Consultant – Field-testing Gender-Responsive Pedagogy Training of Teacher Educators in Lao PDR

OVERVIEW

Parent Sector : Education Sector (ED)

Duty Station: Bangkok

 

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 : External candidates

Application Deadline (Midnight Paris Time) : 17-05-2024

 

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

 

OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POST

1.  BACKGROUND

In education systems, teachers work as key change agents for challenging harmful gender stereotypes and promoting gender equality and girls and women’s empowerment.  Investing in relevant specialization, professional preparedness and support for teachers to enable gender equality is therefore fundamental to achieving transformative education. 

One barrier to gender equality in education in countries across Asia is the low participation and achievement of girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) studies. In the context of Lao PDR, 13% of science and mathematics teachers at secondary schools are women. Furthermore, the teaching and learning materials employed in Lao PDR tend to predominantly depict scientists, engineers, and doctors as males, while women are frequently portrayed as nurses, cooks, and secretaries. Consequently, female students lack role models capable of inspiring and guiding them toward pursuing studies in STEM. In parallel, Lao PDR has the youngest population and the highest rate of adolescent pregnancies in Southeast Asia, with 60% of the population estimated to be under the age of 25, and 24% of women becoming mothers before the age of 18. The country has a high maternal mortality ratio, with 15% of maternal deaths occurring in young girls. Issues affecting the health and well-being of adolescents, including their sexual and reproductive health, are therefore extremely important, not only for their well-being and life opportunities but also for their educational achievement. Acknowledging these issues, the Government has demonstrated commitment to strengthening comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) and has implemented a number of development plans and policies to enhance the reach and quality of school-based CSE.

UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok (UNESCO Bangkok) will contribute to the strengthening of teacher capacity for gender transformative education in Lao PDR through gender-responsive pedagogy (GRP) training for teacher educators. GRP refers to teaching and learning processes that encourage equal participation and involvement of students of all genders (girls, boys, and gender-diverse), and which considers their respective, specific interests, learning styles and needs. As gender overlaps with other aspects and vulnerability such as race/caste/ethnicity/sexual orientation/disability in creating social hierarchies, GRP is part of ensuring inclusive learning environments, where all students feel respected and valued.  

Long Description

Specifically, UNESCO Bangkok, in collaboration with the Lao PDR Department of Teacher Education (DTE) and participating local Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) has organized a national training of approximately 50 teacher educators on GRP, hailing from all 16 TEIs. Leading up to this six-day training workshop, key inputs have included a diagnostic needs assessment survey among the 32 targeted training beneficiaries and a locally-contextualized GRP training package that has been adapted from existing international/regional materials. The scope of the project is to provide GRP training to upskill teacher educators in mainstreaming gender in their classroom pedagogy, as well as in their delivery of gender-transformative curricula that teaches explicitly about gender and focuses on social and emotional learning (SEL) to shape gender-equitable knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes. The intention is that this GRP training will provide teacher educators and their student teachers with content and approaches that they will then drive and distil in each stage of the teaching-learning cycle. Thereafter, trained teacher educators will have the opportunity to implement their learning and instill the pedagogy in their classroom environment. This period of implementation by teacher educators will undergo field-testing in order to monitor, learn from and enhance the GRP training process and training material, as well as inform recommendations for sustained future approaches to this capacity building. The field-testing period will take place during a 5-month period from June through November 2024, with a mid-point GRP booster training of the teacher educators anticipated for August 2024 (TBC).

To support efforts at institutionalizing GRP in TEIs and further refining of contextually relevant GRP training content and approaches in all 16 TEIs in Lao PDR, UNESCO Bangkok is seeking the services of a consultant to design a post-training field testing methodology and data collection tools for assessing the efficacy of the training for enhancing teacher-educators’ competencies, confidence, and readiness for integrating GRP into their teaching practice. The consultant will also undertake an analysis of the field-testing feedback that has been captured through the monitoring, feedback and data collection tools produced, and write a report on the field-testing feedback to support the ongoing development of GRP training for institutionalization in Lao PDR TEIs. 
 

Long Description

2. WORK ASSIGNMENT

Under the overall authority of the Director of UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok, the overall guidance of the Chief of Section for Education, and the direct supervision of the Regional Advisor on Education for Health and Well-being, the Individual Specialist is required to design a field-testing methodology and tools to monitor the implementation of GRP in TEIs, and gather feedback specifically from teacher educators who have received training in GRP in a capacity-building workshop organized by DTE and UNESCO Bangkok held in March 2024. Additionally, once feedback has been captured using the field-testing methodology and tools, the Individual Specialist is required to analyze and synthesize the data from the field-testing and share a draft narrative report with UNESCO Bangkok to reflect on with Lao education stakeholders in a subsequent validation meeting.

