UNICEF Turkey
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UNICEF Turkey
UNICEF Turkey TERMS OF REFERENCE INSTITUTIONAL CONSULTANCY DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOL ORIENTATION ROGRAMMES FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD, PRIMARY and LOWER SECONDARY EDUCATION (REF: EDU/TURA/2015-A) Programme/Project/Activity Title and Work Plan Code: Completion of Primary Education and Transition to Secondary Education, 2014-15 Rolling Work Plan with Ministry of National Education (Activity 2.4. Orientation Programmes) I. BACKGROUND Through a combination of international articulations such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Education for All (EFA) goals, countries are working to ensure universal access to quality basic education1. Mere access to education is not sufficient—the quality and duration of education is equally important. In many countries, not all children who enrol in first grade complete the secondary education. Children must not only enrol in school; they must complete it. And, human rights values and principles must be the guiding force in the classroom2. Starting school and transitioning from one school to another or one level to another is a very crucial experience for most children and could provoke distress for many of them if they are not developmentally ready to cope with changes due to the new learning environment. Ongoing research confirms that children’s readiness to school is multifaceted; it encompasses a range of developmental skills—cognitive, physical, social, emotional, and language—that children need to thrive. Moreover, children’s school readiness depends on the demands that the school places on the children and the support it provides, as well as the children’s knowledge and skills3. It is widely acknowledged that school orientation is especially significant as readiness for school is predictive of children’s long-term academic and occupational achievement as well as their successful evolution not only in the school system but in their daily life. Therefore, the concepts of “school readiness” and “school orientation” are all at the heart of any intervention to promote a healthy development and sound learning in order to ensure that all children take full opportunity of quality education. What is overlooked is the fact that investment in school readiness and orientation are the critical foundation for children’s success in school and life. 1 Britto, P. R. (2012). School readiness: A conceptual framework. NY: UNICEF. UNICEF (2015). Education for all. Online: http://www.unicef.org/education/index_44870.html 3 Ackerman, D. & Barnett, W. S. (2005). Prepared for kindergarten: What does “readiness” mean? National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER): Policy Brief. 2 REF: EDU/TURA/2015-A Page 1 of 9 School readiness and orientation have become an important political and social issue in Turkey. Access to education and entry to and completing formal schooling have been an important main policy goal, among others, of the Turkish government. The Turkish Parliament, with the recommendation of the Ministry of National Education (MoNE), instituted several changes to its national educational system, including the compulsory education bill, which extended compulsory education from 8 to 12 years. This bill brought several more changes to education in Turkey, such as lowering the minimum age for entering school and redefining the 12 years of compulsory education into 3 levels—primary, middle, and high school—of 4 years each. These new changes implied funding, additional personnel, and restructuring of schools to provide separate primary and lower secondary institutions, curricular reforms, and professional development for teachers so they could adapt to the changes. In order to put these changes into effect, the MoNE revised the curricula for kindergarten and first grade, partly restructured the physical environments of elementary schools, offered a few professional development activities for first-grade teachers, recruited new teachers, and permitted teachers to change their areas of teaching for a smooth transition4. The MoNE has also initiated an orientation program model for secondary education in 2013. This modality has been pilot tested and the MoNE awaits the program for implementation. The need for a cohesive school orientation program for kindergarten, 1st grade and 5th grade was determined by the MoNE through a small scale analysis of needs and current provision conducted on December 25-26, 2014. At the conclusion of According to National Education Statistics (NES)5, the proportion of children in Turkey who benefit from primary education has greatly increased as a result of the comprehensive reforms efforts made by the Turkish Ministry of National Education with the technical support of UNICEF to address the education challenges. In order to increase the quality of education services that these children receive, further work is needed. One area that requires attention is children’s orientation to school. Children’s orientation to school has been found to be even more challenging for four specific groups6, for instance, children from socioeconomically disadvantaged children, children with special needs and children who do not attend early childhood education. It is vital to note that because children’s ability to adapt to school is dependent upon the environment in which they develop, families, services, communities and schools all share a responsibility to help children to overcome the challenges that they face when they start school. Ready schools share several characteristics with UNICEF’s child-friendly schools 4 Buldu, M. & Er, S. (Under Review). School entry age dilemma: Views and experiences of Turkish teachers and families on a new educatıon policy. