IMPROVING SCHOOL MANAGEMENT Learning from Successful Schoolsunesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002205/220543e.pdf · IMPROVING SCHOOL MANAGEMENT Learning from Successful Schools ... the

1

Learning from Successful Schools

Section I

Introduction

Concern for quality improvement coupled with decentralization of educational governance andintroduction of school-based management has brought into focus the importance of effective schoolmanagement in general and the role of the school head, in particular. Consequently, the schoolmanagement framework in many countries of the region is undergoing significant transformationwith direct implications for in-school management processes, community school linkages, and therole of the head teacher as well as external support and accountability mechanisms. While somemeasures to improve school management could be initiated through system-wide reforms, severalothers require a focus on the school site. Though the nature of changes will vary among differentcountries, the move to redefine the roles of different stakeholders in the management of schools iseasily discernible both in developed as well as developing countries. In the last two decades, moreinterest has been focused on school effectiveness and successful schools. Even though much isknown about the major characteristics of successful schools, there is much less clarity about whatschool leaders or managers do to achieve success. In other words, there is a limited understandingabout dynamics of the process and ways and means adopted in managing successful schools. Thisis more so in case of many countries in Asia.

Against this backdrop, the Asian Network of Training and Research Institutions in EducationalPlanning (ANTRIEP) has initiated a collaborative research project on ‘Improving SchoolManagement in Asian Countries’ with the ardent suggestions of member institutions and alsoconsidering that very little empirical research has been conducted in the Asian region. The projectwas undertaken in two phases. Initially, several members undertook a series of national diagnoseson the management of headteachers. In the second phase, the programme moved to the schoollevel, where case studies on successful schools were carried out. IIEP in consultation with NationalUniversity of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA, formely NIEPA), at the focalpoint prepared the broad outline of the research proposal covering scope, objectives and importantresearch questions to be examined in the case study of schools. The same has been sent to allmember institutions requesting them to prepare detailed research proposals considering their owncountry’s educational context. Eight member institutions from six countries sent their specificproposals. The research proposal including methodology, structure and organization of case studywas finalized in a workshop organized in Bangladesh during April 2003. Another workshop wasorganized in Nepal during December 2003 to discuss the draft case studies. The research teamsfrom the member institutions participated in both the workshops and deliberated upon the objectivesof the case studies of successful school management in selected countries of Asia.

2

Improving School Management

Educational Organization

A cursory look at the educational organisation of the selected countries is crucial in understandingthe variations in the school organisation. The following table illustrates the selected educationindicators of the respective countries and shows that the legal guarantee of free education is providedin all the countries except in Pakistan and Malaysia. The age group for providing compulsoryeducation is varied. With regard to pupil teacher ratio it is ideal in Malaysia (20:1) and worst inBangladesh (55:1). Net enrolment ratio is lowest in Pakistan at 59.1 and highest in Sri Lanka at99.9.

Table 1.1: Selected Education Indicators, 2001

Countries Compulsory Legal Pupil Total Gross NetEducation Guarantee of Teacher Enrolment Enrolment(age group) Free Education Ratio Ratio Ratio

Philippines 6-12 Yes 35 112.1 93.0

India 6-14 Yes 40 98.1 82.3

Bangladesh 6-10 Yes 55 97.5 86.6

Pakistan 5-9 No 44 73.2 59.1

Malaysia - No 20 95.2 95.2

Nepal 6-10 Yes 40 121.6 70.5

Sri Lanka 5-14 Yes - 110.4 99.9

Source: EFA Global Monitoring Report 2004/5.

In Pakistan, a range of different systems provides the school education and types of schools that aredifficult to classify and of vary greatly in quality provision:

• a government system of primary and secondary schools;

• a range of private schools and school systems (some non-profit and others for-profit);

• religious schools (known as madrasahs); and,

• community-based schools.

In case of India, education is a fundamental right and the pattern of education differs from state tostate, but it has more or less a similar pattern of education everywhere. There are broadly fourstages of school education, namely, primary and upper primary, secondary and higher secondary.The school management is either government, private or private aided. The general school educationspans for ten years of schooling with additional one or two years of pre-primary education. Theelementary education, which consists of 5 years of primary and 3 years of upper primary education,is of 8 years duration known as elementary education. Decisions regarding the organization andstructure of education are largely the concern of the States/Union Territories. Within the overallframework of the national policy on education, each State/Union Territory has been independentin determining the educational structure to be adopted. This is particularly true of the school stage.However, there is almost complete uniformity in the pattern of educational structure within a particular

3


State or Union Territory.

In Philippines public education system embraces both formal and non-formal education. Formaleducation has three levels, namely, elementary, secondary and tertiary. The elementary or primaryeducation, involves the compulsory six grades in public schools, provided free by the governmentand the seven grades in some private schools, in addition to optional preschool programs. Atthe second level, public secondary education is also provided free by the government, whichcorresponds to four years of high school.

The Bangladesh education system may broadly be divided into three stages, these are primary,secondary and tertiary. Total duration of education from primary to tertiary level counts for 16years – 5 years for primary, 3 years for junior secondary, 2 years for secondary, 2 years for highersecondary and 4 years for tertiary education. Besides the general education system, traditionalsystem of education based on religious beliefs of the population is also there. Such system forMuslims is known as Madrassa system and for Buddhists and Hindus as Tol or Sanskrit and Palieducation system.

Primary education in Bangladesh begins at age 6. Generally, children between 6-10 years are enrolledin primary schools. There are eleven types of primary schools in the country1. These may be formal,non-formal, Bangla medium, English medium and religious. Five years cycle of primary educationis free and compulsory by law.

Malaysia provides 11 years of free primary and secondary schooling. Most children between fourand six years of age begin their education at pre-school in kindergartens set up by the government,non-government agencies and also the private sector. Primary schooling begins at seven years ofage, and is normally completed within six to seven years. There are two categories of primaryschools, the National and the National-type schools. Primary education is divided into two levels.At level one, from Year One to Year Three, at level two, from Year Four to Six.

In Nepal, the education system is comprised of four stages: pre primary, primary, secondary andhigher secondary or Proficiency (PCL). Primary education or the first level of education in Nepalcomprises of five years of schooling. Most of the children enrol to the primary schools directlywhen they reach 6 years of age. The minimum entry age for this level is 6 years.

In Sri Lanka the education system consists of the following levels:

� Primary Level- 5 years - Grades 1-5

� Junior Secondary Level - 4 years - Grades 6-9

� Senior Secondary Level - 2 years - Grades 10-11

� Collegiate Level - 2 years - Grades 12-13

1 There are Government primary school, Registered non-government primary school, Un-registered non-governmentprimary school, Non-formal primary school, Ebtedayee madrassa, community school, satellite school, Kindergarten,high school attached primary section, and high madrassa attached ebtedayee section. Cited from the case studyconducted in Bangladesh.

4


Children from age five to ten attend primary school; from age eleven to fifteen they attend juniorsecondary school (terminating in Ordinary Level Examination); and from age sixteen to seventeenthey attend senior secondary school (terminating in the Advanced Level Examination). Those whoqualify can go on to the university system, which is totally state-run.

Objectives of the study

The broad objectives of case study of successful schools comprise to identify programmes, strategiesand devices on which school managers rely to make their schools successful and to examine theensuring policy for school management. Towards this, the research questions addressed in the studyinclude:

(i) Are there any preconditions for schools to be successful?

(ii) What are the management strategies or tools of most, if not at all, schools which help toexplain their success?

(iii) How feasible is the system-wide adoption of these strategies and tools?

The ultimate objective of the research programme is to inform institutions on how to build capacitiesof school leaders’ in order to improve school management. It is envisaged that the case studieswould subsequently help us to design training activities appropriate to different country contexts.

Case Studies

Keeping the overall purpose in mind, the case studies have been visualized. This set consisted of“institutional” case studies covering only one or a few schools. This involved identifying specific schoolsthat have successfully improved their school management processes through their own initiative(action projects or specific innovations). These are very different schools: primary or secondary,urban or rural, and with small or large enrolment of children, schools operated by different agencieslike government, government aided private management and exclusively private management. It isimportant that the success thus obtained has been shown to be sustainable. The case studies ofdiverse models of successful schools would provide the different and common strategies, whichmake schools successful in socio-cultural, economic and geographical landscapes.

The main focus of each case study was decided on the basis of contextual factors at national andschool levels adopting a broad framework about different aspects of school level process.

Organization of the Case Studies

Preparatory Stage: In this first stage, each member institution was asked to prepare a detaileddraft proposal specifying the theme and types of case studies to be undertaken. Nine memberinstitutions from seven countries i.e. Bangladesh (NAEM and BRAC), India (SIEMAT and NCERT),Sri Lanka (CEMD-NIE), Nepal (CERID), Malaysia (IAB), Philippines (INNOTECH) and Pakistan(AKU-IED) proposed to take up case studies of successful schools in their respective countries.While selecting the theme, the institute kept in mind the specific country situations and the expertiseavailable within the participating institution.

5


Design Stage: The preliminary proposals were shared among the participating member institutionsand the design of the Case Studies was finalized in a Technical Workshop organized for all themembers during April 2003 in Bangladesh. The Workshop ensured to develop a common frameworkwith feasibility to accommodate specific context of different countries and also that the case studiestogether comprehensively covered various aspects of School Management and the Role of HeadTeachers. The synthesis report includes the selection of successful schools, how did different memberinstitutions interpret the term, the sampling selection criteria, tools and methods used for datacollection by different member institutions and the major findings of case studies. The researchresults are organized under different research questions like:

(1) Are there any preconditions for schools to be successful? This aspect examines the profileof the headteachers, teaching force, availability of resources, level of autonomy andschools success.

(2) What are the management strategies or tools of most, if not all, of these schools whichhelp to explain their success? Under this theme, teacher supervision, delegation of tasks,presence of teacher incentives, individualised attention to students, student assessmentfor improving teaching learning and emphasis on discipline of teachers and students,management of time by head teacher/Principal, personal characteristics of head teacher/Principal, interpersonal relationships and relation with administration and community.

(3) How feasible is the system-wide adoption of these strategies and tools?

(4) Implications of the major findings for further action by ANTRIEP.

Sampling and Selection Criteria

In order to address the research questions, a broader research study was taken up by various memberinstitutions by adopting the case study approach. The foremost aspect is that ‘reliability’ of anyqualitative research lies on definition of sample unit, methods of investigation and effectiveness oftools employed for data collection. Sampling procedure, selection criteria and research tools, therefore,assume tremendous significance.

The selection of successful schools in a variegated setting spread over a host of countries is a difficultproposition but this was achieved through the use of ‘rigorous selection criteria’ which was largelyacceptable, common and standard. Though the member countries employed criteria specific totheir countries as well as common across various countries as standard procedures of determiningsuccessful schools, the emphasis was always on a verifiable claim. For example, academic achievement,enrolment and pass percentage in public examination results, achievement in co-curricular activities,utilization of resources, recognition through gaining of awards, relation with community, innovations,adaptation, public opinion regarding the quality of the concerned school, etc. were used as selectioncriteria. In fact, the sampling was multi-staged, purposive and stratified. Besides factors like rural-urban, Govt.-Private, large and small size, old and recently established and serving different segmentsof population (advantageous-disadvantageous dichotomy) were also reflected upon.

Following the broad parameters, the individual member institutions adopted the concept of asuccessful school specific to their own context.

6


Philippines: In case of the Philippines, the concept of successful school was applied to schools,which were winning national or regional awards as a part of search for effective elementary andsecondary schools. Award winning school is a successful school. Though one may not agree withsuch simplistic criteria, at the outset, it is important to note that the very selection procedure forawards is rigorous and tough and it takes into account several holistic parameters considering schoolas a unit. In the Philippines, the schools are awarded, based on analysis of data gathered by a teamof experts directly from schools using 17 formats covering motivation of learners, commitment andcompetence of teachers, capable and dynamic managers, conducive learning environment andcommunity relationship. In other words, the concept of successful schools in Philippines encompassesboth academic, managerial, school environment and motivational aspects as well as, in addition,relationship with the community. The parameters considered are positive and constitute a verifiableselection criterion than being a biased and a normative one.

Specifically, the school must have won the National Award for being an Effective School at thenational / regional level or must have been a finalist in the search at the national level; and thecurrent school head is the same person when the school was given the award. Using the abovecriteria, two schools were chosen.

India: In the context of India it may be observed that two agencies namely State Institute ofEducational Management and Training (SIEMAT) Allahabad Uttar Pradesh and a national levelautonomous body National Council conducted the case study of schools for Educational Researchand Training (NCERT). The SIEMAT considered 100 per cent enrolment, high retention rate,varied and interesting teaching pupil achievement in school, satisfactory partnership in schoolcommunity relationship, regular parent teacher meetings, adoption of continuous comprehensiveevaluation and adequate academic support and supervision.

On the other hand, NCERT focused on pace setting residential schools called Jawahar NavodayaVidyalaya (JNV) one in each district in the country run by the central government for rural talentedstudents. The sample schools were selected on the basis of an index developed based on academicachievements. Schools were ranked in terms of the performance of students in the last three years’national examination. Twenty schools were selected on this basis and later on another school wasadded to it as it was functioning creditably in a difficult terrain largely with students fromdisadvantageous tribal groups. Further, performance in co-curricular activities was added to rankthe schools with 70 and 30 per cent weightage to academic and co-curricular achievements respectivelyand an overall ranking was given. Since top two ranking schools were from the same state,representation was given to another state by selecting the third rank school. The third school wasdeliberately selected despite being ranked 12 in the list, in order to give representation to a schoolthat is located in interior tribal area with such performances rather well in comparison to otherschools placed under similar situation.

Bangladesh: In case of Bangladesh, two agencies namely NAEM (National Academy of EducationalManagement) and BRAC conducted case study of the schools. NAEM took into account grading ofschools by education department as criteria for considering a school as successful. ‘A’ graded schoolsindicate the best schools based on material conditions, teacher quality (100% trained) results ofpublic examination and in case of private schools year of accreditation, location (rural–urban),enrolment and management types for selecting schools.

Multi criteria purposive sampling has been adopted. At the outset, the list of ‘A’ category schools

7


was taken. From this list, 4 sub-lists were prepared representing government schools, non-governmentschools located in Dhaka city, schools located in the suburbs of Dhaka and schools located in ruralareas nearest to Dhaka. At the second stage, schools having more than 80% success rate wereidentified from government and non-government schools located in the city limits of Dhaka whilefor the schools of suburb and rural areas the index for success rate was 65% and 50% respectively.Thirdly, one school from each of the 4 sub-lists of (i) Dhaka city government secondary schools withmore than 80% success rates, (ii) Dhaka city non-government schools with more than 80% successrates, (iii) suburban non-government schools with 65% success rates, and (iv) rural schools withmore than 50% success rates was selected purposively so that the second selection criteria is satisfied.At the fourth stage, the researchers contacted the primarily selected schools to collect data related tothe promotion and drop-out rates. Both the rates were found satisfactory and far above the nationalrates. The national promotion rate is 90% while in the selected schools it ranges between 93-95%.NEAM’s selection process comprised of a stratified and purposive sampling.

The BRAC prepared a list of successful programme organizers (POs) and two schools were selectedfrom the list based on students’ attendance, achievement and the relationship of the school with thecommunity. In case of government primary schools: enrolment, attendance, students’ performanceand the school community relationship formed the basis. However, in case of second school, it wasthe opinion and recommendation of the local education officer that mattered the most.

Pakistan: Pakistan followed equally rigorous criteria before selecting three schools. They generatedtwenty characteristics of ‘successful schools’ for use in selecting the research sites. The list ofcharacteristics was then rank ordered by three groups that reduced the list to a manageable numberof characteristics by including the top five ranked items from each group. As a result, the followingcharacteristics were accepted for being successful schools:

(i) a satisfied and motivated staff willing to go to school,(ii) students willing to go to school,

(iii) flexibility and openness to change,(iv) effective professional development of staff,(v) a moving school culture,

(vi) curriculum with a view of the world beyond the classroom,(vii) a stress-free atmosphere, and(viii) increased life chances of students.

The research team then considered two other factors concerning school selection - the schoolsselected should represent a range of school systems and be geographically spread across Pakistan.Taking into account these factors and accessibility in terms of travel, the following schools wereselected:

a. A government school in Lahore, Punjab provinceb. A private school in Karachi, Sindh provincec. An Aga Khan Educational Service (AKES) school in Northern Areas.

Malaysia: For Malaysia, the criteria were National Award Winning Schools who select themselvesbased on the following qualifications viz. head teacher’s leadership, school climate, learning activitiesand quality outcome.

8


Nepal: Nepal too followed detailed criteria in selecting successful schools. The following criteriawere listed for considering the schools as successful: National award winner for outstandingperformances. Good performance in national examination results.

Sri Lanka: The selection criterion was a little different in case of Sri Lanka, though by no meansloose. It gave emphasis to promising successful schools, opinion of media and the administrationregarding the standard of the school. These schools have 5-10 years of public standing and areusually referred to as ‘model schools’ by the policy makers, ministry of education, provisionalofficers, principals, teachers as well as by members of the media. These schools are visited bytrainees, representatives from other schools to witness the involvement and commitment of its teachers.

Sri Lanka has also given representation to rural and urban schools, types of management, levels ofschools and more importantly to the dimension of gender, thus bringing into focus a large variety ofrealities existing in the educational system of the country.

A look at the above selection criteria enumerates that a successful school has many criteriaand is not restricted to a particular fixed criterion. Various countries have defined ‘successful school’in terms of their respective understanding, though a broad picture can emerge from the givendescriptions. For example, in the case of Philippines, Nepal and Malaysia, winning a nationalaward is considered a measurement of success and the bestowing of an award depends on a host ofparameters like quality of teaching, performance etc. In India, both academic and co-curricularactivities have been taken into consideration. Success is defined contextually in comparison to similarschools in similar setting rather than adopting a fixed criterion. In case of Bangladesh, the successhas been largely measured in terms of grading made by the Ministry of Education and differentlevels of performance in public examinations in urban, semi-urban and rural areas, while in SriLanka, more than pass percentage, it is the public awareness, public opinion, commitment andinvolvement that matter the most. In Pakistan the success was measured in twenty distinct characteristicsof the Head, teachers and students. Thus, a cursory glance at these cumulative criteria suggests thatsuccess can be gauged from the academic and co-curricular activities, adoption of innovativetechniques, openness towards change and involvement with the community. Further, the inclusionof a number of selection criteria, representation to various management types and localities hasbrought a holistic perspective into this research, besides reflecting the diversity and pluralism presentin the educational system across a number of countries inhabited by billions of population.

Tools and Techniques for Data Collection

In the words of an acclaimed social scientist Karl Pearson, ‘there is no short-cut to truth except thegateway of scientific knowledge’ that refers to the use of scientific method for generating, simulatingand interpreting data. This involves a proper use of research methodology and techniques.Information generating is one of the most difficult phases of research and the entire success ofresearch depends on this. There are several techniques used to collect, codify and simulate data. Inthis section, a brief outline of techniques of data collection is discussed.

In this research project, fieldwork method was preferred over other methods and attempts weremade to collect data through series of field visits, in some cases, even continuously staying in theseschools for a week or so. Information pertaining to schools was collected on case-by-case basis andthe case studies were prepared to give a shape to the research. In fact, emphasis was given oncollecting information from various sources to sustain the qualitative aspects of the study. Since

9


fieldwork was an important part of this exercise, research teams themselves visited the schools tocollect data. This had an advantage for research teams to have more in-depth and firsthandunderstanding of the school they studied. This in turn required thorough and substantive fieldvisits and in some cases research teams had to visit schools from 5-35 times depending on the needand necessity of the information. Furthermore, the researchers had to stay at some schools for morethan a week to collect the data. In this context, it is critical to note that in such types of informationcollecting process, the onus lies on the investigator who has to build a rapport in order to procurethe requisite information. Since the respondent group was diverse and dissimilar consisting of headteachers, teachers, students, old boys’ and girls’ alumni, community members, parents, members ofSMC, village education committee, government officials, local level functionaries and non-government organizations, it was difficult to build, maintain and use the rapport in obtaining therequired information. Towards this, the investigators had to spend considerable time among theserespondents by way of sharing foods, joining in their discussions, attending SMC, VEC, PTA andstaff meetings, observing classroom teaching, keeping an eye on local events etc.

Interview Schedules/Guide,Questionnaires, Observation Most of the Countries

Self Rated Scale for HT, Teacher Philippines

• Interview• Observations

(Classroom other events)• Focused group discussion• Informal Discussions

Most of the Countries

Audio & Video Pakistan, India, Malaysia,Sri Lanka

Qualitative Case Study Sri Lanka, Pakistan

Figure 1.1: Tools and Techniques for Primary Data Collection

COMMON

In order to facilitate the fieldwork, the investigators had taken permission from respective authoritiesas well as schools. This was important and essential for avoiding any apprehensions among headteachers, teachers, SMC etc. to obtain several details of the processes followed in schools. Though,more often than not the tools were common and standard, at times the investigators had also to usealternative and different techniques depending upon the context and specificity of the situation.

10


This helped in collection of information fully as through questionnaires, interview schedules, self-rating scales and other research tools. Audiotapes and video recordings of discussions and observationswere prepared to verify and crystallize the information.

Efforts were made to crosscheck and verify data through various means including triangulation test.At a later stage, data were codified and exposed to computer simulation to generate specific andinterrelated information. These are essential parts of any research but more specifically for the casestudy method. The credibility of case study method lies exclusively on sampling selection, at theone end, and methodology, on the other. In the first part, we have discussed the sampling procedurewhere multi-grade sampling was done to select the schools and efforts were made to define anddetermine the characteristics of ‘successfulness’ specifically. As far as the methodology is concerned,the study should remain free from bias and out of irregularities. The methods used in a particularstudy ought to have the capability for in-depth mapping of general and peculiar features of therespondents and the quality to capture the dimensions and dynamics of research universe underinvestigation.

Though enough care was taken to make the study methodologically sound, some discrepancieshave inevitably crept into. Since a number of research teams across different countries were involvedin the exercise it was difficult to maintain and adopt a common method. For example, there hasbeen a wide divergence in the frequency of visits made by respective investigators to schools. Someinvestigators have paid only five visits while others have 35. This is a case of confusion. While lessnumber of visits point out to limited scope for in-depth understanding and constraints in collectinginformation, numerous visits indicate lack of continuity, disproportionately wastage of time etc.

In some cases, audio-visual methods were used to have a better perspective and in other cases,ethnographic techniques were employed to generate qualitative information. The case studies alsocovered a vast body of quantitative information pertaining to a wide range of aspects like enrolment,number of teachers and their qualification, performance in national examinations, available facilities,etc. that were collected and collated.

The qualitative data analysis includes content analysis, transcription of audio recordings, analysisof the field dairies and analysis and tabulation of the secondary data. However, IED–AKU Pakistanand IAB–Malaysia used NVivo programme for content analysis. This programme enabled tocategorize all nodes to be formed and the excerpts from the transcript to be coded according tothose nodes. The nodes were developed from the analytic framework to ensure that the data analysisis consistent with the framework.

Structure of the Report

The report is divided into six sections; section one is the introduction, section two focuses on theprofile of the successful schools. Section three gives the profile of the school, students, teachers andhead teacher. Section four explains the management devices adopted by head teachers for sustainingthe success of the school. Section five discusses the importance of interpersonal relationships andthe final section i.e. section six suggests the possible models of the successful schools, which haveemerged from the analysis.

11


Section II

Profile of Successful Schools

The definition of successful school is quite difficult to generalize, as it would consist of differentcomponents for different environments, as it is context specific. The power of effective school liesnot in their specific characteristics but in the ethos or culture they develop (Rutter, Maugham,Mortimore, Ouston & Smith; 1979). In effective schools, such behaviours may include highexpectations (Brookover, Bready, Food, Schweitzer, & Wisenbaker; 1979), high commitment to work,action orientation, professional autonomy, recognition for good performance, and a commitmentto providing slack time to professionals for the development of programmes and skills (Clark,Lotto, and Astuto; 1984). Thus, in highly achieving schools most members consistently support (inword and deed) the presence of particular norms and values (Firestone & Corbett; 1988). Saphierand King (1985) have suggested 14 norms that give shape to an affective school’s culture:

� Collegiality

� Experimentation

� High expectations

� Trust

� Confidence

� Tangible support

� Reaching out to the knowledge bases

� Appreciation

� Recognition

� Caring-celebration-humour

� Involvement in decision making

� Protection of what is important

� Traditions

� Honest, open communication

The school culture in isolation cannot be sustained for retaining success of a school, and here therole of school head becomes very crucial. The role of head teacher or the school principal hasbecome more crucial now than ever before in view of dwindling resources and increased expectations

12


of schools. Invariably, the onus for projecting the school’s worth in the increasingly competitiveworld is essentially placed on the headteacher. Three sets of developments in this regard are important:

(1) School as the unit for planning and development: Traditionally quality improvementin education has meant introduction of system-wide reforms, often focusing on curriculumreform measures or setting new benchmarks for provision of facilities in schools. Thisapproach has gradually begun to give way to treating the individual school as the unit forimprovement action. This obviously has a significant impact on the roles and functions ofthe headteacher. In this respect, every school has to acquire an institutional identity andmeet the social as well as official expectations in a competitive framework.

(2) Accountability based on performance linked to outcomes of schooling: Openchoice, competition and official assistance linked to performance define the emergingframework for assessing school functioning. Studies show that the new performance-assessment framework is putting unprecedented pressure on the school head to show results.Though some aspects of this approach have attracted considerable criticism for trivialisingschool education and making it unduly examination oriented, the trend has gained greatermomentum in many parts of the world.

(3) Increased internal autonomy: A direct consequence of the changes mentioned aboveis the increased autonomy in the daily functioning of the school with implied enhancementin the powers and responsibilities of the school head. Every headteacher is expected tolead the school towards improved standards of functioning by shared understanding of thegoals of the school and securing the contribution of everyone.2

During the recent years the importance of the role of the headteacher has increased further due totwo complementary developments. The first relates to the emphasis being laid on decentralisationof educational management in general. In some countries of the Asian region, this emphasis hasalready been translated into reality, while in most others policy makers and planners are activelyengaged in designing modalities of decentralisation, which invariably affect internal schoolmanagement, and the role of the school head. The second development is a gradual move towardsschool-based management and enhanced autonomy to schools. Further, active involvement ofdifferent stakeholders in the internal management of schools is increasingly viewed as an effectivemeans of promoting and improving schools. This trend demands better and non-traditionalmanagerial skills from the headteachers.3 Role of the Head is crucial in improving school managementand making the school successful. The following section explores the backdrop of selected schoolsfrom the selected countries.

Case Specific Details

A total number of 30 successful schools were covered by different research teams from Bangladesh,India, Nepal, Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. These schools exhibit a wide varietyof characteristics and a diversity ranging from location to shift. The number of schools incorporatedin the study is also not same. While it is just a single school from Malaysia, there are 8 case studies

2 ANTRIEP and European Comission,New Delhi, Role of Headteachers in School Management in India, Case Studies from

Four States. pp. 7-8.3 Ibid.

13


from India and Bangladesh. Similarly, the study represents single teacher BRAC schools of Bangladeshto schools having more than hundred teachers.

Table 2.1: School Profile

Country No. of Location No. of Management Category Level ClassSchools Years

R U Govt Aided Pvt B G Co.Ed. Pri Sec

Bangladesh 8 5 3 44 3 3 2 3 - 5 4 4

India 8 6 2 35 6 2 0 - - 8 4 4

Nepal 4 2 2 42 - 4 - - - 4 - 4

Philippines 2 1 1 72 2 - - - - 2 2 -

Pakistan 3 - 3 56 1 - 2 - 2 1 - 3

Sri Lanka 4 2 2 46 4 - - 1 1 2 1 3

Malaysia 1 - 1 10 1 - - - - 1 1 -

Total 30 16 14 Ave. 44 17 9 4 4 3 23 12 18

Percentage 100 53 47 57 30 13 13 10 77 40 60

Note: Type of School= Day- 87%; Residence- 13%.

Shift of School= Single Shift- 93%; Double Shift- 7%

Campus=Single Campus- 97%; More than one Campus- 3%

R- Rural, U- Urban, B-Boys, G-Girls

Out of total (30) sample schools selected in the study, 16 schools (53 per cent) were from rural areasand 14 schools (47 per cent) were situated in urban and semi-urban areas. India has the highestnumber of rural schools among the member countries, closely followed by Bangladesh with 5 ruralschools. Nepal, Sri Lanka and Philippines have equal number of rural and urban schools for theselected case studies.

The study also has some interesting figures in terms of the number of years of establishment of theschools. Out of 30 sample schools, most schools are above twenty years except in Malaysia, thus,showing a trend where it is easy to assume that fairly old established and experienced schools havea success story. Out of 8 schools selected from Bangladesh, half of them were functioning for lessthan 20 years while other schools are quite old (Table 2.2). There is a school each in Bangladeshand Pakistan with a history of over a century, while Sri Lanka has, on the other hand, a sampleschool with only five years of existence. The average age of schools counted in terms of years ofestablishment is 44, thus, representing that the study has relatively stable and old schools. Thediversity of schools can also be gauged from the different management types representing government,private and private-aided. Though with 57 per cent schools under its control, government tops themanagement types representing from all countries, except Nepal. The 30 per cent of schoolsrepresenting aided management are from India, Bangladesh and Nepal. There are five schoolslocated in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh that are run by NGOs and Private managements/trusts.From the composition of gender, a big majority (23) of them are co-education schools, while 10 percent schools are exclusively for girls representing Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Forty per cent of schools

I-IV/V/VI=40%I-X=27%

I-XII=17%

VI-X=3%VI-

XII=13%

14


are primary schools, whereas 60 per cent are secondary and senior secondary schools. However,some of the primary schools covered in the study were part of large secondary/senior secondaryschools.

The sample schools depict diversity not only across the countries but also within a particular country.

Table 2.2: School Profile

15


In the sample schools two types of curriculum was adopted namely, national or state curriculumand school based. School based curriculum is adopted by most of the countries successful sampleschools.

Table 2.3: National/State Curriculum and School Based Curriculum

Country No. of Schools National/ State School-basedCurriculum Curriculum (own)

Bangladesh 8 8(100%) 6(75%)

India 8 8(100%) 0(0%)

Nepal 4 4(100%) 3(75%)

Pakistan 3 3(100%) 1(33%)

Philippines 2 2(100%) 0(0%)

Sri Lanka 4 4(100%) 4(100%)

Malaysia 1 1 0(0%)

Total 30 30(100%) 14(47%)

The size of the school in terms of the number of students is very different among the samplesuccessful schools, both within the country as well as across different countries. In Bangladesh, thestudent enrolment number showed a lot of variation with a private aided school having 3417students on its roll while a government primary school has 320 students in comparison, thus showingdivergent cases. Similarly, in the case of India, the sample of schools includes a student enrolmentof 234 to 600. The picture is same in the profile of other countries as well.

The sample schools present a different class size. It varies between primary and secondary andamong different management schools. Some of the schools have very large classes up to 90 to 134students. This situation was found in a remote rural government primary school as well as in anelite urban autonomous Royal School in Pakistan. These schools have special institutional cultureand special teaching methods, which explains their success, in spite of having over-crowded classes.In fact, the head teachers are conscious of the problem and pressing for additional teachers. Whilethe rural school has a large class size mainly due to lack of adequate number of teachers, in case ofurban elite school, the high public demand for admission was considered a reason for such a largeclass size. However, both these successful schools have a common school culture, where teacherslove their school and children and also devote to teach and organise classes adopting differentinnovative methods. Though these schools have inadequate number of teachers, they have theright teachers.

While all the sample schools are considered successful, there are considerable differences amongthese schools in terms of pupil-teacher ratio both within and across the countries as stated earlier. InBangladesh, the lowest pupil teacher ratio is 28:1 in a BRAC managed primary school, while in agovernment primary school, the ratio was 53 students per teacher. Among the secondary schools,

16


the pupil teacher ratio varies from 36:1 to 46:1. Surprisingly, in some successful government primaryschools in India, the pupil teacher ratio was as higher as 134:1 and in another case in Pakistan; it isalmost 90:1. However, the pupil teacher ratios in JNV vary from 16:1 to 19:1. In case of Nepal,although the number of teacher per students varies from 1:27 to 1:38, it is more in secondaryschools as it is imperative for them to have subject teachers more than the ratio. In the Philippines,the two sample primary schools have one teacher each for 38 and 30 students respectively. Similarly,examples from the Sri Lanka show a very feasible teacher-student ratio. One of the schools inPakistan has a very ideal situation of having 71 teachers for 700 students, thus, making approximatelyone teacher for ten students.

Though having a feasible number of pupils teacher ratio is an essential condition for effectiveteaching learning, the sample of successful schools, particularly primary schools, shows a differentscenario.

Not only having adequate teachers but right kind of teachers seems to be more important. Thoughat secondary level, most of the schools have a good number of teachers, an issue of equal concernis having adequate number of teachers for different subjects. Thus we assume that all the successfulsecondary schools have satisfied pre-condition in this regard.

Out of the total schools, 13 per cent of them are the residential schools and the rest are day schools.However, two girls’ schools - one each in Pakistan and Sri Lanka - have hostel facility. Only 7 percent of the schools have double shift classes. All but one school has the school buildings in a singlecampus.

Table 2.4: Type of School

Country Type Number of Shifts Number of Campus

Day Residential 1 2 1 2

Bangladesh 8 - 6 2 8 -

India 5 3 8 - 8 -

Nepal 4 - 4 - 3 1

Pakistan 3 - 3 - 3 -

Sri Lanka 4 - 4 - 4 -

Philippines 2 - 2 - 2 -

Malaysia 1 - 1 - 1 -

Total 27 3 28 2 29 1

Percentage 90 10 93 7 97 3

Profile of selected schools reflects that all the schools are different in their composition in terms ofmanagement, size, number of teachers, teacher pupil ratio, students etc. This means that themanagement strategies adopted by the Head would be context specific and any generalisation orcomparison between the sampled schools is not justified.

17


Section III

Actors Creating Success

In making a school successful four major components are crucial and are inter related for attainingand retaining success for a school. These major components are the school, Head, teachers andstudents. School is the core or the base on which the success is accounted for and sustained. TheHead takes the school further to the road of success by planning and managing the schoolorganisation.

School

Availability of Facilities

One of the preconditions for successful functioning of any school is availability of minimum essentialfacilities to pave the way for effective teaching learning and to have congenial physical environment

Table-3.1: Schools Having Adequate Facilities

Country No. of Infrastructure Ancillary Teaching- Library Laboratory ComputerSchools Facilities Facilities Learning

Materials

Bangladesh 8 8 8 8 4 4 4

India 8 8 8 6 8 3 5

Nepal 4 4 4 4 4 3 2

Pakistan 3 3 3 2 3 3 3

Philippines 2 2 2 2 2 0 2

Sri Lanka 4 3 4 4 4 3 4

Malaysia 1 NA NA NA NA NA NA

Total 30 28 29 26 25 16 20

Percentage 100 96 100 90 86 55 69

18


to also motivate teachers as well as students. Although provision of all the facilities need not ensuresuccess of the school, however, their absence can affect the performance of schools. Most of theschools covered under the present study characterize having at least minimum essential facilities interms of infrastructure, and ancillary facilities and also teaching-learning aids, laboratories andlibrary.

In fact, some of the schools have reached current status of facilities through their concerted effortsand are struggling hard to improve upon their inadequate provision of facilities. For instance, theprimary school in Philippines has witnessed a significant improvement in its physical facilities in lastfew years after the present principal has taken over the school.

Box 3.1: Head’s Personal Interest in School Improvement

The Principal has made possible a number of physical improvements in SACES. Thereare now more classrooms, a covered court, spacious library, faculty room, science labwith microscopes and other devices and a learning resource center. There are now TVsets and videocassette recorders, some computers, and an overhead projector usedfor instruction. Educational video and multiplex tapes for teachers as well as forstudents are available. SACES is one of the sites where ABS-CBN’s EducationalTelevision Assisted Instruction and ABS-CBN’s Knowledge Channel Programs aremade available to the students, thereby reinforcing and enriching the teachers’competencies in the subjects.

Sta. Ana Central Elementary School, Philippines

Similarly, one of the private aided secondary schools in Bangladesh (Uttara High School, Dhaka)got itself transformed by setting up new classrooms, digging tubewell for safe drinking water, preparinga new playground, provision of electricity and supplying teaching-learning materials. In the sameway, a sample school in Pakistan substantially improved its physical conditions over the past two-three years. A boundary wall has been constructed, grass has been planted in the grounds (previouslybare and dusty earth) and interiors have been painted and cleaned up. The principal’s office hasbeen extended and improved, the staff room relocated and refurnished and the examination hallhas been made into a multi-purpose facility room. In some cases, the schools have been able tomobilize community support to improve their facilities. More importantly, some schools and theirhead teachers have taken vital steps in actualizing their potential by involving the community, localcharity organizations and voluntary individual support. This was evident from Jharokalan PrimarySchool, Duddhi, SIEMAT, India, the head-teacher got the room re-built for use within a few week time with the

help of community, children and teachers. He gave a call for Kar Seva (voluntary labour) and sought any kind of help

in whatever form one could for the reconstruction of the room. Without any help from the government or other external

agencies, the room was rebuilt and teaching in the school did not suffer.

With regard to laboratory facilities for secondary and senior secondary schools, some of the schoolslike the one in Nepal, and another in Pakistan, have expressed their problem either of not having

19


adequate facilities or of inadequate conditions. Although all the heads of the school feel that addingmodern technology like computers will be helpful for the teaching learning as well as foradministration, many schools have, however, remained till today far away from modern technologyin Bangladesh, India as well as High Schools of Nepal. Interestingly even in remote schools in SriLanka, computers are available and they are used exclusively for teaching students apart fromhaving computers as an additional subject. It is important to note that the head teachers haveallowed private parties to install computers in school premises. Majority of schools have reasonablygood facilities for co-curricular activities, including fine arts. However, some of the schools have thelimitation of inadequate space due to increased enrolment and up-gradation into higher classes (SriLanka, Bangladesh, India). In some of the countries, organisations like SDS (School DevelopmentSociety) in Sri Lanka, SMC (School Management Committee) in Bangladesh and VEC (VillageEducation Committee) in India have contributed materials and free labour for improving the physicalfacilities in school. In fact, in India, VECs have helped to produce locally made teaching-learningmaterials to improve teaching.

Availability of facilities, access to facilities and their proper utilization are hallmarks of successfulschools. The case studies revealed that most schools not only have facilities but many of them arealso properly using them. They have committees and sub-committees for use and maintenance ofphysical infrastructure, which fixes accountability.

Box 3.2: Role of Committees in School Improvement

Committees provide methodical resource management in the school. Daily requirementsare accomplished very smoothly and systematically. Especially, school office has beenarranged in such a way to save time. All the school personnel are trained in resourcemanaging. Not only the school office but all the premises are tidy, clean, systematicand conducive to learning. There is a mechanism, such as delegation of work, use ofcharts and checklists for resource management. In the whole premises, resources areallocated to separate teachers and students, and are supervised, monitored andevaluated daily by the principal. It is very interesting to see that all the resources arebeing used to the optimum.

Meegastenna Maha Vidyalaya, Sri Lanka

From the afore-mentioned examples and explanations, it seems that most schools not only havebasic infrastructure facilities, but those that have also ensure their proper utilization by creatingnecessary mechanisms.

All the successful schools have threshold level of physical facilities but some schools are endowedwith more physical resources. The successful schools pay equal attention to cleanliness, beautification,building boundary wall, avoiding public trespassing, providing safe playground, and providingancillary facilities to staff and students. Even small and rural primary schools have a distinct physicalenvironment. It is needless to emphasise the impact of congenial physical environment on motivationof teachers, students and parents.

20


Many of the head teachers have expressed their vision to further improve and extend physicalfacilities. Few of them are pursuing to expand. In fact one, of the schools in Pakistan is ready toshift to its new campus. Perhaps, this is one of the characteristics of a successful school to aspire toimprove the situation rather than thinking that the available things are enough.

School Autonomy

One of the significant characteristics of successful schools found in these case studies is the conspicuouspresence of functional autonomy in one form or the other in one or many aspects of schoolmanagement. The autonomy is not necessarily granted to the schools with legal frame. Rather, theschools adopted devices to have inbuilt mechanism of autonomy either through innovations,rearranging the management processes, with the consent of administration and SMC. But acomparison of levels of autonomy among the sample schools is a difficult task considering thediversity of size, level and management type. Except Philippines, in other countries, the schoolswere not given autonomy with any legal base. Therefore, definition of autonomy is largely institutionaland individually oriented; making it doubly difficult, as the degree and level of autonomy cannever be the same in different schools. Most of the schools admit that they have some sort ofautonomy and also many of them are not constrained by lack of autonomy in its formal sensethough they wish to have more autonomy. However, the successful schools have exercised greatersay in pedagogy and conducting co-curricular activities, despite following the prescribed curriculumand textbooks. One of the reasons for this autonomy is the ability of schools in properly planningand executing the pedagogical aspects according to their prevailing context, which was evident inSri Lanka, Nepal, India and Pakistan. From the case study of Viswa Niketan Higher SecondarySchool, Nepal it was found that, the autonomy of the schools in Nepal depends on the school types. Basically there

are two types of schools: 1) private schools managed totally by individuals or groups generating its own fund through

student fees or donations and 2) schools managed and run with the grant fund provided by the government and with the

head teacher and the teachers appointed and administered also by the government, known as the public schools. Every

type of school should abide by the Education Acts and Regulations. They should follow the national curriculum and

examination. The schools have the autonomy to choose the supplementary books approved by Curriculum Development

Centre.

Many schools adopted group and cooperative learning processes and different methods ofinternal student assessment, in addition to the prescribed conventional methods. The schools claimthis autonomy as an introduction of innovations for adjusting to local context. Some of theseschools exercised autonomy in choosing the supplementary books and textbooks, organizing staffdevelopment programmes. Other schools introduced job-oriented courses like foreign language toattract students, while still others introduced English as a medium of instruction to attract more and,in some cases, better-equipped students. Examples of these innovations may be found in Sri Lankaand Pakistan schools and these can be effectively termed as an exercise of academic autonomy.

21


Table 3.2: Internal Autonomy

Country No. of Administrative Pedagogical Financial Others Co-curriculumSchools

Great Some No Great Some No Great Some No Great Some NoExtent Extent Auton. Extent Extent Auton. Extent Extent Auton. Extent Extent Auton.

Bangladesh 8 2 2 4 4 4 0 0 0 8 1 7 0

India 8 0 8 0 0 8 0 0 4 4 8 0 0

Nepal 4 0 0 4 0 4 0 0 0 4 1 3 0

Pakistan 3 1 2 0 0 3 0 1 0 2 3 0 0

Sri Lanka 4 0 4 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 2 0 0

Philippines 2 2 0 0 4 0 0 0 4 0 4 0 0

Malaysia 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0

Total(%) 30 8 14 8 9 21 0 1 9 20 20 10 0(100%) (36%) (66%) (27%) (30%) (70%) (0%) (10%) (90%) (67%) (67%) (33%) (0%)

22


Box 3.3: Head’s Opinion Regarding Autonomy

Head teacher was of the firm conviction regarding individual capacity of seeking autonomy.He said that a good head teacher never asks for autonomy. He said, “We never askedfor sought any permission or financial assistance from Government for developing ourschool into a beautiful and effective school with a large sized playground and a garden.”“We never waited for sanctions or Government order to come for making parent teacherassociation or children’s Government.” “Who ordered us to add our financial resourcesthrough the earning from the school garden.” “None of the official order was able to bringchanges in the school premises. It was so unclean, shabby and dirty with only 40 childrenenrolled in the school 5 years ago.” He told that autonomy cannot be given from the top.“It is within yourself, How much you are committed to the cause is the prime question.”Chairperson of VEC also stated, “We as local Government are made responsible for themanagement of school and we know our limitations”. “Bureaucratic hierarchy in the stateof U.P. is very strong but autonomy does not mean complete anarchy, one has to observefinancial rules and regulations, follow state level curriculum and standard text booksprescribed by the state Govt.” He said, “Within these restrictions which are necessaryfor maintaining same education structure in all Government controlled schools, we havefreedom and autonomy to manage our school efficiently. We have power to select andappoint local person as para teacher.”

Primary School, Jhansi, India

One of the areas where the schools enjoy considerable autonomy is carrying out academic exerciseslike internal students assessment, introduction of " hidden curriculum" through co-curricular activities.The schools are also successful to evolve certain structures and norms at school level for smoothlymanaging the school academic and co-curricular activities. As far as teacher supervision is concerned,successful schools have little problem, as outside agencies do not interfere with the internal supervisionsystem of the schools because of their results and reputation. But this freedom provides them withthe opportunity to rectify their own errors and make it more foolproof and stringent for their ownbenefit.

With regard to financial autonomy, the schools have little scope and they do not have much say, inthis regard, at the institutional level. Yet some schools have even financial autonomy to a limitedextent as was the case in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India. Successful schools seem to exploitopportunities, particularly in mobilising resources, generating income through several innovations.This, in turn, helped schools to gain financial autonomy at school level. The schools, which weresuccessful in generating resources, have taken financial decisions with wider implication.

However, private schools enjoy a higher level of financial autonomy. They have freedom in respectof school fees, raising funds and also to spend according to their plans and priorities. Even privateaided schools in Nepal are empowered to generate their own resources and are free to use theseresources in implementing their development plans and programmes.

23


Figure 3.1: School Autonomy

24


While some of the schools, especially private schools, enjoy autonomy to select students and teachers,most of the schools can appoint temporary or contract teachers. In many of the case studies, it hasbeen felt that the schools do not have autonomy of either choosing or punishing their teachers. Thislack of freedom in teacher achievement has been viewed as a constraint by many schools. Howeverin Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India, some of the head teachers of successful schools were able toinfluence the administration to get rid of inefficient and problematic teachers and to get goodteachers transferred to their schools. In fact, schools did not feel that this has severely hindered theirmanagement. Most of the head teachers and principals not only make optimum utilization of theirautonomy but some of them share it too among their colleagues. Many schools have attained andenjoyed this autonomy due to their credibility and good relations with administrators. Some headteachers have further delegated this autonomy among their teachers vertically down to section/department heads. One head teacher in Sri Lanka even admitted that the success of his school liesin decentralization of autonomy within the school and among the teachers. In Nepal, some schoolshave autonomy to recruit teachers, provided they can generate enough resources to meet the coston this count.

The case of Philippines is entirely different where school autonomy is granted under a specialadministrative clause within the decentralized planning process.

Box 3.4: School Autonomy under Administrative Clause

Heads are now empowered to exercise authority and power with regard to the followingfunctions:(a) Setting the mission, vision, goals and objectives of the school; (b) Creating anenvironment within the school that is conducive to teaching and learning; (c) Implementing,monitoring and assessing the school curriculum and being accountable for higherlearning outcomes; (d) Developing the school education program and school improvementplan; (e) Offering educational programmes, projects, and services which provide equitableopportunities for all learners in the community; (f) Introducing new and innovative modesof instruction to achieve higher learning outcomes; (g) Administering and managing allpersonnel, physical and fiscal resources of the school; (h) Recommending the staffingcomplement of the school based on its needs; and (i) Encouraging and enhancing staffdevelopment.


It is evident that every school enjoys certain freedom in transacting the curriculum, managing funds,administering tests, monitoring student activities etc. But the quantum of this freedom largely dependsupon individual orientation and capacity of the concerned head teacher. In a sense, it can be saidthat exercise of a greater degree of autonomy in a close context, like school in any given type ofmanagement, is a matter of an internally generated capacity than an externally introduced mechanism.

