Ensuring Teachers Readiness for Inclusive Education

İşin təsviri

The project is financed by the European Union

TERMS OF REFERENCE

For National Consultant to undertake a legislative and policy review of documents relating to Inclusive Education in Azerbaijan

EuropeAid/155206/DD/ACT/AZ

“Ensuring Teachers Readiness for Inclusive Education” Project implemented by Regional Development Public Union (RDPU)

Background:

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989), the World Declaration on Education for All (1990), the United Nations Standard Rules on Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (1993), the Salamanca Declaration and Framework for Action (1994) and The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities (CRPD, 2006) all embody measures testifying to the growing awareness and understanding of the right of persons with disabilities to inclusive education.

Inclusive education is to be understood as "the result of a process of continuing and pro-active commitment to eliminate barriers impeding the right to education, together with changes to culture, policy and practice of regular schools to accommodate and effectively include all students"(UNCRPD, GC4, 2016).  Inclusive education is also defined as "a process of addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, cultures and communities, and reducing exclusion within and from education. It involves changes and modifications in content, approaches, structures and strategies, with a common vision which covers all children of the appropriate age range and a conviction that it is the responsibility of the state to educate all children"(UNICEF, 2011).

Azerbaijan is taking steps to establish a system of Inclusive Education to ensure equitable access to quality education for children with disabilities.

Purpose:

In order to strengthen an enabling environment in Azerbaijan, for the provision of inclusive education services with the focus on children with disabilities, and to address weak legislation and policy in the area of inclusive education, RDPU has agreed to support revision and improvement of existing policies and legislative frameworks in order to increase the equitable access of children with disabilities to mainstream education. As an initial step, RDPU in collaboration with the MoE, intends to facilitate a comprehensive policy review in inclusive education, which is the main purpose of the consultancy. Knowledge generated from the consultancy, will be utilized by relevant Ministries to draft future policies.

To ensure the high quality of this, two consultancies will be involved in Policy Review: An international consultant and a national consultant.

Objectives:

The objective of the policy review is to analyse existing legislative and policy documents, programs and conceptual frameworks with the focus on principles of inclusive education and General Comment No.4 (2016) to the CRPD Article 24 on Right to Inclusive Education.  The review will determine strengths and weaknesses, identify gaps, provide recommendations for further revision of the policy and inform strategic development for the introduction of inclusive education into the mainstream education system.

Tasks

National consultant will perform following tasks in collaboration with an international consultant:

• Search for all relevant documents related to the review, which pertain to children with disabilities including: data and statistics on all children with disabilities through to higher and vocational education,  early intervention, early childhood education, basic education from Grade 1 through to high school; transition to Higher Education and Vocational Training, quality education including: financing, curriculum, assessment, teacher training both pre and in service, teacher pedagogy and child-centred education, identification and assessment of children, placement of children, alternative services and settings, accessibility of buildings and environment, provision of assistance and assistive devices  This search will need to encompass cross sector government ministries including Health, Social Welfare and Education – early childhood, basic education, higher education, vocational education.
• Ensure that key aspects of all documents are summarized and translated.
• Support the review by mapping aspects of each document against the theoretical mapping framework to be prepared by international consultant.
• Conduct interviews with the representatives of relevant Ministries.
• Work closely with the international consultant with regular discussions and updates to map, analyze and identify issues – strengths, weaknesses and gaps; support the drafting of key recommendations and points for action.
• Support the preparation of the mapping report.

Timeline

It is expected that consultancy will start in January 2019 and be completed by the end of May 2019.

Required qualifications

• Advanced university degree (Maters or PhD) in Law.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in legal and policy research in the areas of education, social welfare, healthcare.
• Good analytical and report writing skills;
• Excellent networking and interpersonal skills;
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills in English;

Reporting requirements

The Consultant shall report to Project Director. The reports must be written in English. The Project Director is responsible for approving the reports.

Application procedure

Interested candidates should submit the following:

1. A detailed CV with a cover letter.
2. A financial offer, with a daily rate in EUR.

Application deadline is 28 December 2018.

Interested candidates are requested to submit their resumes to [email protected]. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview.

Regional Inkişaf İctimai Birliyi tərəfindən digər vakansiyalar

• National Advocacy Consultant
• Translator
• Needs assessment consultant
• Inclusive Education Specialist