Specialist, Program Design and Pedagogy (Bilingual)

⚠️ Recruitment Fraud Alert:

TaRL Africa does not charge any fees at any stage of the recruitment process. Be aware of fraudulent messages offering job opportunities in exchange for money or “codes.” All official communication will come from @tarlafrica.org email addresses. If in doubt, contact us at recruitment@tarlafrica.org.

Position: Specialist, Program Design and Pedagogy (Bilingual)

Reports to: Director, Program Design and Pedagogy

Languages: Fluency in English and French required; Portuguese is an added advantage

Location: Zambia, Kenya, South Africa or any other Sub-Saharan African country

Deadline: 24th June 2026

About TaRL Africa 

TaRL Africa initiative is hosted by Empower Learning Africa, a not-for-profit organisation registered and headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, with teams in Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Malawi, Ethiopia and Zambia. TaRL Africa began as a joint venture by Pratham and J-PAL in 2019, with the goal of supporting governments and organisations across Africa to accelerate children’s foundational skill acquisition using the evidence-based “Teaching at the Right Level” (TaRL) approach. TaRL Africa's vision is for every child across Africa to have foundational skills so that they can have a better future. Our mission is to ensure public education systems effectively equip children with these foundational skills. 

We support governments and organisations in over 19 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to design, deliver and scale impactful TaRL programmes while learning and sharing how the approach can be improved for different contexts. Together with partners, TaRL Africa has reached over 7 million children with TaRL programming. 

About the role 

TaRL Africa seeks a dedicated and innovative Specialist, Program Design and Pedagogy to significantly contribute to the enhancement of learning outcomes for school children across Africa. This central team role is crucial for supporting the strategic development, continual improvement, and contextualization of foundational literacy and numeracy components within TaRL programs across multiple countries with a focus on Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria. The Specialists will play a key role in ensuring that TaRL's pedagogical approaches and content are at the forefront of evidence-based practices, responsive to diverse contexts, and scalable for widespread impact.

Main Responsibilities:

1. Contribute to Foundational Learning Expertise and Innovation:

• Work closely with the central Program Design, Pedagogy, and Innovation team to develop a deep understanding of the TaRL approach and learn techniques for providing instructional support for both numeracy and literacy content across various contexts.
• Strengthen the effectiveness of central programmatic guidance through practical insights from classroom implementation, resulting in directly demonstrable improvements in student foundational skills.
• Identify and document innovative teaching practices observed across TaRL projects in various African countries.

• Lead the Development and Refinement of Pedagogical Content and Resources.

• Work with central and local content teams to continually refine and improve teaching and learning resources and techniques by synthesizing classroom insights, researching, and testing new materials and classroom techniques that respond to challenges identified through data and experience across countries.
• Collaborate with curriculum experts, subject-matter experts, and relevant government officials to reflect on content and materials, guiding adaptations and contextualization as required for diverse country contexts.
• Support the alignment of literacy and numeracy components to achieve program objectives, outcomes, and work plans across TaRL Africa's portfolio.

• Build Capacity and Provide Training Guidance

• Identify learning opportunities to strengthen the capacity of the central and country teams, including insights from the latest education literature.
• Work with appropriate government officials and TaRL Content Team colleagues to design, organize, and support/lead training/workshops at a regional or country level, providing central expertise.
• Provide quality assurance of training and mentoring of teachers (pre- and in-service teachers) by Master Trainers and Teacher Trainer/Mentors across different programs.

• Support Management of Central Relationships and Multi-Country Programs

• Support the management of key relationships with stakeholders in national education systems, Universal Basic Education Boards, Local Government Education Authorities, as well as other development partners, operating from a central and country level.
• Develop and maintain a strong relationship with the Central and country-specific TaRL teams, and extend support to new TaRL programs in West Africa and other African countries.
• Support report creation for programs across multiple states and at the national level, contributing to central reporting requirements.

     Education and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree, Master's in Education (Subject teaching methods) or relevant field such as Curriculum Design, Educational Psychology, International Education, or a related social science discipline with a strong focus on pedagogy and learning.
• A minimum of five (5) years' experience working within the education sector, with a strong background in curriculum development, instructional design, or teacher professional development, preferably in a multi-country or large-scale program context.
• Experience working within a structured pedagogy program is a plus.
• Excellent command of written and spoken English & French (Portuguese is a plus).
• Excellent presentation and facilitation skills.
• Openness to learning and creative non-traditional approaches to teaching and facilitation.

TaRL Africa Values

1. We place children's learning first.
2. We are always learning, improving, and innovating.
3. We are locally rooted for high-quality delivery and sustainable impact.
4. We are kind, respectful and collaborative.
5. We are proactive, committed to integrity and doing our best each day.

This job description covers the main tasks and conveys the spirit of the sort of tasks that are anticipated proactively from staff. Other tasks may be assigned as necessary according to organizational needs.

TaRL Africa provides a nationally peer-benchmarked compensation package aligned with organizational salary scales, taking into account both qualifications and professional experience.

TaRL Africa is an equal-opportunity employer committed to having a diverse workforce.