Senior Consultant (Guyana Project : Creation of Leadership Academy & Sector Management Improvements)

  • Location:
  • Salary:
    negotiable / YEAR
  • Job type:
    CONTRACTOR
  • Posted:
    2 months ago
  • Category:
    Management and Strategy, Project Management
  • Deadline:
    11/10/2024

JOB DESCRIPTION

 

OVERVIEW

Parent Sector : Education Sector (E

Duty Station: Paris

 

Classification of duty station: [[filter12]]

Standard Duration of Assignement : [[filter13]]

Job Family: Education

Type of contract : Non Staff

Duration of contract : From 7 to 11 months

Recruitment open to : Internal and external candidates

Application Deadline (Midnight Paris Tim: 11OCT2024

UNESCO Core Values: Commitment to the Organization, Integrity, Respect for Diversity, Professionalism

Candidates who meet the required qualifications are invited to send their application (updated CV and technical and financial offer by 11 October 2024 by submitting their application to: consultancytc@iiep.unesco.org)

OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POST

In February 2023, the Ministry of Education (Moof Guyana and its partners signed the endorsement of the Partnership Compact, a document defining the roadmap to achieve Guyana’s education system transformation. The identified priority of the Compact is to “Strengthen Instructional Leadership at District and School Levels”. The objective is to “Promote equitable learning by strengthening culturally responsive and effective instructional leadership and improved accountability at the district and school levels.” To achieve this, the MoE applied for the Global Partnership for Education (GP‘s System Transformation Grant (ST, with the InterAmerican Development Bank (ID having been selected as the Grant Agent to implement the grant in collaboration with the MoE and with the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIE as lead technical partner. The STG will be implemented through a comprehensive fouryear programme, relying on two main components: 1) Strengthening school and district leadership with the creation of a Leadership Academy; 2) Improving sector management.

Component 1: Leadership Academy. The aim of this component is to equip district and school leaders for leading transformation in schools and districts by (establishing a Leadership Academy (Lfor their continuous training and professional development (PROin culturally responsive instructional leadership; and (strengthening culturally responsive instructional leadership, planning and databased decisionmaking at district and school levels. The component has the following two subcomponents.

Subcomponent Training and Support of District and School Leaders. The Leadership Academy will be a new structure within the education system, with the mandate and capacity to deliver and maintain high quality, relevant, and responsible certification, and continuous professional development programs (CPfor practicing and aspiring school and district leaders. The initial leadership training program will be of a sixmonth duration with a common core for both types of leaders, followed by separate school and district leader tracks of three months each. The training will emphasize a handson approach in a hybrid modality (inperson and onlinand both individual and group learning.

Subcomponent Development and Review of Guidelines. The objective will be to (revise/develop guidelines for School Improvement Plans (SIPand District Strategic Plans (DSPto promote culturally responsive and evidencebased planning; and (ireview and update guidelines for Parent Teacher Associations (PTAand School Boards as well as capacity building for the School Boards to increase parent and community engagement in schools and promote culturally responsive leadership practices. The main output of this subcomponent includes revised guidelines for SIPs and DSPs as well as guidelines for PTAs and School Boards.

Component System Improvements. The aim of the component is to revisit and strengthen resource allocation, accountability, and coordination systems by (developing a more equitable system for the allocation of human, material, and financial resources to schools; (iupgrading desk manuals for district and school leadership to align with the redefined roles and responsibilities under a culturally responsible instructional leadership paradigm; and (iiimproving the systems for collaboration across the system to ensure that district and school leaders are supported in their efforts on instructional leadership. The component has the following subcomponents.

Subcomponent Resource Allocation: Efficient Allocation and Assignment Mechanism. The aim of this subcomponent is to support the MOE in the development and implementation of: (a resource allocation mechanism consistent with budgetary provisions to regions and schools; and (ia revised teacher allocation policy and assignment mechanism.

Subcomponent Improving Accountability. This subcomponent will include a capacity analysis of district and school leaders in Guyana, the upgrading of desk manuals, including job descriptions and organigrams, for district and school leaders, and the improvement of communication and coordination among schools, regional departments, and central units of the MoE. Attention will also be given to the criteria for selecting district and school leaders.

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITES

Specifically, the consultant will be tasked to:

Component Leadership Academy:

Subcomponent 1: Training and Support of District and School Leaders

  • Leadership academy design: provide constructive feedback on the needs assessment, supply analysis, and strategy plan; participation in the online restitution workshop on the strategy plan.
  • Leadership academy common core: contribute to the preparation and cofacilitation of the facetoface learning codesign workshop with the IIEPMoEIDB team; I develop detailed outline of the course blueprint (intended learning outcomes (ILO, sub ILOS and content, including course structure with modules/units, activities, workload, assessment.

