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

OVERVIEW

Parent Sector : Education Sector (ED)

Duty Station: Paris

 

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 Time) : 31-OCT-2024

 

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

 

OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POST

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

 

In February 2023, the Ministry of Education (MoE) of 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 (GPE)‘s System Transformation Grant (STG), with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) 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 (IIEP) as lead implementation partner.

The STG will be implemented through a comprehensive four-year 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 (a) establishing a Leadership Academy (LA) for their continuous training and professional development in culturally responsive instructional leadership; and (b) strengthening culturally responsive instructional leadership, planning and data-based decision-making at district and school levels. The component has the following two sub-components.

Sub-component 1.1. 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 programmes (CPD) for practicing and aspiring school and district leaders. The initial leadership training programme will be of a six-month 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 hands-on approach in a hybrid modality (in-person and on-line) and both individual and group learning.

Activities under this sub-component include:

1. The design of the institutional development strategy for the Leadership Academy.
2. The development of leadership programmes for school and district leaders.
3. The development of a virtual platform for training.
4. The training of 200 to 300 school leaders and MoE district and central planners and managers.
5. The provision of a mentoring programme for the participants of the Leadership Academy.