Project Associate - Blended Teacher Professional Development Project at Leadership for Equity

Location : Pune

Leadership For Equity is a systems change and research organization that aims to help strengthen the effectiveness of public education systems. At LFE, the fundamental belief is that Public Education Systems are by definition ‘gatekeepers’ of equity; and effective and sensitive public education systems will ensure that quality education is provided to every child. The team works across hierarchies within the public education system to: CONSULT: Provide strategic and implementation consulting at a policy level to improve the effectiveness of educational programs; ENABLE: Build capacity and support existing officials to operate with increased effectiveness and sensitivity; and SCALE: Support high potential innovations to scale and institutionalise within the system.

We believe that public systems need to be strengthened to tackle adaptive, deep-rooted social problems. We undertake projects in the field of public education, focusing on institutional and policy level reform, empowering middle management and developing models for teacher support through technology and mentor communities.

Currently, to achieve the goal of making public education systems more effective and efficient we are running multiple projects at the state and municipal level that reinforce the belief to work with all stakeholders in the public education system across the government hierarchy. As also, our work extends from schools in Pune Mahanagar Palika to policy building at MSCERT (Maharashtra State Council for Educational Research and Training), providing us with the on-ground experience required to help formulate and implement education policy as well as the opportunity to ensure that teacher voices form an essential part of decision making at MSCERT. Because, after all, “Transforming systems is ultimately about transforming the relationships among people who shape those systems” - Senge Peter

Leadership for Equity is a small yet enterprising team comprising of individuals coming from diverse backgrounds, with varied expertise and life experiences, all of whom add their unique character to shape our collective identity.

LFE’s Work in Maharashtra

Maharashtra State Council of Educational Research & Training, (MSCERT) is the apex educational body in the state. Its main responsibilities include:

Organising subject wise in-service teacher training and officer capacity development programs

Draft policy recommendations for the State Education Department

Conducting educational research to aid policy-making and strengthen existing programs

Design the state curriculum framework in alignment with National Policy

Design statewide assessments to test for student learning outcomes (Pragat Shaikshanik Maharashtra tests)

SCERT, now 2.5 years into the process of being restructured, is looking at strengthening its internal processes and capacities to be able to fulfil its mandate, as given above. The proposed long term outcomes of the restructuring are to establish SCERT as an exemplary government educational organisation responsible for ensuring 100% of children in Maharashtra receive an excellent education, by establishing expertise in the responsibilities, mentioned above.

About the Project - Blended teacher professional development

The Blended Teacher Training Project aims at creating a unique model of teacher training with two key aims. Firstly, the program strives to resolve challenges that exist in the current teacher training process and the second being to enable officers to design, implement, monitor and evaluate training programs effectively. We collaborated with the Regional Academic Authority, Aurangabad (RAA) for their Spoken English Program by validating the process and sample content with 40 teachers and 2 mentors at Hingoli district. Post validation, a mini-pilot with 553 teachers and 30 mentors was done across 6 districts and 24 clusters. Almost 64% of the teachers who enrolled in the course have completed it when compared with the global average on online course completion being around 7% - 10%. The base-line and end-line assessments conducted have indicated an overall increase in teacher mastery in 26 out of the 35 learning outcomes. Teachers have also reported an increase in their confidence and comfort in speaking English post-training. Most of the teachers found the course easy, engaging and relevant. Now this project is being expanded to more SCERT Departments.

Job Description and Responsibilities

We see the Project Associate role at LFE to be a highly aspirational role where the scope to learn about and create impact at a systemic level is immense. The Project Associate will work with the Project Manager to play a critical leadership role in ensuring planning for and execution of the responsibilities listed below. They include but are not limited to:

Planning and Execution (50%)

Work on the overall project strategy in conjunction with the Project Manager

Work with government stakeholders to design interventions that align with government needs as well as LFE’s project design

Work with SCERT officers and work on their development as per the plan

Stakeholder Management (30%)

Work with SCERT subject department members to build long-lasting relationships that aid project operations and expansion plans

Promote collaboration amongst members in SCERT Subject departments to achieve the larger goal of providing better learning to teachers

Plan and execute program review and update meetings (whenever necessary) with stakeholders and provide progress towards the goals of the project in a consumable format to all stakeholders.

Personal and Professional Development (20%)

A central tenet in practising adaptive leadership, which we take seriously, is to seek out perspectives different from your own, examine them and let them influence you for the better.

Research and lead sessions to contribute towards the team’s personal and professional growth by introducing varied perspectives on education, equity, culture, monitoring and evaluation, policy reform, etc. based on one’s interest and expertise.

Participate effectively and drive learning in the team professional development days (once a month) and team outstation stepbacks (twice a year)

Requirements

Education & Experience

2-3 years of experience executing projects (at least 2 years of which should include directly working with government stakeholders)

Experience working in Maharashtra would be preferable

Knowledge, Skills & Capabilities

Excellent written and oral communication skills - and functional knowledge (oral and written) of

Marathi would be highly preferred

Belief in the potential of the public sector and that government systems can and will change towards overcoming systemic inequities and ensuring improved outcomes for all citizens

A basic understanding of social equity, development discourse and education policy in India

Being able to take initiative and work in an autonomous, semi-structured environment

Adaptability to changing responsibilities and resourcefulness to respond to them

High openness to learning

Ability to build and sustain relationships with multiple stakeholders & partners across public and private spaces

Strong ability to create outstanding presentations, work with Microsoft Excel, Google Suite, and varied data sets

Patience and resilience to stick it out in the face of setbacks and uncertainties

Location and Compensation

Location: Pune

Compensation: Apart from being a part of a young and dynamic learning team, the individual will receive a healthy compensation at par with the sector benchmark for this position, commensurate with the individual’s prior experience and qualifications.

Contact: Kindly email your CVs to careers@leadershipforequity.org to apply