SME- Social Science

Position : Subject Matter Expert – Social Science
Role Summary :

The Social Science Subject Matter Expert will provide academic and disciplinary leadership in the design, development, review, and continuous enhancement of the Social Science curriculum. The role requires strong expertise across the social sciences and the ability to construct a coherent, intellectually rigorous progression of knowledge, concepts, skills, and disciplinary thinking.

Responsibilities :

Curriculum Architecture:

• Lead the development and review of curriculum frameworks, learning outcomes, scope and sequence, and knowledge progression.

• Establish progression from foundational knowledge towards conceptual sophistication, disciplinary reasoning, analysis, evaluation, and independent inquiry.

• Build coherence across History, Geography, Political Science/Civics, and Economics, while preserving the distinctive methods and intellectual traditions of each discipline.

• Identify essential concepts, knowledge structures, disciplinary practices, and threshold ideas that students must develop.

• Ensure alignment with CBSE curriculum expectations, competencies, learning outcomes, and assessment frameworks.

Academic & Disciplinary Rigor :

• Ensure historical accuracy, geographical precision, economic reasoning, political literacy, and academic integrity across curriculum content.

• Develop students ability to interpret society through evidence, argument, causation, chronology, spatial relationships, systems, institutions, and competing perspectives.

• Move beyond content coverage towards deep understanding of why events, systems, institutions, and social processes develop and how they shape human experience.

• Encourage students to interrogate assumptions, distinguish evidence from opinion, and construct reasoned, defensible arguments.

• Engage meaningfully with complexity, ambiguity, multiple perspectives, continuity and change, and contested interpretations.

Inquiry & Learning Design :

• Design intellectually demanding learning experiences centred on questioning, investigation, interpretation, argumentation, and evidence-based reasoning.

• Develop students ability to formulate questions, investigate sources, evaluate evidence, identify patterns, and synthesise perspectives.

• Integrate primary and secondary sources, maps, data sets, graphs, economic indicators, political documents, case studies, and contemporary contexts.

• Develop historical thinking through chronology, causation, consequence, continuity, change, significance, and interpretation.

• Strengthen geographical thinking through spatial analysis, human-environment relationships, patterns, systems, and data interpretation.

• Develop economic and political reasoning through analysis of institutions, incentives, policy choices, markets, governance, rights, and public decision-making.

Assessment & Academic Standards:

• Design and review competency-based assessments, examinations, source-based questions, case studies, analytical writing tasks, projects, rubrics, and marking schemes.

• Ensure assessment measures knowledge alongside analysis, interpretation, evaluation, synthesis, argumentation, and application.

• Establish appropriate levels of cognitive demand and disciplinary progression.

• Develop assessment tasks that reward evidence-based reasoning rather than recall or reproduction.

• Analyse assessment evidence to identify misconceptions, conceptual gaps, weaknesses in reasoning, and areas for curriculum refinement.

Content & Resource Development:

• Develop and academically review student resources, teacher guides, source collections, case studies, maps, data sets, reading materials, inquiry tasks, and enrichment resources.

• Ensure content is academically credible, age-appropriate, balanced, contextually meaningful, and aligned with CBSE expectations.

• Curate intellectually challenging resources that expose students to diverse perspectives, interpretations, geographical contexts, economic realities, and political ideas.

• Develop enrichment opportunities that encourage independent reading, research, debate, writing, and interdisciplinary inquiry.

Teacher Academic Development:

• Provide subject-specific academic leadership to Social Science teachers.

• Develop professional learning focused on disciplinary pedagogy, source analysis, inquiry, historical thinking, geographical reasoning, economic literacy, political thought, and assessment.

• Support teachers in moving from textbook-led instruction towards concept-driven, inquiry-rich, evidence-based learning.

• Develop academic exemplars and frameworks that strengthen consistency and quality of curriculum implementation.

Academic Benchmarking & Innovation:

• Stay abreast of CBSE curriculum developments, social science education research, assessment reforms, and emerging approaches to disciplinary learning.

• Benchmark curriculum against academically rigorous national and international programmes.

• Identify opportunities to strengthen research skills, media and information literacy, data literacy, civic reasoning, interdisciplinary thinking, and contemporary relevance.

• Connect disciplinary knowledge with contemporary social, economic, political, environmental, and global issues while maintaining academic objectivity and intellectual rigour.

Candidate Qualifications :

• Master's or Doctoral degree in History, Geography, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, or a closely related discipline.

• Strong academic command of Social Science.

• Demonstrated experience in curriculum development, academic content, teaching, assessment, research, or subject leadership.

• Strong familiarity with CBSE curriculum and assessment frameworks.

Desired Knowldege & Skills Profile :

• Deep Disciplinary Expertise: Strong command of one or more Social Science disciplines with broad interdisciplinary understanding.

• Curriculum Architect: Able to construct coherent, progressive, and intellectually ambitious learning pathways.

• Critical Thinker: Questions assumptions, evaluates evidence, recognises complexity, and encourages nuanced interpretation.

• Research-Oriented: Comfortable working with primary sources, academic literature, data, case studies, and competing interpretations.

• Pedagogical Sophistication: Understands how learners develop conceptual, analytical, and disciplinary thinking.

• Assessment Expertise: Skilled in designing assessments that distinguish factual recall from genuine analysis, evaluation, and argumentation.

• Academic Rigour: Maintains high standards of accuracy, evidence, balance, intellectual honesty, and disciplinary integrity.

• Academic Leadership: Capable of mentoring teachers and shaping subject-level academic direction.

• Contemporary & Contextual: Connects disciplinary knowledge with contemporary realities without compromising academic objectivity.

• Articulate & Collaborative: Communicates complex ideas with precision and works effectively with curriculum designers, academic leaders, and educators.