Myanmar: INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANT – Teacher Education Training Development and Implementation (Position located in Yangon, Myanmar)

INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANT –

Teacher Education Training Development and Implementation

(Position located in Yangon, Myanmar)

Terms of Reference

Date Issued: 11 June 2019

Functional Title: International Consultant – Teacher Education Training Development and Implementation

Organizational unit: UNESCO Myanmar Project Office

Duty Station: Yangon, Myanmar

Duration of the contract: 15 July 2019 to 6 December 2019

Application deadline: 25 June 2019

Background:

UNESCO, in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MoE), is working to strengthen pre-service teacher education in Myanmar through reform measures outlined in the National Education Strategic Plan (NESP) 2016-21. The project named “Strengthening pre-service Teacher Education in Myanmar (STEM)” addresses four fundamentally important aspects of pre-service teacher education. These include:

· formulating a policy framework of pre-service teacher education and identifying standards for quality assurance,

· improving a system of pre-service teacher training institutions - Education Degree Colleges (EDCs)[1] by designing the new four-year degree programme of pre-service teacher education and creating good networks to accumulate and share knowledge and experiences of all EDCs,

· developing institutional/management and human resource capacities of EDCs, and

· mainstreaming inclusion and equity issues in teacher education.

The project is improving teacher education in the area of governance, policy development around teacher education, review of learning resources and development of curriculum, and building capacity of staff in management and teaching.

Under the project, UNESCO is supporting MoE to produce syllabi, student teacher textbooks (TBs) and teacher educator guides (TGs) for the new four-year EDC programme, to be implemented in 25 EDCs across all states and regions in Myanmar. The first and second years are considered to be foundation years, focusing on preparing student teachers to acquire basic knowledge and develop skills to teach primary and middle schools respectively while the third and fourth years provide primary and middle specialization tracks for student teachers to choose to get more in-depth knowledge and experience in teaching students of the particular schooling levels. The curriculum of the four-year EDC degree is to train primary and middle school teachers for Myanmar basic education schools and needs to align with the new basic education curriculum, which is being implemented gradually in Myanmar[2].

In line with this process, UNESCO supports MoE and its Curriculum Core Team (CCT)[3] in developing and finalizing Year 1 Education Degree College (EDC) curriculum and related materials of 11 subjects and four learning areas[4]. Year 1 of these publications have been developed and revised several times as part of a comprehensive national consultation process during 2018-2019, with UNESCO, curriculum experts and CCT, and will be available both in Myanmar and English languages.

These curriculum materials will be used for the roll-out of the new EDC curriculum in 25 EDCs in December 2019, and a series of trainings to prepare the approximately 2,000 teacher educators to deliver the new programme are planned to be developed and implemented over the next few months.

Two five-day face-to-face training sessions are planned to prepare teacher educators on the effective delivery of the new Year 1 curriculum. 25 EDCs will be grouped into eight clusters and teacher educators will be assigned to join the relevant training sessions in one of the EDC clusters. International consultants, national consultants, UNESCO, and selected CCT members will be involved in supporting the trainings as the training support team. Tentative training themes may include: the new EDC curriculum and training on the four learning areas (Educational Studies, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Practicum, and Reflective Practice and Essential Skills); introduction to the Teacher Competency Standards Framework (TCSF); and crossing cutting themes such as inclusion, gender equality, education for sustainable development. Teacher Educators will particularly be trained on teaching strategies and assessment approaches across subjects and for specific subjects, part of the Curriculum and Pedagogy learning area, in line with the curriculum focusing on a competency-based approach.

The tentative schedule for the major tasks of the trainings for Year 1 curriculum is as follows. Please note that the schedule is tentative and subject to confirmation.

July to August 2019

Design drafting and reviewing of training modules for the roll-out of the Year 1 curriculum

Late August 2019

Piloting of the training modules with CCT

September 2019

Revision and finalization of training modules

Late September 2019

Preparation workshop for the trainings together with the training support team

Late September to
late November 2019

Training at EDC clusters

i) Cluster 1 and Cluster 5, First five-day training session: 30 Sep to 4 Oct, Second five-day training session: 28 Oct to 1 Nov;

ii) Cluster 2 and Cluster 6, First five-day training session: 7 to 11 Oct, Second five-day training session: 4 to 8 Nov;

iii) Cluster 3 and Cluster 7, First five-day training session: 15 to 19 Oct, Second five-day training session: 12 to 16 Nov;

iv) Cluster 4 and Cluster 8, First five-day training session: 21 to 25 Oct, Second five-day training session: 18 to 22 Nov;

It is expected that a team of two national and two international consultants will first design, draft and review the overall two five-day training programme, training modules and accompanying relevant resources, and then will facilitate the trainings as designed across the eight EDC clusters. The training modules may be based on the selected lessons from Year 1 EDC TBs and TGs and may make reference to the training modules of the new basic education curriculum or Grades 1 to 3.

The current terms of reference applies to the two international consultants who shall ensure international good practice across training design and facilitation, together with UNESCO, CCT and other consultants (training module developers and facilitators).

