II. Background Information
The prevalence of COVID-19 has greatly affected the global socio-economic aspect with the Education sector being among the greatly affected sector following the closure of academic institutions to curb the spread and transmission of the virus in the school communities. However, few countries had alternative learning options to ensure learning continues but the majority of the third world countries were caught off guard, thus, forcing learning to be discontinued since there was no alternative safe learning option available for the higher education institutions that utilized Zoom, MS Teams, Google Classroom/Meet etc. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education (MoECHE) and other implementing partners for the ESPIG prioritized other options for changing modality for the teacher training.
However, the Federal Government of Somalia Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education (MoECHE) with the support of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) funded ESPIG with the main focus of strengthening the quality of primary education by training teachers through in-service teacher training. Thus, ESPIG developed in-service teacher training modules and harmonized existing materials across the country. It has come into effect that tablets have been procured for blended teacher training. There is no doubt, however, that amongst all the available means of communication, digitalizing the content and uploading it into tablets is preferred for teachers to access while at schools remotely.
Teachers are central to quality and equitable education delivery in schools. It is therefore important that the government has focused its attention on enhancing their effectiveness and efficiency so that the right people are available and quality education is accessible to the learners. Teachers are the most important resource in today’s schools (OECD,2018). Furthermore, the National Curriculum requires an effective teaching force that can use the curriculum materials to deliver quality teaching and learning.
According to the 2018-2020 ESSP, only 37.9% of the primary school teachers are qualified across the whole of Somalia, and only 20.8% in FGS/FMS regions. In 2019, the MoECHE conducted Teacher Proficiency Test and found that schoolteachers lacked pedagogical skills and subject knowledge. This has a detrimental effect on the quality of education of children and the ministry is intent on correcting this.
The GPE funded ESPIG to align with the priorities of the Federal Government of Somalia’s Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP 2018-2020). The overall grant objective is to increase access to quality education for Somali children; enhance the quality of primary education; and improve the capacity of the MOECHE at Federal/Member States to regulate and manage the education sector. The grant is being implemented by the Federal Government of Somalia Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education (MoECHE) in collaboration with the Federal Member States’ Ministries of Education with CARE as the Grant Agent.
The ESPIG program will deliver a tailored in-service teacher training program in partnership with institutions of higher learning and other training providers in the FMS regions. The design of the in-service training is informed by the need to strengthen the pedagogical skills and subject knowledge of teachers so that eventually the quality of education is enhanced to ensure the dreams of students are realized.
CARE is responsible for the development and approval of the training materials which should be aligned with the new curriculum and textbooks as well as the recommendations and the strategic steps suggested in the ESSP 2018-2020. CARE has undertaken consultancy to review and harmonize the existing curriculums to match the approved National Curriculum and developed training modules for each subject area required for the fulfillment of the completion and award of a Diploma in Primary Teacher Training. **
When the materials are approved by MoECHE, the approved institutions of higher learning in the FMS’ regions will provide teacher training courses after the passing of rigorous assessments by MoECHE regarding their capacity to conduct effective teacher training in their regions.
It is on this backdrop, that MoECHE is willing to engage qualified consultants/firms to digitalize and upload the developed teacher training modules into the procured tablets in order to ensure learning continues in hard-t- reach areas, as well as densely populated IDPs camps that are on transition and teachers, might not have opportunities to access free formal face-to-face classes.
III. Description of the assignment
The objective of the consultancy is to digitalize and upload the developed teacher training course content or materials (syllabuses and the training modules or subject contents) into the web platform and on offline options on the tablets. This will include video preparation, recording, editing, and uploading of finalized in-service teacher training course resource materials that are aligned to the national curriculum. The consultant must ensure that the materials are user-friendly through the incorporation of audio, video, animations, and simulations). The specific objective of the consultancy is;
a) Design and produce multimedia content.
b) Pretest digital content with a group of learners, with government officials and another stakeholder
c) Deploy the approved content and digitized material for the in-service teachers training that will be foundational to the improvement of the quality of education in Somalia.