25


There are several illustrations and cases where the head teachers or principals take decision or planprogrammes even if they are not part of regular framework of the school or responsibilities ordirective from the above. This kind of strong internal autonomy is prominently evident in schoolsin Sri Lanka, and in some private managed schools in Bangladesh (with the approval of SMC). Incase of Sri Lanka the principals and teachers of the schools plan, prepare and organize hiddencurriculum, which is not part of the state prescribed curriculum. The hidden curriculum varies fromschool to school, based on the mission and objective of the schools. Interestingly, the schools fixtheir own mission and objective and display them on walls, notice boards to attract the attention ofvarious role players. Similarly, in some of the schools in Sri Lanka, they modify and adopt certainschool level activities like organization of study tours, number of teaching periods for differentsubjects etc. according to the school context. In some cases from Sri Lanka, the head teacher hastaken independent decision about admission of students in the school in classes A/L level andplanning tour programmes of the students.

Profile of the Head Teachers/Principals

The majority of head teachers/ principals are male (69 per cent). However, there is a slight variationamong different countries. While in Philippines, both schools are headed by females, whereas incase of Nepal, all head teachers are male. Out of 8 schools in Bangladesh, there are two femalehead teachers and their number is three in India. In case of Pakistan and Sri Lanka, there is onlyone woman head teacher each. The successful schools headed by women are in Pakistan, Sri Lankaand Philippines. Some of them have added advantage, as they were students of the same schools.

There is a pronounced heterogeneity in terms of age group of head teachers varying between lessthan 35 and above 50. Around 48 per cent of head teachers are between 40 and 50 years of ageand 38 per cent of them are over 50 years of age. The young head teachers who are below 40years of age in Sri Lanka and Pakistan have been chosen to be head teachers because of theircredibility and proven capacity in managing schools. Similarly, in case of Bangladesh, teachersworking in the BRAC schools have managed to go up due to the recognition of their calibre by themanagement. The number of years of experience as head teachers differs among the schools aswell as countries. Around 43 per cent of them have more than 15 years of experience working ashead teachers. In case of Nepal, all the four head teachers have more than 15 years of experience,one of them has nearly twenty years of experience as head teacher. More than 70 per cent of headteachers have been in the same schools for more than 5 years. Also, a little less than one-fourth ofhead teachers have been in the same school for more than 15 years.

All the Principals have good qualifications and training whereas many of them are post-graduate.Fifty-three per cent of head teachers have post-graduate qualification and the rest 45 per cent haveminimum required qualification. All of them have had their teacher training and more than 80 percent have undergone advanced trainings in school management. In fact, some of the principalsfrom Nepal and Sri Lanka have had the opportunity to undergo teacher management programmesin United Kingdom, Canada, Israel etc. Similarly, some of the head teachers from Pakistan and SriLanka had undertaken intensive training programmes on school management organized byprofessional management development organizations. One of the head teachers in Pakistan, who

26 Improving School M

anagement

Table 3.3: Principal / Head Teacher Profile

27


was working with AKU-IED foundation, has had his professional management degree from IED,while in Sri Lanka, a number of head teachers have got their training from national level educationalmanagement centre. In case of Philippines, the principals not only have a professional training inschool management but are also pursuing Ph.D. work on school management. In case of India, allthe head teachers have had the opportunity to undergo training on school management.

Successful schools, it seems generally have experienced and older head teachers. However, thereare some exceptions. The age and experience of head teachers shows that they have an advantageof being senior and have acceptability among teachers. However, in one of the schools, the seniorteachers resisted to accept the leadership of a young head teacher. The post-graduation academicqualification, exposure to several in-service management training programmes, training in foreigninstitution, national and regional institutions are found to have a significant effect on capabilities ofhead teacher. The head teachers have better worldview, wide knowledge, self-confidence andenthusiasm to put into the practice what they have learnt in management theory. In some of thecase studies, the head teachers were found to be explaining the management principles and displayingthem as a part of their vision for the schools.

Except in case of Philippines, in all the countries, the head teachers teach six to twelve periods perweek in their respective subjects. In some of the schools in Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh,the head teachers engage the classes sometimes when the teachers are absent. In some primaryschools, the head teachers were found to be teaching 3-4 periods per day as they did not haveadequate number of teachers.

Teachers’ Profile

The case studies have also made it clear that the successful schools have teachers with good educationalqualification and training. They are also trained to improve instructional methods, which havedirect effect on students learning. Though as an exceptional case, one of the private schools deviatedfrom formal qualification in terms of a degree in education or training, the ideology and philosophyof this school provided ample opportunity to craft the teachers effectively.

Women constitute the majority of teachers among the total sample schools. However, in case ofBangladesh and Nepal, most of the teachers are male. The successful schools in Nepal and Bangladeshare not much different from the country-wide phenomenon of low representation of women teachers.Both the sample schools in Philippines consist of 90 per cent of women teachers, while in case ofPakistan one of the girls’ schools with exclusive women teachers has boosted the percentage profileof women teachers, raising it to more than 87 per cent.

There are almost 45 per cent of the teachers from the sample schools who have higher qualificationsthan the prescribed and the remaining of them have the minimum qualification required. All theteachers in Philippines and Bangladesh have pre-service teacher training. In Sri Lanka, Nepal andIndia, 4 per cent of teachers are untrained. Similarly, in one of the schools in Pakistan, no teacherhas teacher training or degree in education. In fact, some teachers are from different disciplines likeLaw, Journalism, etc. Though most of the teachers in sample schools are permanent, a small

28


Table 3.4: Teachers Profile

Country Gender Above Training Nature AverageMinimum of Post Teaching

Qualification Professional Any (Regular) LoadM F Total Teacher other Period

Training per day

Bangladesh 125 84 209 84 198 7-8(60%) (40%) (40%) 100% 2% (95%)

India 64 67 131 72 96% 7% 128 5-6(49%) (51%) (55%) (98%)

Nepal 80 64 144 68 96% - 144 5-6(55.5%) (44.5%) (47%) (100%)

Pakistan 21 140 161 NA NA - 139 4-5(13.04%) (87%) (86%)

Philippines 9 77 86 28 100% - 84 NA(10%) (90%) (33%) (98%)

Sri Lanka 196 127 323 NA 96% 8% 322 5-6(61.0%) (39%) 323 NA (100%)

Malaysia NA NA 90 NA NA NA NA NA

Total 495 # 559 # 1144 – – -- – 5-6% (46.96%) (53.04%) 45%* 98%** 96%#

#Excluding Malaysia* Excluding Pakistan, Sri Lanka & Malaysia** Excluding Pakistan & Malaysia

number of part-time teachers do work in these schools, constituting 5 per cent of the total populationof the teachers. The cases from Sri Lanka, Philippines, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh reportedthat the teachers had undergone more than one in-service training in pedagogical and central trainingprogrammes. In Philippines and Sri Lanka, the successful schools have an in-house system of trainingfor teachers. In one of the schools each in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, head teachers themselvesorganized some serious in-house capacity building programmes for their teachers. In fact, inPhilippines, both the sample schools have a few teachers with considerable amount of in-servicetraining.

The in-service opportunities, convention of in-house training, head teachers’ special focus on staffdevelopment programmes in some of the schools highlights the development of a supporting learningculture among teachers. This organisational learning culture offers ownership of developmentswithin the school by teachers and leading to motivation and reduction of burnout syndrome amongteachers. An example towards this can be drawn from one of the primary schools in the Philippines,a rural school in Sri Lanka, an urban elite school in Pakistan and a residential school in India wherethe teachers have high self-esteem and love their job and are proud of their school. The teachers insuccessful schools were found to be ready to accept innovations and change, unlike the traditionalteaching community.

29


Box 3.5: Teacher’s Positive Attitude Towards New Ideas

Teachers in the school generally have high self-concept. Based on a forty-itemquestionnaire conducted during the evaluation period, 72% of the teachers fall under thecategory ‘likeable’, while 28% are on the average level. None of the teachers fall underthe category ‘disliked’. During the case study period, teachers were asked to respondto an instrument measuring their attitude toward change. Results showed that most of theteachers moderately disagree to statements such as "one can never feel at ease on a jobwhere the ways of doing things are always changed"; "the trouble with most jobs is thatyou just get used to doing things in one way and then they want you to do themdifferently"; and "I prefer to stay with a job I know I can handle than to change to onewhere most things would be new to me." Their tendency to moderately disagree to thesestatements shows that they are open to new things and do not feel very uncomfortableto change.

Pavia Pilot Elementary School (PPES), Philippines

An important feature of successful schools is that the teacher turn over is very low and in manyschools the teachers were working for a long time resulting in attachment and love for the institution.At times, these teachers have even forgone promotions and got cancelled their transfers. To cite acase from Royal School, Pakistan, The teacher turnover rate is very low. There are teachers who have experience

of 35, 30, 28, 26 years etc. and most of them are Alumni of this school. We met a teacher who has been serving this

institution from the year 1951; she is eighty-two years old and is still teaching English to classes ninth and tenth. "I

have been teaching here since 1974, I started my job here and I like this institution very much because I have got all

my promotions here; five, six times I have been promoted and I did not go out of this institution. The children here are

very good, the atmosphere is very good, the principal is good". When questioned about what kept her in this school, she

replied, "the atmosphere, the working conditions, the children and my liking for this institution". Another case ofPrincipal’s attachment with the students is from JNVS, Ernakulam, India, to quote, How much the

principal loves students and wants to remain with them can be judged from the fact that he was promoted as an

Assistant Director in the NVS two years ago. He declined to accept it. According to him, "once one becomes an

Assistant Director s/he will be dealing mainly with the files. I do not want to lose contact with the students. I want

to remain a teacher and be with the students".

Overall, the case studies offered examples of how successful schools had taken control of creatingthe opportunities for teacher learning and enhanced students achievement. In each case,organisational culture which values both the learning of students and staff could be seen as beingone of the core foundations of the successful school.

So is the case with Mountain School, Pakistan. Several training programmes and workshops havebeen organized by the head teacher himself to improve teaching quality and to adopt innovativepedagogical methods. To cite, In-house professional development activities were taken as a mandatory component

of school activities. During the academic year about thirty-five sessions were held on generic areas such as scheme of

work, lesson planning, reflective writing, cooperative learning, team teaching, peer coaching, action research, etc and

30


content. To conduct these sessions effectively, a professional development team of five teachers, who have gone through

Visiting Teachers Programme (VTP) from AKU-IED, was formed. Some of the community representatives were also

requested to conduct sessions. The PDTs of PDCN have immensely contributed in making the professional development

day on weekly basis an integral part of our school activities. In Nepal, the National Centre for EducationalDevelopment organizes regular training programmes for teachers of secondary schools in whichmost of the teachers from the sample schools have participated. Sri Lanka case also illustrates theteachers having in-house, provincial and national level training programmes. In some of the casestudies, notably in Philippines and Sri Lanka, based on student’s performance in different subjects,the difficult areas of learning are identified and used to iron out deficiencies by providing trainingin organization. The use of student assessment has become a regular practice in providing in-housetraining to teachers in the Philippines. As was the case with Sta. Ana Central Elementary School ,Philippines, The Head has made school-based teacher training (SBTT) in Mathematics, Science and English an

effective mechanism to make the teachers in these subjects updated on latest pedagogical trends and developments. For

each subject area, there is a lead teacher who acts as subject coordinator, whose main tasks include familiarizing subject

teachers on competencies to be developed for each grading period and for the whole year. SACES has 12 master teachers

in different subject areas who serve as consultants to teachers on the subject area(s) in which they have expertise; they

also conduct action research aimed at resolving pedagogy-related problems, oftentimes in direct response to strongly felt

needs and problems of teachers. Another example is of regular refresher training for teachers (BRACschool), which is a regular feature and phenomenon. Some of the teachers under Bangladeshgovernment receive subject-wise specialized trainings as well.

Here, it may be noted that adequacy of teachers can become productive when these teachers havethe capacity to learn and use the training for improving teaching. This necessitates the need to havesome sort of power at the hands of the administration. In fact, some schools exercise choice inrecruiting and dismissing teachers based on their assessment of teacher quality and motivation.There have been some experiences to this effect in various countries. The administration shouldhave the capacity to influence the recruitment of good teachers and, in one case, in JNV in India,the head teacher refused to let a teacher join the school on the ground that he did not possess thecapability to effectively teach the allotted subject.

Students

The students in successful schools belong to divergent socio-economic backgrounds. There isconsiderable variation among the schools in terms of students’ background in all the seven countries.Out of total 30 sample schools, more than one-third of schools are exclusively having students fromlower socio-economic strata of the society. A little less than one-fourth of schools have studentsfrom middle income group. 20 per cent of schools are serving both low and middle income rangegroup. Around 6 schools have students from high and middle class society. Only one school has

31


Table 3.5: Socio-Economic Profile of Students

Country No. of Socio-Economic Background of Students CommunitySchools No. of Schools

Low Low & Middle Middle Low, Homo- Homo-Middle &High Middle geneous geneous

& High

Bangladesh 8 5 1 0 2 0 5 3

India 8 3 1 2 2 0 4 4

Nepal 4 2 1 1 0 0 1 3

Pakistan 3 0 0 2 1 0 3 0

Philippines 2 0 1 1 0 0 1 1

Sri Lanka 4 0 2 0 1 1 1 3

Malaysia 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0

TOTAL 30 10 6 7 6 1 16(%) (34%) (20%) (23%) (20%) (3%) (53%) 14(47%)

students from divergent economic background.

From this, we can deduce that successful schools are not exclusive category of high economicbackground of students. Irrespective of economic levels of students, the schools can be successful.In other words, from the sample schools, we can deduce that there is not much relation betweensuccess of school and background of students. This is clearly evident from one of the successfulschools located in JNV, Gadchiroli, India a very underdeveloped area serving extremely poor andfirst generation tribal students. To quote, a large majority of the students in JNV Gadchiroli are first generation

learners but still the students have secured cent percent pass results in the national examinations at grade 10 during the

past three years and for grade 12th national examination during 2003. As majority of the students come from families

belonging to low socio-economic status, they find it difficult to pursue higher studies after class 12. Instead, they prefer

to complete Diploma in Education (D.Ed.) and take the job of teachers.

There are clear evidences embedded in the case studies to show that the students in successfulschools are highly motivated, have self-esteem and love for their schools and teachers. This can beattributed to the congenial environment of the schools especially child friendly approach adoptedby the schools.

32


Section IV

Management Devices

All the successful schools commonly have some form or other plans emanated at the school level.The process of plan preparation and people involve vary among different country and differentmanagement type schools. While in some of the countries like Sri Lanka, Philippines, Pakistan, theschool level plans are called as 'School Development Plans'. These plans are the basis on which theschools make the statement of vision and mission for the school. In Philippines, three-year schooldevelopment plan is prepared by involving parents, PTCA officers, grade heads, subject coordinators,property custodians, counsellors, officers of teachers' cooperatives and student’s councils. The missionstatement is the product of consensus of the various stakeholders that participated in the planmeetings. The process of preparation of school development plan is rigorous and takes into accountthe existing situation of the school including all the aspects. The school development plan wasflushed out in different annual operational plans, which provide the details of implementationactivities. These operational plans serve as instruments for mobilising different stakeholder toeffectively and efficiently perform the specific and achievement roles and functions during planimplementation. The operational plans are also used as blue prints for monitoring and evaluatingschool performance.

In case of Pakistan, the school development plans are developed by involving the teachers andsome SMC members. They are called as 'Action Plans' in some schools.

In case of Sri Lanka, the school development plans are prepared together by the Principal and staff.The mission and aims of the school are providing direction for planning different activities for theschool.

In some other school in Sri Lanka, the school developed an annual plan of implementation at theend of the year after having discussions with the teachers while the teachers, parents and managementcommittee jointly prepared and finalised the plan. These plans include both academic and co-curricular activities and other developmental projects.

In case of Bangladesh, the school development plan specific course of objectives are designed as acombined effort of head teachers and members of SMC. The plans provide specific objectives andpriority areas for further development.

33


Figure 4.1: School Level Management

Figure 4.2: School Based Management –Others

34


In Nepal and India also the school prepared their developmental plans. The successful schools arethose, which are never satisfied with the present level of achievement. They are the aspiringinstitutions looking forward for further improvement and to reach new heights. This is vividlyvisible among all the case studies in the present study that teachers are never satisfied with theirachievements. The schools have devised mechanism to evaluate their performance vis-a-vis theirplans and targets set by themselves. The tools of the evaluation varies among the countries but theyare all designed at the institutional level except in some cases they have prescribed evaluated formatsgiven by the administration. The institutional evaluation is in different formats but captures all theaspects of the school in terms of their targets, performance levels, quality of programmes,participation, staff developmental activities, curricular and co-curricular programme, studentachievement, etc.

Box 4.1: School Development Plan

SACES, like other public elementary schools, prepares a three-year school developmentplan, the most recent of which is the 2003-2006 SACES Development Plan. The variousstakeholders have been involved in crafting the development plan, namely: the parents,PTCA officers, grade heads, subject coordinators, educational management informationsystem’s coordinator of the school, property custodian, guidance counselor, officers ofthe teacher’s cooperative, and the student council officers.

The SACES development planning process usually starts with a review of the school’sprofile—enrollment, performance indicators, staff, organizational structure, facilities andschool technology, school program/curriculum, community support, trends andopportunities, and problems and issues. From these profiles come the statement of visionand mission, which is translated into goals and objectives/targets in the areas of curriculum,staff management and development, learning environment, resource management andcommunity building.

Sta. Ana Central Elementary School, Anna Philippines

Consistent Teacher Supervision

One of the major objectives of all the successful schools is to improve the quality of teaching-learning a commitment to make school as a "learning community". Towards this, all the successfulschools have adopted a common strategy of continuous internal teacher supervision. However, thedegree and type of supervision differs from school to school and varies across the country dependingupon management type, size and level of the school while head teachers play a crucial role exclusivelyin teacher supervision in primary schools (India, Bangladesh). In some primary and all the secondaryschools, the common practice being tried is delegation of teacher supervision particularly to Assistant/Deputy head teacher/Section Heads/Head of the departments/Subject Coordinators/ Grade Heads(Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Philippines, India). Even though the teacher supervision is delegated

35


Figure 4.3: Internal Teacher Supervision

36


in most of the schools, the head teachers also supervise and receive feedback from those who areincharge of the teacher supervision and review from time to time the performance of the teachers.On the one hand teacher supervision is decentralised by empowering section heads/heads ofdepartment, on the other, the head teacher keeps abreast of every thing happening in the schoolthrough effective communication. They regularly meet people incharge of supervision to reviewand initiate necessary follow up steps.

Figure 4.4: External Supervision

Some of the successful schools in Sri Lanka, Philippines, Bangladesh and Pakistan also entrustteacher supervision to Master teachers if they have such a provision in the schools. In some schoolsof India, Philippines and Nepal, the Principal spends considerable time daily (2 to 3 hours) insupervising the classroom teaching and overlooking the entire functioning of the school and discipline.

Some of the head-teachers believe that the delegation of supervision is part of empowering theteachers and sectional heads in developing the leadership skills.

In Philippines, though the head teacher is regularly on rounds in the schools to monitor the schoolfunctioning, still he depends enormously on the feedback of Section Grade Heads and MasterTeachers. In Sri Lanka, the Principal of Ipisthana school believe, that "the teachers should beempowered and helped to supervise among themselves" so, he delegated teacher supervision toAssistant Heads and departmental heads. He hardly even goes for classroom supervision unless it isessential. In Megasthana, another school at Sri Lanka, adopted peer supervision by way of entrustingclassroom supervision to fellow teachers and also to provide the feedback both to the teachers andPrincipal. Teacher colleagues and the head teacher, while evaluating the performance of teachers,

37


Figure 4.5: Supervision System

38


often talk to the students regarding their problems and failures in a particular subject though thereis no formal mechanism for student’s assessment of teacher’s performance. Apart from regularacademic supervision, the head teacher, also ensure that the teachers should not be unnecessarilytoo harsh or rude to students.

This peer review of performances has a positive effect on teachers. In fact, contrary to popularperception, the teachers in this school feel that peer supervision is a non-threat and it also leads tocollegiality and cooperation among the teachers to learn from each other. In another instance, oneof the private primary schools, in India, very consciously implemented peer supervision to improveteachers’ performance. The unique feature that is emerging from all the case studies is that internalteacher supervision is regular and it serves also as feedback used for the staff developmentprogrammes in some of the cases.

Box 4.2: Mechanisms for Ensuring Teacher Performance

There are several mechanisms used by the school head to ensure that the teachersperform their work effectively. First, as discussed earlier, the school’s internal managementstructure enables the school head to delegate to a large extent the monitoring or trackingof teachers’ performance. Each grade level has a grade head teacher tasked withdisseminating instruction and information from her office, consolidating data for the gradelevel (e.g, test results, height and weight, reading proficiency, etc.) For each subject area,there is a lead teacher who acts as subject coordinator whose main tasks includefamiliarizing subject teachers on competencies to be developed for each grading periodand for the whole year, consolidating reports related to the subject area submitted by thegrade heads, peer teaching, checking test items prepared by subject teachers andcoordinating activities related to the subject area (e.g., Quiz Bee, Mathematics Olympics,student participation in subject-related co-curricular activities, etc)

Third, daily lesson plans are required of every teacher and are checked either by theschool head or the subject coordinator or the grade level head. Planned and unplannedteacher observations are made by the school head to determine whether a teacher isteaching the subject matter for the day and, if so, how effective it is.

Fourth, SACES has 12 master teachers in different subject areas who serve as consultantsto teachers on the subject area(s) in which they have expertise; they also conduct actionresearch aimed at resolving pedagogy-related problems, oftentimes in direct response tostrongly felt needs and problems of teachers.

Fifth, and this is most important for the continuous upgrading of teaching competencies,the school has a very functional school-based training system that addresses commonand urgent teaching and learning-related needs. Related to this is the presence of alearning resource center that is continuously upgraded every year, equipped withindigenously prepared teaching and learning materials and devices made available forteachers’ and students’ use.


39


There are schools having shortage of teachers and scarce resources. Yet they have proved to besuccessful as the Head teachers put efforts to closely supervise the teachers’ teaching and also helpthem to improve their pedagogical skills, especially to manage large classes, in addition tointroducing innovations in their teaching. One of the illustrations for this is a small primary schoolin a remote part of India. The Head teacher takes the opportunity of supervising the teachers inthe classroom to help them overcome their teaching problems, especially in English. In a fewschools, SMC supervises the teacher’s regularity and attendance. Teachers’ supervision of regularityand punctuality are also indeed of major concern in almost all the schools. The Head teachers/Principals in all the 30 schools make sure that the teachers should arrive in the school in time andleave the classes on time as per school schedule. Even in this, one of the crucial activities, regularityis monitored through the disciplinary committee or by assistant and deputy teachers as part of theirday-to-day duties. The case studies clearly bring out that the teachers do not have any problemwith the kind of internal supervision instituted by their Head teachers or the Assistant teachers’practice of supervision in the schools. In fact, in Philippines, the teachers welcome the Gradeteachers to observe on the basis of their classroom teaching and help them with feedback fororganising in-house training. Similarly, in some of the schools, the Head teachers conductdemonstration lessons in order to help the teachers improve their teaching methods and adoptinnovative practices. Some of the heads of the schools do not sit in their rooms, as they keepmoving in the campus. Their moving presence itself is sufficient to ensure conduct of regularclasses, besides making teachers’ conscious to improve their teaching. There is also a provision forself-appraisal where the teachers are expected to evaluate their capabilities to zero on theirstrengths and weaknesses. In schools of Sri Lanka, for instance, this method of supervision has beenintroduced. None of the case studies shows any resistance from teachers in implementing thisagenda of supervision. Based on these evidences, we can conclude that the successful schools areessentially characterized by a continuous and consistent supervision policy for teachers. However,it may be added that the teacher supervision is used not only to monitor teacher performance butalso to use it for the improvement and capacity building of the teachers so as to enlarge the scopefor innovations in the classroom teaching.

Participatory Approach and Delegation of Tasks

Participation is the hallmark of successful school management. Irrespective of the size, locationand management types, participation of the teachers, students and community in various levels ofschool development, be it planning, implementation or execution participation, has been acommon frame of reference in all the case studies. In most of the schools, different committeesstructure the planning and managing of different activities. All the schools have a strong componentof collective decision-making. One of the head teachers in Viswa Niketan Higher SecondarySchool, Nepal commented thus: "Before taking a decision, I discuss with others; it helps making me acceptable

to them". Adding further, "A head teacher’s duty is not to do everything alone, but to inspire others to do".

One of the Principals in a primary school in Philippines strongly augments delegation of tasks andcollective decision for achieving school objectives as she pointed "We have better ideas than I alonehave". Introduction of participatory approach helps the teachers in aligning themselves in schoolprograms.

40


Box 4.3: Participatory Approach

In this particular school, the SMC formed a number of sub-committees for differentmanagement areas. Each of the sub-committees has one of the members of the SMC asthe convenor. The committees have mostly senior teachers and in some cases assistantteachers as members. In this way, teachers are involved in the school managementprocess. There are 7 sub-committees: Academic Sub-Committee, Finance (inclusive oftender and Development activities) Sub-Committee, Project Sub-Committee,Environment, Discipline & Security Sub-Committee, Literature & Culture Sub-Committee,the Appointment Sub-Committee and the Audit Sub-committee.

The learners are a part of the management of classroom and co-curricular activities.There are 3 ‘captains’ in each group of learners who are selected by the class teacheron the basis of their performances in the internal annual examinations. Leadership qualityis another consideration. These captains assist the teachers in maintaining classroomdiscipline, and organizing co-curricular activities. They inform the teacher and headteacherof any untoward event or any activity of any learner, which is harmful for the disciplineor for other learners. In maintaining the overall discipline of the school boy scouts andgirl guides assist the teacher-in-charge. They also help organizing annual cultural competitionand sports. They have a role in ensuring cleanliness in the school.

The headteacher and other teachers feel that this participation is needed for growingleadership qualities in the learners. This is also very much helpful for the teachers inensuring efficiency of the management. This should continue, but the headteacher andteachers don’t have any thinking of widening the extent of the participation.

Uttra School, Bangladesh

All the successful schools have some sort of a visionary and pragmatic leader who can not onlysustain its success but also make new headways in improving the success. A good leader is the onewho has not to do everything by himself but has the capacity to get the work done. The delegationof power can, in fact, be made either through a structured mechanism or by ordinary distribution.In this case, all the sample schools have constituted various committees for distributing works andsharing responsibilities. In all the successful schools, there has been some form of delegation orother - it can be academic, financial or even administrative, it can also be on the basis of an individualor a group or a particular body. As far as academic delegation is concerned, there are a number oftasks that have been delegated either to a particular teacher or a group of teachers. Preparation ofschool plans, preparation of timetable, evaluation of papers, management of library, conduct ofexamination, preparation of additional curriculum, management of curricular activities preparationof teaching aids, organizing remedial coaching, constructive physical structure, maintenance ofresources, managing discipline, protocol duty, etc. are usually given to a particular teacher or to agroup of teachers. Similarly, delegation of financial responsibilities can be found in schools eitherin the tasks performed by bodies like SMCs, governing bodies or a group of teachers. Purchasingof assets, management of hostel and mess etc. Further, admission, discipline, supervision, monitoring,

41


maintenance of school register, transport, appointment of part-time teacher are other responsibilities,which are mutually shared by stakeholders. In Sri Lanka, there are more than twenty committees tolook after various responsibilities where even students have been given key responsibilities. But ithas to be kept in mind that, despite all these forms of delegation, the head teacher constantlysupervises and monitors all these activities. The school heads takes the ultimate decisions.

However, there is a problem in delegating the works to senior teachers especially when the head isyounger in age and experience. Having experienced teachers can be an asset as they can helpinstitutions with their experience and also provide vision to improve the schools. For example inMountain School, Pakistan, there is an in-charge head who assists with teacher management. Previously he was

the head teacher of different schools so he has lots of experience. One of the problems is that "those very senior teachers

they are not that much energetic, not active to give extra time and normally they look at the watch and the time is over,

they try to run, that’s why I don’t want to put extra burden on him". (Principal) Preparing the timetable is an important

aspect of teacher management and that is done with the teachers in the form of a workshop so everybody contributes to

the decisions. Then if something has to be changed the teacher concerned will go to the Principal and discuss it and then

a change can be made. However, this may not be necessarily true in all the cases as the senior teachersresist change and are not willing to take additional responsibility either because of their age orhealth factor. However, successful schools are able to over come these problems.

The decentralisation or delegation of tasks takes place vertically from head of school down toteachers individually distributing the responsibilities among the structures and members of differentgroups. The case studies show that the teacher leaders (section heads/heads of department/gradeheads) can help other teachers to embrace the goals, and to understand the improvements that areneeded to strengthen teaching and learning. The clear implication is that distributed leadership hasbeen helping the schools to move ahead with constant improvement and it also helped to developcapacities in the institute. In all the schools, the delegation of tasks and responsibilities helped tocreate ownership of ideas and innovations and get them institutionalised. More importantly, in allthe successful schools, the teachers are aligned with school objectives and become part of schoolculture. Many of the head teachers among the sample schools demonstrated their strong convictionto nurture teacher leadership and to empower them through delegation.

In fact, in one of the schools in Sri Lanka, this has good results on performance of students. Insome of the schools, the principals admit that they are only concerned to develop vision and directionto school and mobilise necessary resources in planning and implementing several school improvementprogrammes.

The delegation of tasks helps to build good team spirit and opportunity to learn from each other. InPushpadana Balika Maha Vidayalya, Sri Lanka teachers were delegated to the Schools. They work in

the school delegated. Two Deputy Principals support in financial administration, academic, co-curricular and hostel

management. There are three assistant principals to assist the principal. Management committee consists of the

principal, deputy principals, sectional heads and prefect of games. It meets once a month to discuss school activities.

There are other committees established for various activities. The parents and teachers can be committee members.

There is no competition for membership. Any body can become a member voluntarily. There are a number of committees

to improve areas such as the sports, hostel school management, discipline, uniforms, special projects, canteen,

entertainment, technical, agriculture, environment, vehicles, bands, religious activities, sewing, language, scholarship,

42


photography, building etc. Once a year, members’ change, generally every teacher must be at least in one committee.

Parents and students are also members of the sub-committees.

The existing practices of delegation of tasks in successful schools need more in-depth analysis andunderstanding to really examine the characteristics of delegation, process and accountability. In theabsence of full evidences it would be hasty to draw conclusions. However, these best practices in allthe schools also help to integrate people with institutional goals by involving them in planning andoperation of different activities. In some of the schools, the delegation of tasks symbolises as askingothers to do it, which is much different from sharing leadership.

Most of the schools have been successful in delegating academic and co-curricular activities, yetcrucial aspects like financial and administrative issues lie with central leadership.

All the schools have adopted school based management particularly in planning and managementof academic activities. The school based management encompasses preparation of school basedcurriculum pedagogy and student assessment etc. The sample schools set their own priorities andplan accordingly.

Box 4.4: Teacher’s Involvement in Management

It is interesting to note that the Annual Confidential Report of the staff is written first bythe Section Head and the Principal countersigns. When we asked, is it possible thesection head is partial to the teachers, her reply was, "No, according to Islam I expectthem to be fair and I trust them".

Unique feature of this school is that all the teachers are involved in management asmembers of various committees. These committees are all working committees integratedwith each other. For instance the Admission Committee of both the junior school andcollege looks after the affairs of admission. The Transport Committee is being runeffectively through staff members. The Examination Committee organizes the setting ofquestion papers and examinations. The Furniture Committee, after due inspection,decides on the future demands of the various classes. The Vision and Developmentcommittee is the highest decision-making body and it decides on important issues as wellas monitoring the school’s progress. But there is a fear that too many committees couldlead to confusion. What kept surfacing again and again is the love, ownership andcommitment that all the stakeholders feel for this institution.

Royal School, Pakistan

Teacher Incentives

In economic sense, providing incentives produces the best results. It is quite true even in the case ofschools. Since schools were chosen from a vast pool showing considerable divergence, naturally, thetype of incentives too differ from school to school. However, broadly the incentives come in terms

43


of recognition, rewards, perks, privileges etc. For further classification, incentives are divided intotwo main categories, namely monetary and non-monetary gains.

A common recognition for teachers in successful schools comes in the form of their recognition bythe school itself, which treats teachers as valuable assets and pillars of their success. A part of thisrecognition is the involvement of teachers in planning and implementation of school programmesand activities. Though this brings additional responsibilities to teachers, it certainly makes them feelas an integral part of the school. This sense of belongingness, trust, responsibility and value makesteachers confident of their own capabilities and enhances their self-esteem. Respect and reverenceare something that every individual longs for and by recognizing the talents of teachers, the schoolspromote and provide fillip to that inner carving of self-worthiness and dignity of self to teachers.Without exception, all the school heads seemed to be adopting emotional intelligence to deal withteachers and students. To quote Head Teacher from Royal School, Pakistan, "I am thinking that we

should give more facilities to the teachers so that they can teach in a better way." If a head of a school cares for new

innovations and goes out of her way to facilitate her teachers, this is also a criterion of a successful school. Apart from

training, further incentives for teachers in her institution are promotions, motivation and most of all respect. "I feel the

most important thing for a teacher is respect".

Secondly, the very fact that successful schools are celebrated by the media, administration, communityand all and sundry bring a sense of achievement to teachers. They feel proud of being part of thisendeavour and to continue this success, they motivate themselves far beyond their codified duties.

The respective head teachers vary in their acknowledgement and expression of appreciation ofteachers and follow different methods. A particular head teacher from India expresses his appreciationby openly praising the concerned teacher and giving him a banquet whenever he does some goodwork. When a particular school is chosen by the government or other organizations as the agency toimplement a new and innovative programme as evident from Philippines, Sri Lanka and India, itautomatically brings laurels to the teachers and recognizes their capabilities indirectly, which makesthem proud.

Further awards and certificates add on as both monetary and emotional benefits to teachers. Almostall schools have awards and certificates for deserving and talented teachers. Some schools in Nepalhave instituted even special awards for their teachers from their own fund or funds specificallygenerated for this purpose, to recognize teachers. Teachers agree that these tokens of appreciationhelp them in motivating themselves to produce better results.

Frequent training programmes and participation in other similar programmes, which enhance thepedagogical and technical skills of a teacher such as academic autonomy, medical allowances, etc.too are considered as incentives. It may be mentioned, however, that some kind of a mechanism fordisincentives too is prevalent in some schools notably in JNV, India, as a means to enforce disciplineand work culture among teachers as witnessed in terms of freezing their annual increments for poorexamination results.

There are a variety of incentives for teachers in all the schools. In some of the schools, teachers aregiven certain monetary benefits to motivate and also to compensate the extra work they did. For

44


example in Nepal, teachers are paid breakfast allowances, while in JNV, India, the teachers havefree lunch with students. In some schools, bonus or festival advances are permissible.

All the successful schools have one or more incentives for teachers. These incentives are of differenttypes and vary among the schools across different management type, level and country. The incentivesinclude monetary and non-monetary benefits. The monetary incentives, though few, are practicedonly in some schools. Variety of non-monetary incentives is prevalent in different schools. Forexample in Viswa Niketan Higher Secondary School, Nepal, the school has provided some kind of incentives

to the teachers and the staffs so that they devote their whole time for the duty earnestly. It has provided the tiffin

allowance to all for their presence in the school. In addition to it, the teachers and staffs get cash for the leaves at the

end of the year, which they do not enjoy, as they are privileged by regulations. The assistant head teachers get 400 rupees

and the department heads get 300 rupees and class teachers get Rs.200 allowance per month for their responsibility.

There is the system of recognition by providing medals and letters of commendation to the teachers and the staffs every

year.

Table 4.1: Teachers Incentives

Incentives Countries

Participation in India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Nepal, PakistanDecision Making

Pedagogical Autonomy & Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia,Empowerment Philippines, Nepal

In-service Training Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Philippines

Cash Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal

Free Medical Facilities Sri Lanka, India, Nepal

Promotion Bangladesh, India

Awards Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Philippines, Malaysia

A variety of non-monetary incentives are accorded to teachers in recognition of their good academicwork including effective linkages with community, etc.

Student as an Individual

The entire lot of successful schools under the study reveals that they treat the student as the nucleusof the system and all plans and programmes revolve around them. All the successful schools haveeradicated corporal punishment and even if there are instances of such a punishment, for instancein Mountain School, Pakistan, the head teacher takes remedial measures. Most of the activitiesconducted in the school are essentially student-centric in nature. Since students constitute the baseof the school system, specific efforts are undertaken to identify their potentialities, interests and,later, methods are found to enhance their given qualities. This presumption requires the teachers to

45


shower love, affection and encouragement on students and guide them towards the path of self-development and progress. When students are identified as coming from poor socio-economicbackground, the teachers contact their parents and impress upon them over the need of schoolingand even go to the extent of finding means to support their education. Concrete examples areavailable from the schools in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Box 4.5: Fulfilling Student’s Demands

Teachers were observed going by children's demands. They asked children what theywanted to do. Some said they would play, others say they wanted to listen story; the restsaid they would first read. Teacher preferred to follow the consensus and loved tohonour the majority wish. This had a salutary effect on learners' motivation to learn.The head teacher maintains a list of student who is good in studies and those who areweak. He seeks information about these students' progress every fortnight. Each goodstudent is assigned three to four weak students. He is called 'Sahiyogi Sandarshak (Peer-Guide)'. The motto is Chalein hum sath sath. He helps his other peers in managing theirlearning difficulties. A healthy inter-group competition is reported working. Each groupstrives hard to come first on par with average achievement level of the class.

JharokalanPrimary School, Duddhi, India

Students are involved in the various activities of the school and are even made members of schoolcommittees as partners in all schools. Some of the schools in Philippines have taken initiatives inmaking the students aware of their rights and responsibilities integrating it with the curriculum.

Box 4.6: Students Empowerment

� Students are made aware of their rights and responsibilities by integrating this into thecurriculum, providing corners in every classroom with posters informing them of theirrights and responsibilities.

� Adopting a "no corporal punishment" policy in the school. For example, teachers arerequired not to wield the stick when they teach.

� Basic amenities and facilities are provided.� Opportunities are made available to students in order to develop their special talents

and respond to their multiple intelligence needs.� Parents are regularly informed about the activities of their children in school.� SACES has regularized or institutionalized the school-based teacher training (SBTT)

system in Math, Science and English, subjects where students have been found to beweak.


46


Schools like Mountain School, Pakistan have taken care in providing infrastructure facilities tostudents’ viz. potable drinking water, furniture for students. The schools have made availableopportunities to develop their capabilities and introduced multiple intelligence programmes byintroducing several co-curricular activities and sports and games. Schools have also made efforts ininforming parents about the academic results of their wards as well as counselling them on the needto teach them. There are instances where the head teacher has personally gone to the parents ofthe student questioning them about poor care of the child in the home. In many schools theteachers have love and affection for students and help them with individual learning problems.Children are provided basic amenities. Schools also help children to develop confidence andspecial efforts are made to develop communication and leadership skills by involving in schoolmanagement activities.

Box 4.7: Why all Bright Students in Section A

Some students of grade X B came to the head teacher's room and persuaded to visit theirclassroom immediately. In the classroom all the students were silent and serious looking.The HT asked why they were serious and silent. Then one of the students stood up andrelated how they felt disgraced and humiliated in being grouped to the section of slowlearners. He protested that even the teachers treated them differently in the class. Theyfelt that they were unwanted group in the school. Meanwhile some of the students beganto weep and cry. The head teacher tried to console them and give reason why they themanagement did so: basically to prepare them for the SLC examination according to theirabilities. Touched by their concerns, the HT asked for their suggestions. The studentsrequested the HT to put them in mixed group classroom, and they promised to studyhard. The school since then abandoned such graded sections.

Adarsha Saula Yubak Secondary School, Nepal

The school adopt different approaches to identify the academically weak students from the beginningof the academic session to arrange for their tutoring.

Student Assessment

Although efforts of the schools are to develop the holistic personality of the students and identifytheir specific intellectual abilities and thereby to improve their manpower, the schools, however,have their own limitations as they function within the framework of the educational system. As aresult, they have to follow a system of test and evaluation not just to assess the capacity of studentsbut also to weed out weak students from the system. But the successful schools have a differentattitude to this, as they conduct tests not to assess the intelligence of students but to arrive at anassessment of their overall skills and competencies individually of particular students and also toinitiate remedial teaching. They also have innovative assessment mechanisms evolved at theinstitutional level. The main objective of the internal assessment is to know the relative strength andweakness of the child so that it becomes easier to eradicate the identified shortcomings. The different

47


methods of assessment differ widely across the schools. Some of them are class test for each lessonas in Bangladesh and India, weekly tests in India, monthly and unit tests in Sri Lanka, Pakistan,India and Nepal and 4 grade period examination, and also, in some schools, there are terminalexaminations as well. In all the countries, the schools conduct the prescribed examination distributedover three terms. However, in Philippines, the school based diagnostic tests are indeed conductedfor the classes. Apart from this, all the schools in all the countries have the practice of homework,except one school in Pakistan. All the sample schools have the facility to provide feedback toparents and in case of Sri Lanka and Nepal, the checked answer sheets were given to the parentsthrough their wards to apprise them about their progress. In case of Sri Lanka, formative assessmentof competencies, intelligence and speed test are some of the special devices adopted for learnerassessment.

Table 4.2: Students Assessment Practices

Students Assessment Practices Countries

Two Term Examinations; Pakistan, Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal, India,Annual Examinations Sri Lanka

4 grade period examination Philippines

Monthly Tests; Unit Tests Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Pakistan

Class test for each lesson Bangladesh, India(JNVS)

Weekly tests India(JNVS)

Home work In all Countries (with exception one school inPakistan)

Feed back to students and parents All schools

Remedial All schools

Special test Philippines

Special coaching for talented /gifted Sri Lanka, Bangladesh

Successful schools organize regular student assessment. Their results, together with those from publicexaminations, are used not simply as a selecting device, but also for many other purposes: to identifystrengths and weaknesses in learning and teaching; to spot students with specific problems for remedialteaching; to make teachers feel responsible; to build teachers’ capacity, to create transparency; and,in some cases, to create competition between teachers or teaching departments.

48


Box 4.8: Student Assessment As a Tool for Quality Improvement

The following extract from a case-study of a big secondary school in the Philippinesshows how assessment is used for quality improvement. Student assessment is an integralpart of teaching, without which teachers will not know the extent to which their studentslearn. Apart from the assessment made by the teachers themselves, there are studentassessments made school-wide and regularly. Graded periodic examination, four ofthem every school year, are given to students to determine the learning competenciesmastered or not mastered for the grading period. These exams provide feedback for theteachers in regard to what should still be done to improve their teaching approaches,techniques and practices in order to improve student learning. Diagnostic tests are givenby the school for each major subject at the beginning of the school year and achievementtests are given towards the end of the school year. This is meant to determine whatspecific learning competencies for the various grade levels are mastered or not masteredby the students. Based on the test results, school-based in-service training programs arecrafted by the teachers themselves with the school principal guiding them, determiningwhich programs are to be carried out in the next school year. The same test results areused for more focused remedial education or catch-up programs for the different subjectareas; they are used, too, to identify those students who need help and those who canbe tapped to help the former.

Students assessment is thus aimed at improving teaching-learning processes rather thanevaluating how well the teachers teach. As a result, there is a high rate of acceptanceof assessment results among the teachers who know well that these results will be usedto further enhance their teaching expertise and improve student academic performance.These examinations afford every teacher the opportunity to meet with the parents duringthe report card day, during which time the parents are required to come to school, pickup the report cards of their respective children, discuss what form of assistance can beextended to help their children and other measures to make learning more productive,interesting and challenging to children. In principle, every classroom teacher-adviser willhave at least four opportunities to meet with every parent of each student under heradvisorship.

Anna Central School, Philippines

Remedial Teaching

These successful schools, unlike the other schools, do not use the tests to eliminate the weak studentsbut only to identify them. Sometimes, efforts are made to identify their ‘hard spots’. After identifying,the schools use them for designing pedagogy and also remedial coaching to improve their abilities.These remedial classes are held usually after the school hours. Several strategies are adopted accordingto the learning needs of the students. While the normal practice being the normal teachers taking

49


extra classes and hiring floating teachers as was the case in Central School, Pakistan, sometimesthey also utilize the services of the members of PTA, parents, old boys and old girls association ontemporary basis and/or by appointing contract teachers. They sometimes use the bright students ofthe school to teach the weak students.

The successful schools do not neglect the bright students; rather they nurture them and take specialcare for their participating in national level tests as in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and also preparethem for taking part in inter-school competitions.

Student assessment and learner’s performance in different subjects are used, as an input for capacitybuilding of teachers in different subjects and this practice is evident in Philippines. To cite, in PaviaPilot Elementary School, Philippines, a special remedial reading class for Grade I pupils was assigned to one

teacher. These children were the 38 Grade I pupils identified by their advisers as weak or non-readers. The children

stay with their remedial teacher in the morning and attend their regular class in the afternoon. This strategy has greatly

helped the children to improve their reading ability. At the time of the study, this same teacher now handles the weakest

class in Grade I composed of repeaters and with weak reading readiness test results administered before enrolment. In

this way, more attention is given to them until they are able to improve their reading abilities and can be streamlined to

a regular class.

Box 4.9: Floater Teacher for Remedial Teaching

We make a list of students after the first month [that] we have been given. We give thema month or six weeks in which they have to settle down. Then we start looking at theirgrades and their behavior in class and their general attitudes towards learning andwhenever the teacher comes to me or to any other head of the department that child Xis not performing well, see it’s not necessary for a child to fail. For example last year wehave this great brilliant student who was doing so well and all of a sudden she just fellbelow her own standards. She was passing but she still wasn’t working up to herpotential, we felt that she has a problem and we investigated and she was having sometrouble in the family which was affecting her academics and we tried to help her with thatand because its a small school we do manage to mostly find out if they have any emotionalproblem or it is just share academics. Since we have a list of these students we try tokeep track of their development and we try to work up a variety of strategies wheresometimes the teacher stays back after school and works with the best students andevery time that particular student is given extra work to do, which is then rectified by theteacher. We have correction classes in-built within our academic system.

You see we have a floater teacher in the school; floater teacher job is to help out remedialstudents. She also substitutes classes wherever there is a teacher missing; it is very rarethat she has to do that. So she gets a timetable that she follows and she gets a list ofstudents which she has to teach separately and that is the program that we actually lookinto it.

Central School, Pakistan

50


In Sri Lanka, the teachers identify the difficult topics and low performing areas in the subject arechecked and this helps the teachers to develop mechanisms to make the matter easy for weak students,by organizing the process of teaching and learning through workshops. The schools encouragelearning through environment by initiating several school based projects and programmes. In oneof these schools, students are encouraged to participate in co-curricular activities and life skillswhere more than 22 varieties of socially useful and job-oriented activities are introduced and evenif children do not succeed in formal final examinations, yet they could secure their jobs.

The best practice of these schools is that rather than labelling the students as ‘failures’, they strive toassist the children to improve their capabilities to master their learning in full cognisance of thedifferential capabilities of students by considering their socio-economic background.