Work Assignment:

The consultants will perform the tasks under the overall authority of the Director of UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, the direct supervision of the Head of Office of UNESCO Myanmar Project Office, the day-to-day guidance of the Senior Education Project Officer and in close collaboration with the STEM project team. The consultants will ensure international good practices and be responsible for the design, drafting and review of the overall two five-day training programme, training modules and accompanying relevant resources, and the delivery and facilitation of trainings, in close collaboration with UNESCO, CCT and other consultants (training module developers and facilitators). The consultant’s responsibilities include, among others,

· Providing technical comments on the selection of training themes that need to be covered during the trainings, by reviewing the EDC curriculum materials and other materials such as the training modules of the new basic education curriculum;

· Designing a two five-day training programme that is feasible and effective to be delivered to all teacher educators, together with national consultants;

· Developing a training manual[1], including a set of modules covering the agreed themes as well as necessary training materials such as presentations that will be used for the training sessions;

· Piloting selected training modules with CCT, with the feedback collected to make necessary improvements and amendments to the assigned training modules;

· Reviewing training modules developed by other consultants and providing technical comments to improve the content, particularly ensuring the adequate presence of international good practices and trends on the agreed themes;

· Developing training evaluation questionnaires (such as pre-test and post-test surveys) to document the appropriateness and effectiveness of the agreed themes covered, the training materials and the delivery of trainings, together with national consultants;

· Preparing and delivering training sessions with CCT and other consultants in Yangon, Myanmar prior to the two five-day trainings to ensure that the training support team gets ready for delivering the trainings to teacher educators;

· Preparing and delivering training sessions to teacher educators in each EDC cluster in different states and regions in Myanmar, including formulating training agenda;

· Collecting feedback from teacher educators during the training sessions through training evaluation questionnaires and/or other formative means. The feedback will be used for making adjustments to the subsequent trainings in other EDC clusters as appropriate;

· Communicating with UNESCO and other consultants on a regular basis to update on the progress; and

· Producing a final evaluation report, reflecting on and analyzing experiences in facilitating the training sessions and the results of the training evaluation questionnaires, and providing recommendations for future training needs for teacher educators to consolidate their learning of training materials.

Deliverables and Timeline:

All deliverables are submitted in English and in editable format (such as MS-Word and MS-Powerpoint format):

1. Draft two five-day training programme based on the selection of training themes by 19 July 2019;

2. Draft outline of assigned training modules by 26 July 2019;

3. Draft assigned training modules, draft training agenda and draft training evaluation questionnaires by 20 August 2019;

4. Finalized assigned training modules, finalized training agenda and finalized training evaluation questionnaires incorporating feedback from UNESCO, MoE, other consultants (training module developers and facilitators) and other stakeholders, together with the result of training evaluation questionnaires from the piloting with CCT by 16 September 2019; and

5. Final report and all supporting documents (such as original boarding passes, original visa fee receipts) of official travel undertaken for reimbursement by 6 December 2019.

Location and travel:

The international consultants will work remotely except the following time periods:

· in Yangon, Myanmar to meet with CCT to conduct piloting of the draft assigned training modules in late August 2019;

· in Yangon, Myanmar to prepare for the training with CCT and other facilitators between mid-September 2019 and late September 2019; and

· in field sites in different regions and states in Myanmar to deliver the trainings from late September to late November 2019.

Fees:

· Middle-level or senior-level consultants depending on qualifications; and

· Travel costs for missions undertaken within the context of the assignment will be reimbursed as per UNESCO rules and regulations.

Qualifications:

Education:

· At least Master’s degree with specialization in education (preferably in teacher education) or a related field;

Work experience:

· At least five years of experience in developing training modules and delivering and facilitating educational training, preferably relating to teacher training and on themes such as competency-based approach, teaching strategies, assessment approaches and inclusive education;

· Previous experience in teacher education reforms, preferably at the international level, would be desirable; and

· Good knowledge of the Myanmar country context or context similar to Myanmar as an asset.

Skills and competencies:

· Strong analytical skills;

· Strong skills in presenting information in a clear and concise manner;

· Excellent written and oral communication skills in English;

· Proficiency in using common office ICT productivity tools; and

· Ability to work both independently and collaboratively on delegated tasks.

How to apply:

Interested applicants are invited to submit in writing to the UNESCO Project Office in Myanmar:

a) A cover letter (in English) and clearly referencing “International Consultant – Teacher Education Training Development and Implementation”, indicating how your qualifications and experience make you suitable for the assignment, and the methodology and approach(es) to be adopted to carry out the assignment and expected fee;

b) An up-to-date CV, with contact details including telephone numbers and email address; and

c) A writing sample in English.

Your application should be submitted by e-mail to yangon@unesco.org no later than 17:00 Hours (Yangon time) on 25 June 2019.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

In line with UNESCO’s overall gender mainstreaming strategy, the incumbent is expected to integrate a gender perspective in all activities and apply gender analysis and mainstreaming concepts whenever feasible.