International Senior Consultant on Competency Based Education and 21st century 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) : 01 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.

The Senior Consultant will work closely with the Lead Expert, UNESCO, and the local implementation partner to ensure strong technical quality, evidence-based monitoring, and effective documentation of the pilot process to inform future scale-up.

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, in close coordination with the Lead expert the consultant will:

A. Tech Support to Policy Coherence and Technical Documentation

The Senior Consultant will support the Lead Expert in consolidating technical documentation that aligns policy frameworks and translates policy intent into operational guidance. The consultant will:

• Provide technical inputs to the development of a policy coherence framework aligning NEP 2020, NCF-SE 2023, NCF-TE, and Holistic Progress Cards.
• Support the drafting and technical review of CBE and 21CS guidance materials intended for policymakers, institutional leaders, and teacher educators.
• Contribute to the development of applied pedagogical examples and competency-aligned assessment approaches.
• Assist in preparing documentation that clarifies competency progression and classroom implementation implications.

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

The Senior Consultant will support the Lead Expert in the design and preparation of pilot activities and training resources. The consultant will:

• Provide technical inputs to the design of the pilot architecture, including training sequencing, mentoring approaches, and teacher progression tracking mechanisms.
• Support the preparation and refinement of training materials and workshop content for teachers and institutional stakeholders.
• Contribute to the preparation of the Institutional Workshop targeting SCERT, DIETs, and TEIs.
• Support documentation of training delivery processes and implementation lessons.

C. Observation, Mentoring, and Implementation Support 

The Senior Consultant will support the Lead Expert in implementing and refining classroom observation and mentoring systems. This will include:

• Supporting the development and refinement of Teacher Observation Protocols.
• Participating in classroom observation cycles during pilot implementation.
• Assisting in documenting teacher progression across training and mentoring sessions.
• Contributing to the analysis of implementation challenges and areas for refinement between pilot cycles.

Long Description

D. Monitoring, Assessment, and Data Analysis

The Senior Consultant will support the development and implementation of the monitoring and evaluation framework for the pilot. Responsibilities include:

• Supporting the design and refinement of scenario-based teacher questionnaires.
• Supporting the compilation and analysis of teacher observation data.
• Supporting comparative analysis across pilot cycles to assess implementation effectiveness.

5. DURATION AND REPORTING

The assignment will be implemented during the agreed contract period and will include field engagement in Himachal Pradesh to support pilot implementation activities.

The Senior Consultant will report to UNESCO and work closely with the Lead Expert, the local implementation partner, and relevant 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 Senior Consultant will support the Lead Expert in documenting implementation processes and consolidating evidence generated during the pilot phases. This will include supporting the preparation of evaluation reports based on pilot implementation, contributing to the analysis of teacher progression, documenting training delivery processes and institutional engagement, and assisting in synthesizing lessons learned and recommendations for system-level scale-up. All documentation must align with UNESCO technical standards and gender-responsive principles.

Deliverables and Timeline

1. Inputs to the Inception Report, including methodology, pilot design, and detailed workplan – 10 June 2026
2. Institutional Workshop Package and Teacher Training Materials – 20 August 2026
3. Inputs to Draft Evaluation Report (Pilot 1) – 25 October 2026
4. Inputs to Draft Evaluation Report (Pilot 2) – 25 November 2026Top of FormBottom of Form

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master’s or PhD) in education, curriculum studies, education policy, teacher training, social sciences or related fields.
• Minimum 8 years of experience in curriculum reform, competency-based education, teacher professional development, or education system strengthening.
• Experience supporting development of training materials, pedagogical tools, or education reform initiatives.
• 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.

The consultant will be responsible for arranging their own logistics: office space, administrative and secretarial support, team members, telecommunications, travel arrangement, printing of documentation, etc. The costs of these logistics, including all research-related travel costs, will be included in the lump sum 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. 

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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