Company Profile

Universal kindergarten (KG) education, ages four to six, was introduced in Ghana in 2007, adding two years of compulsory KG education to the primary school system. While a great achievement, equivalent gains were not made in the quality of education and learning experiences in classrooms, meaning young children are still experiencing poor learning outcomes at a critical stage of their development.

Sabre Education was founded in 2004 with an aim to give every child the best possible start through quality early years education. Sabre is an award-winning early childhood education charity, working in close partnership with the Government of Ghana to deliver Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.2 on universal access to quality pre-primary education. We do this through:

Transformational Teacher Training: carried out in direct partnership with the Ghana Education Service and Universities & Colleges of Education, we support the delivery of high-quality play-based teacher training to in-service teachers, head teachers, GES district officers and student teachers. The teacher training content is fully aligned with the Ghanaian Government’s play-based kindergarten curriculum. To date, Sabre has trained over 8,500 kindergarten teachers, head teachers and student teachers, as well as 594 GES officers in three regions of Ghana, and as a result over 122,990 four and five year old children are benefiting from play-based learning.

Creating Playful Schools/ Improving the Learning Environment: we promote the construction and renovation of school complexes to ensure young children have innovative kindergarten facilities for play-based teaching and learning.

Advocacy & Influencing: As a leading voice for early years education, Sabre has been influential in the ECE sector in Ghana for 18 years. Over these years, Sabre has contributed to the development of a 5-year Operational Plan for National Scale Up of Best Practices in Kindergarten; provided technical expertise, training materials and methodology during the revision of the Kindergarten Curriculum; contributed technical expertise, training materials and methodology toward the development of the Bachelor of Education (Early Grades); and contributed to the development of a new policy and plan for ECE by the MOE and GES with technical and funding support from UNICEF.

Ghana is a leader in early childhood education in Africa, and is currently poised to nationally scale teacher training in this new play based kindergarten curriculum. There is significant momentum towards this goal, with Sabre playing an important leadership role in the ECE sector in support of government’s ambitious agenda.

Job Description

• Job Title: Learning Manager (Research, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning)
• Job Location: Elmina, KEEA Municipality, Central Region with regular travel to Sekondi-Takoradi, Western Region
• Reporting to: Chief Operating Officer and member of Ghana Management team

MAIN ROLE / PURPOSE

The Sabre Trust is a development organisation working in close collaboration with the local education authorities in the Central and Western Regions to support the implementation of the Ghana Education Service's plans to scale up quality kindergarten education nationwide. The Sabre Trust believes that education empowers people to improve socioeconomic conditions for their families, communities, country, and future generations. Through the opportunities that only education can provide, we strive to break the cycle of poverty, one child at a time, through early intervention in Kindergarten to support the Ghanaian government in achieving Sustainable Development Goal #4: to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education opportunities for all. 

Sabre's Transformational Teacher Training (TTT) programme is an innovative approach preparing student teachers for their teaching postings, using a network of model classrooms and mentor teachers, as well as training in service teachers. In addition, our Building Better Schools (BBS) programme constructs safe, sustainable, child-centred kindergarten complexes and external learning spaces.  

The main role of the Learning Manager is to manage all elements of research, monitoring, evaluation, analysis and learning relating to the Sabre Trust’s programmes across the Central and Western Regions, and potential new regions, and to ensure that activities are carried out on time and to the highest standard.

Data collection, collation and analysis

• Understand and communicate project-specific learning activities (log frames) to the wider Learning team and Sabre staff in general
• Ensure that all data outlined in the project-specific learning templates is collected and collated in a timely manner according to work plan
• Be responsible for regular analyses of data (qualitative and quantitative) for reporting as well as specific research or analytical projects identified by Sabre.
• Develop electronic data collection and analysis strategy incorporating the use of tablets and smart phones, and appropriate qualitative and quantitate analytical software. 
• Develop quality assurance tools and carry out quality assurance reviews for our work with implementing partners in Ghana and other countries.

Reporting

• Lead on the collation of internal monthly reports of our training and construction programme as well as HR and Finance issues to (i) inform the team's activities; (ii) feed into periodic reports for funders and partners.
• Liaise closely with the External Stakeholder Manager and Fundraising Team in the UK to ensure that all stakeholder reporting is carried out in a timely manner, and to the highest quality as specified by the individual partners

Supervise the Learning team to:

• Design, implement, and manage programme-specific research, monitoring, evaluation and learning systems. These include, but are not limited to the Teacher Monitoring Tool, Trainer Monitoring Tool, and the Pupil Achievement Records, and should be expanded to include more effective monitoring of the BBS programme.
• Synthesize and analyze data and write summary reports
• Regularly update and maintain the internal Learning report for internal reference, collation of key learning and developing programme activities.
• Update the indicator tracking tool on an ongoing basis.
• Liaise with GES Officers to share data and plan field monitoring of participants on the programme.
• Undertake the collection, collation and analysis of field data to monitor progress of participants on the TTT programme, providing regular feedback to the Regional Education Project Managers, including catalogued photographic evidence of change in KG classrooms, both indoors and outdoors from pre-programme to end of programme.
• Collect and analyse College of Education exam results and grades.
• Maintain contact with a selected number of student teachers who complete the programme and carry out the Teacher Monitoring Tool to monitor their implementation of the programme as newly posted teachers.
• In addition, support other office administration and teacher training activities where necessary.
• Develop and manage the annual research agenda.

Programme Strategy & Organisational Structure:

• Supervise the Learning team with staff located out of the Central and Western region offices and potentially other parts of Ghana.
• The Learning Manager will organise and lead Learning-related meetings as often as he/she sees fit, and ensure that Programme Managers are made aware of important issues.
• Attend senior management meetings when appropriate, and contribute to the development of the overall programme strategy.
• Support the work of the independent impact assessments and other consultants as necessary
• Support the Chief Operating Officer in developing a programme expansion strategy
• Develop and manage the professional development of the Learning team
• Develop and manage the Learning team’s budget
• Network with other non-profits running similar programs to find areas of collaboration and knowledge sharing

Required Skills or Experience

• Degree in education or a related field (such as, program evaluation, research methods, or statistics), masters preferred.
• Minimum 5years’ experience in monitoring and evaluation with at least 3 years with an international organization
• Proven previous experience in leading and conducting research, monitoring and evaluation, and analysis preferably in education
• Strong technical competence in research, monitoring and evaluation methods
• For Ghanaian Nationals only
• Strong analytical skills and report writing
• Strong quantitative and qualitative analysis skills, with proven ability to work with technology for data collection and analytical data software packages such as Stata/SPSS/SAS and qualitative data analysis software
• Excellent computer knowledge with command on MS Excel among other packages of MS Office
• Excellent English language skills
• Proven track record of achieving results
• Good interpersonal skills and a strong team player
• Able to thrive in a non-hierarchal work environment
• International work experience a plus

The Sabre Trust offers a competitive salary. The non-monetary compensation includes a unique opportunity to be part of an innovative, meaningful, fun, and growing organization transforming kindergartens across Ghana. In addition to flexibility, your job will evolve as quickly as the company scales. That means you’ll constantly be learning new things and figuring out where you find the most satisfaction.