21845 E D U CAT,_`_ N HEOPMENT T H E W O R L D B A N K NWEfT O R K Effective Schools and Teachers Thematic Group Effective Schooling in Rural Africa Report 3 Case Study Briefs on Rural Schooling November 2000 Effective Schools and Teachers, Basic Education Cluster In partnership with the Africa Region Effective Schooling in Rural Africa Project Reports Report 1: Review of Phase 1 of the Program Report 2: Key Issues Concerning School Effectiveness and Improvement Report 3: Case Study Briefs on Rural Schooling Report 4: Frequently Asked Questions about Effective Schooling in Rural Communities Table of Contents Synopsis of Case Study Briefs ..................................................................I Table 1: Overview of Innovations: Key Focus Areas ......................................... 4 Table 2: Overview of Innovations: Key System Influences ................................. 6 Case Study Briefs ............................................................. 8 AFRICA 1. GUINEA: Small Grants Program ............................................................ 8 2. KENYA: The Harambee [Self-Help] Secondary School Movement ................. I 1 3. LESOTHO: Teacher Support Networks - District Resource Teachers' Program .... 14 4. MALAWI: Fostering Improvements in Pupil Learning: A 'Community School' Approach ................................................................ 16 5. MALAWI: Supporting Teacher Development in Primary Schools ..................... 18 6. MALI: Affordable Schools in Rural Villages ............................................ 20 7. SOUTH AFRICA: Creating Partnerships for Change .................................... 23 8. SOUTH AFRICA: The READ Program: Libraries and Materials Development.....25 9. UGANDA: Teacher Development Management System ................................ 27 ASIA 10. BANGLADESH: The Gonoshahajjo Sanstha (GSS) Primary Schools ................ 30 11. BANGLADESH: BRAC Non Formal Primary Education Schools .................... 33 12. PAKISTAN: Improving Provision Through the Use of Geographic Information Systems ................................................................ 36 13. THE PHILIPPINES:The Instructional Management by Parents, Communities and Teachers (IMPACT) Project ................................................................ 38 14. INDIA: Lok Jumbish ................................................................ 41 LATINAMERICA 15. COLOMBIA: Escuela Nueva (New Schools) ............................................. 44 16. GUATEMALA: Nueva Escuela Unitaria (NEU) - New Multigrade School ......... 46 17. EL SALVADOR: EDUCO (Educacion Con Participacion de la Comunidad)........49 MIDDLE EAST 18. JORDAN: Diagnostic Assessment: Involving Teachers and Students in Teaching and Learning ................................................................ 52 19. PALESTINE: Improving the Educational Experiences in Grades 1-4 ................. 55 20. PALESTINE: Establishing School-Based Systems for School Review and Development ................................................................ 58 Annex 1: ADEA Prospective, Stocktaking Review of Education in Africa - an overview of their case studies ................................................................... 60 Acknowledgement: School Improvement Worldwide: Nine Case Studies from Six Countries. Edited by Lesley Saunders, NFER ............................................. 64 Synopsis of Case Study Briefs Are you excited by the potential of what's working well, even in some poor, rural, multigrade settings? Or discouraged by the range of complexities that often dominate? It's true that conditions in rural Africa are mixed. The tremendous growth of the numbers of children attending school in recent years around the world has been an important result of initiatives to expand educational access at both primary and secondary levels. Tragically, this growth has often not been accompanied by a similar increase in resources to develop the quality of the learning environment, particularly in communities where it is most needed. The increase of displaced communities, the spread of HIV/AIDS and other related crises have added an extra burden to even try to develop a positive learning environment. However, in the midst of these discouraging circumstances, there are innovations that are highly encouraging. This group of twenty case study briefs are the first in an expanding collection which are intended to provide the project manager or planning official with a range of ideas that have been tried in various settings to improve schools and their larger education systems. The reforms focus to varying degrees on expanding access, improving quality and developing delivery capacities of education systems. Some of the reforms focus just on schools and the local community (Bangladesh, Colombia initially, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Jordan, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi-4, Mali, South Africa- 7and 8, and Palestine- 19 and 20) and the others look more at systemic reform (Guinea, Uganda, Malawi-5, Philippines, Colombia,). It is some of the more commonly known reforms that are presented in this first collection of case studies. Some of these have been show-cased for their success to improve student achievement. Others have been included to show why good ideas sometimes fail. As Table 1 summarizes, the reforms highlighted in this collection are a mix between those which focused on a part of the education system or population, and those which attempted to make changes across a national system of education. At least seven of the programs, at least initially, were begun as an alternative system to the government schools. Some were an additional program developed largely by communities or teachers to address a need that the government was unable to meet at that time. While most of the programs from this collection had key elements of resource provision, teacher development, community participation and leadership/management/supervision, most had a greater emphasis on teacher development and leadership/management/supervision. This is not unusual since these two areas, particularly when combined, are a powerful force to mobilize resources and encourage skill development to help children learn. But understanding system influences and processes is just as important, if not more so, as knowing what technical response to undertake. System influences and processes are important to effectively mobilize and sustain the reform program. Table 2 summarizes some of the key system influences noted in the case studies in this collection i.e. strong political commitment and vision; paying attention and responding/reacting to the macro-political context; developing broad-based support and consensus for the reform; designing a program that addresses specific needs, particularly from the community; facilitating implementation partnerships between the government and other groups such as NGOs, donors, and community; and building in sufficient flexibility in the planning and implementation stages to change and adapt the program as it evolves with changing conditions and needs. There are a number of lessons to be taken from the case study experiences, those in this collection and those learned also from the case studies documented in the recent ADE,A Prospective, Stocktaking Review of Education in Africa (draft document 1999) parts of which are cited below and in Annex 1. These lessons include: . Political Commitment and Vision Success in education development requires just as much passion as it does substance. Innovations need highly placed champions who can gamer the support of and commitment of change agents. The successful development of education requires the "buy in" of the highest political leadership. Innovations that are placed high on the national political agenda are most likely to register success. e Macro-Political Context The development of education in [rural Africa] cannot be effectively pursued without paying attention to macro-political contexts. Political contexts that are most conducive to the improvement of the quality of education for all are those that endorse the "norm of equality". The importance of this norm is highlighted because even without the so-called democratic countries, certain groups - women and girls, disabled, ethnic and linguistic minorities - are denied education opportunities on account of assumed inequalities. * Broad-based Support for Innovation Much can be attained through sharpening means of communicating with stakeholders who support education development. The ADEA/World Bank initiative on "communicating education" seems right on target. As the initiative unfolds, it will become necessary for it to target a wide range of stakeholders who seem to make the most difference in supporting the development of education. Communicaticin technologies should be effectively used to carry messages to people on the ground whose support makes things happen in education. • Innovation Addressed Real or Felt Needs No matter how brilliant and progressive proposed policies and innovations may be, their chances of success are limited if the beneficiaries do not understand and appreciate their value added. Policymakers, therefore, need to invest time and energy in making apparent the value of proposed policies to potential beneficiaries. It does not suffice that the benefactors know that "it is good for beneficiaries... Communities put their resources where their needs are. To this effect, sustainable and effective development of education will rely on the means of livelihood available to individuals and their communities. Whereas prior assistance to education went directly to governments, there may be need to explore strategies that will more directly target poor communities and even individuals. Such methods should endeavor to enable communities to provide for themselves rather than to be provided for by national governments. Otherwise sustainability of community support for education may be threatened. 2 * Partnerships between the Government and other groups such as NGOs, donors and communities Allowed and encouraged to exist, collective entrepreneurship for education is a vibrant source of ideas and resources... international partnerships for education development in Africa are moving away from specific project assistance and more in the direction of sector-wide approaches. Flexibility in Planning and Implementation as Needed The success of innovations depends on an astute balancing of planning with implementation. A key feature of this balance is the ability not to allow planning to arrest implementation. As aptly put by one of the presenters of the Zimbabwe science report, "not everything has to be in place before you can start." 3 Table 1. Overview of Innovations: Focus Areas _________________ IKey Focus Areas of Innovations Overall Part of the Educ. Begun as Resource Teacher Comnitinity Leadership, National System/ alternative/in Provision Development Participation Management, Education Population addition to Supervision System Gov't Prog. I.Guinea: Small X x x Grants Program 2.Kenya: Harambee X (now part of X X X Schools gov't sys.) (initially) 3. Lesotho: DRT X X x X 4. Malawi: Comm'ty X x X - Schools 5.Malawi: Teacher X x Development 6. Mali: X X X X Village schools 7. South Africa: X X X X Creating Par'ships 8. South Africa: X X X X READ Program 9. Uganda: TOMS X X X X 10. Bangladesh: GSS X X X X X II. Bangladesh: X X X X X BRAC 12. Pakistan: GIS 13. Philippines: X X X IMPACT 14. India: X ___ - - X X X 4 Lok Jumbish 15. Colombia: X X X X - X X x Escuela Nueva (in rural areas) (initially) .___________ __ . .Key FocusA reas of Innovations Overall Part of the Educ. Begun as Resource Teacher Community Leadership, National System/ alternative/in Provision Development Participation Management, Education Population addition to Supervision System Gov't Prog. 16. Guatemala:NEU X x x x x x 17. El Salvador: X X X x EDUCO 18. Jordan: X X X X Diagnostic assessm. (this phase, but was part of national system reform) 19. Palestine: X X (some) (some) Grades 1-4 (this phase, but was part of national system reform) 20. Palestine: School X (some) X Review and Dev't (this phase, but was part of ._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ n i l t rr._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __national system refon_n) 5 Table 2. Overview of Innovations: Key System Influences Key System Influences for Successfulness of Innovations Political Macro-Political Broad-Based Innovation Partnerships: Flexibility in Commitment Context support for Addressed real or Gov't with NGO, planning/implementatlion and Vision innovation felt needs community ... as needed t. Guinea: Small X X x x Grants Program 2. Kenya: Lack worked X x Harambee Schools against innov. 3. Lesotho: DRT X X X 4. Malawi: X X (insufficient info. to Comm'ty Schools _________ determnine) 5. Malawi: Teacher X X (insufficient info. to Development determine) 6. Mali: VillageX X X Schools . 7. South Africa: X x xX Creating P'ships 8. South Africa: READ Program 9. Uganda:TDMS X X X X X x 10. Bangladesh:GSS x x x x II.Bangladesh: X X X x BRAC 12. Pakistan: GIS 13.Philippines: Lack worked Lack worked X IMPACT against innov. against innov. 14. India: X X x 6 Lok Jumbish 15. Colombia: X X I X x Escuela Nueva (power strtggles)__ ... Key System Influences for Successfulness of Innovations Political Macro-Political Broad-Based Innovation Partnerships: Flexibility in Commitment Context support for Addressed real or Gov't with NGO, planninglirnplementation and Vision innovation felt needs community ... as needed 16.Guatemala:NEU X X X X X X 17. El Salvador: X X EDUCO 18.Jordan: X X X X X Diagnositic Assessin. 19. Palestine: X X X X (some) X Grades 1-4 20. Palestine:School X X X X X Review and Dev't 7 AFRIC.A GUINEA: Small Grants Program (i) What did the approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? The goal of Guinea's Small Grants Program is to improve student leaming through a balanced approach of organizational support and teacher autonomy in all of the country's primary schools. The program provides funding to enable teachers to become full partners in the mobilization of the education system by initiating and carrying out projects for increased student learning, school improvement, and their own professional development. Autonomy gives the teachers a sense of ownership and also holds them accountable for the execution of the project. (ii) What was the approach? Initially, teachers are helped to write a proposal for a grant competition to secure funding for a teacher-learning project. For selected projects, ongoing training and support is provided to help teachers carry out this work. The program is designed as a learning organization. It involves support of teachers and educational leaders at the prefectural, regional and national levels of the system, and is integrated into the normal activities of personnel in the various ministerial levels. The process includes: Organizational Support Grant Activities by Teachers 1. Preparation of proposed writing guide . Participated in repeated consultation and tryouts. Committed to participating in grant competition. 2. Creation of teacher teams and . Started writing the grant proposal with facilitator's organization of workshops for all teachers assistance, but content was left to teachers. Continued writing proposal and submitted it to prefectural jury by a set date. 3. Follow-up visits by facilitators for . Worked on improving proposal to increase chances o preliminary proposal writing being selected by regional jury. 4. Pre-selection by prefectural juries and follow .Submitted finalist proposal to regional jury. up visits by facilitators to revise proposals 5. Selection of proposal by regional jury .Committed to carrying out funded project. 6. Financial procedures and launch/evaluation of . Attained better understanding of what was involved i] l workshops carrying out the project. 7. Delivery of requested material resources (textbook . Realized that the program is serious and became mor professional books, notebooks, teaching materials and motivated to carry out project and to participate in the other supplies etc.) grant competition the following year. 8. Follow-up visits by facilitators, training . Implemented project (included carrying out planned visits by resource persons, visits by training and evaluation activities, documenting evaluators implementation, and submitted required financial an activity reports). 9. Regional and national dissemination . Made persuasive case for the value of the implement seminars project. 10. Grant renewal offer .Continued to work on improving teaching and learnin Additional support has included: * Useful and user-friendly teacher guides to help teachers with initial proposal writing. * Three-day workshops for all teachers to explain the philosophy and procedures of the program and guide them through their proposal writing. 8 * The regional coordinator of the pilot region used statistical data such as the number of teachers in various schools and distances between schools to organize teams of teachers within and across schools to discuss similar problems in the teaching-learning process. * Close-to-school technical assistance and advice for teachers maintains the momentum generated by the initial workshops. Each team was visited twice by a facilitator in the initial program. As a result, all 289 teams that participated in the initial workshops submitted preliminary proposals. * Two workshops were offered to help teachers implement their projects. The first three-day workshop, which took place a few days after the regional jury announced which projects would be funded, focused on financial reporting by teacher teams, documentation and procedures. Participants included the treasurers of all successful teams, the business managers of all prefectural directorates of education, all facilitators, and regional jury members. The workshops ended with a formal contract-signing ceremony for the team treasurers, the program's regional coordinator, and the regional inspector of education. The second workshop took place two months later and focused on project evaluation and other aspects of implementation. Various data and collection methods were introduced and practiced. * During implementation, teachers were supported by follow-up visits by facilitators twice during the first term and once a month during the second and third terms, supplemental training visits, and evaluation visits. * To give teachers the opportunity to share their work with colleagues beyond their immediate terms, the small grants program funds both a regional seminar and national seminar to share experiences. * The program offers the possibility of second and third year grant renewal to sustain commitment. Costs: [information not available at this time] (iii) How successful is the approach? How is this success determined? By the end of the school year in 1999, regional juries had reviewed about 800 finalist proposals and selected 448 projects for funding. An additional .137 projects were selected for grant renewal. In all, 395 schools and 1,700 teachers have been involved in implementation of first year projects, and 115 schools and 523 teachers in second and third year projects. A review of the project in 1999 included the following key achievements: * The program has increased awareness at the central ministerial level of the need to provide resources directly to the school level. * Credibility of school level actors i.e. teachers, headteachers, facilitators etc. has increased. * Shift from system-centered teaching to student-centered teaching; shift from evaluation as sanction to evaluation as support; and shift of teacher focus on particular capabilities of students as opposed to measuring whether students attain a standard imposed by the centralized system. * The development of low cost teaching and learning materials has become popular and increased. * Greater teacher confidence in their own abilities and professional competence have forced support personnel to begin a process of their own professional self development in order to maintain their jobs in a useful and productive way. * The creation of special structures and roles has given staff the opportunity to develop and exercise their analytic and leadership abilities to contribute to the improvement of the educational system. 