Consultant at the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)

United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (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.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Consultant to Support the Review of the One-year Pre-primary Curriculum and Develop the Teacher's Guide and Training Manual

Job No: 553830
Location: Abuja
Contract type: Consultant
Level: Consultancy
Categories: Education

Purpose of this post

• UNICEF Nigeria uses capacity building as one amongst two other strategies of advocacy and innovation to support the government of Nigeria in increasing equitable access to quality early learning to achieve school readiness.
• At the core of the capacity building strategy are interventions focused on strengthening access and quality of public pre-primary education.
• To support the Nigerian government in addressing some of the barriers to effective implementation of one year of quality pre-primary education, UNICEF is seeking to engage an experienced international early learning consultant with extensive knowledge and experience working in pre-primary education and teacher training to provide technical support in the review of the existing curriculum and training documents and provide strategic recommendations for policy dialogue, implementation and action by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) responsible for pre-primary implementation.

Scope of Work
Reporting to the Education Specialist-ECD, and working closely with the Special Programmes team of the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), the consultant will:

• Review the one-year pre-primary curriculum: The consultancy will review and analyse the curriculum to identify it is consistent with effective, evidence-based or innovative practices, and the challenges and opportunities in the Nigerian context. The consultant will also edit and revise the curriculum to include key recommendations across content and approaches paying particular attention to cross-cutting issues including gender, inclusion and use of technology.
• Support the NERDC and the ECE technical committee to develop the one year pre-primary curriculum implementation teacher’s guide and teacher’s training manual. This will include leading the national consultations and writing workshops.

Under the management supervision of the Chief Basic Education and guidance of the Education Specialist-ECD, as well as inputs from other relevant government partners, the consultant shall carry out the tasks outlined below:

Review the one-year Pre-primary Curriculum:
UNICEF has recently supported the development of a one year pre-primary curriculum. Here the consultant will answer the following questions (based on previous discussions had and identified priorities/ objectives the curriculum is supposed to be achieving):

• How aligned and age and developmentally appropriate is the content of the pre-primary curriculum in addressing skills children need to be ready for school? How inclusive, gender-responsive and culturally relevant is the content of the revised curriculum?
• To what extent does the curriculum mirror the national policy and priorities for pre-primary education, to what extent is it aligned with needs for early learning identified in other research especially towards achieving SDG4.2?
• Are the key competencies clearly and consistently integrated across the curriculum? Are they clearly defined for the users (i.e., the teachers and school leaders) to know when children have demonstrated these competencies?
• To what extent does the curriculum (or does the curriculum sufficiently) meet international standards for quality pre-primary education (i.e., child-centred, play-based, differentiated, etc.)?
• Is the pre-primary curriculum coherently linked both in itself (i.e., across developmental domains and does it progressively built on itself to reinforce the learning already achieved on students’ readiness and needs) and with the primary one curriculum? What linkages are strong and which others are needed? What revisions and improvements should be made to align, simplify and improve the one year pre-primary curriculum?
• What revisions and further guidance are needed for teachers to effectively implement the curriculum, especially for teachers with very limited training and support? This will form the basis for the teacher’s guide to be developed.
• What inputs should be considered for improved use and application of these documents at the school level?

Support the development of the teacher’s guide (TG) and teacher’s training manual (TM) for the one year pre-primary curriculum:

• Develop an inception report to document the desk review and initial consultation - Conduct desk review of existing documents and data, carry out an inception consultation with the ECE technical working group to draw up the proposed approach, review framework and other tools, process and timeline, the expected engagement of the TG and TM development process.
• Conduct review and develop first draft of the TG and TM- Conduct a series of writing workshops with the ECE TWG to develop the TG and TM which should clearly present all relevant details in easy-to-read charts, tables, and annexes. The structure of the TG should be agreed with the ECE TWG and a draft will be reviewed by the TWG. The consultant will participate in consultations to gather and document the feedback on the draft including validation of findings of the review.
• Second draft of TG and TM- Based on the feedback provided in the first draft, revise and develop a second draft. The consultant may be expected to present the second draft to all stakeholders for final review and feedback.
• Final TG and TM- Based on the feedback received on second draft, finalize the TG and TM for submission. The TG and TM will be finalized with endorsement from the ECE TWG.
• Dissemination - The consultant will be expected to support the planning for, facilitate and actively participate in a national workshop for the dissemination of the TG and TM.
• The consultant will be expected to create an online shared folder of all documents reviewed, minutes of consultations, and the draft and final versions of all deliverables and share them with UNICEF.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

Qualifications or specialized knowledge / experience required:

• Advanced Degree in Early Childhood Care and Education.

Experience:

• At least 8 years of experience and expertise in ECE, curriculum development and implementation, early learning assessment, teaching and learning
• Deep familiarity and understanding of pre-primary context and culture in developing context, especially sub-Saharan Africa. Knowledge of same in West Africa will be an advantage.
• Technical Knowledge about Early Childhood Development and Education
• Substantial experience in conducting reviews, analysis of ECE and primary curricula and producing user-friendly syntheses and presentations for a range of different audiences
• Experience in developing technical user-friendly and easy-to-understand guidance documents to be used by ministries of education.
• Excellent workshop facilitation and training skills, especially with teachers and government officials.
• Diplomatic skills to liaise with government counterparts and different stakeholders.

Language requirements:

• Excellent oral and written communication in English is required.

For every Child, you demonstrate:

• UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

Application Closing Date
24th August, 2022 (W. Central Africa Standard Time).