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice (ESTP). 5 Ministry of National Education (2014). National Education Statistics Formal Education 2013/'14. Ankara: Ministry of National Education, Presidency of Strategy Development. 6 Rosier, K. & McDonald, M. (2011). Promoting positive education and care transitions for children. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies. REF: EDU/TURA/2015-A Page 2 of 9 (CFS)7. Common to both is the mission of providing all children with a high-quality learning environment that offers appropriate levels of instruction and is safe, secure and inclusive. School readiness and orientation is a powerful framework for improving equity in access to education and in learning outcomes, especially for marginalized children 1. The goal of UNICEF’s 2011-2015 country programme is to support the efforts of Turkey to achieve disparity reduction and social inclusion. This is aimed to be achieved through adoption of national policies and strategies to strengthen capacity and to provide quality and inclusive education for all children by translating policies and program into the classroom so that all children, especially the most vulnerable ones, benefit from it. With this in mind, in Turkish Education system there is a need for development of school orientation programs that will enable equitable high quality education services to all children who will start early childhood education (kindergarten), primary education (1st grade) and lower secondary education (5th grade) programmes. UNICEF’s role in developing these type of programmes is to strengthen national institutional capacity to deliver quality education services to fulfil the right to education. As indicated in UNICEF TCO’s 2014-15 Rolling Work Plan (Completion of Primary Education and Transition to Secondary Education) with Ministry of National Education, the General Directorate of Basic Education at the MoNE has committed itself to improve the quality of education services and is willing to adopt cohesive school orientation programs. Purpose of the Assignment: The main purpose of this assignment is to develop cohesive school orientation programmes (for kindergarten, 1st and 5th grades) that will support children, teachers, school counsellors, school administrators and families. The assignment also includes an assessment of school needs and current provision prior to programme development stage and an evaluation of the effectiveness of each element of the programmes. The orientation programmes will include a series of strategies or activities that early childhood education, primary education and lower-secondary education programmes will implement to assist students just starting school. The orientation period will cover the first couple weeks of the school year, one of which only will be dedicated to orientation activities. The orientation period will cover a broad period of time from starting school until successful settlement of the student at school and will include possible three phases—preparation, induction and consolidation. The programmes need to include, but may not be limited to, the following categories of activity: administrative, curriculum, pedagogy, management of learning, social and personal needs of children, and family needs. The assignment will also involve development of school orientation and transition tools (programme manual, orientation activity books/booklets, teacher guidebooks and family handbooks) that will be used by all stakeholders of school orientation processes. The tools 7 UNICEF (2009). Child friendly schools manual. New York: UNICEF. REF: EDU/TURA/2015-A Page 3 of 9 are hoped to support teachers, counsellors and administrators to make the schools ready for children and support families to help their children to get ready for school. In addition, the assignment includes an assessment of school needs and current provision prior to programme development stage. Prior to the implementation stage, a training for trainers of the programme will be needed. Following the implementation of orientation programmes, the effectiveness of each element of the programmes will be evaluated in order to identify how they can be further enhanced. Target Population: Children who will start early childhood education (kindergarten), primary education (1st grade) and lower secondary education (5th grade) programme, teachers in these programmes, school counsellors, and administrators who serve to these children; and, families of the children who will benefit from the orientation programmes. II. METHODOLOGY: To develop the school orientation programmes the selected institutional consultant (IC) is expected to carry out the following methodological approach: 1. The IC organizes meetings with UNICEF Turkey Country Office (TOC), the MoNE and other stakeholder groups to initiate the programme development process. 2. The Technical Team of Experts (TTE) of the selected institutional consultant analyses the logic of the school orientation programmes on the basis of official documents using the existing literature on school orientation programmes. The TTE is expected to conduct a desk review of documents at both global and country levels and submit a review report. 