9 (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is the approach? On the evidence available, it seems a very promising approach to improve teacher motivation, teacher practice and student learning, but more information is needed to determine how sustainable it is in the long tern and if is able to expand nationally. References: Dembele, M. and Bender, P. (1999) "Small grants as a catalyst for system wide focus on quality improvement in primary education in Guinea" A paper presented at the annual conference of the Comparative and International Education Society. Toronto. Staff Appraisal Report- Guinea No. 13472-GUI. Equity and School Improvement Project. Washington DC.:The World Bank. 10 AFRICA 2. KENYA: The Harambee [Self-Help] Secondary School Movement Its successes and limitations (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? Born out of political frustration after independence in 1963, the Harambee Schools were a spontaneous grassroots community initiative to develop greater access to secondary education than what could be provided by the Government at that time. Rapid expansion of primary enrolments created much pressure to develop the secondary school system. From 1963 to 1973, primary enrolments rose from around 900,000 students to almost 2 million, and the number of secondary students rose from 20,500 to almost 200,000. Better professional jobs were available with English and Math skills. However, these subjects were not available in the technical curriculum even for those who could get to school. Demand arose for both post- primary secondary schools, "second chance" polytechnic secondary schools and later for post-secondary institutes of technology. This frustration led to a number of self-help secondary school projects to provide 2-4 years of formal secondary education. (ii) What was the approach? Harambee schools differ, but a study of 311 Harambee projects stressed the overlapping but different groups that assume leadership in different phases of the project. In the first phase, initiation, major leaders (e.g. District Education Officers, Chiefs, Community Development Assistants, Teachers) create an awareness of the community's need for secondary school facilities through discussion meetings. In the second phase, organization, a broader leadership defines participation criteria and fund raising procedures; in the third phase, implementation, the leaders of local work groups take charge of the work teams and sustain their commitment. Harambee schools were planned as four-year schools, but difficulty with funding often caused them to start as two-year schools. Additional funding from the Government has been forthcoming for select Harambee schools at various times. The Harambee school program is modeled on government schools which have a great focus on producing students who perform well on the Kenyan Certificate Exam which screens to higher education and other desirable opportunities. The only difference with the government system is a lack of resources and inability to tap opportunities. This has often lowered the quality of the school facilities and programs. In the early 1990s, the government finally took responsibility for all Harambee schools and no longer distinguishes between them and government schools. The following presents their struggle to date. Students: The student intake have often been less well prepared and less academically qualified because the vast majority are those who did not qualify for government schools or who cannot afford the expense of studying far from their homes. Once in a Harambee school, students are believed to be motivated to study harder because they can take an exam at the end of the second year and if they do well, have the potential to transfer to the third year in a government school. Facilities: These are almost entirely built though community efforts. Though the Ministry of Works provides technical specifications for schools and free plans are available, many schools are built with support from external donors, and local schools in rural areas tend to ignore the specifications. Government schools tend to be ranked considerably higher than unassisted (i.e. not receiving funding from the government) Harambee schools in buildings, services, cleanliness, laboratories, libraries, equipment, ventilation and transport. Teachers: A comparison of the government and Harambee systems in 1982 showed that in government secondary schools, 84% of teachers were qualified and 88% were university trained, while only 45% of teachers in assisted and 22% in unassisted Harambee schools were qualified and only 18% in both Harambee schools were university trained. The teacher pupil ratio was also markedly more difficult in unassisted Harambee schools. The ratios were 1:31 in government schools, 1:57 in assisted Harambee schools and 1:108 in unassisted Harambee schools. Communities that constructed good housing, 11 provided a high level of support and respect for their teachers were better at attracting and retaining teachers. Curricula: Subject offerings were often limited because of the lack of resources e.g. science. The government did try to intervene with providing qualified teachers and their salaries, correspondence courses for those taking the Kenyan entrance exams, audio-visual equipment and help from the inspectorate, but interventions proved too costly. Instead the government offered to allow students passing the second year exams to come to the better equipped government schools in their third year. Management: Churches or other established groups were normally selected to manage Harambee schools and to contribute financially, even though the government required the schools to be secular in character and students not be selected on the basis of religious affiliation. Most schools were rarely inspected by the government or provided with supervision support from the government. The day-to- day functioning of the school was left in the hands of the registered management committee, represented by the headteacher whose authority was rarely challenged. Costs: The intent of the Harambee schools was not to compete with the government in providing low cost secondary schooling. Rather, schools were thought to be a way of attracting scarce government resources and services to an area. Numerous contradictory policy announcements for financial assistance were frustrating. Variations across so many different Harambee schools makes cost comparison difficult with government schools. It is clear that the lack of resources because of community poverty means that Harambee schools were less costly than government schools. However, costs to parents were more. In both types of Harambee schools (assisted and unassisted), the student paid considerably more than in government schools. In assisted government schools, the government pays the teacher salaries, while in unassisted Harambee schools, the entire cost is borne with difficulty by the community and parents. Despite the high costs and poor results, some education is generally seen as better than none by parents, and motivation remains high because some graduates do succeed in this difficult system and find a place in post-secondary education or in reasonable employment. (iii) How successful was the approach? How was this success determined? The Harambee model is extremely successful from the perspective of building indigenous community institutions to advance local development, getting girls into schools through girls' schools, and its record in expanding secondary opportunities in rural areas is impressive (in 1969 there were 244 government secondary schools, 19 government assisted Harambee schools and 244 unassisted schools. By 1987, there were 709 government schools, 1,142 assisted Harambee schools and 741 unassisted Harambee schools all serving nearly 480,000 students). But the quantitative expansion has not been matched by the needed quality improvements in many Harambee schools, particularly in unassisted schools. Also, it is estimated that half of Harambee school projects are abandoned before completion because of funding constraints, and lack of motivation for the results that actually materialize. Inequitable provision of services, variable costs to parents, and unplanned growth of schools have all been problematic. Students in Harambee schools tend to do less well than government school students on the Kenya Certificate of Entrance exam. Therefore they are also less likely to win admission into next educational stages and able to qualify for jobs of higher status. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is the approach? This model can be easily replicated for many of the wrong reasons - it can be established with minimal inputs, little expertise, and substandard staff. But these also threaten sustainability over the long run since rising costs may mean the system will no longer be affordable in the future. Also, unless quality rises and better results are achieved (coupled with lower personal financial costs), then local investment in education may not seem worth it to parents. The results could be different if the government didn't constantly erode it's financial support; could capitalize on the community contributions; and concentrate on assisting more self-study oriented instructional materials, better teacher support and 12 assisting the community to manage their schools. This case shows that when mobilization activities are based on existing community institutions and organizational strategies, they really help to move the process forward. On the other hand, it is clear that communities find it difficult to accomplish a technical service like education on their own when many elements remain outside of their control. The right partnerships are critical. Reference: Rugh, A. and Bossert, H. (1998). "The Harambee Secondary School Movement in Kenya" in Involving Communities: Participation in the Delivery of Education Programs. Washington DC:ABEL /USAID. Some of this text in the Brief is directly excerpted from this reference. 13 AFRKIC- 3. LESOTHO: Teacher Support Networks - A District Resource Teacher Program (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? The program aimed to improve student learning by developing teacher support networks in small schools in scattered and isolated mountain locations. It began in the 1980s at the initiative of the Ministry of Education, with support from the USAID-funded BANFES project staff and the Ministry of Education Inspectorate. The schools tended to be multigrade, and have fewer than five teachers. Teams of district resource teachers (DRTs) were to regularly visit teachers in these remote schools to bring instructional materials and develop further resources, to help teachers improve their classroom and instructional skills, and to provide supportive contact and training. (ii) What was the approach? Highlights and observations from the program include: * The first efforts to prepare a group of DRTs who would visit teachers in the remote schools were quite random. Experienced teachers proposed by the district education officers were appointed. * The second group of DRTs were recruited in a more systematic way. They needed to be qualified, experienced teachers, to have had headteacher or deputy headteacher experience, be willing to travel frequently, and to ride horseback where necessary. Efforts were made to try to have a gender balance as well as distribution by district and religion. Potential participants needed to write about why they wanted to be a DRT; interviews were conducted and were followed by training. * Activities undertaken by the DRTs with classroom teachers included individual consultations, group workshops for clusters, and dissemination of new curricula produced by the National Curriculum Development Center. DRTs sat down with teachers, discussed their perceived difficulties, offered suggestions to help them, gave demonstration lessons, team taught, and developed learning materials etc. Typical difficulties encountered by the teachers included classroom organization and management for multigrade schools, group work, learning centers, peer learning, and mobilizing community members to help with children's learning activities. * DRTs usually visited four times a year for two to three days at a time. * Additional workshops were organized a few times a year for all the teachers in the schools under the DRT's care (typically between 10-15 schools). These workshops were usually held on weekends. * Some community members became involved with classroom activities e.g. listening to reading groups. Other parents who were not literate felt less able to help in this way and didn't see this as part of their responsibilities. However, when meetings were called with parents about their children's education, it was not difficult to have them come for this. * The DRTs are also responsible for disseminating new curricula materials from the National Curriculum Development Center. Costs: [not available at this time] (iii) How successful was the approach? How was the success determined? About 700 of the 1200 schools were covered by DRT visits by the year 1996, accounting for 2,000 of the country's 6,000 teachers. Examination results of students in the case schools from year 1988-1989 improved by 17% compared with 6% in other schools throughout the country. Many of the classrooms 14 which were part of the program also continue to look like places of leaming e.g. visual aids on the walls, organized space for group work etc. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is the approach? After USAID funding ended, the program had been completely institutionalized within the government system and therefore showed that it could be sustainable. DRTs were given a teacher's salary on a special scale of a resource teacher or a senior resource teacher. This was paid by the Ministry of Education. Over seventy DRTs continued to operate and some were promoted into the Inspectorate. DRTs continue to be paid by from the regular government budget. The extra expenditures of the DRT program, mainly travel costs and per diems of DRTs while they are out visiting schools, are paid through the Ministry of Education budget. While there has been some reduction in the scope of the program due to costs, the program still continues 10-12 years after its original development. Part of its success lies with the fact that people within country saw a need for it, and the program, while working under the jurisdiction of the MOE Inspectorate, was also separate. This helped teachers to feel more supported rather than monitored. Special meetings between the DRTs and the Inspectorate staff helped to clarify the roles of each group. The improvement to student learning by providing such useful regular support to teachers shows this to be an effective approach to help improve educational quality. The case of Lesotho shows the promise of sustainability for such a program. References: O'Grady, B. (1996). District Resource Teachers Program Lesotho: An Interview with Gerard Mathot, Former Coordinator. Some of the text in this Brief is directly excerpted from this reference. Le Czel, D.K (1989) The District Resource Teachers Program in Lesotho (full reference not available). 15 AFRICA 4. MALAWI: Fostering Improvements in Pupil Learning: A 'Community School' Approach (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? In 1994 the Malawi Government introduced a 'free primary education for all' policy (FPE), as a result of which school enrolment rose from 1.9 million to 3.2 million (since stabilizing at around 2.8 million). These impressive enrolment gains have served to exacerbate chronic difficulties within the system. Key statistics can be expressed in terms of the number of pupils per qualified teacher, per desk, and per classroom, all of which have nearly doubled. Underlying these difficulties is the major problem of low internal efficiency, with irregular attendance and poor school quality contributing to very high drop-out and repetition rates, particularly in the first two standards, and low completion rates. The Primary Community Schools Program (PCoSP) is a Malawi Government Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture (MoESC) initiative. The program began in 1995 with the aim of developing and disseminating cost-effective and replicable approaches for the delivery of community-based primary education for all girls and boys in Malawi. It aimed to develop strong local partnerships in education by empowering communities to play a central role alongside government in providing, improving and managing education in primary schools. (ii) What was the approach? From its inception, the program has had three strands: construction, community participation, and teacher and school development. By the end of the year 2000: 97 schools (three in every district nationwide) will have been built or rehabilitated; * the roll-out of a community involvement program will be complete; * approximately 90% of schools will have completed the school development program. The approach is premised on the principle that the school itself should be the focal point for the investment of time and resources; and that the schools need consistent, structured, external support, principally from Primary Education Advisers (PEAs), in order to foster a collegiate approach to teacher self-development and to devise, implement and monitor whole school development plans. The program has developed an INSET package, which focuses on three levels: school management, school and teacher development, and improved classroom practice. The package focuses on a limited range of improvements, deliberately restricted to ensure their achievability, and on developing the support mechanisms necessary within the school to foster these improvements. The program has suggested a model of learning based on action, followed by reflection, leading to learning - 'theory grounded in practice'. The focus for, the training package is on five key areas for school improvement which are each concerned with improving pupil learning. These five issues are addressed at each of the training courses and comprise: * improving attendance; * improving school organisation (i.e. class and teacher allocation), to support the learning needs of younger pupils; 16 * promoting the continuing professional development of teachers; * making classrooms more effective; * improving lesson planning. These five key issues are revisited during the three levels of courses, to allow for iterative learning both for the individual teacher and for the institution as a whole. Schools consider all the above key issues when drawing up their Whole-School Action Plans, and are required to involve all stakeholders in this process. Costs: [no information available at this time] (iii) How successful was the approach? How was this success determined? External reviews of the program have commented that many of the schools offer a good learning environment for pupils. In particular, improvements have taken place in pupils' attendance, school organization and continuing professional development of teachers. A key factor in the project's success has been the work of the five Community Liaison Officers (CLOs), who have the responsibility of developing community support for the schools, from site selection onwards, through the construction phase, school start-up and onwards into school development. An important element of work of the CLOs has been to act as 'cross-cutting' agents, bringing together staff from different Ministries, principally the Primary Education Advisers and the Community Development Assistants. This role was a new one in Malawi, and a challenge remaining for the rest of the life of the project is to embed their work within the District structures. However, the project has not yet been able to evaluate the effect that enhancing teachers' continuing professional development has on pupil learning. This will be addressed through action research in the final phase of the program: key staff at district level will generate pupil learning 'milestones' and teachers will be trained to assess individual pupils' progress against these. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is the approach? This issue is a challenging one. The government of Malawi has signaled its intention to continue to develop the concept and practice of community schooling. The challenge will be to link the school development strategies created by the program into a coherent national in-service system and to communicate the program's understanding of community-based primary education to the whole of the national system. The final phase of the program will accordingly design and implement an initiative to demonstrate to the Ministry how affordable, replicable, equitable and high quality community-based education can be delivered throughout an entire District. The design will include the development of decentralized MoESC structures and systems, and a comprehensive strategy for evaluation. Reference: Breakell, L. (2000) "Fostering improvements in pupil learning: a 'community school' approach (Malawi)" in Saunders, L. (Ed.) School Improvement Worldwide: Nine Case Studies from Six Countries. Manchester: British Council. 17 AFRICA 5. MALAWI: Supporting Teacher Development in Primary Schools (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? As the previous Malawi case study on the community school approach noted, the internal efficiency of the primary school system in Malawi is low. It is estimated that one-third of all pupils drop out between Grades I and 2, and that only one-fifth of children entering primary school will complete their schooling within the allotted time. Pupils from urban areas spend longer in school than those from rural areas. Repetition rates are as high as 25%. Under 10% of pupils completing the primary cycle go to secondary school. Perhaps the most critical contributory factor is that of the quality of the teaching force. Free primary education was introduced in Malawi in 1994 and resulted in a massive increase in the number of primary pupils. To meet this increased demand, over 20,000 unqualified teacher have been drafted into the system - a doubling of the teaching force. The government is also committed to a decentralization policy, and it is expected that in the near future many of the functions presently controlled centrally will be devolved to the 33 districts, organized within six divisions. The Malawi School Support Systems Program (MSSSP) has accordingly been designed to strengthen systems which support school and teacher development in the primary sector. The program aims to improve the conditions for supporting the learning and development of teachers by: * operationalizing Teacher Development Centers and school-based development activities; * enhancing institutional and systems capacity to support teacher development; * establishing and institutionalizing a national training program for senior school staff and primary education advisers; - establishing and operationalizing monitoring and evaluation systems; • establishing and operationalizing program management systems. The MSSSP has been running for just under four years. (ii) What was the approach? The main target groups for the program are: Primary Education Advisers; senior primary school staff - headteachers, deputy headteachers and heads of department; primary school class teachers; district, divisional and headquarters staff; teacher trainers and staff from the Malawi Institute of Education and the University of Malawi. * 92 Teacher Development Centers have been constructed throughout the 33 districts, and another 36 are near completion; as soon as a Teacher Development Center is built, a trained Primary Education Adviser is in post to take it over. * Members of the Ministry's staff and Divisional Managers have been orientated through seminars and training to understand the concepts of school and teacher development. The program is also working with the Ministry to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the inspection service. * A Department of School and Teacher Development, whose remit is to take the lead in the professional development of teachers, has been set up at the Malawi Institute of Education - Institute professionals are key members of the National Core Training Team for the program. 