OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POST

The Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport (MoEYS) in Cambodia has introduced the Education Strategic Plan (ESP) 2024-2028 and the Teacher Policy Action Plan 2024-2030, aligned with the Royal Government of Cambodia’s Pentagonal Strategy 2024-2028. These initiatives focus on teacher development and education reform to support Cambodia’s goal of graduating from the UN’s Least Developed Countries list by 2029 and becoming an upper middle-income country by 2030 and a developed country by 2050.

The expansion of quality education is hindered by the limited capacity to recruit qualified teachers, constrained by budgetary decisions and the number of candidates from teacher training institutions. The Strategic Plan for Teacher Education Reform 2024-2030, launching in February 2025, projects teacher needs until 2030, considering retirements and current shortages. However, the ESP 2024-2028 highlights risks to teaching quality, such as rising pupil-teacher ratios due to increased enrolment rates in primary and secondary education over the plan period. A more sophisticated approach to teacher projection is needed, considering factors like student enrolment changes, staff transfers, curriculum expansion, and the need to improve pupil-teacher ratios. Accurate projections are essential to identify supply-demand gaps, considering teaching hours, school organization, and geographical and socio-economic diversity.

Cambodia also requires a sustainable policy framework to attract, motivate, support, and retain competent teachers. The Teacher Policy 2013 has guided the development of a competent teaching workforce through enhanced training, working conditions, and school leadership. Yet, an update is necessary to reflect changes in the teacher policy context in Cambodia.

Updating the Teacher Policy offers an opportunity to expand education access while ensuring quality teaching standards and continuous professional development. The revised policy should focus on new professional pathways, teacher licensing, strategies to attract and retain teachers, particularly in remote areas, and a robust CPD system. Accurate projections and simulation models are critical for updating the policy, providing evidence-based insights into recruitment, training, and deployment strategies. With technical assistance from IIEP, these projections can inform policy dialogue and ensure the updated Teacher Policy addresses current and future challenges, aligns with national educational goals, and supports the sustainable development of a competent teaching workforce in Cambodia.

Scope of work:

Work under this contract aims to support the MoEYS in revising the Teacher Policy (2013) to align with the recent policy frameworks, systems, and teacher education reform agenda introduced by the MoEYS and to provide a vision for the way forward. The work will be done in close collaboration with the IIEP team on the teacher projection.

Specific tasks include but are not limited to the following:

• Perform a desk review of relevant international, regional and national analytical work and research papers, national policy and strategic documents, including but not limited to, the Education Sector Analysis (2023), Pentagonal Strategy, the Education Strategic Plan 2024-2028, the Teacher Policy Action Plan 2024-2030 and the Strategic Plan for the Teacher Education Reform.

• Provide technical support to the MoEYS Teacher Education Department (TED), Department of Policy (DoPo), and relevant technical departments (TDs) to review the Teacher Policy (2013) to identify gaps, areas for improvement to align with the current best practice and new policy directions, covering dimensions including but not limited to teacher recruitment and retention, teacher education, deployment, work conditions, career structure and teacher standards, ensuring a clear alignment with the priorities and reforms of the MoEYS, as well as the national policy and strategic documents.

• Support TED, DoPo and relevant TDs to lead stakeholder consultations, including at least one high-level national consultation, to facilitate discussions and collation of technical inputs from stakeholders to inform the revised drafts of the Teacher Policy.

• Draft the revised Teacher Policy, including reviewing and integrating technical inputs and feedback, ensuring that the development of the Teacher Policy is complete and ready for adoption by the MoEYS.

Methodology:

The overall process of revising the 2013 teacher policy document is defined in the Teacher Policy Development Guide developed by UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 or TTF. A series of workshops and consultation meetings (online and face-to-face) will be organized for the entire process. The International Specialist shall be working with the projection/simulation specialists who will provide the critical information on teacher demand and supply as well as possible policy scenarios.

The online inception workshop will ensure the national ownership of the approach and agree on a road map for the policy revision. In line with the road map defined, information collection and consultation will be held to inform the revision of the 2013 Teacher Policy, based on which the International Specialist will draft the revised policy.

Feedback on the draft policy will be provided by the Technical Review Committee (to be formed by the MoEYS) as well as the national and international partners in the form of written feedback within a given time, and by the participants of consultation meetings in the form of oral feedback. It is important to recall that all the actions are carried out using a participatory approach under the coordination of the TED and DoPo of the MoEYS to the extent possible.

A face-to-face workshop is planned in early September 2025 to present the revised teacher policy to the key stakeholders to receive their final feedback and inputs, prior to its finalization by the end of September 2025.

