Тендер на проведення дослідження впровадження реформи Нової Української Школи. Дедлайн - 11 травня 2020 р.

Learning Together is a four-year collaborative project between Ukraine and Finland. The project is funded by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the European Commission. The Finnish consortium in charge of the project implementation is led by FCG International Ltd. The project started in August 2018 and will continue till July 2022.

The project focuses on supporting the New Ukrainian School (NUS) reform, especially in the primary education, and is designed around three main clusters and cross-cutting elements. These clusters are (1) teacher preparation, (2) education promotion, and (3) education environment.

Learning together is now seeking to contract a qualified and experienced research organization which could carry out annual follow up studies about the perception of the NUS and impact of it among the schools (Cluster 2 Output C2 -4.4). The purpose of these Terms of Reference (TOR) is to call for competitive service providers to carry out this research. This assignment focuses on carrying out research and monitoring of Effectiveness of New Ukrainian School Reform Implementation and produce reliable data about the reform on which the decision makers can rely and further develop the implementation activities.  

1. 1.     Introduction

The NUS reform started in 100 pilot schools in  September 2018. In those schools all first-graders followed a new education standard, curriculum and teaching methods. New education environments were developed, and teachers were trained for new teaching approaches.

In 2019, the Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) launched a study to find out impacts of the NUS reform in everyday teaching and learning. The study aimed also at finding out the perceptions of  3^rd grade teachers, 3^rd grade students, school principals and parents about the school reform. A total of 25 pilot schools and 124 regular schools were sampled to participate in this study.  For further implementation of the reform, it is planned to carry out follow-up studies on an annual basis.

1. 2.     Objective

We are looking for an experienced and reliable research organization which can conduct and report  the two waves of the NUS reform monitoring study in 2020 and in 2021. The major goal of these studies is to support decision makers by providing reliable data about the level of implementation and communication of NUS. This includes also pragmatic recommendations how to further enhance the implementation. 

The main research question is: What is the level of implementation of NUS contents in the schools?  Thus, the study should focus on educational contents, teaching approaches and knowledge, skills and competences that students learn.

3. Scope of Work

  The Service Provider will be contracted to:

Design, implement, analyze and report the follow-up/monitoring studies about the effectivenes of New Ukrainian School Reform Implementation for the next two cycles, including:

• Develop the research tools (e.g. interview and observation) based on MOES 2019 study.
• Develop the survey design (a representative sample of schools so that geographical, administrative-territorial, and school type related factors will be considered).
• Develop a technical report
• Pilot the study instruments and procedures.
• Training of the evaluation experts who will carry out school visits.
• Organize the data collection.
• Analyze the data
• Produce study reports for various targeted audiences. (MOES, Schools, Teachers,  Parents, Students, General public)

The first data collection should start in September 2020.

The first analytical report should be ready by January 2021

The second  data collection and reporting should take place a year later, In September 2021 and by January 2022 respectively.

The supervision of work will be carried out by the  Project Learning Together,  MOES and Reform Support Team (RST) staff members.

Targeted groups: 3 grade teachers, 3 grade pupils, parents, school principals, local educational administrations.

4. Expected Deliverables

The Service Provider will submit the following deliverables:

4.1. Analytical framework (Description about the data which will be collected in the survey, for what purpose, why it is important to collect those and how these things will be reported, where and to whom).

4.2. Development of study tools in English and Ukrainian (about 50% of the instruments will be stay the same in successive study cycles) including piloting. The questionnaires should include items for measuring NUS Reform Perception Key Performance Indicators as set in the Communication Strategy 2019-2022 of MoES (understanding of the reform, understanding of particular messages of the campaigns, acceptance of the reform in the target groups).

4.3. Development of study procedures including piloting.

4.2. Technical report, where study design, including sampling, weights, QM procedures, data collection procedures, and studies of the functionality of the items (IRT- scanning) will be explained in detail in Ukrainian and English.

4.3. Implementation of the studies in 2020 and 2021.

4.4. Inputting the data, cleaning the data, in the created databank (excel/SPSS) with Ukrainian and English labels.

4.5. Analyzing the data and producing results (tables and figures) accordingly to Analytical framework described in 4.1. including calculation of the NUSH Reform Perception Key Performance Indicators.

4.6. Draw up recommendations based on the collected data for decision makers and various groups of  targeted audience.

4.7. Write summary reports to targeted audiences in close collaboration with MOES, RST and Learning Together project in Ukrainian and English.

5. Budget

The maximum Grand Total Budget for the assignment is 75,000 €. The budget, details of the assignment, terms and conditions will be specified in the contract between the FCG International Ltd (Contractor) and the Service Provider. Payment milestones will be based on the acceptance of the key deliverables by the Project Management Team.

6. Submission requirements

The Proposal must include the following:

6.1 A Technical Proposal not exceeding 10 pages in length including the intended approach and the planned activities in the management of the undertaking, including an example of analytical framework and, description about item development,  operational work plan with timelines and plan how the quality of the work will be monitored. Risk analysis should be also included.

6.2 Breakdown of costs

The budget breakdown must include two separate sections: “Fees of experts” and “Other Costs”. The fees shall be defined on rates based on working days or working months. Other Costs must be broken down to correspond the Technical Proposal and Work Plan. The Budget Breakdown must be in Euros.

6.3 The Curriculum Vitae of the consultant and each member of the team.

6.4. Official documents proving the status of the organization and the document proving the financial capacity (annual turnover and profit/loss) of the organization.

Copies of registration documents (including a copy of the certificates of state registration of legal entities which the Participant plans to apply for the provision of services, a copy of the tax certificate; an Extract from the Statute indicating the activities).

Other relevant supporting material may be attached as an annex. 

The Proposal must be in English.

7. Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated based on Quality (90% weight) and Price (10% weight).

The quality of the proposal will be evaluated based on the following:

Organization:

• Previous experience in similar assignments, at least one implemented nationwide study /research, preferably in the education sector
• Proven knowledge of sampling and weighting.
• Knowledge of Item Response Theory (IRT)- scanning
• Proven knowledge of the education sector or related field

The Service Provider’s team’s qualifications:

• A minimum of five years of professional experience in education research area, monitoring or in another related field
• Experience of working with Ukrainian governmental organizations (in providing the social oriented surveys)
• Capability and proven experience in developing and executing all-Ukrainian monitoring, survey , research
• Ability and proven experience in taking initiative and working effectively under pressure
• Excellent written, oral and interpersonal skills; excellent communication skills in Ukrainian and English. A proficiency in English is a must.
• Familiarity with the New Ukrainian School reform

Technical Proposal:

• The quality of proposed study set up and item development procedures
• The quality of proposed technical operations
• The quality of the data collection procedures
• The quality of Piloting procedures
• Description of the relevance of the approach and implementation methodology
• The level of Planned Quality control procedures
• The relevance of the risk analysis
• The quality of sample material (study reports, analysis, technical reports) from the previous work.

An interview, where the best candidates  will be invited, consists of 30 minutes presentation and 15 minutes for Q&A.

8. Deadline for Proposals

The timeline of the tender is as follows:

1. All tenderers are requested to indicate their interest to submit their proposal by 29.04via email ([email protected]).
2. In case the tenderers want to have further clarification on the competition, written questions must be sent via email ([email protected]) by 04.05.2020.
3. All tenderers will be provided with answers to all clarification requests by 07.05.2020.
4. The final application must be submitted by 11.05.2020 via email to [email protected].

Please note that all written communication must be in English. Further instructions for the tender are given only from the email mentioned above. Advice obtained from other sources may be disregarded in the tender evaluation.