Early Grade Curriculum and TLM Manager

Work Arrangement:

Job Description

Background/IRC Summary:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

Since 2007, IRC has worked with refugees and other vulnerable populations in Jordan. Working in coordination with the humanitarian community and the Government of Jordan, the IRC's assistance programs for children in Jordan include both camp-based (Zaatari, and Azraq camps) and urban-based refugee assistance (Mafraq, Ramtha, Irbid).

The IRC’s educational interventions strive to help children and youth gain valuable skills and knowledge that will increase their opportunities and life chances and contribute to their well-being and livelihood. The IRC supports formal and non-formal learning activities that lead to tangible learning outcomes in literacy, numeracy, socio-emotional learning, and marketable skills and promotes the protection and psychosocial well-being of conflict-affected children and youth.

Job Overview/Summary:

USAID’s “Early Grade Education Activity” (EGEA) is a five-year program aiming to advance national efforts to strengthen the caliber of pre- and in-service teacher education and improve Kindergarten through Grade Three foundational and socio-emotional skills across the Kingdom of Jordan. The Early Grade Curriculum and Social Emotional Manager (SEL) Manager will be responsible for driving IRC’s commitments under Result Two of the EGEA program, working in close collaboration with the consortium lead, government officials, and partners organizations. The post holder will provide leadership and overall technical management of early grade activities within EGEA, including improving teaching and learning materials and resources, as well as integrating SEL into curricula and non-formal education activities and resources, ensuring alignment with overall consortium objectives. The job holder will be working in close collaboration with the IREX consortium including partner leads, as well as government representatives.

Specific Responsibilities: --------------------------

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

SEL Content integration into TLMs ---------------------------------

- Working closely with the SEL team and in line with existing SEL/life-skills frameworks to integrate SEL developed into curriculum and other TLMs for early grades. - Support in integrating SEL and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) within in-service training for teachers, caregivers and student facing materials, aligning and informing pre-service teacher training materials. - Explore multiple approaches for teacher training, including blended learning approaches and mentorships, that are suitable for the context and in consultation with the MoE and consortium partners. - Employ a human-centered design approach to the creation of TLM’s and SEL integrations, ensuring that clients needs and voices are well-captured and integrated into programming. This includes small scale testing of materials with diverse learners, caregivers and teachers to drive data-informed decisions. - Review and share program-specific tools / resources / curricula

TLMs enhanced -------------

- Employ a bottom-up assessment and engage the MoE, National Center for Curriculum Development (NCCD), Queen Rania Teacher Academy (QRTA), teachers and students in designing relevant and effective TLM’s for early grades - Lead on cataloguing and analyzing fiction and nonfiction books at early grade levels that support learning objectives for Arabic, mathematics, social studies, science, and life skills - Lead on developing a Minimum Standards Profile for TLM (including standards for decodable texts) in partnership with the MoE and NCCD. - Integrate revised, novel printed, and digital TLMs into pre-and in-service training where possible, enabling teachers to access and use materials - Support in improving existing TLMs and develop supplementary materials for children at early grade, with a focus on improving literacy, numeracy, and SEL. - Leverage IRC’s existing contextualized and tested resources for early grades - Support in the digitization and socialization of created TLM’s - Ensure inclusive and data-informed decision-making when adapting TLM’s to meet young children’s needs and increase usability of materials. - Support in improving and crafting caregiver content to support children’s learning at home. - Facilitate the process of mapping, distributing, and ensuring accessibility of readers and learning materials for early grades from both local publishers and open-sourced repositories. - Build effective partnerships with local publishers and tech companies - Support the development and distribution of new works in collaboration with local publishers. - Arrange and support in conducting trainings to a selected number of local publishers and writers to build inclusive, content rich texts that support curricula student learning objectives - Support local implementing partners in convening events that bring together child authors with local publishers and illustrators - In collaboration with partners, develop resources and training content for school leaders, such as principals and administrators. - Work with IRC Technical Unit specialists to contextualize and adapt global and country-specific materials. - Support in the digitization and socialization of created TLMs for teacher-facing, student-facing, and caregiver-facing materials - Support in ensuring that materials and resources developed are usable, effective and relevant. - Lead on efforts to support integrating TLM’s into the MoE Library (JoLearn) through established channels and in coordination with MoE and Queen Rania Foundation (QRF) - Leverage IRC’s caregiver and facilitator applications to increase digital access to TLM’s - Support community engagement activities with consortium partners to promote access and utilization of local libraries and digital resources - Support in creating awareness raising content and TLM’s for caregivers to use along with corresponding training

Capacity-Building and Coordination ----------------------------------

- Work closely and coordinate with government entities where appropriate including the MoE, local field directorates and NCCD. - Build the capacity of team members and local implementing partners in SEL/UDL concepts, evidence-based practices, community engagement, and other identified training needs during the course of the programs. - Work with consortium colleagues to help analyze data that inform periodic review and course correction - Proactively collaborate with EGEA lead IREX, government representatives, and other partners to ensure SEL integration and links throughout the program, and provide SEL technical support as needed - Represent IRC in external and internal engagement activities. - Report into IRC’s national country program through the established channels.

Key Working Relationships: ---------------------------

Position Reports to: Curriculum and Engagement Coordinator (IRC)

Position directly supervises: consultants as required -----------------------------------------------------

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

Internal: Regular communication with EGEA team, IRC Jordan country program (DDP and others as needed), IRC regional and global technical advisors, other consortium members

External: Represent IRC in EGEA. Work closely with the MoE and local stakeholders. Upon request, participate in global meetings and academic forums with donors, other non-governmental organizations, inter-agency groups and foundations.

Qualifications

Job Qualifications: ------------------------

Education: Master’s/post-graduate degree in education, developmental psychology or relevant field or equivalent combination of education and experience is required.

Work Experience: Minimum 4 years of experience from which minimum 2 year in a managerial level in implementing and/or managing education programs is required, with a focus on Early Grade Education, or similar fields (psychosocial support, positive youth development, child and adult wellbeing, etc.) in Jordan. Material and content development and capacity-building experience is required. Monitoring and evaluation and research experience is highly desired. Demonstrated experience working on donor funded projects with similar scopes of work. Demonstrated knowledge of USAID rules and reporting requirements. Previous experience working with the MoE and other local stakeholders is highly desired.

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies: Demonstrated expertise in content development and community engagement, program design and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, with the ability to turn concepts and strategy into measurable action. Strong verbal and written communication skills. Proven commitment to renewing and maintaining currency with best practices. Experience working in a consortium is highly desired.

Language Skills: Fluency in Arabic and English required.

Working Environment: This position will be based in Amman, Jordan, with up to 30% travel within the country required.

All IRC staff are required to adhere to IRC Way Standards for Professional Conduct and IRC country employment policies.

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability.