International consultant to support five Municipalities in raising the capacities of preschool teachers on how to implement the Preschool Curriculum

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

Type of contract: Consultant Duration: 12 months starting May 2023 Workplace: Home based with travels to Albania

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, a fair chance https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=E1xkXZs0cAQ

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

UNICEF Albania is seeking a consultant that will assist five Municipalities for raising the capacities on the implementation of the preschool curriculum

Scope of Work: UNICEF Albania during the last years has supported the Ministry of Education Sports (MoES) towards ensuring an equitable and quality system of education for all Albanian children with a special focus on the most vulnerable ones. UNICEF has supported MOES with technical assistance and financial support for the development of the core preschool policies endorsed by MoES such as: "Early Development and Learning Standards for 3-6 age group" (EDLS), "Preschool Curriculum Framework", "Assessment Framework for Preschool", "Preschool Teachers Standards", “Preschool Directors Standards”. Lately, UNICEF has supported the Agency for the Assurance of Quality in Pre-University Education (AAQPUE) for drafting of two important policies: the “Monitoring and Evaluation of the Preschool” and the “Framework of Quality Early Childhood Education and Care Systems”. UNICEF Albania has also supported technically and financially the National Strategic Plan for Education 2021–2026, starting from pre-school to higher education. The Education Strategic Plan is based on the "Sustainable Development Goal 4-Education" (SDG4) of the Agenda for Sustainable Development 2030, and it includes elements of inclusion and equity, managing the quality of education, lifelong learning starting from the early years, teacher professional development and digitalization of education. The strategy emphasizes the fact that learning should start from the early years and all children with a special focus on the most vulnerable ones such as girls and boys with disability, Roma and Egyptian children, returnees from migration, should have access in high quality Early Childhood Education services. While progress has been made with many of the National frameworks and policies, the Municipalities which are given the responsibility of preschool education are in need of better understanding and hands on capacity building on how to implement these policies into practice, including the implementation of the new curricula. During the last year, three municipalities (Tirana, Korca and Fier) have been supported through a staged approach with training sessions for preschool staff on how to implement the preschool curriculum (topics such as child development, environmental setting, project development were supported) while the training will need to continue with the last efforts mainly on documentation and project-based learning

A recent study made by AAQPUE and the MoES "On the identification of the professional development needs of the pre-university staff" revealed that 44.9% of preschool teachers, needs to make improvements when it comes to planning and the implementation of the Curricula https://www.ascap.edu.al/identifikimi-i-nevojave-per-zhvillim-profesional-te-punonjesve-arsimore-ne-arsimin-parauniversitar.

Another study made by OECD supported by UNICEF Albania in 2020 "OECD Reviews of Evaluation and Assessment in Education: Albania" states that: The quality of teaching staff and the physical conditions of pre-schools remain key challenges, for example, in some regions, particularly areas with higher poverty such as the northeast of

the country, it has been difficult to find qualified pre-school teachers, http://www.oecd.org/education/oecd-reviews-of-evaluation-and-assessment-in-education-albania-d267dc93-en.htm . The "Early Childhood Education in Albania at a Glance Subsector Review" study conducted in 2017 https://www.academia.edu/35872803/Early_Childhood_Education_in_Albania_A_Subsector_Review highlights that: Teacher training fails to provide guidance on methods for implementing the new curriculum and professional development in this regard is lacking. In order to address the above challenges and based on the very positive experience of provision of training “The implementation of the preschool curriculum” to local municipalities, where preschool teachers gained knowledge on children development, environment setting improvement, projects development, class time management, documentation of the projects, parents engagement in preschool education, UNICEF will seek the service of an international consultant to improve child centered practices and play based learning in five municipalities.

Work Assignment Overview

Task(s) / Milestone(s)

Deliverable 1 - Training materials, manual, PPP, agendas developed Task 1.1: Preparation of the training materials related to the preschool curriculum Delivery Time - May 2023

Deliverable 2 - Deliver the training on the preschool curriculum to the teachers, preschool psychologists, municipality members and other relevant preschool stakeholders in Albania Task 2.1: Conduct 15 trainings and with preschool teachers, psychosocial staff and preschool directors on how to implement the preschool curriculum in the Municipalities of Tirana, Fier, Korca, (second phase of training) Elbasan and Shkodra first phase of training). Task 2.2: Deliver a final training report to UNICEF on the trainings in the various regions Delivery Time - January 2024

Deliverable 3 - Documentation of the best practices and project of the preschools Task 3.1: Documentation of the best preschool practices with regard to the curriculum implementation Task 3.2: Organize face to face and online coaching with teachers of the 5 regions of the project Task 3.3: Organize network preschool teacher’s meetings for experience sharing on preschool methodology Delivery Time - April 2024

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… - Master’s in education, including early childhood education and development, children psychology and development - Relevant working experience a minimum of 10 years of professional experience in preschool related areas - Proven ability of working in teams and expert groups as well as of working in international and multicultural environments - Very good communication and presentation skills with government and international organizations - Fluency in written and spoken English - Previous experience in working with UN agencies will be an asset - Previous knowledge of Albania’s preschool development context will be an asset

What to submit 1. Letter of interest, summarising the educational background, the working experience that is relevant to the assignment, and the specific role the candidate will play 2. Proposed methodological approach and management plan 3. Updated Resume 4. Financial proposal (The financial proposal shall be submitted in USD, and must include the consultancy fee, the communication costs and all other individual expenses or applicable costs. The financial proposal must be broken down per deliverable)

PAYMENT INSTRUCTION The consultants indicate all-inclusive (lump sum) fees for the services to be provided, including all associated administrative and travel costs. The office/division selects the individual with the lowest best and final offer, based on best value for money. Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

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 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.

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.