3. A need analysis (an audit of school needs and current provision) is expected to be conducted by the TTE via a workshop organized by UNICEF TOC and the MoNE. In addition, the TTE team may also conduct a series of in-depth interviews and group discussions, where appropriate, with selected key informants and stakeholders. 4. School orientation tools (programme manuals, orientation activity books/booklets, teacher guidebooks and family handbooks) that will be used by all stakeholders of school orientation processes are developed by the TTE. 5. The TTE develops a training module for the developed school orientation programmes. The training module is expected to be used for face-to-face trainings and web training. 6. The tools and modules noted in items # 4 and 5 are subject to a quality assessment by the MoNE authorities and UNICEF TOC. REF: EDU/TURA/2015-A Page 4 of 9 7. The TTE revises the tools and modules based on the feedback received from the MoNE authorities and UNICEF TOC. 8. The TTE offers a training for the trainers selected by the MoNE authorities using the training module that was developed by the TTE. The total number of trainers that will attend to this training is eighty-one (plus the MoNE programme team). 9. During the implementation of the school orientation programmes in September, 2015 the TTE is expected to evaluate the effectiveness of the orientation programmes. An evaluation model inclusive of a set of evaluation questions is expected to be proposed and validated by the TTE. Then, the TTE also specifies the indicators and provides partial answers to the questions on the basis of existing information. TTE also identifies the assumptions remaining to be tested in the field and develops its work plan for data collection and analysis. 10. The TTE implements its work plan for data collection. It applies the specified techniques (i.e., questionnaires, observations, interviews, focus groups, case studies, etc.) to analyse the data. A final evaluation report is expected to be developed by the TTE. 11. The TTE draws up its final report, which includes the findings and conclusions as a response to the questions asked, as well as an overall assessment. This report also includes recommendations that are clustered and prioritised. 12. The final report is subject to a quality assessment by the MoNE authorities and UNICEF TOC. 13. After the selected institutional consultant finalizes the required documents, tools and reports, they are disseminated to the relevant partners. Then, the programmes are posted on a publicly accessible website upon the approval of the MoNE authorities. LOCATION: In general, the task described in the ToR is expected to be completed in Ankara, Turkey. The needs assessment study will be conducted in Ankara; however, the trainings and data collection might take place in any province, which will be selected by the MoNE, where the most vulnerable children attend school. SUPERVISOR: Education Specialist, Inclusive Primary Education REF: EDU/TURA/2015-A Page 5 of 9 III. DURATION AND COST OF ASSIGNMENT Duration: The assignment will cover the period between May 4, 2015 and November 30, 2015. It is estimated that 510 man/days are needed for the completion of the assignment. Payment schedule: UNICEF will issue a contract in YTL. The payment will be made upon the delivery of requested outputs as specified in the contract. Reservations: UNICEF reserves the right to terminate the contract without a prior notice and/or withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if the rules and the regulations regarding confidentiality, ethics and procedures of UNICEF and the project partners are not followed, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. All relevant intellectual property rights in the developed materials/products/documents and associated tools will, upon their development, vest in the MoNE in Turkey. IV. DESCRIPTION OF THE ASSIGNMENT Technical proposals should be written in English and submitted in the following format: I. Cover Page II. Table of Contents III. List of Tables and Figures IV. Abbreviations Used V. Introduction VI. Program Description Program Background Turkish Education Context Rationale for Proposed Programs VII. Methodology for Completing Tasks Program Development, Implementation and Evaluation Description of Deliverables VIII. Work Plan Description of Work Packages Tentative Work Schedule Success Indicators Associated Risks & Back-up Plan IX. Qualifications of the Experts Relevant Professional Background and Experience X. Bibliography XI. Appendices CVs of the proposed Technical Team Short Descriptions of the Relevant Work (Ongoing and/or Completed) References of the Institutional Consultancy XII. Financial Proposal (Must be submitted in a separate sealed envelope) REF: EDU/TURA/2015-A Page 6 of 9 The institutional consultant will be paid upon the successful completion of the tasks and delivery of the outputs outline below. TASK TASKS # OUTPUTS TENTATIVE CALENDAR ANTICIPATED WORKLOAD Desk Review Report May 4-10, 2015 (42 man/days) Needs Analysis Report May 11-17, 2015 (42 man/days) 1 A desk review of school readiness and school orientation literature at both global and country levels 2 An analysis of school needs and current provision 3 - Development of school orientation programmes and tools - Development of Teacher Training (face-to-face & web based) Modules Programme Books, Manuals, Activity Books/Booklets, Teacher Guidebooks, Family Handbooks & Teacher Training (face-to-face & web based) Modules May 18 – June 21, 2015 (180 man/days) 4 Review Meeting (Feedback from the MoNE and UNICEF TCO on Programmes, Tools and Modules) Review Meeting Notes June 22, 2015 