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OPEN CALL FOR PROCURING SERVICES TO DEVELOP AN ONLINE COURSE FOR IMPROVING THE QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHING EMPLOYEES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIGITAL COMPETENCE

TERMS OF REFERENCE

The project “Finland’s Support to the Ukrainian School Reform”, known as “Learning Together”, seeks to enter into a contract with a qualified and experienced service provider, a private company or other relevant organization, to design and prepare an online teacher training course on information and communication technologies in secondary education, as described in this Terms of Reference.

Background

The project “Finland’s Support to the Ukrainian School Reform”, known as “Learning Together”, is a multi-year development co-operation project (2018-2023), which is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the EU. The project is implemented by the Finnish Consulting Group FCG (former FCG International) and supports the New Ukrainian School (NUS) reform in the sphere of primary and general secondary education. The project contributes to three interlinked result areas: Improving teaching and administration in schools (Cluster 1); education promotion (Cluster 2) and learning environment (Cluster 3). Inclusive education for all is a crosscutting element of the project.

The Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 and russian federation’s full-scale aggression and invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 have brought extraordinary challenges to the Ukrainian education. The issues of accelerated modernization of education – the use of the latest technologies in creating educational content and carrying out the educational process have become more important than ever. Ukrainian teachers today need in-service training to teach students in the format of distance and blended learning. Unfortunately, teachers’ qualifications in this area require significant transformation and development. The MoES has developed and approved the In-service Teacher Training Framework Program for Development of Digital Competence. In order to reach the objectives set, based on the MoES program, the project implements the training program for teachers “Basic Course of Teachers’ ICT Competencies”.

Scope, objective and schedule of the assignment

This Terms of Reference (TOR) contains a description of the task of developing an online course for professional development of teaching staff on the development of their digital competencies, as well as instructions for submitting proposals.

The objective is to design and prepare a modular online course, the purpose of which is to equip teachers – primary and basic secondary school teachers – with the competencies necessary for enhancing information and communication abilities and skills to design modern lessons for distance and blended learning formats.

Schedule: The estimated duration of the assignment will be approximately 4 months (preparation, conducting and reporting) starting from the commencement date of the work. The work is expected to start by mid-December 2022.

Requirements for the expected result

• The expected output deliverable – the online teacher training course on digital competencies – is intended to be flexible for self-studying in terms of online delivery and enrolment.

• When a teacher completes the entire modular course, a certificate will be issued (1 ECTS credit – 30 study hours). 

• The online course will be based on the MoES program endorsed in 2022. Accordingly, the structure of the online course should consist of 6 modules organized around 14 topics (see Annex 1).

• The content of the online course should be validated with a needs assessment by the Service Provider. 

• Learning materials for each of the 14 themes should consist of: (i) a video, (ii) additional information to the theme and (iii) 3-4 testing questions for self-assessment. The course participants should be able to use them several times.
• The online course should include a final test with 24 testing questions. Each question should have several answers (3-5 depending on the questions), where one or two answers will be correct ones. The maximum scores of the successful testing result = 100 scores. Participants will receive a certificate when they get at least 50 scores and more.

• The online course should include an interactive forum, where participants can share their comments and communicate among themselves. 

• The online course should include an online feedback form, which allows to collect participants` feedback on the positive aspects of the course as well as aspects with improvement needs. Such a form will be useful for further development of similar training products.

Methodology and work plan

Modern learner-centered pedagogical approach and good practices of self-study online learning should be applied in the design and preparation of the online course.

The Service Provider’s work plan should include at least the following activities with a personnel plan: 

Stage 1. Preparatory phase

• inception meeting
• review of the existing plan with resource materials, and other relevant online products
• needs assessment to confirm the contents of the course to be developed
• based on findings, finalization of the online course outline and map, work plan and personnel plan, methodology, tools, and budget
• schedule: month 1

Stage 2. Detailed design and preparation of the online course

• development of the detailed online teacher training course structure & action plan
• identification of additional resources as needed
• preparation of the online course and study materials
• schedule: tbc

Stage 3. Approval of the online course deliverable and final reporting

• finalized online course deliverable and Final Report

 Milestone deliverables 

• Inception report (Stage 1)
• Detailed online teacher training course structure and action plan & Study materials (Stage 2)
• Finalized online teacher training course product & Final Report (Stage 3)

English is the reporting language excluding the online course product and its study materials, which will be provided in Ukrainian language only.

