Maths Specialist - Johannesburg at Funda Wande

Purpose of Role    

• Reporting to the Maths Lead, the role of the Maths Specialist is to support the implementation of the Maths strategy across all of the implementation interventions from a central office. This will involve working with the provincial teams, participation in the Maths materials research, review and/or development; the development of the Thinking Maths course as well as participating in advocacy at various levels.

Objectives of Role    
Materials development and review

• Coordinate and report on materials review based on internal and external input.
• Take part in the development and refinement of Bala Wande materials (print and videos) drawing on an in-depth knowledge of the CAPS (Mathematics) to ensure that Bala Wande materials are fully aligned to the National Curriculum..
• Review and/or proof read Bala Wande materials in order to inform the content, design and sequencing of the materials, reporting to the maths lead.
• Consult with the Intervention teams in order to engage them in the materials review process – drawing on field inputfor this purpose.
• Gather, analyse, and interpret data from research to support improvement of the Bala Wande program.
• Participate in the development of the 12 Module Thinking Maths course.

Intervention Support & Development

• Coordinate support required for implementation of the BW materials in the intervention sites.
• Lead the planning, development and/or refinement of training materials as needed and participate in training sessions as required.
• Develop/refine training slides and conduct train-the-trainer sessions for the intervention team members and in this way support in the Instructional development of all Foundation Phase teachers in the Bala WandeInterventions.
• Troubleshooting and using feedback gathered from the intervention teams.
•  Lead sessions with teams in the provinces to empower them on academic reading and writing.
•  Encourage provincial team members to submit presentations for, and attend, conferences for their continuous development as expert mathematics field trainers et al..
• Reporting on all tasks (such as readings sessions; training sessions; meetings with intervention team members).

Research Monitoring & Evaluation

•  Take an active role in the Bala Wande Programme research – working with the intervention team specialists in this role.
•  Take an active role in other Bala Wande research, monitoring and evaluation projects.

Advocacy

•  Contribute to writing advocacy/academic papers, etc. about the Bala Wande project and engage with appropriate parties to promote the Bala Wande materials.
•  Attend meetings and conferences to present on the work of the Bala Wande programme at National platforms (e.g. CIES, COPs, Inter-NGOs and other reference team meetings).
•  Immerse self in the programme to become its ambassador and able to serve the project optimally.

Experience and Qualifications    

•  Minimum Master’s degree in Maths / Maths Education / Education
•  Minimum 5 years’ experience working in Foundation Phase Maths related work(teaching/lecturing/training).
•  Own vehicle and driver's license essential.
•  Demonstrated knowledge of development and review of the Maths school level and tertiary level material
•  Demonstrated proficiency with computers and Microsoft Office skills.
•   Demonstrated expertise in oral and written communication in English (any of Sepedi, IsiXhosa, Sesotho and IsiZulu in addition to this will be an advantage).
•  Ability to work cooperatively and effectively with colleagues.
•  Demonstrated leadership qualities and strong interpersonal skills, including giving and receiving
• constructive feedback.
•  Strong educational knowledge and mathematics content and pedagogical knowledge.
•  Understands the social issues children face and how these can interfere with learning.
•  Models’ continual improvement, demonstrates lifelong learning, and applies new learning. 

Competencies    

• An interest in and alignment to Funda Wande’s Vision and Values
• Attention to detail and extremely organized
• Committed to improving processes and systems
• Work well under pressure and with changing deliverables
• Confident, proactive, self-reliant and performance oriented
• Great team player
• High degree of emotional intelligence
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal skills
• Disciplined administrative skills