Global Education Specialist

Location: Cambodia, Nepal, or Madagascar (based in the country of the successful candidate) with travel to other country offices

Contract: Full-time, permanent (renewable)

Salary: Competitive, based on experience

Apply by: 3rd August 2025

Interviews: First round - week commencing 11th August 2025

About UWS

UWS is an award-winning global organisation bringing community-centric education models to the world's most remote populations. Since 2008, we've built and developed 320 schools, providing quality education to over 80,000 children across Cambodia, Madagascar, Myanmar, and Nepal. Shifting our focus from delivering short-term change to empowering long-term change, we go beyond educating the future to changing it.

Our vision is Zero Education Poverty - a world where every child can reach their full potential through quality education.

The Role

We are seeking an experienced Global Education Specialist to help deliver our vision of Zero Education Poverty. This brand-new role in our global programmes team will be instrumental in shaping and leading our FLN and remedial learning approaches across all UWS countries. 

You will work closely with programme teams to design, test and scale evidence-informed teaching and learning strategies, lead innovation in remedial learning (including TaRL approaches), and build the capacity of educators and school leaders to deliver impactful instruction for early learners.

Key Tasks and Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Adaptive Learning

• Serve as a key contributor to operationalising the UWS education strategy, with particular responsibility for ensuring alignment between programme design and the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) outcomes necessary to achieve our vision.

• Translate local insights and practitioner feedback into high-level, programmatic recommendations that bridge the gap between country-specific contexts and global priorities.

• Foster a culture of adaptive implementation by surfacing learning loops that influence both global strategy and country-level operational planning.

Pedagogical Design & Innovation

• Design and contextualise FLN pedagogies that reflect global evidence and local realities.

• Develop learning materials and instructional tools for early primary grades, blending structured pedagogy, play-based learning, and inclusive approaches in collaboration with GESSI lead.

• Integrate remedial learning strategies—particularly TaRL—into the core instructional model, with age-appropriate assessments and group-based instruction.

• Collaborate with programme teams to embed differentiated instruction into daily classroom practice and learning spaces.

Remedial Learning Leadership

• Co-create TaRL-aligned diagnostic tools and facilitation guides tailored for each UWS country.

• Design and implement short, high-impact remedial learning cycles for learners lagging behind grade-level expectations.

• Support field teams in analysing assessment data to group learners by ability and track progress over time.

• Build internal capacity to scale remedial learning approaches across formal and nonformal education settings.

Capacity Building & Training

• Develop and deliver modular training on FLN and remedial pedagogies for teacher trainers, educators, and community facilitators.

• Establish mentoring and coaching mechanisms for teachers, school leadership and communities that reinforce adaptive instructional practices.

• Integrate reflective learning cycles for teachers and school leadership to evaluate and adjust their approaches.

Evidence Generation & Applied Research

• Coordinate with MEAL teams to design robust measurements of learning gains and behavioural outcomes.

• Utilise data from pilots and implementations to refine pedagogical frameworks and enhance quality.

• Contribute to organisational learning through briefs, presentations, and cross-country knowledge sharing.

Collaboration & External Engagement

• Offer strategic technical support to national education leads across the four countries.

• Contribute to donor proposals and reporting, showcasing FLN results and innovation in remediation.

• Represent UWS in sectoral networks focused on foundational learning and equitable education.

Candidate Specifications

You’re an experienced education specialist with a track record in early-grade teaching, FLN, and remedial learning. You know how to design inclusive pedagogies and train teachers in low-resource settings. You’re data-savvy, collaborative, and passionate about making learning work for every child.

Every individual at UWS needs to be able to:

• Be committed to UWS's vision, mission and values and apply them in their daily behaviour and work.

• Be committed to undertaking UWS’s safeguarding training and adhering to relevant policies, to ensure everyone who comes into contact with UWS is as safe as possible.

Experience, Knowledge and Competencies 

Essential

• Graduate qualification in Education, International Development, or a related field

• 5+ years’ experience in early-grade pedagogy, with proven success in FLN acceleration and/or remedial learning interventions

• Strong track record in capacity building and training across diverse, low-resource contexts

• Familiarity with instructional design and formative assessment in multilingual or fragile settings

• Strong command over MS 365 packages

• Excellent reporting and communication skills (fluency in English).

Desirable

• Previous experience working across Asia or Africa in education development

• Knowledge of SEL, inclusion, or climate-resilient learning approaches

• Candidates with prior exposure to multilingual education strategies and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles

• Experience co-developing frameworks with ministries or education officials

Attributes and Values

• Deep belief in every child’s right to quality foundational learning

• Agile mindset and comfort navigating diverse cultural and operational environments

• Excellent facilitation, coaching, and communication skills

• Collaborative team player with a strategic, learner-first approach

Apply Now

Send your CV and a cover letter (max. 2 pages) outlining your suitability to recruitment@uwsglobal.net by 3rd August 2025. Additionally, please include your salary expectations as part of your application.

UWS is committed to the safeguarding of children, and ensuring we recruit safely is central to this commitment. All applicants will be required to undertake a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check (or country equivalent background check) as a condition of employment. Shortlisted candidates will also be required to complete a self-declaration form, disclosing any relevant convictions, cautions, or pending investigations.

UWS is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to treating all applicants fairly. We actively promote diversity and inclusion and encourage applications from underrepresented groups. We oppose all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

In line with our commitment to recognising and investing in talent across our global network, this vacancy is being advertised in Cambodia, Nepal and Madagascar. The successful candidate will be appointed and based in the country where the strongest candidate is located, ensuring equitable opportunity across the UWS family.

All successful candidates must satisfactorily complete a 3-month probation period.