Discipline

Teachers

The foremost requirement for any institution, in general and educational institutions, in particular,is discipline. The growth and development of any school could be only possible through maintenanceof discipline among the teachers and students. Towards this, head teachers of the sample schoolshave made conscious efforts to maintain and improve discipline in the schools. The heads of all theschools have been very conscious and careful in monitoring regularity, punctuality and seriousnessof teachers. In JNVS, Kolhapur, India, an interesting case was found. To quote, the very second day of

taking over as a Principal, a teacher came late for 10 minutes. He called the teacher and said that you have come late

and this may not be repeated later. Next day another teacher did not teach in the last period and let the students go. He

advised not to do so. The third day, the first teacher did not go to the class in the last period. Despite Principal’s advice

he repeated it the next day. Principal again warned him that if you will repeat this in future, administrative action

would be taken against you. After few days he again did not attend the last period. This time the Principal advised him

to apply for one-day casual leave. He ignored Principal’s advice. Principal instructed the office to cut his salary for one

day that also resulted into service break. Thereafter things started to change.

Though discipline of teachers has not been a serious problem, except in very few sampled schools,neither in past nor in present, the head teachers have created regular monitoring mechanisms tolook into this aspect through discipline committees in some schools or delegating the task to thedeputy or assistant head teacher as the chief to protect the school from indiscipline arising out ofteachers and students. In most of the secondary schools, this practice is prevalent, especially in caseof large schools. However, in some of the schools of Philippines and India, the head teachersthemselves monitor the discipline directly by devoting considerable time.

51


Figure 4.6: Teacher Discipline Measures

Teacher DisciplineMeasures

Maintaining Head TeacherAttendance Most Schools Taking Rounds in

Register SchoolTime Diary

Most Schools Nepal, Most of the SchoolsPhilippines

One of the important strategies adopted for maintaining time punctuality of teachers is by maintaininga teachers register, mentioning the arrival and departure time. In Uttara School (NAEM), Bangladesh,the provision for checking the timely attendance of the teachers has been introduced. Teachers have to sign on their

arrival in the school in the attendance register and also have to record the time of departure. After a fixed time, the

register is taken to the head teacher and he sees for himself who are the latecomers and who keeps away from the school

without prior approval.

In Philippines and in one of the schools in Nepal, the school maintains a time diary, mentioningminute by minute absence of teachers from duty. In case of Philippines, this dairy is used forcalculating the salary while in Nepal the absence thus recorded is used even to deduce their leave.To cite an example from Viswa Niketan Higher Secondary School, Nepal, teachers are generally punctual

and dutiful. There is a system to discourage late arrival or unapproved absence in the school. It is the system of the

school that every minute of absence is counted and at the end of the month the absence hours are deducted from the

leaves of the teachers. Moreover, the head-teacher is always watchful to the attendances of the teachers and their going

to take classes in time.

In some of the schools, there was earlier groupism and factionalism among the teachers, which usedto hinder the smooth functioning of the school (e.g. Mountain School, Pakistan, St. Ana CentralElementary School, Philippines, Isipathana School, Colombo). The present principals could succeedto eliminate indiscipline through several measures including team building, participatory approach,delegation of the task etc. In Royal School, Pakistan, Principal by giving the example of Discipline

Committee, said, "I would like to give an example of the discipline committee comprising of six members. They come

to college before the school is opened and they check the uniform of the students, the cleanliness of the school and then

also check the staff, whether they are in their classes or not. This will be their duty throughout the day till the last

52


student has left the premises, they do check everything like their uniform, the cleanliness of the building and we have

prepared a Performa and this is their duty to fill up the Performa and sign it, so that the principal should know what

classes were not conducted during the day".

There are several reasons behind the disciplined behaviour of teachers in successful schools spreadover a few countries. Firstly, these schools have a clear mission and objective targets, thus leavinglittle scope for confusion and listless service. Secondly, the regular and close interaction of theteachers with head teacher has made it easier to follow punctuality. The interaction can be gaugedfrom the fact that more often than less, the head teachers have delegated their responsibilities toother teachers and have entrusted their colleagues with series of developmental tasks of the schools.This mutual sharing of work and respect for each other’s ability has not only enhanced the feelingof belongingness among teachers but has also motivated them in improving the standard of theirschool. Thirdly, the head teachers have shown tremendous sense of sharing and cooperation toreduce teacher indiscipline e.g. whenever a particular teacher has a personal problem, includinghealth, the head teachers have shown not only sympathy in sanctioning leave but are also sharingthe workload of the concerned teacher. Lastly, the prevalence of a congenial working environmenthas been able to wipe out frustration and insecurity among teachers responsible for irregularities.

Needless to add, there are some schools which have inbuilt mechanisms for controlling indisciplineamong teachers e.g., in JNVS, (Gadchiroli), India, where the accountability among teachers is veryhigh and in case of private management schools, the management has the power to bring the erringteachers into line. To quote, the accountability mechanism of JNVS is severe and a teacher can be punished if his

performance particularly the classroom teaching is not satisfactory and convincing to the principal.

Student

The students, like teachers, constitute the core of a school, hence, indiscipline among students is acause of concern in every school. However, in case of sampled successful schools, the studentindiscipline is minimal, largely due to the efforts of concerned head teachers as well as applicationof some effective measures.

Sampled successful schools have managed to counter indiscipline among students by using variousmeans and mechanisms. Even the schools which had a past record of students’ indiscipline havecome out of it. The schools have realized that one of the major reasons for indiscipline amongstudents is lack of care and concern towards them. Hence, at the first place, the head teachers showlove and affection towards children. A feeling of empathy and positive attitude by teachers towardstheir pupil has been able to bridge the divide. A strong co-curricular content in school calendareffectively addressed the multiple intelligence needs of students and provided opportunity to studentsto be creative and constructive. Successful schools adopted preventive measures in dealing withindiscipline. Thirdly, student participation in maintenance of discipline is a common practice amongall the successful schools. For instance in Primary School, Rahmatnagar, India, Children are involved in

maintaining discipline moving in rows, nursing flower plants, cleaning the campus and most important way in which

they contribute is tracking the absentees and motivating other children not so far in school, to be enrolled. Prescribing a

dress code and expecting them to be regular and punctual was perceived difficult aspect of learner management. Some

53


schools have formed disciplinary committees with student members and have given them theresponsibility to check indiscipline among their fellow students.

Figure 4.7: Student Discipline

These committees have class monitors and group leaders. In successful schools in Nepal and Pakistan,these committees even manage the class in the absence of the teachers. In Pakistan, a school has astudent representative council that looks after monitoring of discipline as well as the cleanliness of thecampus. Fourthly, a lot of indiscipline in secondary and senior secondary schools can be attributed toadolescent behaviour. In order to check these anomalies, many schools in Pakistan, Philippines, Indiaand Bangladesh have provided counselling to students.

Some of the schools like JNV, India, and Central School, Pakistan, have personality developmentprogrammes for the students. Some schools with the past notoriety of student indiscipline have goneto the extent of reforming the students and bringing normalcy to the schools by following innovativemethods. In Meegasthenna Maha Vidyalya, Sri Lanka, one recent innovation introduced is the "bullyingand hurting book". If a child bullies another child their names appear in this book. In serious cases ofbullying, the principal questions and, if needed, presents it to the disciplinary panel for investigation. Atthe end of the year, every school has to do a ‘Board of Survey’ on physical resources. However, theboard of survey has not been appointed in this school ever. The board of survey should check inventoriesand check every resource and classify them as repair, condemn, destroy or etc. In most schools, therecommendations are not carried out. This principal uses that opportunity to repair their furniture, sothat now they have exceeded their furniture than in the inventory. He further revealed that he usesdamaged wood for various purposes such as making ‘morale tree’, sign boards etc

54


Box 4.10: A School Trouble Caused by Student Joking Remark

At grade X a girl student often remarked at a fat boy calling "rhino". For many days theboy simply ignored at the remark. One day when the girl teased him saying "rhino", theboy also called her "hippo". The girl got angry. Next day at break time some of thebrothers of the girl came and beat the boy in the school. The boy happened to be theson of one of the police officers. The boy informed his father about the incident. His fathertelephoned the nearby police station and some policemen came and took all of them tothe police station. The situation created a furor in the school. Only then the informationabout the incident reached to the administration. The problem was quickly settled afterthe head teacher invited the parents of both the students for a talk. But it wasunimaginable how the problem could flare up from nowhere.

Vishwa Niketan School, Nepal

In this context, one can mention that that these schools rarely take recourse to punitive measuresand corporal punishment is usually avoided. Only in an extreme case, like in Motijheel GovernmentBoys' High School, NAEM, Bangladesh the principal had to expel a notorious student on theground of indiscipline. To quote, the learners of the day shift especially of grades 8, 9 & 10 are in their

adolescence. Sometimes they create problems in the school hour. One day a few learners of grade 9 were smoking. A

pupil of the same grade informed the assistant head teacher. She called them and scolded them for their unwanted

behaviour. After a few days, the informer pupil while coming to school was attacked by the guilty pupils in front of the

gate. They cut his cheek with a knife. The assistant head teacher called these naughty pupils and their parents. She also

organized a meeting with the head teacher and other teachers to take necessary action. They unanimously took the

decision of issuing transfer certificate to the guilty pupils.

From the afore-mentioned studies, it is evident that student indiscipline has not substantially hinderedthe academic activity in the school. Yet improved pedagogy, more co-curricular activities, guidanceand counselling, personality development programmes and above all creation of a conduciveenvironment for teaching-learning activities necessarily enhance the students discipline.

Vision and Mission

The distinguishing feature of successful schools is their vision and mission. They spell it out withparticular objective, target group and orientation. For example, the vision of a remote school inMountain School, Pakistan was: This alma mater is a learning organization where every individual is furnished

with highly commendable opportunities and facilities to attain the optimal standards of academic results, social skills,

moral and spiritual qualities and physical well being. A unique team spirit with a slogan "sink or swim together" and

a sense of strong collaboration among students, faculty and parents unifies this organization. Centre of excellence is its

identity. Our slogan "committed to quality and merit".

55


Spelling out their objectives

The schools under the study were not only good achievers but their objectives and mission clearlystates their ambition to achieve higher goals (JNV, India). They not only want to sustain the presentlevel of success but also go beyond. They are also aware of their shortcomings and want them toovercome.

Box 4.11: Principal’s Mission

The Principal wants to make the school as a Center of Excellence, not only in academicfield but also in cultural, literary, sports, music and other activities. His major emphasishas been on the all-round development of students.

� To make the school a model school� Character building and all-round development of students� To produce cent percent results with distinction� To make good citizens of India� To make every student well-disciplined and well-mannered� To bring out improvement in the life of tribal people� Developing good study habits� To make my students authors/poets� To develop rural talent� To prepare students to serve the soil

JNVS, Gadchiroli, India

Figure 4.8: Teacher/Student Discipline

56


Leadership Characteristics

Time Management

Some of the sample schools have been brought to the level of successful school in the last3-5 years, which could have been possible only through the efforts of the head teacher and otherteachers. In this context, it becomes very essential to understand how the leaders of successfulschools manage the time. The case studies evidently prove that all the heads of the schools have tospend more time than the prescribed hours to manage the school activity and interaction withcommunity.

All the head teachers of successful schools worked for more number of hours than the prescribedschool timings in order to accommodate and accomplish several aspects of school management andto keep in touch with the school. Time management is the most crucial factor for achieving thegoals and targets. Time, being a scarce resource, its proper and productive utilization has utmostimportance. All the head teachers reach much earlier and leave the school much later than thescheduled time. Mere spending more number of hours does not matter but spending them judiciouslyand spending quality time is more important. The head teacher’s post is very demanding and mostof the sample schools are large schools with diversity and complexities. Even the small primaryschools pose a greater challenge for the head teacher. Most of the teachers consider that their headmaster is committed and devoted to school and gives it adequate time. Among the 30 schools, thenumber of hours that the head masters spend in school is 12-17 hours per day and mostly 6 days aweek. Most of them work for all seven days and also during the holidays. Not all the case studiesprovided information regarding the time budgeting and management of time by head teachers butwe have some information regarding a few specific schools.

Except few schools in Sri Lanka and Philippines and primary school in Bangladesh, in all othercases, the head teacher takes 1-2 hours of teaching and takes classes in the absence of a particularteacher. Depending upon the size of the school and classes, the principal judiciously allocates thetime based on the school context, observing the class teaching from outside the school and overviewing the functioning of the school. There is variation of head teachers’ time allocation for differentactivities from school to school. In case of a school in Nepal, the head teacher arrives in the schoolmuch earlier than the scheduled time and observes the working of subordinate staff, supervises thecleaning, greets children and staff. In case of a residential school of JNV, India, the principal startshis day at 5.30 a.m. with the supervision of morning physical training of students till 10.00 p.m. tosign the final roll call of students to call of the day. During the school time, he takes 2-4 rounds ofclassroom to monitor cleanliness and discipline and teaches 2-3 periods. In addition, looks after thequality of mess and takes lunch with the students.

Contrary to this, a head teacher of a primary school in a remote rural village in India having onlythe teachers where student regularity and attendance is a big challenge, the head teacher plans histime according to the context. He not only spends time in the school activity but also invests time tocontact the parents and community members. He teaches 2-3 periods daily, supervises teachers andkeeps exclusively 1-2 hours to spend with students to know their problems. Besides this, he spends2-3 hours daily in the morning and evening with the parents to make them aware of the importance

57


of education for their children. Similarly, for the head teacher in a school in Philippines and in aprimary school in India, the school is the passion where they spend all their time in mobilizingresources, building infrastructure, improving academic outputs etc.

The major research question that all the case studies tried to examine was the process that prevail insuccessful schools, but all the researches, time and again, were reminded the inter-linkages of peopleand process. And it was also realised in all the cases that process is not independent of people as inquality, nature of the process in successful school are intimately associated with people particularlythe school head. Different stakeholders in the school have repeatedly revealed this as well; one canalso see the plenty of evidences. Thus like in all the studies on school effectiveness and earlierstudies on successful schools clearly put forward the crucial leadership role of head teachers as themain variable for success of the school.

Despite all the demands over time, the head teachers manage to find time to attend to the students’problems give access to teachers and interact with the community. One of the reasons to be successfuland to influence the teachers is their ability to successfully manage the time.

Box 4.12: Headteaching: A Headache?

The headteacher stands central to the success of a school. Few schools succeed if theheadteacher is not committed and hard working, while the arrival of a new headteacherwith new ideas and a clear vision for the school can be the sparkle to turn the schoolaround. Headteaching is above all a hard and time-consuming task. All school headsspend a lot of time in their school. The following extracts from a secondary school in ruralNepal, which also has a primary section, illustrate the point. Generally the secondarylevel school starts from 10.30 but the higher secondary school runs in the morning from6:30 to 10:25. So the head teacher arrives in the school at 6 o'clock. His daily time-table is as follows:

Time Activities6:30-8:00 Classroom teaching8:00 - 8:20 Recess8:20-10:25 School administration and supervision10:30-11:00 Lunch11:00 - 11:45 Class observation/supervision11:45-12:45 Visit to Primary section (different complex)12:45-13:30 School administration (Secondary section)13:30 - 14:00 Recess14:00 - 14:40 Filling the absent teachers15:00 - 16:00 Meeting with guardians or introducing computer in lower

secondary level16:00-17:00 Meeting with students with LS

Vishwa Nikten High School, Nepal

58


Most of the head teachers are highly appreciated and are considered committed and devoted dueto their hard working and spending their precious time in school development. Through this, manyhead teachers successfully influence their teaching and become role models.

Personality

In the present study, it is evidently proved that the successful schools are headed by leaders whohave certain common distinguished personality character traits. These head teachers’ personalitytraits are highlighted and attributed for success of schools by different stakeholders in the school.

A large chunk of that credit for success of schools can be attributed to the personal traits of theirheads. In fact, to a large extent the success of any particular organization depends on the skills andcompetency of its leader. Mere availability in fact, abundance of infrastructure, financial and technicalskills do not necessarily guarantee success, rather even in the absence of these facilities but with acompetent leader at helm of an organization, it can strive for excellence.

With all these complexities making a school successful is certainly an enormous task and many,therefore, attribute its success to the head teacher, if not entirely but to a large extent. Even thoughwe cannot put the premium of success entirely to them, we have to nonetheless admit that they playan instrumental role in the success of the school. Acceptance of their contribution begs the questionabout their qualities, which makes them different from others. These are a combination of a lot ofspecial traits like professional, communicative, planning, teaching, etc.

A close and in-depth study of the qualities of head teachers among the sampled successful schoolsshowed an interesting profile. Based on individual training, personality style, management types,the heads differ from each other but when compared to their role as head teachers and consequenttraits they showed a host of characteristics, which are common to everyone. For a better analyticalunderstanding, we can divide these diverse characteristics into two heads, namely personal andprofessional. Have a vision and mission for the school, integrity, honest, empathetic, openness,caring and loving, dedicated, motivated, helpful democratic attitudes, good communication skills,team builder, hard working, role model are some of the terms used. Dy. Teachers, students connectivityto describe the personality traits of the head teacher.

Similarly, they also attributed school success to his professional credentials. Professional characteristicsare those skills, which are evident in their management of official responsibilities and are strictlyrestricted to their professional life as well as personal traits such as strategic planning, adroit use ofresources, ability to mobilize resources, mentoring, staff development, thorough knowledge of rules,regulations and official procedure, understanding of educational needs of children and societalconcern, possession of good worldview, use opportunities to realize their short-term and long-termgoals, task orientation, quality to share responsibilities and success, quickness to bridge the leak,value the potential of teachers etc. Personal traits and qualities indicate the leadership role ofsuccessful schools having good social and emotional intelligence, mentoring, optimist, self-sacrificingspirit etc. to act as role models.

Besides these characteristics, the head teachers of successful schools too demonstrated qualities viz.democratization of decision-making, collective decision-making, providing greater autonomy to

59


teachers, sharing responsibilities with colleagues, providing scope for developing leadership amongpeople working at different layers viz. section, groups etc, playing the role of a choreographer.

Box 4.13: Principals as Leaders

All successful principles are successful leaders. That is hardly a surprise, but whatleadership actually means, differs from country to country and from school to school. Itis relatively easy to write down the characteristics of a successful school manager. Thefollowing is a list prepared by the research team in Malaysia:o Visionary: clarity of focus; Sharing of vision; Generating ideas and providing directiono Creative problem solving: risk taker; Contextualized actiono Continuous learningo Passion for qualityo CaringBut what does this mean in practice? The same case-study on a school in Malaysia offerssome examples of how the principal "showed" leadership.The headteacher cannot carry out immediate changes in school without a thorough studyon the school environment. Ahmad added that he had to take about a year’s time to winthe teachers’ trust. To do that, he had to firstly, forge relationships with the otheradministrators, namely his senior assistants. He said that he had to practice "turunpadang". In the literal sense, "turun padang" means that one is willing to soil one’s handsand feet working in the field together with his teachers, to be in the shoes of another.The headteacher needs, in his management of staff, to carefully consider what will havea positive impact and what could be counterproductive. Leaders and teachers need torespect rules and regulations. For teachers who are problem creators, he would nothesitate to take strict action against them.Rules are rules. If we do not follow rules and make sure teachers and students followrules, why create them in the first place. For instance, one of my teachers cancelleda co-curriculum meeting with the students on the day of the meeting without consultingthe school administrators… the excuse that the field was not ready with lines cannotbe accepted … he could have used other alternatives to carry out the activity … forthis, I gave him a show cause letter (disciplinary note or memo) … as leaders we haveto correct and explain the rules to him … we have to take action or else he wouldnot respect the rules …Ahmad believed that in our society, saving face is an extremely useful and important skillfor headteachers in confronting issues pertaining to staff’s work performance or inappropriateteaching practices. This does not mean that the leader cannot chastise the staff but theleader has to exercise a high degree of sensitivity and face saving.I would not openly scold any teacher in an open meeting. By talking to the teacher in theprivacy of my office, it is easier to convey the message to the teacher. In our society, wehave to practice ‘jaga air muka’ (save face) … we can give corrective feedback theteacher more effectively…especially informally and indirectly…after a drink…while havinga good time…for instance, just now I observed that you were using this approach with thestudent, perhaps this other approach is more appropriate.

Beringin Primary School, Malaysia

60


In these schools though the head teacher or the principal is the legitimate authority and the leader,they however, adopted leadership style by delegating tasks among various school level structures –individuals and groups - for effective and better management of the school. This delegation ofpower and decentralization of authority has not only delivered desired results but also created asecond line of leadership who are ready to take up new responsibilities and prove their mettle. Insuch a situation, though the ultimate power and authority remains with the head teachers andothers, despite their roles, remain accountable and responsible to head teacher who fosters anatmosphere of mutual trust, respect and cooperation among various partners of the school. Forexample, the principal of the Govt. Primary School in Philippines has delegated academic andfinancial powers among teachers and committees and is getting excellent results. All these examplesexhibit the distributive leadership prevalent in successful schools. This is one of the many commonfactors among these otherwise diverse schools. To quote, in Pavia Pilot Elementry School, Pava,Iloilo, Philippines, as an administrator, Mrs. Jovero is particular about keeping records of all transactions involving

money and filing these records neatly in folders for everyone who might be interested to scrutinize them. It is her policy

not to handle any of the finances of the school and assigns these responsibilities to teachers. However, she keeps control

by keeping tab of all expenses and disbursements. It is one of her guiding principles as administrator to be transparent

and to lead by example. She practices participative management and teachers are happy about being involved in the

internal management of the school. As one teacher had said: "In the internal management of the school, the actors

involved are the teachers as facilitators and the principal and district supervisor as the planners and manager"

However, one cannot take the risk of stereotyping the leadership qualities of head teachers andfixing them. In fact, there are cases where the head teachers have to change their leadership stylefrom one type to another in the face of certain situations. They become autocratic and authoritarianwhen they have a fixed plan and programme which they want to be followed for the benefit of theschool. Examples from case studies in Sri Lanka, India (JNV) and Malaysia can be cited to buttressthis observation. When they need to initiate change, they need to adopt and share leadership atdifferent levels to ensure participation and acceptance.

Figure 4.9: Leadership Characteristics

61


Figure 4.10: Leadership Characteristics – Professional

It is evident from the case studies that the management devices used in different schools as cited inthe case studies are crucial in making the school successful. Following section deals with interpersonalrelationships, which enhances the chances of sustaining success in schools.

62


Section V

Interpersonal Relationships

Research on successful schools has conclusively proved that the presence of a viable andreassuring working environment is a prerequisite for the school to be a successful one. Such aworking environment can only be possible with the existence of strong interpersonal relationshipsamong the stakeholders of the school in general and in the case of the head teacher in particular.The intensity and closeness of interpersonal relationship may vary from school to school and fromhead teacher to head teacher but an excellent interpersonal relationship is common among all thehead teachers.

The school which has shown development and improvement in its efficiency has shown stronginterpersonal relationship and interaction among personnel within that school. Communicationand interaction within a good school both at vertical and horizontal levels considered to be animportant factoring determining school quality. Effective communication is an essential tool for thehead in managing the school and ensuring its progress.

The interpersonal skill of the head teacher reflects his relationship with co-teachers, staff, studentsand community members. Some of the head teachers have made efforts to bring close interactionamong other teachers to make the school environment cooperative and congenial and this spirit ofsharing has spread to the personal life of teachers as well as in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.In Uttra School, in Bangladesh, they(SMC Members) think the teacher to be inevitable for the school and its

development. They attribute the attainment of the present position of the school to a great extent to the head teacher.

The SMC members depict him as a sincere teacher and a good administrator with a high level of motivation, devotion

and innovative capacities. They brought to the notice of the researcher the time he devotes to the school and identifies

this as one of the causes of the school success.

The teachers, parents and the SMC members said that the head teacher has great devotion to the school, gives much

time for the school and even works beyond the office hours. This is in consonance with the headteachers description of

his time use. he said that he, on an average, works 3 hours everyday beyond the office hours. The parents express their

happiness over the all time availability of the head teacher and easy access to him.

63


The bonding between the head teacher and co-teachers has become so close and cordial that theyhelp each other in times of crisis and comfort. In some cases, for instance in Bangladesh and India,the head teacher and other teachers have refused promotion and preferred to stay where they haveinvested their time in closing the barrier. It is a challenge on the part of the head teacher to createa good, working and cohesive unit out of difference and distinction in the background of teachersbut most head teachers have been able to meet the challenge.

The need to maintain a strong interpersonal relationship that the head teacher has to exhibithas two main functions, namely, to create a cohesive functional team to achieve common objectivesand to meet common targets. As was the case in Amar Nath Vidya Ashram, Mathura,India, the

interpersonal relationship is healthy; the teachers seemed cooperative, supportive and friendly. To quote a teacher "We

work as a team and our aim is to provide the best to our students". This spirit may be attributed to the school

environment and above all to the able administration of the head-teacher, who closely monitors and quickly irons out the

differences or arising grudges in the teacher's relationship. In the staff room of the primary section the teachers and the

head mistress sit together, some of the senior teachers of this section call the head-teacher by her name. Thus the whole

atmosphere seemed different in this school where care is taken to maintain discipline not with the help of an iron rod

but by mutual respect, understanding and realization of "duty before self". The management members are very appreciative

of their teachers’ performance and interpersonal behaviour. Secondly, to create an atmosphere of congenialityamong the teaching staff and generate a healthy competition among them towards achievingexcellence. Some head teachers have been so successful in this endeavour like in Sri Lanka that acritical innovation like peer review of performances among teachers has received appreciationfrom teachers.

The success of head teachers in maintaining cordial relationship with teachers also lies in the teacher’sperception of their head teacher. The teachers recognize that their head teacher is competent,

Figure 5.1: Inter Personal Relationship

64


impartial, hardworking, committed, caring, loving and a man of integrity and attribute the successof school to him. This is also reciprocal to the extent that head teacher too recognize the contributionand capability of his co-teachers in making the school successful. For instance in Uttra School,(NAEM) Bangladesh, the head teacher is in his office room. A teacher comes in. He looks pale. He fell sick two

months back and suffered for a long time. On recovery, doctors advised him to have a light workload. He approached the

head teacher who rearranged his teaching periods and other responsibilities to allow him more time free. This day he has

come to thank the head teacher for the support.

Box 5.1: Head’s Influence in Achieving School Effectiveness

Teachers were asked whom they think has the greatest influence in making the schooleffective, and their replies were:Teacher 1: "Our principal who, in one way or another, took pains in encouraging us andgiving us the needed moral support."Teacher 2: "Our principal has the greatest influence in making the school effectivebecause she’s the one who encouraged us and spear-headed the initiative to join thecontest for the Search for the Most Effective Elementary School."Teacher 3: "The greatest influence in making the school effective is the school administratorfor she is the most important person who motivated us, her subordinates as well as thepeople in the community."Teacher 4: "For me, the school principal has the greatest influence in making our schooleffective because with her proper management of the school and good relationship withher subordinates, parents as well as the community, we made it to the top."Teacher 5: "The greatest influence in making our school effective is the principal becausewithout her good management and untiring leadership, we couldn’t have made it."Teacher 6: "Our principal is a good leader to her teachers because she leads andinfluences them to do their jobs well and to be effective in teaching the pupils."Another question asked by the teachers is: In making your school effective, is there oneperson you would like to give credit to? Their replies are as follows:Teacher 7: "Making our school effective was realized not only because of the effort ofone person but through the support of everyone, particularly the principal, who gave heruntiring support. The teachers and the parents also gave their best in making the schooleffective."

Pavia Pilot Elementary School (PPES), Philippines

What distinguishes the head teacher of these successful schools is their desire to help his teachers inbuilding their capacity rather than cribbing over their inability. The other teachers have taken thisgesture quite positively and have worked hard in ironing out their deficiencies, which in turn hashelped the school in improving its academic agenda rather dramatically. Further the democratic,

65


decentralized approach of the head teachers and their transparent and open door policy haveearned them the respect of his colleagues. Though all the head teachers are task-oriented, they alsohave empathy and a humane approach (Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh). They also mentor brightand capable teachers and help them in achieving more in life in terms of professional skill.

In these schools, the head teacher and teachers felt that they have a common goal in the improvementof the school, in that they share their academic challenges and difficulties among themselves (Pakistanand Philippines). All the head teachers have good communication and social skills and they havebeen successful in creating a sense of pride among other teachers by sharing the success of theirschool with them.

Relationships Among Teachers

Provision of good facilities, adequate number of teachers does not guarantee the school to becomesuccessful unless the school has harmonious relations among the staff and students. In other words,equally important is sound organisational culture in which people can align with objectives of theschool and have a common vision and goal. It became amply evident from the present case studiesthat the schools build their success on the pillars of good inter-personal and professional relationships.The inter-personal relationships in successful schools showed that largely the teachers have veryfriendly and collegial relation and adopt cooperative method for improving their performance.Because of amicable inter-personal relations, the teachers in successful schools were able to creategood teamwork and sharing culture. The teachers also organise social events in order to iron anyindividual differences among them. Successful schools have mentoring of teachers by their seniorand experienced teachers. It was found that teachers not only have good professional relationships,but they also developed friendship beyond the school. There were interesting cases that some ofthe teachers came to the rescue to help their colleagues when they have personal or health problemseven by providing financial assistance.

Box 5.2: Teacher Cooperation

Teachers are cooperative and helpful. They help and support one other according totheir need and capacity. They are friendly and harmonious in relations among theteachers. They give their views like this –"The goal is the same; all of us are working withthe same objective of providing the qualitative education to the students and promotingthe status of the school higher and higher". The teachers view that the responsibility ofmaking decision is shared with all the teachers then the head teacher follows themonitoring the implementation of the decisions. All the teaching and non-teaching staffsare equal in his eyes. They add that discussions are done openly in the staff meeting andlevel wise meeting and the misunderstandings are made clear. Informal discussions arecommon to reach the decision instantly. So there is mutual cooperation, and understandingamong the teachers, there is transparency and there is unity in work.

Tarun Secondary School, Nepal

66


Teachers are very much cooperative to each other. There is no specific complicatedrelationship among groups of teachers or even between any two teachers which is worthnoting. A very friendly environment is prevailing. The teachers enjoy annual dinner andpicnic which they themselves arrange under the leadership of the headteacher. Even theSMC join them in these events.

Teachers are helpful to colleagues. The cooperation takes the forms of financial help andpersonal help. There are instances of donating blood by some teachers for sick colleagues,nursing day and night, psychological help and support. Financial help and assistance arealso provided by the school – the headteacher encourages all these philanthropicactivities.

Uttara School, NAEM, Bangladesh

Sharing the workload is also common among the teacher whenever their colleagues have problems.In some of the schools, like JNV, India even though the teachers were hailing from different parts ofthe country with different cultural backgrounds, they have developed a feeling of being "membersof one family" and call the school as "Navodaya Family". To quote, I am happy to be a member of the

Navodaya family. The system provides an atmosphere that serves well to create a feeling of oneness. Each and every one

here has different characters and they may be of different religions. But, still we are all one and we enjoy the company

of each other. Inter-personal rivalry and groupism seemed to be present in some of the schools butnow these are only the past stories.

In some of the schools, the good inter-personal relationships sometimes led to the extent of protectingthe colleague, even if one is not efficient.

Relationships with Students

Students constitute the core of the school. All physical infrastructure and academic innovationshave little or no meaning without participation of the students. In fact, the aim of education is tobring out the innate capabilities of students to the fore and develop their personality. The successfulschools have realized this motto and have devised strategies, which have a direct impact on students.As a part of this strategy, some schools in Philippines and Pakistan have become child-friendly.They want to make a child-friendly atmosphere in school driving out fear and hesitation from theirmind and allowing them to express themselves. Without exception, in all the schools, the schoolheads and teachers express deep love and affection for children and they also emphasise that studentstoo love them.

67


Box 5.3: Teacher Student Relationship

The relationship of the students and staff was captured in a statement of the Principalwhen she said, "I believe in loving the child, if we deal with them in a loving manner theyrespond more willingly and do their work. At the same time we are firm with thosechildren who need to work hard. We never punish or beat a child. The students discussfreely everything with the teachers and head teachers. In fact the children of the presenttimes are in fact pretty bold. They ask questions if they feel like it."

According to the Principal there are many instances when the students interact with herand it is mostly in a relaxed atmosphere, "Sometimes they come for the fee concession,sometimes they come for the reason that nobody has come to pick them up and theycome to me to solve this problem and sometimes they come to invite me, sometimes theyhave any like, or if there is any complaint they come to me".

When asked if students came with specific complaints against teachers she replied, "Nothey do not complain, these students they are very sort of, you can say they know thatthis is their teacher and she is going to teach them. They don’t complain about the teacher,they do say alright whether this teacher is teaching the subject properly or not but theydon’t say such things against their teacher, they have a lot of respect". She also addedthat students do show their appreciation of the staff in a farewell party that is an indicatorof the teacher’s popularity.

Royal School, Pakistan

Same is true with the students. Successful schools have also gone in the direction of making studentstheir partners in the decision-making and management of school activities. This is done by involvingthem in several school activities through committees or creating teams. Teachers have a parentalattitude towards students and they care and nurture talents. Besides, they too have a feeling ofresponsibility to improve the performance of students. Most schools have done away with corporal

Box 5.4: Intense Bonding

The joy of teaching in this school is greatly enhanced due to the affection and respect thatteachers receive from students. As one teacher remarked, "they create a situationwhere you feel that you are very much wanted". A lady teacher staying in the schoolwith her small daughter got transferred nearer to her husband’s place of work. All thegirl students assembled in her house and started crying. She was emotionally so movedthat she got her transfer order cancelled. According to her, "I felt I could be away frommy spouse who visits me once a week/fortnight, but can not remain away fromthese children who need care and love".

JNVS, Gadchiroli, India

68


punishment and have created an atmosphere where the students are working harmoniously alongwith teachers towards the development of the school. In some schools, the head teachers know thename of each child and have reserved some working hours to exclusively attend to the problems ofchildren.

Another head teacher has even gone to the extent of inquiring about the poor caring and treatmentof the student at his home. Similarly, in some cases, the bonding between the students and teachershas been so strong that teachers have stopped to seek their transfer and even promotion at therequest of their students.

Many schools help their students in developing their personalities by encouraging them to participatein multi-intelligence and other co-curricular activities. In case of students from poor socio-economicbackground, the teachers have been empathetic and instead of labelling them as ‘weak students’have tried to improve their skills and flower their potential. Another example of head teacher’sinfluence in the school and care for children can be illustrated from a particular event in MountainSchool, Pakistan where a teacher had resorted to corporal punishment and the head teacherintervened and enunciated his ideology of dealing with children through care, compassion andaffection. For the concerned head teacher it is important to understand the psychology of the childrather than arriving at conclusions and resorting to harsh measures. Similarly, in order to inculcatethe value of cooperation, fellow feeling and camaraderie among students, some schools haveintroduced group learning, cooperative learning etc. However, it may be stated that though theseschools give adequate emphasis on group activity they never neglect individual talents and nurturethem in their best possible manner.

Successful schools have focused on their students and have always tried to have good relationshipwith them. The aim is to make them feel important in the school and also to instil a feeling of pridein their heart for the school. But all this was done within a limit and never at the cost of discipline.There are events where the concerned head teacher had taken strong exception to matter ofindiscipline and sorted out the matter with the help of guardians and concerned parties whileavoiding corporal punishment.

Link with Administration

The link with the administration is an important and crucial factor for schools. In this context, all thesuccessful schools in all these countries have had an unflinching support from the administration.This is more so in case of government and private aided schools. In fact, some of the present headteachers of successful schools from Mountain School, Pakistan and Govt. Primary School, Bangladeshwere specifically brought into these schools to improve them or to introduce some innovative schemes.

The question evidently comes up how such support can be given to all schools rather than to beprovided to a few privileged ones.

Further, in case of Bangladesh the head teachers were selected by the sub-district level educationofficers to head the model school because of their experience and expertise. Same is the case withSri Lanka and Philippines and the incumbents have shown their worth by achieving success.

The close association and contact of the successful schools with the administration has helped themin obtaining resources for physical development of the school as well as enjoying autonomy. In case

69


Box 5.5: Developing a Positive Relationship with the Administration

The relationship between successful schools and the offices of the Ministry of Education,which should provide them with supervision and support, is an intricate one. Manysuccessful schools function in the same legal framework as their less successful colleagues.Legally, they do not have more or less autonomy than others. But two factors seem tomake a difference: the use they make and the benefit they draw from whatever level ofautonomy they have and the nature of their relationship with the administration. Thesetwo factors are linked, as the following case from Bangladesh shows. When therelationship is a constructive one, the school will be given more freedom and will receivemore support in both financial and pedagogical terms.

Due to its strong connection with the upazila (sub-district), district and divisional educationoffices, actors in this school enjoyed a significantly higher level of autonomy and thus theschool authority was able to take new initiates. Major decisions for school improvementat the policy level come from the Assistant Director (AD) in the divisional office, but theimplementation depends on the head teacher and the staff. Actually, due to the specialinterest by the AD, the other officials at lower levels also pay attention to this school.Without such a heavy support from the upper administration it would not be possible forthe community people to think of their school development.

Among the new initiatives which the community and the school staff took, are: arrangementof morning and evening shifts, appointment of volunteer teachers and collection of localresources. These would not be possible without support from the administration.

With support from the divisional AD, a good Upazila Education Officer (UEO) wasappointed and similarly a good Assistant was given responsibility of the cluster where theschool is located. Three good teachers including the head teacher were transferred to thisschool. Such an arrangement created a very good opportunity to improve quality ofPalpur school. In 2002, the school received Tk. 26,000 for construction purpose andagain an appeal was sent for Tk. 30,000 during the year 2003. The divisional AD gaveTk. 6,000 for the development of the school. The UEO also informed the head teacherthat he can send some extra materials. The school authority could easily reach to thehigher authorities as and when necessary.

The school is being visited again and again by the higher officials. Number of visits to thisschool was higher than any other school in the upazila. For instance, the UEO and theAUEO visited this school once a month from July 2003. Moreover, the divisional ADwas present 2/3 evenings each week there in the school. The District Primary EducationOfficers of some of the districts also visited this school for several times. During their visitboth UEO and the AUEO observed classroom teaching and had discussion with theteachers.

Primary School, Bangladesh

70


of Bangladesh, the officers from education department frequently visit the school and seek to mobilizecommunity support. In one of the selected schools in Mountain School, Pakistan, the head teacherhas direct contact and access to Field Education Officer with whom he had worked previously andas a result he had no problem in either getting resources or sanctioning of money for projects. Thesituation is exactly the same in Sri Lanka too.

However, in case of some very old and established autonomous schools like The Royal School,Pakistan, the administration hardly interferes except for providing funding. The administrationextends cooperation. Since the school is autonomous, largely the issues are settled at GoverningBody, once the government approves the school budget. Here, the head teacher feels quitecomfortable with the governing board and manages to get permission and sanctions as and whenrequired. The Governing Body at Royal school never interferes in the day-to-day activities of theschool.

The prevalence of good relationship between the head teacher and the administration has alsoresulted in these schools being given innovative projects and in their being listed as sites forpedagogical experiment that brings good name to the schools and making the teachers feel proud tobe part of this exercise. The successful completion of these projects greatly enhances the confidencelevel of teachers, as was the case in Sri Lanka and Philippines.

Some of the awards winning schools in Malaysia and Philippines have some kind of a unique anduseful relation with administration and the schools do get support.

In case of Nepal, some of the Principals are very confident and feel that they have been successfulin getting their projects approved by the district education officers as their schools are considered tobe good performing schools.

The case studies show that the administration cares and supports good schools as they havedemonstrated their worth. Yet good support from administration is an important element for schoolsto become successful which is evident from some of the schools like those in Bangladesh, Philippines,Sri Lanka, etc.

However, there exists a thaw in the relationship between the school and administration at somelevel and in some cases. This is evident in cases where the publicity, reputation and success ofschool have made the teachers more vocal and conscious of their innovation. To quote an examplefrom Sri Lanka: It happens that the good practices introduced by this school are taken away and are shown by

education officers as if they are their own innovations. Then the education officers inform other schools to implement

them. But when we realize that it is our innovation, we feel very sad. Due to this fact, we are reluctant to express new

ideas to visitors’. Not only this. They also question the benefits and the rationale of training programmes and sundry

meetings with education officers and label them as unnecessary time consuming deliberations without any practical

relevance for the concerned head teachers.

In contrast to Sri Lanka, a rural school - Primary School, Padari-Jhansi, (SIEMAT), India considersit a privilege to have a close interaction with local educational functionaries. An extract from thecase study: School showed excellent model of management of academic and pedagogical activities. School had very

strong, vital and organic linkages with DIET through NPRC (CRC) & BRC which not only helped in managing

71


academic aspects of the school through capacity building programmes, school visits and developing lesson plans, but also

nurturing school, head teacher and teachers by providing on-site support to them to improve school performance.

To sum up, it may be said that good relationship with administration is always beneficial for theschools as it solves their financial problem and provides an opportunity for greater exercise ofautonomy. No school openly expresses its displeasure, if any, with the administration. There maybe an undercurrent of dissension but that can be managed. Any school aiming to achieve successmust create harmonious relationship with the administration.

Linkages with Community

One of the characteristics of nearly all-successful schools is the existence of a positive relationshipbetween the school head teacher/ principal, staff and the surrounding community. The precisecharacteristics and closeness of that relationship can vary depending upon the location of the school,size of the community and specificity of the catchment area. But the base-line is that this mutualrelationship must help the school in its growth and development.

Figure 5.2: School Community Relation

72


The school-community relation needs to be seen in three different perspectives. Firstly, relationbetween school and structures like SMC, SDC, Governing Body which generally have authorityand decision-making power for school related aspects. The members of these structures are eitherelected or nominated and hold legitimacy to interact with the school and the school has anobligation vice versa. The relation with these bodies not only depends on school but also on vestedinterest of these structural arrangements. The sample schools have a mixed experience with SMC/SDC. Though all of these have maintained functional relation, some of the schools have excellentcooperation and support; examples being few schools from Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.However, some of the schools have very tough time with SMCs in Nepal and Bangladesh.

At the second level, school has relation with PTA, MTA, old Boys/Girls Association (OBA). WhilePTA / MTA have link with school by virtue of their children enrolled in the school, the OBA/OGAare working with the school more or less with a social service orientation.

The interaction with PTA/MTA among the sample schools is generally cordial and at times theyhave intimate link. However, the private schools from where the PTA has high expectations anddemand on school, the schools hardly feel very keen to have intimate relation. In fact, in one ofthe private schools, the Principal had reluctance to have interacted with parents and he found theparents demand as unrealistic.

However, in some countries, PTAs’ participation in school activities is highly valued and appreciatedas they provided abundant support to school activities. The interaction with PTA also depends onsize and type of management of school. In larger schools, formal PTA meetings are held to givefeedback like in Nepal about their children, and sometime to discuss the future school improvementprojects like in Philippines. In most rural schools the PTAs hardly show much interest in schoolas they are generally ill-equipped and busy with the raising their structures. They expect that theschool should take care of their children’s education rather feeling any other responsibility. Manya time, PTA members did not even turn up for school meetings as evident in Primary School,Bangladesh. In such cases, the successful schools alternatively organise mother rallies to createawareness among parents on the importance of education and health. To a large extent, the schoolswere successful in evincing mothers cooperation in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

73


Box 5.6: Intensifying links between schools and the community

One characteristic of nearly all successful schools is the existence of a positive relationshipbetween the school staff and the surrounding community, especially the parents. Theprecise characteristics and depth of that relationship can differ: sometimes, parentsexpress simply a benevolent, but rather distant interest in the school’s management,focussing only on the progress of their own kid. In other cases, parents and teachers areworking closely together in all areas, from resource mobilization to students supervision.

The following extracts come from a study on a medium-sized government primary schoolin Bangladesh, some 300 km from Dhaka. It shows that, in addition to formal structures,informal contacts are of great importance to strengthen the relationship between schooland the community. It equally demonstrates that such a good relationship depends notsimply on parents’ interest in school but equally on teachers reaching out to parents.

There are three more or less formal structures of parents/community involvementin school activities viz., School Management Committee (SMC), ParentTeacher Association (PTA), and mothers rally.

The parents select the members of SMC at the beginning of the academicyear. According to the head teacher, they are selected due to their commitmentto education especially to this school and the community. They are sociallyaccepted and some are relatively rich; so they have the capacity to work forthe school if they want. The SMC members oversee various activities ofschool management. It includes many areas like student attendance, teaching-learning provision, school environment, linkage with the local educationauthority etc. The teachers report collectively to the committee through thehead teacher. The SMC meet, once a month; the average duration of ameeting being about one and a half to two hours. The research team whichobserved one such meeting, noted that the discussions focus on crucialmatters:

Agenda for the meeting included pupils’ attendance, pupils’ performance in secondsemester examination, financial condition, and overall environment in school. Thehead teacher made a presentation on the former two issues and all others took partin discussion. The members asked lots of questions to the head teacher in order toidentify the reasons behind failure of some students in the examination andabsenteeism of some students.

The other two structures for parental involvement are not as active as the SMC. Forinstance, no meeting of parent teacher association was held during the last year. Threemothers’ rallies were held in 2003 and about half of the mothers attended each. Theteachers get the chance to orient the mothers to the importance of education for theirchildren and the necessity of parental involvement. The teachers also request the mothersto visit the school regularly. So far, three such meetings were held in 2003.

74


The parents sometimes meet the teachers during school hour – this mostly happens ifteachers call the parents to see them. Reasons are student absenteeism, leaving schoolduring break, misbehaviour and poor performance in examination. Some parents meetthe teachers at their own initiative, to discuss about the progress of their children or torequest for promotion if the student performed poorly in examination. There is no formalmechanism to inform the parents about overall performance of the school, but the parentscan get information about their own wards whenever they want. Again, whenever theteachers see parents on their way to school or at the market place, they try to convincethem to send their children to school. Sometimes the SMC members and the teachersalso visit homes. According to some students, the teachers visit them if they do not attendclasses. They sometimes send other students to the absentee students house in thisregard.

The school is very much aware of the local needs and conditions. As the head teachersaid, ‘Our duty is to provide education to all children, if we do not understand localsituation it would not be helpful for us to carry our duty.’ As was observed, local languageis often used in the classrooms and the teachers have respect to local wisdom and culture.Well-off parents do give economic help for activities like annual sports and culturalfunction. In general, the parents and local people are proud of having a model school likethis in their area.

BRAC, Bangladesh

At the third level, the school has a link with wider society, of which it is also a part. The schools maynot have a direct link with larger community, but they are part of the society. Hence, interactionwith larger community becomes an important aspect of school activities.

Box 5.7: Teacher’s Involvement with Community

Teachers involve themselves in many community affairs. They are the members of threeassociations in the village, namely, village development society, Temple-Developmentsociety & Youth Society. The principal is chief-advisor & deputy principal is the presidentof the village associations. Teachers visit children who fall sick and visit parents whosechildren are irregular. Teachers absenteeism is very low and they stay after school hourfor extra work. The school promotes two way communication between school andfamily regarding school programmes and student progress. The school encourages theavailability of the programmes to develop parenting skills as needed. It provides accessto and co-ordinates community and support services for children and families. As aparent says, "Teachers are like gods. We can share anything with them. Teachers and weparents work as family. On special occasions, they visit to our places, even participatein the funeral in the community".

Meegasthenna Maha Vidyalaya, Sri Lanka

75


Some of the successful schools did display keen interest and need to develop close link withwider community in order to reduce the social distance between the school and the community,on the one hand, and, on the other, to provide the students with experiences in local culturalaspects.

Some of the schools in Sri Lanka and Philippines made deliberate efforts to organise local culturalprogrammes involving the community and also via participating in socio-religious functions of thecommunity.

These schools created several opportunities for community members to participate in school functionsand celebrations.

