Job Opportunity for Senior Associate-Quality Education at Shantilal Muttha Foundation in Delhi

SMF is a non-profit organization established with an aim to strengthen the public education system and support schools to enrich their capacities for fostering the holistic development of children with emphasis on values-based learning environments and life-skills education. 

SMF interventions, which have been carried out in partnership with the state governments of Chattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Meghalaya, have benefitted over 44,00,000 students, 200,000 teachers and over 70,000 schools across the country so far.  SMF has been creating and implementing meaningful, impact-centric interventions and state-wide platforms for school systems. Various state governments have deeply engaged with us in the domains of School Assessment and Accreditation, Values-based Education and Life Skills, Civic Engagement, Early Childhood Education using the MLE approach and Adolescent Girls’ Empowerment. 

Currently, SMF has been entrusted by the Government of Maharashtra to partner for  improving the quality of education in the Adarsh Shala programme  in all 67,000 govt. schools in Maharashtra, with focussed approach in 488 schools in the first phase, aiming at transforming them into ‘Model Schools’. The Programme stages are visualized as below: 

• Model School visioning,   planning, design and development  and  governance (2021-22)
• Practice and Demonstration for 488 schools (2021-24)
• Scale-up plan and action for 5000 schools (2023- 25)
• Scale-up to all 67,000 government schools with sustainability plan and action (2026-30).

SMF will support the GoM by shouldering the responsibility of co-creating and anchoring the functioning of the Model School Transformation Cell (MSTC). MSTC will be formed within the SCERT by the GoM along with SMF officials with expertise in varied domains. Further, Model School District Quality Forums will be set up in each district which will serve as important arms of the MSTC to sustain and replicate the learnings of the Model School Programme.

Job Overview

The Senior Associate for Quality education will work closely with the School Transformation In-charge, state government and district officials, Regional and District level functionaries, and school stakeholders for ensuring ongoing improvement in the quality of teaching and learning, student learning outcomes, and general school environment and functioning. 

Key Responsibilities

• Assume ownership of all educational activity within the programme. 
• Devise systems to facilitate delivery of outstanding quality of learner experience and achievement.
• Lead the design and implementation of scholastic and non-scholastic interventions. 
• Analyse, review and refine plans based on MIS and reports available.
• Facilitate and manage quality assurance and improvement in learning outputs and the quality of education delivered by schools.
• Design and implement interventions (e.g. training, focus group discussions, learning circles) with teachers, school leaders, cluster and block officials as required on high-impact teaching-learning practices.
• Plan, and execute trainings of the organisation’s field officers to transform them into a high performance unit of motivated and competent educational evangelists.
• Lead capacity building measures for all stakeholders on quality measures and programme objectives.
• Coordinate and direct the implementation of new standards into practice. Support innovation and design innovative solutions in emerging trends in education.
• Consult with department Snr. Associates to ensure operations and quality are working as one.
• Co-create partnership strategies to align the expertise and offerings of partners with the
• Programme vision and needs for improving the quality of holistic education.  
• Provide timely analytical reports and additional inputs related to program planning, strategy, implementation, M&E to programme functionaries concerned.
• Directing district teams in efforts to engage with communities for raising educational support related awareness and capacities. 
• Liaise with DIET for design of interventions and teacher support mechanisms
• Make occasional field visits in programme area across all districts of Maharashtra.

Qualifications and Experience 

• Master’s Degree in Education/Social Sciences/Public Policy/Development or equivalent.
• Minimum 15 years of experience of working in the education sector, especially working with govt. school system in Maharashtra.
• Expert in teaching of any one subject (language, Math, or any other).
• Experience and expert in curriculum implementation and pedagogy. 
• Experience with educational programme management.
• Experience with and good understanding of teacher education and student learning outcomes. 
• Experience and expert in people capacity building, learning and development. 
• Experience in developing content, TLMs, training modules for teachers and students.
• Good experience and understanding of effective school assessment systems. 
• Experience of working with govt. education departments, government schools teachers, and officials at district and block level.

Skills, Knowledge and Abilities

• Deep understanding of the functioning of the govt. school education system, institutions and functionaries and of existing gaps.
• Good understanding of school level planning, reporting and documentation systems.
• Good understanding of general challenges in the govt. school education system. 
• Good understanding of education in values and 21st century skills. 
• Good understanding of classroom management tools and techniques.
• Understanding of educational technology.
• Ability to offer innovative and creative solutions related to improvement in classroom transactions.
• Strong interpersonal, written, and oral communications skills.
• Must be well-versed in Marathi and English.