National Consultants for Teacher Professional Learning at 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: National Consultant for Teacher Professional Learning

Job no:  585401
Locations: Abuja (FCT)
Contract type: Consultant
Duration: 11 Months
Level: Consultancy
Categories: Education

Background

• Nigeria is home to approximately 206 million people, 43 per cent of whom are below 14 years of age. By 2030, there will be close to 126 million children in Nigeria.
• The growing child population places significant pressure on the provision of schooling and the delivery of education services.
• Despite the progress made in the past years, 10.2 million children of primary school age and 8.1 million children of junior secondary school age remain out of school.
• Due to the limited access to schooling and poor quality of education, about 75 per cent of children aged 7–14 do not develop foundational literacy and numeracy skills, which are critical building blocks for continued learning and acquisition of advanced skills.
• Insecurities such as armed conflicts and natural hazards in Northeast and Northwest of Nigeria poses additional challenges in securing and expanding access to quality, inclusive education for children in Nigeria.

How can you make a difference? 
Purpose Of Assignment:

• Teachers play a pivotal role in ensuring children learn.
• To facilitate this, UNICEF initiated an innovative school base professional learning model for teachers in Nigeria, in conjunction with FME/UBEC and SUBEBs.
• The piloting phase of this programme is almost over, and the government intends to scale up this model across Nigeria.
• The model is a learning lab approach, with teachers working collaboratively at school level to develop their teaching practices in response to student learning needs.
• Teachers use student learning data to assess needs, develop responses to challenges, practice innovative and new ways of teaching, reflect on their teaching and receive coaching and feedback from School Support Officers and head teachers.
• As part of the programme, School Support Officers and headteachers receive training and coaching in instructional leadership to be able to mentor and coach teachers.
• Some areas of the approach need developing, specifically learning modules to provide input to teachers, and a model that can be scaled up across Nigeria.

Scope of work
The scope of work for this consultancy is to:

• Support the lead international consultant to establish the technical working group to undertake the agreed refinements.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Engage with stakeholders, including teachers, school administrators, district officials, and policymakers, to ensure buy-in and ownership of the refined model.
• Support the development and implementation of a series of high-level technical workshops with FME and UBEC to review the model (with input from our ongoing research on the model) and identify the areas for refinement
• Support the selection of the Master trainers and the conduct of the two train-the-trainer workshops.

Work Assignment:

• Task/Milestone:
  • Work with the lead consultants on the series of high-level technical workshops with government partners to review the model (with input from our ongoing research of the model) and identify the areas for refinement
• Deliverables / Outputs:
  • Workshop programme, including agendas, content, materials submitted.
• Task / Milestone:
  • Co - development of a roadmap for the refinement of the model including a timeline and initiate a technical group to work on the refinements
• Deliverables / Outputs
  • Agendas and minutes of meetings submitted
• Support the setup of the technical group to undertake the agreed refinements, which will include:
  • Co - development of a handbook outlining the model and how to conduct the learning lab approach in schools
  • Updated training materials for the SSO and headteacher instructional leadership training
  • Co - development of a series of pedagogical modules to support learner centred teaching and learning.
  • These could include (but not restricted to) learner centred methodology, activity-based learning, summative assessment, planning lessons, using data to assess student learning and so on.
  • These will be facilitated at school level by School support Officers or expert teachers or done as peer learning sessions by and with teachers.
  • It is expected that these will eventually be online modules that teachers can access from a menu for self or peer learning.

Deliverables/Outputs

• Updated training materials for instructional leaders submitted
• Three agreed drafts and finalized pedagogical modules submitted
• Selection of tools as agreed.

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

• An advanced Degree in education with a preference for teacher education, Curriculum development.
• At least seven years of involvement in teacher reform programmes, including in developing contexts.
• At least ten years of experience in writing teacher professional learning materials and teacher training/professional learning
• Experience in hybrid, online teacher professional learning programmes.
• Experience in working in Nigeria or other sub-Saharan African countries is an asset.
• Experience of working with UNICEF or UNESCO in teacher development programmes is an asset.

Application Closing Date
3rd November, 2025; 11:55 PM West Central Africa Standard Time.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online