18 * Each Primary Education Adviser and Teacher Development Center has been located in close proximity to the schools which they serve. Along with the Primary Education Adviser, two senior staff from within the zone form a 'zonal training team' responsible for implementing the training program for school staff, thus strengthening the capacity of the district to support teacher development activities. * At the school level, three senior school staff members at each primary school are being trained through a national training program. The program focuses on factors of classroom and school improvement which have been shown significantly to affect student learning. Regular consultation with stakeholders was built into the process of the training program's development. Four major themes are addressed: / staff development and advisory support / school organization and management / school improvement V classroom improvement Costs: [no informnation available at this time] (iii) How successful was the approach? How was this success determined? Monitoring and evaluation systems are still in the process of being developed and the first group of trainees have yet to complete their training, so it is premature to talk about 'impact'. However, a baseline study has been conducted which is providing the basis on which the impact of the program can be monitored and evaluated at school and classroom level, and there are already indications that the program is making a difference, including: - MSSSP has worked hard within the education sector to promote the message that the professional development of teachers is important; as of now, the Ministry of Education (MOE) is restoring its Teacher Education Department, to be responsible for all teacher education and development matters. * The MOE's willingness to approve certification and salary enhancement on completion of the training program for Primary Education Advisers and senior school staff marks a practical commitment to teacher development. * Evidence suggests that Primary Education Advisers are trying to put into practice what they are learning. Where Teacher Development Centers have been constructed, links with the community have been established, management committees have been formed, and many of these are actively raising funds to support running costs. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is the approach? Overall, the program is providing the highest level of support to primary education that Malawi has seen but, despite the early successes, there are several constraints on the project, including lack of resourcing, inadequate management structures and high attrition rates caused by HIV/AIDS and its consequences. Reference: Kay, J. (2000) "Supporting teacher development in primary schools (Malawi)" in Saunders, L. (Ed.) School Improvement Worldwide: Nine Case Studies from Six Countries. Manchester: British Council. 19 AFRICA 6. MALI: Affordable Schools in Rural Villages (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? During the 1970s and 1980s Mali experienced a series of great droughts which forced the Dogons and other nomads out of the Sahel to more fertile lands further south. With this resettlement came a complete change of life. In 1987 Save the Children USA (SCF) launched a program to assist this process. In 1992, the World Bank provided the Malian government with an education loan which aimed to improve access to education. At the time, Mali had one of the lowest enrolment rates in the world (20%). The loan provided 75% of the funding to build standard three-classroom schools at a cost of $10,000 per school. The remaining $2,500 would be found from village resources. This amount was, however, out of reach for most villages. As a consequence, an alternative model was sought. Although the SCF team in Mali had little experience in the education sector, its work with local communities placed it in a strong position to understand the conditions of rural poverty. SCF set out to understand what stopped village students from attending school and to find ways to address these problems which were affordable for the local community. SCF's aim of working with communities in rural Mali was to: * Begin with understanding what it is about the conditions of rural life that prevent students from attending school, and to respond to that understanding by seeking formats of education that respond to village life. * Capitalize on existing village structures to expand access to education. * Provide training so each community can support quality primary education for its children. * Facilitate the construction of village schools, which although not of a standard design should be able to provide education of a quality equal to standard schools. (ii) What was the approach? SCF's initial analysis: Showed that there was strong demand for schooling, but only if it met some minimum requirements that responded to local community needs: * Schools must be within safe walking distance for students. * Schools must respond to the need for child labor. * The teaching must be useful for village life, and must start in local languages. School construction: Schools were built by the community. SCF provided building materials (iron for the roof, metal-framed doors, sanitation equipment, desks and benches, a blackboard, table, chair and storm lantern). Total direct costs $1,200. Instructional aids: SCF provided $300 worth of educational materials for the first year. Enrollment: In principle this was restricted to children from the local village. Effort was made to ensure that equal access was given to both boys and girls. Teachers: Qualifications: Literate in the Bambara language; five years of formal schooling or trained by SCF. Pay: Parents make a monthly contribution of $.40 and the village association contributes $2.00 giving an overall salary of $12.80 (compared with $110 for a teacher in a government primary school). Workload: Teachers are expected to teach 2-3 hours per day. Curriculum: Reading, writing and mathematics through contexts of village life, health and local activities. School year: Term begins at the end of the harvest in November and continues until the beginning of May. Children are taught for 2-3 hours a day, 6 days a week for 6Y/2 months. Grades: There are two classes in each school. 6-10 year olds who may go on to formal schooling after three years of the village school and 11-15 year olds who would not. 20 Community involvement in management: Each village must have a committee which includes one literate person. The committee is responsible for school supervision, recruitment of pupils, management of teachers and maintenance of school buildings. SCF provides training for this. Parental resistance to schooling: At the time of the start of the project there was already considerable parental disaffection for schooling. The opportunity costs of sending students to school were seen to significantly outweigh the potential benefits. For this reason, village schools which could be seen as sub-standard government schools were a risk. Trials to establish confidence in village schools: August 1992 - five villages, meeting selection criteria began preparations for a trial year. October 1992 a sixth village provides the basis for four weeks of experimental on-site teacher training. November 1992, the same village requests a village school despite its previous opposition to the creation of a formal school in the neighborhood. While awaiting school construction, classes were held under the shade of a mango tree. Schools were supervised by SCF for the first year. Training courses: Short training courses were run to strengthen teachers skills. Changing the attitudes of local education officials: Skeptical official attitudes rapidly changed as it became clear that locally-trained teachers could meet the requirements of the official school inspector. At the time of writing, thirty new applications for village community schools had been received by district education authorities. (iii) How successful was the approach? How was this success determined? At the end of the first year, student attendance was high and equal for both sexes. Eighty-seven percent of students passed their first year exams and initial signs in 1994 showed strong government approval for the project. The government has used the model of community schools for their program of centres d'education pour le developpement. Anecdotal evidence is strongly in favor of the schools. Visitors to the schools consistently confirm that the children are eager, confident and learn at a rate considered remarkable by national standards. Community management of the schools remains strong, and is the prime force ensuring that schools remain responsive to the needs of local children, while ensuring that the curriculum remains consistent with the official system so that children can go on to later stages of education within the state system. The motivation of teachers is overwhelming, even though they are paid far less than state school teachers. More concrete evidence is the pressure on education officials to respond to the demand generated by the pilot. However, the success of the pilot program in integrating with the state system remains to be proven. Through actively seeking to link with government at all levels, the success of a locally- responsive approach has been brought to the attention of policy-makers, but the wider impact is unclear. How to balance closer ties with the centralized state with community management and having the autonomy to respond to the needs of local children is of particular concern. At a simpler level, students need to be able to transfer from the village school system to the formal schools, and at the moment, students success in being able to do this is not clear. The government is entertaining alternative options for post-village schooling to be able to respond to these problems. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is the approach? There are generic developmental activities, for instance developing local language curricula and materials, which in the pilot phase have been funded by SFC. These are costly but once done will serve a wide range of schools for years to come. So it is possible to imagine them being absorbed by the state system with short term donor support. There is the cost of school buildings. The reliance on local materials and labor makes it possible to envisage low-cost expansion. Project staff have tried to negotiate a relaxation of official standards for buildings. This is a critical issue for the expansion of the village school model, since village communities cannot meet official criteria without considerable external funding. The project has shown that while lack of resources for teachers is indeed a major issue, inflexibility is at least an equal problem. If the state insists the only teachers it employs are fully 21 certified, the costs of increasing access in rural areas will remain prohibitive. For village teachers even a modest state salary would be an improvement on their present state, offering a security that villagers caught in the trap of poverty cannot guarantee. References: Velis, J.(1998) "Fulfilling the promise: Village schools bring affordable education to rural Mali", an adaptation of Blazing the Trail: The village schools of save the children/USA in Mali, by Jean-Pierre Velis, UNESCO/UNICEF, 1994 which appeared in the Change in Action Series UNESCO 1998. DflD (2000) "Towards Responsive Schools: case studies from Save the Children" DflD Education Papers, Serial No. 38 22 AFRICA 7. SOUTH AFRICA: Creating Partnerships for Change (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? The new education policy in South Africa seeks to ensure quality education and lifelong learning for all, and the South African Schools Act 1994 created a single, coordinated national system. Even so, vestiges of the past system mean that vast inequalities remain. Education legislation is also transforming school governance through new governance structures and partnerships between the state, parents, learners, educators, non-teaching staff and communities. Every school is required to have an elected School Governing Body, representing parents, educators, other staff and learners, and is a way of trying to ensure that parents are more fully involved in schools. The aim of this project was to improve the quality of education at Zakhele Primary School which, like many black schools in South Africa, is faced with the challenges of dealing with the damage caused by apartheid's racially-biased education system and the demands of the new education policy. A related aim was to enhance educational opportunities for the wider school community, particularly by linking with another community and its school, Turnditch School, in the county of Derbyshire, England. The approach of the project has been to respond to the needs of Zakhele School, as identified by the school and its community. The activities of this initiative have evolved through and with the partnership itself, resulting in a flexible and responsive approach. Out of the partnership, four main activity areas emerged as being the key priorities: - resource provision; - governance and management support; * training in information and communications technology (ICT); * school linking. (ii) What was the approach? Activities were undertaken in each of the areas as follows: Resource provision: Improvement in resources is vital to redress educational inequalities, to address the challenges posed by the new curriculum and to enhance the quality of education in school. In this area, Zakhele school identified two main priorities: * making information communication technology accessible to the school community; * setting up a school library in order to provide learners with books and other reading materials. In partnership with the community in England, supported by Derbyshire local education authority, funds were raised for educational learning resources. A simple classroom was transformed into a computer room, and two computers and education software were donated from the U.K. The school also approached local retailers and obtained second-hand computers. Building leadership, management and governance capacity: Three training programs were provided - School Governance for School Governing Bodies, Financial Management and Fundraising, and Empowering School Leadership - with the aim of: 23 * equipping school managers with skills that would enable them to manage effectively the affairs of the school, and to administer and manage school resources in a transparent and efficient way; * equipping school governing bodies with skills that would enable them to perform their functions effectively as stipulated in the Schools Act. The programs were delivered by a non-governmental organization specializing in local leadership management and extended to eleven other schools in the Mamelodi area. Six representatives from each school were trained, thus ensuring a 'critical mass' in each school to implement ideas from the training. The school leadership program, for example, targeted principals, head of departments and senior teachers, and focused on the creation of an effective leadership climate both in the classroom and the school as a whole. Participants tackled issues such as designing a school's mission statement, setting work-related objectives and standards of performance, and motivating, coaching and assessing performance of learners and educators. ICT: In order to improve access to ICT and to encourage its innovative and effective use, appropriate technology skills training and technical support were arranged for the school. Internet connectivity was facilitated in order to provide new opportunities for learning and to overcome geographical and institutional constraints, and to strengthen the links with Turnditch School. Links with Turnditch School, England: There were exchange visits involving the deputy headteacher of Turnditch, the headteacher of Zakhele and an outreach worker in the Mamelodi area. The headteacher of Zakhele had an opportunity to 'shadow' the headteacher of Turmditch and to participate in some classes. The exchange of ideas and materials between the two schools will be facilitated by the Internet. Costs: [no evidence available at this time] (iii) How successful was the approach? How was this success determined? Although there is as yet no quantitative proof of the impact on pupils' learning, there was already evidence of increased motivation among pupils, staff and parents; a more positive learning environment; new management skills, systems and structures; enhanced learning opportunities and new resource materials. Parents have become more actively involved in the school, not only in school governance but also in other activities at the school. The school has been able to build partnerships with the local community as well as internationally. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is the approach? The project can be seen as a very useful pilot, but it is difficult to speculate further on its ability to go to scale. However, the success of the pilot highlights one key principle: the importance of placing the school and its needs, as defined by the school and its community, at the center and letting these determine the nature of the intervention and support. Reference: Nkoane, T. (2000) "Creating partnerships for change (South Africa)" in Saunders, L. (Ed.) School Improvement Worldwide: Nine Case Studies from Six Countries. Manchester: British Council. 24 AFRICA 8. SOUTH AFRICA: The READ Program: Libraries and Materials Development (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? The South African Library and information system is described by the National Education Policy Investigation as relatively well established with a variety of types of libraries. However, black South Africans have been largely excluded until recently even the most basic of these library services. The Education Foundation in 1997 also reported an alarming shortage of school libraries, and a lack of understanding of the relevance of learning resources in libraries. The READ Trust, a non-profit-making educational trust, began in 1979 as a response to community concerns regarding the lack of reading and library services in black townships. It aims to help people develop their reading, writing, learning information and communication skills so they can become independent life-long learners. It particularly centers on promoting learner-centered teaching methods in a stimulating environment. (ii) What was the approach? The READ program consists of very practical training programs for principals, librarians, teachers, student teachers and community workers. It seeks to develop independent learning skills in learners and to improve language competencies through the use of books and other materials. It provides books as well as ongoing monitoring of projects to ensure that agreed objectives are met and that the materials developed are used by educators and learners to improve reading and communication skills across the curriculum. The Training Center in Braamfontein (Guateng Province) provides the focal point for READ's work in schools, colleges, and communities by coordinating READ's materials and course development and specific training projects. It is at this training center that READ trainers and leader teachers attend a series of professional courses at the beginning of each year. This gives them a thorough understanding of READ's philosophy and methodology and the confidence to monitor and train on their own. READ is further strengthened by its in-house assessment and evaluation process which involves the teachers assessing themselves, as well as being assessed by their colleagues or principals, and by READ staff. The data is used by READ to make decisions about the revision of courses, development of training materials and retraining of staff. All READ courses clearly demonstrate how assessment is linked to specific outcomes and performance criteria. Programs for teachers: Primary school teachers are helped to move their teaching methods to more child-centered, story-based approaches which promote active learning. The high school program- centers more on the development of information skills. The Partnership for Change program is a series of 14 modules in educational management which is offered to departmental officials, principals and the broader school community, equipping them with the necessary skills for decision-making and implementation. Materials development: READ's materials development initiative designs courses and materials which are inexpensive and are aimed at encouraging teachers to write new material with their pupils. The courses and materials provide teachers with the methodology demonstrated at training courses and the resources to implement the changes required by new educational policy. READ grades materials according to difficulty, and does not tie them rigidly to particular school standards. The flexibility, in terms of level, that is built into READ's materials means that it is possible to distribute the same materials to pupils of differing cultural and linguistic backgrounds, providing a way of unifying 25 classroom experiences of all school-going children. Materials include shared Big Books; picture story packs which include colored posters, little books and a teachers' guide; Afrika-tales illustrated books for independent reading and study skills; and theme packs which explore themes across the new curriculum and include life skills as well as various non-fiction texts. Special Projects: In addition to the above program, READ also runs a number of special projects which all support a basic premise the reading is the key to life. These projects include the Teachers Training College project which assists student teachers to improve their own reading and information skills; the Sunshine in South Africa Pilot Project which are boxes of reading book packs that are all story-based, cross-curricula, cross-referenced to the specific learning outcomes of Curriculum 2005, are easily translated into other languages, and lend themselves well to the local development of material; Festival of Books which involves dramatizations of stories and choral verse; the READathon held as part of a national literacy awareness campaign; and as part of the DFID 15 Schools Book Project, it has built 12,000 classrooms in both rural and urban primary and secondary schools. Costs: The cost of training teachers in classroom library skills is much less than that required for training teacher-librarians. The survey by Radebe (1998) found that it costs on average R450,000 (US$105,634) to provide each school with a library, excluding stock. This figure can be compared with the R20,032.50 (US$4,702.50) which is required to equip a school with a set of 15 classroom libraries. (iii) How successful was the approach? How was this success determined? With the present climate of "no funds" for providing each school with a library and a teacher- librarian to run it, READ's classroom library appears to be a most appropriate model. It does not require the school to have a post for a teacher-librarian. Instead, every teacher trained by READ can run a classroom-based library. The findings of the survey conducted by Radebe (1998) on the effectiveness of classroom libraries (as run by READ) within the context of South African education are positive. The classroom library has benefited the education of pupils as well the teachers' performance. It has effected a resource-based education by enriching the learner's learning experience in a stimulating environment. The conclusion is that READ has the infrastructure and expertise to take South Africa through the current transformation period with their classroom libraries. The survey found evidence that pupils in READ schools have accelerated their language proficiency skills up to two years and are very clearly ahead of their counterparts in the 'control' schools used in the study in terms of reading and writing. