Needs Assessment Consultant

 
An Najah National University has received a Grant from the Quality Improvement Fund (QIF) – Ministry of Education and Higher Education– funded by the World Bank for the project entitled: " Upgrading practicum at both ESF & An-Najah National University for the upper basic elementary level ( 5 -10 ) and implemented at 3 partners universities: Educational Sciences Faculty- UNRWA, An Najah National University and Arab American University in Jenin to enhance the practice teaching at the Palestinian universities and the students teachers educational levels in guidance of the Teacher Education Strategy and the professional standard for the new teacher issued by the Ministry of Education.

Assignment Objective
An Najah National University is considering the selection of highly qualified consultant to identify training needs of up to 40 faculty members thatoffer education degrees at Palestinian Tertiary Education Institutions )TEIs) and practice schools accredited by the three partners universities under the supervision of the Project Director and the Project SteeringCommittee. In identifying the training needs, a special attention should begiven to the requirements of section 2.3 of the Teacher Education Strategy andin particular to the standards that constrain the curriculum for teachereducation programs identified in section 2.32 and the methods of teaching andlearning at teacher education programs identified in section 2.33.

Main Tasks and Responsibilities
The consultant will be responsiblefor the following tasks:
1-Review the project documents. These includeproject’s proposal, project’s implementation plan, concept note for thePre-service Teacher Education Development cycle, Teacher Education Strategy inPalestine (particularly chapters 1 2&and the professional standard for the new teacher issued bythe Commission for Developing the teaching profession.
2-Develop and submita detailed work plan for conducting the trainingneeds assessment for the practice training faculty members at Palestinian TEIs and  practice schools accredited by the three partners universities . Thetraining needs assessment should be based on both quantitative and qualitativemeasurement methods.
3-Prepare appropriate data collection instruments andprocedures and make arrangements to administer them. These instruments shouldinclude questionnaires and focus groups.
4-Implement data collectionprocedures in coordination with the project director.
5-Analyze results ofdata collection for evidence of performance discrepancies that exist because ofapparent knowledge or skill deficiencies. Moreover, part of the analysis shouldlook into how these training needs match with the requirements of the TeacherEducation Strategy as described in the assignment objective section above.
6-Generate strategies for remedying the performance discrepancies as trainingneeds.
7-Assign priorities to the training strategies for the benefit of theproject management in making their implementation decisions in accordance withthe available budget.
8-Present the results of the training needs assessmentto the project’s steering committee.

Qualifications & Skills:
An Najah National University seeks a consultant with the minimum following qualifications:

-Familiar with the Palestinian education system and the Teacher Education Strategy inPalestine.
-Minimum a Master degree in a field related toeducational sciences or any relevant social sciences.
-Minimum 5years experience on institutional and organizational training needsassessment.
-experience in providing consultancy services&  experience with donor-funded projects.
-experience in design, implementation, and evaluation of reports in practice teaching or relevant subject.
-Considerable experience in the statistical analysis especially social studies analysis.
-Good command of writing skills in English andArabic.
-Professional computer skills.
-The consultant cannot be on An Najah University payroll.

Expected Outputs and Reporting/Deliverables
1-An inception report including a detailed workplan for conducting the training needs assessment for the practice training  facultymembers at Palestinian TEIs practice schools accredited by the three partners universities .
2-Interim report identifying data analysis andpriorities of the training strategies.
3-Final Report upon completion of alltasks including specific conclusions& recommendations.
4-Project deliverables must be approved by the Project Manager.

Time Frame: Theduration of the assignment is 2months.
Contract Type: Lump Sumcontract.

Interested applicants are invited to E-mail their CVs & cover letter, to  [email protected],  no later than Sunday  22 June , 2011.