Job Title: Head Education Specialist, Uganda

Department: Global Programs – EduFinance

Reports to: Head Education Specialist East Africa

Location: Kampala, Uganda

ORGANISATION

Opportunity EduFinance is a nimble, fast-moving, and rapidly expanding core function of Opportunity International’s global footprint. EduFinance aims to get more children into better quality schools. It does this by increasing access to capital for affordable non-state schools and parents, and by boosting the capacity of school leaders and teachers in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). It does this in 23 countries and is growing rapidly.

 

EDUQUALITY PROGRAMME

The EduQuality programme at Opportunity EduFinance brings together local school owners of approximately 1,700 affordable private schools in a self-improving school system, or network of school clusters, across 9 countries. Collaborating with EduFinance financial institution partners lending to these schools, the EduQuality team offers a holistic school development programme, a three-year intervention including the following core components:

• Professional development training to senior school leaders with a focus on instructional leadership and management best practices.
• In-service professional development for teacher mentors with a focus on foundational teacher training, i.e., pedagogy, teaching and learning, and classroom management.
• Strategic school improvement planning with Pathways to Excellence. Each school owner diagnoses the quality of education at their school using measurable indicators of school quality and then develops a school development plan to improve upon areas of greatest need.

POSITION SUMMARY 

We are seeking a collaborative, experienced, and results-driven educator to lead team management, strategy, and implementation of the EduQuality programme as the Head Education Specialist, Uganda. This role will be responsible for achieving key performance indicators (targets) through effective management of staff, contribution to regional and global strategy, engagement of internal and external stakeholders to raise visibility and financial resources to contribute to organisational mission and vision. This role will report to the Head Education Specialist, East Africa on all operational matters related to the EduQuality programme, and delegate activities to other members of the team where necessary.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

The Head Education Specialist (HES) will be instrumental in driving the success of the EduQuality (EdQ) programme in Uganda.

Team & Programme Management

• Prioritise the support and growth of individual team members, as well as, team cohesion and culture.
• Responsible for achieving country-level targets, quarterly/termly team target reviews, and annual staff performance reviews.
• Manage regular effective communications across multiple digital channels, team meetings, one-on-one meetings, and other co-ordination support as needed.
• Prioritise actions to enhance programme delivery based on internal and external research, feedback from school/partners, and the wider team; provide regular recommendations to the leadership team to continuously refine and improve delivery processes.
• Leverage the extensive and varied expertise embodied by the Education Specialist team in order to best meet programme needs, and review/reallocate individual responsibilities as needed; leverage expertise from global team as needed.
• Created linkages between special projects (pilots, research, etc.), the Education Specialist team, leadership, and global team.

Cluster Development & Management 

• Ensure Education specialists are equipped to promote effective collaboration between school leaders, teachers, and cluster members in training cluster leadership to perform their role, including the self-assessment of their cluster using the Hargreaves criteria.
• Lead the planning and implementation of Introductory Seminars to bring new schools and clusters into the EdQ programme, in collaboration with the Education Specialist team, EdQ Project Management Associate, and financial institution partners.
• Support the team in delivering approximately nine cluster meetings per cluster per annum.
• Support Education Specialist colleagues in timely reporting on all required activities in a systematic way using agreed approaches (i.e. Collect app, report writing, etc.).

Pathways to Excellence

• Ensure all Education Specialists follow the developed procedures in supporting school leaders in their School Self-Assessments and in both developing and monitoring the School Development Planning process each annum.

 

School Leadership Professional Development

• Oversee preparations, logistics, and implementation of the School Leadership Professional Development (SLPD) training, with support from the EdQ Project Management Associate.
• Ensure Education Specialist team are properly trained and support to deliver high-quality training to school leaders.

Teacher Mentor Development

• Oversee the effective approaches to teacher development and mentor training and on-going support by the ES team.
• Ensure the schools have the materials and capability required to train replacement mentors when existing mentors leave; seek ways of improving the effectiveness of mentors in the clusters.
• Provide training to the Education Specialist team on the use of adult facilitation/coaching and training of trainers to bring consistency of practice to the work with cluster teachers and mentors.

 

Measurement & Evaluation

• Collaborate with the Director of Operations and local M&E team to implement the EduQuality M&E framework to drive programme learning and improvement.
• Assist Education Specialist team in how best to support M&E activities through co-ordination with school leaders and data collectors/enumerators.

• Gather and document learnings and effective practices from the field on a regular basis for dissemination to the larger network of partners with the goal of continual improvement in service offerings.

• Publish or contribute to publications, where applicable, to share outcomes, program design, and effectiveness of interventions with the broader financial institution and educational communities.
• Liaise with learning partners, as necessary, who are engaging with the work of EduFinance for the study and reporting of impact.

 

Financial Institutions

• Liaise with financial institution partners as required to maintain quarterly/termly reporting and co-ordination.

 

Materials & Product Development

• Support the development and review of new EdQ products/materials to ensure alignment with in-country curriculum and teacher standards, context, language, and culture.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Master’s degree or equivalent, with 10-15 years of relevant experience in school-based education, educational development, school leadership, with significant experience in low-resource settings.
• Post-graduate teaching qualification/certification in classroom-based education.
• Minimum of 2-3 years as a classroom teacher and solid background as an instructional coach or teacher trainer at pre-primary and primary-level education.
• Technical expertise in one of more areas critically important to the development of education, i.e., gender/girl’s education, inclusive education, early childhood
• Strong writing, data collection, and ICT skills (e.g., Microsoft Office products, mobile tablets, EdTech, etc.).
• Experience working within multinational, culturally diverse organisations.
• Experience working with and managing multi-disciplinary teams.
• Strong communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills are required.
• Knowledge of and experience with USAID-funded projects preferred, but not required.

COMPETENCIES

• Clear commitment to the values of the organization – commitment, humility, respect, integrity, stewardship, and transformation.
• Readily identifies mistakes and works to actively develop fixes and solutions.
• Aggressive pursuit of excellence, including going above and beyond the call of duty to achieve results that will contribute to the development goals of the organisation.
• Flexibility in ambiguous work environments without losing sight of desired outcomes.
• Honest and direct in communication and business practices.
• Embodies ethical and high moral standards and is able to identify unethical behaviour and report to EduFinance leadership.
• Ability to manage contract negotiations with external vendors and ability to manage internal work-related expenses.

LANGUAGE SKILLS

• English language fluency required
• Local language fluency required
• Second local language knowledge is preferred

 KEY RELATIONSHIPS

• Global team of Education Specialists
• Global Manager, EduQuality Programme
• Director of Operations
• Global Manager, EduFinance Technical Assistance
• Operations Manager
• Opportunity International Support Members
• Opportunity EduFinance Partners

 TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS

• Access to a personal vehicle for 40% domestic travel; 30% international travel
• Able to travel with minimal notice and maximum flexibility
• Willing to travel independently and without escort or planning support

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