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is the approach? The Center for Education Policy Development in 1994 recommended that READ service all nine provinces of South Africa. READ has given a lot of attention to schools in rural areas, where problems are more extreme and entrenched by greater poverty, geographical and political isolation, fewer employment options, feelings of dependency exacerbated by more bureaucracy and traditional authoritarianism and resistance to change. However, direct financial support from the Department of Education is required if READ is to extend its program on the scale needed. Reference: Radebe T. (1998). "Classroom Libraries: South Africa" in Getting Books to School Pupils in Africa Serial No 26. Department for International Development, DFID. Much of the text in the Brief is directly excerpted from this reference. 26 AFRICA 9. UGANDA: Teacher Development Management System (TOMS) (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? The TDMS is a comprehensive and integrated delivery program for primary education reform services and tools aimed at promoting continuous and accelerated improvement in pupil learning across Uganda. The focus remains on child learning needs - a conducive learning environment, well-trained and competent teachers and headteachers, instructional materials, and effective school management and community participation. TDMS began first as a temporary measure and has now expanded into a comprehensive national program. It developed from a background where nearly half of the teachers were untrained; certified teachers earned only $8.00 monthly so they turned to other income producing initiatives which led to high absenteeism; the school infrastructure had seriously deteriorated; learning materials were nearly non-existent, there was a large dropout of girls and other marginalized pupils; and standards no longer were in place. (ii) What was the approach? TDMS developed from the larger Primary Education Reform Program (PERP) - Decision-makers in the government reached consensus that a massive and systemic reform was required to introduce quality, access, equity, efficiency and relevancy in the primary education system. - It was recognized that education plays a crucial role in national development. - The education problems facing the government led to PERP focusing on improving teacher quality; improving learning materials, supervision and assessment; improving the financing of primary education and management of resources; building management and implementation capacity of educational institutions; encouraging education for national integration; and universal access to education and promotion of equity. - The central role of the teacher in the above policy initiatives was recognized. * TDMS started as a three-pronged strategy focusing on training untrained teachers; training headteachers in school management, team approaches and child centered culture; and community mobilization. * In preparation for TDMS implementation, key steps included: - competency tests were administered to teachers to identify the target population for training - a teacher headcount was undertaken to eliminate all "ghost" teachers from the system - curriculum and self-study modules were developed for inservice training - school mapping was done to establish school clusters and their coordinating centers - training occurred for Primary Teachers College (PTC) staff and Coordinating Center Tutors (CCTs) - the TDMS Secretariat was established to guide and oversee the program - clusters of about 18 schools each were established * Main components of the program - Management training for all levels of education managers in order to strengthen management capacity of educational institutions. - Revision and improvement of the Primary Teacher Education (PTE) and the Diploma in Teacher Education (DTE) syllabuses and production of related instructional modules to improve the quality of preservice teacher education. 27 - Inservice teacher education provided for untrained and undertrained teachers to increase number and quality of trained teachers. - Refresher courses provided for teachers to enable them to handle the ever-changing curriculum and examination demands. - Civil construction and equipping of Primary Teachers Colleges, Coordinating Centers and selected primary schools in order to strengthen the pedagogical aspects of primary education - Assisting community mobilization to increase access to quality education - Outreach tutor training to equip the tutors with knowledge and skills to handle outreach functions. - Coordinating Center tutors (i.e. experienced teacher educators, PTC teaching staff who reside at the coordinating centers) play a critical role of training, observation, follow-up and support to teachers and headteachers directly at their schools to help reinforce knowledge and skills learned. - Networking and peer support are strongly encouraged among teachers, headteachers, CCTs and PTC principals. - School cluster support is linked to the larger education system. Management: TDMS activities are guided by the National Primary Education reform management Committee (NPERPMC) chaired by the Permanent Secretary. Specialized work is guided by the working groups of the NPERPMC which include: Tutor Training, Primary Teacher Education Curriculum Task Force, Management Training, Community Mobilization, Refresher Courses and Construction. The TDMS Secretariat is located in the Project Implementation Unit of the Ministry of Education and Sports which itself the Director heads. This location enables the TDMS to a) benefit from the other components of the PIU in particular, accounts, procurement, the instructional materials unit and the construction department; and b) work with and through the relevant Ministry of Education and Sports Departments and Institutions in conceptualizing and implementing the Primary Education Reform Program. * The National TDMS Secretariat is headed by the National Coordinator assisted by three Inservice Teacher Education Officers, two Management Training Officers and one Curriculum and Instructional Materials Officer. These officers worked closely and in an interrelated form with donor support. * Expansion of TDMS was progressive and undertaken over time i.e. designed for 10 districts, 8 core PTCs (1991-92); expanded to 23 districts, 10 core PTCs (1993); and national coverage to 45 districts, 18 core PTCs (1997). Costs: [not available at this time] (iii) How successful was the approach? How was this success determined? Over 5,000 untrained teachers are in the inservice training program, and the first group of about 3,500 of these teachers completed the three year program in 1998, following which they were to take certification exams. The initial group of 2,400 head teachers has already passed the exam that certifies them for management of primary schools. Other successes noted in the project documents are improved teacher attendance at school, increased community involvement, improved team work among teachers, integration of inservice and preservice teacher training programs, and expansion to a teacher development approach nation-wide. TDMS was the main conduit for the larger education reform initiatives. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is this approach? 28 TDMS shows the potential for a system going to scale. However, future challenges for TDMS include sustainability after donor funding ends, potential overloading of the system from excessive demand on its services, and alignment of the 18 PTCs with administrative boundaries of the 45 districts. References: Kimaro, Y. (2000) Notes prepared for country linked Teacher Development video conferences, World Bank Ministry of Education, Uganda, project documents. 29 ASIA 10. BANGLADESH: Gonoshahajjo Sangstha (GSS) Schools (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? The GSS which means "Organization for extending support to people" was set up in 1983 as a non- government development agency with four aims: * to build people's capacity, particularly of women and children, through quality education; and to help them learn, acquire skills, be creative and make their own decisions; * to develop their capacity to protect themselves against injustices and exploitation; * to improve their bargaining power in terms of making demands on the existing services of the state and at the local levels; and * to increase their effective participation in institutional decision-making at all levels. GSS activities are grouped under three major programs: Social Mobilization and Development Program (SMDP); Advocacy Program; and the Education Program. The Education Program has the following components: primary education, adolescent education; adult education; continued education and educational advocacy. The specific objectives of the Primary Education Program include: creating opportunities for learning for the destitute and poor children who have never been exposed to, or who have dropped out from, formal schooling; - introducing primary education in the areas of the country where no school exists; - designing and promoting child-centered teaching methodologies; * developing a system of continued education for post-primary children; * cooperating with and providing support to other NGOs engaged in educational development programs; and * contributing to quality improvement in the government primary education program. GSS currently runs a large network of primary schools including 23 training schools located in six districts of the country. By mid-1998, GSS was running more than 700 primary schools located in 20 different districts of Bangladesh, with a total enrolment of over 114,000 children, the ratio between boys and girls being almost equal. Most of these are set up in the low-literacy zones where GSS had already been operating the SMDP and where the local people donate their land for school construction. Children enrolled in these schools are invariably from families of landless laborers or marginal farmers and are normally aged from 6 to 11. The number of boys and girls in these schools is equally balanced, with a marginal bias in favor of girls. In 1998, there were 14 urban primary schools located in slum areas. Eight of them are in Dhaka. These schools specially cater for the needs of the urban poor, but they also serve as on-the-job training centers for teachers. These schools help influence the mainstream system, as government officials are able to visit them frequently. (ii) What was the approach? * Curriculum and Materials Development: This is essentially the same as in government schools, but GSS adopts a diversified teaching-learning approach involving project work, reading, games, creative writing, primary health care and extra curricular activities. A range of supplementary reading and learning materials have been developed by GSS for the use of both teachers and students. Some other NGOs also purchase and use the GSS produced materials, some of which have been published in Bangla, as well as English and Bengali. A child- centered interactive learning system is encouraged. 30 * School Schedule: As in the government schools, GSS classes are conducted on a shift basis with children only attending school for three hours each day. GSS provides clear specifications for how teachers will spend the time during school hours i.e. children spend 1.5 hours in class and 55 minutes on group activities. Five minutes is set aside for the teacher to complete the attendance roll. * Learner Performance: Clear specification of learner attainments in terms of expected levels for different grades has been made. Every pupil's learning achievement is monitored and assessed daily and fortnightly by teachers. In addition, learner achievement is measured quarterly and annually by School Supervisors. Teachers and supervisors are required to make special efforts to retain the children in school and have them attend on a regular basis. * Teachers: GSS considers the quality of the teacher as a key determinant in the quality of education. GSS selects rural teachers who live in the catchment area of the proposed school, require the teacher to have a minimum qualification of 10 years of schooling (i.e. holds a secondary school certificate), and preference is given to women. Selected candidates undergo training provided by GSS and then on satisfactory completion of training, are appointed as teachers. Teachers in urban areas are also required to hold a university degree along with a teacher training qualification. Every teacher teaches 2 shifts a day: 2.5 hours in the morning, a half-hour break and then 3 hours in the afternoon. They are also expected to do community work every second day of the week. Teachers are normally offered a contract for a period of one year. Teacher turnover is quite low - around 13%, and best teachers are promoted to become senior teachers after 3 years. Basic practical teacher training is for 15 days, with follow-up training of one day per month and regular workshops for teachers and supervisors. Management: The critical link in the whole management system consists of the Field and School Supervisors. Supervisors have to ensure that the quality of learning and development of every child in the school is supervised - a radical change from their traditional role. Their direct regular support to teachers (consultations, demonstration teaching, training) and links with the community are critical. This rethinking of the role of the supervisor linked to a restructuring of internal school management are key features of the GSS approach. Costs: [not available at this time] (iii) How successful is the approach? How is this success determined? Documented results other than field observations were not available at the time of writing this brief. But the following is a list of items considered successful in the system and areas that remain problematic: Successes: * The integration of supervision with support services to teachers has helped to raise the confidence level of teachers as well as fostering good working relationships between teachers and supervisors. Extended stays in schools by the supervisor and their direct assistance to teachers in the form of advice and demonstrations has increased the quality of teacher's skills. * Teacher networks with regular meetings to discuss classroom problems and to share materials provide valuable ongoing instructional support to teachers. * GSS schools function on the same lines as the government-managed ones which ensures equivalence and allows for student transfer to the mainstream when students complete primary schooling. Problematic Areas * Shift teaching and too few hours in schools limits child-learning, project related activities, and encourages greater routines than the philosophy would prefer. * It is difficult to recruit supervisors from the same locality of the schools they serve, particularly women. GSS may have to re-examine the formal qualification requirement so as to allow some women teachers currently working in GSS schools to become supervisors after an orientation. 31 (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is the approach? GSS schools operate under certain conditions e.g. a maximum of 30 students per class, changed roles for supervisors, low-supervisor-teacher ratio, and high support for teachers etc. If such a system was to be considered as a national model, it would require a considerable change of thinking and restructuring of the current system. It's not that it can't be done, but such changes are very difficult in light of current constraints. Developing more "pockets" of such schools in communities where this will be supported, and building in some of the key school features that impact student learning e.g. greater practical teacher support/teacher networks, might be more realistic at this stage. Reference: Govinda, R. and Tapan, S. (1999). Quality Education Through School-based Supervision and Support: The Case of GSS Primary Schools in Bangladesh. Paris: IIEP. Some of the text in the Brief is directly excerpted from this reference. 32 ASIA 11. BANGLADESH: Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) Non Formal Primary Education (NFPE) schools (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? * Initially, the aim was to develop a primary education model that could provide, in a three year period, basic literacy and numeracy to the poorest rural children (eight to ten year olds) unreached by the formal system, i.e. those who have never attended primary school. Girls were given special emphasis. Originally started in 22 villages in 1985. * The program then expanded in 1991 to 6,003 schools, to also serve 11- to 16 year olds who had dropped out of schools and were unlikely to return. By 1996, expansion included 34,175 schools. * Because poverty is identified by Bangladeshi parents as a major reason for their children dropping out or not enrolling in the formal schools, the NFPE program is designed so that parents incur practically no direct costs for sending their children to BRAC schools. Books and supplies are provided free, uniforms are not required, school hours are varied to home and agricultural cycles needs, and schools are located in close proximity to the student's homes. (ii) What was the approach? The School Program Students: A school consists of 30 children, living within about a 2 kilometer radius of the school. Teachers: Teacher are generally married adults, 60-70 percent of who are women, who have completed nine or more years of education and live within easy walking distance of the school. These teachers are hired on a temporary part-time basis and are paid modest wages. There is one teacher for each 30 students. Teacher training includes 15 days of initial training at a residential BRAC training center and one or two day refresher training sessions each month conducted by BRAC staff at a BRAC office near the teacher's school. Weekly visits from BRAC field workers provide regular feedback. Parents: Most parents of BRAC school children are illiterate and are unable to make monetary contributions to the schools apart from replacing broken slates and worn mats. BRAC provides all student and teacher supplies - pencils, notebooks, textbooks, teacher manuals, slateboards, chalk etc. However parents are expected to pledge to attend monthly parent meetings and to send their children to school each day. Schedule: The NFPE instructional program is presented in 3 year cycles. The school is in session for 2.5 to 3 hours per day, 6 days a week, 268 days per year at a time of day selected by the parents. The group of 30 students remain in their cohort for the 3 year cycle. At the end of the 3 year cycle, the school begins another 3 year cycle if there are enough eligible children in the community. Instructional Site: Instruction is provided in one-room houses and storerooms rented for just 3 hours per day. These rooms generally have bamboo and mud walls, a packed earth floor, a tin roof, and a blackboard. The children sit on the floor, on bamboo mats, holding slateboards on their knees. The teacher has a stool and metal trunk that doubles as a desk and a supply cabinet. Instructional Approach. Although the pedagogical approach in BRAC schools is intended to be more student centered and the curriculum approach activity based, more traditional methods tend to dominate. Group lectures are generally followed by individual assignments that require minimal analysis by students. There is little opportunity for discussion. Curriculum: The curriculum for NFPE schools, consisting of Bangla, social science and mathematics, has been developed and revised several times by BRAC. The material covered is roughly equivalent to Class I-III in the formal school system. Since the formal school system requires English, The NFPE 33 schools include English in their curriculum during the third year so that children who want to matriculate to formal schools after three years are well prepared. BRAC Management - develops surveys to create and target its programs for the most disadvantaged rural families - develops ways to encourage these families to participate in the decisions that most affect program implementation - thinks nationally which has led to rapid development of the program - is field oriented so less than 10% of BRAC's staff are based at headquarters. Field based midlevel managers and program organizers, supported by technical and support services, implement the program. - is learning-oriented and uses a variety of formal and informal reporting and monitoring systems to shape program strategies, management procedures, instructional materials, and teacher training. Regular meetings are held to solicit opinions from all levels of the organization. - is strategic and so identifies the sectors or areas of greatest need and then develops and implements programs based on those needs. If necessary, BRAC uses its own funds to try out new ideas. BRAC regularly assesses its organizational capacity and adjusts its program targets accordingly. Regular independent evaluations and external audits are provided for in all of BRAC's program plans. Results of its major studies and evaluations are published in English and Bangla to ensure maximum dissemination. - is support-oriented and so BRAC's central office provides important support services to the NFPE program and other sectoral programs. Training centers, printers, a motor pool, and other support mechanisms are available to ensure that the schools operate smoothly. Costs: Independent cost studies confirmed that BRAC costs for schooling are roughly equal to that of the Government's formal schooling, without considering the extra private costs that make the formal schools more expensive and lead to high dropout and low enrollment rates in the formal schools. In addition, unlike the formal school system, which allocates the vast majority of its resources to teacher salaries and school facilities, BRAC allocates almost 30% of the NFPE program budget to management and supervision. Only 29% is allocated to teacher salaries, 6% is used to rent school space, and the rest for materials etc. (iii) How successful was the approach? How was this success determined? More than 90% of the children who start BRAC schools graduate, and a large proportion of the NFPE program graduates are admitted into Class IV or higher of the Government school system. Even with annual costs per enrolled student in BRAC and the formal school system approximately equal, the relatively higher attendance rates, lower repetition rates, higher Class III completion rates, and higher Class IV continuation rates for BRAC students mean that BRAC schools are substantially more cost efficient per graduate than the Government's formal schools. Primary data was gathered from a cost study and household survey commissioned directly for the case study conducted by Ahmed et al. (1993) and from field visits to Government, BRAC and other NGO offices and schools. Secondary data was used from several donor funded evaluations (Lovell and Fatema 1990; Shordt 1991; Gajanayake 1992), an independently funded study of BRAC (Lovell 1992), and studies prepared by BRAC's Research and Evaluation Division (all cited in Ahmed et al. 1993) 4. On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is this approach? Within Bangladesh, BRAC can make several contributions towards the goal of universal basic education (e.g. expanding its program to reach hardest to reach children, improving local primary education planning and management capacity, strengthening community involvement, and assisting secondary level students make the transition to work responsibilities.) However, the success of BRAC schools is largely due to their flexibility and design to deal with targeted groups of students. This makes it difficult to extend to the larger population. Also, some specific contextual characteristics in Bangladesh that shaped the BRAC design include high rural population density and high levels of rural, 34 educated people who are under- or unemployed. This combination is not so commonly found in other developing countries. References: Ahmed, M., Chabbott, C., Joshi, A., and R. Pande (1993) Primary Education for All: Learningfrom the BRAC Experience - A Case Study. Washington DC: ABEL/USAID with Rockefeller Foundation and Unicef. Sweetser, A. (1999) Lessons from the BRAC Non-formal Primary Education Program. Washington DC:ABEL/USAID. 