Box 5.8: Community Involvement with School

The school has also been involved in community-development undertakings, making itresponsive to the needs and problems of the locality. For example, it has its own HomeBio System Program where it promotes ecological and environmental awareness bymounting workshops for parents, training them to produce organic fertilizers out of plantwastes, fish gills, food leftovers, etc. It makes available to the community and parents itsschool science and herbal gardens, showcasing different plant varieties, including herbalplants for treating common illnesses in the community, and a butterfly sanctuary. SACESalso has its non-formal education programs for out-of-school youths and adults, trainingthem to be more productive citizens. Livelihood skills training programs such as dressmaking and tailoring, culinary arts and food preservation are made available to thesurrounding communities of the school. Recently, it worked collaboratively with thePhilippine National Police (PNP) in Davao City in training policemen who are or will bedeployed in the depressed and disadvantaged villages of Davao province to becomeliteracy trainers who will assist the local village schools in mounting literacy trainingprograms for the illiterate and semi-literate out-of-school-youths and adults in theunderserved villages of the province.

Ana Central school, Philippines

Overall, the schools which are successful in bringing in the community at school functions andactivities means that these schools have the community support even if their own children may notnecessarily be studying in the schools. The efforts are towards developing social consciousness thatschool is a part of their culture and it is necessary to create awareness about the importance ofeducation for children and adults.

The relationship between the school and the community is not limited to organized members ofdifferent structures alone viz. SMC, VEC, PTA or MTA, it touches individuals, parents and generalmembers of the community as well.

76


Since school is a social institution and caters to the needs of the society, the support of the communityis crucial for its growth and success. In many cases, the head teachers of the school have chased toinvolve the community with them to such an extent that they have come forward to support theschool in improving its physical infrastructure viz. additional classroom, cleaning the schoolcompound, fencing the campus etc. like in Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Mothersform an important cog in the wheel of school-community nexus as the teachers discuss with themproblems pertaining to enrolment, attendance and nutritional support to children. In case of somesuccessful schools, the head teachers have made it a routine to have daily discussion with thecommunity with regard to the affairs of the school. Like in Pallethalawinna Model School, SriLanka, "Principal has built close relationship with community by providing awareness about the school vision, mission

& objectives. Community was involved in the decision making and internal school management. Besides providing all

material and technical help, community conduct teachers day, organize healthy clinic, maintain children’s park, takes

care aesthetic unit, provide equipments for administrative unit, maintain water supply system etc.

There have been instances of strong school-community relationship where the communities havegone beyond than merely providing occasional and temporary relief to schools and taking part inthe day-to-day management of the school. They provide academic support, assistance to teachersand even offer their voluntary service as teachers. In other cases, like in Govt. Primary School,Bangladesh some enterprising head teachers have taken the support of the community for someincome generating activities for school like sharing the fishpond. In India, a head teacher has allowedthe growth of a vegetable garden in the school compound and the produce is shared by the farmingindividual and the school, thus also adding revenue to the school’s coffer. In Philippines, the headteacher has convinced the community through meetings for supporting the school innovations andcarrying out new projects with potential for the improvement of the school.

Some enterprising head teachers have found new avenues in generating resources. For example, ahead teacher in Nepal convinced a Canadian citizen to donate substantial money for the school, sowas also the case with a Govt. school in Bangladesh that managed to get a donation from a wealthypatron for adding additional rooms for the school. From these examples, it becomes clear that theschools do explore opportunities for resource generation and hold on to it when given an opportunity.In case of Sri Lanka, Old Boys’ Association and Old Girls’ Association contribute towards thedevelopment of school, both in terms of finance and academics. The head teachers/ principals,however, usually use their discretion while accepting their support.

However, it has its own detractors and limitations. The Principal of Boy’s School, Colombo, opinedthat he does not like to have donations from either Old Boys’ Association (OBA) or the Communityas it is a challenge not to be manipulated by OBA while taking their support. For him, these institutionswant to manipulate him like they do in other schools. To quote him: ‘OBA wants to control me like

elsewhere, I have not taken a cent from them and the community. If I do, then I cannot have my sovereignty. They like

to keep me in their hands. I do not work according to their plans. As far as children are concerned, they appreciate my

dedication to the school’.

But this particular head teacher was neither against resource generation nor against initiating newprojects for the development of the school. A section head of the same school adds, in the context,‘he is very concerned about generating resources and improving the school by introducing various

77


activities. His leadership can be explained as entrepreneurial. He gets support from the entirespectrum viz. NGOs, education department, ministry, and industries’.

The relationship between the school and the community is not unilateral rather it is reciprocal. Theschools too support the community through their social development projects, which also includesadult literacy as in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Some schools in Sri Lanka have integratedand initiated larger social development projects that cater to the social awareness campaigns, healthcampaigns and campaigns for environmental protection. In some cases, the distance between theschool and the community has been so narrowed that the schools participate in all social andreligious celebrations of village programmes and villagers celebrate the functions of school, addinga new chapter in school-community interaction.

The relationship between the school and the community has not reached such heights in manyareas, especially where communities are backward and search for livelihood takes precedence overother activities. The community in these cases has little to do with the school. But the schools havenot lost hope and continue to engage the community with interaction by constantly telling them thevalue of literacy, education etc. The school cannot exist in isolation and the community will neverreach its potential without school. Both have to find spaces for each other and must depend on eachother to reach their full potential.

78


Section VI

Successful Schools: Schools on the Move

An in-depth and analytical study of the sample schools reveals a very interesting trend from themanagerial perspective that needs a thorough understanding and systematic discussion. All the 30schools discussed as case studies represent a plural and heterogeneous group. Here are some schools,which own a traditional excellence and have continued to test success. But there are also otherschools, that have come up to the rank, despite having a troubled past. We have to look at these twocategories carefully to reach a conclusion that could have significant theoretical and practical utility.

A glance at the past profile of these newly successful schools shows that these schools have comeinto reckoning only in the last decade or so. Earlier, these schools were beset with the problem ofpoor physical infrastructure, low participation, low enrolment, teacher absenteeism, studentindiscipline and a host of other problems. But with the change of leadership and a little more helpin terms of resources, these school have not only come to the rank but have also achieved the statusto be selected as sample schools in their country. This is certainly interesting and noteworthy. But thebigger question is what made such transformation possible!

One can attribute the strategic leadership to the change. First of all, the heads of these schoolsintroduced a changed leadership culture through the system of delegation of task with necessaryautonomy among the various stakeholders viz. teachers, students, heads of departments, gradeheads etc. Academic supervision, financial, administrative responsibilities were distributed amongvarious sections or department heads, teachers’ teams into the various groups, as well to competentindividuals. SMCs, VECs, Disciplinary Committees, student monitors, Group captains, Purchasecommittee etc. were created to share the autonomy and responsibilities. The leadership ceased tobe concentrated at a single head. This brought a participatory and collective decision-making culturein the organization. In addition to that, constant improvement in the physical environment andfacilitating people to work as a unit became a general feature among these schools. One reason forthis could be the management training imparted to these head teachers. Almost all the head teachershave some sort of pre-service and in-service management training that has helped them in applyingthese techniques in real life and getting acceptability, as well as effecting desired changes. Some of

79


the head teachers have also undergone specific leadership training programmes, thus making theirpresence, at the top, less conflictual and more congenial.

This delegation of tasks gave rise to a process of democratisation where decision-making became acollective affair. Further, the delegation of task to the sub-unit level and realization of autonomy atsection/department/grade level brought a sense of involvement and participation among variousactors creating motivation to succeed among them. This distributional leadership strategy managedto get the task done rather easily, while influencing the people at bottom to realize the source ofpower at the top and yet motivated them to give their best. However, this has not diminished thepower and capability of the legitimate leaders at the top, rather they continue to make vision andmission plans and direct important decisions. This model of leadership has brought bothaccountability and sustained motivation among stakeholders and has enabled to build the leadershipskills in schools, besides fostering the creation of the learning community. Yet, in no way it can besaid as the only form of leadership. However, it must be maintained that the entire leadershipculture in successful school cannot be categorized as one type, rather there are other varieties aswell and leadership changes from context to context. Nor can we attribute success solely to this kindof leadership.

Challenges and Problems

The path to success among the successful schools has not been an easy one, rather it was filled withchallenges and hurdles. Some of them have been able to adequately respond to some challenges orat best many. But, still considerable numbers of challenges have remained to be addressed. In theensuing paragraphs, we have dealt with some of them.

� Most of the primary schools, despite their successful status, continue to function in scarcity.Some have inadequate physical structure and, more importantly suffer from poor teacher-pupil ratio, including among them a prestigious school too. They are successful because ofhighly motivated and committed teachers. However, there is a serious threat from these schools,especially in case of government schools if the present set of teachers is transferred. They havemanaged to produce results despite this difficulty. But continuous neglect of this ratio is goingto be counter-productive.

� Filling up of vacancies has been a major problem in case of secondary schools. Unless thisproblem is quickly addressed, the successful schools will have a handful of problems.

� The third most important problem faced by the schools is their lack of choice over the selectionand discipline among teachers. Due to this, many schools have problem in managing teachersand are hampered by lack of a proper quality control mechanism. Similarly, lack of adequatephysical infrastructure and subject teachers in secondary schools has made the task of successfulschools difficult.

� Though teacher absenteeism has not assumed alarming proportions in successful schools, itspossibility cannot be overlooked. But, more importantly these schools suffer from the problem

80


of teacher substitution, which needs to be seriously looked into.

� Another problem, that afflicts the schools under discussion, is that many schools lack in-housestaff development or capacity-building programmes and even those, who have it, consistentlycrib about its inadequacy. It is very important to constantly update one’s knowledge in thischanging time and more so in case of school teachers. Hence, the problem of in-house staffdevelopment needs to be urgently redressed.

� Autonomy continues to be an issue among head teachers of all sample schools, though theyenjoy considerable degree of autonomy in terms of academic aspects. Whatever may be thecause of this complaint, the fact remains that there is no legal autonomy to head teachersthough they have larger responsibility thus making them a proverbial scapegoat in every situation.This also has hampered their efficacy as well.

� Needless to add that decentralization of responsibilities and community interaction with theschool through SMCs and VECs has been a successful venture and in most cases these structurebodies have been cooperative and helpful in managing the affairs of the school. But a questionmark has always remained behind their selection. These bodies are often politically inclined,have vested interest and, in some cases, are packed with illiterate people making it difficult forthe head teacher to carry out serious academic agenda. A proper framework for constitution ofthese important bodies will help in a long way to establish academic excellence.

� Finally, it can be added that though overtly there has been no conflict over the appointment ofhead teacher and there is apparently no challenge to the authority of head teacher, anundercurrent of dissension and dissatisfaction may also exist when there are senior teachers inthe staff and an outside young teacher is imposed on them as the head teacher. Hence, it wouldbe better to take cognizance of these situations so that these skirmishes can be avoided at thefirst place.

Policy Implications

Policy makers have focused policy in a variety of ways to enhance student learning. These fociinclude teachers and schools, students, and strategic choices regarding governance and educationalapproaches. The evidence on the individual impact of these policies on student achievement suggestthat they have small but significant impact on student learning. Promising teacher policies includestandards and assessment policies (Archbald, 1989), incentives and accountability policies (Kelley,1999), and teacher pre-service training and licensure policies (Darling Hammond, 1998).1

1 Jones, Bruce Anthony (ed.), Educational Leadership, Policy Dimensions in the 21st Century. p.74.

81


Figure 6.1: From Policy to Performance

The study of success of successful schools is not just a theoretical exercise, rather it has importantpractical value from the perspective of educational management. Though one can find many minorand sub-points with clear policy implication, two parameters come from the discussion as pure andpractical ideas.

First, since the head teachers/principals represent the school and are significant for its success, a lotdepends on their selection. Usually, they are selected on the basis of age and experience. Thoughseniority cannot be overlooked, it should not be over-emphasized either, particularly in the selectionto a top post in an academic institution. Hence, emphasis must be laid on academic qualificationsand managerial skills. Postgraduate qualifications should be made mandatory for the post ofprincipals; besides qualities like risk-taking ability, democratic ethos, empathy, rationality, leadershipcapabilities and teaching competency need to be taken into account. Though these qualities aredifficult to assess in a recruitment board, it is certainly not impossible at least in a managerial worldwhere the skills have been thoroughly quantified.

Secondly, the success of schools is the product of a profound work culture and a feeling ofempowerment. Hence, the credit goes to the existence of an ethical culture. But, more often thannot, schools institute structures of decentralization rather than imbibing the culture. Hence, theyfall into the trap of missing the wood for the tree. The study also reinforces the idea that the culturecan be imparted through training, at least to some extent, through capacity-building programmes.We must impart training to aspiring as well as un-trained serving head teachers to make them betteradministrators and leaders. Therefore, it is important to inculcate values among all the stakeholders,at least among the head teacher and teachers, which can be imbibed through training and exposure.This process will, of course, be slow but it will definitely serve the purpose and sustain itself over along period of time.

The successful schools demonstrated their capability to deal with problems arising between studentsand also students and teachers. Though in general the successful schools have good relations amongstudents, there are also some problems among the students in few schools. In case of one of the

82


schools in Nepal problems triggered between students even went to the extent of police reporting.However with the help of families, the head teacher was able to solve the issue.

Sustaining Success

The case studies examined in this report focuses on the following strategies adopted by differentschools to make it successful:

� Traditionally successful schools are established with high standards to serve selected clientele.These schools sustained their success despite imbalances in facilities through human resourcemobilization. This was the case in Pakistan and India where established traditions retainedcontinuity in management strategies.

� Schools aimed to provide quality education through special facilities for selected clientele.

In India the reviving quality was crucial in overcoming geographical constraint.

� Build success in scarcity through leadership efforts.

� Building success on failure due to leadership by team building support system, mobilization,as was the case in Philippines Malaysia and Bangladesh.

� Leadership alone made a lot of difference in sustaining success.

The success of a school does not depend on one component but on the best combinations of variedcomponents with context specific devices. The management strategies can be generalized thoughthe success may not be achieved in all the schools with the same strategy. The role of the Headteacheris crucial, but the success of the school rests on the school culture, as it is the base for sustaining thesuccess.

83


References

1. Aga Khan Foundation (1994): Proceedings of workshop on school improvement in AndhraPradesh, Varied experiences and prospects, New Delhi.

2. Arora. G.L. & Ranjan. S (1994), " School effectiveness: A study, SCERT, New Delhi.

3. Bifulco, R. & Bretsehneider, S. (2001) "Estimating school efficiency: A comparison ofmethods using simulated data" Economics of Education Review, 20 (5): p 417-429.

4. Blandford. S (1997): Middle management in schools: How to harmonise managing andteaching for an effective school, Pitman, London.

5. Blandford. S. (1998): Professional development manual: A practical guide to planningand evaluating successful staff development-London.

6. Blase. Joseph and Kirby, Peggy C. (2000): Bringing out the best in teachers: What effectiveprincipal do. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

7. C. Robert and Gibbon. C. T. F. (1998), "School effectiveness research: Criticism andrecommendations," Oxford Review of Economics 24 (4); pp. 421-434.

8. Charles. T. (2000): International Handbook of School Effectiveness Research, Falmer,London.

9. Clive H. (1992): Effective and ineffective schools: An international perspective on therole of research, 20(3), pp. 161-69, Journal of Educational Planning and Administration.

10. Cohn. E. (1987): Research on effective school implications for less developed countries,World Bank.

11. Creighton, Theodore (2003): Principal as technology leader: California.

12. Drago-Severson, Eleanor (2004): Helping Teachers Learn: Principal Leadership for AdultGrowth and Development, California: Corwin Press.

13. Everard. K. B. (1985): Effective school management, Harper and Row, London.

14. Gazial. H (1996), " School effectiveness and effectiveness indicators: parents, students',teachers' and principals' perspectives", International Review of Education, 42 (5), pp.475-494.

84


15. Gray. J (1995): 'Good school, Bad school': Evaluating performance and encouragingimprovement OUP.

16. Gronn. Peter (2003): New work of educational leaders: changing leadership practice inan era of school reform. London: Paul Chapman.

17. Hallak. J (1992): Managing schools for educational quality and equity. Finding the propermix to make it work. Journal of Educational Planning and Administration. 6 (1), pp. 51-63.

18. Harris, A. (2001) " School effectiveness and school improvement: Alternative perspective",Continuum, London.

19. IIEP (2000) " Improving school efficiency: The Asian experience", Report of the meetingsof ANTRIEP at Colombo, IIEP, Paris.

20. Jerome. R. (1989): Allies in educational reform: How teacher unions and administratorscan join forces for better schools. Jossey Bass.

21. Jones, Bruce Anthony (ed.), Educational Leadership, Policy Dimensions in the 21st Century. FrankBros. & Co. USA, 2000.

22. Josephine. Y. and Panda. B.K. (1995): Effectiveness of schooling: A pilot study of aidedschools of Delhi, New Delhi.

23. Lynn. B.G. (1996): Four imperatives of a successful school, California: Corwin Press.

24. Matthews. L Joseph and Crow. Gary M. (2003): Being and becoming a principal: Roleconceptions for contemporary principals and assistant principals. Sanfrancisco: Allyn andBacon.

25. McEwan. Elaine K. (2003): 7 step to effective instructional leadership. 2 Ed. UK: Sage.

26. Mclaughlin. Margaret J and Nolet, Victor (2004): What every principal needs to knowabout special education. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

27. Pestello. R. (1992): Effective school management -Delhi.

28. Asian Network of Training and Research Institutions in Educational Planning (ANTRIEP)in collaboration with The European Commission, (2002), New Delhi, Role Of Headteachers

In School Management In India, Case Studies from Four States. New Delhi.

29. Reid. K (1987): Towards the effective school: The problems and some solutions, Oxford.

30. Reynolds,D (ed) (1985) "Studying school effectiveness," Falmer Press, London.

31. Robbins. Pam and Alvy, Harvey. B (2003): Principal's companion: Strategies and hints tomake the job easier. California: Corwin Press.

85


32. Rothwell. William J. Sullivan, Roland and Quade, Kristine (2003): Organization developmentat work: Conversations on the values, applications, and future of OD. Sanfransisco: Pfeiffer.

33. Rowe. K. Hill. J, Peter. W and Holmes S. P. (1995), "Methodological issues in educationalperformance and school effectiveness research: A discussion with worked examples", AustralianJournal of Education, 39 (3); pp: 217-248.

34. Selwood, Ian D. Fung, Alex C.W. and O'Mahony, Christopher (2003): Management ofeducation in the information age; Role of ICT. London: Kluwer Academic.

35. Smith. R. (1995): Successful school management, London, Cassell

36. Stanford. B. (1998): Charting school change: Improving the odds for successful school reform,California: Corwin Press.

37. Sujatha.K. ( 2005): Successful Schools : Case Studies of Secondary Schools, National Instituteof Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi

38. UNESCO, Principal Regional Office for Asia and Pacific Synthesis report of Education ForAll 2000 Assessment in the East and South East Asia sub- Region, Bangkok UNESCO, PROAP,2000. (Working Paper no. 2).

39. UNESCO, Principal Regional Office for Asia and Pacific Synthesis report of Education ForAll 2000 Assessment in the South and West Asia sub-region. Bangkok: UNESCO PROAP,2000. (Working paper no. 4)

40. UNESCO, Principal Regional Office for Asia and Pacific Synthesis report of education for all2000 assessment in the South and West Asia sub-region. Bangkok: UNESCO PROAP, 2000.

41. UNESCO, Principal Regional Office for Asia and Pacific Synthesis report of Education ForAll 2000 Assessment in the Trans-Caucasus and Central Asia sub-region. Bangkok: UNESCOROAP, 2000. 57p. (Working Paper no. 1).

42. UNESCO, Principal Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Asia-Pacific Conference onEducation For All 2000 Assessment, Bangkok, Thailand, 17-20 January, 2000: Draft conferencereport. Bangkok:

43. Varghese. N.V. (1995): School effects: A multilevel analysis of government and private aidedschools in Kerala.

44. Wilmore, Elaine L (2004): Principal induction: Standards-based model for administrationdevelopment. Thousand oaks: Corwin.

45. Wilson. B. (1998): Successful secondary schools: Visions of excellence in American publiceducation, London, Falmer.

46. Windham. M. D. (1990) "Indicators of educational effectiveness and efficiency" USAID Prospect,Learning system Institute, Florida State University, Florida.

86


Annexure I

List of Institutions participated in Case Study of Successful School

S. No. Country Institution Address

1. Bangladesh NAEM National Academy for EducationalManagement (NAEM)Ministry of Education,Mirpur Road, Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1205BangladeshFax : (00880 2) 8619 084

BRAC Educational Research UnitBRAC Researchand Evaluation DivisionBRAC Centre, 75Mohakhali Dhaka 1212 BangladeshPhone:880-2-9881265 ext- 2707, Fax: 880-2-8823542,Email: [email protected]

2. India SIEMAT State Institute of Educational Management &Training (SIEMAT)25 P.C. Banerjee Road,AllenganjALLAHABAD, Uttar Pradesh(INDIA)Fax : (0532) 2466722 / 2461129Email:[email protected]

NCERT National Council of Educational Research andTraining (NCERT)Sri Aurobindo MargNewDelhi - 110 016 (INDIA)Email:[email protected]

3. Malaysia IAB Institut Aminuddin BakiMinistry ofEducationMalaysiaFax : (0060 3) 6100 5037 /3161

4. Nepal CERID Research Centre for Educational Innovationand Development (CERID)TribhuvanUniversity, Balkhu (at the side of TU, O/o theController of Exams.), KATHMANDU, NepalFax : 00977 1 4261639Email:[email protected] [email protected]@mos.com.np

5. Pakistan AKU-IED The Aga Khan University - Institute forEducational Development (AKU-IED)IED-PDC, 1-5/BVII, F.B. AreaKarimabad, P.O.Box 13688Karachi - 75950PAKISTANFax – 0092 21 6347616Email:[email protected]@[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]









87


6. Philippines SEAMEO-INNOTECH South-East AsianMinisters of Education Organisation RegionalCentre for Educational Innovation andTechnologyP.O. Box 207, CommonwealthAvenue, Diliman, Quezon City 1101,PhilippinesPh. (632) 926 7900Fax (632) 9287694Email: [email protected]@[email protected]@seameo-innotech.org

7. Sri Lanka CPDEM-NIE Centre for ProfessionalDevelopment – Education Management(CPDEM)Assistant Director General -National Institute ofEducation(NIE)Maharagama, SRILANKAEmail: [email protected]@eol.lk

mailto:[email protected]@[email protected]








88


Annexure II

List of Schools

S. Country Institution School Management Rural/No. Urban

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————1. Bangladesh NAEM Motijheel Government Government Urban

Boys School, Dhaka————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

2. Uttara School, Dhaka Aided Urban————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

3. Nayarhat Gano Aided UrbanBidyapith School,Savar, Dhaka

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————4. Chunarughat D C Aided Rural

School, Chunarughat,Habigonj

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————5. BRAC Narail Southeast Model Government Rural

Government PrimarySchool, Narail SadarUpazila, Narail Government Rural

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————6. Palpur Government

Primary School,Godagari Upazila,Rajshahi

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————7. BRAC Narail Private Rural

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————8. BRAC Haragram Private Rural

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————9. India SIEMAT Primary school Government Urban

Rahamatnagar -Gosaiganj - BlockLucknow

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————10. Primary school Government Rural

Jharokalan - Duddhi -Sonbhadra

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————11. Primary school Padari – Government Rural

Bhojla block - Jhansi————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

12. Maharshi Patanjali Vidya Private Aided RuralMandir - Prayag -Allahabad

89


13. Amar Nath Vidya Private Aided UrbanAshram - Mathura

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————14. NCERT JNV Gadchiroli Government Rural

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————15. JNV Kolhapur Government Rural

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————16. JNV Ernakulum Government Rural

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————17. Malaysia IAB Beringin Primary School Government Urban

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————18. Nepal CERID Viswa Niketan Higher Aided Urban

Secondary School,Tripureswar,Kathmandu,

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————19. Tarun Secondary School, Aided Urban

Balaju Kathmandu,————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

20. Adarsha Saula Yubak Aided RuralHigher Secondary School,Bungmati Lalitpur

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————21. Devi Secondary School, Aided Rural

Tathali, Bhaktapur.————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

22. Pakistan AKU-IED Mountain School Private Urban————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

23. Central School Private Urban————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

24. Royal School Government Urban————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

25. Philippines SEAMEO- Pavia Pilot Central Elem. Government RuralINNOTECH School

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————26. Sta. Ana Central School Government Urban

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————27. Sri Lanka CDME-NIE Meegasthenna Kanishta Government Rural

Vidyalaya.(Sabaragamuwa Province)

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————28. Isipathana Maha Vidyalaya Government Urban

(Western Province)————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

29. Pushpadana Balika Maha Government UrbanVidyalaya

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————30. Pallathalavinna Model Government Rural

School. (Central Province)

© NUEPA, New DelhiOctober 2011

500 Copies

The designations employed and the case study examples of material throughout the publication do notimply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of NUEPA concerning the legal status ofany country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning its frontiers or boundaries.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system ortransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recordingor otherwise, without permission in writing from NUEPA – Focal point for ANTRIEP.

Published by the Registrar, National University of Educational Planning and Administration, 17-B, SriAurobindo Marg, New Delhi-110016 & Designed and Printed by Anil Offset & Packaging Pvt. Ltd.,Delhi-110007.

Foreword

A comparative research study on successful schools conducted under the ANTRIEP in seven countries(India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri-Lanka, Malaysia, and the Philippines) showed that heads ofschools play a critical role and possess common characteristics though they adopted different strategiesin managing schools. Despite significant differences in the context and conditions characterising differentschools, managerial skills of school heads emerged as a significant factor contributing to effectivefunctioning of schools. Specifically, possessing a set of core skills of planning and management by theschool heads was found to form essential pre-condition for making the schools successful.

As a sequel to this collaborative research on successful schools, a set of five modules on “ MakingSchool Successful “ have been prepared by a group of experts from ANTRIEP member institutionsfrom India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Malaysia and International Institutefor Educational Planning (IIEP), Paris through workshops organised in Nepal and Sri Lanka. The fivemodules cover: (i) Successful Schools; (ii) Managing People at Work; (iii) Managing Student Affairs;(iv) Managing External Relations; and (v) School Development Planning.

Even though each module is an independent unit of learning with appropriate school case studyanalysis, they are also interrelated. The modules along with the synthesis report underscore the intricaciesof school management process. An independent volume is being presented consisting of thirty successfulschool case studies which form the basis for the Synthesis Report as well as the Modules.

Representatives from ANTRIEP member institutions took keen interest and participated in thecollaborative research study on successful schools and preparation of these modules. Dr. Anton deGrauwe from IIEP, Paris and Professor K. Sujatha from NUEPA developed the framework for themodules. Mr. Gabriel Carron provided advice and suggestions. Mr. John Retallick, Former Consultant,Institute of Education Development, Aga Khan University carried out the final editing of the modules.

National University of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi, India which is the FocalPoint of ANTRIEP has printed the modules, synthesis report and School Cases studies.

We hope these modules will be found useful in training heads of schools by the ANTRIEP memberinstitutions.

R.GovindaVice-Chancellor

National University of EducationalPlanning and Administration

New Delhi-110016, INDIA

MODULE – 1SUCCESSFUL SCHOOLS

CONTENTS

Page No.

Introduction 1

Unit 1: What is a Successful School? 2-4

Unit 2 : Enabling Conditions for School Success 4-8

Unit 3 : Strategies to Further Improve the Enabling 8-20 Conditions for the School Success

Unit 4 : Policies for Sustaining School Success 21-23

Conclusion 24

1

Successful Schools

��

SUCCESSFUL SCHOOLS

Introduction

Welcome to the first module in this series on the management of successful schools. This module will

provide you with an introductory understanding of the concept and strategies of managing successfulschools. As it is the first of five modules, we aim to give you an overview here and there will be a morecomprehensive treatment of the concept and related management practices in the subsequent mod-ules.

Specifically, this module will introduce you to various concepts of successful schools as foundin several countries in Asia where case study research was conducted. It will also enable you to analyzethe different enabling conditions or factors that make schools successful and given your particularsituations and the administrative and cultural settings in which you operate as a school head, thismodule will assist you in formulating your own enabling conditions to make your school more success-ful. We recognize that many schools are already successful, so if that is your situation then the under-standings you will gain from the module could make it even more so. Moreover, this module willprovide you with some insights on strategies and policies that will further improve the enabling condi-tions you formulated to sustain the gains you have made in your school.

Many of the concepts you will be studying in this module might already sound familiar to you,especially if you are a very experienced school head. However, the value added contribution of thismodule lies in learning how other school heads in the Asian region apply such concepts in their owncontexts, thus broadening the base of your managerial capacity in making schools more successful andin transforming unsuccessful schools.

The module has four units:

Unit 1: What is a successful school?Unit 2: Enabling conditions for school success.Unit 3: Strategies to further improve the enabling conditions for school success.Unit 4: Policies for sustaining successful schools.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module, you will be able to:

1. Define a successful school in your context2. Identify enabling conditions for your school to be successful3. Suggest strategies to further improve the enabling conditions in your school4. Analyze policies for sustaining the success of schools.

2

Making School Successful

Throughout this and subsequent modules you will find reflections and learning activities tohelp you to move from analyzing the case study schools to considering the implications for your ownschool situation. Essentially, reflections are concerned with 'thinking' and activities are concerned with'doing'.

To enhance your learning it is important that you allocate plenty of time for reading the mod-ules and completing the reflections and activities. In many cases the activities suggest that you shoulddiscuss issues with your colleagues; we highly recommend this so that they too can be involved in thelearning experiences in order to join with you in enhancing the success of your school.

Unit 1: What is a successful school?

Based on the case studies of successful schools, the concept of 'success' is more relative thanabsolute and it is seen as a journey rather than a destination. In other words, what was regarded as asuccessful school in one country was not necessarily regarded as a successful school in another thoughone point they had in common was that they were all on a journey of constant improvement. Theconcept is contextual, which means that criteria used in determining successful schools depend oncertain standards formulated by the country's education system and commonly accepted in practice.Thus, criteria used in the research were many and varied; there was no single set of criteria that appliedto different country contexts or settings.

Some of the criteria of success that can be gleaned from the case studies are:• academic achievement• enrollment and pass percentage in public examination results• achievement in co-curricular activities• utilization of resources• recognition through gaining of awards• relations and involvement with the community• innovations adopted or adapted• openness toward change• public opinion regarding the quality of the school.

REFLECTION

Carefully consider the above list of criteria of school success. From your experience doyou think there could be other criteria that could be added to that list?

3

Successful Schools

Case Study Examples

Similarities and differences amongst the successful schools in the case studies are quite evident.The illustrative cases below will show this so read on and familiarize yourself with the many concepts ofsuccessful schools. As you read, consider the various concepts and identify the criteria or standards thatappear to be common or not so common amongst the different concepts of successful schools.

BangladeshSuccessful schools in Bangladesh are 'A' graded schools or the best schools measured in terms of suchcriteria as material conditions, teacher quality (100% of them trained), results of public examination(80%+ success rate for Dhaka, 50% and 65% success rates for suburban and rural schools, respectively),and in the case of private schools, year of accreditation, location (rural or urban), enrolment andmanagement types. Moreover, all the successful schools do have at least 90% promotion rates and drop-out rates are far lower than the national average.

IndiaIn the context of India, successful schools on one hand are those with 100% enrolment in their catch-ment area, high retention rate, varied and interesting teaching, high pupil achievement, satisfactoryschool-community partnership including regularity of parent-teacher meetings, continuous comprehen-sive evaluation and adequate academic support and supervision. On the other hand, successful schoolsare also those with high academic achievement measured in terms of student performance in the lastthree years' national examinations, and high performance in co-curricular activities.

NepalSuccessful schools in Nepal are recipients of national awards for outstanding performance based onnational examination results.

MalaysiaSimilarly, in Malaysia successful schools are recipients of national awards based on the following crite-ria: head teacher's leadership, positive school climate, variety of challenging learning activities andquality outcomes.

PakistanSuccessful schools in the Pakistan context are those with a satisfied and motivated staff willing to go toschool, flexibility and openness to change, effective professional development of staff, a dynamic schoolculture, curriculum with a view of the world beyond the classroom, a stress-free atmosphere and in-creased life chances of students.

PhilippinesIn the Philippines, successful schools are those who have won a national award for being an effectiveschool at the national/regional level competitions or must have been a finalist in the search for effectiveschools at the national level. Several criteria are used in selecting effective schools; namely, motivationof learners, commitment and competence of teachers, capability and dynamism of school manager,conduciveness of learning environment, and school-community relationship. The concept of successfulschools encompasses academic, managerial, school environment and motivational aspects as well asthe school's relationship with the community.

4


Sri LankaSuccessful schools are referred to as 'model schools' by policy makers, Ministry of Education officersincluding principals and teachers, and by members of the media. These schools have 5 10 years ofpublic standing; in other words, different sectors perceive these schools as different from the rest of theschools.

It is important to stress here that, in defining a successful school, we do not limit ourselves toexamination results. While student achievement is evidently important, other factors also merit atten-tion, which relate more to the school climate, as described above.

Unit 2: Enabling conditions for school success

From the research we have identified four enabling conditions or factors that contribute to schoolsuccess:

a) School facilitiesb) School headc) Teachersd) Students.

We will elaborate on each of these enabling conditions or factors.

School Facilities

It is important that a minimum level of essential facilities should be available for a school to besuccessful, at least for effective teaching and learning to take place and for a congenial physicalenvironment to be present. This is important in order to motivate teachers to work hard and studentsto perform well, academically and non-academically. Minimum essential facilities include infrastructuresuch as teaching-learning resources, laboratories, library and other ancillary facilities. But beyondthese essential facilities, successful schools ensure the proper utilization of their resources by setting upmechanisms for fixing accountability for their use and maintenance.

ACTIVITY 1-1

Take account of the following points:a. the above contextual definitions of successful schools;b. your reading on what characterizes successful schools;c. your management experience as school head or administrator; and,d. your own context or setting.

Write your own definition of a successful school here?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ask a number of your colleagues to define a successful school and discuss your own definition withthem. Determine how similar or different your definitions are. Compare your definitions with thosedrawn from the case studies in the notes above.

5

Successful Schools

Successful schools are those which make possible the improvement of their physical facilitiesthrough the concerted efforts of school heads, teachers, parents and the community. Apart fromimproving physical facilities, these schools pay attention to cleanliness, beautification, prevention ofpublic trespassing, providing a safe playground and ancillary facilities for their staff and students.

Case study examples

IndiaThe head teacher got a classroom rebuilt for use within a few weeks with the help of the community,children and teachers. He requested for voluntary labor and sought assistance in whatever form for thereconstruction of the room. Without any help from the government or other external agencies, theschool was able to rebuild the room, and thus teaching and learning did not suffer at all.

PhilippinesThe principal has made possible a number of physical improvements. There are now more classrooms,a covered court, spacious library, faculty room, science laboratory with microscopes and other devicesand a learning resource center. There are now TV sets and videocassette recorders, some computersand an overhead projector used for instruction. Educational video and multiplex tapes for teachers aswell as for students are available. The school is one of the sites where ABS-CBN’s Educational TelevisionAssisted Instruction and ABS-CBN’s Knowledge Channel Programs are made available to students,thereby reinforcing and enriching teachers’ competencies in teaching subjects such as Science andMath.

Sri LankaThe school has a methodical resource management system. There are mechanisms such as delegationof work and use of charts and checklists for resource management. Resources are allocated to separateteachers and students and these are supervised, monitored and evaluated daily by the principal. Allthe resources are used to the optimum.

In all the above cases, the school head’s leadership initiative figures very prominently. Part of theirvision and aspiration is to further improve the physical facilities of their schools. They never think thefacilities their schools have are sufficient. Continuous improvement of what they already have hasalways been on their agenda for action.

In sum, successful schools do not only possess the minimum essential facilities needed for a conduciveteaching and learning environment; they also manage their use quite well by creating mechanisms toensure their optimum use while at the same time setting up an accountability system.

School Head

In general, the case studies revealed that successful schools have very experienced head teachersor principals. Most of the school heads had been in the same schools for more than five years. They aremore senior and they enjoy wide acceptability from their teachers. Accompanying age and experienceof the school heads are post-graduate academic qualifications and in-service management training innational, regional or in some cases international institutions. Such training equips them with a betterworldview, wider knowledge and greater competencies along with self-confidence and enthusiasm topractice what they have learned from management theories and principles.

6


Some of the heads from Nepal and Sri Lanka have had the opportunity to undergo teachermanagement programmes in UK, Canada, etc. Some of the heads from Pakistan and Sri Lanka and allthe head teachers from India and the Philippines had undertaken intensive training programmes onschool management. Apart from in-service training programmes, the two women principals from thePhilippines are pursuing doctoral level programmes in school leadership and management.

REFLECTION

Reflect on your own career as a teacher and school head in light of the aboveinformation from the case studies. In what ways are you similar or different from

the heads in the case studies?

TeachersTeachers in the successful schools are well qualified. Many are also trained to improve

instructional methods which have a direct impact on the quality and outcomes of student learning. Themajority of teachers in the successful schools are women. Generally, the teachers in successful schoolshave high self-esteem; they love their work and are proud of their school. They are ready to acceptinnovations and change. Teacher turnover is very low and in most of the schools the teachers havebeen teaching for a long period of time, resulting in strong attachment to and love for the institution.Successful schools create opportunities for teacher learning, staff development or capacity buildingand enhancing student achievement. This is an integral part of the organizational culture which valueslearning by both staff and students; one of the core foundations of a successful school.

Case study examples

PhilippinesDuring the case study period, teachers were asked to respond to an instrument measuring their attitudetoward change. Results showed that most of the teachers moderately disagree with statements such as“one can never feel at ease on a job where the ways of doing things changed”; “the trouble with mostjobs is that you just get used to doing things in one way and they want you to do them differently”; and“I prefer to stay with a job I know I can handle than to change to one where most things would be newto me.” This tendency to moderately disagree with these statements shows that the teachers are opento new things and do not feel uncomfortable with change.

PakistanThe teacher turnover rate is very low. There are teachers who have experience of 35, 30, 28, 26 years,etc. and most of them are alumni of the school. There is one teacher who has been serving thisinstitution since 1951. She is now eighty-two years old and is still teaching English to classes ninth andtenth. “I have been teaching here since 1974, I started my job here and I like this institution very muchbecause I have gotten all my promotions here. Five or six times I have been promoted and I did not goout of this institution. The children here are very good, the atmosphere is very good, and the principalis good.” When asked what kept her in this school, she replied, “the atmosphere, the working conditions,the children and my liking for the institution”.

7

Successful Schools

IndiaHow much the principal loves students and wants to remain with them can be gleaned from the factthat he was offered a promotion to Assistant Director two years ago, but he declined the promotion.According to him, “once one becomes an Assistant Director, she will be dealing mainly with studentfiles. I do not want to lose contact with the students. I want to remain as a teacher and be with thestudents”.

PhilippinesThe school head has made school-based teacher training (SBTT) in Mathematics, Science and Englishan effective mechanism to update the teachers on latest pedagogical trends and developments. Foreach subject area there is a lead teacher who acts as subject coordinator, whose main tasks includefamiliarizing subject teachers on competencies to be developed for each grading period and for thewhole year. The school has 12 master teachers in different subject areas who serve as consultants andresource persons to teachers on the subject area(s) in which they have experience, they also conductaction research aimed at resolving pedagogy-related problems, oftentimes in direct response to stronglyfelt needs of teachers.

PakistanIn-house professional development activities were taken as a mandatory component of school activities.During the academic year about thirty-five sessions were held on generic areas such as scheme ofwork, lesson planning, reflective writing, cooperative learning, team teaching, peer coaching, actionresearch, etc. and content. To conduct these sessions effectively, a professional development team offive teachers, who have gone through a Visiting Teachers Programme, was formed. Some of thecommunity representatives were also requested to conduct sessions. They have immensely contributedin making the professional development day on weekly basis an integral part of the school activities.

StudentsIs there a direct and positive relationship between successful schools and high socio-economicbackground of students? The case studies do not show that such a relationship exists. In other words,successful schools are not always populated by students from high socio-economic backgrounds. Thissuggests that schools can be successful irrespective of the socio-economic levels to which the studentsbelong. Much depends on the achievement motivation and self-esteem of the students and their lovefor their school. This is a function of the congenial environment of the schools and the student-friendlyapproach adopted by them.

Case study examples

IndiaA large majority of the students are first generation learners; they belong to low socio-economic status.Despite this handicap, the school had a high percentage pass results in the national examinations atgrade 10 during the past three years and at grade 12 in school year 2003.

PhilippinesMost of the students in the two schools belong to lower socio-economic status. They are children ofordinary workers or laborers - jeepney and tricycle drivers, ambulant vendors, small store owners,

8


construction workers, janitors, government employees, and the like. However, the school heads andteachers in these schools have developed through the years a culture of high student achievement inmost academic and co-curricular endeavors. Where before some teachers in these schools would sendtheir children to the private Catholic schools because they perceive these schools as more effectivethan the public schools, including the ones where they are members of the teaching staff, now they arepatronizing their own public schools. There is now a change of perception as to the effectiveness of thepublic schools where they teach vis-à-vis the private schools.

Unit 3: Strategies to further improvethe enabling conditions for school success

In this unit we will explore strategies used by the successful schools to further improve the enablingconditions already present in those schools. From this you will be able to devise strategies to improvethe enabling conditions in your school. As you study the cases below please recall the different enablingconditions mentioned in Unit 2:

a) School facilitiesb) School headc) Teachersd) Students.

Participatory management

In many schools, what is core to sustainable improvement is to ensure that everybody shares in theschool’s transformation. In this regard, it is important that the principal and teachers work together andthat all play a role in managing some aspects of the school’s functioning, for which they have thecapacities.

Case study examples

PhilippinesThere are several internal supervision mechanisms used by school heads to ensure that their teachersperform their work effectively. First, the school’s internal management structure enables the schoolhead to delegate to a large extent the supervision and monitoring of teachers’ performance. Eachgrade level has a grade head teacher tasked with disseminating instruction and information from her

ACTIVITY 1-2

Considering the enabling conditions or factors present in the case studies of successful schools andthe conditions obtaining in your school, identify the minimum essential enabling conditions thatcan make your school successful.

Share your ideas with colleagues and determine your areas of agreement and disagreement, ifany. Are there more similarities than differences?

9

Successful Schools

office, consolidating data for the grade level (e.g., student test results, reading and math proficiency,height and weight, etc.).

Second, for each subject area there is a lead teacher who acts as subject coordinator. Theirmain tasks include familiarizing teachers on competencies to be developed for each grading periodand for the whole year, consolidating reports related to the subject area submitted by the grade heads,peer teaching, checking test items prepared by subject teachers and coordinating activities related tothe subject area (e.g., Quiz Bee, Math Olympics) along with student participation in subject-related co-curricular activities such as contests and other competitions.

Third, daily lesson plans are required of every teacher and are checked either by the schoolhead, the subject coordinator or the grade level head. Planned and unplanned teacher observationsare made by the school head to determine whether a teacher is teaching the subject matter for the dayand if so, how effective it is.

Fourth, the school has 12 master teachers in different subject areas who serve as consultants toteachers on the subject area(s) in which they have expertise; they also conduct action research aimedat resolving pedagogy-related problems, oftentimes in direct response to strongly felt needs of teachers.

Fifth, and this is most important for the continuous upgrading of teaching competencies, theschool has a very functional school-based training system (SBTS) that addresses common and urgentteaching and learning related needs.

NepalBefore taking a decision, the head teacher discusses or consults with the teaching staff. This helps ingaining wide acceptability from the teachers being supervised and led. His duty is not to do everythingalone by himself, but to inspire and motivate others to help and contribute their share in accomplishingthe school’s goals and objectives.

BangladeshIn this particular school, the SMC formed a number of sub-committees for different managementareas. Each sub-committee has one of the members of the SMC as the convener. Senior teachers andin some cases assistant teachers comprise the committee membership. In this way teachers are involvedin the school management process.

The learners are a part of the management of classrooms and co-curricular activities. There are3 captains in each group of learners who are selected by the class teachers based on their performancein the internal annual examinations and their leadership competence. These captains assist the teachersin maintaining classroom discipline and organizing co-curricular activities. They inform the teacherand head teacher of any untoward incident or any activity of any learner that is harmful for otherlearners. In maintaining order and discipline in the school, boy scouts and girl guides assist the teacher-in-charge. They also help in organizing school-wide annual cultural competitions and sports activities.They also help in ensuring the cleanliness of the school.

10


The head teacher and other teachers feel that this student participation is needed in developingthe leadership qualities of learners.

REFLECTION

A more participative and consultative approach to school management is evident in the above 3cases. Reflect on the following questions:· Is there any downside or disadvantage in using this approach to school management?· Do you think successful schools or those aspiring to be successful should consider this

approach to school management a ‘must’?· What do you think would happen if school heads ignored the practice of this approach

to school management? Would successful schools decline and become unsuccessful?

School Development Plans

Do successful schools have school development or improvement plans? All the case study schools hadsome form of plan emanating from the schools themselves or in conjunction with the system of whichthey are a part. The process of plan preparation and the people involved differ among the countriesand schools. In countries such as Sri Lanka, Philippines and Pakistan, school level plans are referred toas ‘school development plans’. These plans form the basis on which the schools make their statementsof mission and/or vision for the school.

In the Philippines, a three-year school development plan is prepared involving the parents,PTCA officers, grade level heads, subject coordinators, property custodians, counselors, officers of theteachers’ cooperative and the student council. The vision and goal statement for the school is a productof consensus among the various stakeholders that participate in the planning meetings and workshops.

The process of preparing the school development plan is a rigorous one. The school developmentplan is fleshed out into annual operational plans, which provide the details of implementation activities.They serve as instruments for mobilizing the various stakeholders to effectively and efficiently performthe specific roles and functions during plan implementation. They are also used as blueprints formonitoring and evaluating school performance (further information on this is provided in Module 5).

Case study examples

Sri LankaSchool development plans are jointly prepared by the principal and the staff. Based on these developmentplans, annual plans are jointly prepared by principal, teachers, parents and the management committee.These cover both academic and co-curricular activities and other development projects.

India, Nepal and PakistanIn most cases they prepare school development plans. Through these plans, the schools have devisedmechanisms to monitor and evaluate their performance vis-à-vis the objectives and targets the schoolsthemselves set.

11

Successful Schools

PhilippinesLike other public elementary schools in the country, the school prepares a 3-year school developmentplan, the most recent of which is the 2003-2006 Development Plan. The various stakeholders havebeen involved in crafting the development plan. The school development planning process usuallystarts with a review of the school’s profile - enrollment, performance indicators, staff, organizationalstructure, facilities and school technology, school program/curriculum, community support, trends andopportunities and problems and issues. From these profiles come the statement of vision and mission,which is translated into goals, objectives/targets in the areas of curriculum, staff management anddevelopment, learning environment, resource management and community building.

REFLECTION

Respond to these questions:· Do you think a school development or improvement plan is needed forschools to become

successful?· Is it always a ‘must’ that the various stakeholders, even those outside the schools, be

involved in the formulation of the plan?

· What do you think are the advantages of having a development or improvement plan?

The matter of school development planning will be treated in much greater detail in Module 5 whichis the final module in this series.

Teacher incentives

Various incentives are provided to teachers in successful schools to encourage their commitmentand hard work. Study the following excerpts from the Synthesis Report and analyze the commonmanagement practices evident from them.

“I am thinking that we should provide more facilities to teachers so they can teach better.Apart from this, other incentives include provision of further training to update them on current trendsand innovations in pedagogy that will make student learning more effective, promotions and otherfringe benefits. A much greater incentive is for teachers to be treated with utmost respect”.