Subcomponent 2: Development and Review of Guidelines

  • District, School planning, and PTA/School Board guidelines. In relation to each set of guidelines: draft the diagnosis report on existing guidelines, including suggestions for improvement; Icontribute to the preparation and cofacilitation of the online methodological workshop for the revision of existing guidelines; II conduct online consultations with relevant national and subnational stakeholders; and I complete the diagnosis report with suggestions for improvement of guidelines.

Component System improvements

Subcomponent 2: Improving Accountability

  • Capacity analysis tool of district and school leaders. The analysis will pay attention to the following themes for each actor: mandate and functions; staffing and resources; structures and incentives; roles and responsibilities; recruitment, training and professional development; relationships and collaboration; behaviours and practices. According to the analytical framework shared by the IIEP team, the consultant will be expected to complete the following activities:
  1. Draft a diagnosis report based on relevant documentation;
  2. Adapt the IIEP generic capacity analysis tool to the case of district and school leaders in Guyana;
  3. Participate in the data collection mission and draft the analysis report;
  4. Prepare and cofacilitate the online restitution workshop with the IIEP team.
  • Leadership development framework (LDand Leadership System Overview (LS: provide constructive feedback on the draft reports.
  • Collaboration within the system: in collaboration with the IIEP and local consultant, prepare and facilitate the online codesign workshop.

DELIVERABLES AND DEADLINES

The consultant is expected to fulfil these activities during the first year of the project, in consultation with the IIEP project manager, as indicated below :

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Activity report including the following products (January 2025)

A. Leadership academy design:

  • Submission of constructive feedback report on the Leadership Academy training needs assessment and supply analysis.

B. School planning and PTA/School Boards guidelines:

  • Diagnosis report on existing guidelines.

C. Capacity analysis tool:

  • Diagnosis report; tool; mission report with number of interviews, other data collected, and preliminary findings.

Activity report including the following products (April 2025):

A. School planning and PTA / School Boards guidelines:

  • Online methodological workshop : preparation and presentation of slides; cofacilitation of sessions.

B. District planning guidelines:

  • Diagnosis report on existing guidelines

Activity report including the following products (July 2025):

A. Leadership academy design:

  • Provide constructive feedback on draft strategy plan.

B. District planning guidelines:

  • Online methodological workshop: preparation and presentation of slides; cofacilitation of sessions.

C. School planning and PTA/School Boards planning guidelines:

  • Online consultations.

D. Capacity analysis tool:

  • Capacity analysis final report
  • Online restitution workshop: preparation and presentation of slides; cofacilitation of sessions.

Activity report including the following products (October 2025):

A. Leadership academy design:

  • Attend the online restitution workshop.

B. Leadership academy common core:

  • Face to face codesign workshop: mission; preparation and presentation of slides; cofacilitation of sessions.
  • Detailed outline of the course blueprint

C. District planning guidelines:

  • Online consultations

D. District, school planning and PTA/school Boards planning guidelines:

  • Diagnosis reports with suggestion for improvement

E. Leadership Development Framework and Leadership System Overview:

  • Constructive feedback on the draft LDF and LSO draft reports.

F. Collaboration within the system:

  • Online codesign workshop: preparation and presentation of slides; cofacilitation of sessions.

COMPETENCIES (Core / Manageria

Accountability (
Communication (
Innovation (
Knowledge sharing and continuous improvement (
Planning and organizing (
Results focus (
Teamwork (
Professionalism (

For detailed information, please consult the UNESCO Competency Framework.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

  • Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalenin the field of education or educational planning and management.

Experience

  • At least 10 years of experience in educational planning and management.
  • At least 7 years working in a Ministry of Education.
  • Minimum 3 years of experience working with Ministries of Education and development partners of Guyana and/or the Caribbean region.

Competencies

  • Excellent ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with diverse stakeholders in a multicultural environment.
  • Excellent negotiation skills with national stakeholders, including senior executive staff of Ministries of Education, and international partners.
  • Excellent capacities to engage with local stakeholders (district, school, parents, communitie.
  • Experience in developing training materials for central, district and school leaders.
  • Experience in delivering onthejob training to adults.
  • Excellent communication skills, both oral and written.
  • Excellence in making public presentations.
  • Excellent writing and editing skills and ability to conduct research (in particular conducting semistructured and focusgroup discussions, qualitative and quantitative data analysi.
  • Strong ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure.
  • Strong IT skills, including knowledge of MS Office suite such as Word and Excel.

Language requirements

  • Fluency in English (oral and writte.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

Education

  • PhD in the field of education or social sciences.

Experience

  • Experience working with the Ministry of Education of Guyana or from other Caribbean countries.
  • Experience working with district and school leaders.
  • Experience working on GPE Partnership Compacts.
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