35 ASIA 12. Pakistan: Improving provision through the use of geographic information systems (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? Under the umbrella of the Social Action Program (SAP), which covers the social sectors throughout Pakistan, the Government has committed to Universal Primary Education (UPE) and is moving towards a policy of Universal Elementary Education (UEE) as part of a new Education Policy 1998-2010. The Sindh is the second largest province in Pakistan, consisting mainly of desert in the rural areas and with the largest city of Karachi also the only seaport in the south. The majority of the 42,000 schools with 147,000 teachers are located in city slums and in poor rural areas. Some of the major activities conducted under the nine year Sindh Primary Education Development Program under SAP include: * strengthening the Sindh Education Management Information Systems (SEMIS) to improve the quality of data; * implementing a Geographic Information System (GIS) for mapping schools throughout the Sindh to provide a decision support system for education managers; * a program of management training and strengthening through the use of the SEMIS and GIS to promote data-based decision-making. The role of the GIS is to strengthen management decisions by providing managers with information to make spatial analyses of data. This helps in education systems to avoid wastage which may result from over-staffed and under-staffed schools, closed schools, schools with no teachers, schools with no students and non utilized and under-utilized school buildings. This situation also arises from inappropriate school site selection, especially in rural areas. The real advantage of a computerized GIS is that it allows on-line investigation of various alternative courses of action that can be tried and evaluated in a 'what-if'manner. What was the approach? Briefly, the implementation methodology used 250 Survey of Pakistan maps that were converted into scanned images and geo-referenced. Topographic details were obtained from these maps and then selected layers of data - such as roads, railways, rivers and administrative boundaries - were vectorized and geo-referenced by digitizing them. Urban areas required additional sources of mapping information including satellite images. All the maps were designed to show the locations of population settlements and of the primary, middle and secondary schools. This locational data were linked with the detailed data for schools in the computerized Sindh Educational Management Information System, which are collected and updated every year through an annual school census. The maps able to be generated from this data show the distribution of schools by level and by gender of enrolled students. This allows decision makers to explore various relationships about access to education for children in the Sindh; serviced, un-serviced and under-serviced area; redeployment of teaching staff; and clustering of schools for planning the delivery of such things as inservice teacher training, delivery of instructional materials and disbursement of staff salaries. A number of decentralized activities have been carried out with the decision-makers at the field level in the Sindh, both to improve management skills and to assist with day-to-day decision-making using real problems. Costs: [not available at this time] (iii) How successful is the approach? How is this success determined? During discussions with field staff and with senior managers in the Sindh, the GIS was seen as instrumental in determining a number of education system needs: to improve access to education, 36 particularly for un-serviced and under-serviced sections of the population; to improve the management of education and distribution of resources, and planning for improvement and expansion of the school system (closed schools, shelter-less schools and inadequately staff schools); and to cluster schools and facilities for more cohesive support. Various alternative scenarios to deal with these needs were able to be generated before taking decisions. Other activities have continued to plan for improved management of education services and distribution of resources. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is the approach? The GIS can be used successfully at either the provincial or national level depending on the capacity for the technology hardware and software, trained technical staff to use the GIS, but more importantly managerial and field staff who will use the information to make decisions. The Sindh is currently exploring ways to continue to use the current GIS for planning at the local levels where such facilities are generally not available. Further information not available at this time. Reference: Blane, D. and Akhter, P. (2000) "Improving provision through the use of geographic information systems" in Saunders, L. (Ed.) School Improvement Worldwide: Nine Case Studies from Six Countries. Manchester: British Council. Some of the text in the Brief is directly excerpted from this reference. 37 ASIA 13. The Philippines:The Instructional Management by Parents, Communities and Teachers (IMPACT) Project - a good idea with limited success (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? In 1972, a major assessment of education in the Philippines resulted in the Education Development Act., a plan to improve the quality of facilities and to make the content of education more relevant to the local context. In the same year, the Southeast Asian Minsiters of Education Organization (SEAMEO) organized a working group of key educators from its eight member countries to establish priorities for education in the 1970s. The reasons for launching the initiative were that fewer than half the children in the member nations completed the six-year primary cycle and resources were inadequate to accommodate further enrolment in the conventional system. As a result of this working group, a management system for mass primary education called IMPACT was developed (Rugh and Bossert, 1998). The objective of Project IMPACT was to develop an effective and economical delivery system for mass primary education. Education was to be available to all who needed it, including those who had dropped out of school or never had the opportunity to go to school. Emphasis was placed on flexible entry and exit to schooling with progress based on mastery of sets of self-study instructional materials; teachers being managers of the learning process; and education being the joint responsibility of parents, the community, and the government. (ii) What was the approach? With the IMPACT model, the school is intended to become a "Community Learning Center" housing the library, records, offices and testing center. Students study in learning kiosks built by community members around the school grounds. The school day starts at 7.30am and ends at 4.00pm. The children clean the school for a half-hour in the morning and work in the school garden for an hour in the afternoon. Curriculum: The curriculum is organized into a modular learning system around the Ministry's education objectives and is used for grades 4-6. Each module includes a leader's guide, learning materials, a test, and an answer sheet and takes the student approximately 3-5 hours to complete. Each grade has about 200 learning objectives which have been reduced by using an integrated approach. Modules of learning follow two sequences: the "core" required sequence and an "advanced" optional sequence for those who want to enter secondary school. Classroom teachers and supervisors produce the modules of work in 6 months under the supervision of instructional methods experts. A key feature of the modules is their flexibility for regular learning, remediation, enrichment, catch-up after absenteeism and use in multi-grade classrooms. These materials have been used in non IMPACT schools also. Learning: Student learning in IMPACT is self-paced with progress measured by achievement rather than years in schooling. Children finish in 5-7 years depending on how quickly they master learning objectives incorporated into the learning materials. Instruction given by older children and peers for group learning is also a feature. Teaching: The IMPACT model requires a change of role of teacher to be a manager/supervisor of learning and no longer do "direct teaching". When this is needed, it is usually carried out by older students who follow programmed scripts. Older children typically teach for I hour per day. This unconventional approach has been problematic with both parents (expectations for role of teacher and children) and teachers (fewer teachers needed/threat of unemployment). Instruction is supplemented by 2 half hour radio broadcasts per day, broadcasted 3 times per week. Parents from the community teach practical skills from their homes or places of work. Roving teachers teach scouting, hygiene, sports, music and arts. 38 Management/Supervision: Activities are managed at various levels by groups especially selected for the purpose or conventionally serving in managerial capacities for the government school system e.g. under-secretary for education, president of normal schools, regional director of education. IMPACT staff, as a general rule, work through the regional director who has authority over supervisors, principals, and teachers in the experimental schools. At the school level, the project is managed mainly by principals with some support and direction from district supervisors. Typically, principals take the greatest initiative to organize support for the project. The rural coordinator maintains the school, acquires materials, orients parents, coordinates the Learning Center staff, and informs parents of the problems and needs of the children. The Instructional Supervisor is responsible for managing the learning of 100 to 200 children in the IMPACT schools i.e. organizes student grouping, scheduled activities, and monitors and guides learning. The Instructional Assistants maintain the module library, keep records, and administer and score tests. Costs: The Wooten team reviewing the data in 1982 found that IMPACT schooling could cost anywhere from 16 to 61% less than conventional systems depending upon the number of schools included in the estimates. These cost efficiencies were achieved without sacrificing academic quality. Estimated student costs based on school sizes from 1,200 to 200 students ranged from $24 to $54 for IMPACT students and $38 to $64 for conventional students. The main savings came from reduced staff salaries, with additional savings coming from utility and construction costs. However, implementing IMPACT fully was considerably more costly to IMPACT parents than those associated with the conventional system. This was primarily because the government did not completely adopt the IMPACT model or support its costs. (iii) How successful was the approach? How was the success determined? Several areas of successes and challenges have been noted in a project impact evaluation and case studies completed by Cummings, 1986; Wooten et al., 1981; and Flores, 1981 (cited in Rugh and Bossert, 1998): * Selling the idea of IMPACT to parents and community members was relatively easy, but persuading them to perform their functions and deliver results was more problematic. Having parents supply extra financial assistance was also difficult. * Parents resisted the idea of pupil peer teaching i.e. they wanted teachers to maintain their traditional role of teaching students to ensure children could compete in the national exams. * IMPACT schools were intended to promote social equity, but they tended to foster inequities in at least some schools. Some IMPACT schools developed elitist reputations because of streaming some children to study advanced modules of learning and complete modules more quickly. These students were used more often to do peer tutoring. * Parents of lower socio-economic backgrounds were the most resistant to the model because of their traditional views about teaching. * Even though "local management committees" were selected to solve project problems, there is little evidence that this developed management/leadership capacity in those communities. * The three top concerns for staff were lack of funds, the indifference of the community to innovation, and the involvement of the school in too many community activities. * The module approach to learning provides a very flexible system for students to re-enter the system after being tested to see where they are in the module sequence. The modules also made it possible for children to advance at their own pace whether it took a longer or shorter time to complete a grade. * Studies have indicated that learning technology packages like those of IMPACT, which are developed through a systematic instructional process, consistently produce high levels of learning (Thiagarajan and Pasigna 1988, cited in Rugh and Bossert, 1998). However, the learning results from IMPACT are mixed. Generally, IMPACT student performed as well or 39 slightly better than conventional school students in the major subjects. Average and slow learners were helped more in the IMPACT system than the same learners in conventional schools, and high ability students achieved the same in both systems. * IMPACT students gained in social development, independence of learning, poise and self- esteem. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is the approach? Despite its demonstrated successes at providing cost-effective education, IMPACT has not been replicated widely in the Philippines, in only 11 or 12 sites, according to officials. Another project, NO DROPS (No Dropouts), an Education for All initiative launched in 1991, used the modules but not the IMPACT system to supplement formal schooling and to enhance science and math learning. A number of other countries adopted IMPACT with varying degrees of success: by 1986 (when the numbers were reported) Indonesia had opened 400 schools; Jamaica's program closed after an initial period of experimentation; Bangladesh opened 200 schools; and Liberia and Malaysia each had opened 40 schools (Cummings, 1986). Reasons suggested for why IMPACT was not expanded as planned include: * Widespread introduction on an innovation requires major organizational changes in the educational system and leadership to see that they happen e.g. in IMPACT, MEC budgets were not organized in a way that made it possible to transfer savings in one line item to pay for increased costs in another. Thus IMPACT modules became an extra cost that could not be paid for, even though teacher's salaries were available to make up the difference. * The original leaming modules were prepared in Cebuano, a language native to only one region of the Philippines. Further replication would have required that the modules be translated into the languages of each region if they were to be used as originally intended in the mother-tongue of children. These issues were not resolved at the point when IMPACT should have realized its greatest expansion. - Evidence to date suggests little interest among officials of the MEC in replicating the model except in special cases. The issue was less whether IMPACT was a replicable model and more whether education officials were willing to put in the time, energy and resources into initiating the model in new schools. * IMPACT officials complained that the model was not expanded largely due to the unavailability of funds to cover conversion costs. In theory, IMPACT was in a good position to be sustained. It was more affordable than the conventional system, and with the high involvement of national personnel working on its components, it meant local people possessed the skills to continue the program. But it did not work that way. The lack of apparent advantage to the local community meant that there was no compelling reason for them to commit resources to maintaining the extra costs, most school officials not directly involved with IMPACT schools kept their distance, supplemental funding was required after the end of donor support, there was lack of interest from central government, the cost of modules which serve as core materials is high particularly in comparison with the free textbooks available in conventional schools, and the daily radio programs in Filipino and English had lapsed. Despite these problems, there are still examples of individual IMPACT schools that continue to work well and are able to sustain themselves. Reference: Rugh, A. and Bossert, H. (1998). "The Impact Project in the Philippines" in Involving Communities: Participation in the Delivery of Education Programs. Washington DC:ABEL /USAID. Some of the text in the Brief is directly excerpted from this reference. 40 ASIA 14. India: Lok Jumbish (i) What did this program aim to do? What were some of the key background features? Lok Jumbish (literally translated as People's Movement) began as an idea of a retired civil servant, Anatil Bordia to mobilize greater public support for education. The original idea was to address the problem of low community interest in education through involving community members in a school mapping process. In doing so, the program stressed the responsibility community members had in preparing and implementing the school development program. Since then, the project management structures set up for school mapping have formed the basis for a series of other activities which target specific needs within the education sector, including: * universalization of primary education, viewed as a composite of access to primary education for all children up to the age of 14, universal participation until they complete the primary stage, and universal achievement of at least minimum levels of learning; * for all those who have received primary education and are functionally literate, the provision of opportunities to maintain, use and upgrade their education; * creation of the necessary structure and setting in motion processes to empower women and make education an instrument of women's equality; * making necessary interventions and the creation of circumstances to enable the scheduled castes and tribes and the poorest sections of society, to move towards equal participation in basic education; - improving the content and process of education so it relates better to the local environment, people's culture and to their working environment. Lok Jumbish organizes activities which empower local people to make changes for themselves. To that end, it supports institutions which encourage community activities. (ii) What was the approach? The following list describes some of the main program strategies Lok Jumbish uses: Environment Building: mobilization of the community for the program through rallies, cultural programs and folk media such as songs, dances plays and puppet shows. People's Participation: mobilization of the village community to undertake micro-planning, support for community action to ensure all children are in school, and accountability of the education system. Decentralized Management: devolvement of decision-making to block and village level Involvement of Teachers: restoration of teachers' status and their own pride in their profession, also the involvement of teachers' organizations in decision-making. Training of Personnel: training for teachers to support educational reform, and training of community members to enable them to play their roles effectively Quality Improvement: improvement of teacher performance, norm-based facilities (e.g. cleaning standards are set for Lok Jumbish schools), modifications to curriculum and pedagogy Evaluation: continuity and in-built activity through instructional and school management practice. A Coherent Gender Strategy: mainstreaming gender equity in all aspects of the program activities. Priority given to the needs of women and girls. Promotion of equal numbers of women at all levels. Special support given for developing women staff and practical needs of women and girls recognized at all levels. Gender sensitive training for all stakeholders and active steps taken for the prevention of sexual harassment. Development of more gender sensitive teaching approaches. Lok Jumbish has also developed specific responses to problem situations e.g. Problem: Few teachers are willing to take up posts in remote parts of Rajasthan. 