Background

In line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda, specifically SDG 4, Turkmenistan is committed to ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for ALL children, including children with disabilities (CwD).

One of the important priorities under the on-going education sector reform in the country is development of the inclusive education policy framework. The Ministry of Education (MoE) advance a systemic approach to addressing the issues of disability and inclusion in the education sector with focus on establishing early childhood intervention (ECI) and multi-disciplinary support services for young children with disabilities (CwD) and their families and strengthening the capacity of teachers, pre-schools and schools to provide quality and inclusive pre-school, primary and secondary education.   

In this regard, multi-disciplinary teams of professionals (health, education and child development professionals), set across the network of Rehabilitation Centers for CwD and Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centers nation-wide, initiated assessment of and individualized support for CwD and their families towards their inclusion in mainstream education and overall social inclusion. Resources on quality and inclusive early learning including play-based pre-school and pre-primary curriculum, parental empowerment and sports and play for development have been developed and approved by the MoE for further scaling up. The on-going promotion of competency-based approach in education aims to align state education standards, curriculum, instructional materials, teaching and learning methodologies, learning outcome measurement system with the international standards and benchmarks of quality and inclusion.

In this context, the planned development of the national concept of inclusive education (IE), the on-going commitment of the Government under the National Plan of Action on Children in Turkmenistan (NPAC) for 2018-2022, is set to become a cross-sectoral policy framework for implementing inclusive education in the country.  

It is within these initiatives that UNICEF is seeking an international expert to provide technical assistance to the MoE and other partners for development of the national concept of inclusive education which will provide the principles and the roadmap for implementation of inclusive education at national level.

Purpose of the assignment

Provide technical assistance to the MoE and other partners for development of the national concept of inclusive education (IE).

Specific Tasks

• Conduct a desk review of the available data and background materials related to children with disabilities and inclusive education to identify the strengths, gaps and entry points
• To develop a set of selections criteria and facilitate selection of the stakeholders and further Working Group (WG) to lead the development of the national concept of IE
• Prepare the methodology, structured programme and training materials for a series of capacity development workshop sessions for the members of Working group to ensure their required expertise and readiness to lead the process  

• Facilitate a series of 13 on-line capacity development sessions for the members of the WG. The workshop sessions must cover the key areas for inclusive education. Each session should include the theoretical background, examples of international best practice and practical assignments that will help the team adapt the ideas for the context of Turkmenistan
• To develop a template and methodology for the WG to develop the national concept of IE 

• Facilitate a series of meetings with the Working group on development of the national concept of IE   
• Guide the development and provide inputs to the first draft of the concept note including the action plan with specific activities, timelines, and monitoring indicators and facilitate finalizing the national concept based on the feedback from the Government and UNICEF

Workplan and deliverables 

The consultancy duration is 30 working days, covering the period of 21 June 2021 – 30 Nov 2021. The distribution of days by tasks and corresponding deliverables is suggested below. The consultant is expected to work home-based during the consultancy period. The below timeline provides the estimated deadlines for completing the deliverables, considering the period that will be needed for translation, sharing of document and receipt of feedback. Depending on the progress and needs, more than 2 reviews of the documents reviewed/revised/developed may be required, which may affect the timelines.

 

Tasks	Days	Deliverables and target delivery dates specific delivery dates and details as to how the work must be delivered (e.g. electronic submission, hard copy), subdivided into “milestones” where appropriate
1. Conduct a desk review of the available data and background materials related to children with disabilities and inclusive education   Hold skype call(s) with UNICEF and appropriate stakeholders as required.	5 days (home based)	26 June 2021   Desk review report
2. To develop a set of selection criteria and facilitate selection of the stakeholders and further Working Group (WG) to lead the development of the national concept of IE   Hold skype call with UNICEF and appropriate stakeholders as required	1 day (home based)	28 June 2021     A set of selection criteria prepared Members of the Working group identified and agreed on
3. Prepare the methodology, structured training programme and materials for a series of capacity development workshop sessions (webinars) for the members of Working group to ensure their required expertise and readiness to lead the process.   The workshop sessions must cover the key areas for inclusive education. Each session will address the theoretical background, examples of international best practice and practical assignments that will help the team adapt the ideas for the context of Turkmenistan. A preliminary list of the sessions is as follows:   1. Enhancing the Social and Psychological Inclusion of Students with Special Education Needs 2. The Role of Families in Inclusive Education 3. Universal Design for Learning 4. Inclusive Early Childhood Development Programs: Opportunities for Promoting Effective Transition to Schooling 5. Multidisciplinary Teams 6.Assessment in the Context of Inclusive Education: The Need for an Instructional Approach 7.Multi-tiered Systems of Support: Response to Intervention (RTI) 8.The Role of Individualized Learning Plans in Inclusive Education 9.Instructional Strategies for Inclusive Classrooms: Cooperative Learning and Direct Instruction. 10. Transition to Adulthood for Youth with Disabilities 11. Supporting the Self-Determination of Students with Special Education Needs in the Inclusive Classroom 12.The Role of Assistive Technology and Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) in Inclusive Education 13.Monitoring inclusive policies and schools’ inclusive practices	7 days (home based)	06 July 2021   Methodology, structured programme, training materials
4. Facilitate a series of 13 on-line professional development workshop sessions (webinars) for the members of the WG. Hold skype call(s) with UNICEF and appropriate stakeholders as required.	7 days (home based)	10 July – 25 August 2021   Webinars delivered, report on completion
5. Facilitate developing the national concept of IE including the action plan with specific activities, timelines, and monitoring indicators    To develop a template and methodology for the WG to develop the national concept    Facilitate meetings with the WG Guide the development of and provide inputs to the first draft of the concept note including the action plan with specific activities, timelines, and monitoring indicators   Facilitate finalizing the national concept based on the feedback from the Government and UNICEF       Prepare PPP on the national concept of IE   Participate in the meetings with various stakeholders: ex. UNCT, UN disability team, under the National Plan of Action on Children for 2018-2022 and National Early Childhood Development Strategy for 2020-2025   Hold skype call(s) with UNICEF and appropriate stakeholders as required.	10 days (home based)	10 September -15 November 2021   Template and methodology for the WG Meetings with the WG draft national concept of inclusive education including the action plan with specific activities, timelines, and monitoring indicators  National concept on inclusive education finalized and agreed on with the WG PPP on the national concept of IE for the stakeholders Participation in the meetings with various stakeholders

 

For details, please, see the ToR as per the link below:

 UNICEF Turkmenistan_ToR_Foundational capacity development on competency-based education_final.docx