Primary Teacher/ Teacher Adviser Rwanda

FTE: 1

Country: Rwanda
Application closing date:  Flexible
Start date: April 2021 (if the situation allows it)
Duration: 12-24 Months
 
Thousands of teachers around the world do not get the necessary training and support, and as a consequence pupils do not reach their full potential. VSO is working to change this.

This program improves children’s foundational English and Mathematic skills across all government schools in one district and is part of the ‘Building Learning Foundations’ program. This program focuses on establishing solid foundations at the lower primary level in all of Rwanda’s state-funded primary schools. Improvements in learner outcomes in the lower primary grades are intended to improve children’s learning achievement in higher grades and so increase equitable access to primary and secondary education for girls and boys across the country.

As a VSO volunteer, you will immerse yourself in a new culture, face fresh challenges and develop your expertise, and often also management skills while doing something truly fulfilling. The local office or partner’s need will decide your exact job description.

Role overview
The overall purpose of the job is to train and mentor English and Mathematics teachers and VSO National Volunteers to improve children’s English literacy and numeracy skills.

Responsibilities:

• Plan and facilitate frequent fact-based Review and Capacity-Development Meetings with the district team of national volunteers.
• Undertake school visits alongside national volunteers demonstrating effective mentoring activities for primary teachers of English and Mathematics
• Support national volunteers to implement their own professional development activities for teachers.
• Lead the national volunteers in preparing and implementing high-quality training workshops for primary teachers of English and Mathematics and high-quality school visits.
• Participate in various meetings for headteachers and district and sub-district education officials and advise on teachers’ professional development, monitoring, and evaluation.
• Develop and communicate ‘success stories’ and produce regular and reflective individual and district volunteer team reports incorporating both quantitative and qualitative information.
• Lead and support SLFs planning their work including how to reach out to all schools to implement Building and Learning Foundation (BLF) activities without compromising the quality.
• Significantly contribute to the reporting system In place( weekly review meeting reports and DEM-DTA report monthly).

The ideal applicant will have:

• A primary education degree or Post-Graduate Certificate of Education
• At least 4 years’ experience of effective teaching of foundational English and Mathematics and understanding of learner-centered teaching
• Fluent English speaker with good written skills
• Able to produce accurate, reflective reports with reference to qualitative/quantitative data
• Key qualities for team-leadership, dedication, and resilience Learner-centred teaching involves differentiated and interactive teaching and learning to meet the diverse needs of children
• Implementation of Individual Education Plans for children with special educational needs incl. collaboration and communication with parents, school leaders, and other teachers
• Effective and creative use of teaching and learning materials
• Positive behavior management techniques and approaches which mitigate against gender stereotyping
• Able to motivate and inspire a team of national volunteers through demonstrating professionalism and enthusiasm
• The resilience to persevere with traveling as a motorbike passenger on hilly and rough paths to reach remote schools
• Networking with other Teaching Advisors to share experiences and learning.

Besides these skills, you need to be open-minded, respectful, resilient, and adaptive to new situations. It is important that you can facilitate positive change, build sustainable working relationships, and are willing to seek and share knowledge.

For further information about this job, download here the detailed job description..

Terms & conditions
The experience of a placement is a one-of-a-life-time experience and will benefit you in multiple ways. You will have the chance to learn to work with people from different cultural backgrounds. There is often the opportunity to develop your teamwork-, leadership- and management skills. This can be helpful for career opportunities after your placement.
VSO will cover and support you in all preparations: training, visa, work permit, registration in-country, flights, vaccinations, anti-malarial treatment, PEP treatment, medical and security clearance. In-country VSO will provide induction and support in placement, arrange secure accommodation (often shared with another VSO professional), full medical insurance (including repatriation cover), medical indemnity insurance, work-related travel costs, and a living allowance which will enable you to live a basic but healthy lifestyle, but which is not sufficient to cover ongoing commitments at home. 

Note that this position involves working across several districts of the country.  To travel to districts you would usually travel on local buses.  Travel within districts will usually be as a passenger on motorbike taxis.

What we do at VSO
Our programs focus on the areas of health, education, and livelihoods, with an increasing emphasis on resilience building, social accountability, gender, and social inclusion. We believe progress is only possible when we work together and that strong partnerships are crucial to delivering positive change. That’s why we work with over 500 partner organizations, from local and national governments to businesses, NGOs, funders, charities and community groups. Currently, over 30% of our people are recruited from within the country in which they work, and we continue to grow the share of community and national volunteers involved in our programs. We also send increasing numbers of volunteers from one developing country to another. However, our vision has remained the same; to build a world without poverty.

Coronavirus/COVID19
The world currently faces challenges on a scale not seen in a century. As a global organization, efforts to control COVID-19 will certainly result in changes to VSO’s activities and operations in the coming months. At this moment we are not sending international professional volunteers abroad. We have dedicated teams monitoring the situation, working across locations, programmes and projects to ensure we respond appropriately and responsibly – and that no one is left behind. We’ll continue to recruit professional volunteers and maintain a talent pool, to be prepared to work with them in the face of this uncertainty to plan for the future and build a fair world for everyone. 

Over deze werkgever
VSO is een internationale ontwikkelingsorganisatie die door duurzame kennisuitwisseling werkt aan een rechtvaardiger wereld zonder armoede. Op aanvraag van lokale organisaties in Afrika en Azië zenden wij vakdeskundigen uit die hun kennis en ervaring daar delen. Lokale organisaties kunnen daardoor hun werk effectiever doen. VSO heeft per jaar 200 onderwijsvacatures dus bezoek de VSO website en kijk hoe een onderwijsfunctie in een ontwikkelingsland er voor jou uit kan zien.