41 Response: Muktaks (literally "one who practices freedom of action") are recruited in pairs, given about 60 days training in basic pedagogy, confidence building and community participation approaches and are then sent to the rural areas to open Muktagans - open schools which allow students to visit school around their work schedule. Initial evaluations suggest that teachers in these schools have high levels of commitment. Problem: Adolescent girls tend to drop out of school. Response: Adolescent girls' camps which impart basic literacy skills and promote health and hygiene issues. Community support for the camps is built through a variety of "environment building" strategies. Problem: Low levels of literacy and low self esteem among large numbers of women within the communities. Response: Women's Residential Institutes of Training and Education (WRITE) in which women engage in basic education activities in a stimulating and nurturing environment. Management Structure: Like many non-governmental initiatives in India, Lok Jumbish operates as an independent and autonomous "society" although it receives funding from state and national government as well as international development agencies. Lok Jumbish has a complex system of decentralization. It operates at four levels, each of which has formal links with government bodies. The four levels are: the state, the district, the "block" and the cluster. At the state level, links are sustained because the vice chairman of Lok Jumbish is the Education Secretary of Rajasthan. The critical decision-making level for Lok Jumbish is the "Block". Blocks are created by Lok Jumbish. They consist of about 100 villages and are managed by a Block Steering Group (BSG) which includes two permanently assigned project officers. Blocks are further divided into clusters of about 20 villages. In these clusters Lok Jumbish activities are operationalized through a local NGO or the BSG itself. Lok Jumbish uses a network of over 40 NGOs to administer its program. Within each block there is a Block-Level Education Management Committee which has executive powers over hiring teachers and school construction through Lok Jumbish activities. This committee consists of an educator from within the block and representatives from the implementing NGO, teachers associations, women activists, etc. Village level actions are formulated and coordinated by a gender balanced group of about 12 "animators" called a Prerak Dal. This team receives training in Lok Jumbish community activities including school mapping. Together these groups constitute the Village Education Committee (VEC). VECs work closely with locally elected panchayat officials to ensure cohesion between Lok Jumbish and government structures. Feedback loops exist at all levels and the dynamic which holds the decentralized structures in place are Review and Planning meetings (RPMs) which provide the mechanism for communication flows between the center and the decentralized sites. Costs: [not available at this time] (iii) How successful was the approach? How was the success determined? Evaluations have been undertaken of phases I and 2 of Lok Jumbish by SIDA. Specific aspects of the program have been evaluated by UNESCO/IIEP (School mapping 1998, non-formal education system 1996). These studies commend Lok Jumbish for its innovative use of participatory techniques as tools of decentralization and social change. The DfiD report for Phase 3 (1999) focuses on the positive impact of Lok Jumbish activities on community awareness and development processes. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is the approach? The key for sustainability and expansion of the program is to develop institutional capacity of community groups who will carry forth the activities. Decentralized planning and management structures have created wide ownership among not only managers but also other stakeholders such as teachers and the community. So the model has many promising aspects, but was created for specific 42 community needs. This may make it difficult to expand on a national level, unless the flexibility to match differing community needs can be maintained. References: DflD (1999) unpublished Project Evaluation Submission for Lok Jumbish Phase 3. R. Govinda, (1998). Reaching the unreached through participatory planning: School Mapping in Lok Jumbish, India IIEP, Paris R. Govinda, (1995). "Lok Jumbish; An innovation in grassroots level management of primary education", in Change in Action UNESCO, Paris 43 LA 7T IN ERICA 15. COLOMBIA: Escuela Nueva (New Schools) (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? The Escuela Nueva system aims to provide cost-effective quality education to underserved rural communities. It was initially a centrally inspired pilot project in Colombia and then spread to a nationwide program expanded to all states, an alternative system within the formal State education system. As in many other developing countries, rural education has lagged behind in Colombia. In 1975, at the time when Escuela Nueva was being established, only half the rural children in the age group 6-12 were enrolled in schools compared to 65% of children in the whole country. By the mid 1980s half the rural schools still did not offer a full primary cycle, and only slightly more than half of rural children between the ages of 7 and 9 had been to school. Only 20% of children who entered first grade completed the primary cycle, and a third dropped out of first grade. Classrooms were poorly equipped, inflexible schedules interfered with work schedules, and teachers were not trained for multigrade situations. (ii) What is the approach? Escuela Nueva has four inter-related basic components: community involvement, school program, teacher training, and administration. Community Involvement to Support Their Children 's Learning: Teachers are given a manual and taught practical suggestions of how to have the school and community reciprocally act as a learning resource for one another. Teachers organize activities to provide this two-way communication e.g. teachers visit children's homes and collect information about how to prepare monographs about the community which serve as the basis for resources and instruction - health services, employment profiles, business cultural practices; information is recorded about parents schedules to assist in preparing agricultural calendars; students interview community members to collect recipes and songs and craft practices; parents can help in building learning centers within classrooms. School Program: Escuela Nueva schools generally consist of one to three classrooms with one or two teachers who teach multigraded classes for the entire five year cycle. Often one of these rooms is used for a library (usually holding about 70-100 books including dictionaries, textbooks, encyclopedias, maps and posters), which serves as an additional learning material and reference center for students and, after hours, for the community. Furnishings are simple but functional, and rooms typically decorated with a community map and lesson materials. Curriculum: Materials used in the curriculum are designed to promoted active learning - to teach children how to think, analyze, investigate, create and apply knowledge. Many of the materials are self- paced and the teacher is a facilitator/manager of the resources to enable learning. The teacher tends to spend most of her/his time teaching basic skills with the younger children, and older children work alone or in small groups using the self-instructional materials in language, mathematics, natural sciences, and social sciences. Students schedules are flexible, but they must demonstrate mastery of the objectives before being promoted. Promotion to a higher grade may take less or more than a year. Teachers have their own guides which have been produced by the teachers themselves during training. Teaching materials are produced at the national level for cost reasons. Teacher Training: Training is based on a change of both social and pedagogical role to be a learning facilitator and community leader. Training involves visits to Escuela Nueva demonstration schools, and a basic training of three, one-week courses organized by the decentralized regional unit in charge of training with intervening practice periods, distributed over the first school year. Each teacher receives a teacher's manual which explains the objectives of Escuela Nueva and information for how to implement it. At the end of the third workshop teachers receive a 70-100 book library. Teachers continue to meet regularly i.e. once a month with other teachers from nearby schools. 44 Administration/Management: The Esculea Nueva Managment system is a decentralized program with three administrative levels, the center, the department and the school. The center is a national coordination level in the MOE which determines policies and provides technical assistance. In each regional department there is a parallel committee to carry out universalization plans and to supervise and support schools i.e. a Local Education Secretary, the Finance secretary, a project coordinator and a team of "multipliers" or promoters of the Escuela Nueva Model. Management functions within schools is jointly carried out by teachers and students, and teachers facilitate the establishment of a student government. The student government is responsible for school cleaning and maintenance, sports activities, library operations, recreational activities, school decorations, discipline, and teaching/ tutoring assistance. Costs: Cost estimates of the Escuela Nueva program overall show the program to be more costly than the conventional system, since it is a "value-added" model. McEwan (N.d. in McGinn 1996) estimated an annual, per-student cost of $120 for Escuela Nueva compared with $84 in the conventional system. Higher learning outcomes and possibly lower dropout rates may make it more cost effective overall. Schiefelbein (1991), calculating on the basis of expansion to 20,000 schools, estimated the unit cots of Escuela Nueva to be only 5 to 10% higher than unit costs in conventional schools. The higher amount was due to the extra costs of study guides ($15 for one book for each of four subjects per child and useable for four years, or $8.20 per child total - reduced to $4.50 if government book costs are subtracted), libraries ($150-$225 per school/class), and additional teacher training ($82 per teacher), which are offset by the somewhat fewer numbers of teachers required for the primary cycle. (iii) How successful was the approach? How was this success determined? By 1992, a few years after Escuela Nueva had been brought to scale in 18,000 rural schools, the participation rate had risen to 81% for girls and 78% for boys in these areas compared with 87% and 86% respectively in urban areas. The roughly 30% rise in rural enrollments since 1975 may have been partially a result of Escuela Nueva, since over half of Colombia's rural schools had adopted the model. Several evaluations have been conducted that together show modestly higher achievement results for Escuela Nueva over the conventional system. The fact that Escuela Nueva had been implemented first in the most disadvantaged schools with fewer teachers tends to increase the significance of the results. Not all schools implement all components of the Escuela Nueva system. Evidence of program quality is mixed, particularly after going to scale and several elements of the program e.g. supervisory visits not being able to be maintained to the original level. Overall, the program has been found to be successful in raising the quality of basic education in a cost-effective manner. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is this approach? How to protect the elements that made Escuela Nueva so successful in local communities and expanding the model nationally has been difficult. From some reports (McGinn 1996, cited inRugh and Bossert, 1998), widespread expansion of the Escuela Nueva model has led to a deterioration in its quality and a loss of some teacher generated aspects that were key to its success. Other countries that have tried to replicate this model in their systems have met with limited success. The case of NEU schools in Guatemala (see next case-study brief) is one of the few examples of another country being able to take many of the ideas of Escuela Nueva and adapt it successfully to their own context. Reference: Rugh, A. and Bossert, H. (1998). "Escuela Nueva in Colombia" in Involving Communities: Participation in the Delivery of Education Programs. Washington DC:ABEL/USAID. Some of this text in the Brief is directly excerpted from this reference. 45 LA TIN AVERICA 16. Guatemala: Nueva Escuela Unitaria (NEU) - New Multigrade School (i) What did the approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? NEU schools are one of the three technical initiatives originally piloted within the USAID/Guatemala- funded Basic Education Strengthening (BEST) project in 1992. BEST aimed at improving educational quality and equity for indigenous and other rural populations. NEU schools focus on developing a durable and active relationship between each school and the community, and actively involving teachers in changing their pupils' learning environment. The motto for NEU schools is: "Learn, Practice, Apply" and appears in boldface on almost every page of every manual, workbook and curricular guide. The NEU program was a response to the following challenges. Few children received a complete primary education. Rural schools accounted for 70% of all children enrolled in the first grade, and one- third of rural schools were multigrade schools. Less than 10% of children in rural, multigrade schools finished sixth grade. Older children, needed at home during traditional school hours, had no other attendance options available to them. A highly traditional, often irrelevant curriculum was still used in most schools, and the predominant teaching style was lecture and the learning method rote memorization. Absences and grade repetition were common. Parents generally visited schools only to receive their children's grades. (ii) What was the approach? NEU schools are flexible multigrade schools serving rural indigenous communities. The community is strongly involved in the support and management of the schools. Teachers' Circles i.e. groups of teachers from nearby schools meet regularly to train, support each other and adapt learning materials. Teachers guides and self-teaching instructional materials are designed especially for multigrade classrooms of up to six grades in a single classroom and are designed by practicing rural primary school teachers. These self- instructional materials are based on modular learning activities, often outside of the classroom, that the children complete in small groups. The content is closely related to children's lives in the rural agricultural community. Children read books other than their texts, are permitted to take books home, and write their own words and thoughts instead of endlessly copying from a blackboard. There is continuous assessment with teacher feedback at the end of each unit. Student govemment in NEU schools is pervasive and inclusive. NEU schools are a grassroots movement that has transformed both individual schools and communities as well as become part of the central Ministry of Education. Lessons learned from about 20 years of implementing Colombia's Escuela Nueva schools, were used to design this system for Guatemala and go beyond the original basic elements. While Oscar Mogollon and others strongly involved in the establishment of both Escuela Nueva in Colombia and NEU in Guatemala are delighted by research evidence supporting their work, much of what they have done was the result of experimentation in the rural settings rather than forcing theory into practice. Management: The Ministry of Education began the intervention with 10 core pilot school schools, and expanded to 100 in the second year. The program included a cost-effectiveness study, eighteen self- teaching guides for grades I through 6, detailed teacher guides, learning cards for self-learning, a basic school library for use also by the community, and a design for teacher training for multigrade, unitary schools. In 1989, there were 3,265 one-teacher, 2,096 two-teacher and 1,191 three-teacher primary schools. While the overall BEST project got underway in 1989, it was not until 1992 that the NEU schools were started in two northern regions and three southern regions. A second group of 100 schools was added in the same departments and regions of the country, following initial successes in the 46 first 100 schools. Finally in 1995 and 1996, a third generation of schools was started under separate entities: the Social Investment Fund and Pruned started 74 new schools in the Department of San Marcos; the Catholic Salesian Order of DON BOSCO developed 549 NEU schools in the Department of Alta Verapaz; and the international charity Plan International developed 21 schools, with a further plan for an additional 59 schools. Finally, the coffee growers of Guatemala committed to developing 100 schools on their plantations using the NEU model. Since so many groups, both public and private have adopted the NEU model to varying degrees, it is difficult to actually state how many fully developed NEU schools now operate. But in 1996, there were an estimated 927 NEU schools out of a total of 11,664 schools, 1,315 teachers and 49,472 pupils. Plans were underway to expand the program to the whole Guatemalan primary system. Steps in the NEU Process 1. Involvement of national and local educational authorities in all aspects of the project. 2. An early observation visit by Guatemalan Ministry of Education officials to the Colombian Escuela Nueva program. 3.A start-up meeting of teachers at the pilot schools to identify needs and recommended solutions to the problems. 4. Formation of teacher's participatory governance group. 5. Cooperative development by the pilot school teachers of an overall plan for administration, curriculum, training, and community involvement. 6. Design of a decentralized coordination and administration framework for the project. 7. Formation of an oversight committee of supervisors, administrators, teachers and the NEU coordinator. 8. Formation of Teachers' Circles with nearby schools to meet regularly (typically once a month) to share classroom experiences, solve problems in collaboration with colleagues, training other teachers, adapt teacher and student materials to local realities. 9. Creation of resource centers where teachers produce independent learning guides for students, follow-up on training and receive other professional assistance. 10. Designation of 10 core pilot schools (expanded to 100 in the second year). 11. During the first year, production of nine modular teacher training modules. 12. Validation of the manuals in one-week teacher training sessions or in Teachers' Circles, followed by implementation by teachers in classrooms and communities. 13. Design, testing and production of 18 student self-instructional curricular workbooks for grades 2 through 6. NEU developed bilingual and mother-tongue materials for the two principal north central highlands Mayan ethnicities, in keeping with Guatemalan national and Ministry policy. 14. As the program expands, development of partnerships with NGOs and private groups to build schools, fund training, and expand the number of participating schools from the original 100 to more than 1,300 by the end of five years. 15. Information dissemination through various media, including instructional informational videos. 16. Ongoing formative evaluations. 17. Planning and design for national program implementation. Costs: [not available at this time] (iii) How successful was the approach? How was this success determined? The NEU schools were evaluated in a series of studies by Chesterfield and Rubio (1996a,b; 1997 a,b) and by Baessa et al. (1996) cited in Kraft (1998). The Baessa et al. study compared 10 NEU and 10 traditional rural Guatemalan schools, using a sample of first and second grade students. The study found that NEU schools retained significantly more students; students achieved at a higher level in mathematics and reading; bilingual pupils do better than monolingual indigenous pupils which highlighted the need to develop bilingual versions of the NEU materials; active pedagogy in NEU schools contributed to emotional growth, participatory behavior, and group work; NEU teachers had greater confidence and ability to work in multigrade classrooms and used small group instruction; and parental satisfaction was higher in NEU schools citing their children's ability to read better and behave better at home. Hours of instruction need to be extended beyond the current 2 hours. The Chesterfield and Rubio studies yielded similar results. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is this approach? 