International Consultancy for technical assistance to improve the quality of education services in Abkhazia

Contract

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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, education

Purpose of activity/assignment:

Over the last 25 years there have been no methodical attempt to reform education in Abkhazia. The unresolved and protracted political conflict further complicates the situation. Education is heavily underfunded, resulting in a persistent lack of teaching materials, teacher professional development, and dilapidated school infrastructure. Consequently, the quality of education is low. At the same time, information on school attendance, drop-out rates and student learning outcomes are not publicly available, making evidence-based programming difficult.

Education in Abkhazia in various ways perpetuates mistrust and resentment between the region’s various ethnic communities and only partially reflects the existing linguistic diversity in Abkhazia, thus it does not contribute to peacebuilding. The resentment is felt particularly strongly in the sphere of mother tongue education and has the potential to cause new tensions between the divided communities. Children of different ethno-linguistic communities in Abkhazia today have very different chances to study in their mother tongue and children of each ethnic community face specific challenges.

To address the educational needs of all children in Abkhazia, UNICEF has been providing assistance in improving the quality of education services by promoting mother tongue based multilingual education (MTB MLE) irrespective of their ethnic background and place of residence. Since 2015, UNICEF has carried out a series of targeted activities to improve the quality of general education and access to quality mother tongue education which included the development of an MTB MLE model. UNICEF, together with international education experts, also initiated a series of teacher trainings on student-centered instruction and life skills for teachers and school administrators and has worked on the development of pre-service and in-service training programmes for teachers to support the introduction of these methodologies and practices.

The eight teacher resource centers (TRCs) developed at the district level in Abkhazia serve as local training centers for teachers, school administrators and other stakeholders. UNICEF has worked to develop a core group of teachers in each center who could provide training to other teachers and act as local champions of new teaching methodologies as well as the MTB MLE model. A series of training on content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and other language teaching methodologies have been carried out for secondary school language teachers and students of Abkhaz University (ASU). Also, separate interventions were undertaken on the preschool level to introduce modern teaching methodologies and promote multilingual learning. Based on positive feedback received from stakeholders and beneficiaries, it was decided to continue supporting additional trainings and other capacity building activities for teachers and local education experts on CLIL and other language training methodologies, including in primary and preprimary sectors.

Scope of Work:

Based on international best practice, the consultant will develop relevant training programmes for preschool and elementary school teachers and local education experts and will support implementation of a training program for teachers and education experts on CLIL and other languages teaching techniques. The consultant will conduct pre-service and in-service trainings for preschool and elementary school teachers on CLIL and language teaching techniques. The consultant will also support the development of methodological materials (CLIL guidebook) for language teaching in schools and kindergartens.

The consultant will work with parental committees to sensitize on the importance of life skills education, will develop supporting materials for parents on life skills education that will be distributed among parents of schoolchildren.

The consultant will conduct training sessions for school management on the importance of life skills education. It is also expected that the consultant will provide consultations and supportive supervision to teachers in targeted schools. The consultant is to support local teachers in documenting their experience, which can be used to inform future programmes and advocacy with local teachers.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline:

CLIL guidebook developed

Quality CLIL guidebook for teachers is developed

January - February 2023

CLIL training programme development and training sessions conducted for preschool and elementary school teachers

Quality CLIL training programmes for preschool and elementary school teachers are developed;

Training sessions on CLIL and other language teaching methodologies for preschool and elementary school teachers are conducted.

January – September 2023

Supervision and capacity building of preschool methodological specialists; Online consultations and meetings with local education experts related MTB MLE practices

Supervision and capacity building activities for preschool methodology specialists and teachers are conducted to support an effective introduction of modern teaching methodologies to preschool practice.

February - November 2023

Programme for online SCI course for preschool and elementary school children

A quality programme for an online SCI course for preschool and elementary school teachers is developed

April – June 2023

Travel International: Most of the tasks under the consultancy will be implemented remotely. Trips to Abkhazia might be considered depending on the situation with COVID-19 and entry procedures. In case of travel, details will be coordinated with the consultant and amendments to the TOR and contract will be made accordingly.

Location: Home based

Duration: 10 January 2023- 1 November 2023 (93 days)

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

Minimum Qualifications required:

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• Advanced university degree in education or related field;
• At least 7 years of work experience in areas of education, life skills, pedagogy, including work experience in the context with transitional education;
• Proven experience in teacher training on student-centered teaching methodologies, language teaching, CLIL, including in pre-primary and primary sectors;
• Excellent English language skills. Knowledge of Russian language is an asset;
• Very good analytical and organizational skills;
• Familiarity with UNICEF's work in the area of education;
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills; ability to work with minimum supervision in a multi-national environment with team members from different cultural backgrounds;
• Good knowledge and use of Microsoft package and relevant software for remote work.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

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:

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

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.