“Incentives vary among the successful schools; they include both monetary and non-monetaryincentives. In Nepal, for example, teachers are paid breakfast allowances. In a school in India, teachersare accorded free lunch. Almost all schools provide awards and certificates of recognition for deservingand talented teachers. A variety of non-monetary incentives are accorded to teachers in recognition fortheir good academic work including effective linkages with the community and the parents”.

Below is a summary of teacher incentives provided by successful schools in different countries:

12


Teacher incentives

Interaction with students

What do successful schools do to make sure students are given their due share of attention? This is animportant question because students are the very reason for the existence of schools? Study the casesbelow.

Case study examples

IndiaTeachers have been observed accommodating students’ needs and wishes. They asked the childrenwhat they wanted to do. Some children said they wanted to play; others said they wanted to listen tostories; still others said they wanted to first read. Under these circumstances, teachers requested for aconsensus decision on what the children wanted to do or if a consensus is difficult to attain, theyimpressed to the children the importance of going by the majority decision even if what they wanted isnot consistent with the wish of the majority. This has a salutary effect on the learners’ motivation tolearn.

The head teacher maintains a list of students who are better off academically and those who are weak.Having done this, the head teacher assigns 3-4 weak students to every good student who acts asSahiyogi Sandarshak (Peer Guide). It is the Peer Guide’s responsibility to help the weak studentsassigned to him in overcoming their learning difficulties. This scheme fosters healthy inter-groupcompetitions, and thus raising the achievement levels of the whole class.

PhilippinesStudents are involved in various activities of the school. The school has taken the initiative to make thestudents aware of their rights and responsibilities by integrating them into the curriculum, providingcorners in every classroom with posters informing them of their rights and responsibilities. Apart fromthis, the school does the following in support of the general well-being of the students:

• Adopts a “no corporal punishment policy” in the school. In support of this, teachers arerequired not to wield a stick when they teach.

• Basic amenities and facilities are provided to the students.• Opportunities are made available to students in order to develop their special talents and

respond to their multiple intelligence needs.

Incentives Countries

Participation in Decision Making India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Nepal, Pakistan

Pedagogical Autonomy & Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, IndiaEmpowerment Malaysia, Philippines

In-service Training Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, IndiaNepal, Philippines

Cash Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal,

Free Medical Facilities Sri Lanka, India, /Nepal

Promotion Bangladesh, India

Awards Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, NepalPhilippines, Malaysia

13

Successful Schools

• Parents are regularly informed about the activities of their children in the school.• A school-based teacher training system (SBTT) has been institutionalized in the school in

subjects like Science, Math and English, subjects where students have been found to beweak.

PakistanPotable water and furniture for student use have been provided by the school. It provides many andvaried co-curricular activities, sports and games to develop holistically the student personality.

Student assessment

All case study schools organize regular student assessment. Results of this assessment together withthose from public examinations, are used not simply as a student screening and selection device butalso for other important purposes such as to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses, and to spotstudents who may need remedial instruction; to make teachers feel responsible; to build teachers’capacity; to create transparency; and, in some cases, to create healthy competition among teachers orteaching departments.

Student Assessment Practices

PhilippinesStudent assessment is an integral part of teaching, without which teachers will not know the extent towhich their students are learning. Apart from the assessment made by the teachers themselves, thereare student assessments made school-wide and regularly. Graded periodic examinations, four of themevery school year, are given to students to determine the learning competencies mastered and notmastered for the grading period. These exams provide feedback to the teachers in regard to whatshould still be done to improve their teaching approaches, techniques and practices in order to improvestudent learning. Diagnostic tests in major subjects are given by the school at the beginning of theschool year and achievement tests are given towards the end of the school year. This is meant todetermine what specific learning competencies for the various grade levels are mastered and notmastered by the students. Based on test results, school-based in-service training programs are craftedby the teachers themselves with the school principal guiding them. These determine which programs

Countries Student Assessment Practices

Pakistan, Philippines, Bangladesh Two-term examinationsNepal, India, Sri Lanka Annual examinations

Philippines Four grading period examinations

Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Pakistan Monthly tests and unit tests

Bangladesh, India Class tests for each lesson

India Weekly tests

All countries Home work

All schools Feedback to students and parents

All schools Remedial teaching/instruction

Philippines Special test

Sri Lanka, Bangladesh Special coaching for the talented/gifted

14


are to be carried out the next school year. The same test results are used for more focused remedialeducation or catch-up programs for the different subject areas; they are used, too, to identify thosestudents who need help and those who can be of help to other students.

Student assessment in this context is thus aimed to improve the teaching-learning processesrather than to evaluate how well the teachers are teaching. As a result, there is a high rate of acceptanceof student assessment results among the teachers, knowing fully well that these results will be used tofurther enhance their teaching capacity and improve student academic performance. These examinationsafford every teacher the opportunity to meet with the parents during the report card day, during whichthe parents are required to come to school and meet with the teachers, pick up the report card(s) oftheir respective children, discuss what forms of assistance can be extended to help their children andother measures to make learning more productive, interesting and challenging to students. In principleas well as in practice, every classroom teacher who is also a class advisor will have at least fouropportunities every year to meet with every parent of each student under his advisorship.

Teacher and student discipline

Is it possible for schools to be successful without paying due attention to teacher and student discipline?Find out from the cases below.As you read, look for common factors across the cases of successful schools. Consider also the methodsused to discipline teachers. Would you have done the same thing in the same circumstances or somethingdifferent?

Case study examples

IndiaOn the second day of his assumption of the position of Principal of the school, he observed that ateacher came to school late for 10 minutes. The Principal called the teacher and reminded him abouthis coming late to school and that this should not be repeated. The next day he found out that anotherteacher skipped teaching during the last period of the day and let the students go home early. On thefourth day, the first teacher above who came to school late by 10 minutes also skipped teaching duringthe last period and let the students go home early. The Principal called the teacher’s attention againand told him that if he repeats it administrative action would be taken against him. A few days later, thesame teacher did it again, dismissing his class and skipping teaching during the last period. When theprincipal came to know about this, he advised the teacher to apply for one-day casual leave, which theteacher ignored. Thus, the Principal was compelled to use an iron hand by cutting his salary for oneday, resulting in his service break. Thereafter, things started to change for the better.

NepalThe school has a system to discourage habitual latecomers and absentees among the teachers. Everyminute a teacher is late in coming to or is absent from school is summed up at the end of the month,and the total minutes is deducted from their annual leave benefits. Moreover, the Principal finds timeeveryday to check on latecomers and absentees among his teachers.

15

Successful Schools

PakistanThe Principal organized the Discipline Committee of 6 members. One of the major functions of theCommittee is to monitor punctuality and absenteeism of teachers everyday. The Committee reports tothe principal what classes are not conducted during the day. Based on such report, he is able to instituteorder and discipline among his teachers, a strategy he believes is important in making his schoolsuccessful.

IndiaThe school has a very stringent accountability system where a teacher can be meted punishment if hisperformance as a teacher is much below par. This built-in system brings erring teachers in line.

IndiaChildren are involved in maintaining order and discipline in the school. They move in rows orderly,take care of flower plants, clean the campus; they track student absentees and truants and motivateother out of school children to enroll in the school. The children help in coming up with a dress codeand in assisting the teachers to ensure that children attend classes punctually and regularly.

BangladeshThe practice of monitoring of staff’s daily time of arrival and departure from the school has beeninstituted as mechanism for instilling discipline and order in the school. Teachers have to sign in theattendance register their time of arrival and departure. Everyday, the attendance register is taken to thehead teacher who strictly finds out who are the habitual latecomers and early school leavers who do notseek prior approval from him.

Sri LankaThe school introduced the “bullying and hurting book.” It works this way: If a child bullies anotherchild, their names will be recorded in this book. Serious cases of bullying go beyond merely enteringthe bully’s name in the book. The principal questions the bully and the child being bullied and, ifneeded, he refers the case to the Disciplinary Panel for investigation.

IndiaA student reported on the misbehavior of other students to the assistant head teacher, who in turncalled the misbehaving students and the informer and scolded them for an uncalled for behavior. Afew days after, the misbehaving students jointly attacked the student-informer in front of the gate of theschool. They cut his cheek with a knife. Immediately, the assistant head called the misbehaving studentsand their parents for a meeting in the presence of the head teacher, other teachers and the parents ofthe student-informer. In the meeting, the group unanimously decided to issue transfer certificate to themisbehaving guilty students.

16


Harmonious Relationships

School development or improvement plans are useful but will not be enough for schools to becomesuccessful. Neither will statements of mission and vision, adequate number of teachers or provision offacilities do the trick. As well as these things an important requirement is the development of harmoniousrelationships among the teachers and their favorable relationships with the students. The followingcases will highlight these issues.

Case study examples

IndiaTeachers were one in saying, “We are happy to be members of the school family. The school providesan atmosphere that serves well to create a feeling of oneness. Each one here has different charactersand they may come from different religions. But, still we are all one and we enjoy the company of eachother.

IndiaThe joy of teaching in this school is greatly enhanced by the affection and respect teachers receivefrom students. As one teacher remarked, “they create a situation where you feel you are very muchwanted”. A lady teacher in the school with her small daughter sought transfer to a school nearer her

ACTIVITY 1-3

Write a summary of the strategies used by successful schools to further improve their enablingconditions or factors. Limit the strategies to the school, the teachers and the students. Ask

some of your colleagues to read the cases and do this exercise and then compare notes.

Strategies related to the school:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Strategies related to the teacher:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Strategies related to the students:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

17

Successful Schools

husband’s place of work and was granted. Before the teacher could transfer to her new post, the girlstudents of her old school assembled in her house and started crying and begging her not to move toher new post. The lady teacher was very emotionally moved and she got her transfer called off.According to her, “I felt I could be away from my husband who visits me once a week/fortnight, but Ican’t remain away from these children who need care and love”.

PhilippinesMy teachers and I have emphasized the importance of maintaining a good relationship with ourpupils. We want to develop in our students their feeling of importance, love and a sense of pride oftheir school. We realize this is necessary for them to be able to develop a strong achievement motivationthat will translate itself into higher academic and co-curricular achievements.

PakistanTeachers have been very empathetic such that instead of labeling the academically poor students as“weak students” they went out of their way to improve their knowledge and skills and help them todevelop their potential to the fullest. They treat their students with thorough care, compassion andaffection.

Linkages with System Administration

The provision of overall support for a school is made possible through links with theadministration at the system level. These links help schools to obtain the resources for physicaldevelopment as well as the autonomy needed for the school head to effectively provide leadership forthe school. In the case of the school in Bangladesh, the officers from the Education Departmentfrequently visited the school and helped the school in mobilizing community support. In one school inPakistan, the head teacher has direct contact and access to Field Education Officers with whom he hadworked previously, and as a result, he had no problem in getting resources or sourcing funds for schoolprojects. This is also true in the successful schools in Sri Lanka. Some other cases also illustrate thispoint.

The relationship between successful schools and the offices of the Ministry of Education,which should provide them with supervision and support, is an intricate one. Many successful schoolsfunction in the same legal framework as their less successful counterparts. Legally, they do not havemore or less autonomy than others. But two factors seem to make a difference, to wit: the use theymake of and the benefit they draw from whatever level of autonomy they have and the nature of theirrelationship with the administration. These two factors are inextricably linked as the following casefrom Bangladesh shows. When the relationship is a constructive one, the school will be given morefreedom and will receive more support in both financial and pedagogical terms.

REFLECTION

Why do you think “good interpersonal relationships among teachers” and “good relationshipswith students” are important enabling conditions for school success? Can you explain why theyare important?What does other literature you have read say about the role of favorable interpersonal relationshipswith teachers and students in making effective schools?

18


Case study examples

BangladeshDue to its strong connection with the upazila (sub-district), district and divisional education offices,actors in the school enjoyed a significantly higher level of autonomy and thus, the school authority wasable to take new initiatives. Major decisions for school improvement at the policy level come from theAssistant Director in the divisional office, but the implementation depends on the head teacher and thestaff. Actually, due to the special interest by the AD, the other officials at lower levels also pay attentionto this school. Without such a heavy support from the upper administration it would not be possible forthe community people to think of their school development.

Among the new initiatives which the community and the school staff took, are: arrangement ofmorning and evening shifts, appointment of volunteer teachers and collection of local resources. Thesewould not be possible without support from the administration. With support from the divisional AD,a good Upazila Education Officer (UEO) was appointed and similarly a good Assistant was givenresponsibility of the cluster where the school is located. Three good teachers including the headteacher were transferred to this school. Such an arrangement created a very good opportunity toimprove quality of the School. The school authority could easily reach to the higher authorities as andwhen necessary.

The School is being visited again and again by the higher officials. Number of visits to thisschool was higher than any other school in the upazila. For instance, The UEO and the AUEO visitedthis school once a month from July 2003. Moreover, the divisional AD was present 2/3 evenings eachweek there in the school. The District Primary Education Officers of some of the districts also visitedthis school for several times. During their visit both UEO and the AUEO observed classroom teachingand had discussion with the teachers.

Philippines and NepalThe good relationship the school head has with the administration (the division office) has resulted inthis school being awarded innovative projects to try out or implement. In most cases the school hasbecome the site for pedagogical experimentation, bringing good name to the school and making theteachers develop that sense of pride for their school. At the same time, this has enhanced the confidencelevel of the teachers in trying out new projects aimed at improving student performance.

IndiaThe school has shown a very good model of management of academic and pedagogical activities. Theschool has had a very strong, vital and organic linkage with the district. This has helped in effectivelymanaging the academic aspects of the school through capacity building programmes, school visitationsand lesson plan development. Moreover, this has made possible the special nurturing of the school,the head teacher and teachers by providing on-site support to them in order to improve schoolperformance.

Linkages with the Community

Strong school-community linkages are often determined by the amount of effort the schoolhead and teachers devote to make this a reality. Also significant here are the structures established toensure a more collaborative working relationship between the school and the community. It is unlikelythat a school will ever become successful without a functional working relationship between these twopartner institutions. Head teachers and teachers who go out of their way to ensure that they work hand

19

Successful Schools

in hand with parents, community leaders and local government officials find their schools endowedwith resources that satisfy the enabling conditions needed for the school to become successful.

When schools involve themselves in community development activities, they can be transformedfrom just recipients of community support into providers of support to the community. In such schoolsthe relationship between the school and the community becomes two-way, a reciprocal or mutualrelationship as you will see in the following cases.

Case study examples

PhilippinesThe school has also been involved in community development undertakings, making it responsive tothe needs and problems of the locality. For example, it has its own Home Bio System Program whereit promotes ecological and environmental awareness by mounting workshops for parents, trainingthem to produce organic fertilizers out of plant wastes, fish gills and food leftovers, etc. It makesavailable to the community and the parents its school science and herbal gardens, showcasing differentplant varieties, including herbal plants for treating common illnesses in the community, and a butterflysanctuary. It also has its non-formal education programs for out-of-school youths and adults, trainingthem to be more productive citizens. Livelihood skills training programs such as dressmaking andtailoring, culinary arts and food preservation have been made available to parents and communitymembers served by the school. Recently, it worked in collaboration with the local office of the PhilippineNational Police (PNP) in Davao City in training policemen who are or who will be deployed in thedepressed and disadvantaged villages of Davao province to become literacy trainers who will assist thelocal village schools in mounting literacy training programs for the illiterate and semi-literate out-of-school youths and adults.

Sri LankaThe Principal has forged a close relationship with the community by familiarizing them with the schoolmission, vision and goals. The community has been involved in the decision making and internalmanagement of the school. In turn, the community has provided the school material and technicalassistance; it conducted teachers’ day, organized health clinics, maintained children’s park and watersupply system, and provided equipment to the administrative unit.

BangladeshThe school-community relationship has been quite strong such that the community has gone beyondsimply providing occasional and temporary relief to the school and taking part in the day-to-daymanagement of the school. The community has provided the school academic support, making availablethe services of volunteer teachers. The community has also supported income-generating activities ofthe school such as the fishponds.

20


ACTIVITY 1-4

Given the above strategies

· adopted by successful schools to further improve the enabling conditions or factors related toschool facilities, teachers, students and head teacher; and,

· the conditions obtaining in your school; and,· the practices of successful schools in your own context or setting,

suggest your own strategies to further improve the enabling conditions or factors in your school.Write notes here and then compare notes with your colleagues/school heads who are alsostudying this module.

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

REFLECTION

Given the context and administrative and cultural settings in which your school operates, what strategiesdo you think would be most effective in linking your school with the system administration and with thecommunity? Consider strategies given in the cases you have read as well as others that may occur to you.Write notes here.

Strategies to effectively link the school with the administration:

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Strategies to effectively link the school with the community:

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

21

Successful Schools

Unit 4: Policies for sustaining school success

Sustaining the gains made by successful schools is both a problem and an opportunity. Why isthis so? It is a problem because school heads who are instrumental in making schools successful do notstay in their respective schools forever. Some will get transferred to other schools, others will getpromoted to higher administrative positions and still others will just fade away from the limelight,electing to play a more passive and subdued, rather than an active and dynamic role in the school.However, it is an opportunity since it provides a means by which those who shape education policiesat the system level can craft more creative ways to continue or sustain the gains made by successful

schools.

Policies at the system level

Policies on recruitment and selection of school heads should go beyond age, experience and seniorityfactors. Selection criteria should put more emphasis on variables such as:

· traits or characteristics such as risk-taking capability and commitment· democratic ethos, empathy, interpersonal relationships or social skills· postgraduate academic qualifications and managerial skills· ability to source funds for the school· rationality, leadership capability, moral rectitude and teaching competency should be taken

into account as well.

A policy to provide intensive and comprehensive training to prepare would-be school headsand those already in the service is in order. The recruitment and selection criteria or standards forschool heads must be translated into school management and leadership competencies and thenincluded in the training programmes. Similarly, the inculcation of certain critical attitudes and valuesneeded for effective school management such as authority delegation, responsibility, accountabilityand empowerment should find their way into such capacity building programmes.

Moreover, a policy should be pursued on the grant of incentives, whether material or psychicor both, to intensify the making of successful schools. This grant will spur other schools desiring to besuccessful to work doubly hard to gain the title of ‘successful school’. The successful schools will notrest on their laurels; rather, they will continue to work even harder to preserve the gains already made.

Even more importantly, a policy on making available the minimum essential enabling conditionsfor schools to become successful should be implemented on a wider scale and not on a selective basisin favor of urban schools and against rural schools. In this way, a critical mass of successful schools,both in rural and urban centers, will be created system wide. This will positively influence otherschools in the education system to aspire to become successful and will bring about a truly effectiveand massive reform effort.

22


School level policies

Just as there are system wide policies that sustain the growth of successful schools, there areschool level policies which school heads should formulate and consistently implement to ensure thatthe gains made by their schools to become successful are sustained until such time as success becomesan integral part of the school’s culture. With success already internalized by the school’s key stakeholders,they will not rest on their laurels. Rather they will continue to aspire for greater success, for successbegets further success.

First, school heads should make it a policy that their schools, particularly their teaching andnon-teaching staff, should at all times work in close partnership and collaboration with the parents andthe community in regard to curricular and co-curricular aspects of the education of their wards.

Second, school heads should provide a certain degree of empowerment, autonomy andacademic freedom to teachers or school faculty so that as a collectivity they can make their owndecisions on what to teach, how to teach and what resources should be tapped to be able to teachmore effectively. They can be held accountable for results. Without empowerment or autonomy,teachers will continue to act as dependents and will perpetuate a ‘culture of dependency,’ a completedeparture from the practice of successful schools where participative decision-making by the faculty isthe common rule rather than the exception.

Third, a school policy on effective and efficient use of existing school resources, howevermeager they may be, should be observed at all times by teachers, students, school heads, etc. Successof schools is determined not so much by magnitude of resources available to schools but by effectiveand efficient use of such resources.

ACTIVITY 1-5

Based upon your own observations of education reform efforts to improve the quality of basiceducation in your own country, what system wide policies (other than those mentioned above) willhave greatest positive impact on efforts of the schools to become successful?

Give at least two policies and compare notes with colleagues. How similar or different are thesystem wide policies you have identified?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

23

Successful Schools

REFLECTION

With regard to formulation of school level policies, how do you see your role as school head? Do you seeyour role as the primary formulator from whom all policies emanate or as the primary facilitator/orchestrator/conductor in policy formulation or both? In what specific situations do you see your role moreas a policy formulator or more as a policy facilitator? Interact with your colleagues and find out areas of

agreement and disagreement? Try to arrive at a consensus

ACTIVITY 1-6

Choose three policies from your school and analyze them in light of the points made above onschool level policies for sustaining school success. Make notes here and discuss your ideas with

colleagues.

1. _____________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

2. _____________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Fourth, higher student academic expectations should always be encouraged and be made agoal of every teacher as a matter of school policy. The reason for this is that student academic expectationslargely determine student achievement motivation, which in turn determines student academicperformance. As a minimum, to make this an effective policy, teachers themselves must have higheracademic expectations of their students. Teachers’ academic expectations of students have an influenceon students’ academic expectations.

Fifth, order and discipline in school should be a basic concern of every school aspiring tobecome successful or even by those schools that are already successful. School heads should formulateorder and discipline rules and guidelines concerning proper teacher and student behaviors. Theserules can be effectively formulated and implemented if this is done in consultation with those who areaffected by the rules and guidelines.

Sixth, school heads should initiate with their teachers a policy that will establish more needs-based and competency-focused school based in-service training for them. This is apart from the in-service training provided by the administration above the schools, e.g., district and division offices.Such a policy when implemented with support from teachers and the school heads themselves willhave greater impact on school success because it will be specifically addressed to strongly felt needs ofthe schools, teachers and students.

24


Conclusion

In this module we introduced the concept of successful schools. We did that through a number of casestudies which have shown that the criteria of success vary from one country and context to another.We considered the conditions or factors that enabled our case study schools to ‘take off’ and becomesuccessful and also the strategies that may be used to further improve those enabling conditions.Finally, we looked at the type of policies at system and school levels that are appropriate for sustainingschool success.Through the case studies, reflections and activities we trust that you have been able to decide foryourself what constitutes school success in your context and begin to use some of the strategies toenhance the success of your school. In the next module we turn our attention to one of the mostimportant factors in school success and that is the effective management of teachers and support staff.


500 Copies




Foreword










MODULE – 2MANAGING PEOPLE AT WORK

CONTENTS

Page No.

Introduction 1

Unit 1 : Effective Management of People 2-4

Unit 2 : Methods and Approaches of Internal Supervision 5-8

Unit 3 : Delegation and Participatory Management 8-15

Unit 4 : Team Building and Teacher Relations 15-22

Unit 5 : Leadership Qualities and Capacity Building 22-28

Conclusion 28

References

1

Managing People at Work

��

MANAGING PEOPLE AT WORK

Introduction

Welcome to Module 2 which has a focus on the management of teachers and support staff in success-

ful schools. An important element of school success is the effective management of people to workharmoniously together with an orientation towards the vision or mission of the school. Such manage-ment includes participation in decision-making, forming into effective teams with sustained motivationand developing a congenial atmosphere in the school.

Our case study research confirmed extensive research findings over many years that shared andcollaborative work cultures foster and enhance school improvement, whilst individualistic and isolationistcultures hinder it. We also found in the case studies that achieving institutional goals and objectivesalong with making schools successful is not something that the principal can do alone. The principalneeds the active involvement of all teachers and support staff to accomplish that and it is therefore animportant role of the principal to manage those people in ways that will encourage them to willinglybecome involved in trying hard to make the school successful.

The aim of this module is to explore some of the managerial practices that facilitate and motivate thestaff such as internal supervision, delegation and participatory decision-making; all of which contributeto building positive interpersonal relationships in the workplace of the school. Examples from the casestudies will show how these practices have contributed to school success.

The module has five units:

Unit 1: Effective management of peopleUnit 2: Methods and approaches of internal supervisionUnit 3: Delegation and participatory managementUnit 4: Team building and teacher relations

Unit 5: Leadership qualities and capacity-building

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module, you will have strengthened your ability to:• Recognise the significance of effective management of people for achieving the goals and

objectives of the school• Conduct appropriate and effective internal supervision and monitoring in your school• Delegate and empower the staff whilst ensuring appropriate accountability and time management• Create and lead teams for cohesive functioning of the school• Demonstrate the qualities of effective leadership to build staff capacity.

2


Unit 1: Effective management of people

In this unit you will learn about the significance of effective management of people for achieving thegoals and objectives of the school. Let us begin with the question: What do we mean by the term‘management’? If you look carefully at the following case study extract you will see how the process ofmanagement coordinates the school curriculum.

Case study example

Sri LankaAt the beginning of the year, the teachers plan the curriculum work together. They conduct“subject policy meetings”. It means they consider subject content and think how they coulddeliver the content to the students through the teaching learning process. Assistant principals/sectional heads who are in charge have meetings with subject coordinators, grade coordinatorsand subject teachers. Then they decide subject matters, teaching methods and assessmentprocedures relevant to particular lesson units. Then they analyze the content, instructional materialand environment facilities available for teaching.

There is no one generally accepted definition of the term ‘management’ because of its diverseorigins. Actually there are many definitions and the term is used in all types of organisations. In ourprofession we are of course concerned with ‘education management’ which may be seen as a sub-set ofthe broader concept of management. It is the management of schools that we are particularly concernedwith.

Let us look at a number of definitions of management and see if we can find the similaritiesand differences among them so as to clarify our understanding of the term.

“Management is a continuous process through which members of an organization seek to co-ordinate their activities and utilize their resources in order to fulfil the various tasks ofthe organization as efficiently as possible” (Hoyle, 1981, p. 8).

Management “is an activity involving responsibility for getting things done through other people”(Cuthbert, 1984, p.37)

“A manager in education is taken to be any member of staff who has responsibility for thework of other members of staff in order to ensure effective learning and teaching in the school”(Gold and Evans, 1998, p.24).

Another view of management is put forward by Everard and Morris (1996, p.4) who see it broadly asa five step process:

1. Setting direction, aims and objectives;2. Planning how progress will be made or a goal achieved;

REFLECTION

Read the three definitions a number of times and relate them to the case study example above. Whichdefinition seems to best capture the main thread of the example? Which definition do you find most

similar to your own understanding of management?

3


3. Organising available resources (people, time, materials) so that the goal can be economicallyachieved in the planned way;

4. Controlling the process (i.e. measuring achievement against the plan and taking correctiveaction where appropriate); and

5. Setting and improving organisational standards.

If you consider this five step process carefully, you will notice that it broadly covers the work of a headteacher who has overall responsibility for a school. In most schools, only the head teacher has timeallocated for management while deputies, heads of departments, subject heads etc. are also involved inmanagement though they are usually full-time teachers. The important point to make here is that all ofthe work of a school has to be accomplished through people so it is the management of people thatenables schools to achieve their goals and objectives. The key role of the head is to coordinate andfocus the work of other people as you can see in this extract along which also offers insights into thepersonal characteristics and management style of successful heads:

Case study example

PhilippinesFrom the two case studies of effective public elementary schools, it can be said that making a schoolsuccessful is not just the effort of one person, but a concerted effort of all stakeholders. What is needed,however, is one person to bring all these players to contribute and do their best in order to achieve acommon goal, and that is to improve the environment for learning which would bring about improvedquality of learning. This one person is the school head. The school head, who is the administrator,manager and instructional leader at the same time, must possess certain characteristics which, basedon the two case studies just concluded, contribute greatly to the successful management of schools.These characteristics are on top of being educationally prepared and being experienced teachers andheads of schools.

Personal characteristics:

Both school heads –• Have the passion and commitment to serve and both made the pursuit of quality education

their flagship program in the school• Adhere to ‘honesty as the best policy’ and have high moral integrity• Are recognized for their leadership and their being good team players• Inspire the teachers to do their best• Have good relationships with the teachers, school authorities, parents, local officials,

communitymembers and other stakeholders• Are humble.

Management style:

Both school heads –

• Practice participatory management by delegating responsibilities• Are able to tap the internal human resources of the school such as master teachers and

senior teachers in school management (administratively and academically)• Devote a greater portion of their time in supervising instruction• Established mechanisms for monitoring student performance

4


• Believe in transparency in management, particularly with regards to finances of the schoolas the trademark of their management style

• Are strict but compassionate• Keep records of all financial matters and have these records open to all for scrutiny”.

The case studies revealed many different management processes in the schools. They included:

• Financial management e.g. budgeting, fund-raising• Management of physical resources e.g. maintenance of buildings and grounds, inventories

of equipment• Teacher management e.g. recruitment, attendance, appraisal, professional development• Managing parent and community involvement in the school e.g. running meetings

and mobilizing community support for the school• Time management e.g. timetable, punctuality• Management of teaching and learning e.g. curriculum, examinations, homework• Management of students e.g. monitoring attendance, handling discipline problems• Managing school development planning and evaluation.

As you can see from the list, there are many different processes of school management and that list isby no means exhaustive. In most cases responsibility for specific areas is delegated or at least sharedwith others so the head teacher does not do all of the work involved in every area. However, it is usualfor the head to be accountable for ensuring that the work is carried out. The other interesting pointabout the list is that all of the items on it are tasks that have to be carried out by people and thatreinforces the point about the importance of effective management of people for achieving schoolsuccess.

Case study example

IndiaOn being asked about the various roles of an ideal head teacher, the Principal listed the followingmanagement tasks:

1. To be a good administrator2. To maintain discipline3. To check attendance regularly4. To extend cooperation to teaching5. To properly monitor classroom teaching6. To give due importance to students7. To be a trendsetter (role model) by being punctual and disciplined herself8. To be sensitive to teachers and students problems9. To be tactful with management staff and parents.

REFLECTION

Consider the above lists of management processes and tasks. See if you can add any that are important

in your school but are not on the lists.

5


Unit 2: Methods and approaches of internal supervision

The Synthesis Report informs us that “one of the major objectives of all the successful schools is toimprove the quality of teaching-learning … Towards this, all the successful schools have adopted acommon strategy of continuous internal teacher supervision”. It is very clear from the case studies thatsupervision within the school is a key strategy of school success. It is also clear that the principal hasresponsibility for the management of supervision in the sense of making sure that it happens though heor she often delegates the task to others in the school, such as a deputy or head of department.

It will be helpful to clarify the meaning and scope of internal supervision. As a managementstrategy, supervision has been around for a long time and it has some negative connotations becauseof its traditional association with bureaucratic control and close watching or ‘snoopervision’ of workbeing carried out. This is at odds with the increasing professionalism of teachers and their desire forprofessional autonomy. However, nowadays a more positive view of supervision has arisen due to re-thinking of its meaning and scope. It is now viewed as a two-pronged strategy for monitoring and supportof teachers with the aim of improving the teaching-learning process and efficient utilisation of resources,including time.

What the two-pronged approach means is this: monitoring is concerned with gathering informationabout the quality of teaching-learning in classrooms and support is providing teachers with assistance toimprove the quality of teaching-learning.

The case studies show us that there are different practices of internal supervision in successfulschools. They include:

• Classroom observation of lessons followed by feedback to the teachers• Reviewing teaching notes/lessons plans and making suggestions for improvement• Peer group review i.e. a group of teachers review and discuss each other’s work• Using feedback from students such as test results to monitor and support teachers• Observation around the school usually by regular rounds and follow-up to make improvements

where necessary.

In each of those practices you can see both aspects of supervision: monitoring and support.

Case study example

IndiaThe classroom doors were open and teachers worked in teams. Teachers discussed the curriculumwith their peers before the session began. Joint planning and peer reviewing were found in this school.An important aspect of peer review was seen at the time of transaction of the curriculum, assessmentof pupils and the teaching-learning processes. Classroom visits by members of management body &parents, lesson observation by colleagues, self-evaluation and peer-reviewing practices were encouragedby the school management. Mostly staff meetings were held daily for ten to fifteen minutes after schoolhours. Formal meeting with head-teacher and staff members was held fortnightly. The purpose of suchmeetings was to discuss academic activities as well as co-academic activities, for example progress ofsyllabus covered in classes, pupils’ performance, availability of teaching-learning material, parents’satisfaction and organization of quiz competition, debate, dance, sports activities etc.

6


PakistanThe Principal mentioned two methods of supervision; visiting classrooms to observe teachers at workand review of assessment results for each class. He has confidence that teachers are working well in theclassroom and not wasting time. For support he is always available to discuss any problems teachersmight be having. Academic results are linked with the teachers’ performance as an indicator of thequality of their teaching and this is directly related to annual appraisal of teachers.

PakistanThe Principal is keen that the teaching-learning process is properly guided and monitored. She feelsthat it is her responsibility to see that quality teaching and learning is taking place at Royal School, “Icheck the classes where they teach, are the teachers in their classes or not and are they on time or notand how many are absent and what the section head is doing for the arrangement of the classes if theteacher is absent. On this round which is almost every day I will check the gardening and the cleanlinessand the condition of the rooms, everything.

IndiaIn order to ensure that teachers performed their work effectively the head teacher maintained friendlyrelationships with his colleagues. The supervision was taken as support. He motivated them and workedto generate a confidence in them that they were doing well but they could do still better.

IndiaTo teachers, she said that she would play an elder sister. She would monitor their teaching with a viewto support and help them grow, not to gather evidence for possible action. In subjects and areas whereshe could not guide she would encourage peer learning. She would motivate them and stand by themin difficulty.

To ensure school effectiveness the head teacher would control attendance, punctuality, work planningand lesson preparation in descending order of priority. She said “to control any of these variables shewould act as a role model. Do exactly what she expects of her teachers”.

Regarding controlling and regulating attendance, punctuality, work planning and lesson preparationshe said “I work as a critical friend to the school”. Talking, listening and motivating were the treatmentsshe used with teachers.

BangladeshThe teacher supervision function is performed by the head teacher and the two assistant head teachers.The issues of teacher attendance, punctuality, classroom performance, teaching style and methodsfollowed by the teachers, holding class tests and assigning homework, performance in other activitiesassigned to teachers come under the purview of the supervision. The mechanism or the instrumentsused are: attendance register, classroom inspection, observation, visiting the classrooms at the breakand beginning of every teaching period, monthly meeting of teachers for discussing the programs andproblems.

The teachers have to put their signature on arrival at and departure from the school noting the time.After a specified time of starting the school, the register is taken to the head teacher. He can easilyidentify the late comers and also the absentee ones. The assistant head monitors the system.

The classroom supervision and observation are done by both the assistant head teachers. The headteacher is equally vigilant. Very frequently the head and the assistant heads sit in a classroom forobserving the teaching learning process, the assessment of learners by the teacher.

7


The Vice Chairman of the SMC and one or two other members of the committee, along with theassistant head teachers also visit and supervise the classrooms. They have the permission from thehead teacher for doing so.

BangladeshTo see the effectiveness of classroom performance, the head teacher is seen to move in the school lawnand check whether the teachers are using teacher’s guide, lesson plans and other teaching aids. Ondefault, the teachers are asked to see him in the office where teachers are given instruction and suggestionhow to make the classroom management effective. In some cases, the head teacher gives support to theclass teacher by supplying teaching-learning materials. He is very much appreciating and always praisesthe teachers and recognises the good performance of the teachers. Besides, some financial incentivepackages are given to teachers.

IndiaThe interesting aspect of this example is the supervisor’s focus on the learning as well as the teaching:

The principal claimed that he observes one or two classes daily with a view to bring out improvementin the teaching methodology of the teachers and also to ensure that students understand what is beingtaught in the class. The lesson plan prepared by the teachers, its objectives, appropriateness, andformat are also looked at by him. In fact we did observe that teachers submit their lesson plansregularly to the principal, who goes through it in a routine way and puts his signature. While observingthe classrooms, the principal also pays attention to the involvement of students in the teaching-learningprocess. More particularly, he tries to find out whether slow learners are asking questions. In case thesame is not observed, after the class is over, the principal asks the students what was taught in the class,whether they followed it, and if they report that they had difficulty in understanding, the principalencourages them to get their doubts cleared from the concerned teacher.

IndiaIn this extract you can see how the monitoring function of supervision sometimes results in actionbeing taken to enforce improvement in teacher performance:

On the second day of his taking over as a Principal, a teacher came late for 10 minutes. I called theteacher and said that you have come late and this may not be repeated later. Next day another teacherdid not teach in the last period and let the students go. I advised him not to do so. The third day, thefirst teacher did not go to the class in the last period. Despite my advice he repeated it the next day. Iwarned him that if you will repeat this in future, administrative action would be taken against you.After few days he again did not attend the last period. I advised him to apply for one-day casual leave.He ignored my advice. I instructed my office to cut his salary for one day that also resulted into servicebreak. Thereafter things started to change.

Sri LankaThis example shows how teachers can be involved in the supervision of other teachers:

There is a well-organized supervision process in the school. At the beginning of the year, the principaland the internal management team set a supervision timetable and they have prepared a format also.At least once a week a teacher has to be supervised by the supervision team. The supervision teamincludes one of the Deputy Principals (management member) and two/three teachers who are free inteaching timetable in the relevant supervision period. This is very effective because each teacherbecomes a supervisor as well as supervisee. This gives a two-way experience to the teacher. The mainobjective of the supervision is to evaluate the quality of teaching including lesson plans, suitability andadaptability of the schemes of work, classroom management, and pupils learning activities, evaluationand feedback.

8


After supervision, they have oral feedback and report other remarks. Reports are to be sent to theprincipal after the supervision. Then the principal goes through these reports and takes some followup actions and remedial actions to minimize weaknesses. For example, the supervision team hasidentified a teacher who is weak in classroom management and planning. The principal provides oneassistant to get support for that teacher. In general, teachers support the supervision system and theylike to be supervised at any time.

There is also a self-supervision process in the school. Each teacher is given a self-evaluation form. Afterone month, those forms come to the office. This form includes seven areas.

• Attitudes on profession• Teaching• Class circles and the progress• Co-curricular participation• Participation in school management• Involvement with other staff members• Job satisfaction.

Teachers say this is very useful to them to improve their professionalism. The principal has exercisedgreat care and patience in implementing the teacher appraisal scheme, which is introduced by thegovernment. He does it with mutual trust. Although voluntary, all the staff takes part to evaluate theirperformance. According to teachers, the scheme appeared to work well and helps to overcome availablebarriers and the staff has found the scheme has contributed significantly to their professional development.

Unit 3: Delegation and participatory management

In this unit we will explore the notions of delegation and participation and we will provide someexamples from the case studies to show how they are implemented in successful schools. To begin withlet us look at what delegation actually means. If we look at a dictionary definition we find the word‘delegate’ means a person who is given authority to transact business as a representative of someoneelse. Therefore, delegation in a school refers to the principal giving authority to another person orgroup for a specific aspect or task of the school and that person or group is then representing theprincipal to ensure that work is carried out effectively in that aspect of the school. A task may bedelegated to one person e.g. the management of school discipline may be delegated to the deputyhead, or it may be delegated to a group such as a timetable committee. It does not mean that theprincipal abrogates his or her responsibility for areas of the school that are delegated to others; theprincipal still has overall responsibility for the school but has one or more representatives looking aftervarious areas or tasks of the school.

ACTIVITY 2-1

In the above examples, identify those where monitoring gives specific attention to learning andthose where monitoring has resulted in action to address the weaknesses or strengths noted.

Initiate a review of supervision practices in your school. Appoint a small team to work on this withyou and set a timeframe of say one month to gather information on what is currently going on and

decide what improvements could be made or new practices introduced.

9


Another perspective on delegation is that it is a way of encouraging the participation of a rangeof people in the management and decision-making of a school rather than everything being in thehands of the principal. We found in the case studies that “participation is the hallmark of successfulschools … all the schools have a strong component of collective decision-making” (Synthesis Report).Also, “in all the successful schools there has been some form of delegation or other – it can beacademic, financial or even administrative, it can also be on the basis of an individual or a group or aparticular body”.

Case study examples

MalaysiaGoals were clear and agreed upon resulting in a shared understanding and responsibility so that theschool worked together and moved forward as a whole unit. Firstly, the head teacher had a very clearand single-minded focus on what he wanted to achieve for his school. In addition, before embarkingon any new project, the head teacher had frequent (weekly) meetings with all the assistant heads to gettheir perspectives and support. Next, with the support of his assistant heads, he had meetings with histeachers to communicate his ideas as well as to garner their support and involvement. The staff feelsthat they are involved and share in the identity of the school. They are proud to be associated with theschool.

PhilippinesThe school head has been described as somebody with great respect to her teachers, both as humanbeings and as professionals. Thus, her style of leadership, management and governance has beencharacterized as participative and consultative. This is not because she is afraid to make decisions; farfrom it. Rather, it is due to her belief that more minds are better than one, that by being participativeand consultative it is easier to make good and functional decisions, especially the ones that requireutmost cooperation from the teachers in order to successfully carry out such decisions. She would likeher teachers to own the decisions because ownership by them results in greater unity, not division andfactionalism, closer cooperation and teamwork. She considers these as highly significant variables inthe success equation.

Teachers appreciate much this approach to decision-making. “It is empowering to us,” said one teacher.“We love her for not being authoritarian because authoritarianism in school management does notwork; it stifles the creativity and imagination of individuals,” argued another. “The participative andconsultative approach to decision making works best in situations of certainty such as in school settings.It would be different altogether if we are faced with crisis situations, of which there are not many in aschool setting. Certainly, a more decisive approach without the benefit of individual involvement andgroup consultation will work best under trying situations,” said a grade head teacher.

Some of the academic areas or tasks that were delegated in the various schools are:• Preparation of school plans• Preparation of timetable• Evaluation of papers• Management of library• Conduct of examinations• Preparation of additional curriculum• Management of curricular activities

10


• Preparation of teaching aids• Organising remedial coaching• Maintenance of resources• Managing discipline• Protocol duty.

“The decentralisation or delegation of tasks takes place vertically from head of school down to teachersindividually distributing the responsibilities among the structures and members of different groups.The case studies show that the teacher leaders (section heads/heads of departments/grade heads) canhelp other teachers to embrace the goals, and can understand the improvements that are needed tostrengthen teaching and learning. The clear implication is that distributed leadership has been helpingthe schools to move ahead with constant improvement and it also helped to develop capacities withinthe institute. In all the schools, the delegation of tasks and responsibilities helped to create ownershipof ideas and innovations and get them institutionalised. More importantly, in all the successful schools,the teachers are aligned with school objectives and become part of school culture. Many of the headteachers among the sample schools demonstrated their strong conviction to nurture teacher leadershipand to empower them through delegation” (Synthesis Report).

Case study examples

In the following examples you can see how various functions are delegated within the schools:

PhilippinesThe Grade Head Teachers are the administrative arm of the school principal. They perform functionssuch as: dissemination of information involving their grade levels coming from the school head, thedistrict supervisor and officials of the schools division; ensuring the safety and security of studentsunder their jurisdiction; monitoring the whereabouts of teachers, making sure they are performingtheir teaching functions during class hours, assisting the school head in sourcing funds for programsand projects of the school and in implementing them; and performing other functions that may bedelegated to them by the school head.

The Subject Coordinators, on the other hand, are the academic arm of the school principal. To themare delegated the functions of (a) ensuring that teachers teaching under their jurisdiction are updatedon new techniques, strategies and approaches in teaching the subjects; (b) checking lesson plans,academic reports, student attendance, forms prior to submission to the office of the school principal;(c) serving as facilitators for the school-based in-service training of teachers of particular subjects; (d)acting as demonstration teachers for the subjects they coordinate; (e) coordinating and supervising thepreparation of grading period examinations/tests, conduct of simple action researches, and (f) performingother functions that may be delegated to them by the school principal.

PakistanA unique feature of this school is that all the teachers are involved in management as members ofvarious committees. These committees are all working committees integrated with each other. Forinstance the Admission Committee of both the junior school and college look after the affairs ofadmission. The Transport Committee is being run effectively through staff members. The ExaminationCommittee organizes the setting of question papers and examinations. The Furniture Committee, afterdue inspection, decides on the future demands of the various classes. The Vision and Developmentcommittee is the highest decision-making body and it decides on important issues as well as monitoringthe school’s progress.

11


Issues in Delegation

We know that delegation is important because it enables others in the school, besides the principal, toparticipate in the management and decision-making of the school. Such participation creates a sense ofownership and acceptance of responsibility throughout the school which makes for a much morehealthy organization. In addition to ownership and responsibility there are also some other issues andconsequences of delegation that are important to keep in mind. These are:

• Empowerment• Accountability• Time management.

Let us consider each of those points.

Empowerment

Delegation is a form of empowerment. That is to say, by delegating a task to another person or groupyou are actually handing over some of your ‘power’. Empowerment means giving power to someoneelse to make decisions or take action rather than you holding all the power to yourself. To empoweranother person implies taking a risk that the person will act appropriately with that power and thatmeans that you need to have some trust in that person or in the group. Trust is important; if you can’ttrust anyone else with the responsibility of making decisions you will not be comfortable with delegation.We all know some of those people who can’t trust anyone else and therefore they have to make alldecisions themselves. Sometimes it is said that “they run a tight ship” or they are applauded for being“tough administrators” but the downside is that power is concentrated in their hands to the extent thatthe staff will be alienated, uncommitted and lack a sense of ownership of the school. That is not whatmakes a successful school.

Case study example

Sri LankaThe principal has a clear idea on education development. He intends to do away with traditional roleof head teacher. “I want to empower teachers by influencing them to do innovative activities and makethem work in a democratic atmosphere. Therefore I do not like to intervene in their work. They needfreedom to work creatively. I am there to be disturbed all the time, I am available; there is an opendoor policy in my school. There is no day reserved to meet me.” He has high expectations of staff andstudents. Principal emphasizes to keep discipline in the school and positive attitudes are his priorities.

ACTIVITY 2-2

Review the tasks that are delegated in your school. Are all teachers participating in at least oneschool task in addition to their classroom teaching? Have a discussion with your senior staff about

areas that could be delegated to them and see how they react to the idea.

12


Accountability

Accountability goes hand in hand with delegation. What this means is that if you delegate a task toanother person you need to ensure that the task is carried out effectively. Delegation does not meanthat you hand over power for a particular task and then forget about that task forever more. Thatwould be very poor management. We are reminded in the Synthesis Report that “it has to be kept inmind that, despite all these forms of delegation, the head teacher constantly supervises and monitorsall these activities. The school head takes the ultimate decisions”. A helpful way to understand this isin terms of balance; there needs to be a balance between handing over power (delegation) and ensuringthat the power is used properly (accountability). A common way of achieving this in organizations is byusing Terms of Reference (ToRs). For example, the head may delegate responsibility for the schoollibrary to a library committee with the deputy as chair of the committee. Now to ensure accountability,the library committee should have ToRs which state what the committee is supposed to do and thescope of their responsibility. It is common practice to ask the committee when they first meet todevelop draft ToRs which are then approved or amended by the principal.

Case study examples

IndiaIn all the three case studies it was amply evident that participative management system is followed inthese successful schools. The schools have constituted various committees to look after different activities.The committees primarily consist of teachers of the school, and in some cases even the students areinvolved. Another important feature was that the schools gave autonomy to the committee membersto perform the delegated tasks, and made them accountable for successful completion of those tasks.One principal kept himself abreast with the developments by regularly enquiring and discussing withthe concerned persons. He believes in quick implementation of the decisions. Another principal wouldsometimes join the committees and offer his suggestions. The third principal imposes a kind trust in hiscolleagues that they “can do” it. The regular monitoring of the principals keeps people on their toes.

