The Education Specialist (ES), Early Childhood Care & Education (ECCE) is responsible for delivering non-financial education services as developed by the EduQuality program for affordable private schools. As part of a local team of Education Specialists, this role is focused solely on delivering professional development courses to school leaders and teacher mentors to support effective management, teaching, and learning and supporting effective holistic school development.
The ECCE program was designed to serve pre-primary schools in Tanzania by adapting the existing core components (P2E, SLPD, TMPD) to elevate the quality of ECCE institutions and early childhood learning outcomes.
RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned.
Pathways to Excellence
- Collaborate with Education Specialists in-country to develop and implement a School Self-Assessment and School Development Plan.
- Establish and support school development planning teams at each school and train school leaders and teachers on provided digital resources.
Cluster Development
- Establish effective school Clusters by supporting the development of a Cluster governance committee.
- Develop an annual schedule of Cluster Meetings for school leaders and teacher mentors.
- Facilitate collaboration across Clusters for school enrichment activities.
School Leader Professional Development
- Facilitate delivery of School Leadership Professional Development training on leadership and management best practices.
Teacher/Caregiver Professional Development
- Develop the mentorship capacity of teachers through Joint Practice Development (JPD) by facilitating independently and/or collaborating with external trainers.
Learning & Knowledge Management
- Document case studies of ongoing effective practices and innovations from the field for dissemination to internal and external stakeholders.
- Liaise with learning partners, as necessary, who engage with the EduFinance program to evaluate effectiveness and impact.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Postgraduate degree in a field related to school-based education or education development with significant experience in the education field. Graduate-level degree preferred.
- At least 5-7 years of relevant education experience in education development, pre-primary and primary education, early literacy and reading development, special education, and school leadership and teacher professional development.
- Breadth and depth of experience in ECCE domains, such as health, nutrition, WASH, Inclusion (may include gender, learning needs, and cultural, ethnic, and linguistic accommodations), ECCE curriculum and pedagogy, school management, etc.
- At least 2-3 years of formal experience as a classroom teacher at pre-primary and primary levels.
- Understanding of the education sector, school curriculum, school environment, and language/literacy needs of the ECCE sector.
- Strong writing, data collection, and ICT skills (e.g., Microsoft Office, EdTech, learning management systems, data collection tools, mobile tablets, etc.).
- Experience working in education management with school leadership experience and experience working in schools in remote/rural areas preferred.
- Ability to manage contract negotiations with external vendors and ability to manage internal work-related expenses is required.
- Experience working within cross-cultural global organizations and INGOs.
- Knowledge of and experience with USAID-funded projects preferred.
- An understanding of and a commitment to advancing the mission and core values of Opportunity International.
LANGUAGE SKILLS
- Professional fluency in English and Swahili is required, including 1-2 additional local languages preferred.
TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS
- Access to a personal vehicle for 80% of domestic travel
- Able to travel with minimal notice and maximum flexibility
- Willing to travel independently and without escort or planning support
ABOUT OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL
Opportunity International is a global non-profit that has been empowering people to work their way out of poverty for over 50 years. Last year, Opportunity provided 18.7 million families with innovative financial resources, training, and support to grow their small businesses and send their children to school. Opportunity and its partners released $2 billion in capital across 30 countries and helped fund 8,400 schools that reached 2 million children.
Learn more about our company by visiting our website: https://opportunity.org/
ABOUT EDUFINANCE
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 private schools and parents and by boosting the capacity of school leaders and teachers in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). It does this in over 25 countries and is growing rapidly.