47 It remains to be seen whether a pilot project, under charismatic leadership, using voluntary teacher participants, can be replicated and sustained at a national level, but the government is keen to expand the program. A major key to the NEU reform is the integrated nature of all aspects of the program, including the components of teacher training, teacher manuals, student workbooks, parental involvement, theory into practice and individualization. Charismatic leadership byMogollon was also critical. References:Kraft: R. (1998) Rural Educational Reform in the Nueva Escuela Unitaria of Guatemala. Washington DC: Academy for Educational Development. Craig, H., Kraft, R. and du Plessis, J. Teacher Development: Making an Impact. Washington DC. Joint ABELIUSAID Project and World Bank. 48 LA TIN AMERICA 17.EI Salvador: EDUCO (educacion con participacion de la comunidad) An adaptation of a synthesis compiled by Karen Edge of the Education Reform Group at the World Bank (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? In 1989, the incoming democratically elected government sought to rebuild El Salvador after years of civil war. Rural basic education became a national priority. El Salvador's basic education system faced a series of challenges: low enrollment, high repetition (50%+); high dropout (20%); inefficient management; and limited financial resources. The government capitalized on initiatives taken by rural communities during the civil war to start locally managed schools. Using these schools as a model, the government began a program of support and expansion for EDUCO schooling in targeted rural areas. The stated goals of 'Educacion con participacion de la comunidad' or EDUCO are: * improving access to schools for the poorest communities * improving the quality of pre-primary and primary schooling * supporting and encouraging community participation in education EDUCO also sought to validate local community schooling efforts and reinforce the sense of shared responsibility for education between national authorities, non-governmental and community organizations and organized parent groups. (ii) What was the approach? EDUCO was set up as an autonomous, parallel management unit within the Ministry of Education, dedicated to supporting designated EDUCO schools. The feature of EDUCO schools is self- management. Each EDUCO school is operated by an elected Community Education Association (ACE) which receives a direct transfer of funds from the Ministry and is also able to obtain funds from other sources (e.g. UNICEF). Institutional structure: ACEs enter into a one year renewable agreement with the Ministry which is governed by a formal outline of rights and responsibilities between Ministry and community. The elected committee is primarily made up of parents of attending students. Responsibilities: ACEs are the direct employers of teachers. They select, contract, hire, monitor and retain or dismiss teachers. They monitor teacher performance and attendance and ensure that teachers provide regular feed-back to parents on children's progress. ACEs are also responsible for procuring classroom space; maintaining and furnishing schools. With respect to the curriculum, ACEs consult with teachers and help provide teaching materials. Teachers: Teachers at EDUCO schools are on average six years younger than teachers at traditional schools (at 26 years on average) and have attended 75% of the in-service training courses of teachers in traditional schools. However, surveyed parents believe that EDUCO teachers do as good a job if not better than teachers in traditional schools, being more aware of student attendance and performance and also using more innovative practices. Their average attendance record is also better. The down side is that there is a high turnover of EDUCO teachers, with many looking for greater job stability in the traditional system. Financing: ACEs receive direct transfers of funds from the Ministry and the Ministry provides the ACE with documentation to set up bank accounts. Funds are transferred through an additional financial organ of government. This appears to add a level of complexity which has resulted in delays to teacher pay. ACEs are also permitted to raise other funds through negotiations with other government institutions or international organisations. The ACEs present no direct costs to parents although parents are expected to contribute voluntary service to schools. 49 Targeting the poor: Support for EDUCO schools is targeted at the most needy communities. Data from the Ministry of Health as well as education performance data is used to identify these communities. Broad Political Support: EDUCO has been supported by all political parties. Support from teacher unions has been gamered through an intensive dissemination campaign of the program resulting in reaching poor students. The Ministry of Education: Within the MoE, the EDUCO Central office has direct reporting responsibilities to the cabinet of the MoE. The coordinating unit oversees basic policy and technicaJ design; promoting, supervising and evaluating the program; coordinating the program with MoE, training for teachers principals and supervisors; working with regional offices and in-service training and support to regions. EDUCO Regional offices. Regional offices provide technical and administrative support for schools. They are responsible for the direct provision of supervision, training; curriculum development and. programs for school improvement. This office is accountable to the director of the regional education department. Other: ODEPOR(planning) focuses on capacity building; improving planning and policy; and central/ regional/ local management issues. National Supervision System. Members are deployed by departments and districts and serve as a link between MoE and schools. In addition, they work to promote community participation by providing: administrative and technical guidance toACEs; technical assistance to teachers; information on EDUCO and the MoE to the community through the ACE; facilitating the development of Parents Schools. The Parents School Program. A program designed to be run by EDUCO teachers to provide monthly classes for parents to help them support their children at home and to help parents learn more about school management. Currently, teachers receive no additional payment for the program. Costs: [not available at this time] (iii) How successful was the approach? How was this success determined? Attempts to determine whether the increased community involvement has had an impact on student performance has been the focus of two substantial pieces of research by Jiminez & Sawada (1998, 2000). Reviews of EDUCO also by the World Bank point to the success of the program and the extent to which El Salvador considers it to be a program worth expanding (World Bank 1994, Castro-Leal, F. 1997). With respect to student performance, findings include: * After controlling for students' backgrounds, student performance in EDUCO schools is equivalent for mathematics and slightly higher in languages. * The number of days of student or teacher absence is significantly less in EDUCO schools. * EDUCO teachers spend double the hours per month meeting with parents, and parent associations visit classrooms almost 4-5 times more often than their counterparts. EDUCO teacher salaries are higher on average, but their positions are less stable, because they must meet the criteria of the community. A danger of the strong regulatory function of ACEs is the potential for clientism between teachers and members of the ACE. * EDUCO has been instrumental in mobilizing cooperation and support from other international organizations including USAID, UNICEF. * The government has expansion plans and hope to replicate the EDUCO teacher supervision model in non-EDUCO schools, and to expand the EDUCO system of community management to non- EDUCO schools both in rural areas and in urban areas. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is the approach? The EDUCO model is promising for going to scale. However, the evaluation evidence suggests that continued active input is required to retain the enthusiasm and commitment of community involvement. Community demand to create an ACE and building on from what's already available are also vital components for the success of EDUCO schools. 50 References: Sawada, T. (1999) Community Participation, Teacher effort and educational outcome: The case of El Salvador's EDUCO program, Washington, DC:The World Bank Jiminez, E. Sawada, Y. (1998) Do Community-Managed Schools Work? An Evaluation of El Salvador's EDUCO Program, Working Paper Series on Impact Evaluation of Education Reforms Paper No. 8 World Bank Jiminez, E. Sawada, Y. (2000) Do Community-Managed Schools Work? An Evaluation of El Salvador's EDUCO Program, The World Bank Economic Review Vol 13, No. 3 World Bank, LAC region report (1994) El Salvador- Community education strategy: decentralized school management Castro-Leal, F. 1997, Who uses basic services in rural El Salvador? World Bank Poverty and Social Policy discussion paper; no. PSP 103 51 MIDDLE EAST 18. Jordan: Diagnostic assessment- involving teachers and students in teaching and learning (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? In the absence of significant natural resources, Jordan has traditionally emphasized the development of human capital, and has therefore given high priority in its overall development strategy to education. The Jordanian Government's main concern in instituting its ten-year education reform program was tco improve the quality of education. The first phase of the reform (1989-1995) focused on enhancing the infrastructure of the Jordanian educational system. The second phase (1996-2000) emphasizes deepening the qualitative impact of the educational reform, and the further development and improvement of educational institutions and facilities. Integral in the second phase of the reform was the Examinations Reform and Assessment Project (ERAP), a technical assistance project managed by the British Council. The program focused on producing students able to think flexibly and critically, be open to new concepts and ideas, and to apply what has been learned in productive ways. (ii) What was the approach? The project was designed so that diagnostic assessment would be based on three main sources of information from teaching and learning: * Information from normal activities carried out in everyday teaching and learning; - Information from special activities, tasks and/or tests used by teachers for a specific purpose, for example, to find out what students know before new teaching starts or to find out what they have learned at the end of the lesson; and * Information obtained from an in-depth review of teachers' learning and students' work in order to identify progression in teaching and learning. This involved, for example, looking at teaching plans, and identifying and anticipating students' learning difficulties. A series of different activities by different groups of people was then undertaken in order to implement and embed the practice of diagnostic assessment in schools and classrooms: * Supervisors, headteachers and teachers reviewed the National Curriculum, identifying the curriculum goals that students were finding difficult to achieve; * Supervisors, headteachers and teachers reviewed the textbooks in relation to the 'difficult' areas and identified where additional support/extension was needed to develop the individual learning of students; * Supervisors, headteachers and teachers developed lesson plans, teaching activities, and methods of recording and using assessment information to inform about students' future learning; * Teachers developed improved methods of classroom management; * The materials were piloted in the schools, evaluated and amended; and * Supervisors supported the classroom activities and assisted teachers in their work: this is an ongoing area of activity. The major resource required was time. A great deal of time was required to change attitudes and to develop an ethos of cooperation and support between teachers/headteachers/supervisors etc. Other resources used were the usual ones found in schools and were generally sufficient; although developing a project of this nature demands a large amount of paper resources and photocopying facilities - which were not always available in sufficient quantities or within easy reach by the teachers. Costs: [no evidence available at this time] 52 (iii) How successful was the approach? How was this success determined? A study was conducted during the 1997-98 school year to test the effectiveness of using diagnostic assessment on the achievement of students in Grade 6 in Arabic language and mathematics. It also aimed at assessing any change in classroom behavior of teachers and/or their ways of thinking about their students. The study showed significantly greater achievement in Arabic language over the year among the classes taught using diagnostic assessment. The approach of using diagnostic assessment was entirely new to the teachers. It developed student self-confidence and also developed their expectation of achievement as well as the teachers' ability to set realistic and achievable objectives for individual students. There were less conclusive results in the area of mathematics. This might have been because the current instructional materials in mathematics already contained three levels of materials for different levels of understanding the content. Therefore mathematic teachers are more familiar with the concept of differentiation within the class. Other areas of achievement include capacity building at the ministry: * a diagnostic assessment team has been established and trained in every directorate; * a total of 115 schools in 18 directorates are now actively participating; * supervisors, headteachers and teachers have been trained to anticipate student difficulties more effectively, to match teaching to students' needs and to prepare differentiated activities to supplement the textbook activities; * comprehensive activity-based training packages which are supported by guidance and a video, have been developed to support diagnostic assessment in schools. This includes training units in lesson planning, designing differentiated activities, group management, questioning techniques, recording and reporting student achievement; * conferences have taken place both to inform and to evaluate the project activities. One of the key success factors was the fact that the teachers and supervisors involved in the project were trained at the same time and together, which enabled them to develop a shared understanding of the needs of the approach, and the changes demanded were realistic. Achievements expected at each stage of the project were realistically targeted and adjustments made where necessary. Differentiation of achievement was accepted because it was recognized that different schools, districts, and situations demanded different approaches. Additionally, frequent meetings/workshops were held to enable all to share, evaluate, review, and use each other's experiences. Headteachers played a key role in supporting the innovation. The program was developed using existing resources and without the use of additional teaching/learning materials which would not continue to be available after the project was completed. The main challenge has been to change attitudes while developing systems which are decentralized and self-supporting. Other problems included lack of available consultants; too many changes in personnel at the Ministry and in schools; the Ministry's lack of capacity to manage the different components effectively; a lack of understanding by the Ministry of the need to support the activities in the districts through personal visits of Ministry supervisors; and some difficulties over finance. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is the approach? The sustainability and expansion of the project in the long- term will depend on whether: * support can continue to be provided to all parties currently participating: directors, supervisors, headteachers and teachers, who need to be encouraged to review and expand their participation; * the capacity for development planning at school and directorate levels can be enhanced, by provision of appropriate training materials and programs; * systems for assessment can be strengthened, by training potential question-setters, promoting quality review of examination papers, and further improving statistical control. So far as transferability is concerned, Jordan is a country with high educational standards and a wide awareness among the general public of the importance of quality education. As a result, the project was 53 able to be ambitious in emphasizing development of classroom judgment and responsive planning of lessons in preference to rigid adherence to a prescribed method. It was also able to demand high levels of participation from teachers and supervisors, thereby reinforcing the development of teachers' skills. However, not all systems could adopt such an approach. Where teachers are inadequately paid or educated, or have an excessive teaching load, simpler tools may be needed, such as guidance on how to construct and interpret classroom tests. Where supervision is weak or lacking, decentralized development and piloting may be difficult. Reference: Jones, L.; Carroll, D. and Saqqa, M. (2000) "Diagnostic assessment: involving teachers and students in teaching and learning" in Saunders, L. (Ed.) School Improvement Worldwide: Nine Case Studies from Six Countries. Manchester: British Council. Some of this text in the Brief is directly excerpted from this reference. 54 MIDDLE EAST 19. Palestine: Improving the educational experiences of pupils in Grades 1-4 (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? With the transfer of civil administration from the Israeli government to the Palestinian National Authority in 1994, the Palestinian Ministry of Education inherited an education system with many problems. These included insufficient or inadequate school buildings, equipment and resources; teaching staff with low qualifications; no significant inservice training for teachers; and two different education systems, for the West Bank and for the Gaza Strip. In 1996, what is now known as the Department for International Development (DFID), launched an education project to improve the quality of school education by focusing on development knowledge and management skills for staff at the central ministry, district offices and schools. This case study brief and the one the follows (number 20) are two school improvement projects that developed out of the same overarching reforrn program and context. Several measures have been introduced including: a major program of school construction and refurbishment; an increase in the quality and quantity of equipment, and upgrading of resources; teacher training being given a high priority. And minimum qualifications established for the recruitment of new teachers; and preparations for a new and single Palestinian curriculum, to be introduced over a five year period starting in the 2000-2001 school year. This first case study brief describes a project designed to develop more innovative approaches to teaching and learning in Grades 1-4. More specifically at the school level it aimed to: - improve the teaching and learning environment - improve teachers skills in planning, implementation and self-evaluation * improve student's attitudes and encourage positive behavior * help the school staff work as a team * develop further the relationships between school and community At the District and Ministry levels, the project aims to assist managers and supervisors to develop systems for monitoring and evaluating progress within the pilot projects and use this information to plan, monitor, and evaluate further expansion of the project. (ii) What was the approach? The pilot project developed in three stages: 1. Implementation at the school level * Twelve pilot schools covering a range of different school circumstances were selected, two from each of six of the sixteen districts in West Bank and Gaza Strip. * To inform planning, study visits were made by twelve headteachers, and two supervisors to the UK to see primary practice in UK schools and to identify aspects relevant to their situation back home. * Throughout the year, regional focus groups, comprising teachers, headteachers and project supervisors were set up for different curriculum aspects, selected to help teachers develop new approaches to fixed text-book content. Schools chose their own representatives. In total 121 teachers were trained in new approaches including developing student's science process skills, problem solving in mathematics, use of drama and role play in learning; personal and social education; assessment and planning; and linking subjects i.e. taking an interdisciplinary approach. 55 * Members of the focus groups then ran hands-on training workshops for their colleagues back in their schools. 2. Development of dissemination process * Fifty new schools throughout the districts and 34 new supervisors joined the project. * Task teams of supervisors, teachers and headteachers produced training materials and booklets, containing ideas for classroom activities across the curriculum, based on those developed in stage 1. * The focus expanded to include planning, implementing, managing, monitoring. reviewing and evaluating developments at school and district levels. A supportive and collaborative role rather than inspectoral role was taken. Each school was responsible for constructing its semester action plan and monitoring its progress. * Additionally, core teams in the district offices received copies of the school action plans, feedback from supervisors on school visits and completed Teacher and Learning Evaluation formns. * The Ministry of Education carried out an internal evaluation of the project which helped in the decision to expand ways of working in the pilot schools as national policy. 