Sri LankaIn this example you will see that the principal feels accountable to the parents for the success of theschool:

“The principal perceives that he is accountable to develop the school; parents also perceive it the sameway. The clear message from the school is that parents will be empowered by being given informationand the right to question what goes on in the school. Thus, the primary accountability within school isto parents and prospective parents. The principal also demonstrates the need for skills, communicatingwith parents and establishing a dialogue with them, both as individuals and as the parents associations.Parents are involved in the decision making process including the following issues:

• School uniform.• Discipline and punishment.• The length of the school day• The time of beginning and ending the school• Teaching conditions• Curricular issues• School buildings• Home work policy• School trips and educational visits• Health and safety matters”.

13


TimeTime is an important issue in schools and must be well managed. We all know that time is limited andthere never seems to be enough of it in the school day or school term to achieve everything we wouldlike to. We also know how important the timetable is for managing the time available for teaching andlearning. The issue of time is related to delegation and participation in the sense that it is often said“participatory decision-making takes too much time; it is quicker to decide myself”. There may besome truth in that so it is necessary to ensure that time is not wasted in endless committee meetingswhich take forever to make a decision when we are trying to empower others through delegation andparticipation. A good idea is to allocate a certain amount of time i.e. set a timeframe, for all tasks thatare delegated. For example, you might form a team for school development planning and ask that theymeet for one hour each week and complete the task in three months. That would be a way of managingtime. Another good idea is to prioritize tasks so that more important tasks are allocated more time thanless important ones. In planning a meeting agenda, for example, you could ensure that the mostimportant item on the agenda is placed first and has more time allocated than other items of lesserimportance.

Now let’s look at workplace practices where time management is concerned. An example of a principalof a successful school will be helpful.

Case study examples

PhilippinesThe principal is a model of punctuality, love and dedication to her work. She reports to school early inthe morning between 6:00-6:30. She attends the flag ceremony, and after the teachers and students arealready in their classrooms, she makes the morning rounds of the classrooms to find out whether allclasses have teachers. When she finds out that a classroom does not have a teacher because he is latein reporting to school or is absent, she immediately alerts the neighbouring teacher to look after theclass or assigns a student-leader to be responsible for order in the classroom. In certain instances, shedirects the class to do something productive, like seatwork exercises, while waiting for the teacher.From 8:00-11:00 am, she visits classrooms, checks lesson plans, and conducts random and unplannedobservations of teachers. From 11:00-12:00 she attends to administrative and other routine matters anddoes public relations. In the afternoon, from 1:00 – 2:30, she does the rounds of classrooms again,ensuring that teachers are engaged in teaching and students are engaged in learning. At 2:30-4:00 pm,she conducts teacher observations and meets with teachers who need help. At 4:00-6:00 pm she meetswith parents, students, PTCA officers and other guests who may have some business concerns with heroffice. She returns calls made to her when she was out conducting teacher observations or making therounds of classrooms. Sometimes, meetings with parents and other guests are held in the morning andmay take more than one hour. Thus, she adjusts her time schedules, accordingly, to accommodateguests of the school and attend to other administrative and routine concerns. At 6:00-6:30 pm sheheads for home, only after most of the teachers and students have gone home.

IndiaMonitoring the use of time is an important role of the head: “the head teacher would monitor timekeeping during the school day to ensure that both teachers and pupils were making best use of availabletime by being where they were supposed to be on time at all times”.

14


ACTIVITY 2-3

Reflect on your typical school working day and fill out the following table:

Now critically examine your table using the following questions:• Are you spending too much time on activities that are very interesting and easy to

do rather than important and of a high priority?• Reflect on:a) the people you involve in carrying out these tasks (are these the only people you

always involve or assign tasks to?)b) the people you could involve or assign tasks to – effective delegation.• Identify your strengths where time management is concerned. Also identify areas

that you need to work on to utilize your time more effectively.

What happens when your time is not managed well?

# Activity or Task Time Other Is the time usedTaken People efficiently?

involved

15


ACTIVITY 2-4

This activity is related to the time management skills of managers.

To assist you to identify and prioritize your tasks, look at the following diagram. Write itemsfrom the table above in the appropriate section. This will help you when you next plan yourday, week or month.

IMPORTANT NOT IMPORTANT

URG Important Not ImportantE Urgent UrgentNT

NOT

Important Not ImportantU Not Urgent Not UrgentRGENT

Prioritizing tasks for effective time management

Unit 4: Team building and teacher relations

When asked to name his most important role in the school, the head of one school responded:“That is the team building, that is to give respect to the teachers, to the people with whom you work.So sometimes I work as a team member and the teachers are the leaders where we have delegatedtasks. So there I am a team member and one of the teachers is the head of that committee, so theydon’t feel that I am the boss or I know everything but they feel comfortable working with me, that’swhy they are ready to share everything”.

It is interesting to note that ‘team building’ is regarded by the head as his most important rolein the school. Given its importance, it will be worthwhile for us look into this issue.

TEAM may be seen to stand for ‘together each achieves more’. Teamwork and teambuilding are the first and most important steps towards collegial decision-making and shared

16


understanding. Through teams, schools can build a collaborative culture of teachers, staff and studentsworking together thus removing isolation and excessive individualism.

What then is the meaning of a team? A definition will be helpful.

“A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to acommon purpose, performance goals and approach, for which they hold themselves mutuallyaccountable” (Katzenbach & Smith, cited in Armstrong, 1994, p.113).

The definition highlights a number of significant points. Usually a team is a small number ofno more than 5-6 people (though a soccer or cricket team is 11) and they have a range of skills whichcomplement each other, rather than all having the same skill. They are focused on an agreed purposeor objective and they are ‘mutually accountable’ which means that each person does his or her best toachieve the objective and expects all the others to do the same.

Why teams?

Sometimes people who have been used to working individually wonder what all the fuss is aboutteams. There is now a good deal of evidence that teams:

• Make better decisions• Work faster• Are more creative• Make things happen in coherence and harmony• Enhance social relationships• Provide an arena for professional development• Are part of a democratic and consultative way of working.

Case study example

Sri LankaThe Principal appreciates the group cohesiveness of his staff in the following way:My staff is a group of committed and highly motivated teachers who are supportive of one anotherworking towards shared goals. Teachers’ shared values and special practices are very important to thedevelopment of our school … it helps me to keep them together. In addition they seek students’participation and this collaboration is a big advantage to my school. Because of this type of groupwork:

• we have participatory management• we have shared responsibilities• we are aligned on purpose• we are focused on tasks• we have creative talents• we are successful in our communication• we are future focused• we get rapid responses• we improve teachers’ and students’ performance and develop them.

17


The above ideas and expressions reveal that group work is the best method for getting people tobecome committed to school development. There is the added advantage that teachers can learn fromone another. They maintain trust and mutual support. A network is created for school and individualdevelopment.

The teachers have similar ideas about group work and how it results in unity. This can be summarizedin the following way in their own words:

If there is any special task or activity, the principal makes some groups and assigns their duties.Working in a group is very interesting and motivating in our school. We are very friendly and helpeach other where necessary. We are cooperatively solving any problems that we have to face. Theprincipal always helps us to solve our professional or personnel problems. Because of group cohesivenesswe derive much job satisfaction and work is never monotonous. The additional advantage of groupwork is improvement of positive attitudes, harmony and unity among teachers, students, parents andas well as our own family members. It will be helpful to enhance quality outcomes and schooldevelopment.

IndiaThe interpersonal relationships between the teachers are very healthy, they are very co-operative andwork as a team, and they willingly offer to help their co-staff in all the academic and non-academicactivities. They freely discuss amongst themselves all problems related to teaching and all the teacherswere open to suggestions given to them by their peers to improve or solve teaching related issues. TheHead teacher herself monitors and visits classroom during teaching periods. She talks to childrenregarding their problems frequently and if need be, she also talks of their problems to the related classteacher. The head teacher is able to involve her staff by her supportive understanding and appreciativebehaviour.

IndiaThe head gave prime importance to punctuality and set example for the teachers and children. Hecomes to school one hour before the scheduled time and leaves school after every body has left. Hehad his lunch with colleagues. Relations with teachers were cordial, cooperative with good deal oftogetherness. The kind of relation between the head teacher and teachers was reinforced by observationat the time of study and as it was revealed through various indicators of progress, participatory planning,decision-making and adopting new initiatives or innovative practices for school. Head teacher tried tobuild up a consensus among his fellow teachers over the issues before prioritization and taking action.He told that he, along with his staff, worked with a team spirit and gave his first priority to the punctuality,second to the attendance, third to time management and lesson planning, fourth to good practices ofteachers and teaching learning process, fifth but not the less important is the area of co-curricularactivities. He was much concerned regarding professional development of teachers, to identify theirstrengths and weaknesses. He himself observed their classes regularly. He monitored the progressmade by children in academic areas. Besides this he also looked into the details of supervision notesmade by the block resource coordinator/cluster resource in-charge and other members of the supervisorystaff. Teachers told that head teacher is just like their elder brother who talks, listens and motivatesthem. Teachers are well qualified and provided with four rounds of teachers training; they knew theirjob responsibility well. They take part in school management themselves. Head teacher is fully satisfiedwith his staff and teachers had sympathetic view and attitudes towards personal and family relatedproblems of one another and try to help their colleagues if required. Head teacher used recognitionand appreciations as incentive. He appreciated his teachers in school functions before parents, communitymembers and children to boost their morale. Head teacher also allowed them to become active partner

18


in school management, be it decision-making for academic, financial or administrative activity, or amatter of community involvement. Participatory decision-making was clear in all areas. Teachers expresstheir opinion freely and frankly, they utter their dissent fearlessly and can raise questions if they are notsure of the matter, this was observed by the research team when it attended one of the staff meetings.

MalaysiaThere was a strong emphasis upon teamwork and participation in decision-making (although the headteacher reserves the right to have the last say and make the final decision). Within the study, there wasample evidence that people were trusted to work as autonomous professionals, within clear collegialvalue frameworks which were common to all. These collegial cultures were maintained, however,within contexts of organizational and individual accountability set by external policy demands andinternal aspirations. In this case it seems that morality, emotion and social bonds provide powerfulstimulants to motivation and commitment of the staff.

Building Team Cohesiveness

What can you as a principal do to help your staff ‘work as a team’ i.e. to function effectivelyas a group. We all know of teams who have some talented individuals but they do not seem to workwell together – this is true of sporting teams as well as teams in schools. There are some strategies thatyou can consider using to build a team spirit. First, it is necessary to realise that team building is aprocess that occurs over a period of time. When you put a number of individuals in a group situationthey do not immediately and automatically become a team but they move through a number of stages.One approach to this is a four stage process.

Stage 1: Forming. In the first meeting it is a good strategy to spend most of the time onforming the team by ensuring that everyone knows each other in terms of what skills they each bringto the team and that they are agreed on the purpose of the team. A discussion of the ToRs is a goodway to generate a common purpose and shared understanding.

Stage 2: Norming. Norms refer to the ways or methods of team working and it is useful tohave some discussion about this so that everyone is clear about how the team will function. Matters

ACTIVITY 2-5

List all the teams that you have in your school (perhaps you call them committees or groupsof people responsible for certain tasks). Write a brief response to the following questions:

· Which of these do you lead and which of these are you member of but not leader?· Is there any team that you supervise but you are not actually part of?· Do you look forward to attending meetings of these teams?· What aspect of the teamwork are you satisfied with?· What aspect of teamwork is a cause of concern for you?· What practical steps could you take to make these teams more effective?

Now invite a few of your colleagues, who are or have been members of these teams, and

discuss these questions with them.

19


such as the role of the chair, regularity and length of meetings, who will write the notes or minutes, willdecisions be made by consensus or majority vote etc., need to be clarified.

Stage 3: Storming. This stage does not always occur but it usually does. Once the team getsunderway with its work there are often disagreements, conflicts or ‘storms’ over issues concerning theagenda or functioning of the team. If and when this happens it is important to realise that it is a normalpart of the team building process and some conflict resolution strategies can be used to clear the airand enable to team to move on.

Stage 4: Performing. Hopefully, this stage will be reached fairly quickly as it refers to the pointat which the team begins to really focus on achieving the task or objective it was set up for. If the earlierstages are handled well by the team leader, there is a much better chance of the team performing at ahigh level and as a cohesive unit. Typically, in this stage we hear comments like “the team is workingwell” or “it’s a great team”.

Having outlined that four stage process, however, we do not mean to suggest that it will solveall the problems or challenges of team building since it can be quite complex and unpredictable. Oneof the reasons for difficulty with teams is that some people are not inclined towards teamwork – theyprefer to work individually and they ‘do not get along’ with their colleagues very well in a teamsituation. Another reason is the age and experience difference between teachers who are expected towork together e.g. some senior teachers may be difficult to manage.

Case study examples

PakistanIn a professional development session all teachers decided not to be harsh with the children, ratherthey would be friendly with students to encourage them and make them enjoy school. However, whenhe was observing some of the senior teachers they were harsh in front of him in the classroom. Afterwards,they would come and say very sorry but we are used to it. Also, when he was out of the school thesenior teachers expected that they would be given the responsibility to take care of the school but whenthey were doing so, what they were doing was totally against the vision that he had designed. So thatwas a big problem to begin with.

BangladeshIt is interesting to mention that there is a cordial and cooperative relationship between the teachers.Teachers are cooperative towards their peers as well as to head teacher. Most of the teachers belong tothe same age group, come from same locality, have equal status and academic qualifications and thereis a strong socio-cultural homogeneity among the teachers. All these factors combine to develop amutual trust and confidence and friendly relationship between the teachers. They have differences inopinion in terms of local and national political ideology, but at present, there is no conflict between theteachers. One teacher is supporting another both in classroom activities and in preparing any complexlesson. They are seen to share their ideas in preparing a class lesson. This idea of sharing and supportingis highly encouraged by the head teacher.

20


Conflict Management and Communication

As we develop more collaborative cultures in our schools and as we work more in teamsthere is likely to be an increase in incidents of conflict and disagreement. There are a couple of reasonsfor this; people are working together more often so there is more opportunity for disagreement, and,the nature of their relationship changes to become more equal and less hierarchical. Conflict can beexpected to arise when people who have different ideas, beliefs and values are expected to workclosely together and share their views on professional issues. This means that people should be able tomanage and resolve conflict in a constructive way so that it does not become destructive and damagemorale and work performance.

To begin with, conflict should be viewed as a natural and expected part of working in teamsand as a learning opportunity rather than as a personal threat or attack. If it is viewed in those positiveterms it can be understood and managed. There is no doubt that skilful and clear communication is atthe heart of managing conflict situations.

A helpful framework for dealing with conflict is provided by Amason et al., (1995, cited inMitchell & Sackney, 2000, p. 117). They refer to two types of conflict – affective conflict and cognitiveconflict. Affective conflict is personal anger or resentment usually directed at individuals rather thanideas, whereas cognitive conflict is a difference of opinion on an issue or an idea. They make the pointthat cognitive conflict over issues is a desirable aspect of teamwork because it opens spaces for divergentthinking, creativity and open communication; all of which contribute to greater team effectiveness.Successful management of conflict is about turning affective conflict into cognitive conflict; that ismoving the focus off the person and on to the issue. What that can do is depersonalise a tense situationand shift the disagreement from the personalities to the substance of the issue at hand which can thenlead to a more constructive resolution of the conflict.

Case study examples

PhilippinesAs a whole relations among teachers are quite commendable. As a result group cooperation andcollaboration among teachers is the general rule. From time to time there are disagreements amongthem on how to approach a particular issue or problem but these are friendly ones that the Principalencourages because she considers it healthy for the organization. Disagreements or conflicts due tosome personality differences are discouraged and are nipped in the bud as they do not contribute inany way to realizing the vision, mission and objectives of the school.

BangladeshThe school had a problem with the local people. On two sides of the school, there are two thoroughfares.The villagers use the school compound to cut short their distance and for connecting the twothoroughfares. The boundary of the school made by barbed wire fencing could hardly check someunruly people from using the school compound even during the school hours. Consequently, theacademic environment suffered. It was one of the security problems and a challenge the school faced.A request from the school management did not work. A conflicting situation between a section of thelocal people and the school emerged. The head teacher approached the local elite. He requested themfor finding ways out for solving the problem. He identified the people involved in using the schoolcompound and supplied the information to the elite group. They arranged a meeting, with the concernedpeople and also some influential people of the locality. The issue was resolved.

21


IndiaThere was a small misunderstanding which led to a quarrel between a senior PGT who is in-charge ofexaminations and a new computer science teacher, who is a former student of the school. The computerscience teacher was asked to type the question paper and get it proof read by the respective papersetters. The examination in-charge was annoyed as the question papers were not finalized and theexaminations were to start in three days. The examination in-charge entered the Principal’s room.The conversation was:

Principal: The examinations are to start in three days. How is everything moving?Exam in-charge: Timetable, duty chart everything is ready, Sir. But the computer teacher has not typed thequestion papers.Principal: Why? Why could not he do it?Exam in-charge: I do not understand why he is behaving in this manner. He is a junior fellow.Principal: Alright. You carry on. I will call you back after half an hour.

The Principal called the Computer Science Teacher and asked him about the matter.

Principal: What is the state of the question papers? Has every paper setter proof read their question papers?Any problem?Computer Teacher: Sir some teachers have yet to proof read.Principal: Why is the delay?Computer Teacher: They are busy and today I will be able to complete the papers.Principal: Who are the teachers yet to complete?Computer Teacher: Mr. … and Mrs. …Principal: O.K. You do one thing. Call the in-charge just now.

When the teacher brought the examination in-charge, the in-charge was angry with him. The Principal,without giving heed to it, asked them to be seated.

Principal: The computer teacher says that some teachers have to proof read and he will be giving it today.Exam in-charge: No sir. He is not interested and he gets angry soon.

Even before the computer teacher opened his mouth to say something, the Principal intervened:

Principal: Listen, don’t open the past. Tell what is to be done and how to go about it to make the questionpaper ready.The computer science teacher: Mr. … and Mrs. … are now proof reading and I will get it ready when theycomplete them.Principal: I think the matter is over. Get the question paper ready in one hour.

The Principal after sending the examination in-charge spoke to the computer teacher, “He is a seniorteacher and expects you to listen to him. That is all. You can learn from people. Listen to learn. Nothing iswrong.” The young teacher was pleased.

After some time he called the examination in-charge and told him, “See. It was not his mistake. Theteachers did not read the proof. He will give it to you now. He is young and moreover he was your student.Allow him to learn.”The above case study example is an excellent one showing how affective (personal) conflict can bechanged into cognitive (issues) conflict and thereby resolved in a constructive way.

22


It is often said that good communication is the way to handle conflict. That is probably true but it begsthe question of what is ‘good communication’. In particular what is the style of communication that ismost appropriate for a collaborative culture and building teams? It is certainly not a top-down,authoritarian form of communication that is traditional in many schools. So what is it then? Mitchell &Sackney (2000, p. 59) suggest that there is a particular style of communication that is most suitable forcollaboration and they describe it as a blend of ‘advocacy and inquiry’. Advocacy is putting forwardone’s own opinion or belief (making statements) while inquiry is the exploration of a colleague’sopinion or belief (asking questions). A communication style that is characterised by questions as oftenas statements “allows individuals to freely contribute without fear of recrimination or reprisal andopens spaces for consideration of sensitive issues, problems of purpose and unarticulated dreams ordreads … (it) allows individuals to engage in collective inquiry and to develop shared understandingsabout purposes, values and commitments” (p. 59). This communication pattern is the foundation forbuilding cohesive and effective teams in a school and it can be observed in the above case studyexample concerning conflict over the examinations. You will notice in that example that the Principalasks a lot of questions to find out the source of the conflict. For most school heads, good communication

means more ‘asking’ and less ‘telling’.

REFLECTION

Identify a conflict situation that occurred in your school in the recent past. Analyse the conflict throughthese questions:

- Who was involved?- Was the disagreement a personal one (affective conflict) or was it about ideas and issues

(cognitive conflict)?- How was the conflict eventually resolved?

What was the role of communication in resolving the conflict?

Unit 5: Leadership qualities and capacity building

“All the successful schools have some sort of visionary and pragmatic leader who can notonly sustain its success but also make new headways in improving the success” (Synthesis Report, p.56).

Earlier we considered the notion of management, so let us now turn to leadership. Again,there are many definitions and types of leadership mentioned in the literature though it is useful tobegin by simply clarifying the difference between ‘leader’ i.e. a person and ‘leadership’ i.e. a process.Here we are concerned with both the qualities of the person who is the leader as well as with theprocess of leadership so as to better understand how successful school leaders actually carry out theirwork.

A useful definition of leadership is: “the process of guiding followers in a certain direction inpursuit of a vision, mission or goals” (cited in Gold and Evans, 1998, p.25).

Notice that it is a process of guiding, not forcing or cajoling, and a key idea in the definitionis ‘vision, mission or goals’. Perhaps the most important aspect of school leadership is articulating thepurpose of the school. Teachers are usually not very good at describing the purpose of schools beyond

23


the basic idea of teaching children. Of course that is true but there is more to it than that. As Gold andEvans (1998) point out “a school where the purpose of education is clearly articulated and communicatedis a far more effective school than one in which there is no obviously agreed purpose, or where thehead teacher’s view of education and schooling is not informed by and transmitted to the other peoplewho work there”(p.14).

The purpose of a school is essentially about what the school is trying to achieve (the vision/mission) and what the people believe to be important (the values). Leadership may be seen as theprocess of initiating a dialogue about these issues amongst the stakeholders, clarifying the points madein the dialogue, reaching agreement or consensus about the purpose of the school and thencommunicating it to all concerned. When this process is undertaken each school develops its ownunique purpose which generates commitment and ownership amongst the stakeholders. For example,one case study school had the following vision statement prominently displayed in the school:

This alma mater is a learning organization where every individual is furnished with highlycommendable opportunities and facilities to attain the optimal standards of academic results, socialskills, moral and spiritual qualities and physical well being. A unique team spirit with a slogan“sink or swim together” and a sense of strong collaboration among students, faculty and parentsunifies this organization. Centre of excellence is its identity.

ACTIVITY 2-6

Your school may already have a Vision and/or Mission Statement. If not, you could begin todevelop one. Respond to the following questions:

(1) What is (or could be) the vision for your school?(2) What values do you believe to be important for your school?

Discuss your ideas on vision and values with your colleagues, parents and students to develop

a vision statement for your school

Leadership and Change

Most writers about leadership agree that leadership is concerned with promoting change andimprovement rather than merely maintaining the status quo. Scott (1999) provides a useful summary ofresearch on the attributes, skills and knowledge of effective change leaders and this is reproducedbelow.

The effective leader of educational change:• gives positive support and doesn’t put people down;• treats staff as equals-listens generously;• is organized and efficient (but not overly so);• is enthusiastic and cares about education;• has a sense of humour/perspective;• is committed to doing things well;• perseveres and doesn’t overreact when things go wrong;• can tolerate ambiguity, doesn’t try to force own point of view or always win the argument;

24


• is willing to experiment and take sensible risks;• has wider interests than just work-can put work into a broader perspective;• is willing to learn from errors;• accepts change as inevitable;• is action-oriented and committed to lead by example.

Case study example

IndiaHead teacher, teachers and parents were questioned in depth during the course of interviews in respectof their roles. “Do you have a clear idea of what is expected of you as a head teacher?” The answershot back was ‘yes’. It was perceived to be a provider of support to teachers; to work for realizing theaspirations of the community and seeking their cooperation in running the financial and other aspectsof school; his role was that of a leader who would help students to acquire desirable life skills andattitudes, help them mould and shape their career and help school to grow and acquire excellence.The head teacher’s role in respect of students (as commonly perceived by the teachers, parents and thehead himself) was: ‘to ensure learning among them; to ensure that students learn and retain the maximum;to strive for optimum development of their personality (attitudes, values and life skills); to see that theyare happy and enjoy school’.

Types of LeadershipOne fairly common distinction made in leadership literature is between transactional leadership andtransformational leadership. The head teacher who practices transactional leadership expects services(e.g. from a teacher) for various kind of rewards (e.g. salary and other extrinsic rewards that the headteacher controls to a certain degree). Leadership in this sense is a kind of transaction or making a deal– something like ‘if you do this for me I will do that for you’. A lot of school leadership is of this kind;for example if the head says to a teacher “if you look after the timetable, I will give you two free periodsper week”. You can see that a transaction is taking place, indeed the teacher might respond “yes, I willlook after the timetable but I need three free periods to do that”. If that is agreed then a ‘deal’ has beenmade. This kind of leadership is often necessary to keep the school running from day to day.

On the other hand, the head teacher who practises transformational leadership seeks to empower staffand share leadership. Transformational leadership is linked with change and improvement as it seeksto build the capacity of people to work more effectively and do things differently rather than merelyfollow tradition or maintain the status quo. It is seen when leaders:

• Stimulate interest among colleagues to view their work from new perspectives• Generate awareness of the mission and vision of the team and organisation• Develop colleagues to higher levels of ability and potential• Motivate colleagues and followers to look beyond their own interests towards those that will

benefit the group (Bass and Avolio, 1994, p. 2).

In recent leadership literature much is being made of distributed leadership. To help you tounderstand this concept let us take the example of a school principal. The principal of a school is aposition, sometimes referred to as a job, with certain power and responsibilities. All principals havesuch a position. However, when we consider leadership as a process we may find that not all principalsare leaders in their schools. Leadership is a process that some principals will perform but not othersdepending on their capabilities, skills and interests. It is quite possible that some other persons in the

25


school are more effective leaders than the principal in specific areas of the school operations. One ofthe consequences of distinguishing between position and process is that we can envisage a situationwhere leadership is widely shared or distributed throughout the school. There may be a number ofleaders in different areas of the school and in fact many people would argue that this is highly desirableas it makes for a much more dynamic organisation. When the process of leadership is shared throughoutthe school it is known as distributed leadership.

As pointed out in one case study: the head teacher did not do any work on his own decision. Inhis words, “Before taking a decision I discuss with others, it helps making me acceptable to them.” Healso added, “A head teacher’s duty is not to do anything alone, but inspire others to do.” That idea of‘inspiring others to do’ seems to be at the heart of distributed leadership.

Leadership QualitiesAnother perspective on leadership looks at the personal qualities or traits of leaders. This approach hasbeen around for a long time and there are a number of traits which consistently characterize moreeffective leaders. These include:

• Sense of responsibility• Concern for task completion• Energy• Persistence• Risk-taking• Originality• Self-confidence• Capacity to handle stress• Capacity to influence• Capacity to co-ordinate the efforts of others in the achievement of purpose.

From our case study research we would add ‘commitment to the school and the profession’ as anothertrait of effective educational leaders. If you think about this you could no doubt add further to that list.

Case study examples

BangladeshThe head teacher’s leadership qualities have enabled him to take the community and the SMC intoconfidence. This is evidenced by his success in resolving a conflict between the local people and theschool management. The other feature of the head teacher’s management style that deserves mentionis ensuring participation of all teachers in the management through the “group of 5” senior teachersand the committees. He also is tactful enough to prevent any conflict resulting from the formation ofthe group and his close association with the group in all management matter. His involvement inteaching and sharing the workload in terms of teaching period is a source of inspiration and motivationto teachers.

IndiaThe head mistress of the primary section is a 40 year old trained teacher. She is a confident, dynamic,understanding, enthusiastic, motivated teacher and a good administrator. She has earned a lot ofrespect in the school and community due to her exemplary behaviour. She believes that she is ateacher first and then a headmistress. Out of her 17 years of teaching experience she has spent 13 yearsteaching in this school. Due to her effective performance she was promoted to the post of headmistress

26


of the primary section by the school management. Even today she takes 19 periods per week thoughshe felt that with lesser teaching load she would have performed even better as an administrator. Sheacknowledged that the school had sufficient physical resources and was confident that even if crises inphysical resources exist she will manage the situation with the help of her capable and cooperativestaff. Being a highly motivated and committed teacher-cum-head of primary section she was confidentof facing any problem. The teachers perceived her as their energy source and she maintains a friendlyrelationship with her teachers. She has been quoted as an “understanding and affectionate person” byher staff. Having worked as a teacher in the same school, being close to her colleges was natural. Someof the teachers call her by her name when not in class. Maintaining a cordial relation with the teachersand children she confided that she is quick to switch roles when it comes to decision-making andmaintaining discipline in school.

Capacity Building

Earlier we mentioned that transformational leadership is concerned with capacity building of peoplefor change and improvement. King and Newman (2001) describe ‘school capacity’, particularly thatwhich contributes to instructional quality and student achievement, in three dimensions:

• the knowledge, skills and dispositions of individual staff members;• the professional community existing in the school (shared purpose for student learning,

collaboration amongst staff to achieve the purpose, reflective enquiry to address challenges,and opportunities for staff to influence the school’s activities and practices);

• the school’s programs for student and staff learning; capacity is enhanced when programs arecoherent, focused on clear goals and sustained over a period of time (p.89).

How then can we enhance the capacity of schools to improve student learning? The work of Mitchelland Sackney (2000) is important here. They put forward a capacity building model in three areas thatis generally consistent with the dimensions mentioned above: personal, interpersonal and organizational.Emanating from each of these is a range of professional development strategies that can facilitatecapacity building:

• Personal capacity – internal and external searches for personal knowledge. Professionaldevelopment strategies that improve teachers’ content and pedagogical knowledge to buildtheir personal capacity include workshops and courses, in-class observation and feedback,professional reading, visiting other schools etc.

• Interpersonal capacity – building a collaborative learning climate. Breaking down teacherisolation and building up teams of people working together improves interpersonal capacity.The strategies are based on building human relationships and communication; includingmentoring, coaching, developmental supervision and professional conversations to reachshared understanding.

REFLECTION

Reflect on the various roles that you play in your current position through these questions:

Is leadership one of your roles?Do you consider yourself a transactional or transformational leader (or a combination of both)?Is there evidence of distributed leadership in your school?

27


• Organizational capacity – school structures that support connection rather than separation,diversity rather than uniformity, empowerment rather than control and inclusion rather thandominance will enhance organisational capacity. Strategies include organizational learning,shared leadership, school reviews, school-wide mentoring and learning circles.

A leader is involved in capacity building when he or she guides others and assists themthrough professional development activities towards a vision of school improvement. Leaders do notnecessarily have to conduct the activities themselves though they may do if they have the appropriateexpertise. To take a leadership role in the school it is sufficient for a person to arrange and facilitate theactivities to be conducted by someone else either from within or outside the school. “If a head of aschool cares for new innovations and goes out of her way to facilitate her teachers, this is also acriterion of a successful school” (Synthesis Report, p. 61).

Case study examples

IndiaRegular Capacity Building for Teachers

The school has a very strong system of regular teacher training. Themes of training programs wereassessed, and the training needs were identified on the basis of feed back given by children andparents and some times it is also driven from the individual progress reports of each class teacher aswell as collective progress report of the school. Keeping this analysis in view the decisions for organisingtraining programmes were taken by the head teacher. Content enrichment as well as pedagogicalimprovement are taken care of while designing training programmes for the teachers. School managementbody along with the head teacher decides period and frequency of training programmes which arelocally organized in the school premises itself. Researcher tried to know the kind of training providedduring the last five years to the teachers and head teacher. It was as follows:

(Amar Nath Vidya Ashram – India)

Year Themes & Subjects Teachers & DurationHeadteacher

1998-1999 Language teaching, parents/community support/school Both 10 daysimprovement

1999-2000 1. * Content enrichment in maths and teaching Both 8 days mathematics with activities

2. Leadership, personnel management, monitoring Teachers & One weekand evaluation academic/co-academic activities. Headteachers

2000-2001 1. Language teaching (Eng.) and teaching language Both 8 days with supplementary reading material.

2. Continuous and comprehensive evaluation of pupils Both 3 days

2001-2002 Teaching science & social science at primary level pluscontent enrichment for difficult areas as identifiedby the teachers in science. Both 10 days

2002-2003 School management & community/parents Both 5 daysinvolvement in school management.

28


PhilippinesOf the interventions the Principal has made possible, what seem to stand out as the two that make adent on the continuous effectiveness of the school are the school’s learning resource center and theschool-based teacher training program in most of the subjects taught to the students. Both of theseinterventions are school-initiated, supported and sustained over a relatively long period of time. Theschool’s learning resource center has won division and regional awards for being comprehensive inteaching and learning materials made available to the teachers as well as the students and for beingvery functional. All the teaching and learning materials were produced by teachers and studentsthemselves and made available to other teachers and students. The SBTT (school-based teachertraining), which started only for science and math teachers, now includes English and other subjects.The school’s learning action cells (LACs), an intervention made by an earlier World Bank-fundedproject and which has been moribund for years in most public elementary schools in the country,have been revitalized through the leadership of the Principal, the utmost cooperation and efforts ofher teachers and the unstinting support of the PTCA.

Conclusion

To conclude the module you might like to review the learning outcomes on p. 1 and consider theextent to which you have achieved those outcomes.

In this module we have considered the management of people at work, particularly teachers andsupport staff. We looked at the concept of management and various methods and strategies such asinternal supervision, delegation and participatory management, team building and teacher relationsas well as leadership qualities and capacity-building. We also looked at some of the literature on thistopic along with case study examples. In the next module we turn our attention to the students.

References

Armstrong, M. (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness. London: Kogan Page.Bass, B. M. & Avolio, B. J. (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness through transformational leadership.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Cuthbert, R. (1984). The management process, E324 management in post compulsory education, Block 3,

Part 2. Milton Keynes: Open University.Everard, K. & Morris, G. (1996). Effective school management. 3rd ed. Paul Chapman: London.Gold, A. and Evans, J. (1998). Reflecting on school management. London: Falmer.Hoyle, E. (1981). The process of management, E323 management and the school, Block 3, Part 1. Milton

Keynes: Open University.King, M. B. & Newman, F.M. (2001). Building school capacity through professional development:

conceptual and empirical considerations. The International Journal of Educational Management,15(2), 86-93.

Mitchell, C. & Sackney. L. (2000). Profound improvement: Building capacity for a learning community.Lisse: Swets and Zeitlinger.

ACTIVITY 2-7

Establish a Professional Development Committee in your school (if you don’t already have one) anddevelop ToRs for the committee. Whether it is new or existing, work with the committee to develop aplan for staff development over the next year which is based on the threefold framework of personal,interpersonal and organisational capacity building.


500 Copies




Foreword










MODULE – 3MANAGING STUDENT AFFAIRS

CONTENTS

Page No.

Introduction 1

Unit 1 : Students’ Profile 2-5

Unit 2 : Students’ Rights and Responsibilities 5-10

Unit 3 : Management of Student Assessment 10-14

Unit 4 : Managing Co-Curricular Activities 14-17

Conclusion 17

1

Managing Student Affairs

��

MANAGING STUDENT AFFAIRS

Introduction

Having studied the management of staff in the previous module we now turn our attention to the

students. Student management is one of the most crucial aspects of school success since withoutstudents schools would not even exist. We all know that the fundamental purpose of schools is toproduce student learning so there must be a close connection between students’ learning and schoolsuccess.

It is not enough for just a few individual students to excel in learning to make a school successful.Our case studies reveal that successful schools have a focus on all students across the whole school andthat is why the management of a wide range of student affairs is important. It is also evident thatsuccessful schools have a strong ethos of caring about students as this extract from a case study shows:

The head teacher knew most parents and children by their names. Parents and children had great faithin the school. The head teacher and teachers said that for them each child was important. They would seeto it that children did well not only in their studies, but were helped in other areas of their need also.

This module aims to highlight some of the strategies and approaches of effective studentmanagement including student assessment, welfare, discipline and co-curricular activities. All of theseaspects come under the heading of ‘student affairs’ and need to be well managed for a school to besuccessful. Some aspects of student affairs are academic in the sense that they are primarily concernedwith student achievement e.g. assessment, whereas others may be non-academic e.g. welfare thoughthey are still an important part of the overall learning environment of the school. In this module we willdiscuss the importance of student management as a part of efforts for achieving school success alongwith different methods, strategies and innovations inStudent management.

The module has four units:

Unit 1: Students’ ProfileUnit 2: Students’ Rights and ResponsibilitiesUnit 3: Management of Student AssessmentUnit 4: Managing Co-Curricular Activities

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module, you will have strengthened your ability to:

• Establish a student profile data base for your school• Recognise students’ rights and responsibilities and understand their importance in resolving

conflicts between teachers and students• Manage student assessment to improve students’ learning, teacher capacities and

pedagogical innovations• Plan for co-curricular activities in overall development of students.

2


Unit 1: Students’ profile

Gathering appropriate and accurate information about students and establishing a data base of such nformationare the first steps a principal should take in managing student affairs. Such information will enable the school tomake better decisions to meet the real needs of students and provide answers to these kinds of questions:

a. What are the important indicators of your students’ background?b. Do you know the socio-economic status (SES) of your students?c. Can you categorise your students by gender, age, SES, cultural group?d. What diversity exists in cultural practices of the families?

Your student data base could include the following categories:

• Number of students enrolled (boys and girls)• Age and grade breakdown of students• Socio-economic status of families• Percentage of students from various cultural/religious groups• Rates of attendance and absenteeism• Av. number of repeaters• Av. number of dropouts• Number and extent of disciple problems• Success rate in tests and examinations

Case study example

BangladeshThe following is a good example of the information that you need to have at hand.

��

�� !��"�� #�� $%�� &��!'�� (�� )��#��$��'

��*�� (�� !��&��'��(�� +,��-�� %�� &-�*� -.��%�$�� +�� -

��&�-��/��(��(��,��%�(,��

�$((��%$��( � ) -�*�� -��%��))#*� ��0�� +��'��&-*��-

�$��%��0��,�� -

3


The school has two shifts - morning and day shift. The morning shift is for girls and boys arein the day shift. (girls-1634, boys-1783).

In the morning shift there are 10 grades (grade 1-10) and 27 learning groups. Grades 1-5 havetwo groups while grades 6 through 8 have three groups, grades 9 and 10 have 4 groups each.In the dayshift there are 10 grades and 28 groups. Grades through 5 have two groups. Grades 8 and 10 have 3groups each while grades 6, 7 and 9 have 4 groups each. The division oflearners into groups aremade on the basis of number of pupils. Streaming starts at grade 9. From grade 9, therefore, learnersare divided on the basis of both numbers and courses of study (like science, business etc.)

The break-up of learners by age shows that the learner groups are homogeneous so far as ageis concerned. It also shows that though the official age for entry into grade 1 is 6 years, almost alllearners in grade 1 are 5+ years old meaning that they start earlier and the official age is not strictlyenforced.

Learners by age

Socio-economic and cultural background of the learners

A sample survey was conducted on the learners, with the questionnaire to assess their socio-economic background, collect information regarding their absenteeism and the teaching-learning andevaluation processes. The sample size was 117, i.e.3.5% of the learner population. The sampling methodused was stratified random sampling, the grades (grades 5-10) being treated as the strata. Pupils ofgrades 1-5 were not included in the sample as they are too little to fill in a questionnaire.As regards the economic background, 62% of the fathers of the learners are service-holders (by “service”the learners meant a job having the assurance of regular monthly payment. In this sense, a mechanicin a workshop also is a service holder). 37% of the fathers are businessmen (includes also small businesslike small shop-keeping) while 1% have agriculture as the source of family income. 91% of the mothersare housewives.

In the absence of any officially declared income brackets in the country, the common perceptionis that in case of Dhaka city dwellers, people with a family size of 4-5 and a total income of up toTk.5000/- per month are poor. People having a total family income of Tk.5000-15000, Tk.15000-25000and Tk.25000-35000 per month belong to the lower middle, middle and upper middle income groups.Those having a family income of Tk.35, 000 and above per month may be termed as rich.

Age Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade(in I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX Xyear)

5+ 200

6 15 241

7 6 250

8 2 250

9 11 332

10 7 432

11 402

12 23 424

13 02

14 808

15 73 308

16 35

Total 215 247 252 261 339 432 425 426 477 343 =3417

4


Classified on the basis of the above stratification, 4% of the learners are poor and 25% belongto the lower middle income group. 20% and 12% belong to middle and upper middle income group.12% of the learners come from rich families. 27% of the learners did not respond as they did not knowtheir parents’ income.

Regarding the educational background of the parents, 82% of the fathers and 43% of themothers are university graduates, while 3% of the fathers and 8% of the mothers studied up to theprimary level. The rest are secondary completers.

Regarding learning environment at home, 91% have either a separate a room or a separatetable for studying, 79% have private tutors, 83% of the learners have either of the parents or a brother ora sister to supervise the studies at home.

85% of learners said that they are very regular in attending the school. They keep from theschool rarely only in case they are sick or because of inclement weather, 15% said that they are notregular for the same reasons.

Data collected on learner absenteeism in one particular day (15.7.03) gives a14% absenteeism.Data collected on 7 different dates in 10 different classrooms of 10 different learner groups shows 20%absenteeism. The reasons cited by the teachers and learners were the monsoon, inclement weather,distance of homes from schools and illness of the learners.77% of the learners live within 1-3 km of the school while 12% live within 3-5 km. 7% reside 5 km andmore away from the school. 4% of the respondents don’t know the distance.Information about drop-outs, as supplied by the school authority shows that it is not even 1 per cent.

In your school, you may not need to go as far as the example above, though some form of socio-economic information should be available.

In order to gather appropriate and accurate information on students for your data base you will needto consider the possible sources of information and the various methods of data gathering that youmight be able to use. In most schools the possible sources would include:

• The students themselves• Parents of the students• Teachers and support staff• Members of the community (other than parents)

Methods of data gathering could be head counts, survey questionnaires and interviews.

In one of the case studies from India the following comment is found and this indicates theimportance of good data on students:

I was impressed by the principal’s ability and knowledge to provide up-to-date informationregarding a child’s performance, attendance, family background, and his /her problems. Undoubtedlythe record keeping in this school was meticulous and on being asked the principal was able to produceall the records within no time. She also took pride in the fact that she knew her children so well, sheunderstood their strengths and weaknesses, their personal problems and their behaviour.

5


ACTIVITY 3-1

Carefully consider your existing students’ profile information and decide if there are any gaps inthat information. If so, appoint a small team of teachers to work with you on the task of updatingand expanding the school’s students’ profile data base.

Unit 2: Students’ rights and responsibilities

The issue of students’ rights and responsibilities is complex and wide ranging. In some schools it maynot be easily accepted that students have rights but it is generally accepted that they have responsibilities.Let us begin our discussion of the issue by looking at some case study examples of how it is handledby some successful schools.

Case study examples

IndiaThe research team observed that the students of this school paid respect to teachers and the headteacher. The teachers and head teacher had a friendly attitude (listening to the problems of students)and they inspired the students to speak and write in English as the medium of instruction is English.They had a sympathetic relationship with the students e.g. if a student did not complete the task ontime then head teacher/teacher would provide extra time for completing the task. The head teacherand teachers affectionately managed their relations with students. One of the teachers told the researchteam that whenever any student did not bring a lunch box, then the head or a teacher would providelunch. The research team interviewed the head teacher and teacher about the management of students.They responded that they had difficulty in managing the children with disruptive behaviour becausethese children created a hindrance in the teaching-learning process and disturbed the class. They saidthat special practices and psychological techniques were used to cater to the needs of children withspecial needs. Generally students of this school managed most of the activities by themselves e.g.monitor in class, who checked the activities of students. The students also participated in inter-schoolcompetitions (cultural, sports, debate etc.) organized by different institutions and clubs. On beingquestioned about any innovative strategies adopted, a teacher responded that the school arrangedextra classes for weak students. If group psychological testing of students was needed, then individualpsychological testing of students was also arranged and proper guidance and counselling were providedto them and their parents for proper handling of these children.

BangladeshThe learners are a part of the management of classroom and co-curricular activities. There are 3‘captains’ in each group of learners who are selected by the class teacher on the basis of their performancesin the internal annual examinations. Leadership quality is another consideration. These captains assistthe teachers in maintaining classroom discipline, and organizing co-curricular activities. They informthe teacher and head teacher of any untoward event or any activity of any learner which is harmful forthe discipline or for other learners. In maintaining the overall discipline of the school boy scouts andgirl guides assist the teacher-in-charge. They also help organizing annual cultural competition andsports. They have a role in ensuring cleanliness in the school.

6


The head teacher and other teachers feel that this participation is needed for growing leadershipqualities in the learners. This is also very much helpful for the teachers in ensuring efficiency of themanagement.

BangladeshOne day while the researcher was talking with the head teacher, the head teacher was informed that agroup of 8-10 boys at two different grades played truant and are engaged in watching videos in anearby shop. The head teacher stopped the discussion, sent two teachers to catch hold of them andbring back to school. On return to school, they were identified and their parents were requested overtelephone to come to the school. Most of the mothers turned up. The head teacher, in presence of theparents and some of the teachers, talked to the pupils. She displayed an attitude of a great motivator.The boys gave words that they would not repeat the deed. Their parents, very much depressed,committed to the head teacher to give more attention to their sons. The pupils were warned that theyhave been listed and a repetition of the same will lead to the expulsion from the school.

IndiaThe Principal believes that anybody can be corrected. “No child should be branded as bad’, headded. He narrated an incident from the previous year, which reflects the concern of the principaltoward each and every child in the school. A boy from grade 11 Science stream developed somepsychological problems. Till 10th grade, he had no problem and was doing well. He was from a poorfamily. When he joined grade 11, he became little upset and grew abnormal. He started laughingloudly in the classroom without reason and was not ready to sit in the classroom. Teachers had tooften scold him. When I came to know about the problem I enquired what was happening to him.After some days I realized that there was some problem with his family. I found that his mother wasa member of the Panchayat Samiti (village committee). His father ran a petty shop but lost the smallamount he had in the ‘business’ and slipped to drinking. The boy, who was affected by the developmentat home, lost his sleep and could not study well. Not able to meet the expectations of teachers, hedeveloped a kind of abnormality. First, I counselled him and I referred him to a psychiatrist. Heimproved tremendously and was able to recover and then concentrated on studies. He secured a highsecond division in grade 12 national examinations and is presently pursuing for his bachelors degree.

PhilippinesThe school has been transformed into a child-friendly school through the following:

• Students are made aware of their rights and responsibilities by integrating this into thecurriculum, providing corners in every classroom with posters informing them of their rightsand responsibilities.

• Adopting a “no corporal punishment” policy in the school. For example, teachers are requirednot to wield the stick when they teach.

• Basic amenities and facilities are provided (safe playgrounds, water, and clean separate comfortrooms for male and female students, chairs and desks).

• Opportunities are made available to students in order to develop their special talents andrespond to their multiple intelligence needs (e.g., athletics and martial arts and sports such astaekwondo, rondalla group, drum and lyre, choir and dance troops, art clubs, etc.)

7


• Parents are regularly informed about the activities of their children in school. They are involvedin school activities such as improving children’s academic performance by helping childrenprepare their assignments or homework, participating in family planning and responsibleparenthood programs, monitoring of their children’s health, and the like.

• The school has a guidance and counselling office, manned by a full-time guidance counsellor,that helps students with behaviour problems and those who are experiencing academicdifficulties stemming from problems at home (e.g., mother-father separation or frequentquarrels, sibling rivalry, etc).

Now that you have read the case study examples let us analyse them to see how students’ rights andresponsibilities are handled.

