INCLUSION EXPERT

S2R2 Short term technical assistance ToR

Title: Inclusion EXPERT

Working with

Head of DOPS

Reports to

TA Team Leader

Contribution to Output:

Workstream 1

Scope and description of the Task

In recent years, Lebanon has become the country with the highest refugee per capita in the world. Officially, there are more than 1.5 million registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon, a third of which are school going aged children. In 2013, the Government of Lebanon opened a second-shift in its public education system to cater for the enormous numbers of refugee students. In 2017/2018, non-Lebanese students outnumbered Lebanese students in the public education system. The responsibility for educating all these students resides with the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) who, alongside external donors, launched the Reaching All Children with Education II (RACE II) programme in 2016.

The World Bank (WB) and Government of Lebanon (Gold), especially the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE), designed Support to RACE II (S2R2) to deliver on significant parts of RACE II as the strategy relates to the formal education sector. S2R2 is designed to complement other work developed to support RACE II, such as activities planned and implemented with UNICEF, UNHCR and UNESCO.

DFID Lebanon’s contribution to the education sector includes support to the multi-donor trust fund as well as the provision of a technical assistance team to MEHE. In March 2018, a three-year technical assistance project was awarded to Oxford Policy Management, which will expand an existing TA facility to serve additional MEHE priority areas to achieve the objectives of RACE II through MEHE’s Support to RACE II (S2R2) programme. The TA team will support the GoL to deliver the immediate objectives of the S2R2 programme while building the capacity, systems and processes which will underpin a medium-term sector development strategy.

Level of effort

1. Objectives and deliverables

BACKGROUND:

The assignment will provide support to MEHE’s Direction d'Orientation Pédagogique et Scolaire (DOPS) department to further support its work in special education needs in a Lebanese context. This work has been ongoing for a number of years and DOPS has a dedicated Special Education unit consisting of a central team, a team of paraprofessionals visiting the schools, a team of special educators allocated in the schools, and DOPS focal points performing coaching. This unit runs the implementation of the UNICEF-funded inclusive schools programme in 30 Lebanese public schools.

Lessons are being compiled and analysed from an existing Inclusive Education Pilot Project in 30 schools with the support of UNICEF. These lessons will provide valuable input into any extension or expansion as well as guiding an overall approach to the development of inclusive practices across Lebanon.

There is also ongoing work in DOPS ready to re-commence on complex and combined special needs provision across Lebanon. The consultant will oversee how DOPS develops a comprehensive framework to deliver suitable educational services to children with severe special needs. This will include recommendations on how mainstream schools are able to accommodate children with complex and combined special needs, possibly in a regional hub model. This is a senior leadership role within the DOPS department that will be leading on inclusion work.

The specific tasks under this role include providing technical assistance for DOPS to:

• Consult with relevant stakeholders across the education sector
• Assess the attributes (or determinants) of success and  analyze the  challenges which have previously been identified in the pilot project  to enhance scalability
• Support DOPS on extension/expansion decisions on the inclusive schools pilot, including:
  • Planning actions for a successful scaling-up
  • Providing guidance on the scaling-up strategy and identify the steps to be followed
  • Prepare documentation on the scale up methodology, process, challenges, and achievements
• Lead and manage existing or new inclusive education programmes within DOPS
• Visit schools for needs assessment and monitoring of project implementation as well as gathering feedback from the field.
• Recruit the additional paraprofessional team and special educators to support in the new inclusive schools.
• Plan and implement capacity building trainings of the new and already existing paraprofessionals, special educators, and DOPS focal points
• Provide other technical support as needed
• Develop a data management system to facilitate information availability
• Support DOPS on making decisions on how to accommodate complex SEN
• Develop a comprehensive framework and guideline for the mainstream schools to initiate, maintain and improve inclusive education services. The proposed guideline should include but not limited to:
  • Schools’ learning environments.
  • Capacity building plans for teachers and schools’ personnel.
  • Curriculum and teaching reform
  • Parental engagement
• Bring in lessons from other experiences, either within Lebanon or from other comparable contexts.
• Draw on DOPS staff’s previous experiences including lessons learnt from study tours in the UK, USA and Portugal) and ensure they are aligned with future direction of travel. Support the development of an inclusive education policy

TEAM REQUIREMENTS:

The expectation is that this TOR will be filled by a single consultant with complementary skillsets working collaboratively across the days outlined below.

DELIVERABLES AND TIME FRAME:

Deliverables

Days

1

Provide a comprehensive framework and guidelines for initiating, improving, and maintaining inclusive education services in all schools in Lebanon (public and private).

20 

2

Oversee and comment upon the progress of the Inclusive School project, including challenges and achievements

12 

3

Provide technical guidance based on research about best inclusion practices to the DOPS department and counsellors.

15 

4

Deliver the first draft of MEHE’s Inclusive Education policy after discussions with other senior members of MEHE (including DG and heads of departments), including: recommendations, draft text and assessment of the legislation/decree changes necessary to enact such measures

20 

5

Develop inclusion sub-sector planning on an annual basis, plus longer-term strategy

25 

7

Provide Tools (i.e. templates, platforms) for needs assessment, monitoring and evaluation of inclusive services.

20 

Total Days

112 

1. PROFILE AND SKILLS

• Advanced university degree in education, special education, teaching, or equivalent experience.
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in inclusive education or special education needs.
• Understanding of the systemic requirements necessary to establish a national inclusion strategy
• Demonstrable experience/understanding of the Lebanese special education, ideally in both public and private schools
• Experience drafting large-scale special education policy/plans
• Demonstrates experience in supporting governments, schools and local programs on inclusive education.
• Fluency in Arabic, English and French.

1. Approach and skills transfer plan

1. WORKING RELATIONSHIP: The consultant will work in close coordination with the MEHE counterparts and build on work that has already started within DOPS. The Team Leader OPM-TA is responsible for day to day management of the consultant and will oversee their deliverables.
2. STATION: The consultant will work from MEHE headquarters and with close collaboration with the Director of DOPS.