5 Revision of school orientation programme tools and teacher training modules Programme Books, Manuals, Activity Books/Booklets, Teacher Guidebooks, Family Handbooks June 23-28, 2015 (36 man/days) 6 Training of Trainers (ToT) Report on Analysis of ToTs June 29 – July 3, 2015 (30 man/days) 7 Development of programme evaluation model Programme Effectiveness Evaluation Model July 4-12, 2015 (60 man/days) Review Meeting Notes July 13, 2015 Launch of Web Based Teacher Training Module July 20 – August 16 (30 man/days) Impact Evaluation Report First two months of the 2015-2016 academic year (60 man/days) Review Meeting Notes November 16, 2015 Revised Programme Books, Manuals, Activity Books/Booklets, Teacher Guidebooks, Family Handbooks November 30, 2015 (30 man/days) 8 9 10 11 12 Review Meeting (Feedback from the MoNE and UNICEF TCO on Program Evaluation Model) Preparation of Web Based Teacher Training Module (* TTE only provides the content for the web) Monitoring & Evaluation of the implementation of the school orientation programme Review Meeting (Feedback from the MoNE and UNICEF TCO on the implementation of the orientation programmes) Revision of the orientation programmes based on the data collected TOTAL: 510 man/days * Expected to be brief and to the point, reports produced from this assignment will be prepared in Turkish. UNICEF will have it translated into English. The translation cost will be covered by UNICEF TOC. REF: EDU/TURA/2015-A Page 7 of 9 VI. PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS: A mix of knowledge, skills, and expertise is needed to complete the assignment. The number of professionals and the desired qualifications needed within the insitutional consultancy team to complete this assignment are as follows: 1. Early Childhood Education (ECE) Specialist – (1 post) PhD in ECE or Child Development Minimum 3 years of professional work experience in ECE/Child Development Experience in programme development and evaluation Working knowledge of ECE systems and practices in Turkey 2. Curriculum Development Specialist – (1 post) PhD in Curriculum and Instruction or relevant field Minimum 3 years of professional work experience in elementary education Experience in programme development and evaluation Working knowledge of primary and lower secondary education system (1st through 8th grade) and practices in Turkey 3. Guidance and Psychological Counselling (GPC) Specialist – (2 posts) PhD in GPC (* one post may be at the MS level) Minimum 3 years of professional work experience in GPC or related field Experience in the area of school counseling in Turkish education system Working knowledge of GPC practices in early childhood, primary and lower secondary education in Turkey Scholarly experience with school readiness, transition and orientation 4. Educational Measurement and Evaluation (EME) Specialist – (1 post) PhD in Educational Measurement and Evaluation Minimum 3 years of Professional experience in educational measurement and evaluation or related field Experience in Turkish schools Working knowledge of program evaluation Knowledge of technology use in educational measurement and evaluation 5. Coordinator/Team Leader – (1 post) BS/MS in education, educational management, or administrative sciences Minimum 3 years of experience in managing complex projects Certified administrative and organisational skills Current knowledge of trends and best practices in education * A workload distribution schedule that outlines the roles and responsibilites of each team member in related to the tasks and outputs should be submitted with the proposal. REF: EDU/TURA/2015-A Page 8 of 9 VII. CRITERIA FOR JUDGING THE PROPOSALS: Proposals submitted in response to this call will be evaluated in terms of technical quality and financial offer. Technical quality will be evaluated using the criteria outlined below. Program Description - Program Background - Turkish Education Context - Rationale for Proposed Programs Methodology for Completing Tasks - Program Development - Program Implementation - Program Evaluation - Description of Deliverables Work Plan - Work Package - Work Schedule - Success Indicators - Associated Risks & Back-up Plan Qualifications - Professional Background - Professional Experience - Relevant Prior Work NONCOMPLIANT POOR FAIR GOOD VERY GOOD EXCELLENT The proposal fails to address the criterion or cannot be assessed due to missing or incomplete information. The criterion is inadequately addressed or there are serious inherent weaknesses. The proposal broadly addresses the criterion but there are significant weaknesses. The proposal addresses the criterion well but with a number of shortcoming. The proposal addresses the criterion very well but with a small number of shortcoming. The proposal successfully addresses all relevant aspects of the criterion; very few minor shortcomings 0 1-3 4-5 6-7 8-9 10 0 1-6 7-10 11-15 16-18 19-20 0 1-3 4-5 6-7 8-9 10 0 1-9 10-15 16-21 22-27 28-30 The financial proposals will be opened only for the technical proposals that reach or exceed fifty (50) points out of maximum seventy (70) points. Thirty (30) points will be awarded to the institutional consultant that presented the lowest fee for the services requested. The remaining financial offers will receive a proportional points ([lowest bid/bid] x 30 points). The purpose of the evaluation of Consultants’ Financial Proposals is to verify that the costs itemized in the financial proposals adequately cover the services offered in the Institutional Consultants' Technical Proposals. REF: EDU/TURA/2015-A Page 9 of 9