Teacher Training in Whole School Development by Kashif Abbas

Teacher Training in Whole School Development Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

March 2008

Brigid Smith

City District Government Faisalabad, Pakistan

This document is produced as part of the Strengthening Decentralised Local Government in Faisalabad (SDLGF) Project for the purpose of disseminating lessons learnt from the project. The views are not necessarily those of DFID or the City District Government Faisalabad (c) SDLGF March 2008 Parts of this case study may be reproduced for educational use, provided that such material is not printed and sold. The authors expect that, any material which is used will be acknowledged accordingly. Printed by: FaizBakht Printers, The Mall, Jhang (Punjab) Pakistan.

VISION “Pre-empting Poverty, Promoting Prosperity”

MISSION STATEMENT “We will provide high quality services which compare with the best in the country. We will work with everyone who wants a better future for our District. We will establish an efficient, effective and accountable District Local Government, which is committed to respecting and upholding women, men and children’s basic human rights, responsive towards people’s needs, committed to poverty reduction and capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st Century. Our actions will be driven by the concerns of local people”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This case study is the culmination of efforts by a number of individuals from government and the technical assistance team. Firstly it is important to thank all those who have cooperated with the team preparing this case study not only in the last few weeks but over the course of the last four years. They have been critical to the work and demonstrated what is possible to achieve in government when the right set of conditions prevail. The author would like to thank the communities and elected representatives of the district that assisted the SPU team in implementing this project and its various components. The author wishes to thank Rana Zahid Tauseef, City District Nazim; Maj (Retd.) Azam Suleman Khan, District Coordination Officer; and Dr. Tariq Sardar, EDO Finance & Planning for their valuable contribution in making this project a huge success. The author is also thankful to: Mr. Ch. Zahid Nazir, ex-District Nazim Faisalabad; Mr. Tahir Hussain, exDCO Faisalabad and Mr. Athar Hussain Khan Sial, ex-DCO Faisalabad for their valuable contribution to the success of this project. The author is further thankful to all CDGF employees (past and present) and CDGF partner departments but would like to specifically mention by name the following: Mr. Mumtaz Hussain Shah, EDO Education; Mr. Ch. Zulfiqar Ahmed District Officer Secondary Education, Mr. Ashiq Ali, District Officer Elementary Education (male) and Ms. Kishwar Naheed Rana, District Officer Elementary Education (female) for their efforts in successfully implementing reforms in their departments. The author is thankful to all DFID Project Advisers and Management that have assisted in this project since its start and would like to specifically thank Mr. Mosharraf Zaidi, Governance Advisor, DFID Pakistan and Mr. Wajahat Anwar, Deputy Program Manager, Accountability and Empowerment team, DFID Pakistan, for their continuous support and professional technical guidance since their involvement in 2005. The author is also thankful to Mehreen Hosain for proof reading the document and all the SPU team members for their dedication, hard work and the many late hours spent designing, implementing and documenting the work of this project. These include: Khatib Alam, Nadir Ehsan, Mahmood Akhtar, Imran Yousafzai, Muhammad Shahid Alvi, Muhammad Tariq, Kashif Abbas, Ajaz Durrani, Farhan Yousaf, Muntazir Mehdi, Gul Hafeez Khokhar, Muhammad Mirza Ramzan, Muhammad Sharif, Sumara Khan, Humaira Khan, Saima Sharif, Mubarak Ali, Noor Muhammad Khan, Nuzhat Hanif, Syed Sheraz Akhtar, all the master trainers and training associates of the Institute of Learning, and all long and short-term international and national consultants.

Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ACRONYMS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.0

BACKGROUND

1.1 1.2

General Context Specific Context

3 3

2.0

THE CASE

2.1 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3 2.2 2.2.1 2.3 2.3.1 2.3.2 2.3.3 2.3.4

Overview Targeting Whole School Development Teacher Training Management Change Design Designing the Whole School Development Programme Implementation Early Years Focus of the Materials Head Teacher Training and Reflection Teacher Training The Aims of Training

4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 7 8 8

3.0

LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS

3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.6.1 3.6.2 3.6.3 3.6.4 3.6.5

Reflection and Transformation Journal Writing: Introduction to Reflection after Day 1 Reflections after Day 2 and 3 Journal Writing during the interim school based reflection Reflective questions Four Journals of Reflective Teachers How will I know if children have learned? What was good and what was difficult? What was difficult? What did I learn? Whose Fault is the failure to learn?

