Local Consultancy - Development of socio-emotional skills assessment for SEA-PLM 2024, 50 working days, Manila

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, a fair chance

UNICEF has been an active partner of the Government of the Philippines and civil society in realizing the rights of every Filipino child, in line with priorities to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. UNICEF efforts have been focused on the most vulnerable regions identified by the Government of the Philippines Development Plan, particularly in the regions of Visayas and Mindanao. To ensure that interventions are sustainable and scaled up, UNICEF will support primarily local government units (LGUs) as the main instruments of delivering services and building systems. The level of engagement with government institutions will take into account capacities, economies of scale and sector issues.

It has a field office in Cotabato City, the second largest city in Mindanao, southern Philippines, with some 300,000 population. The city is the regional administrative centre of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and over 80 percent of the population is Muslim. Mindanao is both conflict-affected and prone to frequent earthquakes and typhoon storms.

Visit this link for more information on Philippine Country Office: https://www.unicef.org/philippines/

How can you make a difference?

UNICEF is engaging a local consultant as part of the UNICEF Philippine Country Office Education Unit to coordinate the preparation and development of pilot questions to assess socio-emotional skills of learners, which will be integrated and tested together in the SEA-PLM 2024.

The Philippines will take part in the second cycle of SEA-PLM in 2024 to continue generating evidence on success factors and barriers to children’s academic performance. Aside from the regional standard instruments, the countries are encouraged to maximize the SEA-PLM data collection process to address national education gaps and needs by adding special national research protocols. The role of socio-emotional skills is becoming more evident to children’s education and human development today, with short- and long-term positive influence on their academic performance and well-being. Despite increasing global initiatives on socio-emotional skills assessments, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), there is a dearth of a local instrument to assess children’s socio-emotional skills in the Philippines.

Scope of Work:

Under the supervision of the Education Officer, the Consultant shall develop pilot questions to assess socio-emotional skills of learners, which will be integrated and tested together in the SEA-PLM 2024. To achieve the assignment, the Consultant will undertake the following activities:

1. Produce an analytical report (around 10 pages) which shall include:

a) Discussion on the significance of socio-emotional skills in children’s learning and summary of key global agenda and assessment work on socio-emotional skills.

b) Summary of the existing socio-emotional skills assessments that are implemented in the Philippines (international, national, & local initiatives).

c) Identification of the gaps between the key global agenda and the existing socio-emotional skills assessments in the Philippines; Articulate areas that are critical to measure together with the SEA-PLM 2024.

2. Develop the framework and questions on socio-emotional skills assessment

a) Based on the analytical report, formulate the framework to access socio-emotional skills and propose 10 questions that are critical to address socio-emotional skills of children in the Philippines.

b) Questions should be quantifiable for a large-scale assessment. They should be suitable for Grade 5 students.

c) Consultation on the framework and questions with global and local experts of socio-emotional skills

3. Presentation & consultation with DepEd-BEA

a) Present the key findings from the analytical report, the framework, and 10 questions at two consultative meetings with DepEd-BEA and UNICEF Philippines.

b) The first presentation covers the initial analytical report, the framework, and 10 questions. The second presentation should reflect feedback from DepEd and UNICEF from the first consultation.

4. Final report and questions on socio-emotional skills assessment

a) Finalize the analytical report, the framework, and 10 questions based on feedback from DepEd-BEA and UNICEF Philippines.

5. Orientation on socio-emotional skills assessment for the DepEd data collection team

a) Orient the DepEd data collection team the questionnaire and how data on socio-emotional skills should be collected.

Deliverables:

1. Draft analytical report

2. Draft framework

3. Draft questions

4. Summary note from consultation with experts

5. Presentation #1

6. Reflecting feedback from DepEd and UNICEF

7. Presentation #2 reflecting feedback from DepEd and UNICEF

8. Final report and questions

9. Orientation for DepEd data collection team

The duration of the consultancy assignment will be 50 working days spread over 4 months, from 27 March 2023 to 31 July 2023 to complete the deliverables.

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

• Advanced degree (Masters or Ph.D.) in a related field such as Education, Economics, Statistics, Development Studies, and Social Science.
• A minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in education programme, with a focus on socio-emotional learning.
• Familiarity with international large-scale assessments; Demonstrated knowledge and skills in constructing survey questions
• Knowledge of the education system and policy issues in the Philippines, with a focus on learning outcomes
• Strong English writing and presentation skills to ensure quality of final products.

HOW TO APPLY

Qualified candidates are requested to complete an online candidate profile in http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/ by 26 February 2023 . Only applications sent through the e-recruitment portal under Job Number: 559478 will be considered.

All candidates are requested to submit a COVER LETTER, and the duly filled P11 Form which can be downloaded from our website at P11 Form.docx (sharepoint.com) indicating three (3) previous supervisors. Please indicate your area of assignment, ability, availability and daily/monthly rate to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered.

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.

Only shortlisted consultants will be contacted.

Terms of reference may be shared upon request.

By applying through our Talent Management System (TMS) you agree to our privacy statement which is in line with the Philippines Data Privacy Act. You are strongly advised to read carefully through the privacy statement before submitting your application.