Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Vocational Education Evaluator

🎯 Role Definition

The Vocational Education Evaluator is an experienced evaluation professional responsible for designing and implementing rigorous monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities across vocational training programs. This role leads mixed-methods impact assessments, collaborates with program and curriculum teams to ensure competency-aligned outcomes, analyzes learner and labor-market data, and produces evidence-based recommendations that improve program quality, employer relevance, and learner employability. The ideal candidate blends technical evaluation skills (quantitative and qualitative), sector knowledge of technical and vocational education and training (TVET), strong stakeholder management, and the ability to translate data into actionable program improvements and high-quality reports for funders and policymakers.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Monitoring & Evaluation Officer or Coordinator (M&E Officer)
Vocational Trainer or Curriculum Specialist with program exposure
Research Assistant or Data Analyst in education or workforce development

Advancement To:

Senior Evaluator / Senior M&E Specialist
M&E Manager or Director of Monitoring & Evaluation
Director of Program Quality, Research & Learning
Policy Advisor for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET)

Lateral Moves:

Curriculum Development Manager
Workforce Development Program Manager
Learning & Development / Training Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Design, lead, and implement comprehensive monitoring and evaluation frameworks for vocational education and training programs, including theory of change development, logical frameworks, indicator selection, baselines, midline and endline evaluations, and sustainability metrics to measure learner outcomes and employer alignment.
Conduct rigorous mixed-methods research combining quantitative analysis (surveys, learning assessments, employment tracer studies) and qualitative techniques (focus groups, key informant interviews, case studies) to generate actionable evidence on program effectiveness and impact.
Develop and validate competency frameworks, assessment rubrics, and work-ready outcome measures that align curricula with labor-market demands and recognized occupational standards.
Lead the design and administration of learner assessment instruments (pre/post-tests, competency-based assessments, certification exams) and analyze assessment data to inform curriculum updates and instructional improvements.
Create robust data collection protocols and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for field teams, ensuring high-quality, ethical, and reliable data capture across diverse training sites, including remote and workplace-based learning environments.
Produce clear, evidence-based evaluation reports, briefs, and presentations for multiple audiences (funders, government partners, program managers, employers) with actionable recommendations, visualized data summaries, and executive summaries.
Manage baseline, midline, and endline evaluation cycles, including sampling design, statistical power calculations, survey deployment, data cleaning, and advanced statistical analysis to test program hypotheses and measure impact.
Design and implement employer and labor-market engagement studies (employer surveys, job placement audits, skills demand analyses) to validate program relevance and inform employer partnerships and apprenticeship models.
Oversee third-party evaluations, including procurement of external evaluators, development of scopes of work, quality assurance of deliverables, and integration of external findings into program learning agendas.
Lead program learning workshops, dissemination events, and stakeholder consultations to translate evidence into program adaptation, policy advocacy, and scaling strategies with ministries of education, training providers, and funders.
Integrate gender, equity, inclusion, and social protection lenses into all evaluation design and reporting, ensuring disaggregated analysis (sex, age, disability, socio-economic status, rural/urban) and targeted recommendations to reduce disparities in access and outcomes.
Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and dashboards for real-time program monitoring, working with MIS teams to operationalize data pipelines and visualization tools for program managers and partners.
Provide technical assistance and capacity-building to program staff, trainers, and partner institutions on M&E best practices, data literacy, assessment design, and evidence-based decision making.
Ensure compliance with donor reporting requirements, performance-based grant indicators, and contractual M&E obligations, preparing high-quality reports and responding to partner/funder queries in a timely manner.
Conduct tracer studies and graduate follow-up surveys to measure employment outcomes, job retention, earnings changes, and career progression for program graduates and apprentices.
Analyze cost-effectiveness and value-for-money of vocational training models, preparing budget-sensitive recommendations for program design, scaling, and resource allocation.
Synthesize cross-program learnings and field insights into policy briefs and recommendations that influence national TVET policy, certification pathways, and employer engagement strategies.
Manage and mentor junior evaluators and data analysts, providing technical oversight, review of analytic code and reports, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement and methodological rigor.
Maintain and curate data repositories and documentation, ensuring datasets are anonymized, reproducible, and compliant with data protection and ethical standards for secondary analysis and future evaluations.
Collaborate closely with curriculum developers and instructional designers to translate evaluation findings into concrete curriculum revisions, competency updates, and improved assessment strategies.
Lead rapid evaluations and formative assessments during program implementation to provide timely course-correction recommendations and support adaptive management in dynamic training environments.
Coordinate multi-country or multi-region comparative studies of vocational training interventions, harmonizing indicators, instruments, and protocols to enable cross-context learning and meta-analysis.