9 9 10 11 11 12 12 12 13 14 14

4.0

CONCLUSIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

City District Government Faisalabad Strategic Policy Unit

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

Acronyms

ACRONYMS AEO CRC DOE DDEO DEO DFID ECD EDO EE (F) EE (M) EFA EMIS GoP LC LGO LSQAs MOE NGO NRB PESRP PTA SC SDLGF SE SMC SPU SWAP UPE WSD

Assistant Education Officer Convention on the Right of the Child Department of Education Deputy District Education Officer District Education Officer Department for International Development Early Childhood Development Executive District Officer Elementary Education (Female) Elementary Education (Male) Education for All Education Management Information System Government of Pakistan Learning Coordinator Local Government Ordinance Learning Solution and Quality Assurance Ministry of Education Non Governmental Organisation National Reconstruction Bureau Punjab Education Sector Reform Programme Parents Teachers Association School Council Strengthening Decentralized Local Government in Faisalabad Secondary Education School Management Committee Strategic Policy Unit Sector Wide Approach Universal Primary Education Whole School Development

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

Executive Summary

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Key Education indicators in Pakistan show that efforts to improve the quality and spread of education and to impact on poverty have failed to produce change. At the start of the 'Strengthening Decentralised Local Government in Faisalabad' Project' funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) there was no infrastructure for teacher training operational in Punjab. Change in education has the teacher at the heart of the process. However over a decade of donor-aided teacher training programmes change has not impacted significantly on the classroom in S. Mumtaz Hussain Shah Pakistan. Teacher Training is necessary because teachers are often untrained, poorly EDO (Education) trained or unmotivated to teach. Pre-service training is poorly focused, not based on classroom experience and often taught by people who are not themselves dedicated and passionate educators. In-service training is delivered on a cascade model, not related to the immediate needs of the teacher or school. As part of the Strengthening of District Government programme in Faisalabad the Education component has worked in 472 schools to introduce a Whole School Development (WSD) programme that has included teacher training, materials for the classroom, provision of resources and the dissemination of good practice. The head-teacher and teachers in the elementary school have been the focus of the training programme. WSD is a community based, holistic programme that aims to improve the quality of education through joint activity between community and the school. The Headteacher is considered to be the change agent in the school and is supported to plan, prioritise, fund raise and mentor teachers. The creation of a Child Friendly School supports the later teacher training and resource provision. Materials have been developed and training of trainers has taken place, and an Institute of Learning (IoL) has been set up to house the trainers in Faisalabad. The team of trainers are all good teachers who have proven primary or elementary classroom experience. The reflective teacher is the teacher who is able to embrace change and to understand and support innovation in the classroom through planning, intervention, analysis and action. Headteachers and teachers have been involved in WSD in a reflective process through the use of journals. Headteacher journals are started during training and headteachers reflect on the training and on the course of action that they intend to take in their schools. The journals allow them to reflect on things that they have found difficult in the training, what they like and what they intend to implement in the their schools. The trainers read the journals and give feedback to the headteachers. Teacher training has been planned to fully encompass the process of reflection and change. Training is in two parts each of three days and between the two sessions teachers return to their schools and keep a reflective journal on the work they plan and do over two weeks. They summarise their work and progress, consider what worked well and why and plan the next input based on their analysis. Although the process is very simple and teachers do not write a great deal there is nevertheless a considerable amount of evidence about the changes that are taking place in their thinking and that are then followed up in action. The vocabulary and grammar of the writing changes to the use of more reflective vocabulary, questioning and tentative conclusions. Additionally teachers undertake short case studies of two children in their class one a fast learner and one a child with special needs. It is interesting to find that the locus of blame moves from the child and parents to the need to adapt and change lessons to meet the needs of the learner. Although this is only a small study it yet shows the potential for change in teachers and the way in which they City District Government Faisalabad Strategic Policy Unit

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

Executive Summary

are able to undertake action research paradigms within a classroom setting. Including a reflective process as part of training, and also dividing teacher training in two so that classroom based work can be tried out and then shared with others, means that teachers are able to learn to think about their teaching in a supportive environment. Better still trainers or AEOs have been able to mentor some teachers and this adds a further dimension of support. The teacher is the change agent in the classroom, as the headteacher is in the school. The difference in attitude towards children and a renewed interest and enthusiasm for teaching has been evident from reading some of these teacher journals. They remain a powerful developmental tool as well as inducting practitioners into a form of action research. The continuation of the IOL as part of the CDGF reform programme, the place of the team of teacher trainers within the education department and the provision of teacher training modules to all schools so that they will eventually receive WSD training up to elementary level are key features of the sustainability programme for localised teacher training in Faisalabad.

