BESPOR Basic Education Support for Poverty Reduction

BESPOR Basic Education Support for Poverty Reduction

Report of consultant – Whole School Development SQAD

July 2005

1 Consultancy objective

To assist the Directorate SQAD to operationalise the Cluster Monitor framework and to facilitate the effective functioning of the Directorate.

2 Activities and Outputs

2.1 Development of a SQAD management manual and monitoring guidelines

a) Management of SQAD

The staffing situation in the SQAD directorate has not yet been finalised. At present, there remain in the directorate the Director, one PEO, and the five SEOs mentioned in the previous report. It is the intention to reduce this staffing to the Director supported by two PEOs, one for basic and the other for secondary education. These officers will act as technical advisers to the Director. The future of the post for Arabic/Islamic SEO has not yet been decided. The existing SEOs are to be transferred as cluster monitors to Regions 1 and 2, although those earmarked for transfer at the time of the previous visit have not yet been moved. It has been decided by the BESPOR Team Leader and DoSE SMT that until the new staffing structure is in place, there is little to be gained from establishing management systems. This will be addressed in the ongoing work on performance management being undertaken by SMT DoSE.

The consultant spent some time working in the SQAD office in Banjul. Although almost all staff were willing to work, there was a lack of purpose and direction, resulting in most SEOs being involved in their own tasks, rather than carrying out the priorities of the department, such as ensuring that outstanding inspection reports were edited ready for publication, despite a backlog. Lack of ICT skills and suitable equipment in working order means that reports of training activities are laboriously written by hand, typed by secretarial staff, printed, edited manually and then corrected. Office staff were frequently absent.

The consultant began a survey of the directorate’s ICT equipment, attached. The overall picture is one of lack of maintenance, so that there is a significant amount of hardware sitting unused in the office. No-one was able to inform the consultant about why items of equipment were not working, and it was not possible to ascertain this for herself as many items are not connected to computers or a power supply. There is a member of staff in the Directorate of Planning who has the skills to diagnose faults, but there is no formal arrangement for this person to help out other departments, and no funds in the directorate to carry out maintenance. The PEO uses his personal laptop, but the battery is in need of replacement and this too cannot be done because of lack of funds. Once the staffing situation in the directorate is finalised, it will be necessary to review ICT provision.

b) Guidelines for cluster monitors

Background

The system of top-down inspection by a combination of the central and regional teams has not delivered the desired results in terms of providing reports on the performance of schools so as to improve the quality of education and its results in terms of pupils’ achievements. This failure to deliver has a number of elements, but perhaps the key is that an inspection system is predicated on the assumption that the majority of schools have most essential elements in place. In this case, the inspection process provides an external and objective view of school effectiveness, and can identify schools which have a greater need for support.

The present situation in the Gambia, becoming more evident recently, is that many schools are not in a position of providing an adequate standard of education, and that a significant number of pupils are underachieving. The decision to move to a quality assurance rather than a quality control system is intended to provide support to schools to get the basic requirements in place to remedy the situation, and thus to improve the quality of teaching and learning, and raise standards. As pointed out in the previous report, the new model is a blend of inspectorial and advisory work, with the emphasis on facilitation and will not provide DoSE with the service outlined in the Education Policy 2004-2015. It pushes the responsibility for school development clearly into schools and local communities.

Cluster monitors have been appointed to form the basis of this new system, but these appointments have been made without a personnel specification and on draft terms of reference. There is a need for further clarification of their role, and to develop consistency between individuals and between regions. The consultant was required to facilitate the development of a process manual in order to guide and focus their work, in consultation with SQAD officers.

During the first week of the consultancy, useful discussions were held with members of the SQAD central team, both on their view of the cluster monitor role, the competencies required for the post and the future of SQAD centrally, as well as making a start on the first draft of the manual.

The three-day visioning workshop with Region 5 and other key staff provided the opportunity to work alongside a range of participants, but crucially to work with the Region 5 cluster monitors, both during mixed sessions and in a one day workshop for them alone. A brief report of this workshop appears as an appendix to the current report. The workshop was useful in a number of ways, and most of the information gathered will be dealt with in the section on the training needs analysis below. However, it revealed that some cluster monitors had not seen the draft terms of reference. The consultant used part of the day to explore with cluster monitors the skills, knowledge and personal qualities that they believe that they require for the post, and these ideas have been incorporated into the personnel specification attached to this report.

The production of the draft manual presented some difficulties. Sang Gomez, PEP SQAD, was designated by the Director SQAD to be the consultant’s counterpart for this task. However, due to the Director’s decision to divert him to other duties, some time was wasted, and the consultant extended her stay in her personal time to complete the draft when Mr Gomez was available.

The first draft of the manual is attached with various appendixes consisting of forms, guidance on observing lessons and the revised terms of reference and competencies. It would be useful to trial the first version of the manual in the first term of the academic year, to take feedback and carry out any revisions in the second or third term. Ideally, the consultant and SQAD central staff would undertake visits to schools with the cluster monitors in Region 5, particularly to the schools in the whole school development pilot, to evaluate the manual in use, and then meet with the cluster monitors to hear direct feedback.

