identified ESL teacher job boards and networks and participated during the final DOS interviews.

“Laraine and the British Council have been crucial in our search of our director studies. We hold their wealth of expertise in teacher development with high regard, and greatly appreciate that they spent time to design and conduct joint-interviews for over 4 shortlisted candidates chosen from a pool of 50 candidates.” – Zhihan Lee, Co-founder and CEO

With the Director of Studies at the forefront of the training team, BagoSphere is preparing to deepen its curriculum development expertise, and continue to focus on innovating new training approaches that will lead underprivileged youths to BPO employment.

About BagoSphere PH Inc.

BagoSphere’s mission is to help tackle the rising youth unemployment in the world by providing opportunities for underprivileged youths to get a job. The recipient of Singapore International Foundation’s Young Social Entrepreneurs Grant Program and an award winner of Start-up@Singapore’s Social Enterprise competition in 2012, Singapore Business Review also named BagoSphere as one of the top 20 hottest local start-ups in 2013.

About British Council Teacher Development Centre

The British Council is highly regarded for its teacher training work in Singapore and worldwide. Its courses and workshops are focused on quality professional development in the key areas of teaching. The Teacher Development Centre (TDC) has a long history of Teacher Training in Singapore. In partnership with the Ministry of Education, it is involved with projects such as such as the 'Niches of Excellence' and 'Whole School Approach to English' programmes. It also provides consultation on all aspects of English Language teaching. (source:http://www.britishcouncil.sg/teach)