IV. Activity
The work is expected to first review and then digitize the content/materials for uploading onto web platform and offline option on the tablets. The teacher training materials “herein” refer to the syllabus and subject content of the primary curriculum. This includes video preparation, recording, editing, and uploading materials that align with the National Curriculum. The main objectives of the consultancy are as follows:
- Review the course materials for the in-service teacher training and shape it to accommodate the online delivery as well as on offline option the tablets of teacher training.
- Revision and development of materials/content for an in-service teachers training program which includes but is not limited to:
a) Development of materials/content for the in-service teaching course (12) subjects consisting of 18 modules each for each year1 and year 2).
No
Subject
Modules
- Science
Science Year I
Science Year II
- Social Studies
Social Studies Year 1
Social Studies Year II
- Somali Language
Somali Language Year1
Somali LanguageYear11
- Arabic language
Arabic language Year 1
Arabic language Year II
- Physical educations
Physical education Year I
Physical education Year II
- Islamic studies
Islamic Studies Year I
Islamic Studies Year II
- Mathematics
Mathematics Year I )
Mathematics Year II )
- Education Foundations
Education Foundations Year I
- Education Administration
Education Administration Year I
- Measurement and Evaluation
Measurement and Evaluation Year I
- Psychology
Psychology Year I
- Education Pedagogy
Education Pedagogy Year I
- ICT
ICT Year II
b) Customizing the training to digital content.
- Conduct harmonization of approach workshops for all subject tutors so as to train them on online delivery of the courses.
Deliverables
The key deliverables in this consultancy are:
a) Digitalized content/materials and uploads onto a web platform. This includes video preparation, recording, editing, and uploading in-service teacher training materials.
b) Reviewed, harmonized, and user-friendly in-service teacher training materials. Finalized and approved training materials for Year one and Year Two1 – (12 subjects of total 18 modules plus 5 education modules). All materials are in the Somali language except for the English language which is in English, and Tarbiyyah and Arabic that are in Arabic languages.
c) Conduct validation workshops involving CARE, MoECHE and FMS MoEs.
d) Final report that details the process, exercise, challenges, and recommendation.
VI. Key Qualifications
Interested companies must submit the following.
- Company’s registration and legal documents i.e. valid Ministry of Commerce registration.
- Updated company profile with your company contacts details and physical address and all pertinent information,
- Proof of tax clearance.
- Adequacy and quality of the proposed methodology, and work plan that is responsive to the Terms of Reference (ToR).
- Key experts’ qualifications and competence for the assignment (CVs of key experts required):
- Proficiency in English, Arabic, and Somali languages
- Demonstrated experience in digitalization work especially as it relates to Education.
- Demonstrated experience in instructional Design
- Good with blogs, social media platforms and productivity tools.
- Eye for visual design and familiarity with user-centered design.
- Thorough knowledge about digital safety.
- Qualification in pedagogy or experience in teaching/training.
- Previous Similar experience of the consultancy firm (as a firm) relevant to the assignment with other international NGOs. (Attach previous contracts)
- Financial proposal.
VII. Core Values & Critical Key Competencies
- Ability to think critically and strategically in difficult conditions
- Commitment to ensuring knowledge transfer and capacity building is central in the work.
- Excellent interpersonal communication, relationship building, and networking skills.
- Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines in stressful conditions;
VII. How to apply
All interested consultants should send their updated profile, Technical/Financial Proposal that shows the expected all-inclusive consultancy fee, Demonstration of sound technical understanding of the scope of work and with a minimum of three professional referees to procurement@moe.gov.so by 16:00 hrs Mogadishu time on December 17, 2021 indicating Consultancy firm for digitalization of teacher education materials as subject line as subject line. Late applications will not be considered.
How to apply
All interested consultants should send their updated profile, Technical/Financial Proposal that shows the expected all-inclusive consultancy fee, Demonstration of sound technical understanding of the scope of work and with a minimum of three professional referees to procurement@moe.gov.so by 16:00 hrs Mogadishu time on December 17, 2021