National Consultant – Review of National Strategy for Teacher Education and Development (Open to Nationals of Malawi Only)
Job Number: 514315 | Vacancy Link
Locations: Africa: Malawi
Work Type : Consultancy
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.
And we never give up.
For every child, an education
Malawi launched the National Strategy for Teacher Education (2007-2017), which was set to provide the guidelines for a coherent and responsive teacher education and development programmes in hopes to claim back teachers professional integrity and contribute to the development of quality education in Malawi. In the last decade, the number of teachers for primary and secondary has increased from 45,925 and 11,397 in 2008 to 65,928 and 15,150 in 2016 respectively. However, despite this, the pupil teacher ratio continues to plummet. Of great concern is the increasing attrition rates of teachers, quality of teachers, teacher performance and teacher education curricula and the declining teacher morale and professionalism.
ESIP I focused on (i) increasing teacher output in order to reduce pupil teacher ratio. MoEST planned to achieve this, through the construction of a number of Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) and Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode of teacher training which increased teacher output twice as much than the conventional teacher training mode. Despite these strategies, teacher supply remained low and failed to meet the demand. In 2015/2016 academic year, PQTR stood at 1:74 far below the NESP target of 60:1 by 2017. The Open Distance Learning programme led to the increased numbers of teachers from 2012 to 2015, about 14, 7263 teacher trainees graduated under this mode of training. However, the quality of teacher developed was questioned. In responding to the changes, MOEST developed ESIP II which focused on increasing quality for primary and secondary school teachers including improving teacher access in secondary schools. The Ministry of Education has recently engaged in the revision of the IPTE curriculum, development of the Continuous Professional Development Framework. In secondary teacher education, the emphasis is on training and not much has changed in terms of output of trained graduate teachers. A Teacher training depends on institutions of higher education and this pose as a challenge to plan and produce adequate numbers of teachers annually.
How can you make a difference?
The consultant will work in close consultation with the MoEST, as well as relevant inter-sectoral ministries, Teacher Service Commission, stakeholders in the education sector (NGOs, Development Partners), institutions of Education (public and private Teacher Training Colleges, Universities), District Education Managers, Education Division Managers, Education Advisors, Head teachers to review the performance of the NSTED 2007-2017 to ascertain how effectively and efficiently it was implemented.
Specifically, the consultant will undertake the following activities:
Prepare an inception report with a working methodology, data collection tools, informed by the TOR summarising how the consultant has understood the tasks and deliverables and how they propose to deliver on the consultancy and timeline.
Conduct a desk review of implementation tools for the strategy. This will include review of key policy documents such as the ESIP 1 and 2, Education Policy, Decentralization policy, Education Act, CPD framework, teacher Management strategy, curricular frameworks for primary, secondary and Teacher education, Teacher management strategy and other policy documents and guidelines that have been developed to support the implementation of the strategy. Assess the consistency and alignment of the NSTED to the National Education Policy and MoEST Strategic Plan.
Conduct a budget analysis (2007-2017) to ascertain the capabilities, resources allocation and utilization, and support for the strategies for primary and secondary teacher education and development. Propose improvements in cost effectiveness.
In consultation with the Education Sector stakeholders (MoEST directorates of Planning, Teacher Education, division and district education managers, teacher educators, Teacher Service Commission, NGOs and Development Partners) conduct a review of the NSTEDs immediate and medium and long term strategies, identifying the strength, weakness and challenges, reasons for under and over performance against set targets, gaps and propose solutions to meet continuing and upcoming needs, considering innovative cost effective options in the following areas:
Teacher training and development, specifically looking at the strategies for (i) Initial Primary Teacher Education and Secondary Teacher Education and ii) Continuous Professional Development of teachers in both primary and secondary subsectors.
Teacher management issues in the primary and secondary subsector with special focus on recommendations for structural issues and mandates i) Malawi Government Teacher Service Commission; ii) Department of Human Resource Management and Development at all the specified level, Office of President and Cabinet, MoEST Headquarters and its directorates; district level and licensure and registration of teachers.
Teacher motivation and retention, condition of service and teacher deployment.
Draw recommendations considering the finding of this review, socio- economic context, projected trends in quality and quantity of teachers and other relevant conditions for development of the new NSTED coming decade.,
Facilitate a consultative workshop to validate the findings and recommendations of various stakeholders of the NSTED review findings.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Advanced university degree, preferably PhD in Teacher education, education planning, development studies or related field.
At least 5 years of institutional experience working in teacher education at policy level in education, preferably in Sub-Saharan Africa.
For every Child, you demonstrate
UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.
The technical competencies required for this post are familiarity with the Malawi education system, including excellent understanding of education planning and management practices; demonstrated technical knowledge on government and development partner practices; experience in conducting participatory workshops and consensus-building meetings; and strong strategic, analytical and communication (spoken and written) skills in English.
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.
Remarks:
Mobility is a condition of professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the civil service.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
Closing Date Sat Jul 21 2018 16:00:00 GMT+0100 (Afr. centrale Ouest)