Working as a Inclusive Education Specialist in Ethiopia

Role overview

As a VSO volunteer, you will immerse yourself in a new culture, face fresh challenges and develop your educational expertise while doing something truly fulfilling.

This placement is primarily designed to strengthen the capacity of Western Zone Education Department of Tigray region with a focus on improving the in-service teacher training process and link with target refugee/camp schools through providing training for primary school teachers and ABE facilitators. The volunteer is expected to deliver in-service training that focused on best teaching practices such as: Active learning, Action research, and continuous assessment.

Thousands of children are unfairly discriminated against in the classroom, prevented from accessing a proper education. These children deserve the same opportunities as any other child, and that’s where you come in. In this role, your goal will be to create an environment where all children, and girls, in particular, feel included and are able to receive a quality education. You’ll also be looking to improve attendance and reduce school dropout rates.
You’ll be working in a team, supporting target partners to introduce inclusive education practices. You’ll be working across many age groups, promoting inclusive principles at the pre-primary, primary and secondary level.

Skills, qualifications and experience

• MA/BA degree in education/ inclusive education or related areas preferred
• Minimum of 3 years of experience in in-service and/ or pre-service teacher training at Pre-primary, Primary Education level.
• Proven knowledge and skills in active learning, child-centred and inclusive methodologies and special needs education
• Proven experience and knowledge of developing, implementing and coordinating inclusive education projects/programs
• Experience in developing inclusive education or special needs education training materials and delivering training
• Practical knowledge of peer-to-peer support
• Good interpersonal skills combined with a flexible and adaptable attitude
• Excellent communication skills with good command of both spoken and written English
• Knowledge and experience in monitoring and evaluation
• Experience in using technology to ensure effective management of information systems, planning and decision making

Besides these skills, you need to be openminded, respectful, resilient and adaptive to new situations. It is important that you can facilitate positive change, build sustainable working relationships and are willing to seek and share knowledge.

• For further information about this job, download here the detailed job description.

Terms and Conditions

VSO will cover and support you in all preparations: training, visa, work permit, registration in-country, flights, vaccinations, anti-malarial treatment, PEP treatment, medical and security clearance. In-country VSO will provide induction and support in placement, arrange secure accommodation (often shared with another VSO professional), full medical insurance (including repatriation cover), medical indemnity insurance, work-related travel costs and a living allowance which will enable you to live a basic but healthy lifestyle, but which is not sufficient to cover ongoing commitments at home.

What we do at VSO

Our programs focus on the areas of health, education and livelihoods, with an increasing emphasis on resilience building, social accountability, gender and social inclusion. We believe progress is only possible when we work together and that strong partnerships are crucial to delivering positive change. That’s why we work with over 500 partner organizations, from local and national governments to businesses, NGOs, funders, charities and community groups. Currently, over 30% of our people are recruited from within the country in which they work, and we continue to grow the share of community and national volunteers involved in our programs. We also send increasing numbers of volunteers from one developing country to another. However, our vision has remained the same; to build a world without poverty.

The experience of a placement is a one-of-a-life-time experience and will benefit you in multiple ways. You will have the chance to learn to work with people from different cultural backgrounds. There is often the opportunity to develop your teamwork-, leadership- and management skills. This can be helpful for career opportunities after your placement.

The environment of development work is changing continuously. Our recruiter knows the actual vacancies abroad. If you have any questions about our current programs and where we currently operate, don’t hesitate to contact Kelly.