Education Officer, Foundational Skills

Details

Mission and objectives

UNICEF works to help the children of Indonesia reach their full potential. We assist our partners to monitor and measure progress against these rights via the child-focused Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on the most vulnerable children. Our programme interventions are rights-based, cut across different sectors, respond to the specific needs of girls and boys and address the vulnerabilities and strengths of children in their first and second decades of life. UNICEF has a strong on-the-ground presence in Indonesia, with seven regional and sub-regional offices. These are primarily in areas with the greatest disparities and service gaps. They complement our high-level policy and programme advice with practical support for planning, financing and service delivery, especially to advocate for quality, equity and sustainability. Indonesia has the world’s fourth largest child population. UNICEF's presence in the country means we have the potential to impact more than 80 million children. We take this responsibility seriously and are committed to ensuring that children and adolescents – the building blocks of Indonesia’s future – have an equal chance in life.

Context

Despite progress towards universal education in Indonesia, the country still lags behind in terms of learning outcomes and is facing a ‘learning crisis’ with multiple dimensions as reflected in large proportions of children and youth lacking foundational literacy and numeracy skills, as well as the 21st century skills needed to fulfil their potential in life. Recently, in 2021 Indonesia’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (MoECRT) conducted a new national assessment for Grade 5, 8 and 11 students. The assessment shows significant gaps in learning, particularly in grades 5 and 8, with less than 50 per cent of students in these grades achieving minimum competencies in literacy and numeracy . There is a similarly concerning results at higher age levels, as the results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 showed that 70 per cent of 15-year-old students did not achieve the minimum proficiency level in reading and 71 per cent in mathematics. The results of these assessments is concerning, as research and experience show foundational skills, such as reading, is a strong predictor and determinant of performance in other subject areas. So much so, that a 16-point decline in Indonesia’s PISA reading scores (most optimistic scenario) among 15-year-old students has been forecast (World Bank). Major disparities and inequities in learning performance across socioeconomic status, geographical location and gender exist. The 2018 PISA results show that students with highest socioeconomic status (SES) are 2.6 times more likely to achieve minimum proficiency in reading than those with the lowest SES. A baseline study conducted by UNICEF in Papua and West Papua in 2015 showed that over 50 per cent of grade 2 and 3 students in the two provinces were classified as non-readers and only 12 per cent read fluently with comprehension. In remote rural schools in Papua the percentage of non-readers was alarmingly much higher (62%). Against this situation of learning crisis and inequity in learning outcomes, UNICEF has been providing support to improve the quality of education in the most disadvantaged regions, with particular attention to Papua and West Papua provinces. With the success of the Early Grade Learning (EGL) program in Papua over the past country program (2016-2020), UNICEF is now focusing on scaling-up and mainstreaming interventions for learning improvement under the current country program (2021-2025). The current phase (phase 3) of the EGL programme will run for three years - September 2021 until January 2024. The UNV will help to bolster capacity in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) data collection and consolidation across 6 implementing partners, support the work of our education team in the field on the collection and analysis of data relevant with Gender Equality and Disabilities Inclusion (GEDSI), and assist on data gathering in the areas of school readiness and transition from Early Child Education (ECE) to Primary School. Data collection and analysis is a critical task in terms of measuring the overall impact of the programme.

Task description

Within the delegated authority and supervision of the Education Specialist for Foundational Skills, and in coordination with the education officers in UNICEF Indonesia Field Offices located in Jayapura the UNV for Foundational Skills will: • Assist in collecting and consolidating M&E data in the field. • Assist in maintaining close coordination with implementing partners in the field on any issues related to data collection and programme implementation. • Support the Papua-based education officers in implementing various foundational skills programmes in the field such as training, mentoring, or teacher’s working group. • Support the analysis of relevant data in the field related with Gender, Equality, and Disabilities Inclusion (GEDSI). • Support the conduct of research work on gathering the lessons learned from the scalability roadmap implementation. • Support the consultations with selected 2 districts on the development of action plans to address teacher absenteeism based on the recommendations of the Teacher Absenteeism study • Maintain effective coordination with sub-national stakeholders at the district level, such as District Education Offices and schools, to promote program sustainability. • Assist on data gathering in the areas of school readiness and transition from Early Child Education to primary school. • Undertake any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor. Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities: • Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day); • Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country; • Provide annual and end of assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results and opportunities. • Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.; • Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers; • Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.