Technical assistance to support implementation of ICT In Education In Samoa project (Apia, Samoa) Full Time

Parent Sector : [[Education]]

Duty Station: [[Apia]]

Classification of duty station: [[Field Office]]

Standard Duration of Assignement : [[From 1 to 6 months]]

Job Family: [[Programmes]]

Type of contract : [[Individual Consultant]]

Duration of contract : [[2 months]]

Recruitment open to : [[External Candidates]]

Application Deadline (Midnight Paris Time) : [[13 January 2023]]

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

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Earlier in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread across the globe, Samoa quickly closed its borders and schools. Since April 2020, UNESCO has assisted Samoa in connectivity, training, and other training support in making education available through multimedia methods (radio, television, and online through the internet). The Government of Japan responded to the request made by Samoa Ministry of Education, Sports, and Culture (MESC) with support from UNESCO. The focus of the ICT in Education project in Samoa will be on marginalized schools due to geographical location, cover low socio-economic status, have gender imbalance, and include children with disabilities. This selection is essential to ensure that the project helps bridge the digital divide in education and ensure that most marginalized students are not left behind.  In addition, the project responds to Samoa’s need;

• to connect more schools to the regional online learning management platform;

• to help production of increasing curricular contents in multimedia formats (radio, television, and online);

• for training of teachers and school administration at the school level as well as, training of students and parents to manage multimedia education and

• to make available individual devices to the schools, and development of a system for their use by the students for online learning.

This project builds upon other on-going support provided to Samoa MESC by UNESCO. UNESCO supported development of regional learning management platforms, which supports Samoa and other Pacific countries. The project includes the delivery of the online learning management platform and trial the platform by connecting a marginalized school and some individual devices to check connectivity, ease of access to learning material, and usage of the material.

The collaboration between UNESCO and stakeholders will contribute towards Samoa’s efforts towards SDG4 making a specific contribution to SDG 4.4.1; To support the inclusion of students with disabilities in this process by ensuring accessible learning materials and teacher training and help advance the Education Sector Plan (2019-2024) by selection of a proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills.

RATIONAL

With the adoption and use of ICT in education still at a foundational stage in Samoa’s schools, technical assistance in the form of a consultancy is required to support a range of activities related to capacity building and planning as well as to help ensure successful implementation of the project overall. Specifically, assistance regarding development and sourcing of curriculum-aligned digital resources and promotion of their use in learning and teaching is needed to support relevant MESC teams as well as project school teachers. In addition, assistance with developing workflows and processes relating to how specialist assistive technology devices might be provisioned to Students With Disabilities (SWD) is also required. Finally, there is a need for assistance to support planning and communications related to the delivery of a large-scale, milestone event at the close of the project.

Note that this work will complement activities undertaken simultaneously by MESC and UNESCO involving the distribution of a variety of ICT equipment and devices to project schools as well as the development and delivery of related training.

OBJECTIVES AND OUTPUTS

The overall objective of this work is to support the government’s progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 4 which seeks to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” through:

i. Supporting MESC and project schools regarding the development and sourcing of curriculum-aligned digital resources and promotion of their use in learning and teaching.

ii. Coordinating planning and implementation activities regarding development of workflows and processes needed to support evaluation of the ICT and assistive technology device needs of SWD from both project and non-project schools, as well as the provisioning, management, return and re-use of such devices.

iii. Coordinating planning of a project closing event involving project school staff, MESC staff, Government of Japan representatives, project school students and media.

MODALITY

This is a national consultant position that requires physical presence in Samoa.

Education:

• A university degree in Education, Educational Technology, Education Management, Social Studies, or Information Systems. Post Graduate degrees should be considered an asset.

Work experience:

• Minimum 5 (five) years of professional experience in education, social studies or information systems.

• Strong knowledge and familiarity with the education system in Samoa including curricula as well as MESC’s operations and structure.

• Experience working with various counterparts, including government, NGOs, bi-lateral and multilateral agencies, and universities.

• Experience in curriculum design, use of educational technology, event planning.

Languages (Essential):

English, Samoan

Knowledge of Office ICTs:

Microsoft Office or equivalent

Skills:

• Good knowledge of teaching and learning methodologies.

• Well-organised, able to work independently and effectively manage own time.

• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral.

• Ability to work in a multicultural environment with respect.

• Ability to effectively work with others in a timely manner.           

Specific ICTs:

Moodle, multimedia creation and editing tools

Interested applicants must apply online by submitting, 

1. Technical proposal, including methodology
2. Financial proposal
3. Proposed work plan

Required validity of the application submitted: 90 days.