1.0 Introduction
Education is UNESCO’s top priority because it is a basic human right and the foundation on which to build peace and drive suitable development. UNESCO is the United Nations’ specialized agency for education and the Education Sector provides global and regional leadership in Education, strengthens national education systems and responds to contemporary global challenges through education with specific focus on gender equality in Africa. UNESCO is mandated with the responsibility of leading and coordinating the Education 2030 agenda, which is part of the global movement to eradicate poverty through the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. UNESCO’s Capacity Development for Education (CapED) Programme is central on delivering on this mandate through capacity development. Created in 2003 to translate UNESCO’s global advocacy on Education for All into concrete action at the country level, the CapED programme has become a successful coordination platform that shapes the way in which UNESCO’s Education Sector works.
In Zambia, one of the pillars of UNESCO’s CapED Programme focuses on improving the capacities of teachers through the development and operationalization of the National Continuing Professional Development (CPD) framework for teachers in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE), Teaching Council of Zambia (TCZ), Teaching Service Commission (TSC) and other key stakeholders that includes teacher educators from collages of education. The purpose of this framework is to ensure effective national coordination in the design and implementation of continuing professional development programmes for teachers to improve the quality of teaching and learning at all levels of the education system in Zambia. The framework is also envisaged to contribute towards the attainment of the goals outlined in the national education sector policies and the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4) target 4.c which aims to substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing states by 2030.
Since 2018, UNESCO through the CapED Programme has provided finances resources, and much work has been undertaken since 2019, to the extent that we currently have is a comprehensive framework with considerable gaps that needs to be addressed before approval by Government. The purpose of this consultancy, therefore, is to support the UNESCO and the Ministry of Education to finalize the framework for teachers by ensuring that it is well aligned with key teacher education policies, priorities and existing legal provisions for effective teacher professionalism in Zambia.

2.0 Legal provisions for teacher professionalism
Government of the Republic of Zambia through Parliament enacted the Teaching Profession Act No. 5 of 2013. This Act provides the mandate for TCZ to provide for the regulation of teachers, their practice and professional conduct; provide for the accreditation and regulation of colleges of Education. The Act outlines procedures guiding the registration of teachers and accreditation of colleges of education for effective teacher education in the country. The Act further explains the importance of registration for all teachers in the teaching profession and states that no person shall be allowed to practice as a teacher/educator unless he/she is registered with TCZ1. Further, the Act provides for the regulation of CPD services among other things. In this context, the Act is relevant given the dynamic nature of professional responsibilities faced by teachers, and where it is expected that CPD should from now onwards be a requirement for renewal of their practicing licenses with the Council. Furthermore, there is also the Teachers’ Code of Ethics which is a key legal document which the national CPD framework needs to be aligned to ensure effective coordination and teacher professionalism. The Code of Ethics has a statutory basis under the Statutory Instrument No 1 of 2018. It outlines the values and principles that guide the profession including “Research” and “Development.” The
1 1TCZ is a Statutory Body established through an Act of Parliament, the Teaching Profession Act No. 5 of 2013. The Council was officially inaugurated on 27th June 2014 by the then Minister of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education (MESVTEE), Dr. John T. Phiri, MP. At the same occasion, fourteen (14) Councillors from a cross section of society were appointed in accordance with the Teaching Profession Act No. 5 of 2013 Part II Section 5 (1).
Code speaks of teachers’ responsibility for “sustaining and improving the quality of their professional practice” (p.8). Generally, improving teacher professionalism through CPD, requires sound legal provisions.

