Transcript The Challenge of Learning

Effective Schools
Transforming Resources into Results
at the School Level
Comments:
Adriaan Verspoor ([email protected])
Structure of presentation
• The messages of Grand Baie
• Findings in the international literature on
effective schools and school improvement
• Summary of the findings of the research and
analysis undertaken for the 2006 biennal
meeting
• Priorities for the way forward towards
sustained quality improvement
Messages from Grand Baie (1)
• Implementation is of the essence: high level
political leadership, systematic well organized
participation and sustained support to front line
implementers
• The quantity of resources does not by itself ensure
performance
• Quality improvement is a process that lives or
dies in the classroom
• Teachers are at the heart of the quality
improvement process
Messages from Grand Baie (2)
• Good teaching incorporates a range of
instructional and assessment strategies
• Head teachers are the transformational
leaders on the path towards quality
• Teacher support systems are a key element
of the quality improvement process
• Support of communities and organized civil
society often is central to school
effectiveness
Continuing the Quest for Quality:
Central Questions:
• What are the features of effective schools in
SSA?
• What are the central elements of the process of
school improvement?
• How to transform poorly performing schools
into effective ones
ADEA Follow-Up
Assembling and reviewing evidence on
• Effective schools in Africa
• Cost effective resource allocations
• Effective head teacher leadership
• Issues in teacher development and deployment
• Curriculum challenges: Language of instruction,
gender sensitive pedagogy and competency based
instruction
• Decentralization and parental and civil society
involvement
• Equity of access and quality
Thinking about Educational Effectiveness:
Main Features
• Classroom factors (time, grouping procedures,
instructional strategies) are key
• School factors (leadership, emphasis on order,
academic achievement) enable and reinforce
• System factors (vision, standards, resources,
incentives) provide direction
• Community factors ensure local relevance and
ownership
Consistency principle: alignment reinforces the effects
Consistent Findings: Key Factors of Effectiveness
Factors
Components
Educational Leadership
School leader as information provider
Initiator and facilitator of staff professionalization
School climate
The importance given to an orderly climate
Good conduct and behavior of pupils
Perceptions of effectiveness-enhancing school climate
Pupils' engagement
Appraisal of roles and tasks
Monitoring student learning
Monitoring pupils' progress
School process evaluation
Use of evaluation results
Keeping records on pupils' performance
Time
Monitoring absenteeism
 Time at classroom level
Effective learning time
Curriculum quality
Opportunity to learn
Setting curricular priorities
Lessons from Effective Schools Research
Emphasis on:
• Learners’ educability – it is possible for all children to
learn
• Outcomes – examining indicators of learning
• Taking responsibility for students – don’t blame the
victim (the student) for the shortcomings of the school;
schools should take a fair share of the responsibility for
students’ learning performance
• Consistency throughout the school community – treat the
school as an organic whole, – more than the sum of it’s
parts – and don’t focus on only the parts
(Hopkins, 2001)
Effective Schools in Sub
Saharan Africa (1)
• Overall learning levels remain low;
• several schools demonstrate that even when
the existing level of school inputs is less
than desired, improvements are possible.
• Improvement is essentially a local process
that can be supported through local capacity
building
Effective schools in Africa (2)
Good learning outcomes:
• Teachers who plan for teaching, put into
practice what they have learned and correct
and remediate students’ work regularly;
• Head teachers who emphasize teaching and
learning; and
• Communities that actively support their
school.
Effective schools in Africa (3)
Low learning outcomes:
– Overcrowded classrooms,
– Perfunctory school level and external
pedagogical oversight
– Continued use of ineffective teaching
practices in spite of training in alternative
approaches
Effective schools: Resources and Institutions
• Textbooks, teachers guides and time are the most
cost-effective inputs;
• Class size up to 60 does not affect student
performance.
• Repetition is not an efficient way to enhance
learning.
