Baseline Assessment of the Project “Building Resilient Education Systems

Job Description

Project Background

The Building Resilient Education Systems: Supporting Professional Development, Well-Being, and Policy Reforms for Teachers in crisis contexts of Adamawa and Sokoto (Teacher Education and Professional Development) Project is a targeted response to the challenges of teacher shortages and inadequate professional development in crisis-affected contexts of Northern Nigeria with Adamawa and Sokoto states as case studies. With a focus on pre-primary, primary, and lower secondary education, the project aims to build resilience within the education framework and enhance teacher retention and well-being. The project is built on three key outcomes: fostering community-based strategies to integrate and retain teachers, enhancing teacher professional development and personal well-being, and strengthening policies that promote teacher onboarding, retention, and career development. To achieve these outcomes, the project will work closely with communities to develop culturally and contextually appropriate strategies for teacher integration, leveraging the capacity of School-Based Management Committees (SBMCs) to promote acceptance of teachers and their critical role in improving learning outcomes. Teachers will be trained in gender-transformative and inclusive pedagogy, foundational literacy and numeracy skills, and digital and green skills. Mental health support will also be prioritized through the establishment of feedback platforms and mapping of existing services to address stress and trauma management for teachers. Also, the project will strengthen the capacity of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and local civil society organizations to engage in strategic advocacy for the adoption and implementation of policies that ensure teacher incentives and career pathways.

Purpose of the Baseline Evaluation

Plan International is committed to measuring progress and the impact of its work by comparing the situation at the start of all projects with the situation at the middle and the end of a project. With this in mind, the main purpose of conducting a baseline evaluation for the Teacher Education and Professional Development Project is to establish a comprehensive understanding of the existing conditions in the education sector within the crisis-affected contexts of Adamawa and Sokoto states. Specifically, the baseline assessment will seek to:

• Assess the current capacity of target schools to implement school-based capacity development and wellbeing actions
• Identify the extent of teacher shortages, gaps in professional development, and barriers to teacher retention and well-being in pre-primary, primary, and lower secondary education.
• Evaluate the readiness and capacity of School-Based Management Committees (SBMCs), local communities, and teacher unions to support teacher integration and professional development initiatives.
• Generate baseline data on key project indicators, such as teacher onboarding and retention, teachers coping and stress management, use of inclusive and gender-transformative pedagogies, access to mental health support services, and so on.
• Make recommendations that will support the project’s strategic direction, ensuring effective resource allocation, and demonstrating accountability to all project stakeholders.

Assessment of Baseline Values for Project Indicators

The assessment of the baseline values will conducted around the three key project-specific outcomes namely,

• SO1: Community-based strategies that foster teacher integration and retention in crisis-affected contexts of Adamawa and Sokoto states are enhanced.
• SO2: Teachers’ professional development and well-being are strengthened and supported in the crisis-affected contexts of Adamawa and Sokoto states.
• SO3: Supportive environments are created and policies that promote teacher onboarding, retention and career development are strengthened in Adamawa and Sokoto states.

The information on the project indicators will later be used to measure and monitor the project's progress against the set indicators throughout the project implementation. Refer to Annex-A for a detailed project M&E framework.

Additional Baseline Research Questions

The baseline will, in addition to collecting data to measure the project indicators, seek to answer the following questions:

• What are the current community perceptions and attitudes towards teachers?
• What are the key barriers faced by teachers in integrating into and staying within local communities?
• What are the current professional development opportunities available for teachers in the target states, and how accessible are they? Are current systems in place able to replicate capacity building routine independently?
• What are the current school-based teachers’ welllbeing and peer-to-peer approaches to promote well-being at state level?
• To what extent are gender-transformative and inclusive pedagogies being used in classrooms at the pre-primary, primary, and lower-secondary levels?
• What specific challenges do female teachers and students face in the education system in Adamawa and Sokoto?
• What policies currently exist at the state and federal levels to support teacher onboarding, retention, and career development?