Education Manager | Cape Town | Permanent

Shape the quality of primary-school education across diverse African contexts. This is an opportunity for an experienced education specialist to lead pedagogical quality, strengthen teacher development and ensure educational resources translate sound theory into meaningful classroom practice.

The Education Manager will act as the programme’s senior pedagogical authority, providing technical leadership across curriculum interpretation, learning design, educational content, teacher professional development and quality assurance. The role combines strategic educational leadership with practical oversight of resources and training, ensuring materials are age-appropriate, evidence-informed, learner-centred and genuinely usable by teachers in real classrooms.

A significant part of the position involves leading and mentoring an education team, including Sector Leads, Country Leads and Content Developers. The Education Manager will work closely with project management, country teams, monitoring and evaluation specialists, designers, consultants and external partners, while contributing expert educational input to strategic planning and stakeholder engagements. The position is based in Cape Town and requires travel within Africa.

Our client is a pan-African environmental education programme developing Africa-centred conservation resources for primary-school learners. Working with teachers, educational institutions and strategic partners across multiple countries, the organisation develops and strengthens environmental education content designed for diverse African education systems and classroom contexts.

What You'll Do

• Lead and maintain pedagogical standards across educational content, teacher development, classroom implementation and digital learning.

• Provide senior expert guidance on learning theory, instructional design, developmental appropriateness, differentiation, inclusion, progression and learner engagement.

• Lead the pedagogical design and technical review of teacher toolkits, guides, lesson resources, activity sheets, training materials, online courses and other educational outputs.

• Translate national curricula, policies and learning standards into practical, age-appropriate classroom resources.

• Ensure resources support active, learner-centred and experiential learning rather than simply reproducing prescribed curricula.

• Lead the development and delivery of teacher training workshops, Train-the-Trainer programmes, mentoring, communities of practice and online professional development.

• Define teacher competencies, training pathways and supporting resources.

• Use classroom observations, teacher feedback and implementation evidence to strengthen professional-development approaches.

• Apply current research and emerging practice in primary pedagogy, teacher education, curriculum, assessment and environmental education.

• Work with monitoring and evaluation colleagues to define educational outcomes, indicators and tools and interpret findings from an educational perspective.

• Lead and mentor the Education Team's technical work, providing clear briefs, constructive feedback and consistent educational guidance.

• Collaborate with universities, teacher-training institutions, government partners and other strategic stakeholders.

• Contribute educational expertise to strategic planning, proposals and senior stakeholder engagements.

• Maintain pedagogical quality across multiple countries, languages and delivery formats while allowing appropriate contextual adaptation.

What You Bring

• A Master's degree in Education, Pedagogy, Curriculum Studies, Teacher Education or a closely related discipline.

• A recognised teaching qualification and the ability to demonstrate how pedagogical theory has been translated into effective classroom practice.

• At least 10 years of substantial professional experience in primary education.

• Demonstrated depth in pedagogy, curriculum, teacher education or educational resource development.

• A strong record of reviewing, developing or quality-assuring curricula, teacher guides, learning resources, assessments, training programmes or online learning content.

• Experience leading educational quality, mentoring education specialists or providing senior technical guidance to multidisciplinary teams.

• Strong understanding of active, learner-centred and experiential learning approaches.

• Professional proficiency in English.

• Strong digital literacy, including Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, virtual collaboration tools, online learning platforms and responsible use of AI-supported research and content-development tools.

• Strong analytical, writing, facilitation and communication skills.

• Willingness and ability to travel within Africa and possession of a valid passport.

• Experience within African public education systems, education NGOs, universities, curriculum institutes or government education structures would be highly advantageous.

• Working proficiency in French would be highly advantageous.

• A doctorate in a relevant education field is strongly preferred but is not essential.

What Success Looks Like

• Educational resources consistently meet high pedagogical and quality standards while remaining practical for real classroom environments.

• Teachers receive professional development that is participatory, sustained and directly connected to classroom implementation.

• Educational content remains coherent across countries and formats while responding appropriately to local curricula, languages and classroom realities.

• The Education Team benefits from clear technical leadership, mentoring and constructive educational judgement.

• Monitoring, classroom evidence and research are translated into tangible improvements in resources, training and programme delivery.

• Partnerships with education institutions, governments and other stakeholders are strengthened through credible, evidence-based educational leadership.