Associate Research Scientist (Early Childhood Education)

VACANCY

ASSOCIATE RESEARCH SCIENTIST IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) is an international non-profit, non-governmental organization committed to conducting high quality and policy relevant research on population, health, education and development issues facing sub Saharan Africa. APHRC seeks to fill the position of Associate Research Scientist in Early Childhood Education (ECE) within its Education Research Program (ERP).

The successful candidate will have strong analytical and excellent communication skills (written and verbal). S/he must be self-motivated, flexible and intellectually curious.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Contribute to the generation of knowledge around the teaching and learning during early childhood,
• Lead and work collaboratively with the ERP team to design and implement early childhood education research projects including program design, field work management, data management and data analysis,
• Provide high level technical leadership for ongoing and future ERP research projects on early childhood education and other education areas,
• Synthesize and communicate education research findings to targeted audience,
• Lead in development of relevant survey and assessment tools to evaluate learning and early childhood education outcomes in sub Sahara Africa, and
• Contribute to proposal development, literature review, and scientific writing.

Qualifications

Essential

• PhD in child development or child and adult psychology, or psychometrics and ECD or early childhood education or any other relevant field.
• At least two years post qualification experience. Candidates who have just completed PhD but have prior experience in the ECE field will be considered.
• Strong writing skills and some record of publications on relevant areas in ECD/ECE issues,
• Strong qualitative skills (managing, analysing, transcribing, coding and interpreting data), with extensive familiarity with data analysis software such as NVivo.
• Good understanding of quantitative skills with some familiarity with data analysis software such as STATA or SPSS.
• Experience in conducting field research in developing countries.

Desirable

• Knowledge of child development programs, theories, practices and methods,
• Knowledge of techniques used in early childhood classroom instruction and curriculum frameworks,
• Understanding of classroom procedures which promote appropriate conduct and motivation for early age learning,
• Knowledge and previous experience in children play therapy, behaviour interventions, activities and games,
• Understanding of current trends and research concerning the growth and development of children,
• Experience in developing standardized assessment tools and performance based assessment practices for young children,
• Knowledge of human behaviour and performance, individual differences in ability, personality and interests,
• Knowledge of psychological research methods.

Interested candidates are invited to send via email their letter of application (1 page); a statement of research interests and goals (1-2 pages); and their CV with contact details of three referees tojobs@aphrc.org. Cover letters should be addressed to:

The Human Resources Officer

African Population and Health Research Center

P.O. Box 10787 – 00100 GPO, Nairobi

Website: www.aphrc.org

Please indicate the position you are applying for on the subject line of your email and letter of application.

The position should be taken up latest November 2015. It comes with an attractive, internationally competitive remuneration package including employer paid medical, travel and life insurance cover. Allowances toward in-relocation, and dependent’s education are provided. Preference will be given to nationals of sub Saharan African countries, and females are particularly encouraged to apply. Only short listed candidates will be contacted.