Service Provider 

The Service Provider will be in charge of (i) the design, resourcing and preparation of the online teacher training course as well as for (ii) the management, team leadership and reporting of the assignment. The Service Provider may be a private company or other relevant organization. 

The Service Provider should have relevant verified human and technical capability with successful track records of similar assignments.

The Service Provider will identify a Project Manager and other Expert Team members to deliver the assignment.

The detailed requirements for a Service Provider and Expert Team are described below under “Requirements for submitting proposals: Evaluation criteria”.

Contracting and reporting

Contracting parties: FCG Finnish Consulting Group (Contractor) representing the Learning Together project and the Service Provider (Consultant), which will be selected through an open Call for Proposals.

Reporting: The Service Provider will work under the supervision of and report to the “Learning Together” Chief Technical Advisor. The Learning Together project management team will approve the milestone deliverables. The actual work will be guided and assisted by the “Learning Together” Advisory Team consisting of expert staff of Cluster 3.

Note: An option for extended procurement of similar services will be included in the contract, but it does not oblige the Contractor. Additional service needs should be within the “Learning Together” action plan and concern the preparation of online training materials for teacher professional development under Cluster 3. The realization of extended procurement would be conditional, based on an amendment to this contract. The price of services should remain on the same fee rate level. 

Budget and payment procedure

The maximum budget for the assignment is EUR 32,000.00. The price of the services, details of the assignment, terms and conditions will be specified in the service contract between FCG Finnish Consulting Group Ltd (Contractor) and the Service Provider (Consultant). 

Budget line for the procurement of services: C3.02.01.

Payments will be made in phases: advance payment (30%) upon signing the contract, the next payments upon the approval of the key deliverables by the “Learning Together” management team. All payments will be made against the Service Provider’s invoice and supporting documents. The payment milestones and sums will be confirmed in the service contract.

Guiding principles

 Manual for Bilateral Programmes by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, revised version 2018 https://um.fi/publications/-/asset_publisher/TVOLgBmLyZvu/content/manual-for-bilateral-programmes is applied in the planning and implementation of this assignment. This manual is applied in all cooperation that has been agreed between Finland and Ukraine.

 Mandate

The Service Provider is expected and entitled to discuss issues relevant to the assignment with relevant parties, government authorities and other relevant organizations and individuals, but the team does not have any mandate to make commitments on behalf of the government authorities in Ukraine and Finland or on behalf of the Contractor FCG Finnish Consulting Group especially.

INSTRUCTIONS TO TENDERERS

Requirements for submitting proposals

The written proposal should be in English and include the following documentation as separate pdf-files:

• Technical Proposal of no more than six (6) pages including: strengths of the Service Provider (capability statement incl. similar reference projects), comments on the Terms of Reference, proposed approach and methodology, work plan with timelines, proposed key experts with roles and main duties.
• Price Proposal (EUR): The cost breakdown should include two (2) separate sections: “Expert fees” and “Other expenses”. Fees of the proposed experts should be presented with “unit item” (working-day or working-month), “unit price” (daily or monthly fee in EUR), “number of units” (working-days or working-months) and “total fee in EUR”. Other expenses should be broken down according to the Technical Proposal and work plan.
• CVs of the proposed experts: Project Manager and other key experts.
• Official documents confirming the status of the organization and a document confirming the financial capabilities (annual statement of cash flows and statement of financial results) of the organization.
• Copies of registration documents (including copies of certificates of registration of legal entities that the participant plans to attract for the provision of services, a copy of the tax certificate; an extract from the Charter indicating the activity).

Other relevant supporting materials may be provided as appendices. 

Evaluation criteria and procedure

The eligible proposals, which have been received in a timely manner, will be evaluated based on Quality (90%) and Price (10%). 

