OVERVIEW

Parent Sector : Education Sector (ED)

Duty Station: New Delhi

Job Family: Education

Education

Type of contract : Non Staff

Duration of contract : From 7 to 11 months

Recruitment open to : External candidates

Application Deadline (Midnight Paris Time) : 16 June 2025

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

BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE

In today’s rapidly changing educational landscape and as traditional, didactic approaches have become inadequate in helping students prepare for the future, countries are encouraged to adopt an educational approach that supports learners to practically apply their knowledge and skills, and adapt to complex real-life and professional challenges. 21st century skills, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and digital literacy, are essential in equipping learners to navigate an increasingly complex and technology-driven world, distinguish facts from misinformation, and collaborate to identify solutions to global challenges. Recognizing the need for transformation, India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF) 2023 aim to integrate Competency-Based Education (CBE) and 21st-century skills throughout the education system.

The State of Himachal Pradesh in India has initiated reforms aligned with these national policies, but challenges remain in translating these policies into classroom practices. Gaps in teacher capacity, lack of clarity around 21st century competencies, and limited coherence between curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment continue to hinder implementation of the reform measures.

UNESCO, in collaboration with the Government of Himachal Pradesh, is launching the HP FUTURES project to strengthen the integration of CBE for 21st century skills, particularly critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and digital literacy. A whole-school approach that aligns policy, pedagogy, training, assessment, and school environments is central to this transformation. The project also emphasizes foundational values such as inclusion, equity, and respect.

To support this process, UNESCO seeks an experienced international consultant to provide strategic and technical guidance to the HP FUTURES project on competency-based education.

OBJECTIVES

The specific objectives of this assignment are:

The consultant will support UNESCO and the Government of the State of Himachal Pradesh to:

• Conduct a comprehensive assessment and review of existing education policies, training programs, and curricular materials related to CBE for 21st century skills across multiple levels.
• Identify gaps and develop a comprehensive report with strategic recommendations to enhance policy alignment, teacher training, curriculum integration, and assessment coherence on CBE for 21st century skills.
• Support the development of a roadmap for statewide teacher capacity building focused on practical implementation of 21st century competencies.

SCOPE OF WORK

• The contract duration is expected to be from 1 July 2025 to 1 February 2026 (7 months).

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

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

1. Policy and Programmatic Review

• Conduct a comprehensive review of policies, curriculum, teacher training programs (including Technical and Vocational Education and Training; TVET), and assessment frameworks on CBE for 21st century skills in Himachal Pradesh.
• Evaluate alignment with NEP 2020, NCF 2023, and global frameworks on CBE and 21st century skills.

• Evaluate the integration of CBE and 21st century skills (critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, digital literacy) across policy, system, school, and classroom levels.
• Assess the relevance and effectiveness of TVET programs in translating 21st century skills into employable skills aligned with industry needs.
• Identify systemic, school-level, and teacher-level barriers to effective implementation.

2. Capacity Building and Training Design

• Analyze existing in-service teacher training modules and identify gaps.
• Support the development of a roadmap for teacher training on 21st century skills (e.g., critical thinking, communication, problem-solving, digital literacy).
• Provide technical inputs for designing scalable teacher training modules through innovative pedagogies and experiential learning.

3. Documentation and Knowledge Products

• Develop an inception report, periodic progress reports, and a final report with strategic recommendations.
• Prepare a comprehensive Assessment Report that includes:

1. Definitions and practical implementation of 21st century skills
2. Analysis of gaps and alignment in current policies and programs
3. Evaluation of teacher preparedness and identification of systemic enablers and barriers

Long Description

• Provide actionable recommendations to align policy, curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment with competency-based education (CBE).
• Draft technical inputs for training materials, policy briefs, and strategic frameworks, as needed.

4. Collaboration and Facilitation

• Collaborate closely with the project team at the UNESCO Regional Office for South Asia, New Delhi, including the Chief of Education, Project Coordinator, and National Consultants.
• Coordinate with the National Consultant, Project Steering Committee, and key education stakeholders to collect relevant information and data necessary for the assessment.
• Organize and lead a five-day scoping mission, facilitating in-depth consultations with key stakeholders, including policymakers, curriculum developers, school leaders and administrators, teacher educators, and representatives from SCERT, DIETs, and vocational institutions. Guide and document these discussions to identify major challenges, existing strengths, and opportunities for education reform.

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.

Long Description

DELIVERABLES:

• Workplan outlining methodology, timeline and consultation plan.
• Policy and practice gap analysis report on CBE and 21st century skills; summary reports on reviewed policies, curricula, TVET and training programs.
• Documentation from scoping mission and stakeholder consultations.
• Comprehensive Assessment Report; systematic and operational finding along with strategic recommendations.
• Roadmap for statewide rollout of teacher training modules.
• Final consolidated report with actionable recommendations and tools for system-wide implementation.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Education

  • Advanced university degree (master’s or equivalent) in Education, Curriculum Development, Public Policy, Social Sciences or related fields.

  Experience

  • Minimum of 10 years of international experience in education system reform, preferably with a focus on competency-based education and 21st century skills.
  • Demonstrated expertise in designing teacher training programs and conducting educational needs assessments.
  • Familiarity with South Asian education systems is desirable.

LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

Fluency in English (oral and written) is required.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

• Knowledge of another UN official working language.
• Experience working with international non-profit organizations, preferably in education development projects in India or the South Asia region.

SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

• Strong analytical, strategic thinking, and facilitation skills.
• Excellent writing, communication and presentation skills with stakeholders.
• Proven ability to work in multicultural teams and complex policy environments.
• Ability to work under pressure and commitment to work to tight timeframe.
• Flexibility and adaptability to diverse contexts across culture, gender, religion, and race.
• Ability to summarize and provide concise and comprehensible feedback.
• Proficient in using office productivity tools- MS Office, and video conferencing tools like Skype, Zoom and MS Teams, etc.

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 INR (ii) the overall cost in INR of the assignment, expressed as an overall lump sum, assuming that the contract duration is 7 months, and (iii) costs/month in INR.
• 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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