Work Assignments:

The International Specialist, in collaboration with the IIEP team, shall specifically perform the following tasks:

• Inception

• Review the relevant documents to analyze teacher-related issues in Cambodia and to identify gaps, areas needing improvement to align with current practice and best practice;
• Collect and synthesize the best practices and lessons learned relevant to the teacher issues in Cambodia
• Propose a methodology for developing a road map for revising the 2013 Teacher Policy;
• Prepare materials for the online inception workshop

• Consultation and drafting

• Conduct online interviews with the key stakeholders identified by the MoEYS, UNESCO Phnom Penh, and the IIEP team, in order to collect any additional information that may be relevant for revising the 2013 Teacher Policy;
• Draft the revised teacher policy for comments;
• Update the draft based on the comments received

• Consultation and validation
• Lead a national consultation meeting to collect inputs and comments to the draft revised teacher policy by:

• Making a presentation on the draft teacher policy;
  • Preparing meeting sessions to facilitate dialogues for the draft teacher policy;
  • Collecting and synthesizing the comments on the draft teacher policy;

• Policy finalization

• Finalize the revised teacher policy, integrating the comments received to the extent possible

Make an online presentation on the final teacher policy to the Technical Review Committee, MoEYS

Deliverables:

Submit to IIEP the following deliverables in English:

• A draft inception report, including a draft road map for the revision of the Teacher Policy, by 30 April 2025;
• Materials for the online inception meeting, including presentations on the initial finding of the desk review and the roadmap, by 16 May 2025;
• 1st draft of the revised Teacher Policy together with materials for the national consultation meeting, including presentations assignment sheets and tools, by 31 July 2025;
• Final revised Teacher Policy, 30 September 2025;

In line with UNESCO’s overall gender mainstreaming strategy, the International Specialist is expected to integrate a gender perspective in all activities and apply gender mainstreaming concepts whenever feasible.

The work shall be completed by 30 November 2025 at the latest.

Travel clause:

The international Specialist will be required to undertake a one-week mission to Phnom Penh, Cambodia (September 2025) during the assignment. The International Specialist should travel economy class and receive DSA at the standard rate (and which should be reduced, as necessary, when the number of days of DSA exceeds the limits stipulated in the table of rates published by ICSC). However, lower rates may be paid where negotiated by the staff member responsible for the contract. DSA is only payable to individuals carrying out assignments away from their usual place of residence or work. The specialist is expected to make her/his own travel arrangements and should be provided with a lump sum to cover travel-related expenses in accordance with UNESCO rules and regulations. Travel-related expenses (e.g. the cost of tickets, terminal fares and DSA) must be fixed and agreed between the parties.

Review of Deliverables:

All deliverables shall be submitted to IIEP in English. Feedback from IIEP as well as the UNESCO Phnom Penh Office and the MoEYS will be provided to the International Specialist within two weeks from the submission date of each deliverable. Overall supervision and technical guidance will be provided by IIEP through regular communication by distance (via email, videoconferences, phone, etc.). To the extent possible, the International Specialist shall reflect comments and suggested modifications.

COMPETENCIES (Core / Managerial)

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REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master’s of above) in education, public policy, governance and public management.

Work experience

• At least 10 years of relevant professional experience in policy analysis, research, and training.
• Proven experience and expertise in teacher policy analysis and development in developed and developing countries.
• Demonstrated experience in multi-stakeholder consultations and bringing diverse stakeholders together towards a common vision and knowledge.

Knowledge and skills

• Strong research skills and proven subject matter expertise on issues related to teacher policies.
• Good understanding and knowledge of teacher policy issues in the SDG4 context and the Teacher Policy Development Guide by UNESCO/TTF.
• Excellent communication (written and oral) and editing skills. Ability to collect, exchange, develop, consolidate, synthesize and analyze a vase array of information and provide insights on complex issues.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with external and internal partners.
• Excellent organization and planning skills, including the ability to organize own work priorities and deadlines. Ability to work under pressure.
• Strong organizational skills.

Language

• Excellent written and speaking skills in English.

Application process:

Candidates who meet the required qualifications are invited to send: i) a technical proposal outlining approach and methodology, ii) a financial proposal, and iii) a CV highlighting relevant experience to consultancytc@iiep.unesco.org by 14 March 2025. The subject line of the email should be “IIEP Consultancy: Teacher Policy”.

Interested candidates should complete the online application, download and complete the Employment History form (Word file)/ At the end of the Word file, insert extra pages with the following required information:

Part 1: Technical Proposal

• An up-to-date curriculum vitae.
• A statement indicating how their qualifications and experience make them suitable for the assignment.
• An indication of the approach (methodology, details workplan) he/she would adopt to carry out the assignment, including any inputs that maybe be required from UNESCO.
• List of relevant publications, if any. Provide link or URL to view online.

Part 2: Financial Proposal

• A competitive fee for the assignment, which should be quoted in USD.
• Please do not include travel costs. Travel costs required in the course of the consultancy will be included directly in the actual consultant contract.
• Please submit your supporting documents in English.

Only retained candidates will be contacted.

Payment is conditional on the completion of the monthly tasks as assigned by the lead of the IIEP Education Finance Cluster and the satisfactory submission of the deliverables within the deadlines defined above, unless otherwise agreed with the project.