The Quality of the proposals will be evaluated based on the following:

• Technical proposal
• Relevance and efficiency of the proposed approach, methodology and work plan
• Creative elements of the proposed online course concept
• Comments on the Terms of Reference (understanding of the assignment)
• Service Provider’s Organization – capability to perform the assignment successfully will be evaluated based on:
  • previous experience in similar assignments; at least one reference assignment of successful self-study online course preparation in connection with the education sector (with the name and contact detail of the client’s reference person)
  • availability of human and technical resources and tools for the assignment; proposed solution for sustainable delivery and maintenance of the target online course
  • previous experience in design and conducting of needs assessments
  • previous experience of working in international projects 

• Service Provider’s Expert Team qualifications (based on the CVs)
  • The Project Manager should have proven professional experience in the leadership and coordination of successful online course production/s; experience in project management and reporting.
  • All the expert team members should have complementary knowledge, skills and experience in a teacher’s work and school pedagogy, adult training, (self-study) online course design and technical preparation, specific content of the target online course; excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills in Ukrainian and English (English skills mandatory for the Project Manager, an asset for others). At least a bachelor’s degree in relevant fields is preferred for the Project Manager and pedagogical key experts. Knowledge of the New Ukrainian School reform is an asset. 

Online interview: The best ranked 2-3 tenderers will be invited to an online Zoom interview, which includes the brief presentation of the proposal by the team (15 minutes), questions and answers (15 minutes). A team of max. 3 persons, including the proposed Project Manager, will represent each proposal. The presentation and discussion will be carried out in English. The tenderers will be informed of the schedule in advance.

Schedule for submitting proposals

The procedure and schedule are as follows:

1. Interested candidates for service providers must confirm their participation in the tender in writing by December 15, 2022. at: [email protected].
2. Written requests for further clarifications regarding the tender should be sent to: [email protected] by December 15, 2022.
3. All written responses to requests for clarification sent in time will be distributed to all candidates for service providers who have confirmed their participation in the tender in a timely manner no later than December 16, 2022 from the address [email protected]
4. The final proposal (technical proposal, price proposal and other requested documents in the form of separate files) must be sent no later than December 19, 2022 to the addresses: [email protected], [email protected] In the subject of the email to when sending a proposal, it should be indicated: “The proposal is an online course on the development of digital competence of teachers.”

Please note that all communications should be in writing and in English.

Further instructions concerning the tender will be provided only through the email address: [email protected]. 

Annex 1. The preliminary structure of the online course for professional development of pedagogical workers on the development of digital competence

Module 1. Education in the digital world

Topic 1.1. Digital society and transformation of education

Topic 1.2. Electronic governance

Topic 1.3. Electronic school

Topic 1.4. Security in the digital society and educational environment

Testing according to module 1

Module 2. Continuous professional development

Topic 2.1. Professional communication

Topic 2.2. Professional cooperation

Topic 2.3. Reflection and planning of the development of one’s own digital competence

Testing according to module 2

Module 3. Electronic (digital) educational resources

Topic 3.1. Selection of electronic (digital) educational resources from subject(s)/integrated courses taught by a pedagogical worker

Topic 3.2. Creation and modification of electronic (digital) educational resources from the subject(s)/integrated courses taught by the pedagogical worker. 

Topic 3.3. Creation of electronic (distance) courses on the subject(s)/integrated courses taught by a pedagogical worker

Topic 3.4. Management and sharing of electronic (digital) educational resources from the subject(s)/integrated courses taught by the teaching staff

Topic 3.5. Protection of digital resources from the subject(s)/integrated courses taught by the teaching staff.

Testing according to module 3

Module 4. Education and assessment of education seekers

Topic 4.1. Organization and management of the educational process

Topic 4.2. Interactive and active training of education seekers. Organization of cooperation of education seekers

Topic 4.3. Individualization of education and differentiation

Topic 4.4. Inclusive education

Topic 4.5. Analysis and interpretation of digital data. Providing feedback and evaluation of education seekers. Organization of self-control of education seekers using digital technologies

Testing according to module 4

Module 5. Development of digital competence of education seekers

Topic 5.1. Information literacy and media literacy of education seekers

Topic 5.2. Responsible use of digital technologies and services by students

Topic 5.3. Solving problems using digital technologies and services

Testing according to module 4