3. Implementation at national level * Another 158 new project schools were added in the first year of this stage with the plan to add the same number for each of the following two years. Twenty new supervisors and 220 trainers (headteachers and teachers from the project schools) were selected. * Despite a preference for a "whole-school approach" in initiating new methods, some grade-by-grade implementation was also adopted. - A five year training was introduced to all schools on the new methods. Costs: [no evidence available at this time] (iii) How successful was the approach? How was this success determined? Achievements realized on the project include: teachers using new methods of teaching and learning with greater confidence; increased team work between headteachers and teachers e.g. collaborative planning, teachers pooling expertise and giving feedback to each other; increased parental involvement in helping in classrooms, financial contributions and school-building projects; a supportive rather than inspectoral role of supervisors introduced; increased skills in planning and evaluating new developments at the district and ministry levels; and at all three levels increased skills in producing training and support materials, and designing and running training programs. These achievements were determined through headteacher reports; evaluation of Teaching and Learning forms completed by the supervisors; observations and discussions by District and Ministry staff and external evaluators; discussions with parents; and observations of the quality of planning and evaluation documents and teachers planning books, examined by external consultants. This project did not undertake an initial measured baseline study. Rather it chose to involve ministry staff, headteachers, teachers and supervisors in developing agreed measuring procedures. This contributed in a large way to strong capacity building. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is the approach? Sustainability of the work seems assured, certainly in the medium term, for a number of reasons including: * the establishment of the national training program * the existence of new support materials and textbooks * the fact that there is a large cohort of people, at all levels, with a good understanding and ownership of the project * ongoing practical support from the Ministry In general terms, the model adopted by this project could be transferable to another context, but key 56 pre-requisite questions to be answered include: * Is early years education clearly valued by the Ministry? * Is there a real desire to change methods? * Does the culture make team work possible e.g. teachers working alongside supervisors? Reference: Blythe, K. (2000) "Improving the Educational Experiences of Pupils in Grades 1-4" in Saunders, L. (Ed.) School Improvement Worldwide: Nine Case Studies from Six Countries, Manchester: British Council. Some of the text in the Brief is directly excerpted from this reference. 57 .MIDDLE EAST 20. Palestine: Establishing School-Based Systems for School Review and Development (i) What did this approach aim to do? What were some of the key background features? This case study brief and the previous one (number 19) which provides some background information, are two school improvement projects that developed out of the same overarching reformn program and context i.e. the emerging development of a common education system in the West Bank and Gaza Strip following the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority in 1994. The previous case study brief looked at a project to develop more effective teaching practices. This case study brief focuses on a project to develop more effective school management. Both cases focus on how improvement and change can be effected at the school level. The School Review and Development Planning Pilot (SRDP) Project was established in 1997. Its main purpose has been to determine a suitable school review and development planning process for Palestinian schools and to develop the skills of staff in schools to ensure that such a process will function effectively. More specifically, the project aims to supportheadteachers, teachers and the local community, to take a more direct responsibility for implementing planned and managed approaches to whole school development. (ii) What was the approach? Phase One * The initial six month phase of the pilot project in 1997 began with 15 Palestinian educators making a two week study visit to the UK to look at school development in action i.e. the process of review and development planning and how this contributes to all aspects of school improvement and effectiveness. Prior to the study visit, it had been decided that this initiative should be piloted in all 12 districts, and that each district have a designated team leader to steer through the introduction of SRDP in the initial phases. Eleven of the team leaders were mostly either supervisors or Heads of Supervision. Some headteachers were also involved. * Up to six schools were then identified in each of the districts and two to three key supervisors per district were allocated to provide support. * A series of regional training activities took place to introduce the 69 headteachers and 32 key supervisors to the rationale for school development planning covering the following areas: Teaching and Learning; School and Community Links; Human Resources; and Physical Resources. Discussion of the review questionnaire and the construction of the School Development Plan (SDP) were also included. Additional training workshops introduced headteachers and key supervisors in ways of selecting priorities and relating these to developmental objectives, and developing their own school SDPs. This was supported by external consultants. Training materials were developed to support the construction of school development plans. * School based workshops were then held to enable school staff in pilot schools to present and share their draft SDPs. * Issues which arose included knowing how to manage change effectively, understanding the western concept of management/leadership versus administration, and how to develop key development indicators for monitoring progress. Additional training and support was established. * A second and third overlapping phase of schools then followed the same pattern of training and implementation, which means that now over half the schools within the Palestinian Authority 58 are involved in the SRDP program. The full implementation of a national SDRP in all schools is planned for September 2002. Costs: [no evidence available at this time] (iii) How successful was the approach? How was this success determined? The successes of the project include: * Articulation of and commitment to school mission statements * Increased voice, confidence and accountability of headteachers for their schools' development * Some measurable improvement in specific grades of teaching and learning in the key subjects of Arabic, Maths, English and Sciences, as a result of being identified as development objectives of the SDP * Ability to set up local support networks and interschool exchange visits where experiences are shared and practical help and support are provided between school staff * Increased involvement of the local community e.g. teachers setting up a literacy class for mothers who were illiterate, student visiting the local hospital to help 'beautify' the surroundings and talk to patients, sharing school facilities such as the library, and students helping with the olive harvest. * Sharing and pooling resources and practical experiences between project and non-project schools - Establishment of an infrastructure at the Ministry level to support SDRP through the appointment of a national coordinator, district team leaders, and district training supervisors. * Production of a strategic plan for full nationalization of the SRDP. The application of the common framework for monitoring and evaluating SRDP has provided a great deal of evidence of the progress of this initiative to the individual schools, the districts and the ministry. Further evidence of impact has been obtained from an internal evaluation of School Review by the Ministry of Education, an independent external evaluation of the SDRP pilot project conducted by international consultants and the DFID project monitoring missions. (iv) On the evidence available, how sustainable/able to go to scale is the approach? The evidence is promising that the nationalization of SRDP will be successful. Some of the lessons to take into consideration as the program expands include: * While the project is school-focused, it also relates directly to other initiatives and developments within the school, the district and within the Ministry of Education. * Individual school needs are balanced with national priorities. * Schools work within existing resources, and not place too heavy burdens on the community. * Planned and managed approaches to staff development are introduced early in the training program. * Headteachers are involved in the process of constructing the framework for monitoring and evaluating SDRP. * School development teams need to extend the ownership of the SDP to all staff involved * All personnel at district and ministry level need to be clear about their roles and responsibilities to support the priorities and implementation of SRDP. * SRDP is a tool to support the management of change. Reference: Thompson, L. (2000) "Improving the Educational Experiences of Pupils in Grades 1-4" in Saunders, L. (Ed.) School Improvement Worldwide: Nine Case Studies from Six Countries. Manchester: British Council. Some of this text in the Brief is directly excerpted from this reference. 59 Annex I ADEA Prospective, Stocktaking Review of Education in Africa October, 1999 (Excerpted from Draft Document) [Overview of Case Studies] The exercise that was initiated by the ADEA Steering Committee in 1998 resulted in the milestone document, ADEA Prospective, Stocktaking Review of Education in Africa The overall objective of the exercise is to identify solutions, policies, approaches and practices that can be applied to well-known, well-documented problems and constraints facing education in Africa. The document provides a synthesis of case studies produced by 25 African Ministries of Education and by 7 ADEA Working Groups. One of the objectives now for ADEA is to set into motion a process whereby educators and policymakers learn from, and make practical use of "real" experience that requires close, rigorous, analytical, and critical examination of such experiences. This paper serves as an overview of the case studies by presenting the common trends and lessons on "what works" in expanding access, improving quality and developing delivery capacities of education systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. (SSA). Developing education in SSA: What works? Theme: Democratization and the norm of equality A trend that pervades cases that made significant success in expanding access, improving equality and developing systemic capacities is the transition to democracy and concern for equality. In three of the four case studies in countries that had emerged from repressive regimes (South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia), there was need to dismantle the previously institutionalized inequities in education access. In the fourth case, Uganda, there was need to rebuild the education system that was almost totally destroyed by the repressive governments and subsequent civil strife. Lesson: The development of education in SSA cannot be effectively pursued without paying attention to macro-political contexts. Political contexts that are most conducive to the improvement of the quality of education for all are those that endorse the "norm of equality". The importance of this norm is highlighted because even without the so-called democratic countries, certain groups - women and girls, disabled, ethnic and linguistic minorities - are denied education opportunities on account of assumed inequalities. Theme: Political vision, conviction and commitment A clear vision, complemented by unwavering conviction and the commitment of highly placed leaders, facilitates the success of educational development efforts. In some of the cases such as Botswana, Guinea, Namibia, Uganda and South Africa, the successful interventions were supported and/or commissioned by the office of the State President and they enjoyed the utmost support of the Ministers of Education. Across these cases, political will and committed leadership have been identified as critical factors that facilitated observed achievements. 60 Lesson: Success in education development requires just as much passion as it does substance. Innovations need highly placed champions who can gamer the support of and commitment of change agents. The successful development of education requires the "buy in" of the highest political leadership. Innovations that are placed high on the national political agenda are most likely to register success. Theme: Readiness to develop as you go A trend that permeates most of the cases that achieve expanded access and improved quality is the readiness to "develop as you go", so to speak. This sense of readiness derives from a clear sense of urgency to effect change. This readiness is well illustrated in the case studies of Botswana's human capacity development, Zimbabwe's science project, Namibia's institutional capacity development, Uganda's Universal Primary Education reform, and in the innovative teacher policies seen in Senegal, Tchad, Guinea and elsewhere. Virtually all these case studies display the shrewdness of their champions to not allow planning to arrest implementation. In light of the resource limitations and the unfinished groundwork, the sense of urgency and flexibility in implementation enabled the champions to launch their efforts and to implement them fairly successfully. Lesson: The success of innovations depends on an astute balancing of planning with implementation. A key feature of this balance is the ability not to allow planning to arrest implementation. As aptly put by one of the presenters of the Zimbabwe science report, "not everything has to be in place before you can start." Theme: Consultative and inclusive policy development and programming Another trend that emerges is that inclusive consultation and consensus building are basic to effective education policy and development and management. Innovators are becoming increasingly aware of the need to gamer broad-based support for interventions intended to develop education. Consultation and consensus building foster a sense of ownership of, and support for, education policies and programs by stakeholders other than political leaders and Ministry technocrats. In the most formal manner, this consultation takes the form of Presidential or National Commissions of Education. Examples include consultation processes that preceded the articulation of the Uganda's Universal Primary Education policy, and South Africa's Higher Education policy. Extensive consultations with stakeholders have been cited as critical factors that ensured the success of the teacher re-deployment project in Guinea; UPE in Uganda; the Madagascar dina schools; teacher recruitment and the volunteer teacher program in Senegal; community mobilization for improved access in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Gambia; the acceptance of Nigeria's nomadic curriculum into Zanzibar's Koranic schools; and the launching and implementation of the Cote d'Ivoire's EMIS. In some contexts, consultations are enabling traditionally opposing sides to complete one another's efforts in improving and sustaining access to education. In Liberia for instance, the Teacher's Union assisted the Ministry of Education in convincing teachers not to abandon learners and immigrate out of the country. Lesson: Much can be attained through sharpening means of communicating with stakeholders who support education development. The ADEA/World Bank initiative on "communicating education" seems right on target. As the initiative unfolds, it will become necessary for it to target a wide range of stakeholders who seem to make the most difference in supporting the development of education. Communication technologies should be effectively used to carry messages to people on the ground whose support makes things happen in education. 61 Theme: Perceived relevance and sensitivity to real and felt needs Interventions manage to gamer support only to the degree that they are seen to be relevant to the real and felt needs of the people. The expansion of education meets the popular demand for education. The willingness of communities to make substantial contributions to the expansion of access, and to resource inputs that improve quality attests the perceived relevance of education to their lives and to the lives of their children. This is demonstrated by the case studies that focus on community partnerships. Other examples of interventions that thrive because of their perceived relevance are the institutional capacity development initiatives presented by Cote d'lvoire and Namibia. In both countries, efforts to develop EMIS made progress because they addressed information needs of policymakers. Namibia's EMIS also addressed the need to plan and equitably allocate education resource inputs and to make informed decisions. Lesson: No matter how brilliant and progressive proposed policies and innovations may be, their chances of success are limited if the beneficiaries do not understand and appreciate their value added. Policymakers, therefore, need to invest time and energy in making apparent the value of proposecl policies to potential beneficiaries. It does not suffice that the benefactors know that "it is good for beneficiaries". Key concept: Effective partnerships for the provision of education A trend that pervades all cases that focus on access is the readiness of governments to create space for alternative providers of the education service. So far communities are the main partners that are actively involved in the provision of education. These communities take diverse forms ranging from regular communities, religious communities (Catholic churches in Liberia, and Lesotho, Moslem community in Zanzibar), and civil society such as local NGOs. A substantial proportion of promising efforts at expanding access to education succeed because of community support. Lesson: Allowed and encouraged to exist, collective entrepreneurship for education is a vibrant source of ideas and resources. Theme: Community involvement The role of communities as providers of education is becoming more complex and substantive. Communities are moving beyond the traditional roles of providing financial contributions, in-kind contributions through labor, instructional materials, uniforms, and other resources. There is a partial shift of the locus of action and control from the central ministries to the communities as they are becoming more involved in matters previously regarded as the domain of professionals and ministries. Some communities are now involved in the recruitment of teachers, negotiations of teacher salaries - especially non-civil service teachers - teacher management (Guinea, Cameroon, Senegal and Tchad), school management (Cote d'Ivoire, Zanzibar, and Tchad) selection of school curricula (Zanzibar), school mapping (Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia), financial management (Madagascar, Tanzania), and in the establishment and management of pre-schools (Zanzibar). Lessons: (a) Communities put their resources where their needs are. To this effect, sustainable and effective development of education will rely on the means of livelihood available to individuals and their communities. Whereas prior assistance to education went directly to governments, there may be need to explore strategies that will more directly target poor communities and even individuals. Such methods should endeavor to enable communities to provide for themselves rather than to be provided for by national governments. Otherwise sustainability of community support for education may be threatened. 62 (b) The history of community participation in education development points to the need for education development policies to be tethered to positive experiences from the ground. Whatever analytic and reflective process the "Prospective, Stocktaking Review" can stimulate, concerted and sustained efforts need to be made to identify factors that facilitate the development of education in SSA, and then to strengthen those factors. Theme: International partnership The case studies demonstrate the extent to which the substantial technical and financial support of the international development strategies have been crucial to the reported achievements. Sixteen of the countries reporting make explicit reference to the role of their external financing and technical partners in the realization of the interventions described in their case studies. This is a significant finding of this exercise and demonstrates the importance of international cooperation in the elaboration, development and implementation of interventions the countries designate as successful. However, international partnerships for education development in Africa are moving away from specific project assistance and more in the direction of sector-wide approaches. 63 *oo-oo mThe 01..0 British 0O:. 0 oCouncil New from the British Council: School Improvement Worldwide: Nine Case Studies from Six Countries Edited by Lesley Saunders, National Foundation for Educational Research This book, due to be published in Autumn 2000, is a showcase for the kind of work the British Council is supporting in education and schooling across the world. The capacity for countries and people to re-invent themselves through education is astonishing: each one of the case studies is a tribute in its own way to the determination of individuals, communities and govenments to improve the chances for their young people. Here is just one example: The success of this project... is due to the energy, enthusiasm and commitment of all those involved Our experience has shown that the community is 'hungry to learn' and eager to embrace new ideas and practice in order to improve the quality of education for their children... Among the themes addressed by the case studies are: * improving access to education by matching school sites to populations * improving the material conditions of schools and classrooms * raising standards of learning; identifying and remedying under-achievement * improving teachers' classroom skills * improving institutional leadership and the capacity to manage change * increasing the autonomy of schools and creating a sense of 'ownership' . involving parents and the community - creating occasions and resources for partnerships * harnessing the new information and communications technologies for learning * addressing the need for outcome measures and targets. The insights which the book gives into the intellectual, technical, operational and political challenges involved in 'improving schools' will be a valuable resource for educators across the globe. 64