Senior Education Research Advisor at Teaching at the Right Level Africa – July 2025

Major roles and responsibilities:

Ensure high quality R&D learning cycles for innovations and improvement studies   for learning labs and implementation research (40%)

• Collaborate with PD&P team closely on innovations and pedagogical cutting edge research, advising on best practices in the education and innovation sectors for design and learning such as human-centered design principles
• Contribute substantively to PD&P-led innovations design and improvement activities
• Create systematic processes for efficient, high quality and iterative learning across innovation learning labs, program implementation / improvement research, and pilot studies
• Ensure quality and timeliness of learning processes for innovations and implementation projects by contributing to key points in R&D learning cycle and reviewing staff outputs
• Provide technical assistance on instrument design / measurement, learning plans, analysis techniques, and dissemination / learning activities
• Oversee global systems of data collection, storage, ethics, and knowledge management associated with innovations data collection and learning R&D cycles

Provide organization-wide technical guidance on education measurement and design for cutting-edge research and learning practices, and lead special projects (30%)

Stay abreast of and lead activities related to new education measurements and research design such as:

• Learning outcomes measurement beyond standard deviation (LAYS, etc)
• Classroom-based teaching, learning and observation measurements
• Global proficiency framework and other measures of educational competencies
• Psychometrics and measurement practices for TaRL Africa research and learning
• Build standard tools, measures and training guidelines for use across all departments
• Review research, learning & innovation survey instruments for quality and consistency
• Backstop key research, learning & innovation projects for technical or program coordination support as needed

Maintain up-to-date understanding of innovative education research and learning evidence in global education and disseminate internally to influence cutting-edge practices in TaRL Africa (10%)

• Build a deep understanding of evidence base for multi-lingual literacy and learning acquisition, early grades, adult learning, edtech and other components of TaRL Africa’s innovations, working closely with PD&P technical specialists
• Contribute to design and improvement of TaRL programs by incorporating in evidence base

Build and maintain improved knowledge management and quality assurance strategy, processes and practices across TaRL Africa in research and innovations learning (10%)

• Conduct regular capacity building initiatives for education research including designing new materials for staff use
• Create knowledge products such as insight notes, blogs, publications and
• Create or improve tools, templates and processes associated with educational research design, implementation, quality assurance and learning for global uptake
• Write and share results of education research, innovation & implementation learning with the global education community
• Participate in external technical working groups and internal special focus groups

Management, team support, fundraising and other activities as needed (10%)

• Provide key thought partnership to RLE Director, Research Lead, Innovations Lead, and programs team members to improve education research and innovations at TaRL Africa
• Directly contribute to operational and administrative tasks associated with innovations and research such as procurement of survey firms, enumerator training
• Lead or support innovations and research fundraising, proposal and grant management
• Directly or indirectly support one or more Associates conducting innovations research or learning lab activities

Requirements:

• Master’s degree in education economics, psychology, public policy, statistics or other relevant quantitative field plus 7-10 years related work experience; or
• PhD plus 5 years related work experience.
• An advanced degree in education is strongly preferred and should include quantitative coursework.