Role design and job descriptions for Education NGOs: teacher, mentor and coordinator
Education NGOs often grow roles by habit, so a coordinator ends up teaching, counselling and doing accounts. Written roles tell people what to do, and show a teacher where a career could go.
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Share your requirementsWhy role design and job descriptions matters in education NGOs
Titles such as fellow, facilitator, mentor and coordinator are used loosely. Two people with the same title may do very different work in different states. When a donor asks who is responsible for an outcome, the answer is a name, not a role. When someone is promoted, nobody can say what changed.
Role design fixes this in plain language. It names the main purpose of the job, the five or six tasks that fill most days, who the person reports to and what they decide alone. For an education NGO it also shows a ladder: teacher, lead teacher, mentor, trainer. That ladder is a cheap and honest answer to a teacher who asks where they are going.
How to set it up
1. List the roles that exist today
Write what each person really does in a typical week, not what the old grant proposal says. Include the extras that nobody asked for.
2. Group them into families
Teaching, coaching, programme management, training and support. Within each, decide the levels, such as teacher, lead teacher and mentor.
3. Write a one page description per role
Purpose, main tasks, who they work with, what they decide and the skills needed. Avoid long lists, keep to what really matters.
4. Mark which grant pays for what
For roles charged across donors, note the share of each activity. Programme and finance should agree this before the year, not at the report.
5. Use the roles in hiring and review
Advertise from them, set targets from them and use them to explain a promotion. The performance management process can then use the same words.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Pick three people with the same title and compare what they do in a week.
- Ask a teacher what the next step above them is and what it needs.
- Check whether the donor budget lines match the tasks people actually perform.
- Look for a task, such as parent meetings, that nobody is formally responsible for.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach role design and job descriptions in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
A shorter one, yes. It names the activity, the hours, the person who supervises and the limits on contact with children. Keep it to a single page that is signed.
Detailed enough that someone new can tell what the job is and how success will be seen. One page is usually enough. Longer versions tend to be filed and never read.
Grade the roles by skill and responsibility, and tie each step to a clear set of demonstrated tasks. Money may follow later, but recognition and title can start sooner.