International Lead Expert on Competency Based Education and 21st century skills Implementation

OVERVIEW

Parent Sector : Education Sector (ED)

Duty Station: New Delhi

Job Family: Education

Education

Type of contract : Affiliated personnel

Duration of contract : 7 months

Recruitment open to : External candidates

Application Deadline (Midnight Paris Time) : 02 April 2026

UNESCO Core Values: Commitment to the Organization, Integrity, Respect for Diversity, Professionalism

BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE

HP FUTURES is a UNESCO-led initiative implemented in partnership with the Government of Himachal Pradesh to strengthen the quality, relevance, and resilience of school education across the state. In line with India’s National Education Policy 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023, the project supports the shift toward competency-based education (CBE) and the integration of 21st-century skills across curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment.

While the state has begun aligning with these reforms, challenges remain in translating policy into classroom practice, including gaps in teacher capacity, misalignment across curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, and the need to better integrate inclusion and equity. At the same time, Himachal Pradesh’s vulnerability to climate-related disruptions highlights the importance of strengthening climate resilience and embedding greening education.

HP FUTURES addresses these priorities through a whole-school approach focused on strengthening teacher capacity in CBE, 21st-century skills, values education through sport using the Sport Values in Every Classroom Toolkit, and greening education. Year 1 focused on policy review, needs assessments, and building teacher awareness, while Year 2 will prioritize implementation and teacher training on competency-based pedagogy and assessment.

To support this process, UNESCO seeks to engage an experienced international consultant to serve as Lead Expert to guide this process. The consultant will work closely with a Senior Expert and mentor a local implementation partner to ensure sustainability and system ownership.

Objectives

The assignment aims to operationalize and institutionalize CBE and 21 CS across policy, curriculum, teacher professional development, classroom practice, and assessment systems through:

Strengthened coherence between NEP 2020, NCF-SE 2023, the developing National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (NCF-TE), and Holistic Progress Cards.

• Development of structured and scalable training architecture.
• Implementation of iterative school-based pilot cycles.
• Establishment of robust teacher observation and monitoring systems.
• Production of evidence-based evaluation reports to inform scale-up.

SCOPE OF WORK

The contract duration is tentatively expected to be from 01 June 2026 to 31 December 2026.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Under the authority of the Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for South Asia and direct supervision of the Programme Specialist and Chief of Education, the consultant will:

A. Policy Coherence and Technical Documentation

The consultant will develop consolidated technical documentation ensuring alignment between NEP 2020, NCF-SE 2023, the forthcoming NCF-TE, and Holistic Progress Cards. This will include drafting a coherence framework that clarifies competency progression, assessment implications, and teacher professional expectations across levels.

The consultant will produce stand-alone CBE and 21CS guidance materials that translate policy intent into classroom implementation, including applied pedagogical strategies, competency-aligned assessment approaches, and illustrative cross-grade examples. These materials will serve policymakers, institutional leaders, and teacher educators and will form the conceptual backbone of the training model.

In addition, the consultant will develop applied materials, including competency-based assessment items requiring 21CS application.

B. Pilot Design, Training Development, and Institutional Capacity Building

Building on the coherence documentation, the consultant will design the overall pilot architecture, including training structure, delivery medium, mentoring model, and teacher progression tracking mechanisms.

The consultant will:

• Develop comprehensive workshop content for teachers and institutional stakeholders.
• Design and deliver an Institutional Workshop targeting SCERT, DIETs, and TEIs to clarify system-level roles in operationalizing CBE.
• Lead Pilot Workshop Series 1 with selected schools.
• Document workshop delivery processes in detail to inform adaptation and scalability.

The consultant will mentor the local implementation partner through observation visits and workshop facilitation, progressively transferring technical knowledge and implementation responsibility to ensure sustainability.

C. Observation, Mentoring, and Iterative Refinement

A core component of the assignment will involve structured classroom observation and mentoring cycles. The consultant will analyze pre-workshop baselines and available documentation to identify key instructional indicators to target during training.

Teacher Observation Protocols will be developed, tested during Pilot 1, and refined post-workshop to improve evidence capture and analytical reliability.

Long Description

The consultant will record and analyze teacher progression throughout workshop sessions and mentoring visits. Detailed facilitation notes and delivery documentation will be maintained to enable adaptation for Pilot Workshop Series 2.

Findings from Pilot 1 including workshop delivery notes, teacher observation data, mentoring records, and participant feedback will inform refinement of materials and implementation strategies prior to Pilot 2.