• Long pre-service programs show little evidence of
improved learning, but do imply higher salary cost.
• Contract-teacher programs do not necessarily affect
quality..
• Incentive systems can increase staff motivation
Effective Teaching the Key to
Powerful Leaning
But …
• Many rural schools serve disadvantaged
populations and have great difficulty attracting
and retaining qualified teachers
• Pre service and in service training often do not
affect classroom practice
• Teacher support systems often are barely
functional
• New technologies may help with teacher
development
Educational Leadership in African schools
Management systems in high performing schools:
• Well structured, visible and transparent school
management involving all staff
• Regular monitoring of student performance and
teaching practices combined with support for
professional development and training of staff.
• Student learning as the central concern of school
management.
• Effective management of the involvement of
external partners
Curriculum
Language of instruction stock taking:
• Existing language-in-education policies need radical
reform to build high performance education systems;
• From bilingual model early exit model to “additive
model” with African languages as the language of
instruction for 6-8 years plus high quality instruction in a
second international/official language;
• Reforms will increase education budgets by 1-5% and
are feasible building on existing experience and
mobilizing local institutions with specialist knowledge.
Curriculum (2)
Adapting Curricula:
• Competency based curriculum is key to making
progress towards
– Language of instruction reforms
– Gender sensitive pedagogy
– Learning for understanding and application
• Countries will need to develop national competency
objectives
Parental and civil society participation
• Considerable parental or civic participation at the
school level, but little involvement at higher levels.
• National organizations rarely involved in national level
policy making.
• Different civic groups with different views on
governance and management issues,
• Many civil society actors only have a limited capacity
to participate in policy-making processes.
• Effective use of direct support to schools requires local
level capacity building
Effective Schools for All:
Equity in Access and Quality
• Providing rural people with equitable access to quality
learning with often require non-traditional approaches
and additional resources
• Complementary education programs currently provide
access to more than 3 million children, many of these
provide cost-effective and equivalent opportunities to
children who do not have access to formal schools
• Effective teaching recognizes and responds to gender
differences in learning style, takes place in a gender
sensitive school environment, adopts girl friendly
classroom management practices and recognizes the
impact of culture and tradition on girls’ performance
Implementation is of the essence
Some key findings
• Continued use of ineffective teaching
practices in spite of training in
alternative approaches
• Capacity problems that limit the
effectiveness of decentralization and
school based management reforms
Conventional Wisdom about Reform (1)
• Good curriculum is largely self
explanatory and self-implementing
• Success of reforms depends mainly on
the quality of the reform ideas
• Key variable is teacher motivation not
instructional methods
Conventional Wisdom about Reform (2)
• Schools and teachers are generally resistant to
reforms
• Tight inspection and control are essential
• Materials need to be designed so well that that
it can be implemented faithfully with minimal
training
• High-stakes tests and public accountability will
drive instruction and improve achievement
Outcomes
Outcomes:
– Implementation only by highly motivated
teachers
– Often watered-down versions were
implemented
– Little increase in student learning
– Classroom remain largely as they were
Experience with School Improvement in
Developing Countries
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Education reform is a local process
The reform process is a learning process
Teachers need to be seen as learners
Central support is vital
Effective system linkages are vital
Focus on classroom practice is key
Both local and central initiation can work
Parent and community participation is a
key element of success
(Dalin, “ How Schools Improve’, 1994
Responding to the Challenge of Learning:
Priority to School Improvement ….
But …
• Weak local capacity for planning and management constrains the
transfer of authority, resources and accountability.
• Pre-service and in-service teacher education programs and
supervision have little impact on instructional strategies and
classroom practice.
• Strengthening school management is a key to school improvement
that still requires much attention and action.
• Foreign language of instruction has a clear negative impact on
student learning; yet teachers are ill prepared to deal with this reality
• Few attempts to recognize gender and other differences in
instructional strategies and classroom management.
• Limited transfer of experience between formal and complementary
programs.