Consultant For Comprehensive Review Of Ongoing Alp Program

Background: Of the 463,793 Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, nearly 80% of school-aged children have no access to education – leaving them without the safety, structure, and stability that school offers.  It is estimated that at least 270,000 children are out of school.  Many have already missed one or more years of school as a result of the conflict in their home country. Emergency assessments carried out in country indicate that Syrian girls and boys who do manage to enrol in public schools face several challenges with many opting to drop out. Obstacles for refugee girls and boys include: unfamiliar language of instruction (French and English); the prohibitive cost of transportation and other school-related fees for many refugee families to attend school; differences in curricula; and prevalence of discrimination and social tensions in schools and lack of psychosocial support for reintegration.  As of January 2014, 880,063 Syrian refugees were registered or pending registration in Lebanon, with many more unregistered across the country. Based on current trends, Syrian refugees will soon comprise 25% of Lebanon’s national population. The education response in Lebanon has, thus far, focused on public school enrolment through a second shift and a range of “non-formal” education (NFE) options outside of public schools.  For children to have a reasonable chance to integrate into the public education system and to reduce the number of drop outs there is a need for significant improvement in the “non-formal” options currently being provided as well as the extension of community based approaches.   Scope of work: The Consultant will review and modify the existing ALP programme currently being implemented in 4 project locations across the country.  This improved programme will serve as an important intermediary solution to bridge the gap until the full new ALP curriculum is developed.  The Consultant will work closely with the Education team in Lebanon as well as coordinating with other major actors to ensure complementarity of the programme.   Location: Based in Beirut, Lebanon with significant travel to the project sites (75%) of the time Duration: 4-6 weeks, beginning ASAP Reporting to: Education Technical Advisor, working closely with Education Programme Managers and teams in the project sites   Specific accountabilities: -          Carry out a comprehensive review of existing ALP programme (materials and approach) including the comparison of learning objectives with the Lebanese curriculum per grade in French/ English, Arabic and Maths. -          Evaluate the current ALP programme, with Education programme staff, documenting lessons learned and good practice. -          Establish minimum learning objectives per ALP grade and subject with clear indicators of success, and determine the books/materials to ensure students have the best opportunity to transition to the next grade. -          Contribute to training of Education Programme teams on revised programme and specifically on minimum learning objectives   -          Outputs: Clear ALP Calendar, Teacher Guidance on learning objectives for each 6-month programme per grade and subject (has to be decided as from which grade ALP starts), recommendations on materials/learning approaches to be used, training of programme team on above outputs.   Person specification: -          Masters degree in Education or related subject with significant experience in curriculum development -          Significant experience designing and/ or implementing ALP programmes, preferably in complex environments -          In depth knowledge of Lebanese Education system (or ability to work closely with a resource person in country) -          Willingness to travel extensively within the country -          Ability to work rapidly with minimum support to meet clear deadlines -          Fluent in written and spoken English and French.  Arabic highly desirable -          Must be immediately available.