Senior Education Adviser

About the Role 

Punjab has one of the largest and most challenging government run school systems anywhere in the world, with some 52,000 schools, 350,000 teachers and almost 11 million students. At the time of devolution in 2010, the sector had around 2 million children out of school, high teacher absenteeism, basic facilities were lacking in many schools, performance data were not being collected on time, nor used at any meaningful way, and management across the system was weak. Education outcomes were poor and assessments seen as largely unreliable. It was in this context that the UK Department for International Development (DFID) initiated the Second Punjab Education Sector Programme (PESP2), a £400 million intervention to improve education outcomes in Punjab, which began in June 2014. PESP 2 is implemented by a number of partners, including the Government of Punjab through the School Education Department and its agencies, particularly the Punjab Education Foundation, as well as two technical assistance teams, one focused on school infrastructure, and the other: Technical Assistance Management Organisation (TAMO), implemented by Adam Smith International and providing support to the government and other partners to help deliver the broader programme.

Over the past two years the TAMO has worked closely with the Punjab Government and DFID to deliver significant results including the transformation of all primary school learning materials, the successful execution of literacy and numeracy assessments, reform of the PEC exam, expansion of school leadership capacity and improving communication on reform. While much has been achieved, a considerable amount remains to be done. There is now an opportunity to build on what has been achieved and to adjust the implementation approach for the final two and a half years of the programme. As part of this, we wish to appoint a Senior Education Adviser to work in close partnership with the TAMO Team Leader to provide technical direction and oversight.

The key responsibilities of the position are:

• Providing thought leadership on the Punjab education sector strategy and, together with the Team Leader, setting the strategic direction for the TAMO team
• Together with the Team Leader, providing strategic counselling and thought partnership, including constructive challenge, to Government of Punjab, particularly to the Punjab Schools Education Department (SED) and affiliated departments
• Supporting team members in the effective implementation of technical workstreams, providing regular guidance to team members and quality assuring all technical outputs requiring educational expertise
• Ensuring world class design of programme interventions drawing on international best practice and, together with the Team Leader, overseeing the development of appropriate work plans
• Supporting the TAMO team, GoPb and DFID to prioritise resources for maximum impact (more children in school, staying longer, learning more)
• Identifying requirements for additional specialist resources to ensure high quality technical outputs and providing quality assurance for the recruitment of specialists
• Quality assuring the technical content of programme reporting

What We Offer You

We offer you the opportunity to work as part of the Leadership Team on the UK’s largest education programme globally. We’ve built a culture to reflect our principles, full of likeminded professionals who are smart, passionate and great at what they do. We offer a highly competitive salary and excellent benefits. 

Closing date: 2nd January 2017

Required Skills

About you

We are looking for a senior adviser with the ability to build effective relationships with clients from a wide range of professional and cultural backgrounds and to work effectively in a politically sensitive and challenging environment. He/she should relish managing teams, should be innovative, energetic, positive, and genuinely committed to achieving lasting change in their work. Adam Smith International seeks the following skills and experience:

• Proven technical expertise in multiple areas of education reform, including teaching and learning, assessments, governance, teacher training and management and curriculum development.

Required Experience

• 15+ years’ experience in education sector development.
• Experience managing teams for successful reform implementation in a complex delivery environment.