[Offre en Anglais] The British Council recuits: Senior Academic Manager: “Teaching for Success, Tunisia” عودة إلى الفرص

Role Title

Role Information

Business Operations

(subject to continued funding)

Role purpose

The postholder will play a key role in reviewing, shaping and implementing project strategy and will work closely with a range of stakeholders including funding partners, Tunisian Ministry of Education partners, consultants, beneficiaires and other stakeholders.

The job aim is to make a significant contribution to the success of the project by managing the training, CPD & technical assistance activity, and ensuring & overseeing the robust monitoring & evaluation of the project.

About Us

We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body.

Geopolitical/SBU/Function overview:

The British Council, meanwhile, has a good reputation in Tunisia and works in the English and Examinations, Education, Arts, and Society sectors, with this latter an increasing priority and often offering client-funded opportunities.

The project

Tunisia has both high levels of youth unemployment and large numbers of unfilled vacancies. This indicates a skills gap, and surveys of employers confirm this.

Teaching for Success, Tunisia is envisaged as a 3-year programme that aims to tackle this skills gap and thus, ultimately, contribute to facilitating a more successful transition from education to employment for young Tunisians. It will do this through a focus on the areas of:

1) English,

2) core skills, and

3) teaching methodology.

The project will intervene at both practitioner (teacher) and institutional (MOE) levels to deliver three outcomes:

1) stronger teaching & learning of English and core skills,

2) reduced gender and regional disparities in education, and

3) increased institutional capacity of the Ministry of Education.

The project is based on the hypothesis that:

1)     better teaching & learning ® greater employability

2)     greater employability ® greater prosperity

3)     greater prosperity ® greater stability & security

This hypothesis aligns the project to FCO objectives, and the FCO has recently agreed to fund the project, initially for a first phase. The outcomes of this first phase will be a factor in determining continuing FCO funding for subsequent phases.

Main opportunities/challenges for this role:

• The post offers the opportunity to play a lead role in the largest project of its type in post-revolution Tunisia, drawing on – and further developing – the successful candidate’s experience in English/education, teacher & trainer training and CPD, and monitoring and evaluation.
• One of the main challenges of the role will be managing the expections and engagement of a diverse range of stakeholders including Ministry officials, UK funding partner (FCO), project beneficiaries and wider communities of interest.

Main Accountabilities:

1)     project activities are designed and delivered on time and to budget

2)     quality assurance measures are in place and agreed standards are met

3)     robust and effective monitoring and evaluation is in place and reported

The responsibilities and duties that will facilitate this include:

Sector/subject expertise

▪       Actively builds professional networks and information channels that maintain an excellent understanding of relevant developments, stakeholders and opinion formers in the education/English sector (in both Tunisia and internationally), to support the creation of high quality project content and deliverables

Product, programme & service development

▪       Leads in the development and presentation of project deliverables, to ensure these are soundly based on good practice and gain approval

▪       Oversees and, as necessary, advises on the implementation of approved project content to ensure it is efficiently and effectively delivered

▪      Supervises and controls team activities to meet (daily/weekly/monthly) agreed product delivery and performance targets, schedules and deadlines

▪      Prioritises work and resolves day-to-day operating resource issues to ensure high quality, consistent and efficient services are delivered

▪      Makes recommendations on procedural improvements, resource requirements and other operational initiatives to drive enhanced performance, cost effectiveness, service quality and efficiency

▪      Undertakes regular quality checks and reviews, following agreed corporate or relevant external protocols, to monitor the quality, consistency and effectiveness of delivery. Reports on findings and recommends appropriate remedial actions as required.

Relationship & stakeholder management

▪       Proactively identifies and cultivates potential/actual partners for product or programme development and delivery

▪       Ensures the provision, collation and analysis of customer and stakeholder feedback on all relevant interventions so their quality and effectiveness can be assessed and, where necessary, enhanced (now and in the future)

▪       Monitors and reports on the team’s achievement of agreed performance targets.

▪       Ensures that customer/partner feedback is regularly gathered, analysed and acted upon to drive continuous improvements.

Analysis & reporting

▪     Conducts analysis using a range of standard methodologies and across multiple data-sets to provide high quality and evidence-based recommendations on procedural improvements and/or highlight resource requirements needed to enhance operational performance

▪     Presents complex information clearly, using an appropriate combination of written, graphical and financial data/analysis, to enable evidence-based operational decision-making and planning.

Commercial & resource management

▪       Using agreed corporate systems and processes, plans and manages the budgets, and conducts monthly, quarterly and year-end reporting on income and expenditure.

Leadership & management

▪       Plans and prioritises own work activities, and those of a wider project team/teams (many of which exist outside the direct management line), to ensure effective delivery of diverse responsibilities and programme deliverables over a monthly to quarterly time horizon

▪       May be formal line manager to a small, local team of staff

▪       Shares intelligence and ideas to support senior managers in identifying/developing ways in which English and education could make the most effective impact on the British Council’s cultural relations and commercial strategies

▪       Ensures that all British Council policies and standards are adhered to at all times, including but not limited to EDI, Child Protection, Information Management and Financial standards.

Key Relationships:

Ministry of Education stakeholders including officers and officials, inspectors, teachers and teacher trainers

British Embassy programme team members (funding partner)

Donors and development partners working in education in Tunisia

Experts, consultants, suppliers etc

Internal

Project team

British Council Tunisia team (in particular Education, Schools & EES teams)

Regional and global EES and E&S colleagues

Role Requirements:

Experience of managing a range of stakeholders

English/education specialist sector knowledge

Knowledge and experience of M&E

Shortlisting AND Interview

Leads smaller projects – Experience of analyzing requirements with the sponsor/stakeholders, defining the specification, planning, revising, implementing and evaluating on small-to-medium scale and/or low risk projects.

Communicating & Influencing (Level 3)

Is creative and adaptable in communications – Able to use a range of non-standard and creative approaches to inform, and/or persuade others, extending beyond logical argument to influence decisions and actions.

Managing risk (Level 3)

Develops the culture – Has track record of analysing potential risks, promoting risk awareness, and holding others to account for their practices

Connecting with Others (MORE DEMANDING): showing a drive to understand and build connections with people beyond immediate need or task.

Working Together (MORE DEMANDING): creating the environment in which people who have different aims can work together.

Being Accountable (MORE DEMANDING): Aligning oneself and others to the mission and needs of the organisation.

Team Leader, Teaching for Success,Tunisia