Key tasks will include to:

1)    Review and provide feedback on a draft debriefing guide developed by UNESCO Bangkok to be used in a debriefing meeting with the national core group of technical experts following the GRP training workshop. The consultation guided by the debriefing guide will generate inputs for the development of a post-training workshop field-testing methodology, and process monitoring and feedback tools, with focus on approaches that are feasible, time-efficient, cost-effective and capable of generating meaningful data.

2)    Initiate a draft for consultation with UNESCO Bangkok and DTE, and finalize based on feedback received, the following, (i) a methodology for field-testing, monitoring, and assessing the application and effectiveness of the GRP training, and (ii) relevant data monitoring and feedback tools.  The field testing should assess, as a result of the training carried out: 
•    Teacher educators’ confidence in, and capacity for using GRP;
•    Extent of application of GRP by teacher educators in their teaching on STEM and CSE;
•    Any perceived changes in knowledge, practices and attitudes of teacher educators (compared with findings of the diagnostic needs assessment conducted in January 2024); 
•    Barriers and enablers to integrating GRP in TEI practices and areas for improvement that informs recommendations for future GRP teacher educator training. 

3)    Participate with UNESCO Bangkok in an online follow up meeting with DTE and trained teacher educators who will take part in the field-testing, and present the outline of the agreed field-testing methodology and tools, to make clear the process, expectations and requirements to ensure accurate field testing. The virtual meeting will take place in May or June 2024 for a maximum duration of two hours (date TBC).

4)    Collate results from field-testing, analyze and synthesize results to identify key lessons learned, common themes, issues experienced and areas of improvement that emerged from the feedback.  

5)    Draft and submit a narrative report (maximum 30 pages including annexes) of the key learnings and major recommendations of the field-testing process; revise and finalize the narrative report based on feedback received from UNESCO Bangkok and DTE. 

Long Description

6)    Develop a presentation (using PowerPoint, Canva, etc.) that summarizes the key findings and draft recommendations of the field-testing process and co-deliver the presentation with DTE in a hybrid validation meeting organized by UNESCO Bangkok with DTE and participating teacher educators and TEIs of the field test. The presentation summary of the field test narrative report should explore:
•    The process and methods used to collect the different types of feedback data among the field-test participating teacher educators and TEIs;
•    Extent of overall GRP implementation by teacher educators in their respective educational contexts;
•    Teacher educators’ experiences and insights, and their perceived challenges and successes encountered during the implementation of GRP;
•    Perspectives of additional stakeholders in the participating TEIs, such as student teachers and Head of Institutions, where feasible and relevant; 
•    Specific areas of training content or training approach in need of potential alteration, including recommendations to enhance future GRP training, implementation, and GRP institutionalization in TEIs. 

7)    Draft and submit a narrative consultancy close-out report (maximum 10, A4 pages excluding annexes) to UNESCO Bangkok summarizing the process and learnings of Tasks 1 to 6 above and their outputs produced, with final agreed field-testing methodology and tools and field-testing report/summary annexed.  

UNESCO Bangkok will provide technical review and feedback on all aspects of the work and its intended outputs and will be responsible for liaising with DTE concerning logistic preparations on meeting(s) and field testing engaging the teacher educators (including, inter alia, simultaneous interpretation services and Lao language translations of all required materials).

3. TIMETABLE AND DELIVERABLES

The Individual Specialist will be required to work from May 2024 to March 2025 (tentative). The deliverables for this consultancy shall be the following (submission dates provisional):
 

No.
Deliverables
Timeline
1.
First draft of field-testing methodology and tools 
5 June 2024
2.
Draft of field-testing narrative report and presentation summary 
16 December 2024
3.
Final consultancy close-out report with all final outputs annexed
20 March 2025

The contract will conclude by 30 March 2025 at the latest.

4. LOCATION AND TRAVEL

The Individual Specialist will be home based in any location, working remotely. The consultant should be available to meet with the UNESCO team (online) during office hours of Bangkok, Thailand. Costs related to any duty travel or physical presence at the UNESCO Bangkok office and any in‐person participation by the consultant at in‐country consultation workshop(s)/meeting(s) outside of their normal place of residence will be separately covered by UNESCO.

The consultant may be required to travel on missions directly related to projects and implementation during the assignment. The consultant should travel economy class and receive DSA at the standard rate (and which should be reduced, as necessary, when the number of days of DSA exceeds the limits stipulated in the table of rates published by ICSC). DSA is only payable to individuals carrying out assignments away from their usual place of residence or work. The consultant is expected to make her/his own travel arrangements and should be provided with a lump sum to cover travel‐related expenses in accordance with UNESCO rules and regulations. Travel‐related expenses (e.g. the cost of tickets, terminal fares and DSA) must be fixed and agreed between the parties.  The Individual Specialist is responsible for obtaining UNDSS security clearance prior to each approved mission.

