Senior Assessment Lead

Job Title: Senior Assessment Lead
Location: Doha, Qatar
Contract duration: 1-year contract with the possibility of extension
Reporting to: Head of Assessment Programmes
Travel: The position will require occasional travel to locations in the field
Open to: Residents of Qatar

DRS is looking, on behalf of our client, for an INGO, Senior Assessment Lead, an experienced professional interested in the Qatari or wider middle eastern education systems. The role involves delivering on a large-scale, complex project transforming the national assessment system in Qatar. It will require working closely with the client, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Qatar, and the wider project team.

More about the role:

• This senior role will require a high level of collaboration across the teams based in Qatar and the UK and deploying and utilizing a pool of diverse consultants to deliver the highest quality deliverables for our client.
• This role provides the ‘face’ of the organization’s assessment expertise and will require a high level of autonomy and influencing skills to succeed.
• The role will involve reviewing the ‘as is state’ of the assessment system in Qatar to enable a gap analysis report to be provided to the Ministry.
• This will require defining and coordinating these assessment-related activities to enable the gap analysis, such as reviewing assessment procedures and conducting stakeholder interviews and school visits.
• It will involve a large amount of consultation and collaboration across all stakeholders to revise the assessment framework, ensuring the appropriate assessments are selected across the assessment landscape and that the tools, processes and procedures are developed accordingly.
• Standard setting methodologies and measurement models will need to be discussed and decided upon, as well as reporting results to various stakeholders.
• An understanding of the various options open to the Ministry for the various assessments within their new framework will be key, as well as a clear articulation of the pros and cons of the options so that the client can make informed choices.
• The expert should be able to identify capacity development opportunities and develop the capacity of the Ministry on certain assessment-related topics.

Key Areas of Responsibility:

• Lead a team of assessment specialists (mainly consultants) to ensure the development and delivery of results as stated in the contract.
• Oversee the assessment-related delivery of the project, ensuring technical quality standards are met.
• Establish, develop and maintain close working partnerships with the Qatari Ministry across the life of projects. These will include Ministers, under Secretaries, and Directors of departments within the Ministry, specifically those responsible for developing and delivering assessments.
• Plan, develop and review strategies to ensure that the new assessment system and related documentation agreed upon with the Ministry is fit for purpose, appropriate for the Qatari context and technically sound.
• New specifications, specimen assessment materials, support materials and training programme materials are developed to the highest quality and timescales specified by the division, partners, and clients for specific projects.
• Oversee and lead the design and delivery of specific assessments or assessment-related documentation identified in the new assessment framework, for example, test specifications, sample question papers and item writer guidelines.
• Developing the assessment capacity of the ministry personnel to ensure continuity of reform over time.
• Ensure scope creep is identified and managed through the project manager and that the technical deliverables are delivered to the highest quality within the agreed timeframes.
• Regularly reporting back to the Head of Assessment Programmes to ensure coherence of the assessment-related work throughout the lifecycle of a project.

Qualifications and competencies:

Education

• A University degree.
• Knowledge of assessment in education.
• Knowledge of international education.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and Arabic.

Experience

• Minimum 10 years experience in education
• Qatar/Middle East education and assessment systems
• Assessment
• Education reform
• Stakeholder management
• Programme management
• Working to quality standards
• Public speaking
• Teaching in schools

Skills

• Excellent communication skills – verbal and written (in Arabic and English)
• Collaboration
• Strategic planning and insight
• A positive ‘can do’ attitude coupled with the ability to produce creative and workable solutions to problems
• Excellent organizational and planning skills
• Highly proactive
• High level of attention to detail
• Ability to self-manage
• Ability to priorities
• Negotiation skills
• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines.

Behaviours

• Achieving: being responsive, decisive and accountable to further our mission.
• Inspiring: role models optimism, motivation and authenticity.
• Inclusive: curious, open-minded, and ready to learn from others.
• Trusted and trusting: enables individuals, teams and organisations to collaborate with integrity.
• Confidence with humility: has confidence in her/his abilities, with the willingness to learn and adapt.

Desirable:

• Post-graduate qualification in educational assessment, the management or project management
• Teaching qualification

Please note that this position is only open to candidates with Qatar citizenship or other legal authorization to work in Qatar.