Three major issues remain outstanding in relation to cluster monitors. These have become apparent in Region 5, but it is possible that they also apply in other regions.

The details of day to day management of cluster monitors have yet to be resolved. Responsibility is to the Regional Director, but it is suggested that routine management should be delegated to a PEO. It is also recommended that the reduced central SQAD team have a role in assuring the quality of the management of the cluster monitors by carrying out spot checks on reports and supervisory visits by regional office staff.

Owing to budgetary constraints, a number of cluster monitors will continue to have a subsidiary role in addition to that of cluster monitor. While these subsidiary duties can to some extent be carried out in the cluster schools, there may be other responsibilities in the region as a whole. The concern is that these duties will absorb a disproportionate amount of time, especially since the cluster monitor role is a challenging one and necessitates the learning of new skills. Careful management will be needed to ensure that sufficient time is spent in the cluster monitor role to carry out the activities outlined in the manual and facilitate change in the cluster schools.

Contact with the Region 5 cluster monitors suggests that some of those appointed are unlikely to have the personal qualities to carry out the work. It is recommended that the appointments be revisited using key competencies outlined in the personnel specification.

2.2 Training and development needs analysis

Initially, it was expected that the training and development needs analysis would incorporate the development of SQAD as well as the cluster monitor role. In the light of the need for changes in the staffing structure, it was decided by the BESPOR Team Leader, in consultation with DoSE senior management, that this element of the consultancy be postponed until the new structure is in place. At that time, management responsibilities will be outlined in the performance management arrangements being put in place by DoSE. There is a need to clarify the relationship, if any, between SQAD and cluster monitors.

Four main activities contributed to the training and development needs analysis for cluster monitors. These were:

discussions with key personnel, including SQAD officers at central and regional level, the directors of EFA and SQAD, VSO volunteer teacher trainers from Region 5;

general participation in the three days of workshops with cluster monitors, headteachers and other stakeholders;

a specific workshop session with Region 5 cluster monitors on their view of their strengths and areas for development – summary attached as part of workshop report;

work on the revision of the terms of reference and the associated personnel specification.

Main conclusions arising from the activities outlined above

These conclusions are mainly based on work with cluster monitors from Region 5, but the consultant has also drawn on discussions with SQAD officers about to be posted as cluster monitors.

Although cluster monitors have been appointed, the majority have little understanding of the complexity of the role. Some cluster monitors had not seen the terms of reference before the BESPOR workshop. The cluster monitors attending the workshop are drawn from a range of backgrounds in schools and as regional office staff. Some have participated in polyvalence training, but the workshop activities demonstrated that there are many training needs.

Some cluster monitors showed during the sessions that they do not currently have the personal qualities to undertake the role. Cluster monitors will predominantly be change agents, and as such must be open to change in themselves. The must also show that they are able and willing to communicate with all stakeholders in a facilitative way, ensuring that views are heard and acted upon. During the workshop sessions, particularly role play, a minority of cluster monitors took domineering positions, expressing their own opinions forcefully and allowing no other views to be heard. It is unlikely that these issues can be addressed sufficiently by training to make a difference. See recommendation above re further assessment of candidates for appointment as cluster monitors.

Training needs can be summarised into four main areas:

Understanding of the role and awareness of relevant procedures. The manual of guidance is a starting point for this aspect.

Familiarity with key policy and planning documents. It would be useful to support the manual with guidelines on regional office procedures to ensure that cluster monitors are able to carry out the function of liaison between schools and the regional offices effectively. Cluster monitors should be provided with copies of relevant policy documents, and a summary of EFA targets for reference. Although they can be read by cluster monitors in private study time, it may be useful for the relevant PEO to ensure that this has taken place.

Facilitation skills. This is the most important need, as it is fundamental the supportive nature of the post. Working in a supportive and facilitative role is a cultural shift for many, and facilitation training can incorporate presentation skills, shared problem-solving, conducting effective meetings as well as the complex skill of involving stakeholders in decision-making.

Specific skills linked mainly to school development. This would include data analysis from a range of sources, development planning including prioritisation and realistic target setting.

Items 1 and 3 above could possibly be dealt with in a series of week-long workshops, combining two days facilitation training, and the remainder working through the manual. These would most usefully be held in the first term of the academic year, so that cluster monitors can start using the manual and working in a positive way as soon as possible. These workshops might combine cluster monitors from pairs of regions.

Documents for item 2 could be provided at the same events, but it is unlikely that the time frame would allow work on them.

Item 4 is a longer term need, more urgent as the whole school development work takes place. Cluster monitors should be involved with headteachers and other stakeholders in training in the Region 5 pilot. Once this training has taken place, it could be adapted and delivered to cluster monitors in other regions, in advance of the whole school development main rollout. SQAD central staff could be involved in this training, as well as some cluster monitors from Region 5 who have shown particular aptitude.

Additional issue from previous report - Participatory Performance Monitoring (PPM)

As outlined in the previous report, PPM has been adopted as government policy following a study tour by SQAD staff to Ghana. However, plans for its adoption into practice are at an early stage. Some workshops for PTA members have taken place, but little has been done in a systematic way to adapt PPM to the Gambian context.