Education Specialist, P-4, ROSA, Kathmandu, Nepal

Contract

This is a P-4 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 7 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 124,447 USD and 160,449 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, access

Even pre-COVID-19, South Asia was home to the largest numbers of out-of-school children (OOSC) and youth at 31.8 million with 8.2 million at primary (6 – 9 years) and 23.6 million at secondary level (10 – 14 years) (UNESCO 2017). Of children who are in school, millions are completing primary education without even mastering foundational literacy and numeracy skills, let alone the ‘21st century skills’ required for meaningful employment, personal well-being and active participation in society.

In response to SDG 4, increasing focus has been placed on measuring and improving student learning outcomes. Evidence-informed policies and practices to improve education quality and equity require robust assessment and monitoring systems, which generate accurate and detailed information on the state of student learning and equity gaps. Digital learning provides huge opportunities for expanding and improving learning, both for those inside and outside of the formal education system but requires bridging the multiple digital divides (including devices, connectivity, skills, as well as the gender, language, and other digital divides). Systematic high-level technical support of the Education Specialist (Quality and Inclusive Learning) in the ROSA Education Section is required with expertise in these areas to work with country offices to accelerate progress towards improving education quality and equity of learning outcomes.

How can you make a difference?

Under the general supervision of the Regional Education Adviser, initiates and provides capacity building, technical assistance, quality assurance, systems strengthening and high-level policy and programme planning support in matters related to education quality and learning and technology for learning in both the development and humanitarian context. The Specialist provides technical assistance to countries in designing and implementing activities related to assessing, monitoring and improving education quality and learning outcomes in the region, in particular equity and gender dimensions in quality basic education. The Specialist develops strategies pertaining to- and supports implementation of- education technologies which can address key context-specific challenges in achieving quality and equity in education.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

• Lead and advise UNICEF Country Offices/partners on national systems strengthening and capacity building to improve the measurement, monitoring and analysis of education quality and learning outcomes. A major component of this will be (co-)managing the South Asia Assessment for Learning Knowledge Platform (https://allchildrenlearning.org), in close partnerships with our partners for the Platform, including UNESCO, World Bank, the Global Partnership for Education, OECD, Australian Council for Educational Research and the Annual Status of the Education Survey.
• Advise UNICEF Country Offices/partners and undertake regional analysis and research on education quality and equity issues and development of strategies to improve the quality of education in the region, including how formative and large-scale assessments feed into improved teaching and learning practices; teacher education and management; assessment of 21st century skills and integration of 21st century skills in education systems; education quality standards and child friendly schools; curriculum reform; incentives for marginalized groups; school governance and Education Management Information Systems (EMIS); and scaling up of innovations such as through T4D (Technology for Development) or education technology initiatives.
• Assist the Regional Education Adviser in promoting inclusive quality learning in the region, including support for policies, and plans to include vulnerable and excluded children and provide them with quality, appropriate education - including pre-primary education - in collaboration with the early learning/ECD Specialist and colleagues from other programme sections, including ICT/T4D, Gender, Business for Results, Partnerships, Child Protection, ADAP and Evaluation.
• Collaborate with T4D at HQ, regional and country levels, and relevant partners including from the private sector, in the development and implementation of education technology strategies. In particular, focus on the use of education technology and innovations to accelerate progress towards improved learning outcomes and to address the key context-specific challenges in the region such as out-of-school youth and quality and effectiveness of teacher training.
• Support and provide strategic guidance to country offices across the five reimagine education pillars (digital solutions such as the Learning Passport, affordable content and data (partnering with MNOs), expanding connectivity, devices, young people’s engagements), and across the ROSA regional strategy on reimagine education (supporting government with national plans and capacity building, focusing on equity, scalability and reaching the most marginalized, keeping learning at the center, alignment and local adaptation of global platforms, monitoring and quality assurance), as well as support on fund raising and leveraging international, regional and national partnerships.
• Advise on and support education technology and systems strengthening and improved integration, both across sectors (such as with HMIS, FMIS, Civil Registry), and within education (such as EMIS, EWS, assessment systems, data reporting and analysis systems, and eLearning platforms), to improve efficiencies and enable better data analysis and use.
• Work closely with Gender section and partners such as ITU and UNGEI on gender equality in education, including addressing the gender digital divide, through (joint) advocacy, knowledge products, and events.
• Provide technical support to UNICEF country offices in Education-in-Emergencies (EiE), in Afghanistan, and in Bangladesh for the Rohingya refugee education response, in line with UNICEF Core Commitments for Children. Undertake and/or review and update EiE preparedness and response plans, and support implementation of education technology, monitoring and assessment methodologies and tools for emergency contexts. Support efforts in sector/cluster strengthening emergency coordination, preparedness, and response in education in collaboration with the Emergency Section and HQ.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Education or Social Sciences field relevant to international development. Given the specific focus on learning and quality education, a post graduate qualification focusing on critical aspects of learning (e.g., assessment, education standards, teacher education) is highly desirable. Experience on learning outcomes assessments and on managing of regional projects is desirable.
• A minimum of eight years of progressively relevant professional work experience in programme planning, management, and/or research in education at the international level, some of which is preferably in a developing country, is required. Experience at the regional level or in several countries is highly desirable.
• Working knowledge of education assessment and education quality indicators.
• Expertise and experience in working on technology for learning is required.
• Experience of teacher training is desirable.
• Strong working knowledge of Excel and Visual Basic for Applications is required.
• Expertise in use of statistical package software, e.g. Stata, SPSS and specialized assessment / Rasch analysis software such as ConQuest is desirable
• Knowledge and experience working with the Global Partnership for Education is an asset.
• Experience working in the UN, other international development organization or a Ministry of Education is an asset.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
• Works Collaboratively with others (1)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (1)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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 be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

“UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/”