National ECE consultant for mapping of the existing resources and learning packages/curriculum used for 3-year-old children in Bangladesh

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.

Background:

Early Childhood Education (ECE) is critical for establishing a strong foundation for a child’s cognitive, social, emotional and overall well-being. As mentioned by the renowned Economist James Heckmen, investment in the early years of life before the formal school system comes with the greatest financial return in terms of development of competences and coping skills for life and human development. On the contrast, children who fall behind in early years often never catch up with their peers, perpetuating a cycle of underachievement and eventually drops out from school. Evidence also suggests that an additional dollar invested in a quality ECD programme yields a return of between USD $6-$17 in direct wage productivity[1]. Despite the well-established lifelong advantages of early learning, approximately 175 million children, accounting for half of the global pre-primary school-age population across the world, are currently not enrolled in any form of early learning initiatives.

The Government of Bangladesh has made great strides in ensuring an enabling environment for ECE through developing policies, frameworks and acts to strengthen system capacity for ECE service delivery. In 2012, the Government introduced one-year pre-primary education across Bangladesh for children aged 5 years. However, as per the approved pre-primary education framework, provisions for pre-primary education should include children from 3-5 years old. And hence, the Government is now started piloting a two-year pre-primary education to extend pre-primary education opportunities to cover four-year old children as well. The ASPR 2021 reports that, a total of 3,947,852 five-year old children are enrolled in pre-primary classes in Government/non-government and private schools. Additionally, children are enrolled in the newly introduced PPE pilot for four-year-old children in 3,214 GPS.

Nonetheless, the MICS 2019 reports that, in Bangladesh, only 18.5 per cent of the 3–5-year-old children have access to PPE classes. Overall, an estimated population of 6,063,386 children are not accessing early learning opportunities in the country. ECE opportunities for three-year-old children is still the missing piece in the broader picture of Early Childhood Education in Bangladesh. ECE services for 3-year-old children are mainly run by different projects of the government, INGOs, NGOs, kindergartens, private schools, madrasah and different faith-based learning programs.

The Ministry of Women and Children affairs has developed the Early Learning Development Standards (ELDS) in 2019 which describes the age-appropriate milestones for children’s behaviour and performance across different learning and developmental domains for 0–8-year-old children. The national pre-primary curriculum by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) is also developed based on the approved ELDS. It is also expected that the learning packages/curriculum used by different agencies/institutes would follow the same ELDS structure to deliver quality, age-appropriate, and context-specific learning opportunities for young children.

This assignment, therefore, will undertake a mapping of the existing learning packages/curriculum used for 3-year-old children by Government, non-government agencies, private learning facilities, and other institutes to develop a framework for ECE learning package/module/training package and teaching-learning materials for 3-year-old children based on global/regional guidance and tools.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The purpose of the assignment is to conduct a mapping of the existing learning packages/ curriculum for Early Childhood Education for 3-year-old children and analyze the coherence of these packages with the ELDS as well as identify the gaps in the existing packages in compared to global standards.

The specific objective of this assignment will be to:

• Conduct a mapping of existing learning packages/ curriculum for Early Childhood Education for 3-year-old children including teaching-learning/ training packages and delivery mechanisms in Bangladesh including family-based, personalized, app-based approaches
• Conduct a comparative analysis of the learning packages/ curriculum including teaching-learning/ teacher training packages in Bangladesh
• Review of the materials to identify alignment and gaps with Early Learning Development standards and global/regional best practices and recommend focus and contents of the package to be developed
• Work with national experts and Government Agencies to develop a framework for ECE learning package/module/training package and teaching-learning materials for 3-year-old children based on UNICEF global/regional guidance and tools

Key activities to be undertaken by the Consultant against the specific objectives to be delivered:

• Organise desk reviews, need-based joint consultations, and KII with the Government, non-government agencies, kindergarten associations, kindergarten and private schools, madrasah and other religious-based institutes that are delivering ECE programmes for 3-year-old children in Bangladesh
• Mapping of existing learning packages/ curriculum for Early Childhood Education for 3-year-old children including teaching-learning materials/ training packages/delivery mechanisms
• Analyze the materials, identify gaps in the existing learning packages and recommend content coverage for the 3-year-old children in line with the ELDS
• Consultation meetings/ workshops for developing a framework for ECE learning package/module/training package and teaching-learning materials for 3-year-old children
• Develop a framework for ECE learning package/module/training package and teaching-learning materials for 3-year-old children based on the recommendations and UNICEF global/regional guidance/tools and best practices
• Organise a dissemination workshop on the gaps, recommendations, and proposed framework for ECE learning package with financial and technical support from UNICEF

Major Taska and Deliverables:

Please download the TOR for more details:

Brief_TOR.pdf

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Education, psychology, or Social Science discipline.
• A minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in ECE, ECD, pre-primary education, and related research study is required.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergencies is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

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 for ensuring 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, program 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.