Myanmar: Consulting Opportunity (NFE Curriculum Develop)

Consulting Opportunity at World Vision International – Myanmar
World Vision International - Myanmar (WVM) is looking for (1) National Consultant; to
“Conduct develop of WVM Non-Formal Education Functional Literacy Curriculum”
The purpose of this consultancy is to revise the WVM’s existing NFE curriculum and develop the
WVM Functional Literacy NFE curriculum based on recommendations provided to the consultant.
The National consultant will lead the curriculum revising process. But in the Functional Literacy NFE
curriculum development process, the International consultant will lead the process and work closely
with a national consultant who will provide translation and insights into the education context in
Myanmar.
Period of Consultancy: 23 Days in January/February 2016

Background
Myanmar is a country in change and the current government is initiating a series of political and
economic reforms which are starting to open up the long isolated country. One important initiative
is a review of the education sector; however, non-governmental engagement in the formal education
sector remains limited. Curriculum development in the formal education sector is the sole
responsibility of the Ministry of Education (MOE), with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
currently only able to support Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) and NFE initiatives
under the Department of Social Welfare (DSW).
Government statistics give a primary Net Enrolment Rate (NER) of 84.1%, a Net Intake Ratio (NIR)
of 74.4% and a Primary Completion Rate (PCR) of 54.2%, with very little difference between boys
and girls. Despite an increase in the Education budget, as well as improvements in quality and
expansion of geographic coverage of education services through NGO programmes (e.g. Myanmar
Education Consortium (MEC)), the reality for a significant number of children is that they are unable
to complete primary school. This is often due to household economic constraints, households
cannot afford associated costs of schooling and extra income (from children working) is needed to
ensure households survive. The lower value of education is also a factor, as parents do not connect
education with increased opportunities for higher-incomes later in life. Through its ADPs and
integrated programming approach, WVM maps out key causes for school drop-outs and works to
address these through education, economic development, child protection, and health and disaster
risk reduction activities.
Since 1997 WVM has been implementing a Non-Formal Education (NFE) programme that targets
children aged 8-18 years that have dropped out of, or never attended school. NFE classes offer
‘second chance’ opportunities, equipping children with the basics of literacy, numeracy, and life skills,
alongside pre-vocational skills training for those over 13 years old. WVM is currently supporting 98
community-based NFE centres across 17 Area Development Programmes and 2 urban Street and
Working Children projects. Approximately 3,000 children benefit from WVM supported NFE per
year. WVM’s programme is different from the MoE’s Non-formal Primary Education (NFPE)
equivalency programme. The NFPE is more intensive and time consuming, and aims to get children
aged 11-14 years into school in order to complete primary education. WVM’s programme targets
those vulnerable children who don’t have the time or ability to participate the NFPE programme.
The NFPE class timetables are also fixed, while the NFE timetables are set by the NFE committees to
respond to the needs of children who are often working at certain times of the day. WVM’s NFE
curriculum was developed in 1998, and revised after an internal review in 2008.
The Myanmar context has changed significantly in the last 6 years and as such some parts of the
curriculum have been rendered outdated. There is also a need to ensure NFE curriculum supports a
student-centred approach to learning. WVM reviewed the curriculum used in the NFE classes in July
and August 2015 with a new curriculum developed for introduction in 2016. NFE curriculum covers
reading, writing, numeracy and applied life-skills and includes : a) Teaching Guide for Myanmar
language, (b) Teaching Guide for Mathematics, (c) NFE student Workbooks 1 and 2 (Student
Primers), and (d) NFE teaching aids.
OBJECTIVES and DELIVERABLES:
Objective (1) Support the International consultant to develop the WVM Functional
Literacy NFE curriculum
Proposed Methodology (consultant to re-submit once awarded contract):
a) Revise methodology including schedule for delivery of Outputs (1 day)
b) Desk Review of key documents (2 days):
WVM Strategy, including education
WVM NFE documents
Global best practise in NFE educations
Report on recommendations for WVM NFE revision
NFE curriculum
Teaching Guide for Myanmar language
Teaching Guide for Mathematics
NFE student Workbooks 1 and 2 (Student Primers), and
NFE teaching aids
c) Develop Functional Literacy NFE curriculum (10 Days)
d) Present draft NFE curriculum to WVM Education Department staff for feedback and revisions (2
Days)
e) Introduction of draft NFE curriculum to key partners (Myanmar Literacy Resource Centre and
Local NGOs) (1 day)
f) Further revision of NFE curriculum based on partner feedback (1 Day)
g) Submission of final version of Functional Literacy NFE curriculum to WVM
Outputs: (1) Developed the WVM Functional Literacy NFE curriculum

• All documents should be in the Myanmar language and include illustrations and examples which are
  appropriate to the Myanmar context
• A soft copy should be submitted to WVM at the appropriate quality that allows for printing of the
  material
• The curriculum will remain the intellectual property of WV Myanmar and can be shared by the
  consultant with external parties only with permission of WV Myanmar
  Once the consultant has been selected, WVM will provide a thorough briefing on the ToR covering,
  timeline, objectives, deliverables and logistics.
  Objective (2) Leading in revising the WVM NFE curriculum based on recommendations
  This will be achieved through the following key tasks:
  a) Revised NFE curriculum, including (4 Days)
  Teaching Guide for Myanmar language
  Teaching Guide for Mathematics
  NFE student Workbooks 1 and 2 (Student Primers)
  NFE teaching aids
  In terms of the updates needed here are the key points we need to consider:
  1) Revise and update of the Mathematics section to make this more practical and functional.
  Math literacy results are much poorer than literacy results when conducted assessment.
  2) Revising teaching guide for Mathematics
  3) Review, update and modernize the functional content in the Myanmar sections. We need
  to ensure that the functional content has reading, writing, speaking and listening skills
  integrated throughout.
  4) Encourage a learner-centered approach in both the content of the Myanmar and
  Mathematics booklets and the Teaching manual. This would include:
• Functional content and exercises that cover different interests and skills
• Each lesson has a clear learning objective focused on the learning of the student
• Increasing the amount of active engagement of the students, so they are practicing
  the four skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) among themselves and with
  the teachers
• Increasing group work so that students can practice what they learn
  b) Present draft NFE curriculum to WVM Education Department staff for feedback and revisions (2
  Days)
  c) Submission of final version of revised NFE curriculum to WVM
  BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE
  Minimum Bachelor’s degree in education
  Experience undertaking field level education research
  Experience developing curriculum for community-based education programmes
  Thorough understanding of the education context in Myanmar
  Working proficiency in both English
  Significant experience working with village-level structure

5pm of 14th December, 2015 - Myanmar Standard Time
Interested applicants should submit a proposal including consulting service cost with a resume/CV
attached to Htee_Khu_Shi@wvi.org with subject line, “To Conduct develop of WVM Non-Formal
Education Functional Literacy Curriculum”. Submission deadline via email is 14th December, 2015 and
no late submission will be considered.