3.0 National context and rationale
Despite immense contribution by various stakeholders to improve teacher development through various training programmes and initiatives, CPD activities in the Zambian education sector continue to be characterized by various challenges. Lack of regulation of CPD activities provided by different stakeholders in the sector is not just uncoordinated but partly at fault added to the fact that there are inadequate resources that should support improvement of teachers’ pedagogical skills. The absence of the national framework for teachers means that CPD activities are currently now being delivered in a variety of ways, with no fixed pot of resources and quality control mechanisms to determining how much schools and teachers themselves should invest in continuing professional development. Unless innovative solutions to these challenges are found, the desire to produce and maintain professionally well informed and motivated teachers capable of transforming the quality of educational delivery will not be achieved. Keep in mind also that currently, there is little motivation for teachers to attend CPDs as it is not even linked to their career development.
Since the beginning of the process of developing the national CPD framework, UNESCO has played a critical role in providing both technical and financial support to the ministry of education and partners. The current version of the consolidated draft national CPD framework for teachers is a culmination of broadly consultative process with key stakeholders involved at various stages of the process. This process was informed by a situation analysis and education sector document review. Documents reviewed included national and international literature, and local policies and strategies. Primary and secondary data gathered through consultative meetings and document reviews were examined by the established technical selected from the various directorates from MoE, TCZ, TSC, ISAZ, teacher unions, cooperating partners, universities, UNESCO, education leaders at various levels, teacher educators and teachers at the school level. Individual and group consultative meetings were also held involving a wide range of stakeholders at national, provincial, district, zonal and school levels.
Overall, the development of the national CPD framework was undertaken in was six phases. Phase 1: establishment of the technical committee for the development of the framework, Phase 2; situational analysis, report writing and dissemination: Phase 3: drafting of the framework, Phase 4: provincial consultations meetings with key stakeholders and teachers, Phase 5: revision of the draft framework based on inputs from provincial consultations; Phase 6: national validation of the revised framework. Arising from the final internal review by directorate of teacher education and specialized services, concerns on the validated framework where observed and these needed to be addressed before the approval of the framework. Being the directorate with the mandate to implement CPD, TESS further guided that the national framework needs to provide practical interpretation on the levels of achievement in the teacher standards in relation to teachers’ professional growth across and within the three levels namely: novice, proficient and distinguished. A follow up technical review meeting in Kabwe was organised to further strengthen the validated version by articulating how CPD activities for teachers are to be operationalized at all levels of the standards of practice.
Over the recent past, there has been new developments in the Zambian education sector with Corporating partners coming on board to support teacher development interventions. For example, UNICEF is currently supporting MoE to develop the teacher training strategy focusing pre-service, the World Bank “Zambia Education Enhancement Project (ZEEP) equally has a component focusing CPD for teachers. More recently, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has also been supporting MoE with strategic teacher development interventions. On the other hand, Corporating partners such as USAID and JICA including other leading non-government organisation like VVOB which have continued implementing teacher development interventions aimed at improving the quality of teachers in the Zambian education sector. Amid all these developments, a major challenge for foster effective teacher development remains–which is lack of a national framework for regulating CPD practices and providers for quality control purposes. What is critical is a coordinating and regulatory national framework clearly stipulating how CPD by all stakeholders should be organised, delivered and evaluated to enhance teacher professionalism in Zambia. The national framework will define the purpose, objectives and expected outcomes Further, responsibilities of stakeholders
and other CPD service providers will also be outlined including credit points to be awarded to teachers for having undergone certification/approval CPD programme. Thus, finalization of the national CPD framework is critical and will require review of new teacher policy developments to foster constructive collaboration and at the same time minimize duplication. This consultancy, therefore, builds on the work already initiated by UNESCO through the CapED Programme–and the aim is to support the completion of the national CPD framework to contribute towards building a shared vision and understanding of how to improve teacher professionalism in Zambia.

4.0 Purpose of the consultancy
The purpose of this consultancy is to provide technical assistance to UNESCO towards the completion of National CPD framework for teachers that aligns with international best practices and meets the specific needs of the Zambian education system. Following the national validation of the revised framework in 2019, final internal review by Directorate of Teacher Education and Specialized Services (TESS) generated additional feedback which needed to be addressed before the approval. In 2020, MoE further requested support from UNESCO to support the development of the comprehensive national teacher policy. Additionally, cooperating partners have been supporting MoE with various teacher development interventions, which are complementary to ongoing interventions under UNESCO’s CapED Programme in Zambia. It is important therefore, that the process of finalization of the national framework keeps stoke of these interventions and ensure effective harmonization while minimizing duplication of effort by key stakeholders working on teacher development issues. In terms of the scope of work, the following are the specific objectives of this consultancy:
i. Conduct a comprehensive review of the current CPD framework, including policies, guidelines, and implementation strategies to align it to the current with international best practices and specific needs of the Zambian education system
ii. ii. Support UNESCO to validate the national CPD framework with the involvement of all key stakeholder in the education
iii. iii. Finalize the revision of the national CPD framework for teachers based on the feedback provided during the national validation meeting.

