Consultancy Title: Instructional Leadership Consultant (11 months)

The purpose of this consultancy is to support the DoE and school leadership teams in working constructively as a team within the constraints of the camp environment and developing their capacity to deliver higher learning outcomes for students

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

BACKGROUND:

UNICEF Jordan works in partnership with the with Ministry of Education to improve the educational outcomes for children and young people. This work can be split into three main areas. Support provided to schools working with Syrian children in the refugee camps and in the host community, supporting MOE nationally with interventions to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children such as those who have dropped out of schooling or have additional needs, and playing a role in system strengthening by providing technical support. More recently due to the impact of COVID-19 UNICEF has supported the MOE in developing a national blended programme for all students in grades 4 to 9 called Learning Bridges.

How can you make a difference?

The purpose of this consultancy is to support the DoE and school leadership teams in working constructively as a team within the constraints of the camp environment and developing their capacity to deliver higher learning outcomes for students.

OBJECTIVE:

1. To develop comprehensive data driven improvement planning within each of the schools in Azraq and Za’atari refugee camps providing relevant professional development, coaching and mentoring to support school leadership teams to implement their improvement plans.
2. Support schools in developing distributed leadership. It is envisaged that each school will develop middle leaders to improve the provision of their subject within the school with support from the consultant. Initially this will be focused on mathematics and Arabic. The consultant will develop and deliver training for leaders and middle management focused on improving learning outcomes.
3. The consultants will also work with principals and supervisors to ensure any educational programmes developed for the camps schools and/or national initiatives are working effectively and properly evaluated. Those programmes include the SATs literacy programme, the Identity project, Learning Bridges and any other new programmes developed by UNICEF or MOE that leadership teams may need support in implementing.
4. This consultancy is funded under a multi-lateral programme called PROSPECTS. It would be expected that the consultant would be able to monitor progress and provide the appropriate reporting requirements.

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT:

1 - To support school leadership teams in Azraq and Za’atari Camps to plan for quality improvements in their schools using a range of school data. It would be expected that schools would be supported to undertake the following activities:

1. Support school leaders to create an instructional leadership structure within each school and provide training to the different levels within the structure. All training packages developed should be robust, partially blended and be appropriate for national scale up.
2. Support school principals to write an improvement plan in-line with SDDP with tangible actions and help them implement that plan with regular reviews i.e. implementing community meetings, attendance monitoring, regular meetings with subject leads, effective use of Syrian Assistant Teachers, etc.

2 - To support school supervisors to develop their role within their assigned school. It is expected that supervisors undertake the following activities

1. Professional development to build capacity in their skills of observation, mentoring and coaching;
2. Develop their understanding of how to support the school as a learning organisation;
3. Increase their sense of responsibility and accountability in delivering improved learning results throughout the school.

3 - To support the two regional Directorate of Education (DOE) in Zarqa and Mufraq in developing working relationships with the schools in their camps focused on learning outcomes.

4 - Support all stakeholders in the QA process for data monitoring activities.

5 - Be accountable for their own work plan and track progress of the above activities producing timely and accurate reporting as required by UNICEF and the donor.

KEY DELIVERABLES:

1. 1:1 team building and coaching and mentoring for supervisors and school principals leading to good quality improvement planning based on learning outcomes for approximately 25 schools. This would involve creating proformas as required to capture key information, and supporting leadership teams to carry out their roles with a focus on instructional leadership, more effectively.
2. The development, implementation and review of the following training programmes:
   1. Observing lessons and providing feedback - subject focused
   2. Instructional leadership         
   3. Distributed leadership
   4. Middle leadership training in either Arabic or mathematics
3. Preparation and implementation of Professional Development Workshops for:

1. School Supervisors
2. School Leadership Teams

4. Monthly work plan and review

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

Education: Undergraduate and Masters degree essential, Subject degree in mathematics or Arabic desirable, Education qualification desirable. Leadership qualification desirable

Work experience:

• At least 10 years as a teacher, inclusive of experience as a middle or senior manager in a school
• and providing professional development for teachers.
• Experience of working within the Jordan education system
• Experience of working in an education setting other than Jordan (desirable)

Technical knowledge: Included to but not limited to the following strands:

• Knowledge of and ability to use ICT skills to support teachers and principals in the management and analysis of data.
• Experience of data collection, use and analyse in education contexts.
• Experience of coaching and mentoring in education contexts.
• Experience of working with a wide range of stakeholders in Education, analyzing need and supporting professional development.
• Have a deep knowledge of improvement planning, including implementation and regular review, based on school needs from an analysis of data.
• Experience of designing and implementing and evaluating interactive training courses that build leadership capacity in education leadership and management.
• Experience of capacity building peers.
• Educational leader and manager.
• Experience in data driven improvement planning in educational setting.

Language:

• Able to communicate clearly to different audiences orally and in writing in Arabic.
• Can communicate in English language orally.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The functional competencies required for this post are...

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

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:

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