Consultant for developing guidelines for school-level policy on digitalization in education

Contract

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UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion and gender parity within its workforce, and encourages all qualified candidates, irrespective of nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, gender identity and sexual orientation, as well as persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. UNICEF’s office is accessible to a certain extent, and employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations that are needed for ensuring equitable working conditions.

UNICEF in Serbia and the Ministry of Education (MoE) with the support from the European Union are implementing the project “Bridging Digital Divide in Serbia for Most Vulnerable Children” with the overall objective to strengthen the resilience of the education system to the effects of emergency situations. One of the specific objectives is to support further development of digital education and strengthen capacity of institutions for its delivery, management and monitoring.

In the last few years, a lot has been done in the digitalization of education in Serbia, and it is a defined priority of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, as well within the current Strategy for the Development of Education 2030. All changes have schools as a key point of intersection, and in order to have full effect of these initiatives, schools should be able to effectively and efficiently embrace all these changes and use them in the best possible way for learning and development of all children. This implies the development of school policies and practices that make the school a digitally competent organization.

School principals have a particularly important place in this task, and through management and influence on the rest of the staff, they can make a key contribution to the school's development in that direction. In this sense, it is necessary, inter alia, to provide guidelines for principals so that they can use the potential of their specific role in the school for a faster and more effective digitalization of schools.

Work Assignment Overview:

Under the general guidance and direction of the UNICEF Education Programme, the MoE and the Institute for Evaluation and Education Quality, two consultants will be engaged to work together, equally contribute and jointly develop the guidelines for principals for developing and implementing school-level policies with the focus on supporting digital education development and digitalization of school processes as a basis for developing digital competence framework for school principals.

Duration of the assignment: July – September 2023 (part-time, remote)

Task description:

Develop guidelines for school principals-level policy on digitalization in education serving as a basis for developing digital competence framework for school principals which will:

• Elaborate the recommendations in the areas of school principals’ work that are relevant for digitalization in education, like Planning, management and leadership; Digital technologies in learning and teaching; Development of digital competences (professional development of teachers); Digital culture and digital infrastructure,
• integrate the features of the current educational policy and the adopted measures in developing digital education in Serbia,
• take into account Serbian Standards of competencies of school principals and Digital Competence Framework for Teachers,
• take into account recent international developments in the area of digital aspects of school e.g., European Framework for Digitally Competent Educational Organizations – DigCompOrg, SELFIE (Self-reflection on Effective Learning by Fostering the use of Innovative Educational technologies),
• focus on the equity and human rights as the core underlying values.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• University degree in Science (including Social sciences), Humanities, Technology/ Engineering, or Mathematics,
• At least 5 years of professional experience of working in school in the area relevant to information and communication technologies,
• Excellent knowledge of the education system in Serbia, particularly in the area of digital education and use of information and communication technologies in education,
• Experience in projects developing digital capacities/competencies of schools in Serbia
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills,
• Ability to meet tight deadlines through excellent time management and organization skills,
• Excellent knowledge of Serbian and English languages.

How to apply:

The application must include a financial proposal in RSD as a separate document, providing the service price for the whole assignment (per consultant).

Important notes:

• Please do not forget to specify your name in the financial proposal file while saving (to be uploaded online under the “Financial Proposal” tab).
• Please do not indicate financials anywhere else in the online application form, please mark "n/a” or “00" under the fee-related questions in the online application form.
• Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

For every child, you must demonstrate UNICEF's core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.