5. SUPERVISORY ARRANGEMENTS

The Individual Specialist will be directly supervised by, and report to the Regional Advisor on Education for Health and Well‐being, UNESCO Bangkok, in coordination with the Programme Coordinator responsible for the Capacity Development for Education (CapED) in Lao PDR Programme. In addition to the submission of contract deliverables, the Individual Specialist will routinely engage with the Regional Advisor and members of the Education for Health and Wellbeing team and and the CapED team through emails and virtual meetings. Upon commencing the consultancy, the Individual Specialist will participate in an initial online meeting with UNESCO Bangkok to reconfirm the parameters of the consultancy and to update, as needed, the consultancy approach to work and timeline, to define required sub‐tasks and interim outputs to be carried out as Individual Specialist and the supportive inputs required from UNESCO and collaborating partners on the respective activities.

6.  ELIGIBILITY

The consultancy is open to suitably qualified individuals.

COMPETENCIES (Core / Managerial)
Accountability (C)
Communication (C)
Innovation (C)
Knowledge sharing and continuous improvement (C)
Planning and organizing (C)
Results focus (C)
Teamwork (C)
Professionalism (C)
–
For detailed information, please consult the UNESCO Competency Framework.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

•    An advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in fields such as: general education, teacher education, gender-transformative education, gender equality, sexuality education, pure and applied or social sciences or other, relevant fields.

Work Experience

•    A minimum of five (5) years of extensive professional expertise, practical involvement, and field experience in any of the pertinent technical domains mentioned above. Submission of a minimum two (2) references from projects in the field showcasing proficiency in these subject areas is mandatory.
•    Experience in the development of training content and materials or post-training field testing methodology and data collection tools to assess the training’s efficacy.

Skills/Competencies

•    Excellent analytical, oral and written communication skills, including the production of written content for both specialist and generalist audiences.
•    Experience in participatory workshop design, facilitation and evaluation (in‐person and remote modalities)
•    IT infrastructure, software and devices to support remote meetings, communication and online/digital data collection, as appropriate.
•    Familiarity with Microsoft Excel or similar common applications.

Language

•    Fluency in spoken and written English.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

Work Experience

•    Strong understanding of UNESCO’s mandate in gender equality in and through education 
•    Experience working in the Southeast Asia context and demonstrated understanding of gender-transformative curricula, teaching and learning
•    Prior experience of working with teacher educators or teacher training institutions
•    Previous experience working with the UN and/or other multilateral, bilateral and civil society development partners.
•    Previous exposure to diverse linguistic and cultural contexts across multiple countries, involving coordination with partners in this operational setting.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Submission of Application

Interested individuals are invited to submit the application and requirements through the UNESCO Careers website at https://careers.unesco.org/careersection/2/joblist.ftl

Interested candidates should click on “Apply Now” and and upload the following documents as a single PDF document in place of the Employment History Form. 

•    An updated Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a cover letter indicating how your qualifications and experience make you suitable for the assignment.

•    Short Approach to work (maximum 3, A4 pages) identifying the specific components of these TORs and how the intended objectives/outputs/delivery shall be addressed, and including specific references to relevant examples of successfully undertaking equivalent or comparable assignments.

•    Consultancy fee, quoted in US dollars as a lump sum with breakdown according to level of effort/ time-on- task or per output.

UNESCO places great emphasis on ensuring that the objectives of the work assignment, as described in the Terms of Reference, are met. Accordingly, in evaluating the proposals for the assignment, attention will focus first and foremost on the technical elements. From those proposals deemed suitable in terms of the criteria in the Terms of Reference, UNESCO shall select the proposal that offers the Organization the best value for money.

Queries of a technical nature about these TORS may be directed to: ehwb.bgk@unesco.org

SELECTION AND RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Please note that all candidates must complete an on-line application and provide complete and accurate information. To apply, please visit the UNESCO careers website. No modifications can be made to the application submitted.

The evaluation of candidates is based on the criteria in the vacancy notice, and may include tests and/or assessments, as well as a competency-based interview. 

UNESCO uses communication technologies such as video or teleconference, e-mail correspondence, etc. for the assessment and evaluation of candidates.

Please note that only selected candidates will be further contacted and candidates in the final selection step will be subject to reference checks based on the information provided.

Footer

UNESCO recalls that paramount consideration in the appointment of staff members shall be the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, technical competence and integrity. UNESCO applies a zero-tolerance policy against all forms of harassment. UNESCO is committed to achieving and sustaining equitable and diverse geographical distribution, as well as gender parity among its staff members in all categories and at all grades. Furthermore, UNESCO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Candidates from non- and under-represented Member States (last update here) are particularly welcome and strongly encouraged to apply. Individuals from minority groups and indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the highest level of confidentiality. Worldwide mobility is required for staff members appointed to international posts.

UNESCO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.