Students’ RightsIt is evident from the examples that students have a right to:

• A friendly, sympathetic and affectionate attitude from teachers and head teacher• Psychological assistance for children with special needs• Participate in inter-school competitions (where possible)• Extra tuition, counselling and guidance for students having difficulties• Develop and display leadership qualities in the student group• Proper counselling for family related problems• Be made aware of their rights and responsibilities• No corporal punishment• Basic amenities and facilities at school• Parents being informed of their progress at school

Students’ ResponsibilitiesIt is evident from the examples that students have a responsibility to:

• Pay respect to the teachers and head teacher• Not cause disruption, hindrance or disturbance to the teaching-learning of others• Manage some classroom activities by themselves• To inform the teacher and head teacher of any untoward event or any activity of any learner

which is harmful for the discipline or for other learners• Help in organizing annual cultural competition and sports• Help in ensuring cleanliness in the school• Not to play truant or absent themselves from school without permission

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

A helpful way of thinking about the issue of rights of children is from the perspective of the UnitedNations Convention on the Rights of the Child which has been adopted by almost all countries throughoutthe world since 1990.

The full text of the UN convention is available at the following web address: http://www.unicef.org/crc/fulltext.htm and it would be well worth your while to read the full document. In particular, Articles 28and 29 are of most relevance for schools and they are reproduced here for you to read.

http://www.unicef.org/crc

8


Article 28

1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to education and with a view to achieving this rightprogressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular:

(a) Make primary education compulsory and available free to all;

(b) Encourage the development of different forms of secondary education, including general andvocational education, make them available and accessible to every child and take appropriatemeasures such as the introduction of free education and offering financial assistance in case ofneed;

(c) Make higher education accessible to all on the basis of capacity by every appropriate means;

(d) Make educational and vocational information and guidance available and accessible to all children;

(e) Take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of drop-out rates.

2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that school discipline is administeredin a manner consistent with the child’s human dignity and in conformity with the presentConvention.

3. States Parties shall promote and encourage international cooperation in matters relating toeducation, in particular with a view to contributing to the elimination of ignorance and illiteracythroughout the world and facilitating access to scientific and technical knowledge and modernteaching methods. In this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of developingcountries.

Article 29

1. States Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to:

(a) The development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to theirfullest potential;

(b) The development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and for the principlesenshrined in the Charter of the United Nations;

(c) The development of respect for the child’s parents, his or her own cultural identity, language andvalues, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from whichhe or she may originate, and for civilizations different from his or her own;

(d) The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding,peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religiousgroups and persons of indigenous origin;

(e) The development of respect for the natural environment.

2. No part of the present article or article 28 shall be construed so as to interfere with the liberty ofindividuals and bodies to establish and direct educational institutions, subject always to theobservance of the principle set forth in paragraph 1 of the present article and to the requirementsthat the education given in such institutions shall conform to such minimum standards as may belaid down by the State.

9


ACTIVITY 3-2

What are the rights and responsibilities of the students in your school? Initiate a staff andstudent discussion on the following questions at your school:

1. How do we recognize students’ rights at our school?2. How can the students be made responsible in line with their rights?3. What approach to discipline will best reflect students’ rights and responsibilities?

4. How can we achieve a good balance between rights and responsibilities?

Resolving Conflict between Teachers and Students

One of the areas of school life that is often difficult is conflict between teachers and students orbetween students and other students. This is an area where a consideration of rights andresponsibilities can be very useful and it can help in resolving the conflict. It can help by providing aconceptual framework for analysing the conflict and thereby assisting the teacher and student(s) to

find a way through it.

Case study examples

IndiaTimely counselling and guidance always bear fruit. Encouraging and surprising outcomes of suchefforts motivate the teachers to use this technique as an effective tool in dealing with the frustrationamong the students. The following incident was reported by a teacher.

A boy who came on mini migration to grade 11 commerce stream was very adamant and unruly. Hehad a peculiar habit of teasing other students and staff members, stealing their belongings and refusingto follow or obey the rules and regulations. He turned out to be a problem creator, totally deviatingfrom academics. On several occasions, he was sent home on disciplinary grounds but that couldn’tchange him. He continued teasing others and creating nuisance and his performance in the unit testswas alarming.

REFLECTION

Think about the sources and types of conflicts that generally occur at your school.

a. List various types of conflicts that occur with the students (between students and student vs.teacher)

b. What are the sources of these conflicts?c. Rank the types of conflicts according to their frequency of occurrenced. Rank the types of conflicts according to their social significance.

Now consider how the framework of rights and responsibilities can be used to negotiate a resolution tothese conflicts. How can you make students responsible for their actions? How can you ensure thatteachers respect the rights of students? What are the roles and responsibilities of the teachers and theschool committees in this regard? What problems do you face in resolving conflicts?

10


On contacting his parent school, it was learnt that he was notorious in that school also for such misdoings.One day he was caught red-handed by his House Master at midnight while returning from the nearbycinema theatre. On probing into the matter further, it was found that he unscrewed the window of thedormitory that was locked from outside and managed to get out through that. This made the matterworse but he seemed to be very cool and indifferent. His father who came to take him home burst outcrying and expressed his helplessness. He even had to borrow money for the bus fare, as his familywas not financially sound.

It occurred to me that the boy could be set right if he was given a little care and concern. On manyoccasions, it was observed that he never disobeyed me and followed the instructions given. I thoughtthere was no harm in trying. So I called him and asked the reasons for his strange behaviours, whichcaused lot of tension to his parents and others. To my questions, he responded with tears rolling downhis cheeks. I was deeply moved and stopped further advice. Then he became emotional and burst outcrying, confessing his mistakes, he promised me that he would never resort to such activities in future;he would study well and be nice to everyone.

After a week, the boy came from home and I was glad that he came to meet me personally. I couldobserve a positive change in his appearance and manners. He disclosed that lack of understanding,affection and concern had made him like that. It was clear that the causes of frustration were genuineand that had badly affected his studies. Adverse circumstances can even mar a person; that is what hashappened in his case. With all my heart I tried to console him and make him confident that he wascompetent and with sincere efforts he could prove to be a worthwhile. Students need understanding,affection and sympathy.

That was a turning point in the boy’s life. Considerable changes were observed in his conduct,attitude, discipline and academic performance. He stopped resorting to undesirable activities or unfairmeans. The change surprised the staff, the Principal and the students. Still there were apprehensionsin the minds of few but that were dispelled in few months.

It gave me immense satisfaction to note that the impact of this little counselling I had given wasreflected in his performance in the English tests. To prove his worth, he managed to get 70% marks ingrade 12. More than that, he was a totally changed youth without any maladjustment or frustrationwhen he stepped out of the institution.

Unit 3: Management of student assessment

We all know that assessment of students is an important part of the teaching-learning process in that itshould reveal what and how much students have learnt. Generally, teachers believe that regular testingof students to find out what they have learnt is the only purpose for assessment though we found in thecase studies of successful schools that there are other purposes as well such as improving studentlearning, improving teacher capacities and introducing pedagogical innovations. We also found that insuccessful schools the whole process of assessment is well managed by the teachers and the principal.

11


REFLECTION

Think about the existing student assessment practices in your school.

a. How do you assess your students?

b. What are the objectives of student assessment?

Now read some examples of comprehensive and continuous assessment with their various purposesfrom the case studies.

Case study examples

IndiaTeaching-learning process observed by the researcher was extremely good and was based on pre-planned monthly unit of syllabus. Teaching learning process was a mix of learner-centred, joyfulinteractive and activity-based qualities of learning experience. The teachers were promoting self-guidedlearning among children of senior classes. They effectively practised continuous and comprehensiveevaluation. They were assessing the performance level of children regularly and they also identifiedtheir weaknesses so the process of remedial teaching helped in improving the levels of achievement byassisting them individually or collectively. Participation of girls in classroom activities was encouraging.Children were given home assignments and teachers made diagnostic use of these assignments. Childrenwere also given feedback on it. The teachers’ behaviour and attitude towards children of all castes,various groups of socio-economic status, gender, religion was free from any discrimination. Teachersmaintained records of performance of children. Evaluation was done in cognitive and co-cognitiveaspects and this was communicated to the guardians regularly. Head teacher had discussions withfellow teachers on the progress of the children once in a week.

Learner’s evaluation is being done individually as well as collectively, formally and informally. Teachersused flexible evaluation techniques, oral evaluation through conversation, viva, observation of theirwork and behaviour, reading, recitation, activities, quizzes, written assignments, project work andformal written test are the common method, used by the teachers. Besides assessment of day to day’swork informally, formal evaluation was done after every unit; monthly, quarterly, six monthly, andannually. Teachers not only test cognitive aspects of curricular learning, but they also assess theirlearning in the affective and psychomotor domain. They were being observed throughout the daythrough activities like games, gardening, personality traits like participation, cooperation, initiative andappreciation were also observed. Teachers also tried to evaluate life skills like leadership, problemsolving, using assumed knowledge in daily life, sensitivity towards plants and animals etc.

IndiaThe school-based continuous and comprehensive pupils’ evaluation practices contributed to schooleffectiveness. The evaluation process of students had provision of a monthly test in each subjectfollowed by half-yearly and annual examinations. Teachers evaluated the performance of studentsdaily through their class work and homework. This has a pretty good weightage. Thus, the schoolorganized periodical tests, quarterly, half yearly and annual examinations. Evaluation of academicactivities was done on continuous basis and co-curricular activities were assessed by arrangingcompetitions. Students’ positive traits (truthfulness, cleanliness, dutifulness, perfection, creativity etc.)and negative traits (selfishness, falsehood, indiscipline, late coming, truancy, cheating etc.) of personalitywere assessed individually by teachers on credit card. The school maintained a cumulative record ofchildren’s progress on a card. Through this evaluation process teachers as well as students know about

12


their weaknesses and strengths and do the needful to improve their status. Therefore, the process ofschool-based continuous and comprehensive student’s evaluation was helpful in improving the students’achievement levels and the teaching-learning processes also. The school had the system of standardizednational testing, e.g. scholarship examination, art competition etc. The teachers took initiative andencouraged the children to participate in national testing. Such type of process had positive impact onteaching- learning process and quality improvement of school.

BangladeshAll the teachers mentioned the class test as an instrument of learner assessment. Pupils have to sit for2 class tests in each subject before each term examination. The marks obtained by each pupil arerecorded and carried over to the final results in each grade. Then there are the three term examinations- 1st term, 2nd term and 3rd term. The 3rd term is popularly known as the annual examination. Eachterm covers 4 months and one third of the syllabus. The marks obtained in the class test are includedin the marks obtained in the term examination. Thus performances in all the term examinations whichare inclusive of the achievements in the class tests are cumulated and final results are obtained. Learnersare returned the checked and evaluated scripts of the class test and also of term examinations for theirand their parents’ perusal. They are given a dateline to return the script duly signed by the parents to theteachers. If there is any objection of any learner or parent/guardian regarding the marking or the way thescript had been evaluated, they have direct access to the concerned teacher for settlement of the objection.70% of the teachers said that parents raise objections regarding the way a script has been assessed. Theobjections are met through discussion about the mistakes made by the learner with the learners themselvesand their parents and convincing them. In some cases, re-examination of the scripts also occurs.

BangladeshIf a learner gets poor marks in any term examination, remedial measures are taken to improve his/herperformance. In this way, at the end of the school year each and every learner gets sufficient scope toremove his/her weakness. The head teacher is very much interested in the assessment system. Afterevery assessment the head teacher convenes a meeting of the academic council which is a body of allthe teachers to analyse the results/outcome of the assessment. From the decision of this meeting thehead teacher suggests adjustment of teaching-learning process with the assessment and feedback receivedfrom the learners. The head teacher may suggest teachers to follow effective teaching-learning methodsin the classroom situation. Moreover the head teacher supplies a diary to the teachers for the preparationof lesson plans.

IndiaAn important feature of the evaluation system was introduction of a Slip Test, the details of which aregiven below.

Slip Test: A Unique Evaluation Device

One of the evaluation devices employed by the teachers is the conduct of ‘Slip Tests’. Afterevery unit is completed, a unit or class test is conducted with 5 to 8 questions related to the particularunit. The students write the test sitting in their classrooms only. After they have written the answers,the students are asked to exchange their answer sheets among themselves and correct them based ona discussion by the teachers after the test. Thereafter, the students are asked to write their answersagain after having complete information and also having discussed the correct way of answering thequestions. This has been found very effective. This helps them to try and find out the answers on theirown.

13


The principal reported that this method of evaluation is very successful, as the students do notfeel a burden on them. Calling it an innovation, the principal remarked, “This slip test works very well.Both the students and the teachers are happy. Learning does take place”. A student of grade 11 observed,“This test is very effective and useful. We know our merits and demerits while learning. Correcting other’spaper also gives us clue how to write the answers. At last you also find the ideal answer to write”Teachers too like the practice of the slip test as the very purpose of teaching is served and a kind ofcooperative learning takes place. One of the teachers said,“This helps particularly in grades 10 and 12. The students should know how to put their answers whilewriting the final examination. Moreover, teachers get to know the pulse of their students that how theparticular unit or concept has been understood by the students.”

IndiaThe school provides elaborate feedback to the students. The answer sheets of the Monday tests arereturned to the students after correction and making appropriate remarks. The questions which studentsfind difficult to answer are given in the form of assignments, group work, and so forth. The cumulativemarks of Monday tests and unit tests are display every month on the notice board on parents’ day.

Monday Test

Monday test is the unique feature of this school. The principal got this idea when he visitedanother school for attending a training program some two years ago. In Monday test, questionsrelate to the course covered in one week. No formal preparation is made for this test. The concernedteacher in his allotted class writes the questions on the black board and the students write their answersin a notebook provided by the school. The corrected answer book with detailed remarks is returned tothe student and the marks are displayed on the notice board with the marks of the unit test. Theprincipal also keeps a record of these marks which helps him in monitoring the progress of students,particularly the weak students. The principal and teachers felt that the weekly Monday test keeps thestudents alert every time. In contrast, some students expressed it as an unnecessary burden on them.

PhilippinesStudent assessment is an integral part of teaching, without which teachers will not know the extent towhich their students learn. Apart from the assessment made by the teachers themselves, there arestudent assessments made school-wide and made regularly. Grading period exams, four of them everyschool year, are given to students to determine the learning competencies mastered or not masteredfor the grading period. These exams provide feedback for the teachers in regard to what should still bedone to improve their teaching approaches, techniques and practices in order to improve studentlearning. Diagnostic tests are given by the school for each major subject at the beginning of the schoolyear and achievement tests are given towards the end of the school year. This is meant to determinewhat specific learning competencies for the various grade levels are mastered or not mastered by thestudents. Based on the test results, school-based in-service training programs are crafted by the teachersthemselves with the school principal guiding them, determining which programs are to be carried outin the next school year. The same test results are used for more focused remedial education or catch-up programs for the different subject areas; they are used, too, to identify those students who need helpand those who can be tapped to help the former.

Sri LankaThe school has formative and summative evaluation systems. Formative evaluation has changed toschool based assessment. The assessment procedures are based not only on students’ academicperformance but also their behaviours, learning competencies, essential life competencies as well as

14


REFLECTION

Having read the above case study examples, respond to these questions:a. How often and by what means were students assessed?b. How were parents involved in the assessment process?c. What role did the principal play in student assessment?d. How was student assessment used to improve learning?e. How was student assessment used for teacher improvement?f. What innovations did you notice in the schools?g. To what extent was assessment used for remedial or extra teaching?

ACTIVITY 3-3

Appoint a committee to undertake a review of assessment practices in your school and makerecommendations for improvement. Develop ToRs for the committee and provide a timeframefor it to report back to you.

other attitudes and skills. They conduct continuous assessment and unit tests. Teachers keep records ofthose assessments. They use,

• Checklists• Assessment mark sheets• Progress chart with colour symbols• Unit test mark sheets• Subject-wise mark sheets• Class-wise mark sheets

This record keeping is maintained by the class teachers. Finally, the deputy principal who is in chargeof these assessments, is responsible and reports to the higher authorities. The teachers consider studentperformance and take action for remedial work, to minimize weaknesses and bring them to exceptedlevel. Teachers help the gifted children by giving extra activities to maximize their abilities. Furthermore,they will enrich these activities with their parents through class circles, where students’ progress isdiscussed by the teachers and parents. All equipment and stationary needed for the assessment andtests are donated by the parents. The results in the Grade 5 scholarship examination are highlyappreciated. The school follows an automatic promotion system.

Unit 4: Managing Co-curricular Activities

To begin this unit let us clarify the concept of co-curricular activities and see how we candifferentiate these from the academic curriculum. Whilst the regular or academic curriculum usuallyrefers to the formal teaching and learning prescribed by the education system of the country and whichis assessed by examinations, the following case study example clearly shows what co-curricular activitiesare. These activities take place alongside the academic curriculum and are intended to provide for theholistic development of the student in areas such as physical, aesthetic and cultural development.

15


REFLECTION

Reflect on the importance and nature of co-curricular activities in your school.a. What are the co-curricular activities that you arrange in your school?b. Why do you think that co-curricular activities are important for student development?c. Assess the importance of co-curricular activities in relation to overall teaching and learning in your

school.

Cultural Development

Activities Organised in

the School

Constructive and

Creative Development

Literary

Development Physical Development

Aesthetic Development

Academic

Development

Ethical and Spiritual

Development

�

Case study example

Sri LankaThe school has introduced many co-curricular activities mainly in four areas: athletics and sports,societies, aesthetic activities, interact clubs. The school has introduced a number of sports disciplines.The students can select anything from Volleyball, Table Tennis, Swimming, Athletics, Basketball,Chess, Hockey, Karate, Badminton, Scrabble, Gymnastics, Netball, Carom, Tennis, girl’s guiding,eastern and western musical bands. Furthermore, opportunities to participate in other sports disciplinesare also provided to indicate the importance of developing the mind and body for all the students. Theschool has established many societies for co-curriculum activities such as literature societies for bothSinhala and English, various subject societies such as science, commerce, art society, drama society,environmental society, and health protect society etc. The school has succeeded in many co-curricularactivities, regional and national.

Some good examples of the organisation of co-curricular activities can be seen in the following casestudy examples.

One graph taken from an Indian case-study shows the different facets of a child’s development on

which the school, through curricular and co-curricular activities, should have an impact.

16


Case study examples

IndiaA lot of co-curricular activities were being organised by the school. Every Saturday Bal-Sabha (children’sAssembly) was held. National festivals like 15th August, 26th January and 2nd October were observedwith great fan fare. Besides the school organised intra and inter - school kala pratiyogita, folk song, folkdance and sport competitions. Antakshri, (reciting a poem by a group, beginning with the sound of lastlatter of the word by another group), creative writing and kho-kho were preferred items of girls.

PhilippinesThe school has also been involved in community-development undertakings, making it responsive tothe needs and problems of the locality. For example, it has its own Home Bio System Program whereit promotes ecological and environmental awareness by mounting workshops for parents, trainingthem to produce organic fertilizers out of plant wastes, fish gills, food leftovers, etc. It makes availableto the community and parents its school science and herbal gardens, showcasing different plant varieties,including herbal plants for treating common illnesses in the community, and a butterfly sanctuary. Theschool also has its non-formal education programs for out-of-school youths and adults, training them tobe more productive citizens. Livelihood skills training programs such as dress making and tailoring,culinary arts and food preservation are made available to the surrounding communities of the school.Recently, it worked collaboratively with the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Davao City in trainingpolicemen who are or will be deployed in the depressed and disadvantaged villages of Davao provinceto become literacy trainers who will assist the local village schools in mounting literacy training programs

Academic—Instructions in courses of studies as prescribed by CBSE and NCERT, New Delhi at itsvarious stages with useful additions.

Aesthetic—Painting, music and fine arts.

Physical—Exercises including Gymnastic and Yogic Asanas, Judo, Parallel bars, Pyramids making,Karate etc.

Cultural—Music, Drama, Theatre etc.

Constructive and Creative—Crafts making of plaster of paris casts candle, wax toys, chalksticks, creative writing (stories and poetry) etc.

Literary—Poetic recitation, Word Antyakshary, debates, speeches, essays, creative literary writing.

Ethical and Spiritual—Inspirational instructions, Kathas, Morning & Evening Assembly.

17


ACTIVITY 3-4

Make a list of all co-curricular activities in your school and then plan to introduce some newactivities that would be of interest to students. Consider the following issues.

a. How do you plan for co-curricular activities?b. Who are the participants in planning?c. How do you mobilise resources for this?d. Who are the participants in the activity (all students or few)?e. Is there any difficulty in ensuring that all students participate?f. What type of problems do you face in arranging co-curricular activities?g. Develop strategies (economic way) to involve all students in co-curricular activities.h. What strategies can be adopted to prepare an economic plan for co-curricular activities.

for the illiterate and semi-literate out-of-school-youths and adults in the underserved villages of theprovince.

Conclusion

Have you achieved the learning outcomes for this module? You can check that by looking back at theoutcomes of p. 1 of the module.

In the module we have looked at a number of topics concerning student management. First weconsidered the importance of developing a data base of student information which we referred to as aStudents’ Profile. Then we looked at the rights and responsibilities of students and the UN Conventionon the Rights of the Child. The management of student assessment and of co-curricular activitiescompleted the module.

So far we have been looking at management within the school. In the next module we shift our focusoutside the school to the management of external relations.


500 Copies




Foreword










MODULE – 4MANAGING EXTERNEL RELATION

CONTENTS

Page No.

Introduction 1

Unit 1 : Relations with Parents 2-8

Unit 2 : Relations with the Community 9-15

Unit 3 : Relations with the System Administration 15-18

Conclusion 18

1

Managing External Relations

��

MANAGING EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Introduction

You have read in the previous two modules about successful ways of managing staff and students.

However, the success of a school does not only depend upon the internal functioning of staff andstudents. It also demands establishing harmonious relationships with others who are mainly outsidethe school but who contribute significantly towards its success. The teachers and the head teacherneed to interact with outside persons and agencies regularly for effective management of the school.

There are three categories of people you will normally need to interact with outside the school:(1) parents of students, (2) the wider community, and (3) administrators in the education system. Inorder to manage a school successfully, the head needs to maintain good and useful relationships notonly with the system but also with the local community and especially with the parents. The headteacher of a school, in consultation with the administration or the governing body, the parents and thecommunity, provides vision, leadership, and direction for the school. This ensures that it is managedand organized to meet its aims and targets. The head teacher needs to communicate regularly andfrequently with the parents for reporting students’ progress and be available for consultation i.e. beaccessible to them and respond sensitively to their needs and concerns. A successful head teacheralso liaises with the community to ensure effective running of the school, mobilizes resources andensures the participation of students in the schooling process.

The aim of this module is to highlight the various strategies that successful schools adopt toinvolve the parents, the community and system administrators in various school activities. Theprogrammes and activities organized by successful schools for community development are describedand ways of gaining the cooperation of local administration for ensuring efficient functioning of theschool are addressed.

The module has three units:

Unit 1: Relations with ParentsUnit 2: Relations with the Community

Unit 3: Relations with the System Administration

Learning Outcomes


1. Identify strategies of involving parents in your school to improve students’ performance;2. Mobilize your community for school development and fulfill the community’s expectations

of your school;3. Elicit support from system administration for effective functioning of your school.

2


Unit 1: Relations with Parents

Case study example

BangladeshOn his way to the agricultural field a father came to visit his daughter’s school. He was bare footed anddressed casually. On his arrival the teacher welcomed him saying, “Hello brother! How are you?”After the greeting phase, the parent asked the teacher whether his daughter came to school today. Theteacher replied positively. Then the father asked about the performance of his daughter. The teacherassured that it was satisfactory. He was pleased and went to his work. The teacher invited him to visitthe school again.

Of all the outside people, parents of the students in the school are the most important ones that aschool needs to relate to. This is because it is this group whose children’s future the school is shaping.The above example shows that the parents, irrespective of their background, remain concerned aboutthe progress of their children and expect the school to provide them the necessary information

Throughout the world it is strongly felt that the school should take proactive steps to closely involve theparents in the school’s activities. Parents bring to the school their perception of the strengths andweaknesses of their wards, which helps the teacher in understanding the child. Further, in all countries,parents are making increasingly high demands for quality education to be provided to their wards.Regular participation of their wards and evidence that they are learning satisfactorily are some of theimportant concerns of parents. To meet the parental demands, the school has to continuously devisenew ways and means to bring improvement in their functioning and also to involve them in theschooling process.

REFLECTION

a) Do you think that the school should make efforts to reach out to the parents and also involve themin various school activities?

b) Mention two advantages and two disadvantages of involving parents in the school activities.

Advantages:1. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Disadvantages:1. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3


REFLECTION

a) Do you make efforts to reach out to the parents regularly?b) If yes, list some of the ways in which you involve parents in the school activities.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

c) What difficulties, if any, do you experience in this process?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Parental Involvement: Formal Versus Informal

The involvement of the parents with a school generally takes place at two levels: formal and informal.At the formal or legal level, parents are involved as members in the management committees of theschools. In many schools there exists a School Management Committee (SMC), with varyingnomenclatures in different countries, which is responsible for making policy decisions and overseeingthe functioning of the school. Parents are made members of this committee either by election ornomination. This committee takes all major decisions. The school informs the SMC of the progress ofstudents as well as the major difficulties faced by them. The committee meets at regular intervals,usually once a month. The case study example shows that the SMC’s oversee various activities of theschool like student and teacher attendance, teaching-learning provisions, school environment, finance,linkage with the local education authority, etc.

Case study examples

NepalAmong the School Management Committee (SMC) members, at least 4 members are from among theparents. They are involved in policy formulation and resource mobilization activities. This is thehighest decision making body in the school. It has the authority to approve the annual programme,budgetary expense and the fee structure to be charged from the students.

BangladeshParents have their representative in the SMC, which is the main body for overall management of theschool. Except for purely academic matters, management of all other areas like financial, teacher,material/infrastructure come under the purview of the SMC. Also, in academic matters like extra-curricular activities, SMC members are the conveners of different sub-committees.

4


IndiaThere exists a Vidyalaya Management Committee (VMC), which is headed by the District Magistrate.It is the highest decision making body. About 3-4 parents are the members of this committee.

At the informal or voluntary level, a Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and a Mother-Teacher Association(MTA) are found in almost all the schools. The PTAs or MTAs usually have an elected chairpersonwho remains in touch with the schools. These parents visit the school on special days to know theprogress of their wards. In one school (Pakistan) where no formal parent-teacher association existed,the principal adopted an ‘open door policy’ by making herself available everyday from 12.00 noon to1.00 pm for meeting with the parents. Another school (Philippines) maintains an open-communicationline with the parents.

Strategies and Innovations for Parental Involvement

The schools attempt to relate to the parents in many ways, such as inviting them to know the progressof their wards, providing feedback by post, taking part in annual and cultural activities, and alsoorganizing a children’s fair.

Providing Feedback to the Parents

Parents are concerned about the progress of their wards and the schools have to accept the responsibilityof informing parents about this. In most of the cases the schools organized open-house sessions orparents’ day two or three times a year at the time of announcing examination results. This provides theparents an opportunity to interact with the teachers and know the strengths and weaknesses of theirwards. This enables them to take corrective measures. In addition to sharing the results, in someschools, this occasion was used to communicate to the parents that “children are capable of doingbetter”. The different ways of providing feedback to the parents are given in the next examples.

Case study examples

IndiaAbout 60 to 70 per cent of the parents visit the school on the parents’ day, which is normally held onevery second Saturday in the school. This is the occasion when parents meet their wards, see the marksobtained by them in the unit or monthly tests displayed on the notice board, and if necessary, also seethe teachers to discuss their wards’ progress.

PhilippinesThere are four grading periods in a school year, and correspondingly four grading examinations.These examinations afford every teacher the opportunity to meet with the parents during the reportcard day, during which time the parents are required to come to school, pick up the report cards oftheir respective children, discuss what form of assistance can be extended to help their children andother measures to make learning more productive, interesting and challenging to children.

IndiaIn addition to sharing the results of the students with parents, one thing was consistently emphasized inthe PTA meetings that the child was capable of doing better. A great deal of positive intentions wasshared.

5


PakistanWhen we announce our results we invite all the parents and we request then to visit school because theschool doors are open for you, you can come, you can ask about your children and even visit ourclasses, you can sit in a class and you can see what is happening.

NepalThe parents are invited to discuss on the progress report of their children. The progress report card ishanded over only to the parents/guardians. The teacher and parents discuss on progress and problemsof the students in the groups and individually also. The status of the progress of the particular studentis discussed and the strategies to be taken in future are identified.

BangladeshOn the day of publication of the results, parents meet the class teachers group-wise in the classroom.They observe the result sheet distribution, check the results of their children, seek advice of the teacherfor improving the performances of the learner, and ventilate their grievances regarding the teaching-learning process. On the other hand, the teacher also asks parents, in cases of children having learningdifficulties, to take care, suggest ways of improvement, and the like.

BangladeshThe mother of a student of class II came to school to know the reason of bad performance of her sonin mathematics. The assistant head teacher let her to be seated with due respect and showed her therespective examination sheet. The teacher also explained to her the mistakes done by her son and alsothe possible solutions. The mother was seen happy after the meeting with the teacher.

The parent-teacher meetings do not only help the parents to know the progress of their wards but alsomake teachers accountable to the parents (see next examples).

Case study examples

IndiaThe parents of the students are very conscious of the academic performance of their wards. When theyfind that there is decline in the performance of their wards or he/she is not showing improvement overthe past result, they approach the teacher and try to know the reasons thereof. The teachers are afraidof facing such situations and do their best to consistently bring out improvement in the academicperformance of the students.

PakistanI think the meetings with the parents are useful to the parents as well as for the teachers and foradministration as well. Because the parents come to know what is the result of their daughter and theteachers know that they are going to see someone who will also tell their weak points, it improves theirworking.

Inviting Parents to School Activities

The involvement of parents is not limited to sharing the examination results. The next case studyexamples show that, in some of the schools, the parents are invited to see various activities and even tosit in the class to know how their children are taught. At the end of the day, they discuss their observationswith the head teachers and teachers, and give suggestions for further improvement.

6


Case study examples

Sri LankaTwice a month ten parents come and spend the whole day in the school. They observe all academicactivities, co-curricular activities, and hidden curricular activities also. Furthermore, they observe students’behavior and discipline too. At the end of the day at about 4.00 PM they meet the principal anddiscuss whatever they have observed. They have the opportunity to give suggestions for furtherimprovement of school activities.

PhilippinesThe principal takes time out to talk to the parents, invite them to the school to see for themselves howtheir children are doing, the progress they have reached so far, what her teachers are involved in tooptimize student learning and what she is doing as school head to ensure the safety and security ofevery student.

PakistanSometimes they (parents) sit in our classes, they come with their children and then sit in their class withthem. They are not there to observe us but only sit with their children as to know how their childrenwork in the class. They take interest in the children’s progress.

Inviting Parents to School Functions

The successful schools adopted the strategy of inviting parents to cultural and annual days’ functions.In some of the schools the parents are given the honor to distribute prizes to the students and teachers.

Case study example

NepalThe school celebrates parents’ day in the last week of August. Parents are invited to attend the functionand distribute the prizes to the best performers in the annual examination, sports, and literary symposium.

Organization of children’s fair

In a school there existed a Mothers’ Club that organized funfair events for the school and also helpedin some of the students’ initiated projects.

Case study example

PakistanThe school recently organized a ‘peace vigil’ at Hill Park to express their solidarity with the people ofIraq. This was a student initiative that was very much appreciated by the school. Members of theMothers’ Club assisted by providing help in organizing this event and with arrangements for a ‘bon-fire’ that the students wanted to do.

7


Reciprocity in School-Parent Relationships

The relationship between the school and the parents is two-way in nature. For many reasons, someparents are not able to participate in school activities. In such situations, what should the schools bedoing? One alternative is not to bother about such parents and remain content with the group whichcan afford to visit the school. In contrast, as is shown in the next case study examples, the successfulschools find time to visit the homes of such parents to inform them about the progress of their childrenand also to know their difficulties.

Case study examples

IndiaThe principal and some teachers visited the homes of a few students during summer vacation anddiscussed with the parents the performance of their wards.

PakistanTeacher visited the home to know why a particular student is not attending the school regularly, doesnot bring tiffin to the school, to inform the parents about the progress of the child, to know why thechild has not been completing his homework, etc.

Teachers also come to know the parents through informal ways. One of the informal ways, as adoptedby one of the Government Primary School in Bangladesh, was organization of a mothers’ rally wherethe teachers got the chance to orient/educate the mothers about the importance of education for theirchildren and necessity of parental involvement in it.

Difficulties in School-Parent Relationship

Involvement of parents in school activities is not always easy. Sometimes parents feel that providingeducation to their children is the responsibility of the school. Therefore, why should they waste theirtime and energy? In this type of situation, the school needs to devise innovative ways to solicit theparental support. Case study examples contain some of the alternative strategies. One of the schoolsorganizes a symposium to teach the parents about responsible parenthood. Another school recognizedboth students with high academic achievement and their parents on the annual day.

Case study examplesPakistanFathers mostly don’t participate and get involved as much as the mothers. Unfortunately the fathersonly think that their responsibility and duty is finished when they pay the fees…because of financialproblems they are also doing 2 jobs, that’s why they don’t have much time to contribute towards theschool.

PhilippinesTo reach out to parents, the school conducts a symposium on responsible parenthood. In this symposium,parents are made to realize that they should take an active part in the education of their children, andnot leave this opportunity to the school alone. Alumni of the school also attend the symposium andoften serve as resource persons.

8


PhilippinesAnother way of reaching out to the parents is the holding of the Recognition Day for Parents whenpupils’ report cards are distributed. On this occasion, the parents of pupils with high academicperformance are the ones given the awards.

MalaysiaLast year, there were 10 awards for the teachers…..Creative Teacher, Innovative Teacher and so on.On Teachers’ Day last year, at the school level, The PTA presented Appreciation letters. We celebratesuccess together.

The high degree of parental involvement raises expectations among the parents from the school andthey come to the school with many complaints as you can see in the next case study example. Theschool needs to tackle such problems carefully.

Case study example

PakistanOne parent came to the school with a complaint that you have not given homework to my daughterand he really created problems here in the school. The teacher was called into the office and when wediscussed it we found that the teacher had given the homework but the student had removed the page.For the last 2 or 3 months the father had not checked and the single day he checked he came tocomplain.

Sometimes, it is not easy to establish rapport with the PTA members, more particularly the chairperson.The head teacher has got to understand not only the parents but also the working style of the PTAchairperson. The next case study example depicts this situation.

Case study example

MalaysiaWe cannot just bring our own former style of communication or leadership with the PTA chairperson.He cannot immediately accept us…he has to be given time to adjust to us….the style changes with time,situation and current happenings. It is not easy and it is very time consuming

ACTIVITY 4-1

a) Mention various ways, with their advantages, of involving parents into differentschool activities

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b) Prepare a plan for effective integration of parents in your school. A small committeeshould be appointed to assist with this task and then implement the plan.

9


REFLECTION

a) Does your school make efforts to involve the local community in different activities?b) If yes, mention the ways of relating to the community with their specific advantages.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

c) If no, what are the problems for not taking such an initiative?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Unit 2: Relations with the Community

In the earlier unit you read about the significance of relating to the parents. However, the parentsare not isolated individuals; rather they live in a larger community. Each member of the community,through interaction, influences others in different ways. Also, the school remains located in thecontext of a community or a society, where each influences the other. It is no longer accepted thatonly teachers and students participate in education. Rather, education is now seen as a social activityin which, in addition to the school, society plays the role of a facilitator and a partner. As a result,the community gets acquainted with the school and the school comes to know about thecommunity. This makes education more meaningful and effective. The relationship between theschool, the community and the child can be represented by a triangle, in which all the threeinfluence each other.

It is, therefore, essential that in addition to relating to the parents, schools establish good and harmoniousrelationship with the larger community. In this unit, we will describe some of the strategies adopted bythe successful schools in establishing good relationships with the community, and also the difficultiesfaced by them in their efforts.

Nature of School-Community Relationships

As with school-parent relationships discussed earlier, the relationship between the school and thecommunity exists at two levels: formal or legal and informal or voluntary. The formal school-communityrelationship takes the form of the representation of the community in the management of the school,

Child

School Community

10


such as School Management Committee (SMC), Village Education Committee (VEC), and SchoolDevelopment Committee (SDC). As members of these committees, they have the authority to takecertain decisions about the school. The members of these committees are either elected or nominated.For example, in one school in India the higher education authorities nominate them and in a school inPakistan, members are selected on the basis of their role in community leadership. In other schools inIndia, the village chief becomes the ex-officio chairman of the VEC and is elected by the community.The community also elects other members. Attempts are made to include people from different sectionsof the society such as women and other underprivileged groups.

The SMC’s usually meet once a month, but sometimes they meet more frequently, if there is aneed. Case study examples show that the SMC’s perform diverse roles which are primarily related tothe maintenance of buildings, ensuring attendance of students and teachers, appointment of communitybased teachers, organization of parents’ day, collection of fees, convincing parents to allow the schoolto take their children on study tour, observing the teaching-learning process and providing feedback tothe teachers etc. The inclusion of female members in the SMC proves especially advantageous as theyvisit the homes and convince the mothers about the usefulness of education to their children. Thefollowing case studies present such specific examples.

Case study examples

PhilippinesThe involvement of community ranges from participation in development, strategic and operationalplanning for the school, sourcing of funds for certain programs and projects, assisting in carrying outthe plans of the school, monitoring and tracking of students’ behaviors including attendance, tardiness,and truancy.

PakistanThe SMC is involved in maintaining the buildings and to ensure good management practices in theschool and they also help in raising funds and getting teachers. If the school is short of some teachers,the SMC appoints some community-based teachers.

BangladeshThe SMC oversees various activities including attendance of the teachers and the students, students’performance in examinations, teachers’ classroom performance, overall environment in the school,finance and co-curricular activities.

BangladeshThe SMC members were found very cordial and spirited, at the same time very concerned with theschool affairs. The Vice-Chairman and one or two other members very frequently visit classrooms, sitinside, observe the teaching-learning process and give feedback to the head teacher.

IndiaThe VEC, a statutory body, has been given the responsibility of all round educational development ofthe village, selection of site for the school, construction and maintenance of school building, properutilization of school improvement grant, distribution of mid-day meal, scholarships and textbooks,procurement of material, monitoring of teachers’ attendance, and development of education plan forthe village.

11


IndiaThe SMC generally meets twice a year and discusses the matters related to the infrastructure, finance,and academics of the students. It closely monitors the activities of the school and gives feedback aboutbringing improvement in the smooth running of the school as well as suggesting ways of enhancingacademic performance of the students.

At the informal level, the community’s participation remains voluntary. They are invited to participatein school activities on special occasions such as national festivals, etc. In some cases the alumni of theschools have formed associations (Old Boys’ Association and Old Girls’ Association), which helps theschool in its activities. The old boys, as was evident in one case study in India, have constructed acolony and named it after the school, which is called Jawahar Colony.

Strategies and Innovations Related to Community Involvement

It is evident from the case studies that eliciting community support primarily depends upon the principal’spersonal and leadership qualities. The community should perceive the principal as displaying theability and a wide range of personal skills, particularly the ability to be sensitive to the needs of others.This was particularly evident in the case study of Philippines.

Case study example

PhilippinesIt was reported by the community that we extend support to the school because:

• the principal has the vision of improving the school, thus we are very supportive of her;• she has the leadership and the moral integrity, that’s why we do not hesitate to help her in all

her endeavors;• we can see how serious she is in her work and she is a good team player;• she is honest, and that’s a very important quality of a leader.

Some of the strategies adopted by the successful schools to solicit community involvement are describedin the following sections.

Participative Decision Making

Successful schools consult the community as a partner before taking major decisions. The head teacher,teachers, and the community jointly take such decisions. This brings in the sense of ownership in thecommunity.

Case study examples

PhilippinesFor the principal it is almost a requirement to consult with the stakeholders on matters involvingimportant decisions, the implementation of which is likely to affect them. Decisions on schoolimprovements, for instance, will definitely affect parents, PTCA officers, and village officials. Thus, sheinvites them at an early stage of the planning process and also at the latter stage when a decision is tobe carried out.

12


IndiaThe decision making in the school was observed and reported participative. The head teacher, teachers,and the community as a whole served as lubricant to the cog of the school management wheel andmade it run smooth. The interactive process had entered automation phase. Around the head teacherthe work clock of the school ticked. The head teacher had galvanized all actors to commit themselvesto school and lend their support in its effective management.

Resource Mobilization

The community helps the school by mobilizing the physical and human resources. Sometimes whenthe community is not in a position to extend financial help, they donate physical labor. However, thisdemands taking initiatives on the part of the head teacher.

Case study examples

IndiaDue to the persuasion of the principal, parents have contributed money and also complimented theschool with chairs, which are used for staff and PTA meetings. The Member of the Parliament of thelocality donated a multi-media computer from his constituency development fund. He also grantedfunds for building a playfield.

BangladeshThe school decided to build bamboo fence around the school. The school authority made a call to thevillagers to donate bamboo according to their capacity. Some people reacted to this and did notcooperate; however, many contributed to this initiative. The amount of bamboo collected was morethan actually needed. The extra bamboo was sold to meet other needs.

Sri LankaLabor contribution is the main support given by the community to the school. They involve in repairingand in the maintenance of school garden, buildings, furniture, and so on.

Involving Community to Bridge Communication Gap

The SMC can also help in bridging the communication gap between the school and the community ascan be seen in the next case study example.

Case study example

PakistanThe SMC helps us to bridge the gap between the community at large and the school community. So,if there is any important decision we make, they (SMC) go and communicate with the rest of thecommunity members … This year we increased fees by 7%. Some of the community members had thefeeling that the decision was made by teachers and they were not ready to pay the fees, but the SMCmembers went in the community centers and tried to convince the people that it was OK.

13


Formation of Sub-Committees of SMC

The next example communicates that sometimes a small number of sub-committees of SMC areappointed to look after various activities in the school. This strategy was more prominently used in oneof the schools in Pakistan.

Case study example

PakistanOne committee conducts different programs like Parents’ Day and there is a committee for photography.One committee is for fee collection, which consults with the parents who do not pay the fees in timeand another for school absenteeism.

Involvement in Academic Activities

Some of the SMC’s go beyond the supervisory role and involve themselves in academic activities indifferent ways. This has also contributed towards the success of the schools.

Case study example

IndiaThe school was able to mobilize local treasure of ethnic literature in the form of stories, songs andscripts with the help of senior people of the villages and used this material as supplementary readingmaterial. School has made hand-written manuscripts which were developed by the senior students.

Role in Changing Attitude of the Community

The female members of the community play an important role in changing the attitude of the community.In some cases, parents show reluctance in allowing the girl children to participate in activities such assports, dance, etc. As a community member reported in the case study of a school in Pakistan, “Ipersonally don’t play (sports) with the students but we have interaction with their parents. Somemothers object to their daughters playing cricket, dance, tableau, or dress show. I personally tell themthat these extra-curricular activities are also important for the students. We are now successful in motivatingthe parents”. The SMC female members usually contact the parents by themselves if any child isabsent, irregular in attendance, not punctual, weak or not giving fees on time, they visit those parentsand ask the reasons and extend the necessary help to solve the problem.

Responding to the Community Needs

The relationship between the school and the community is not one-way; rather, the relationship isreciprocal in nature. While the community through it various efforts facilitates the process of schoolfunctioning, the schools also help the community in diverse ways. Some case study examples show thedifferent ways in which schools help the community. They do so by organizing a number of programmessuch as dance, drama, etc, to remove the prevalent myths in the society. They also arrange cleanlinessand literacy drives in the villages. Rich schools allow the other schools in the vicinity to use theirresources like laboratories, playgrounds, etc. These activities help the school in building a positiveimage about themselves in the community and enjoy a deservedly better reputation.

14


Case study examples

IndiaThe head teacher insisted on parents to learn signature—writing one’s name. He would defer admissionof wards of illiterate parents till they learnt to sign. The head teacher, it was reported by the parents,took pains to teach them to write their names. He even visited their homes to complete his mission.

IndiaTeachers organize meetings in the villages occasionally for discussing issues like health, polio, cleanliness,and school’s progress, where teachers participate and contribute in various ways.

BangladeshOur duty is to provide education to all children. If we don’t understand local situations, it would not behelpful for us to carry our duty.

Challenges in School-Community Relationship

The direct interference of the SMC into classroom activities sometimes creates problems. One schoolin Pakistan faced this problem and adopted the following approach to solve it, “Previously, SMC memberswould go directly to the classrooms to observe lessons and this was upsetting for the teachers. The principalrequested them not to go straight to the classes but to come to him first for a discussion and a talk with theteacher before going to the class. The teachers felt much more comfortable with this arrangement”. Further,the teachers remain apprehensive about the involvement of the community in school activities. One ofthe ways to overcome this problem is to involve some of the teachers in the SMC meetings: “He(Principal) tries to involve some of the teachers in SMC meetings, so that they know that the community peopledon’t talk against them but they are working for their benefits” (Pakistan).

Approaching the community for establishing school-community linkages is a delicate issue, whichneeds to be handled carefully. In case the school gets in touch with a person who is not liked by theSMC Chairperson or its members, this creates problems for the head teacher and the teachers. Also,some influential persons in the community may get elected to the SMC as it adds to their prestige, butthey do not take an interest in school activities.

Case study examples

NepalSome 15 years ago, when the school was growing, very few persons from the community took interestin its development. The head teacher decided to go to the villagers and convince them to participatein the school activities. One day he went to an educated person and requested him to come to theschool. Next day, one of the SMC members came to his office and started rebuking the principalbadly. He even held his collar and pulled him from his chair. At that moment teachers arrived andtried to pacify him. Thereafter, the teacher questioned him for his rudeness. The member said that thehead teacher went to his opponent house yesterday. He asked: “why did he go there? He need nothave gone there.” Then the teachers explained him the need of every villager’s help, because schoolwas the property of the community and not of a single person. The students also gathered there. All ofthem in one voice demanded an apology from the member, which he finally did.

15


ACTIVITY 4-2

a) Initiate a staff discussion about the advantages of associating the community in schoolactivities._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b) Ask the staff to identify strategies of school-community relationships which may beadvantageous in your context and select those you would like to try._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BangladeshThe head teacher found that managing SMC members and ensuring their active participation are verychallenging tasks. Some influential members elected from the parents’ quota are not educated. Workingwith these uneducated members is very difficult because, at times, they do not like to abide by therules and regulations required for conducting school’s internal as well as external administrative andacademic affairs.

Unit 3: Relations with the System Administration

In addition to maintaining good relationships with the parents and the community, all schools have todeal with the administrative authorities. The administration should provide inspiration and motivationto the staff, pupils and parents. They are, to some extent, responsible for developing the vision andpurpose of the school. In the case of public schools, liaison with the administration becomes crucial,as they are part of the government system and are controlled by them. These schools depend to a largeextent on the administrative machinery for the availability of physical and human resources, conductingcurricular and co-curricular activities, and finance. Even the private schools cannot totally functionindependently because they have to follow the structure of schooling and other mechanisms as approvedby the government. The very fact that the local government recognizes the private schools makes itmandatory on their part to adhere to the broad framework of education prevalent in the district, stateor country.

This unit summarizes the strategies employed by the successful schools to deal effectively with theadministration.

16


This section contains a description of some of the strategies and innovative methods adopted by theprincipals of the successful schools for maintaining positive relationships with the administration.

Going Beyond the Prescribed Limits: Taking Risks

In most of the case studies, the authority of different functionaries, including the principal, is clearlyprescribed. Any action beyond this limit requires the approval of the higher authorities. This is, however,a time-consuming process and hazardous too. In order to meet the emergent demands, the principalshave, sometimes, to exercise their powers in violation of the established norm. This, of course, involvesrisk as their action may not be approved later on, and also might invite the displeasure of the higherauthorities. But in the interest of the school the action is very much needed.

