Education Officer – Curriculum and Teacher Development

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programmes, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias, or favouritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic, and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfil their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries.
Therefore, the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

Papua New Guinea made tremendous progress in the education sector for the previous decades to increase access to education across the country. However, school retention and completion and transition between school levels are low. Net enrolment rates for 2019 were 85 per cent for elementary; 58 per cent for primary; and 20 per cent for secondary. The transition rate from the last grade of primary education to the first grade of secondary education is only 64 per cent. Children start their education late and repetition are common. The student gender parity ratio declined from 101 girls per 100 boys in preschool and elementary to 96 girls in primary and 75 girls in secondary school. In 2021, 34 per cent of Grade 5 children lacked minimum reading proficiency, while 27 per cent lacked minimum numeracy proficiency, with no gender differences. There are 23 specialized centers for children with disabilities, but no data are available on those in or out of regular schools. Challenges include insufficient quality of teaching, lack of safe and conducive learning environments, and inadequate resilience to crises. Alternative learning pathways exist to support children and adolescents who are out of the formal education system to catch up with Grades 7–12. The capacity is limited, however, with almost no services available in rural areas. Important skills for self-protection, violence prevention, respect and gender equality are not adequately taught, while gendered social norms and patriarchal traditions pose barriers to adolescent participation and civic engagement. For the duration of the new UNICEF PNG’s Country Programme 2024-2027, the overall objective of its Education Programme is that significantly increased number and percentage of school-age children, especially adolescent girls, children disabilities and children affected by crises and disasters, improve foundational learning and continue to lower and upper secondary school or vocational training, while gaining life and work skills for full participation in the economy and society. The specific Education Programme strategy focuses on the following Output areas:

1) Inclusive and gender responsive early childhood education (ECE) for better early learning and school preparedness
2) Improved retention, completion, transition and learning outcomes through the new 1-6-6 school structure, focusing on teacher professional development support, innovative and digital solutions for education and training and gender responsiveness and inclusion
3) Student well-being and welfare through safe school environment, enhanced guidance and counselling services and skills development opportunities, with a special focus on adolescent girls
4) Resilient education systems to natural disasters, man-made crises and climate change effects to mitigate impact and promote continuity of learning

Since 2022, UNICEF has served as Grant Agent for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) System Capacity Grant (SCG) and System Transformation Grant (STG), supporting the rollout of the 1-6-6 school restructuring reform. The programme seeks to enhance the quality of teaching and learning through effective implementation of the Standards-Based Curriculum (SBC), a more qualified and effectively supported teaching workforce, and strengthened planning, data use and sector coordination. Particular emphasis is on improving foundational learning in the early grades through curriculum alignment, continuous teacher professional development, and the equitable distribution and effective use of textbooks and teacher resources in nine target provinces.

Under the overall sectoral guidance of the Chief of Education and direct supervision provided by the Education Specialist, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following general tasks:

1. Support to programme development and planning
· Contribute to the preparation and updating of the situation analysis for the development, design and management of education related programmes/projects. Research and report on development trends (economic, social, health etc.) and data for use in programme development, management, monitoring, evaluation and delivery of results.
· Contribute to the development and establishment of sectoral programme goals, objectives and strategies and results-based planning through research, collection, analysis and re-porting of education and other related information for development planning and goal setting.
· Provide technical and administrative support throughout all stages of programming processes by executing and administering a variety of technical programme transactions, pre-paring materials and documentations, and complying with organizational processes and management systems, to support programme planning, results-based planning (RBM) and monitoring and evaluation of results.

2. Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results
· Work closely and collaboratively with internal colleagues and partners to collect, analyze and share information on implementation issues.
· Suggest solutions on routine programme implementation and submit reports to alert ap-propriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and/or decisions. Keep record of reports and assessments for easy reference and/or to capture and institutionalize lessons learned.
· Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual sec-toral reviews with government and other counterparts and prepare minutes/reports on results for follow up action by higher management and other stakeholders.
· Monitor and report on the use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets), verify compliance with approved allocation, organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity. Re-port on issues identified to ensure timely resolution by management/stakeholders. Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution.
· Prepare draft inputs for programme/donor reporting.

3. Technical and operational support to programme implementation
· Undertake field visits and surveys and share information with stakeholders to assess progress and refer to relevant officials for resolution. Report on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems for timely action to achieve results.
· Provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners/donors on the application and under-standing of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices on education related issues to support programme implementation, operations and delivery of results.

4. Networking and partnership building
· Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate pro-gramme implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on education programmes.
· Draft communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships and alliances, and support fund raising for education programmes.
· Participate in appropriate inter-agency (UNCT) meetings and events on programming to collaborate with inter-agency partners on UNDAF operational planning and preparation of education programmes/projects and to integrate and harmonize UNICEF’s position and strategies with the UNDAF development and planning process.
· Research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials and briefs for fund raising and partnership development purposes.

5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building
· Contribute to identifying, capturing, synthesizing, and sharing lessons learned for knowledge development and capacity development of stakeholders.
· Apply innovative approaches and promote good practice to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.
· Research and report on best and cutting-edge practices for development planning of knowledge products and systems.
· Participate as a resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders.

More specifically, the UN Volunteer will support the planning, implementation, coordination and monitoring of the Curriculum Implementation and Teacher Development portfolios under the GPE SCG and STG programme. Working closely with UNICEF colleagues, relevant divisions of the National Department of Education (NDoE), Provincial Departments of Education (PDoE), teacher-training institutions and implementing partners, the UNV will contribute to the coordinated rollout of the Standards-Based Curriculum (SBC), teacher professional development, and teaching and learning materials, enhancing foundational learning in the early grades, pedagogical content knowledge, gender-responsive and inclusive pedagogies.

· Support the planning, design, quality assurance and monitoring of teacher professional development on the Standards-Based Curriculum (SBC), including WhatsApp-based microlearning on pedagogical content knowledge, effective use of textbooks and teacher guides, and gender-responsive and inclusive pedagogies.
· Support SBC implementation and curriculum-alignment activities, including surveys, consultations, analysis, documentation and technical follow-up with relevant Divisions of NDoE.
· Facilitate coordination among relevant NDoE divisions, Provincial Departments of Education (PDoEs), teacher-training institutions and partners, ensuring that agreed actions, timelines, risks and implementation issues are documented and followed up.
· Support the planning, coordination and monitoring of textbook and teacher-resource distribution in focus provinces, including tracking last-mile delivery, school-level receipt, accessibility and effective classroom use.
· Maintain implementation and results-monitoring systems for the Curriculum and Teacher Development portfolios; document progress, risks and lessons learned; prepare inputs for UNICEF and GPE reporting; and support knowledge sharing and the use of evidence by government counterparts and partners.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to:
· Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
· Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
· Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities;
· Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publica-tions/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
· Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers;
· Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.