Consultancy Needed - KREASI ECD (Early Childhood Development) Consultant

Scope of Work: ECD consultant – External Collaborator for KREASI Program  

Background:  

The KREASI (Kolaborasi untuk Edukasi Anak Indonesia) Program, supported by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and implemented by Save the Children Indonesia, is dedicated to advancing educational outcomes and creating safe learning environments for children across eight districts in four provinces. Targeted improvements focus on literacy, numeracy, and character education for early-grade students. The program aligns with Indonesia's National Mid-Term Development Plan (RPJMN), which emphasizes increasing education quality, reducing regional disparities, and ensuring access to inclusive and equitable education. By focusing on marginalized and vulnerable groups, including children with disabilities, KREASI aims to foster a robust, rights-based educational framework in Indonesia. Among its pillars is the commitment to address early learning inequities and to promote inclusive, climate-resilient, and quality early childhood education (ECE), especially in underdeveloped (3T) and geographically disadvantaged areas. 

The program is aligned with the current National Curriculum focusing on Deep Learning, which places an emphasis on early grade literacy, numeracy and STEAM and alignment with current policy 13 years compulsory education, with one year of pre-primary education. In line with National Curriculum, KREASI emphasises quality and equity in preschool education (TK/RA) as a foundation for lifelong learning. The ECD Consultant will play a key technical role in strengthening ECE policy, teaching practices, curriculum adaptation, and teacher professional development, with a focus on integrating foundational literacy and numeracy based on children's developmental stages, considering more inclusive education (GEDSI), and climate change education. The ECD consultant will be brought on board to support the rollout of the planned strategy to strengthen teacher capacity in delivering play-based learning practices among learners.  

Scope of Work:  

The ECD Consultant will work under the guidance and supervision of the Education Lead. The role's scope of duties is to collaborate with the Education Lead and the ECD consultant to improve learning outcomes for children aged 5-6 (TK B/RA B). The Consultant will work with various stakeholders at both the national and district levels. 

Objectives:  

The objectives of the ECD consultant role are:  

• Support the design, contextualization, and rollout of ECE strategies and modules for TK/RA levels aligned with the national and district frameworks. 
• Strengthen teacher capacity development through professional learning modules, coaching, and mentoring. 
• Support cross-sector coordination at the district and provincial levels to integrate ECD into local planning, ecosystem strengthening, and sustainability strategies. 
• Promote integration of climate resilience and GEDSI principles into early childhood programming. 
• Ensure contextual relevance of previously developed ECD materials including assessment materials by working with district-level stakeholders to modify and adapt reflective of local needs and priorities.  This including availability of cross-cutting issues like GEDSI and climate change 
• Provide support and oversight (quality assurance) of the design of training and teaching/learning materials. Ensure resources are in line with GoI priorities and strategies  
• Develop or adapt training materials to cascade to teachers and program staff as needed.  
• Train local master trainer in coordination with the program team 

Key Responsibilities:

The ECD Consultant will be responsible for:  

1. Support contextualisation of ECD materials: 

• Work with partners and other relevant stakeholders at the community level to ensure the relevance of materials  
• Ensuring best practices ECD are captured and analysed 
• Contextualise ECE teaching and learning materials, ensuring relevance to local culture, language, and context. 
• Collaborate with district stakeholders to co-develop or adapt tools, including assessment instruments for early childhood development and learning readiness. 
• Contribute development training modules incorporating Universal Design for Learning (UDL), climate education, play-based pedagogy, and social-emotional learning (SEL).
  1. Build capacity of teachers
• Train teachers in ECD  
• Develop/adapt tools for supporting ongoing teacher training on topics related to ECD 
• Working with Education Program Lead, develop and roll out a coaching and mentoring program to support teacher capacity  
  1. Support system strengthening and sustainability
• Work with Education Program Lead to identify ways to improve teacher training related to ECD at both state-sponsored and private teacher training institutes  
• Support advocacy program team in mainstreaming ECE into district education planning (e.g., RKAS/KSP, Rapor Pendidikan). 
• Contribute to the development of minimum service standards and indicators for quality ECE as part of the District Education Ecosystem strengthening. 
  1. Accountability and learning  
• Maintain a repository of both national-level materials and adapted tools 
• Collaborate with the MEAL team to monitor progress and outcomes of ECE-related activities. 
• Document promising practices for knowledge exchange and policy advocacy. 

Deliverables:

• Contextualization of ECD materials  
• Coaching and mentoring program for ECD officers and teachers in collaboration with Education Program Lead 
• Ongoing monitoring and progress reports  
• Final report of ECD program integration and recommendations 
• Train ECD officers and master teachers 
• Monitor the quality of KREASI ECD Program

Qualifications:

• Minimum Bachelor's degree in social sciences, education, or related fields with some experience working in an NGO setting. A bachelor's degree/ Master Degree in early childhood education is preferred.   
• Previously have experience in an ECD program, especially in an NGO setting or experience in ECD program minimum 3 years 
• Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of current ECD policy, curriculum, and competency frameworks 
• Experience in classroom teaching is an advantage 
• Knowledge and understanding of the Indonesian ECD education system and school system and practice 
• Strong analytical skills; 
• Strong facilitation skills; 
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to communicate skills; 
• Knowledge of the Indonesian context, and Government of Indonesia’s current reform program is highly relevant