Secondary Functions

Support program leadership with targeted analysis for donor proposals, concept notes, and program design by providing evidence summaries, sample sizes, and evaluation budgets.
Build and maintain relationships with government counterparts, accreditation bodies, employer associations, and training providers to facilitate data access and stakeholder buy-in for evaluations.
Contribute to the organization’s M&E strategy, learning agenda, and research roadmap by identifying priority evaluation questions and knowledge gaps across vocational programming.
Develop training materials, toolkits, and quick-reference guides on competency-based assessment, evaluation ethics, and data visualization for internal and partner use.
Provide ad-hoc technical support to field teams during data collection periods, quality checks, and troubleshooting of mobile data collection tools or assessment platforms.
Liaise with IT/MIS teams to ensure evaluation data requirements are integrated into management information systems and learning management platforms.
Assist in ethical review submissions, informed consent processes, and data-sharing agreements to ensure compliance with institutional and funder standards.
Monitor and report on evaluation timelines, budgets, and deliverables to ensure timely completion and high-quality outputs.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Program evaluation design: expertise in developing theories of change, logical frameworks, and mixed-methods evaluation plans.
Quantitative analysis: proficiency in statistical analysis, regression modeling, impact estimation, sampling design, and use of tools such as R, Stata, or SPSS.
Qualitative methods: advanced skills in designing and conducting FGDs, KIIs, case studies, thematic analysis, and coding with NVivo or Atlas.ti.
Survey and assessment design: ability to design competency-based assessments, pre/post tests, tracer studies, and employer surveys with psychometric considerations.
Indicator development & M&E frameworks: experience defining SMART indicators, targets, baselines, and monitoring plans for vocational programs.
Data management & visualization: strong skills in data cleaning, database management, and visualization tools such as Power BI, Tableau, or Excel pivot tables.
Evaluation reporting & dissemination: proven ability to write policy briefs, technical reports, and donor-ready evaluation deliverables tailored to diverse audiences.
Sampling & statistical power: knowledge of sample size calculations, stratified sampling, and ensuring adequate power for impact evaluations.
Ethics & data protection: familiarity with ethical review processes, informed consent, anonymization, and data protection best practices.
Cost-effectiveness & economic analysis: capacity to conduct unit-costing, cost-benefit, and value-for-money analyses for training interventions.

Soft Skills

Strong written and oral communication skills for diverse audiences including funders, government partners, and training practitioners.
Stakeholder engagement and facilitation skills to convene cross-sector partners, employers, and ministry officials.
Analytical thinking and problem-solving with attention to methodological rigor and practical program relevance.
Cultural sensitivity and ability to work with diverse populations, including marginalized groups and vulnerable learners.
Project management and organizational skills, including time management, prioritization, and meeting tight deadlines.
Collaborative team player who mentors junior staff and builds capacity across multidisciplinary teams.
Adaptability and resilience working in field environments and rapidly changing program contexts.
Ethical judgment and integrity in handling sensitive learner and program data.
Presentation and training skills for workshops, capacity-building sessions, and dissemination events.
Creative thinking to translate evaluation findings into scalable programmatic recommendations.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Education, Economics, Public Policy, Monitoring & Evaluation, International Development, Statistics, Social Sciences, or related field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in Evaluation, Education Policy, International Development, Public Policy, Statistics, or a related research-focused discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Education (TVET, Curriculum & Instruction)
Monitoring & Evaluation / Research Methods
Economics / Labor Economics
Public Policy / International Development
Statistics / Data Science

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–7 years of progressive experience in monitoring, evaluation, research, or program management within vocational education, workforce development, NGOs, multilateral organizations, or government education agencies.

Preferred:

5+ years of direct experience evaluating vocational training, apprenticeship programs, or workforce development initiatives.
Demonstrated experience managing large-scale evaluations, impact studies, or multi-site assessments.
Prior exposure to employer engagement, certification systems, and national TVET policy environments is highly desirable.
Proven experience with donor-funded programs and familiarity with common donor reporting formats (e.g., USAID, DFID, World Bank).