About Job
Wadhwani AI Global (WAIG) develops and deploys AI solutions to address challenges in education, health and agriculture across the Global South, working with governments and implementation partners.
We are seeking a senior Pedagogy Specialist for a one-year consultancy to establish the pedagogical foundation for our foundational literacy products. The assignment will cover skill frameworks, assessment specifications and pathways from assessment, diagnosis, remediation and practice, supporting oral reading fluency (ORF) and other AI-enabled learning tools.
Working with our strategy, product and technology teams, the specialist will translate evidence on how children learn into practical frameworks and specifications. The initial focus is public education in Sub-Saharan Africa, with frameworks designed for adaptation across languages, curricula and other Global South contexts.
Responsibilities
1. Develop Foundational Literacy Frameworks
Build evidence-based frameworks that define skills, prerequisites, learning outcomes and developmental progressions across foundational literacy (Grades 1-5)
Detail out skills in oral language, phonological awareness, decoding, vocabulary, reading fluency and comprehension skill areas
Define common learner errors and misconceptions, indicators of mastery and principles for selecting appropriate next learning steps.
Distinguish shared pedagogical principles from language- and curriculum-specific requirements, including English as an additional language and transitions between languages of instruction.
2. Define Assessment Specifications and Quality Standards
Develop ORF assessment specifications covering sub-task selection, task design, scoring rules and interpretation, with guidance on establishing and validating context-appropriate benchmarks.
Translate global early-grade reading and literacy frameworks, including the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) and Science of Reading, into technology-enabled assessment tasks, scoring logic and diagnostic outputs adapted to local languages and curricula.
Work with the technology team to distinguish learner errors from automatic speech recognition (ASR) errors, and specify how uncertainty should affect scoring and feedback.
Establish review criteria for assessment items, learning content and AI-generated feedback
3. Translate Diagnosis into Learning Support
Map diagnosed skill gaps to practice activities, remedial pathways and classroom lesson plans, with worked examples for priority skills.
Translate the frameworks into actionable product specifications for learner progression, instructional scaffolding, feedback, teacher and caregiver-facing recommendations.
Guide the product and strategy teams on building literacy learning activities; define content repository tags with the technology team to align with the literacy skills framework and to enable progression
4. Support Contextualisation
Work with national education boards, curriculum specialists and language experts to align the tools with national curricula and classroom practice.
Represent WAIG’s pedagogical approach in selected discussions with funders, senior government officials and technical partners, explaining the evidence, design choices and limitations clearly.
Collect and incorporate feedback from teachers, implementation partners and expert reviewers into the frameworks and document decisions requiring further validation.
5. Deliver and Transfer the Frameworks
Agree priority countries, languages, skills and review milestones at the start of the assignment so the scope is achievable within one year.
Deliver editable frameworks, assessment specifications, diagnostic-to-remediation maps, content-review rubrics and sample materials for the agreed scope.
Conduct handover sessions with the strategy, product and technology teams, and recommend priorities for piloting, validation and further framework development.
Expected Deliverables
Months 1-2: Review existing tools and relevant evidence; agree the scope and deliver draft foundational literacy skill frameworks and learning progressions.
Months 3-9: Develop foundational literacy and ORF assessment specifications informed by relevant global frameworks, scoring rubrics, learner-error taxonomies and remediation maps, with sample tasks and activities.
Months 6-12: Refine the outputs through agreed technical and partner reviews; deliver the final framework package, product guidance, validation roadmap and team handover.
Skills & Qualification
Must-have
An advanced degree in education, learning sciences, curriculum and instruction, educational psychology or a related field, or equivalent demonstrated expertise.
10+ years of relevant experience in foundational learning, pedagogy, curriculum or assessment, including direct ownership of learning frameworks and teaching-learning materials.
Strong understanding of foundational literacy development, with evidence of applying research to instruction and assessment. Demonstrated ability in translating global early-grade reading and literacy frameworks, including EGRA and Science of Reading, into practical technology tools, assessment specifications, scoring logic and learning pathways.
Experience implementing or adapting frameworks in low-resource public education settings, including multilingual classrooms.
Proven ability to communicate technical recommendations credibly to senior government stakeholders, funders and education experts.
Strong writing and collaboration skills, and the ability to produce practical deliverables within the agreed timelines.
Strong plus
Substantive pedagogy, curriculum or assessment experience with recognised organisations working in foundational literacy.
Experience in Sub-Saharan Africa, English as a second language, or language-of-instruction transitions.
Experience with early-grade reading assessments, assessment validation, digital learning or AI-enabled education products.
Prior classroom teaching or teacher-training experience, and experience mentoring content-development teams.
