Re advertised: Consultant for providing technical support to Tinkering with Tech initiative

Re advertised: Consultant for providing technical support to Tinkering with Tech initiative Job no: Contract type: Consultant Duty Station: Podgorica, Montenegro Level: Consultancy Categories: Education UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. In close cooperation with partner institutions and international organisations, UNICEF has supported systemic reforms of the education system in Montenegro, including a comprehensive Education Reform Strategy and an Education Digitalisation Strategy. A flagship initiative in this field is the Tinkering with Tech (TwT) programme, designed to develop 21st‑century skills and spark interest in STEM through playful interaction with micro:bit devices. Project Overview The TwT pilot (June–December 2024) was successfully implemented in 12 primary schools, 23 teachers and 549 fifth‑grade students, and was recognised by the Learning Innovation Hub as exemplary. The project will now scale to additional schools, teachers and students during the 2025/26 school year, ensuring integration with the national Education Digitalisation Strategy. Key Responsibilities Support the Bureau for Education in developing a practical and transparent process for selecting additional schools in all three regions of Montenegro; support readiness checks and brief schools on expectations, timelines, and support channels. Support coordination among partner institutions and organisations (UNICEF–BES–Learning Innovation Hub–Micro Bit Foundation–schools). Maintain regular communication with the Learning Innovation Hub and provide ongoing support to the UNICEF Country Office team and the Bureau for Education. Support the Bureau for Education in ensuring pedagogical alignment and quality; coordinate translation/localisation and deliver bilingual (MNE/ENG) files ready for print and digital. Prepare reference briefs for schools on design thinking, micro:bit integration, and safe/ethical use of technology/AI. Co‑plan and facilitate a preparatory meeting with representatives of participating schools; capture decisions and next steps in joint notes. Support organisation of the National Tinkering with Tech Launch, including the participant roster, invitations, agenda, speaker briefs, and run‑of‑show; develop and deliver relevant project presentations. Support school leadership teams in all selected schools to embed the TwT initiative into school year annual planning and Continuous Professional Development plans. Co‑design and co‑deliver a practical teacher training (3‑day trainings for two groups of teachers), along with international and BES trainers; support development of training materials, hands‑on activities, and evidence of learning for accreditation. Prepare a set of accreditation files for the training certification at the national level. Plan, set up and administer an online Community of Practice with BES focal points through structured channels, resource library, peer demo lessons, regular Q&A/office hours; facilitate regular online meetings and maintain other means of synchronous and asynchronous communication, with regular detailed reports for BES, UNICEF and the Learning Innovation Hub. Provide ongoing support to teachers by organising and facilitating joint in‑person meetings at the BES premises. Plan and conduct scheduled joint school support visits with the BES focal point for all participating schools (at least 22 schools), including meetings with school principals, classroom observations, and teacher coaching sessions. Develop and use shared classroom activities observation and teacher coaching tool and provide feedback summaries to teachers and principals. Provide technical and methodological support to teachers in 22 schools (expected number of teachers: 66) through various online and offline channels to introduce design thinking and basic programming concepts, and to promote effective classroom use of micro:bit devices. Administer and configure the UNICEF Montenegro instance of the Learning Passport Platform for the TwT initiative; administer and adopt the platform to host TwT content; convert and upload core materials to the Learning Passport; administer basic course settings, enrolment and certificates; share monthly usage snapshots with BES and UNICEF. Maintain a shared monitoring & learning dashboard (training completion, Community of Practice engagement, visit notes) and regularly propose improvements. Support the research component (contextualise survey instruments, coordinate with schools, schedule data collection, assist the research agency on logistics/quality, review the draft assessment), ensuring consent and data‑protection standards. Co‑organise the Final Event/Grand Challenge with BES; develop a detailed event programme, agenda, participant roster, and invitations, and provide guidance and support to schools in preparing student project presentations that showcase their results. Design and prepare certificate templates for teachers, students and schools, a post‑event report for BES and UNICEF, and a promotional package for the BES social media channels. Project Duration 1 December 2025 – 30 June 2026 (105 working days, seven‑month implementation period). Qualifications University degree in social sciences (advanced university degree considered an advantage). Certified teacher trainer. Experience Minimum of 15 years of relevant professional work experience in the education sector. In‑depth knowledge of the Montenegrin education system. Proven experience in teaching, classroom observation and mentoring in primary or secondary schools. Experience in coordinating multi‑stakeholder projects and maintaining effective communication among education partners and institutions. Experience in administration and moderation of the Learning Passport Platform or similar online learning systems. Expertise in providing methodological and technical support to teachers, particularly in the areas of digital learning, coding and micro:bit‑based classroom practice. Proven experience in establishing or moderating online teacher communities of practice. Experience in designing, facilitating and evaluating teacher training and professional learning activities. Experience in educational or social research, including the development, piloting and contextualisation of research instruments, and coordinating field data collection in school settings. Excellent organisational and facilitation skills required. Excellent knowledge of English and Montenegrin, including writing and presentation skills. Previous work experience with UN/UNICEF or other international organisations considered an advantage. Language Fluency in Montenegrin and English required. Other Requirements Excellent writing and presentation skills, strong strategic and analytical skills. Ability to work with different stakeholders. Demonstrates tact, high sense of responsibility and discretion. Demonstrates integrity and high ethical standards. Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability. Must possess a teacher trainer certificate in at least one of the following: digital education, civic education. Payment Schedule Payments will be made upon successful completion of deliverables 2, 3, 6 and 8, submission of invoices as per the above delivery schedule. All deliverables should be produced in English and finalized in both English and the local language. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or part of the payment if performance is unsatisfactory, outputs are incomplete, or deadlines are missed. Mandatory E‑Learning Ethics and Integrity at UNICEF Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Authority (PSEAA) Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) General Information Security Awareness Course (for consultants with a UNICEF email address) Fraud Awareness (required no later than 30 days after contract signature) Advertised and Deadline Advertised: 30 Oct 2025 at Central European Standard Time Deadline: 06 Nov 2025 at Central European Standard Time #J-18808-Ljbffr