An immersion program to help the faculty of the two Colleges understand the Bhutan Baccalaureate was conducted from January 19 – February 1, 2022. Currently, The Druk Gyalpo’s Institute is working closely with the two Colleges of Education to transition the Bhutan Baccalaureate in the two Colleges.

The Department of Education, University of Oxford, was an integral stakeholder in the development and implementation of the 15-month teacher development programme of The Royal Academy in 2014. This was the first teacher development programme conducted by The Druk Gyalpo’s Institute and it included the first batch of teachers who would teach at the School.

In 2020, the Department of Education, University of Oxford, wrote a literature review titled “Contextualizing the Bhutan Baccalaureate Within the International Research Literature” which aimed to address the specific question of ‘is there space for the Bhutan Baccalaureate?’ The answer to the question from the review was a very definitive ‘yes’! The Department of Education, University of Oxford has also helped conduct sessions for the various teacher development programmes that the Druk Gyalpo’s Institute has been administering in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

The Education Ministry signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Druk Gyalpo’s Institute on 7 February 2021 to contextualize the Bhutan Baccalaureate in Wangbama Central School and Dechencholing Higher Secondary School. On 11 August 2021, an MoU to include 20 additional schools under the Bhutan Baccalaureate was signed.

In preparation for the BB learning process, various programmes have been conducted by DGI: 

• A two-week immersion programme for 22 principals and 44 teachers was conducted from June 30 – July 15, 2021. 
• An immersion programme for the officials from the Ministry of Education and The Bhutan Council for School Examinations and Assessment was conducted from September 15 – 24, 2021. 
• A six-month diploma programme was also initiated at the DGI for 66 new teachers in July and was completed in December 2021. 
• An immersion programme for the faculty of the two Colleges of Education was conducted from January 19 – February 1, 2022. 
• A two-week immersion programme for Dzongkhag Education Officers, Thromde Education Officers, a few faculty from the Paro College of Education and a few officials from the Ministry of Education was conducted from March 16 – 29, 2022. 

The Druk Gyalpo’s Institute has been also working closely with the Ministry of Education to transition and contextualize the Bhutan Baccalaureate to the 22 schools. The transition process is a 180-day engagement programme over a 3-year period. The Druk Gyalpo’s Institute has also been working closely with the MoE and the BCSEA to develop a Bhutan Baccalaureate Curriculum Framework which will be contextualized in all 22 schools.

Since the inception of The Royal Academy, Pallavan Learning Systems (PLS) has made significant contributions to the development of the institution, from helping to create the curriculum to providing support in the development of its administrative processes.

PLS has been integral to training the first batch of teachers through a 15-month program and continues to play a vital role in designing and implementing various programs in collaboration with the Druk Gyalpo’s Institute. Currently, the collaboration between PLS and DGI primarily focuses on enriching the Bhutan Baccalaureate and on the transition of the Bhutan Baccalaureate to the 22 schools and the two Colleges of Education.

The Five Areas of Development has been selected as one of the most impactful innovations by HundrED, Finland for the years 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Every year HundrED identifies impactful education innovations from across the globe and helps spread them. The selection process of the innovations by HundrED is rigorous and can be distilled into four distinct phases: Discovery, Shortlist, Review, and Selection Workshops. In 2021, The Druk Gyalpo’s Institute and HundrED worked together to host a Spotlight on Holistic Education in South and Southeast Asia. The Spotlight highlighted 9 highly impactful and scalable education innovations, namely the Bhutan Baccalaureate, focusing on Holistic Education in South and Southeast Asia.