D. Monitoring, Assessment, and Evaluation

The consultant will establish an integrated monitoring and evaluation framework covering teacher practice.

This will include:

• Development and refinement of teacher scenario-style questionnaires.
• Analysis of teacher observation data across instructional cycles.

The consultant will conduct cross-period analysis comparing findings from Pilot 1 and Pilot 2 schools to assess implementation effectiveness and teacher progression trajectories.

5. DURATION AND REPORTING

The assignment will be implemented over the agreed contract period and will include field engagement in Himachal Pradesh for pilot implementation and mentoring. The consultant will report to UNESCO and coordinate closely with designated state-level institutions.

The consultant will be responsible for managing their own logistical arrangements, including office space, administrative and secretarial support, team members, telecommunications, travel arrangements, and printing of documents. The assignment will require two visits to Himachal Pradesh. All associated costs, including those related to research travel, must be incorporated into the lump sum financial proposal.

The consultant must ensure that sources are properly cited by using the Harvard referencing style, following international academic standards and making sure that no copyrights are violated. Please refer to the UNESCO Style Manual for citation style, terminology and spelling, abbreviations, references, etc.

UNESCO will provide feedback throughout the process, in particular there will be feedback and revisions that are expected to be incorporated for all deliverables. The contractor and UNESCO will hold regular meetings to discuss progress and next steps.

In line with UNESCO’s overall gender mainstreaming strategy, the contractor is expected to integrate a gender perspective in all activities and apply gender analysis and mainstreaming concepts whenever feasible. The technical assets produced will be the property of UNESCO.

Long Description

DELIVERABLES:

The Lead consultant will document implementation progress and generate technical outputs to support the institutionalization and scale-up of competency-based education and 21st-century skills under the project. Reporting will integrate three main streams of evidence:

1. Workshop design and delivery documentation.
2. Teacher progress data collected through classroom observation and mentoring cycles.
3. Implementation process documentation, including delivery approaches and considerations for scalability.

Based on this evidence, the consultant will prepare the following deliverables:

• Inception Report including methodology, pilot design, and detailed workplan – 15 June 2026
• Policy Coherence Framework and Stand-Alone CBE and 21st Century Skills Technical Documents – 15 August 2026
• Draft Evaluation Report (Pilot 1) based on findings from the first pilot cohort – 30 October 2026

Top of FormBottom of Form

• Draft Evaluation Report (Pilot 2) based on findings from the second pilot cohort – 30 November 2026
• Final Consolidated Evaluation Report synthesizing findings from both pilots, including comparative analysis, system-level recommendations, and a roadmap for scale and institutionalization – 30 December 2026

All outputs should align with UNESCO technical standards and integrate gender-responsive approaches where relevant.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Advanced university degree (PhD or equivalent) in Education, Curriculum Studies, Assessment, Educational Policy, Teacher Training, social sciences or a related field.
• Minimum of 10 years of professional experience in curriculum reform, competency-based education, teacher professional development, or education system strengthening.
• Demonstrated expertise in developing policy guidance, training modules, and practical implementation tools on competency-based education.
• Proven facilitation skills and experience conducting training workshops.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in working with international organizations or the UN, preferably in education development projects.
• Experience in education development projects in India preferably in Himachal Pradesh.

LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

Fluency in English (oral and written) is required.

SELECTION AND RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Please note that all candidates must complete an on-line application and provide complete and accurate information. To apply, please visit the UNESCO careers website. No modifications can be made to the application submitted.

Please note that only selected candidates will be further contacted and candidates in the final selection step.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:

Qualified candidates are requested to attach the below documents under the 'Employment History' attachment section:

• A cover letter indicating how your qualifications and experience make you suitable for the assignment (maximum one page).
• An up-to-date curriculum vitae stating details of educational qualifications and working experience, telephone number, email address and two (2) references.
• A technical proposal, indicating an approach/methodology to carry out the assignment, including any inputs that may be required from UNESCO (maximum three pages).

• A financial proposal indicating (i) travel costs in USD (ii) the overall cost of the assignment in USD, expressed as an overall lump sum, assuming that the contract duration is 6 months, and (iii) breakdown of monthly cost in USD.

• Two (2) examples of previous, relevant work related to the deliverables.

Long Description

Proposals will be determined based on the best value for money approach. The weighted model takes account of two components, the individual consultant’s qualifications and the cost, by allocating a weight of 70% to the qualifications of the candidate, and 30% to the cost of the proposal.  An assessment exercise may be used in the evaluation of candidates.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

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