International consultant to guide the Ministry of Education and Sports and Agency for Quality Assurance in Pre-University Education (ASCAP) in the efforts for revamping the curricula of Preuniversity Education by integrating the green skills component

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, a Champion! 

Background - The Government of Albania, through the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES), has prioritized improving the quality and relevance of education as a key driver for national development. The National Education Strategy 2021–2026 outlines a comprehensive vision for an inclusive, equitable, and competency-based education system that equips students with the skills needed for lifelong learning, employability, and active citizenship. A core component of this strategy is the review and modernization of the pre-university curriculum to align it with international best practices, evidence from student learning outcomes, and the evolving needs of Albania’s socio-economic landscape.

The latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results underscore the urgency of this reform. Albania has made notable progress in educational attainment over the past decade, yet students continue to struggle with foundational competencies in reading, mathematics, and science, particularly in higher-order thinking skills, problem-solving, and real-world application of knowledge. The PISA findings highlight learning gaps, disparities in performance between urban and rural students, and the need for stronger alignment between curriculum expectations and assessment methods. These insights reinforce the need to ensure that the national curriculum fosters critical thinking, digital literacy, and 21st-century skills, improve STEM curricula to better preparing students for the challenges of an increasingly complex global landscape. Building on national commitments, Albania’s participation in regional and European education initiatives, including efforts to align with the EU’s key competences framework, calls for a systematic review of the curriculum to enhance its coherence, inclusiveness, and responsiveness to contemporary learning needs.

The Preuniversity Curriculum there is a need to integrate the green skills as a cross curricular starting from the first grade by integrating various concepts related to the climate change ensuring the transition to a green economy and participation of students in emerging career paths linked to sustainable environmental, renewable energy sources and their conservation.

Against this backdrop, UNICEF, in collaboration with Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES), seeks to engage a consultant to provide technical expertise in reviewing and integrating the green skills component in the Pre-University education curriculum. The consultant will familiarize with the existing curriculum, identify gaps and misalignments, and propose recommendations on how to better integrate the green skills as part of the cross curricular activities and how to embed green skills in all the preuniversity subjects.

This process will ensure that Albania’s education system is aligned with the “European Sustainability Competence Framework” that is one of the policy actions set out in the “European Green Deal” as a catalyst to promote learning on environmental sustainability in the European Union. It will aim to foster the embodiment of sustainability values, encouraging students to adopt sustainable principles in their personal and professional lives. The review of the curriculum will as well be based on the “Transformative Educational Responses to the Climate Crisis with Child and Planet in Mind: A Program Guide for from UNICEF that gives practical examples on how the green skills should be embedded in the curriculum”.

Scope of work - UNICEF Albania is seeking an international consultant to guide MoES and ASCAP on how to better integrate the green skills into the Pre-university Competency based curriculum and programmes.

Main tasks:

- Desk review of the Albanian policy education framework and the curriculum package as well as of the best international trends related to the curriculum (with a focus on EU policies and UNICEF/UNESCO guidance frameworks and examples of best practices from EU and the region with a focus on the green skills).

- Conduct interviews with local actors, teachers, Agency of Assurance of Quality in Pre-university Education staff (AAQPUE), MOES staff, Local Education offices etc.

- Provide a detailed policy guidance on climate change to ASCAP and MOES on how to embed the green skills in the Pre-University curriculum. The policy guidance should be detailed and explain what content the new curricula should contain in relation to green skills, key topics to be included in curricula subject areas, including horizontal integration as part of cross curricula and considerations about vertical curricula and alignment among different cycles of education as well as experiential learning

- Provide a final report on curricula on green skills based on feedback received and present the concept to the policy makers

Deliverable 1 - Deliver an inception report which provides a preliminary assessment of the work being conducted in Albania as well with the methodology of the work that the consultant will use on how to develop policy guidance on green skills in the curricula

Tasks:
- Conduct a desk review of the Albanian education framework and the curriculum package: (such as the Law on the Preuniversity Education, National Education Strategy 2021-2026, Curriculum Framework 2024; Preuniversity Core Curriculum, Preuniversity Lesson Plans, Subject Programs, and Textbooks etc.).
- Desk review of the best international EU/UNESCO, UNICEF and regional practices and policies related to the curriculum with a focus on the green skills.
- Organize an online call with UNICEF and MOES, the Agency of Assurance of Quality in Preuniversity Education staff (full list to be provided by UNICEF).
- Draft and finalize the inception report (methodology), based on feedback from UNICEF.

Delivery deadline - April 2025; 8 working days remotely

Deliverable 2 - Provide a detailed draft of policy guidance on climate change on how ASCAP and MOES should embed the green skills in the Pre-University curriculum.
(The policy guidance should be detailed and explain what content the new curricula should contain and key topics to be included in curricula subject areas including horizontal integration as part of cross curricula; give examples on how to ensure that students are engaged in project work related to climate change; give guidance on how the reinforcement of knowledge and new concepts should progress from one grade to another; description of the various interactive forms of learning; how to engage young people with matters of climate and environment in their community by creating extra-curricular activities; description of the students assessments approaches).

Tasks:
- Conducts meetings and interviews with:
- UNICEF staff, MOES members, ASCAP, and schools’ teachers; INCA NGO implementing teacher training for climate change,
- Provide technical recommendations to ASCAP on how to embed the green skills in the preuniversity curriculum based on the best examples of EU curriculum framework.
- Draft a policy guidance on climate change on how ASCAP and MOES should embed the green skills in the Pre-University curriculum and present to main stakeholders including Ministry of Environment

Delivery deadline - May 2025; total 12 working days including 5 working days in Albania for meetings

Deliverable 3 - Submit to UNICEF a final version policy guidance on climate change on how ASCAP and MOES should embed the green skills in the Pre-University curriculum endorsing comments and suggestions from local actors

Tasks:
-Prepare a final version of the policy guidance on climate change, on how ASCAP and MOES should embed the green skills in the Pre-University curriculum and share it with UNICEF.

Delivery deadline - 15 June 2025; 12 working days remotely

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have:
- An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Education, Curriculum Development, Educational Policy, or a related field.
- At least 10 years of experience in curriculum design, education reform, or policy development.
- Strong knowledge of competency-based curriculum development and international education standards with a special focus on the green skills.
- Experience in working with government agencies and international organizations, preferably in education sector reforms.
- Excellent facilitation, stakeholder engagement, and capacity-building skills.
- Strong analytical and writing skills (writing skills in English Language), with demonstrated experience in producing technical reports and frameworks

What to submit

1. Letter of interest, summarizing the educational background, the working experience that is relevant to the assignment, and the specific role the candidate will play.
2. Short proposed methodological approach as for deliverables set forth.
3. Updated Resume
4. Financial proposal in USD and must include the consultancy daily fee (all taxes inclusive), travel offer for one trip in Albania (5 Days for meetings), communication costs and all other individual expenses or applicable costs. The financial proposal must be broken down per deliverable.

If any question related to the tasks and deliverables for this assignment, please contact ethemeli@unicef.org

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. To create a more inclusive workplace, UNICEF offers paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. Click here to learn more about flexible work arrangements, well-being, and benefits.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In its Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2022-2030, UNICEF has committed to increase the number of employees with disabilities by 2030. At UNICEF, we provide reasonable accommodation for work-related support requirements of candidates and employees with disabilities. Also, UNICEF has launched a Global Accessibility Helpdesk to strengthen physical and digital accessibility. If you are an applicant with a disability who needs digital accessibility support in completing the online application, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

Remarks:  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.