The Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) team at the OECD’s Directorate for Education and Skills is seeking an intern to join them from October 2016 for four to six months (exact dates negotiable). The intern is required to be enrolled as a student and will receive a minimum expense allowance according to French law. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) has become a policy priority in many countries. This is in response to a growing body of evidence on the benefits of ECEC, including better child well-being and learning outcomes, especially for disadvantaged children; increased intergenerational social mobility; higher female labour market participation and gender equality; reduced child poverty; increased fertility rates; and better social and economic development for society at large.
The OECD has conducted reviews of ECEC policy challenges, which resulted in a series of publications: Starting Strong (2001), Starting Strong II (2006) and Starting Strong III: A Quality Toolbox for Early Childhood Education and Care (2012) and Starting Strong IV: Monitoring Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care (2015). The team is currently working on a new publication to be released in 2017 on transitions from ECEC to primary schooling as well as on a large-scale international survey on ECEC staff which is currently under development and will be implemented in the next two years. Furthermore, a new strand of work on trade-offs and quality dimensions in ECEC is under preparation.
The intern will contribute to the following ECEC projects: 1) an international survey of ECEC staff (TALIS Starting Strong Survey) and 2) Policy Reviews on ECEC. Specific tasks to which the intern will contribute are:
Analyse and process qualitative and quantitative data for the Starting Strong V report on transitions, identify relevant sources, and contribute to drafting
Support the preparation, facilitation and follow-up actions for committee and working group meetings and webinars
Peer-review technical and policy-oriented papers and reports
Help draft communication materials
Required skills:
strong analysis and synthesis skills, both regarding qualitative and quantitative information
demonstrated ability to draft in English
good oral communication skills (fluency in English)
ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure
ability to work in a team
knowledge of and/or interest in early and primary education and/or family policies.
Candidates wishing to apply should send a CV, a brief cover letter (maximum 1 page) indicating the candidate’s interest and availability, and a writing sample to the ECEC team (email to:ecec@oecd.org>) by 22 August 2016.