Consultant for Development of FSMs National ECE Curriculum Framework and Supporting Adaptation of State ECE Curricula in all 4 States (120 Days)
JOB DETAIL
ABOUT THE COMPANY:
UNICEF was created with a distinct purpose in mind: to work with others to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease and discrimination place in a child’s path. We advocate for measures to give children the best start in life, because proper care at the youngest age forms the strongest foundation for a person’s future
JOB SUMMARY
The overall objective of this consultancy is to strengthen the relevance and quality of early childhood education in the FSM.
The purpose of this consultancy is to develop FSM’s national ECE curriculum framework; to support the revision, alignment and adaptation of the ECE curricula in each of 4 states to the national ECE curriculum framework; and to develop training modules on the national ECE curriculum framework with adapted versions of each state curricula for training of ECE on rolling out ECE curricula in the states.
The consultancy will need to adopt a well-coordinated approach within the context of the ECE system of the FSM, including other ongoing and planned initiatives.
Requirements
Education:
- An advanced university degree, preferably master’s and above, in early childhood education/education/social sciences.
Experience & Skills:
- Minimum of 8 years of working experience in early childhood education, including development and roll out of relevant ECE curriculum.
- Experience in inclusive early learning assessment and in-service ECE teacher training will be an asset.
- Experience in FSM and/or other Pacific Island countries is an asset.
- Experience with indigenous teaching and learning is an asset.
- Demonstrated familiarity with promoting foundational learning through play-based approaches
- Excellent writing skills and ability to synthesize complex information and issues.
- Strong analytical and conceptual thinking.
- Ability to organize and plan complex work following the established timeframes.
- Ability to plan, coordinate, manage and facilitate high-level meetings.
- Previous experience working for UNICEF or another international organization an asset.
- Ability to work effectively with others.
Language:
- Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
Responsibilities
- Desk review and Inception Report
- Conduct a desk review of national early learning standards, ECE curricula and aligned teaching and learning materials for all 4 states of FSM.
This would include all other relevant documents, including the partnership agreement, Grade 1 curricula, revised February 2023 standards and guidance, climate change in education study report, and any other relevant national documents (e.g., NDP, Education Policies/Plans, Transforming Education Statement of Commitment), as well as regional documents such as the ECE curriculum review, the PETALS Framework, the Pacific Inclusive Education Review, etc. This should also specifically attend to expectations for foundational literacy, numeracy and life/transferrable skills (including resilience), culture, inclusion and values.
The review should ensure a strong gender and inclusion lens, which must feed into the synthesis, methodology and proposal for the final deliverables.
- Produce a synthesis report and consolidated visual presentation reflecting a synthesis of all existing documents, including a mapping of curricula/standards/assessment (e.g., by learning domains, by approach to assessment, etc.), identifying common trends, variations, good practices, challenges and potential gaps and present at inception meetings with NDOE and UNICEF (and others, as determined relevant).
Identify and resolve questions that will feed into the methodology and other relevant aspects of the inception phase at these meetings.
- Produce inception report with clearly proposed methodology for the scope of work, including plans for government and non-government stakeholder engagement, and clear plans to ensure the ownership, relevance and cultural grounding of each curriculum, as well as the proposed approaches for producing curricula and training materials that can be delivered in the language of each state.
Update and finalize methodology, timeline and mapping in the inception report through consultations with NDOE and UNICEF.
- First Draft National ECE Curriculum Framework
- Through a highly participatory approach, with NDOE in the lead, develop the first draft of FSM’s national ECE curriculum framework, that defines a shared and forward-looking vision of inclusive and culturally-grounded learning for every young child at ECE level preparing to transition to Grade 1, and how the systems at national and sub-national level, schools and ECE and grade 1 teacher will collaboratively work towards fulfilling the vision.
REQUIRED EDUCATION: Postgraduate Degree
EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS: 96
