About STiR Education
We are an international NGO that supports education systems to reignite intrinsic motivation so that every child, teacher and official is motivated to learn and improve. We believe that education systems today must prepare every child, everywhere, to thrive in an increasingly complex world. Our vision of is a world where teachers love teaching and children love learning. Since 2012, we have reached 200,000 teachers and 6 million children across more than 100 districts in India and Uganda.
Our model
We achieve this through a five-year learning partnership with an education system, where we align all levels of the education system (officials, teachers and children) around the goal of increasing intrinsic motivation.
Practically, this means that teachers undergo monthly network meetings with about 20 to 30 local peers. Through these meetings they’re supported to develop their practice in areas ranging from effective questioning to creating warm but orderly classroom routines – all designed to create a more effective relationship between the teacher and child. In doing so they develop a sense of autonomy (the sense they can change things), mastery (sense of getting better as a professionals) and purpose (reconnecting emotionally with their peers and students) – the key drivers of intrinsic motivation.
District officials undergo a training and coaching programme that motivates and supports them to prioritise, run and monitor the teacher networks and a close partnership with the state or national government enables the government to align this intrinsic motivation approach within their priorities, structures and systems.
The approach is run by the government from day one and after about five years of partnering with an education system we hope to have embedded a culture of improvement at all levels for the system to continue to strengthen itself. We typically allocate one member of our own staff per district to train, energise and coach the district officials running the approach, and a small team at the national or state level.
Our values
How we approach our work is as important as what we do, and our core values guide the way:
Humility – We don’t have all the answers upfront.
Ownership – We empower each other with high expectations and support.
Openness – We will listen, learn and improve, and lead through obstacles.
Purpose – We’re united by a shared vision we’ll build and achieve together.
THE OPPORTUNITY
An exciting opportunity has arisen in the Design and Programme Readiness (DPR) team in Uganda. The role is based in Uganda, reporting directly to the Associate Head for Design and Programme Readiness in Uganda and working closely with the programme implementation team in Uganda. The Senior Manager will lead the design of all of our programmes for teachers and officials in Uganda, ensuring that our programme team is set up to support education officials and teachers to foster of a love of learning in all children.
REPORTING, ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The Senior Manager, Design and Programme Readiness role will be based out of Kampala and do regular travel to districts to support the programme team and gather insights on programmatic effectiveness. He/she will report to the Associate Head of Design and Programme Readiness based in Uganda.
ENSURE THE DESIGN OF A WORLD CLASS TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR TEACHERS, EDUCATION OFFICIALS THAT IS GROUNDED IN THE PRINCIPLES OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION AND LIFE LONG LEARNING.
• Working closely with the AH - Design Programme Readiness (DPR) and the SM Programme in Uganda to ensure that our programme design and approach in Uganda is underpinned by both global design principles as well as local country level priorities.
• Act as the ‘interface’ between STiR global resources and the country team, supporting the contextualization of global resources based on clear local priorities and purpose.
• Ensure that the contextualised programme design in Uganda is informed by both quantitative and qualitative data and work closely with the M&E team to review this regularly.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of latest evidence in learning design and training and integrates into programme through participation in global DPR network.
• Take a rapid, user-centred design approach to our programme: gathering regular feedback from our programme team, officials, head teachers and teachers in the field and incorporating appropriate insights and feedback into programme design.
• Establish a collaborative and inclusive approach to programme design in Uganda with the district level stakeholders and co- design teams.
• Outline and establish a coherent design process with both internal as well as external stakeholders and ensure the development of high quality design material.
• Participate in regular reflection sessions with the STiR local team and global M&E team on successes and areas for development based on quantitative and qualitative data.
ACT AS A KEY IMPROVEMENT ADVISOR TO THE GOVERNMENT AND INTERNAL PROGRAMME TEAM TO ENSURE THEY ARE EQUIPPED TO DELIVER WITH EXCELLENCE
• Work with programme team to build conceptual clarity for Intrinsic Motivation and behaviour change both internally and externally.
• Lead training for senior government officials and STiR team (both separately and jointly) on key programmatic areas based on a clear local understanding of need.
• Oversee the co-ordination of a world class, coherent training offer for our internal programme team, including termly week-long boot camps, monthly ‘dripfeed’ trainings and field-based follow-up.
• Ensure that all internal training is underpinned by our programme readiness strategy, modelling excellent practice in all training sessions run personally.
• Take a rigorous, scientific approach to promoting improvement, through: a hypothesis-based approach to problem-solving; interactions with and observations of key programme stakeholders; analysis of data; and clear, powerful sharing back of key recommendations and insights.
ACTIVELY CONTRIBUTE TO ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURE AS A MEMBER OF THE LOCAL LEADERSHIP TEAM
• Role model professionalism and integrity at all times and take ownership of your own development.
• Actively contribute to the formation of local improvement priorities.
• Develop strong, purposeful and collaborative relationships with programme and M&E teams.
• Make sure that all the work you do and relationships you build are in the STIR spirit and in line with our values.
• Model ‘Growth Mindset’ at all times- show that improvement is always possible and take responsibility for supporting the whole team to achieve its goals.
REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
Strong identification with STIR values
Fluency in English (including written)
An understanding of the education system in Uganda and promotion of change within it, through experience in either government, NGO or other relevant organisation.
Ability to plan and design high quality educational and training materials
Experience in conducting and facilitating meetings with senior government officials at the national level.
Demonstrated interest in and understanding of pedagogical principles, design thinking (for example, through experience as a teacher or trainer)
Ability to build positive relationships and influence others, including senior officials
Excellent attention to detail and ability to see things through to a very high standard
Excellent writing skills
Excellent facilitation skills and experience of facilitating high quality adult learning
Strong planning and project management skills
Ability to learn and adapt rapidly based on feedback and new information, as well as the ability to communicate this succinctly
Ability to work across functions and collaborate effectively
Remuneration and benefits
Remuneration of UGX6,339,375/- per month (UGX 76,072,500/- per annum) will be paid for your service (subject to relevant taxes) along with Medical Insurance for yourself, spouse and up to two children.