Education Specialist Position

Working with

Department of Guidance and Counselling (DOPS)

Reports to

TA Team Leader

Contribution to Output:

Output 3

Approved by the DG:

Introduction to OPM TA:

In 2013, the Government of Lebanon opened its public education system to cater for the enormous numbers of refugee students. In 2017/2018, non-Lebanese students outnumbered Lebanese students in the public education system. The responsibility for educating all these students resides with the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) who, alongside a range of donors, launched the Reaching All Children with Education II (RACE II) programme in 2016.

The World Bank (WB) and Government of Lebanon (GoL), especially the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE), designed Support to RACE II (S2R2) to deliver on significant parts of RACE2 as the strategy relates to the formal education sector.  S2R2 is designed to complement other work developed to support RACE II, such as activities planned and implemented with UNICEF, UNHCR and UNESCO.

DFID Lebanon’s contribution to RACE II includes £86.6 million to the multi-donor trust fund as well as the provision of a world class technical assistance team to MEHE. In March 2018, a three year technical assistance project was awarded to Oxford Policy Management, which will expand the TA facility to serve additional MEHE priority areas to achieve the objectives of RACE II through MEHE’s Support to RACE II (S2R2) programme. The TA team will support the Government of Lebanon to deliver the immediate objectives of the S2R2 programme while building the capacity, systems and processes which will underpin a medium-term sector development strategy.

Description and scope of task

The Education specialist will work closely with the Director of DOPS to develop and advise on DOPS education strategy while ensuring it is linked to the most recent academic research and studies shared by CERD and other educational institutions. Within the assignment period, the expert will provide Education-specific support for DOPS interventions and will develop a capacity development plan for DOPS staff based on their needs. The expert will also support in providing a link between academic studies and the implementation of DOPS activities

Objectives and deliverables

Indicative outputs

Education Specialist (DOPS)

Senior strategic advisor to DOPS

• Work with Director of DOPS to develop and shape education strategy within DOPS and understand how this links to the provision of high quality and holistic education across Lebanon
• Ensure alignment between DOPS interventions internally within the Directorate, within MEHE and across GoL departments as requested by Director of DOPS
• Support the Director of DOPS in providing a link between DOPS and other agencies/directorates/REOs to make sure that the work of the Directorate and its counsellors is optimised and aligned
• Support the Director of DOPS in providing real-time data to other directorates for decision-making purposes, including Directorate of Primary, Directorate of Secondary and Diwan.
• Support the work of REOs to provide a valuable link in the delivery chain between MEHE and schools when requested by Director of DOPS
• Work with sensitivity to the complex institutional dynamics inside the General Directorate as well as with other education stakeholders such as CERD and the education faculty of the Lebanese University. This is especially important given DOPS’ position as a cross-cutting Directorate.

Education-specific support for DOPS interventions

• Design, implement and monitor interventions for DOPS counsellors across a wide range of educational areas, including: teacher coaching/mentoring, counselling, psychosocial and social support, inclusion, child protection, Special Educational Needs (SEN) and health.
• Provide an expert opinion to the Director of DOPS on whole child development approaches, including lessons from global best practice and successful interventions in Lebanon/the Middle East.
• Operationalise DOPS interventions to ensure that robust and evidence-based programmes are designed, piloted, rolled out and continuously improved.
• Analyse qualitative data from DOPS counsellors and reflection/feedback to make sure that this analysis leads to improvement in day-to-day practices.

Providing a link between academic studies and the implementation of DOPS activities

• Review incoming research from CERD, the Lebanese University, other universities/academics, international research bodies and other sources (including donors). Use this to brief and advise the Director of DOPS on the range of issues relevant to her mandate, enabling her to make use of data and best practice to build the work of DOPS.

An example of this might be support to the development of the Masters course for DOPS counsellors and providing a set of recommendations based on an understanding of the current in-country capability to deliver such a course through existing channels, exploring funding modalities, incorporating of global best practices into the course and navigating the challenges of successful cross-government delivery.

Capacity development of DOPS staff

• Use the outcome of the planned Capacity Needs Assessment to reflect with the Director on what is required for DOPS and build a strategy for developing the Directorate.
• Design a differentiated capacity development plan for teams and individuals
• Conduct long-term executive coaching and mentoring for selected DOPS staff. This will likely include DOPS staff at the level below the Director, including the coordinators for: regions, subjects, career orientation, school health, education counselling, and special needs.
• Ensure alignment within the DOPS team to make sure that it works together, delivers on its mandate, coordinates with other GoL agencies to avoid duplication.

Indicative timeline and workplan

The start date is to start as soon as possible and before the end of 2018. In the first instance, an appointment will be made to the end of March 2019 as a probationary period. At this point, progress and performance will be reviewed.

Approach and skills transfer plan

STATION: This position will be a full-time position working embedded within DOPS directorate within the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Beirut. In the first instance, an appointment will be made to the end of March 2019 as a probationary period. At this point, progress and performance will be reviewed.

PROFILE AND SKILLS:

• Advanced degree (Master’s degree or higher) in a social science discipline (education, psychology, or a related discipline).
• Strong experience in strategic planning of education systems at the national or regional level
• Ability to articulate a clear vision for education development, including the alignment of government agencies and the ability to justify and communicate this clearly to a range of stakeholders
• Experience developing and implementing education policy and programmes in Lebanon or other similar contexts
• Knowledge of the Lebanese or other similar education system
• In-depth understanding of teacher development programmes, including roll out of successful models of teacher coaching/mentoring would be preferable
• Breadth of expertise from national policy through regions and into schools and classrooms.
• Previous experience of working in systems/interventions which take a whole child development approach
• Experience of working within Government of Lebanon service delivery channels would be advantageous
• Strong academic background, including experiences conducting and analysis of global/Lebanese education research
• Experience of working with and getting the most out of distributed and remote teams
• Experience working across one or more of the following fields would be advantageous:
  • Coaching/mentoring
  • Counselling
  • Psychosocial support
  • Inclusion
  • Child protection
  • Special Educational Needs
• Languages: Arabic and English, French is a plus

Criteria

Objectives

Timeliness

Skills transfer

Weight

5

2

3