Meet Rachael Marie O’Dwyer

Rachael obtained her visual arts teaching qualification from Ireland in 2014 and moved to Essex, United Kingdom (UK), where she taught the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) for seven years.  

Whilst living in the UK, Rachael also worked as an educational consultant for the Royal Opera House and freelanced as a sculptor for Kinetika Studios. She joined the AKA Maputo in 2020, but was teaching remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Rachael travelled to Maputo, Mozambique and has been able to teach in-person during this academic year. 

Rachael said she is very much looking forward to working with the AKA Maputo’s Diploma Programme (DP) 1 students, who are the Academy’s first ever DP cohort for the IB Visual Arts curriculum.  

“We have already partaken in virtual collaborative trips and teaching sessions with our sister Academies, and we have an exciting curriculum to look forward to,” Rachael said. “I am also already so impressed by the MYP students and their enthusiasm and talent for the arts, and am delighted to be working with such a good team, as well as with fantastic new facilities for our department.” 

Resonating with the Academy’s vision and mission of inclusion and diversity, Rachael said she endeavours to ensure that the Academy’s students will be reflective, internationally and culturally minded thinkers who will strive to make a positive difference on the global stage, using their creativity as an integral part of their educational journey. 

Rachael also said her time at the AKA Maputo has been greatly enjoyable thus far and was worth the year-long wait she faced. “The staff are an incredible team of people, the students are engaging, and I have been very lucky to have already done some travelling to some amazing places in Mozambique and Eswatini,” Rachael said. “I am very excited to be part of a growing school, with lots to look forward to!”