About Pratham
Pratham was founded in 1995, to provide preschool education to children in Mumbai slums. Over the last 30 years, Pratham has grown to be one of the largest non-profit organizations working to provide quality education to children and youth in over 25 states and union territories across the country, through a range of interventions.
Pratham is a widely recognized organization, having received notable awards such as the Lui Che Woo Prize, the WISE Prize for Innovation, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the Henry R Kravis Prize in Leadership and the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year for Public Service. For more details, refer to the Pratham Education Foundation Website.
About Language in Early Years
At Pratham, we aim to leverage the existing knowledge that children carry with them to further build their foundational language and literacy skills, particularly in the preschool years and early grades.
Pratham’s work in Language and Literacy includes but is not limited to:
- Creating learning materials for children, teachers and parents in the early years
- Building and reinforcing teachers’ capacities via online and offline workshops
- Building parents’ capacities in different innovative ways
- Testing content feasibility, tracking field progress, and documenting program outcomes
- Conducting research and creating assessments based on best pedagogical practices for Language and Literacy
Role Description
The Early Years team in Pratham is seeking to hire a Senior Content Associate who can support the creation of educational content for Language & Literacy for learners in Grades 1 & 2. We are looking for applicants with experience in teaching Language & Literacy to young learners. Language here refers to the first language of the state and medium of instruction of most Government schools in the same state. So for example, this would be Hindi for Delhi, Punjabi for Punjab and Telugu for Andhra Pradesh. Applicants proficient in creating content using digital tools such as MS Word, and Google Suite will be preferred.
Key Responsibilities
- Review and revise textbooks, manuals and educational materials used in government schools and in Pratham for teaching the first language of children in early grades by evaluating its content, structure, and instructional effectiveness.
- Contribute to the development of activities, stories, poems, worksheets and games in the first language for learners both in class and in the community
- Collaborate with content developers in Pratham, trainers, teachers and parents across various states to brainstorm, research, and integrate pedagogical trends and best practices in the first Language
- Engage with government stakeholders and other organizations as required and support Pratham’s state teams to plan & implement existing projects
- Support with communication efforts to improve the visibility of Pratham’s early years programs – events, collaborations, conferences, advocacy, social media etc
- Contribute to the development of high-quality training material to train educators teaching in low-resource settings while ensuring alignment with our learning outcomes and standards
- Build capacities of teams across central and field locations through training and on-ground support
- Support relevant data collection and analysis to improve the design and implementation of projects
- Support documentation of early years programs for internal & external stakeholders
- Perform additional tasks, as required, by the management
Requirements
- 3-4 years of work experience in the education sector with a Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field or 1-2 years of work experience in the education sector with a Master’s degree
- Understanding of the first language and its related concepts for the 3-8 years age group.
- Attention to detail and some experience in research will be preferred
- Proficiency in English and Hindi language, with excellent listening, comprehension, reading and writing skills
- Strong organisational and time management skills, with the ability to prioritise tasks
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and ability to work with teams
- Adaptable and able to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
- Passionate about promoting social change through education
- Openness to travel is important
Desired Skills and Experience
- Proficiency in any other Indian language is an advantage
- Experience creating training and learning material such as session plans/training agenda, content such as self-created stories or poems, training manuals, textbooks, etc.
- Experience conducting state-level training of government stakeholders to build their capacity on Language pedagogy in the foundational stages
Location
The position will be based in New Delhi but will require travel through the year on a regular basis
Application Procedure
Interested applicants should email their resumes to anisha.kaushik@pratham.org and mention ‘Application for the position of Senior Associate for Language & Literacy, Early Years’ in the subject line. Kindly attach the below along with your application:
- Resume: The resume should include:
- Contact information for the applicant
- Academic background (universities attended, degrees acquired, academic records)
- Past work experience, if any, highlighting relevant skills
- Languages spoken
- Writing Sample: Please provide a self-authored writing sample (not more than 1000 words)
- Samples of relevant coursework or projects, if available, to offer insight into their suitability for the role
Note: Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may not be able to provide individual responses to every applicant. We will reach out only to shortlisted candidates. We appreciate your understanding and patience.