Case study examples

IndiaWithin a few days of my joining I found that the school vehicle was out of order. The principal has theauthority to spend up to Rupees 25.000/-, while it actually required Rupees 30,000/-. This needed theapproval of the Headquarters at New Delhi, which would take a long time. I approach Chairman ofthe SMC and with his permission got the vehicle repaired. Thereafter, I wrote to the Headquarters forex-post approval. The matter is lying there for more than a year.

Sri LankaWe must take risk ... and even if something goes wrong and we are in trouble, we must be brave to takedecisions. I took a decision to start a computer programme with a private company (which is probablynot admissible under government rules). I got my repair done by talking to people and from the schooldevelopment fund (probably not permitted under normal circumstances) and got the money later onfrom the department.

Learning Lessons from school Supervision

In some of the schools, the formal supervision of the school is an elaborate exercise, wherein differentactivities of the school are examined in detail and suggestions for improvement are offered. While insome cases, these suggestions are mechanical in nature, the recommendations of the supervisory teamprovide useful insights for school development. The successful schools take it as a learning opportunityand work towards strengthening the aspects identified by the supervisory team.

REFLECTION

a) Describe the nature of autonomy that you as the head teacher enjoy in your country.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b) What efforts do you make to get proper support from the administration?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

17


Case study example

IndiaThe school supervision takes place twice in a year, each for two days, by a team consisting of Deputyor Assistant Director, three principals and one local educationist. The classroom teaching, assignments,testing and evaluation, teaching methodologies, coverage of syllabus, co-curricular activities, libraryfacility, infrastructure, administration, and finance are examined by the team. The schools have to takeimmediate action on their reports and also have to report to the next inspection team about actiontaken.

Deciding School Target: A Democratic Process

The targets for the school can be decided by following a democratic process. It may involve takingdecisions at certain levels: the administration level or the school level, and again communicating theschool level decisions to the administration for bringing suitable modifications in it. The school authoritiescan be convinced to adopt this procedure in other contexts as well.

Case study example

PakistanFor setting the target for the whole academic year, all the head teachers are invited and there would bediscussion, debate, group work and presentations and they would come to a consensus that theseshould be the targets for the teachers and the heads. The heads would then share those targets with theteachers and if there is any comment or concern they would then take them back to the Field EducationOffice head and the targets may be slightly modified.

Adopting a Non-Compromise Attitude in Accepting Teachers in the School

It was found in the case studies that teachers are recruited at the central level and are posted indifferent schools depending upon vacancies. In the case of Bangladesh, it was reported, “the schoolcannot recruit, punish, or dismiss any permanent teacher. It cannot select textbooks. The school is obliged toadmit all children, eligible for primary schooling, living in the catchment’s area. No selection process or choicecan be applied”. With regard to selection of teachers and textbooks, the story is similar in private andgovernment primary schools in India. However, the head teacher in a successful school would notpermit any teacher, though selected by the administration, to join the school. Rather, he would firstsatisfy himself whether the teacher could deliver the goods. This should not be misinterpreted asmaking a confrontation with the administration. The head teacher has to convince the administrationabout his requirements and point out the weaknesses of the teacher posted to the school. You shouldremember that in this entire process, the head teacher remains concerned about the welfare of thestudents and the school.

Case study example

IndiaOnce a new teacher was recruited and posted in my school. When the person reported for joining,within minutes I could realize that this person cannot communicate with my students in English. Iasked him about the same but he insisted that there would not be any problem. Before allowing himto join I sent him to a class. The feedback from the students was very poor. I sent him back to theregional office with the request that I cannot allow my children to suffer. Please post him to some otherschool where his services can be better utilized.

18


ACTIVITY 4-3

a) Identify different ways of relating with the school administration.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b) What steps do you propose to take to improve school-administration relationships in your

context?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Taking Help in Starting New Initiatives

The next case study example shows that with the help of the administration a successful school inBangladesh was able to take some new initiatives, which helped in solving the financial crunch facedby the school.

Case study example

BangladeshWith the help of administration and the community, the school has started thinking of a permanentsolution of monetary problem. The new initiatives are: arrangement of morning and evening shifts,appointment of volunteer teachers, and collection of local resources.

Conclusion

We began this module by identifying the main outside persons and agencies with whom the headteacher has to relate for effective functioning of the school. We identified three categories: the parents,the community and the system administration.

You have seen that the parents and the community are involved at the formal and the informal levels.At the formal level, some of the parents and the community members are included in the schoolmanagement committee, which is concerned with policy formulation, and management of physical,human, and financial resources, and also curricular and co-curricular activities. At the informal level,parents become part of the parent-teacher association or mother-teacher association. An importantconcern of the parents is to be regularly informed of the progress of their wards. The schools invite theparents two or three times a year to share with them the examination results. This occasion is alsoutilized by the parents to meet the teachers and get information about the strengths and weaknesses of

19


their wards, and discuss further steps needed for bringing about improvement. In some cases, whereparents are not able to come to the school, the school visits the parents or informs them by post. Someschools invite the parents to spend a day in the school to get first-hand experience of its activities andmethods of teaching. Parents are also honored by providing them the opportunities to distribute awards/prizes to the students and teachers. Though it is recognized that excessive involvement of parentscreates different types of problems for the school, successful schools find ways to tackle these problems.

The community performs diverse roles in the development of the school. This includes functions suchas helping the school by mobilizing physical and human resources, reducing communication gapbetween the school and other members of the community, monitoring absenteeism of the students andthe teachers as well as academic and co-curricular activities, changing the attitude of communityrelated to different activities of the school. All this requires consulting the community in the process ofdecision-making. The schools also make efforts to build awareness among the community towardsissues related to health and education, and allowing them to use their resources. In relating with thecommunity, the schools need to be careful about the prevailing socio-political dimension existing inthe particular community.

The need for establishing good relationships with the administration cannot be overemphasized. Theadministration helps the schools in diverse ways. The successful schools do follow their direction. Theyutilize the supervision report for bringing improvement in their functioning, adopt a non-compromisingstand when the administrative decisions can harm the interests of the school, and exercise their judgmentin making decisions.

Finally, a word of caution seems pertinent here. The strategies discussed in this module have beentaken from case studies conducted in different contexts and countries. All of them may not be applicablein your context. You should apply your judgment, carefully select some of them, and try them outbefore implementing them in your school.


500 Copies




Foreword










MODULE – 5SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

CONTENTS

Page No.

Introduction 1

Unit 1 : Overview of School Development Planning 2-9

Unit 2 : Good Practices of Planning 9-13

Unit 3 Producing a School Development Plan 13-27

Conclusion 27

1

School Development Planning

��

SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

Introduction

Welcome to the final module in this series on successful school management. This module is con-

cerned with school development planning. The school development plan is a blueprint for schooldevelopment and improvement. It sets out the priorities and strategies for both short term (up to sixmonths) and longer term (up to 3-5 years) development of the school. The plan provides a sense ofdirection as agreed by all key stakeholders for the continuous improvement of the school into thefuture.

It was found in the successful schools that development planning is a process which occurs over aperiod of time; in most schools at least three months, and it results in a document called the schooldevelopment plan. Therefore it may be seen as both process and product. The process of involvingthe key stakeholders in making important decisions is just as important as producing the final documentwhich will guide the school towards sustainable development and improvement.

The aim of this module is to introduce the concept of school development planning, discuss someprinciples of good planning practice and then provide you with a process for actually producing adevelopment plan for your school. We recognize that many schools already have such a plan while forothers it may be a new idea. Even if you have some experience with school development planning wefeel that the module will be useful for you because such planning requires continuous monitoring andreview. You may find some ideas here that will help you to refine and extend your existing schooldevelopment plan to make it more effective.

The module contains three units:

Unit 1: Overview of School Development PlanningUnit 2: Good Practices of PlanningUnit 3: Producing a School Development Plan

Learning Outcomes


• explain the rationale and elements of a school development plan• describe good practices of planning• produce a school development plan for your school.

2


Unit 1: Overview of School Development Planning

In this unit you will learn about the rationale and elements of a school development plan, including theroles of key stakeholders, and you will be able to prioritize the areas needing improvement in yourschool. In some school systems the term ‘school improvement plan’ or ‘action plan’ may be preferredor even just ‘school plan’. For our purposes, these terms may be used interchangeably as they havevery similar meanings.

Rationale of a School Development Plan

Let us start by considering a definition of a school development plan.

A School Development Plan is the product of an ongoing process where the principal, in consultation with keystakeholders, reviews the effectiveness of the whole range of educational experiences provided for students inthe school and prepares a vision and plan for continuous improvement in the short and long term future.

The definition suggests that it is a cyclical process, through which the head, in consultation with others,reviews the current needs of the school, envisions a better future, establishes priorities for developmentand evaluates the implementation leading to a further review and a new set of priorities.

A school development plan is intended to be a flexible working document which is reviewed at leastannually and is therefore responsive to changing circumstances. It brings together in one document theschool’s priorities for improvement; it identifies a limited number of whole school improvements anddevelopments and shows how they can be successfully implemented in a specific timeframe.

The underlying rationale for school development planning is that continuous improvement is morelikely to occur if it is effectively planned and resourced with the explicit agreement of the key stakeholdersabout the direction or vision for the improvement.

Case study examples

IndiaThe school plan is based on achieving the objectives of the school which are as follows:

• To achieve all-round development of boys and girls (physical, mental and moral).• To make students socially, emotionally morally and spiritually conscious.• To develop the spirit of self learning among students.• To provide equal educational opportunities for both boys and girls.• To develop sisterly/brotherly feeling among all students irrespective of their social status,

caste, community or creed.• To communicate values that are in conversance with the Indian culture.• To instill dignity of labour.• To awaken national consciousness and the spirit of universal brotherhood.

3


Elements of a School Development Plan

In the above reflection exercise you identified the key elements of a school development plan. Wenow want to sharpen your thinking by providing a list of such elements for you to consider. Whichof these elements did you think of?

• the school vision and mission• a systematic analysis of the current situation• the major areas for school development along with goals and targets• action plans for implementing each area of school development• resources, financial and human, required for implementation in each area• the timeframe for implementation• processes to monitor and review the plan.

As every school has its own individuality, there is no one model plan that fits all schools. However, theabove key elements are normally found in school development plans. It is important to mention thatthe success of a school improvement plan requires, among other things, the ability of the school toestablish a clear vision and mission with realistic and attainable aims and objectives.

Vision and Mission

A school vision is a coherent and powerful statement of what your school can and should be like atsome point in the future (perhaps five years from now). A school vision is a guiding force towardswhich a school will be aiming. Therefore a school vision gives direction towards a better future. It isimportant to involve all key stakeholders in deciding upon the school vision. In most schools keystakeholders are the head, teachers, support staff, students and parents (in some schools other membersof the local community may be included as well)

The mission is a more specific action statement about how a vision can realized and it normallyincludes aims and/or objectives.

REFLECTION

Respond to the following questions:

1. What do you think are the key elements of a school development plan?2. Thank about which elements seem to be most important and why.

3. What do you see to be the advantages of a school having a development plan?

In emphasizing the vision , Nelson Mandela in 1999 said:

Vision without action is only a dream.

Action without vision is just passing time.

Vision with Action can change the world.

4


Case study examples

PakistanThe vision of the school was found on a large chart on the wall of the Principal’s office:

“This alma mater is a learning organization where every individual is furnished with highly commendableopportunities and facilities to attain the optimal standards of academic results, social skills, moral andspiritual qualities and physical well being. A unique team spirit with a slogan of ‘sink or swim together’and a sense of strong collaboration among students, faculty and parents unifies this organization.Centre of excellence is its identity. Our slogan is committed to quality and merit.

PhilippinesThe vision of the 2003-2006 development plan is “to produce quality learners in a conducive learningenvironment with adequate modern teaching-learning facilities and innovative curriculum througheffective and efficient teachers as well as strong partnership with parents and the community”.

This vision statement is a product of consensus of the various stakeholders that participated in theplanning meetings. In these meetings, the participants were accorded the opportunity to sound off theiropinions, comments and suggestions and work in small groups to formulate a vision for the school. Thedifferent versions of the vision statement were distilled by a small group and translated it into a missionstatement as follows: “to provide learners with the basic education in order to lay the foundation forlife-long learning and services for the common good”.

Sri LankaVision of the school is “Fostering knowledge, building skills, and motivating attitudes.” When theprincipal took over the school it had no vision. The principal thinks the school must be a model schooland an example to other schools.

IndiaLet us look into the mission statement of a school in India. The mission is to make the school a centerof Excellence, not only in academic field but also in cultural, literary, sports, music and other activities.The major emphasis has been on the all round development of students.

• To make the school a model school• Character building and all round development of students• To produce ten percent results with distinction• To make good citizens of India• To make every student well disciplined and well mannered• To bring out improvement in the life of tribal people• Developing good study habits• To make my students authors and poets• To develop rural talent• To prepare students to serve the soil.

Analysis of Current Situation

Clearly, the current situation is your starting point for school development planning so it is importantto have a systematic analysis of the present strengths and weaknesses of your school. One usefultechnique for doing that is SWOT which refers to Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

5


REFLECTION

Carefully consider the performance of your school in each of the areas given below. Think about whichof them might need to be improved and therefore could be included in your school’s vision and missionstatements.

Management and organization: Learning and teaching:Planning and administration CurriculumProfessional leadership TeachingStaff management Student learningManagement of physical resources Assessment of learningSchool evaluation

Student Support and School Ethos: Student Performance:Support for student development Attitude and behaviorLinks with parents and external organizations Attendance and participationSchool Culture Achievement and results

The SWOT technique is best done in a group of around 8-10 people and you focus on one of thepoints at a time and use brainstorming to get ideas from the participants. It normally takes a session ofabout 2 hours to do a SWOT analysis based on these questions:

• What are the current STRENGTHS of the school?• What are the current WEAKNESSES of the school?• What OPPORTUNITIES do we have for school development?• What are the THREATS (or challenges) which might hinder our school development?

Major Areas of School Development

Some areas for potential school development which may be revealed through a SWOT analysis andsubsequently included in a school development plan are as follows:

• Management and organization• Learning and teaching• Student support and school ethos• Student performance.

Action Plans for Implementation

Development plans help a school to organize what it is already doing and what it needs to do in a morepurposeful and coherent way. By co-ordinating aspects which are otherwise separate, the school acquiresa shared sense of direction and is able to control and manage the tasks of development and change.Each area that is identified for improvement needs to have an action plan or strategy that indicates howthe targets will be achieved.

6


Case study examples

PakistanIn this school they plan strategically for three years. The process adopted is to do a need analysisthrough the section heads; they review and report back to the Principal their section needs such asfurniture, library books, tube lights, fan repairs, white washing, cementing, painting, glass windows etc.So the budget is prepared with an estimate, concerning how much they have spent and how much theywill spend this year.

Sri LankaIn the case of Sri Lanka teachers give their ideas to prepare the School Development Plan. Theprincipal and the management team finalize the plan for the year. Each teacher has to be in charge ofat least one project. The person in charge of the project is responsible to monitor and evaluate. Theprincipal is responsible to plan the activity calendar for the whole year. After that all the activities aredelegated to his staff.

Role of Key Stakeholders in the Planning Process

School development planning can be most beneficial when governors, staff and other stakeholders areinvolved in a continuous cycle of planning which:

• Establishes a sense of direction for the future activities of the school as a whole• Identifies and co-ordinates the agenda for change• Reduces the quality gap between objective and performance by sequencing priorities for

action• Broadens the planning of improvement and development.

The successful implementation of a school improvement plan depends on a number of essential pre-conditions being met, such as development of trust, openness, mutuality and collegiality among thestaff, pupils and parents. The level in which such qualities are present in any staff will depend on anumber of factors but in particular, they will depend on the influence of the head teacher and themanner in which he/she succeeds in creating and maintaining an environment conducive to this approach.Therefore, the role of the head teacher is of vital importance in the development of a team spirit whichproduces the necessary degree of collaboration and interdependence. For instance, let us imagine ifonly the teachers were asked to develop a school plan what would be emphasized, or the head teacheralone or the parents? Which areas would be emphasized and could we call it a comprehensive schooldevelopment plan?

7


REFLECTION

Who SHOULD and SHOULD NOT participate in the process of planning?

Example:What if only the teachers were to develop the plan? (The plan may be dominated by teachers’ problemsand teachers’ solutions to those problems e.g. job security, salary, leave etc. This plan may not talkabout teachers’ absenteeism, lack of commitment etc.)

Reflect on the following questions and consider the merits and demerits of each one.

What if only BOG (Board of Governors) develop the plan?Merits Demerits

What if only students do planning?Merits Demerits

What if all stakeholders such as BOG, head teacher, teachers, parents and students develop the plan?

Merits Demerits

Resources and Timeframe

Since school development is about improvement it is most likely that any plans you might come upwith require some additional or new resources. Such resources as financial and human are perhaps themost obvious and need to be considered first. Some school communities are very willing to providehuman resources in the form of volunteers to make improvements around the school e.g. in one schoolthe community raised some funds to buy bricks and cement and a group of men built a boundary wallaround the school. This major improvement was done at very little cost to the school.

In planning it is always wise to specify the timeframe for any major improvement as it gives a “deadline”to aim for. The timeframe could be 3 or 6 months for short term changes or 1, 2 or 3 years for longerterm initiatives.

Case study examples

PhilippinesThis school, like other public elementary schools, prepares a three year school development plan, themost recent of which is the 2003-2006 Development Plan. The various stakeholders have been involvedin crafting the development plan namely: the parents, PRCA officers, grade heads, subject coordinators,educational management information system’s coordinator of the school, property custodian, guidancecounselor, officers of the teacher’s co operative and the student council officers.

The development planning process usually starts with a review of the school’s profile—enrollment,performance indicators, staff, organizational structure , facilities and school technology , school program/curriculum, community support, trends and opportunities, and problems and issues. From these profilescome the statement of vision and mission, which is translated into goals and objectives/targets inthe areas of curriculum, staff management and development, learning environment, resourcemanagement and community building.

8


Purposes· Mission· Goals· Long-term

perspectives· accountability

Structures &Roles· ecentralization· Site-based

management· Widespread

involvement· Participative

decision making

EffectiveEducation· Excellence

& Equity

Resources· Money· People· Space· Time

Beliefs &Behaviors· Skill

development· Teamwork and

cooperation· Trust and risk

taking

Malaysia

Sharing of Vision: The head teacher would share his ideas and vision with his assistant headteachers first to get their views and support. Next he would have a staff meeting and communicate theideas to the teachers. “They may be my ideas but they should not become what I want alone. Theyshould be what my senior assistants and the staff wants to do. We need to make the decision togetherto go on or not with the idea. I need their support to implement the idea”.

Monitoring and Review

To complete the ‘cycle’ of school development planning it is important to consider monitoring andreview of the implementation of the plan. This tells you ‘how you are doing’ or what progress is beingmade towards achieving your targets. Monitoring is an effective strategy to maintain quality. Withoutaccountability there is often no progress.

Of course what you will want to monitor will depend on what is in your school plan. However, somegeneral suggestions may be made about the areas for monitoring of the school for development andthe diagram below gives a holistic picture of all the potential areas needing improvement.

9


Case study example

Pakistan

The institution has a well planned administrative set up of various committees who eventually report backto the principal. They also have a Vision and Development Committee whose prime objective is to monitorthe educational performance of the institute and they report every quarter.

If an institution is monitored objectively for its performance every quarter then the demands on the institutionare to aim for excellence. So it is possible this Vision and Developmental Committee is keeping the Almamater focused on excellence and more excellence.

Unit 2: Good Practices of Planning

Before you set out to actually produce a school development plan for your school it is important toconsider some good practices of planning. You will find these ideas to be very useful and they may be seenas principles to follow when engaging in the planning process. As you are studying each point think abouthow you could apply that principle in your school.

1. Focus on the process as well as the product

The product you will be trying to achieve is of course a written plan and it could be produced in differentforms such as a booklet or a wall chart. It may be both a booklet, which is easy to print and copy, as wellas a wall chart in the staff room or principal’s office to highlight the major points and make it more visible.Whatever you decide in terms of the product the point we want to make here is that the process of gettingthere is equally important (some would argue it is more important). One reason why it is important to focuson the process is that if it is done well it creates ownership of the plan – everyone will feel a sense ofcommitment to making sure it works successfully. A focus on the process means that you will allow moretime to develop the plan than you would if your only concern was the product. At least 2-3 months wouldbe reasonable to work through an effective process to develop a school improvement plan.

2. Engage key stakeholders in a participatory approach

“Participation is the hallmark of successful school management” (Synthesis Report. The most effectiveprocess of planning is a participatory one with broad involvement of the key stakeholders. It is most likelythat key stakeholders will include teachers, support staff, parents (and other community members), studentsand system administration. Some of these are probably more important than others; it is very importantthat all teachers have an opportunity to participate though only some parents e.g. those on the SMC, maywant to be involved. You will need to consider who are the key stakeholders in your school and how will itbe possible for them to participate in the planning process. The system administration may have somegoals and targets for all schools and you will need to take these into account in the planning for yourschool. “Active involvement of the different stakeholders in the internal management of the schools isincreasingly viewed as an effective means of promoting and improving schools” (Synthesis Report).

10


3. Set realistic expectations for improvement and prioritize

The idea behind this principle is “success breeds success” in the sense that you want to make sure thatyour goals and targets for improvement are actually achievable so that you can demonstrate successfulimprovements within a relatively short time, say six months to a year. To prioritize means to chooseyour targets carefully so that the most important or most visible targets get the first attention. In onecase study the school improvement plan focused first on improving the physical environment of theschool because it was very run-down and unattractive. Over a period of about six months the schoolwas cleaned up, a boundary wall was built and grass was grown in the playground where there waspreviously a dust-bowl. “The teachers in successful schools were found to be ready to accept innovationsand change, unlike the traditional teaching community” (Synthesis Report).

4. Build on existing school practices so that change is gradual and manageable

Another way of saying this is that incremental change is generally better than drastic upheaval whichcan be very difficult for people to cope with. Most people find it hard to accept radical change and itcan be quite threatening, especially if they have been doing the same thing for many years and suddenlysomeone says that it is no longer acceptable. Since there can be no improvement without change, youare clearly a change agent when you engage in school improvement planning. Usually, the mostappropriate way to begin a change process is to carefully analyze the existing situation and identifythose aspects that appear to be most in need of improvement. In that way you will be building onexisting practice and it will be less threatening to those involved. “Perhaps, this is one of the characteristicsof successful schools to aspire to improve the situation rather than thinking that the available things areenough” (Synthesis Report).

5. Ensure sufficient resources and incentives for change are available

In school improvement planning your role is to manage the change process and two important elementsin that role are providing resources and incentives. Usually the best incentive for teachers to change isto see how an improvement will produce better learning outcomes for their students – after all that isthe real work of the teacher. Teachers are also motivated by recognition and rewards when they domake improvements. Sometimes monetary rewards such as increased salary through a promotion canbe an incentive for improvement and there are also non-monetary rewards e.g. certificate of achievement.“A common recognition for teachers in successful schools comes in the form of their recognition by theschool itself, which treats teachers as valuable assets and pillars of their success. A part of this recognitionis the involvement of teachers in planning and implementation of school programmes and activities.Though this brings additional responsibilities to teachers, it certainly makes them feel as an integralpart of the school. This sense of belongingness, trust, responsibility and value makes teachers confidentof their own capabilities and enhances their self-esteem” (Synthesis Report).

Along with incentives you will also have to ensure that financial and human resources are sufficient forthe improvement plan to be effective. “In some cases, the schools have been able to mobilize communitysupport to improve their facilities. Some schools and their head teachers have taken vital steps inactualizing their potential by involving the community, local charity organizations and voluntaryindividual support”(Synthesis Report).

11


6. Provide for capacity-building of staff

The capacity of the staff refers to their existing levels of knowledge and skills in the areas of teaching,learning and other matters relevant to their work. For support staff it may include other expertise suchas financial management or personnel management. If we want teaching and support staff to improvethe school then they will have to learn new knowledge and skills in order to do things differently thanin the past. This can occur in a number of ways including professional development programmes, bothin school and out of school, workshops, visiting experts, occasional visits to other schools, professionalreading etc. There are of course many ways to learn and you will need to consider what will work bestin your school. The important point is that you must realize that people need opportunities to learnnew ways of doing things if you want them to change and improve. “The in-service opportunities,convention of in-house training, head teachers’ special focus on staff development programmes insome schools highlights the development of a supporting and learning culture among teachers” (SynthesisReport). “In each case, organizational culture which values both the learning of students and staffcould be seen as being one of the core foundations of the successful school” (Synthesis Report). “Whatdistinguishes the head teacher of the successful schools is their desire to help the teachers in buildingtheir capacity rather than cribbing over their inability … They also mentor bright and capable teachersand help them in achieving more in life in terms of professional skill” (Synthesis Report).

7. Monitor and review implementation of new ideas and changes

You might be surprised to find this point mentioned as part of planning, after all doesn’t monitoringoccur after plans have been implemented? Yes, that is true but it is important to plan how monitoringand review will occur prior to the plans being implemented so that they are part of the overall plan andconsistent with the objectives. The purpose of monitoring and review is to enable you to gather accurateinformation and make sound judgments about the quality of changes being made and the extent towhich the school is achieving the improvement targets you have set for yourselves. One way to do thisis to decide in advance upon a number of indicators which will give a clear picture of how theimprovements are progressing. For example, one improvement target might be to increase enrolmentand attendance in the school from the local community. Indicators could be the number of boys andgirls attending school at the end of each month.

8. School improvement planning should be an integral part of the culture ofthe school and highly visible to all concerned

School planning should not be something done by the head alone behind closed doors but should bean open and transparent process for all to see and participate in. If it is done this way a ‘culture ofimprovement’ will develop and take hold. That is to say staff will always be looking for a new andbetter way of doing things rather than simply doing the same thing year after year just because it hasalways been done that way. A good way to encourage a culture of improvement is to encourage staffto try new approaches and sometimes take a risk and see what happens. If it turns out that a mistakehas been made, then refrain from criticism and encourage the person to try something else. Once aschool improvement plan has been developed then don’t hide it! Make it visible. Perhaps write it up asa wall chart and put it on the staffroom wall or in the principal’s office where it is highly visible. “Theschools fix their mission and objective and display them on walls, notice boards to attract the attentionof various role players” (Synthesis Report).

12


Case study examples

PakistanWe noticed in the Principal’s office a prominent display of the School Action Plan (equivalent to aSchool Improvement or Development Plan). We asked the Principal how the Action Plan wasdeveloped: “All the teachers and some SMC members were involved in preparing this action plan.Not all SMC members were involved because of their other commitments but later on it was sharedwith them so that they could give their input … So in this sense they are involved but to develop thisaction plan we had sessions like twice or three times I think. We had discussion, brainstorming andgroup work and then finally we designed this action plan. So all the teachers were involved andwhere we felt that students should be involved they were also asked … especially in the senior classesthat this is our plan … and these were shared in the assembly”.

Some targets are set at federal level and each school then develops its own specific plan to meet thosetargets. The action plan for this year includes: teachers’ recognition and encouragement, examinationcoaching for 9 and 10 class students during summer and winter vacations and study tours for thestudents and teachers to historical places such as Baltit Fort.

Sri LankaMission statement: “To endow to the nation under the guidance of a dedicated staff to create intelligentand virtuous daughters able to adapt to changes in the modern world and respect the spirit of nationalismand perpetuate it”.

The school develops an annual plan. Annual implementation plans are prepared at the end of theyear. Before preparing the plans, one or two discussions are held with relevant teachers. Next, teachers,parents and the management committee jointly prepare and finalize the plan. The principal said: Iasked the teachers to give projects then I decide the aims of the projects, after that they write action steps. Weplan about 25 projects and implement them within one year.

BangladeshThe school has a development plan with some specific goals and objectives. Head teacher, teachersand members of SMC jointly prepare the plan. The specific objective of the plan is to provide qualityeducation to the learners with an achievement target of 80% success vote in the public examination.To attain the objective the school is planning to construct some classrooms for learners and separaterooms for library, laboratory, common room and auditorium. All teachers, parents and communitymembers of SMC are involved in the process of implementing this plan so the objectives can beachieved effectively and efficiently.

PhilippinesThe vision for 2003-6 is: To produce quality learners in a conducive learning environment with adequatemodern teaching-learning facilities and innovative curriculum through effective and efficient teachers aswell as strong partnership with parents and the community.

The vision statement is a product of consensus of the various stakeholders that participate din theplanning meetings. In these meetings, the participants were accorded the opportunity to sound offtheir opinions, comments and suggestions and work in small groups to formulate a vision for theschool.

13


REFLECTION

Having studied the principles of good planning practice and the case study examples, now consider yourschool. Decide on one specific action you could take for each of these principles which would enable it tobe put into practice in your school:

1. Focus on the process as well as the product.2. Engage key stakeholders in a participatory approach.3. Set realistic expectations for improvement and prioritize.4. Build on existing school practices so that change is gradual and manageable.5. Ensure sufficient resources and incentives for change are available.6. Provide for capacity-building of staff.7. Monitor and review implementation of new ideas and changes.8. School improvement planning should be an integral part of the culture of the school and highly

visible to all concerned.

The school development plan was fleshed out into annual operational plans which provide thedetails of implementation activities and they were used as blueprints for monitoring and evaluatingschool performance.

NepalThe school has developed a 5 year rolling plan. District Education Office conducts short term trainingon the preparation of plans to the head teachers and teachers from different schools. The teachers areoriented about the concept of planning from a team of experts. Then these teachers go to theirschools and start planning. In the case of this school the SMC members sat together and discussed onthe areas of necessity and the rough estimate of financial involvement. Then the teachers preparedthe first draft plan and discussed in the staff meeting in the first stage. With the ideas of the staff theplan was revised and discussed in the staff meeting. After the revision it was forwarded to the SMC.The SMC with advisory and PTA members discussed and approved the plan.

The plan has specified the objectives as:• To provide school education to all school-age children of its area• To upgrade the achievement level of students as high as 100% and maintain it• To make physical facilities favourable to help the teaching• To introduce it as a model school in the district.

Unit 3: Producing a School Development Plan

You have studied the rationale of school development planning in Unit 1 and good practices ofplanning in Unit 2. Now it is time to apply your knowledge to actually produce a school developmentplan for your school. The process of school development planning enables a school to organize whatit is already doing and what it needs to do in a more purposeful and coherent way. This unit is aprocedural guide for principals or head teachers and planning teams interested in improvement andchange in their schools through development planning.

14


Preparing for School Development Planning

Before embarking on a development planning process, there are three activities you can carry out toprepare for the process:

1. Establish a school development planning team.2. Discuss the readiness of the school for development planning.3. Decide who will be involved and the timeframe for producing the plan.

Readiness Checklist

You can use this checklist as a tool to identify key issues that can help or impede the process. It wouldbe advisable to ask a number of people or the whole team to complete this checklist and use it as abasis for discussion in your first team meeting.

ACTIVITY 5-1

The first step you should take is to establish a team of people who will work with you on producingthe school development plan. It is important that the team is representative of the key stakeholdersso you could consider inviting one or more persons from the following groups:

- Teachers- Support staff- Parents- Students

You should write a brief and clear statement of the Terms of Reference (TORs) for the team sothat everyone has a shared understanding of what will be involved.

A team of about 8 is appropriate so you may wish to have 2 from each stakeholder group with theprincipal as team leader. A good idea would be to request each group to nominate theirrepresentatives so that the spirit of democracy is planted from the beginning. Once the team isestablished it is time to call the first meeting.

Statements Yes/No

The stakeholders’ input will be available

The school data will be ready to be used in decision-making processes

The school recognizes that a change in one part of the organization usuallycalls for a change in another part

The school is knowledgeable about what other schools are doing to achieve change

The school leadership is knowledgeable about current trends in educational reform

The school leadership is effectively managing human and fiscal resources

The school is not passing through some critical period or activity e.g. annual auditor exam

The commitment and permission from system authorities is available

15


Case study example

PhilippinesThe vision of 2003-2006 development plan is “to produce quality learners in a conducive learningenvironment through effective and efficient teachers as well as strong partnership with parents and thecommunity.” This vision statement is a product of consensus of the various stakeholders that participatedin the planning meetings. In these meetings, the participants were accorded the opportunity to soundoff their opinions, comments, and suggestions and work in small groups to formulate a vision for theschool. The different versions of the vision statements were distilled by a small group and translatedinto a mission statement as follows: “to provide learners with the basic education in order to lay thefoundation for life long learning and services for the common good.”

ACTIVITY 5-2

A vision of a good school has always been stressed as a major element in leadership and planning.However, it is not simply the vision of a single person such as the head teacher that counts. Ashared vision is necessary for ownership and proper implementation of a school development

plan. You need to engage key stakeholders in the planning process right from this phase.

Planning Phase Who will be involved? When?

Visioning Exercise

Situation Analysis

Objectives formulation

Developing an Action Plan

Case study example

NepalThe school has developed a 5 year rolling plan. The District Education Office conducts short termtraining on the preparation of a plan to the head teachers and teachers of different schools. Theteachers are oriented about the concept of planning from a team of experts. Then these teachers go totheir schools and start planning.

In the case of this school, the SMC members, teachers and PTA members sat together and discussedon the areas of necessity and the rough estimate of financial involvement. Then the teachers preparedthe first draft plan and discussed in the staff meeting in the first stage. With the ideas of the staff the planwas revised and discussed in the staff meeting. After the revision it was forwarded to the SMC. TheSMC with advisory and PTA members discussed and approved the plan.

Who? and When?The following template can be used by the team to decide Who will be involved in various aspects ofthe planning and When it should occur:

16


Developing a School Vision

With the help of the following steps you will be able to develop a shared vision of what the schoolshould be like and how it should function in the future. The purpose of the activity is to develop aschool vision.

Step 1:Convene a stakeholders’ visioning workshop. Ensure that all key stakeholders are appropriatelyrepresented. The workshop should include the members of your School Development Committee andsome other stakeholder representatives as well.

Step 2:Encourage participants to respond to the following question:

What should be the characteristics of a good school? (Ask participants to give e.g. 8 characteristics).

Step 3:Stretch the participants’ thinking as much as possible by asking further questions to explore importantthemes. Some suggested questions are:

What should a good school be doing in terms of relations with parents, co-curricular activities, staffdevelopment etc.?What should be in the curriculum of a good school?What should be the qualities of a graduate from a good school?

Step 4:Collate and categorize all the responses.

Step 5:Review the collated ideas and write a vision statement which captures the most significant ideas aboutwhat a good school should be like. Now carefully consider that statement in relation to your ownschool by ensuring that it makes sense for your particular school. The vision statement should berelatively short; it could be as short as one line but no more than 3 or 4 lines of writing.

Now share it with all stakeholders for their review and comments. Incorporate their feedback anddistribute a modified version to stakeholders. The resulting statement will serve as the vision for yourschool.

Note: Vision is not a static thing .It keeps on evolving. Vision once articulated does not mean that itwill stay there. In one case from India, the head teacher said that “visioning exercise was a regularfeature with the staff”.

ACTIVITY 5-3

This is a crucial phase in school development planning. If you are doing planning for your ownschool, you may feel that you have a good idea of the situation. However, we strongly recommendthat you carry out a careful and systematic examination of the present situation with participationof the stakeholders. The output of this activity when compared with the school vision from the

previous activity will help you to identify the gaps and goals for school improvement.

17


Case study example

PhilippinesThe school development planning process usually starts with a review of the school’s profile-------------------------including enrollment, school program/curriculum, community support, trends and opportunities, andproblems and issues.

The school has conducted three educational researches aimed at helping improve itself. They are asfollows:

• “‘Parents’ perception on Public Elementary education and their Participation in SchoolActivities”

• “Effectiveness of an Adapted Design in Teaching ‘Measuring Air Pressure”• “Improving the Reading Ability of Grade 1 Pupils”

Internal and External Analysis

You need to carry out an analysis of both the internal and external situation of the school. It is quitehelpful to collect hard and soft data on both of these dimensions. Hard data refers to numerical data,official regulations or policy documents whereas soft data refers to people’s expectations and opinions.

You may find following matrix useful when considering data sources.

Carefully consider the following questions while preparing for this activity.

• What aspects of the school will you will focus on? (You may start with whole picture andthen zero in on your areas of priority).

• How you will be doing the analysis? (You need to decide on sources of data and tools forcollection of data).

• Who will be doing the analysis?

In Unit 1 we suggested SWOT as a useful technique for the situation analysis. We are now going toexpand on that by suggesting another technique to use in conjunction with SWOT and that is theEnvironmental Scan technique. The following steps will guide you through this approach if youchoose to use it.

Soft Data Hard Data

Internal · Teachers · Students· Committees · Other staff· Students results · Staff reports· Minutes of meetings · Committees reports

· Inventories of books and resources

External · Parents · BOGs minutes of meetings· Community members · System policies· People from placement · Government policies organizations · International commitments

e.g. MDGs, EFA, Child rights· Tracking of graduates

18


Environmental Scan (PESTE) and SWOT

This technique will help you to identify trends or forces outside the school that can affect or shape thecourse of actions undertaken by the school. It will also help you to identify the strengths and weaknessesof the school.

Step 1:Identify, with the help of stakeholders, the trends that are emerging that will have more influence in thecoming 3-5 years. Different political, economic, social and technological forces can have impact onschools. Identification of trends in those fields can be very helpful. In the following box, one exampleof a trend in education is quoted from the case studies.

The following template will be useful for recording the trends identified by the participants:

Step 2:From the trends/ forces you have identified what trends are most likely to impact your school and how.

The trends likely to impact your school positively can be marked as ‘opportunities’ and the trendslikely to have a negative affect on your school can be marked as ‘threats’. You will recognize theseterms from the SWOT technique outlined in Unit 1.

Politics Economic Social Technology Education

19


Step 3:This step will help you to develop understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school alsofamiliar to you from SWOT.

Strengths are the characteristics that allow the school to take advantage of opportunities or reduce theimpact of barriers while weaknesses are the characteristics that could stand in the way of the schooltaking advantage of opportunities or reducing the impact of barriers.

Case study example

Nepal The school identified the following as its strengths.

Team Sprit among the teachers; the teachers are dedicated and are hard working towards thedevelopment of the school. Most of them are local (9 teachers are from the same VDC and 9 fromneighboring VDCs and municipality, out of 23) he feels this is an important factor for teachers dedication.

Student motivation and labour. The students have respect towards the teachers and theyobey the teachers. They are also motivated by the prospect of good achievement.

SMC members and the parents attach a lot of prestige to the hard work of theschool and its success: They are proud that the school has a strong reputation. All the membersof the managing committee, PTA members, teachers and parents speak in one voice that there is a

Trends Opportunity/Threat

20


teamwork, unity and involvement of all stakeholders in making important decision. And there istransparency in the financial and administrative activities.

The school has been doing better rapidly in terms of schools leaving Examinationresults: The pass rate of this school in SLC in 2001, 2002 and 2003 are about 30, 59 % and 67 %receptively. The national average has remained about 32 in these three years. Currently this school isin the fourth position among the public secondary schools of Bhaktapur. Extra coaching classes since2002 have helped the school to achieve better. The school invites experts from outside to ensure thatthe students do better.

The school maintains a regular calendar for co-curricular and extra curricularactivities: It conducts quiz, debate, spelling and oratory contests regularly from May to October2003. The school stands first and third in oratory and folk song competition in the resource centrebased primary school contest. Similarly at secondary level it stands first among 16 schools from theneighboring VDCs. This school organizes a science exhibition on the occasion of the school anniversaryevery year.

You can ask the following simple questions:• What are our current strengths?• What are our current weaknesses?

Step 4:The out put of step 2 & 3 can be organized using the following matrix (SWOT)

Strengths WeaknessesInternal

External Opportunities Threats

21


Step 5:

Analyze the above matrix according to the following combinations and develop options/goals/directionsfor the school.

a. Strengths-opportunities: This will lead you to identify options for maximizing the strengthsof school.

b. Strengths-threats: This will lead you to identify options for reducing the impact of threats.c. Weaknesses-opportunities: This will lead you to identify options for compensating weaknesses

with the help of opportunities.d. Weaknesses-threats: This will lead you to identify areas that you must avoid.

Document analysis

Identify the documents that could provide information on the current situation and carry out ananalysis of them. The issues raised in the SWOT analysis can be a useful guide in identification ofdocuments and developing a framework of analysis. For example, if you wish to explore school-parent relationships the following documents could be a useful resource for objective analysis of thesituation:

• ToRs of PTA ( if it has any formal structure)• SMC record ( showing parents representation and contribution in the body)• Record of complaints lodged by parents• Minutes of meetings with the parents• Applications for school leaving certificates

The following examples show how school records can be helpful in a situation analysis.

Case study examples

BangladeshReviewing of the performance of the students was a common practice after the examinations. If suchreview showed any unsatisfactory performance necessary steps were taken. One example can beshown here. After the second term examination in 2002, the review meeting observed that 37 studentsof grade IV (out of 89) could not pass in mathematics. The teachers identified two reasons. Firstly, therespective teacher did not take much care of the weaker students, and secondly, the students werenot very attentive and punctual in their mathematics classes. The head teacher firstly asked therespective teacher to respond. He was advised to be careful in this regard. The issue was also discussedin the SMC meeting. The respective parents were informed about the concern of the SMC. Theteachers had a meeting with the respective parents and asked them to take care at home.

IndiaThe school record has been meticulously prepared, the records of the past five years showed zeropercentage dropout. The only children who left the school were transfer case who were given transfercertificate (TC) on leaving the school, as per administrative account no children had left the schoolfor any other reason.

22


The following process can be used to determine goals and priorities:

Step 1:Ask each person (who has been part of the whole process) to write 5 goals for the school that should bepursued over the next 1-3 years in order to achieve the vision.

Step 2:Collect all those ideas and make a comprehensive list of those goals and the areas of improvementthey relate to.

Step 3:Review the goals according to the following criteria:

• Are the goals realistic and desirable?• Do the goals reflect the issues surfaced in situation analysis? (Stakeholders’ analysis, PESTE,

SWOT, document analysis)• Do the goals match with the vision and values of the school?• Do the goals maximize strengths and minimize weaknesses and take advantage of opportunities

while minimizing threats.

Step 4:Make a list of goals in order of priority consensus.

1.2.3.Etc.

Step 5:Select the number of areas and goals you wish to work on in next six months or one year. The numberof goals your school can effectively work on will depend on the complexity of the goals as well as thecapacity of the school in terms of resources.

ACTIVITY 5-4

At this stage a careful analysis is needed to determine what the gaps are between future vision(desired state) and current reality. This may result in a long wish list of areas you would like to seeimproved. However, a small number of priorities must be selected as it is not possible to do everything at once and resources are usually scarce. The advice from good practice in Unit 2 is to ‘setrealistic expectations for improvement’ and give priority to the most important or most visibletargets. After establishing priorities the feasibility of goals should be considered in terms of availabilityof resources, time, money and people, etc.

23


Case study examples

NepalThe plan has clearly specified the objectives. They are:

• To provide school education to all school-age children of its area,• To upgrade the achievement level of students as high as 100 percent and maintain it,• To make physical facilities favorable to help the teaching,• To introduce it as a model school in the district.

Sri LankaIn relation to the mission they have developed the following aims for the school.

1. Teachers work according to the code of ethics.2. To design activities within the school to improve innovative skills of children.3. To keep high standards at public examination results and student performance.4. To make school plant pleasant.5. To train children for a life style which valus local heritage6. To create a learning environment in the school to learn English language.7. All the students in the school getting the computer training and use of computers as a

learning tool.8. To build daughters who love the school through good teacher-pupil relations.

ACTIVITY 5-5

There are several steps in developing an action plan.

Step 1:For each goal you have identified, assign a group to complete the following activity:

Example:

Goal 1: To develop school – parent relationships

Objective #1: To understand current level of relationships with parentsObjective #2: To constitute fully functional PTA by the end of next yearObjective #3: To involve the community about school functions

Following the example, convert the goals into objectives. Each objective should beSMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound)

24


Step 2: Action planningOur knowledge of best practice from the case studies reminds us to be conscious of the availability ofresources and clarity of the roles i.e. who will be doing what?

Break each objective into a small number of tasks and allocate resources accordingly.

Step 3: Planning for monitoringOne of the most important lessons from principles of good practice is to plan for monitoring and makeit part of the action plan. What you have to do is to develop criteria (or indicators) of success for eachactivity. For example, if the activity is meeting with the parents, the number of parents invited and thenumber who actually attended can serve as indicators.

Case study example

India The school has constituted as many as 38 committees. These are related to coordination, schoolcalendar, admission, time-table, examination, discipline, mess, co-curricular activities, audio-visual aids,water, maintenance and repair, vehicle maintenance, electricity, library, health and hygiene, publicity,cultural programs, local purchase, assembly, career guidance, safety and security, pace-setting activities,information technology, public relations, sports, etc. Depending upon the requirement, one or morethan one teacher was included in a particular committee. The principal himself was a member of sevencommittees. The students were represented in three committees. The mess committee consisted of all

Action Steps Who will do it? By When? Resources required?

25


house masters (teachers), staff nurse, school prefect (student), all house captains (students), and themess helper. All house captains were represented in the safety and security committee, and the schoolprefect in the maintenance and repair committee.

MalaysiaBesides effective planning, successful leaders also need to practice successful monitoring of the schoolprograms, teachers and students. It is observed that Ahmad has a plan and the importance of plan isalso communicated frequently through planned activities. The head would also have frequent meetingswith his assistant head teachers to ask about the development and progress of the various programs.

The case studies showed that a strong mechanism of monitoring exists in the successful schools. Thatmechanism clearly identifies ‘who will monitor’ (principal/section heads/committees) but more claritycan be sought by using the following template.

Action Steps What to How to Who will monitor?monitor? monitor it?

26


Action Planning Monitoring Plan

Action Steps Who? When? Resources What to When to Who?monitor monitor

Step 4: Putting the pieces together

This activity will bring all pieces of your school development plan together. After preparation of theplan you need to publish it in the form of a document, modify it (when needed) and use it as road mapfor improvement.

27


Yes /No

Are objectives/actions aligned with the vision/values of the school?

Will completing the actions produce the intended outcome?

Does implementation of the plan require any change in the management structure?

Are the resources required for actions in place?

Can progress be measured?

Is the action plan likely to improve students’ learning?

Will this plan be shared with all stakeholders?

Step 5: Quality audit

You can use the following check list to do a quality audit of the action plan.

The case studies of successful schools show different patterns regarding the process of school developmentplanning. However, there are some common themes:

a. Successful schools have a visible and explicit plan for improvement developed through theirown processes.

b. The plan is developed by the school with the support of the system. No systematic andformal process of planning exists throughout the whole system though leadership at schoollevel has a clear understanding of the future plans and shares those goals clearly.

c. Some systems develop the goals and the school does action planning.

The whole idea of school development planning is not simply to finish the document and say that youhave ‘done it’; but to implement it. The plan should not be viewed as a static thing but rather it is aliving, breathing document that can be changed as needed. Be sure to make changes if goals are notrelevant or no longer needed. A good way to implement a plan is to integrate it into all activities of theschool or in other words make it an integral part of the culture of the school (an important lesson fromgood practices).

Conclusion

In this module we have given you an overview of school development planning, provided you withsome good practices of planning and outlined a process for you to follow in order to produce adevelopment plan for your school.

We hope that you have enjoyed working through the module and we trust that you will apply the ideasto achieve continuous school improvement for the benefit of your students and your school community.

Documents

IMPROVING SCHOOL MANAGEMENT Learning from Successful Schoolsunesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002205/220543e.pdf · IMPROVING SCHOOL MANAGEMENT Learning from Successful Schools ... the