4.1 Specific tasks
The consultant will work with UNESCO and relevant government officials from MoE, TCZ, TSC, members of the established technical committee. The consultant will also regularly consult/engage education experts from Corporating partners and civil society organisations working on teacher education issues in the education sector. Basis on the specific objectives above, the consultant will undertake the following specific tasks:
i. Review and synthesize the current version of the national CPD framework, relevant reports and the existing teacher documents to identify areas to be captured by the Continuous Professional Development Framework and harmonization with other teacher development policies, existing CPD guidelines developed with support from other corporation partners and the National teacher training strategy being developed with support from UNICEF
ii. Identify the roles of key government institutions such as TESS, TCZ and partners regarding the implementation and regulation of CPD programmes and activities in the Zambian education sector
iii. Strengthen linkages between national CPD framework and standards of practice for the teaching profession in Zambia supported by UNESCO under the CapED Programme
iv. Identify and outline mechanisms about how CPD for teachers should be effectively coordinated for improved implementation within the existing structures at all levels of the education system in the country
v. Review and outline mechanisms for strengthening regulation of CPD activities at all levels of the education system in Zambia
vi. Outline mechanisms within the national CPD framework to guide the approval or certification of CPD programmes, activities and services for teachers offered by all stakeholders working in the education sector
vii. Identify and review mechanisms for annually assessing and evaluating CPD activities to ensure that they are responsive to the pedagogical and professional needs of the teachers for improved learning outcomes at all levels of the education system
iv. Review and structure the CPD credit point system to be applied used for various CPD activities undergone by teachers and ensure that it is well aligned with the set standards of practice for the teaching profession and expectable international, regional and national standards for CPD accreditation for teachers at all levels. More weight will be given to school based CPD which does not take away teachers from their daily teaching duties and responsibilities
v. Support UNESCO in presenting the newly synthesized version of the national CPD framework during the national validation workshop. This workshop will provide an opportunity to key stakeholders to provide comments
vi. Present the draft framework to the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders for feedback for validation
vii. Finalize the CPD framework based on the feedback provided by stakeholders during the national validation workshop including comments provided by UNESCO CapED team
viii. viii. Develop and submit a power point presentation highlighting key aspects of the National CPD framework for teachers in Zambia

5.0 Qualifications, work experience and desired skills
Specifically, the individual national consultant is expected to be a dynamic education expert and able to meet the following aspects of the selection criteria:
i. Minimum of master’s degree in education with bias on teacher education, education policy analysis, pre-service and in-service teacher training or related field
ii. Minimum 7 years of work experiences in executing educational research, development of education sector policies and frameworks and policies, conceptualizing, designing, or managing projects in education, particularly in teacher’s continuing professional development
iii. Good understanding of the education sector landscape in Zambia specifically teacher education, curriculum development and teaching pedagogies
iv. Demonstrate working knowledge of laws and practices relevant to teacher policies including understanding and application of continuously professional development for teachers’ policy concepts, methodologies and tools
v. Good analytical and report writing skills and clear roles of each team member for the study well-presented along with their CVs proven knowledge of various qualitative and quantitative methodologies
vi. Proven experience and ability to communicate, negotiate and work closely with the government counterparts and education partners
vii. Proof of experience in collecting data in schools and a good knowledge of the associated practical and ethical considerations
viii. Experience with using electronic data collection tools and strong experience in data analysis using statistical techniques, formulas, and calculations to help draw inferences and conclusions
ix. Strong oral and written communication skills in English within and similar work experience in African regions would be considered a plus
x. Previous consultancy work experience with UNESCO or another UN institution, or any other international agencies would be an asset.

6.0 Timeline and expected deliverables:
In line with above specifics tasks, the individual consultant will be expected to submit the following deliverables as specified below. The contract will be valid for 30 working days 15th September to 31st December, 2024. The following are the main deliverables and timelines:
i. Submission of inception report clearly articulating the understating of the assignment and detailed plan of how the tasks will be executed with clear timelines by 30th September 2024
ii. Submission of the synthesized national CPD framework for teachers with harmonization with teacher development policies, existing CPD guidelines developed and other teacher training policies and strategies by 30th November 2024
iii. Submission of the validated version of the national CPD framework for teachers with incorporating feedback provided during the national validation workshop incorporated by 31 December 2024.
iv. Submission of a summary report of the process with a Power Point presentation of the key aspects of the national CPD framework by 31 December 2024.

7.0 Contract management
The consultant final accountability will be with UNESCO. Under the direct supervision of the CapED National Coordinator based in Lusaka, Zambia and the overall supervision by the Head of Education Unit from UNESCO ROSA, the consultancy team will work in close collaboration with the global coordination team of the CapED Programme, including the Section for Teacher Development (TED) and UNESCO’s International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA).
The consultant team will work closely with MoE particularly, Directorate of Teacher Education and Specialized Services, Directorate of Finance, Directorate of Human Resources, Teaching Council of Zambia, Teaching Service Commission, Teacher Associations. Additionally, the national consultant will engage and collaborate with members of the national technical and steering committee and different education stakeholders and partners and Cooperating partners and Civil Society Organizations as need arise.

8.0 Deadline for submission of application
Interested persons/individual consultants may submit their applications with CVs to UNESCO using the following email addresses: k.mwila@unesco.org by 23rd August 2024.