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UNICEF is the world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, ...
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTORS/ CONSULTANTS
PART I
Purpose of Assignment
Provide expert technical assistance to COs supporting government counterparts in setting standards or benchmarks as part of their national programmes.
Requesting Section
ESARO Education.
Location of Assignment
65% of the consultancy will be developed remotely/home-based.
35% of the consultancy will require travel to ESAR countries (minimum of two and maximum of three; tentatively Tanzania, Eswatini, Mozambique).
Duration of contract
40 work-days distributed in a 6-month period (approximately 9 work-days on mission in targeted countries).
Start date
From: 01/04/2019
To: 30/09/2019
Background and Justification
One of the efforts in the region, aligned to SDG indicator 4.1.1 and 4.1.2, is establishing more rigorous system to asses learning achievement. Indicator 4.1.1 of the SDGs states: “Proportion of children and young people (a) in Grade 2 or 3; (b) at the end of primary education; and (c) at the end of lower secondary education achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics, by sex”. Assessment systems can administer tests with normative or a criterion-referenced approach. The former assesses a particular domain and places each pupil’s result in relation to the results obtained by other pupils who took the same test. This is useful to check for progress of pupils and to make comparisons between groups, but it does not lend itself to establish whether a minimum proficiency level has been achieved. The latter, criterion-referenced tests, places each pupil’s result in relation to a criterion, standard or benchmark. These criteria can be set to reflect under-performance, achievement of a minimum proficiency level and high proficiency level. Therefore, it is advisable for assessment systems in the region to develop criteria that clearly indicate and define what are the various levels of performance being assessed in their tests to report on the SDGs and in order that assessment can better inform curriculum development, policy reform and classroom work.
Although SDG goals set their indicator for assessments mid-way and at the end of primary education and at the end of lower secondary education, achievements at these levels are dependent on earlier learning. Since one of UNICEF’s priorities is the promotion of early learning, it might also be relevant to establish appropriate benchmarks for emergent literacy and early numeracy. Similarly, benchmarking levels above lower secondary would be useful to establish minimum achievement levels for young people who are striving to obtain basic skills and life competencies.
Several countries in the Eastern and Southern Africa region are working to improve their assessment systems to obtain more accurate information that feeds into the education system. For example, Mozambique CO is assisting government counterparts in developing tests that can be compared across years relying on IRT and Rasch measures. Angola is initiating the development of their own assessment systems attempting to meet current theories of measurement and reporting. The United Republic of Tanzania has administered the tools from the initiative “Measuring Early Learning Quality and Outcomes” and applied IRT principles in their analysis. Namibia is currently working in a reform of its assessment system that includes working with the Data Must Speak initiative to merge assessment and EMIS data to create associated factor relations and value-added estimations. Madagascar is establishing a new government unit that will be responsible for standardizes and non-standardized learning assessments. These and other countries in the region would benefit from greater knowledge on standard-setting, benchmarking and establishing criteria of performance when developing their tests and, once these have been administering, in establishing reporting criteria (e.g., not proficient, minimally proficient, proficient, highly proficient and the definitions of what pupils know and are able to do at each level). This requires technical knowledge on standard setting techniques, such as the Angoff method, the bookmark procedure, the analytical judgment method, integrated judgment methods, statistical procedures for standard setting (e.g., cluster analysis). COs would also be better prepared to assist government partners if they understand the possible implications of setting this standards in the socio-political environment in which the education systems operate.
To address these various needs, UNICEF ESARO wished to engage the services of a consultant with a high-level of expertise in standardized assessment and benchmarking procedures to support COs. The consultant will visit two to three COs (tentatively the United Republic of Tanzania and Mozambique) to work with the COs and their government counterparts. The consultant will investigate the country’s efforts for improvement of its assessments systems, help them prioritize the set of benchmark or standards that require development and provide training on that procedure. The experience gathered during these visits will provide the basic inputs to write a brief on standard-setting for the region, including comments on UIS’s anchoring mechanism.
Scope of Work
Purpose of assignment:
Conduct an analysis of the countries where assessment reform or introduction of new assessments would benefit from early implementation of standard-setting/benchmarking analysis/procedures. Based on this analysis, tailor and deliver a training for COs and government partners. Based on the overall experience and analysis, prepare an informative brief on standard-setting in the region.
TA details/reference to AWP areas covered:
This consultancy will be funded by grant SC189904 under Output 2 of the Education Section’s 2019 Rolling Work Plan (Outcome 2: Enhanced capacity of COs to design, implement, monitor and evaluate risk informed education program that ensure that girls and boys, including those with disabilities, complete early learning, primary and secondary education with grade level learning outcomes; WBS: 240R/A0/10/801/006/007). This task is aligned to Activity 8: Strengthen technical capacity of standard setting bodies, including inspectorates, governance goodies and quality assurance organs using frameworks of accreditation and certification.
Major assignments/Responsibilities:
The consultant will:
Work relationships/Reporting to:
The consultant will work under the supervision of ESARO Education Specialist for Results Based Management and under the overall general guidelines provided the Regional Education Advisor.
Activities:
The consultant is expected to conduct the following activities:
Desired competencies, technical background and experience
The individual assigned for this work must have:
Administrative issues
Conditions
Candidates invited to send a proposal should provide:
An expression interest where the candidate indicates:
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