Education Technical Specialist

Job Purpose Summary Teh Education Specialists will be part of the Education Technical Unit established as part of the NRC Lebanon Education Structure. NRC Education Programme started in 2007 providing education opportunities to Iraqi Refugees. Then in 2009 NRC Education expanded its activities to addressing education needs of Palestinian Refugees. Working with UNRWA, NRC established a joint MOU summarizing the priority areas of cooperation between the two organizations. Since the crisis in Syria, NRC Lebanon was providing both formal and non-formal learning opportunities to Syrian Refugees in Lebanon. With eth situation escalating in Syria, the numbers of vulnerable children and youth with limited or no access to education in Lebanon is increasing. Having no access to education would put children and youth at protection risks. It also means a generation which lacks the knowledge and skills required for them to positively contribute to early recovery of their countries or of being positive contributors to the societies they live in. For the Refugee population who fled Syria into Lebanon, education challenges remain massive. As enrolment for the 2012-2013 academic year closed, 30,000 refugee children were supported by the MOEHE, UN agencies, and NGOs to enter the public school system. Nonetheless, enrolment remains critically low with non-formal education activities being offered as a way to bridge the gap. Moreover, children continue to drop out of school due to their inability to cope with the new curriculum and the absence of sufficient learning support to address their needs. Several assessments done by NRC and partners, including the 2013 Joint Education Needs Assessment (on-going), and the latest NRC Assessment of May 2013[1] identified several challenges facing the Syrian children and youth. Syrian students without education documents from their country of origin cannot sit for official exams and only receive course completion documents (not certificates) preventing them from continuing education above basic or secondary education. In addition to this Syrian students as well as vulnerable Lebanese children in target areas face practical barriers to learning, including curriculum requirements for foreign language instruction; differences in curricula and unfamiliar teaching methods; prevalence of discrimination in schools and communities; the limited availability of psychosocial interventions and child protection in schools. Furthermore, transportation costs hinder consistent school attendance. Public schools are also increasingly under-resourced. A lack of qualified teachers or teachers trained to teach diverse groups of children, shortages of space, learning materials and school supplies as well as overcrowding, reduce the quality of education for all children. Palestine Refugees from Syria face many of the same limitations as well as challenges to access education due to limited space in UNRWA schools. The Palestinian refugees continue to face education challenges. An independent review of the UNRWA’s education system in 2010 suggested that the education system was rather examination oriented and lacked responsiveness to meet diverse needs of children: traditional teaching methods in regular classrooms were based on memorization and teachers lacked competence for child centered, inclusive teaching practices and learning support. In response, UNRWA developed an Education Reform Strategy (2011-2015), aimed to enhance the quality of learning through a coherent and integrated approach and seeks to change classroom practice.[2] While this is now being implemented regionally, it faces the challenges of increasing demands, limited resources, limited capacity, and the demands placed on UNRWA due to the Syria situation. The Iraqi population are mostly in a state of resettlement preparations; however, not all the applications are being processed at the same speed and many face rejections. Iraqi youth still face the challenges of being denied the right to work in Lebanon and access to professional training. This is adding to their feelings of desperation and putting them at risk of abuse in society and in work places.  Considering the increasing education challenges in Lebanon, the NRC Education Programme will support refugee and displaced children and youth to achieve their full potential and enjoy their right to education. In order to support a large and quality scale response to these growing needs, NRC Lebanon is setting up a technical unit responsible for developing the teaching and learning manuals, curriculum design, teacher training, quality monitoring of learning support activities, quality of implementation of youth activities provided, staff development as needed, and follow up on monitoring & evaluation, The Unit is headed by a Technical Advisor working under the overall supervision of an Education Programme Manager. The Technical Education Specialist is expected to represent Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Lebanon in a responsible manner and always to act in accordance with the NRC Code of Conduct. Key Responsibilities Develop individual work plan and contribute to team work plan/s Participate in design and implementation of education assessments Participate in design of training programs based on needs assessments Develop training modules, both in English and Arabic Design, prepare and present trainings for external organizations on request Develop together with teachers the NRC non-formal curriculum, both for children and youth, in basic subjects to be delivered in NRC learning support programmes. Facilitate and/ or develop education tools and manuals as well as guidelines Provide facilitation and organizational support and advice to NRC teams engaged in trainings related to education issues Work in collaboration with other other NRC Lebanon Core competencies. Provide outputs and reports to the direct supervisor as requested Duty station could change depending on location of Education activities and funding. Any other tasks requested by the direct supervisor.  Qualifications and Competences  Academic and Professional Qualifications University Degree in Education Relevant Experience Qualified and experienced teacher / trainer Relevant work experience in a humanitarian organization is an advantage Experience working in teams and independently Experience in designing, facilitating and evaluating high quality training programs. Experience in coaching and mentoring Ability to work professionally under pressure Strong documentation, accurate data collection, research and report writing skills Background in curriculum and resource design Willingness to travel to multiple field sites for up to one week at a time with modest accommodation provided (approximately 50% Beirut/ 50% Field locations) Knowledge, Skills & Personal Attributes Excellent communication and interpersonal skills Strong organizational skills Capacity to be flexible, supportive, to create, to experiment, to explore in search of new understandings and to learn Proven capacity to work collaboratively in a team Proven capacity to follow instructions and to implement work in accordance with workplan Proven capacity to work in emergency environments with a variety of refugee populations Highly approachable, trustworthy and confidential Very good English language level Maturity and capacity to work in complex political and social contexts Willingness to commit to the NRC Code of Conduct and international laws/codes/conventions related to the rights of children and the overall protection of children. Achievement indicators Delivering expected outputs in a structured, quality and professional manner. Meeting deadlines in accordance with work plan. Adherence to the NRC standards, policies and guidelines. Adapting and coping with change. Communicate respectfully with beneficiaries, manager, team members and other stakeholders.