CURRICULUM DESIGNER - LITERACY & NUMERACY

THE PROJECT

Within the Education program, Amel Association International launched two Mobile Education Units (MEUs) in 2017-2018. The MEUs are operating inside the informal tented settlements in South Lebanon (Khiam) and in West Bekaa (Kamed el Loz) and offer quality education opportunities to the most vulnerable children, youths and adults.

The MEUs’ projects aim at improving the access to education for offering better future perspectives to aged-school children. To achieve this goal, the Amel’s teams follow a global approach, including all community members in their projects, especially the children’s caregivers. Thanks to its field experience, Amel assessed a great need for Literacy and Numeracy classes for adults in the informal tented settlements where the MEUs are operating. With the development of a tailor-made curriculum and the classes performed by qualified trainers, Amel provides the basic skills of literacy and numeracy to the children’s caregivers. The overall objective of the projects’ component is to change the whole community’s perception of education. With the provision of basic skills, the caregivers have more tools to support their own children in their learning journey. 

The curriculum was created in 2021 and delivered in both MEUs until the first semester of 2022 with 150 adults. The curriculum was designed in two cycles, both to be conducted in 200 hours.

ASSIGNMENT

The consultant will be responsible for developing the content of the Literacy and Numeracy classes for adults. The consultant will be in charge of redesigning the curriculum following a needs assessment, based on lessons learned, in close coordination with the Amel’s team on the field and on the management level. To ensure that Amel implements the curriculum with the best teaching practices, the consultant will conduct Training of Trainers (ToT) with follow-up sessions.

TASKS

1- Conducting a need assessment

• Holding several meetings with the Amel’s coordination team to deeply understand the background of the project, the goal of the Adults BLN curriculum and its links with other activities in the project like the social cohesion component;
• Designing a protocol to conduct a need assessment with the Amel’s field teams including one to one interviews, field visits, team meetings, focus group discussions and questionnaires (to assess the parents’ needs according to their accurate academic level, identifying relevant teaching methods, defining priorities for learning objectives, collecting relevant topics to be addressed, the setting and the number of hours allocated to finish the curriculum, etc.);
• Collecting the data qualitatively and analyzing it qualitatively to identify the gaps and areas of improvement;
• Finalizing the protocol with the Amel’s coordinators;
• Conducting focus group discussions, field visits and classroom observations to conclude a thorough assessment of the current curriculum (objectives, activities, methodology, teaching methods,  ..);
• Meeting with the Adults BLN trainers to get their feedback on the current curriculum in terms of implementation;
• Meeting with the Adults BLN trainers to get their feedback on the current curriculum in terms of learning objectives, methodology and activities and editing the action plan accordingly
• Assessing the parents’ interests in different subjects (including psychosocial and recreational interests);
• Assessing the parents’ life skills (including those related to social cohesion, conflict resolution and mediation);
• Collecting the Amel’s teams’ feedback and editing the learning objectives accordingly;
• Sharing the results of the assessments and requiring additional information if needed to start the development of the curriculum (assessment tools and the content of student’s book and teacher’s guide).

2- Redesigning the curriculum for intensive cycles of Literacy & Numeracy

• Reassessing and re-identifying the pedagogical objectives based on the needs assessment;

• Developing the content material for the two cycles to include the PSS and recreational component, along with exploring ways in which life skills are also integrated;
• Validating the content development process with the Amel’s team on a regular basis;
• Developing the content material for two cycles (currently based on 400 hours of delivery);
• Finalizing the content with the Amel’s team with several trials in the field;
• Designing pre and post-tests and/or diagnostic tests to accompany the curriculum.

3- Training of Trainers

• Designing the ToT’s materials and discussing them with the Amel’s team;
• Conducting the ToT on several days with 5 to 10 team members;
• Sharing the main conclusion of the ToT with the Amel’s team and submitting a report;
• Remaining available for follow-up on the content.

Reporting:

- Identifying the milestones and writing a report each time a milestone is achieved;

- Writing a final report that includes:

• The methodology adopted;
• The final outcomes in addition to the faced challenges.