City District Government Faisalabad Strategic Policy Unit

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

1.0

BACKGROUND

1.1

General Context

Background

Education has been one of the Federal Government's main concerns in Pakistan in recent years and has been seen as a key strategy for poverty alleviation. This approach was given emphasis through the reports of the Poverty Task Force, census surveys including the UNICEF survey of 2004 and the 2006 White Paper1 which linked education and improvement in quality and reach of education with all the relevant social factors of health and population growth as well as growing concerns in relation to political unrest and declining governance in the country. The concerns of Federal Government early in 2007 translated into raising the proportion of GDP for Education from 2.6 percent, one of the lowest in the world, to 4 percent. However education remains a balancing item in the budget and continues to need protection from budgetary allocations to defence and other sectors. Political uncertainty and volatile social and security situations have impacted on plans to improve education and shifted agendas for reform. Education in Pakistan remains an issue of grave concern, with key indicators continuing to be amongst the lowest globally. The City District Government Faisalabad's (CDGF) reform programme, following the national policy of strengthening local governments through devolution, has taken place against a backdrop of increasing instability, which has had inevitable impact on progress. Education reform has been central to the CDGF's efforts, and aspects of the change programme in the sector form the focus of this case-study. 1.2

Specific Context The Strategic Policy Unit (SPU) was set up by the Faisalabad district government in 2002, as a policy think-tank. Its key aim was to act as a conduit in the district from which all development programmes could be initiated. In 2004, the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) agreed to provide technical assistance to the district using the SPU as the platform from which change would be driven. The SPU over a four year period has acted as a key resource fostering social capital within the city government and often being the focal point for local and international technical assistance and programme development. With a cohort of key technical resources and change management agenda it plays a key role in facilitating public sector reforms and is replicable. It has been instrumental in assisting Faisalabad become a modern administration. The core objectives of the CDGF's reforms relate to strengthening governance, and targeting poverty, to reduce inequality and put in place structures and systems of justice and reform that will achieve this end. The reforms are supported by the Department for International Development (DFID) through the 'Strengthening Decentralised Local Government in Faisalabad' Project. The Strategic Development Plan (SDP) for CDGF is headed: 'Pre-empting Poverty and Promoting Prosperity'. The rhetoric of poverty has a high profile in Faisalabad. The means of indicating areas of poverty, in a city that is also regarded as one of the highest income and economic status cities of Pakistan, has been addressed through a number of surveys, collection of data at village level and studies of poverty. These form a background of information against which the interventions of Whole School Development (WSD), the training and quality improvement programme of the Education Department through its Institute of Learning, can be considered.

December 2006. Javed Hasan Aly & National Policy Review Team. A White Paper: Document to Debate and Finalise the National Education Policy. Islamabad, Federal Government

City District Government Faisalabad Strategic Policy Unit

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

The Case

At Provincial level the Provincial Government's Punjab Education Sector Reform Programme (PESRP) is providing upgrading of infrastructure to 400 schools initially in the Faisalabad District. Fifty one-classroom schools also are in process of getting an additional classroom. However the identification of schools requiring support is a political issue and data indicates that resource allocation has been skewed with few resources being devolved to the Union Councils (UCs) on the margins of Faisalabad District where the level of poverty and the provision of educational resources remains dire. Inputs from the education component have concentrated on these under resourced rural areas and slum areas of the city and towns. At the start of the Project there was no teacher training programme in place in Punjab and Faisalabad was asked to go ahead and pilot some teacher training activities. At that time the GCETs were confined to pre-service training and within the purview of the Education University. In-service training was no longer taking place and the GCETs were no longer the network of training institutions. Over the course of the Project GCETs have been brought back into the teacher training frame, the new provincial resource centres are housed in the GCETs and training materials relating to subject content and some headteacher training has started as a centrally administered activity from the Province. The means of training has been set up by appointing DTEs who will deliver training packages. No training plan has yet been set in motion.

2.0

THE CASE

2.1

Overview

2.1.1

Targeting Whole School Development The WSD programme is essentially a school based training programme for Head Teachers and teachers with the aim of improving the quality of education in the school. WSD has been implemented in 472 schools in Faisalabad District over the Project Term. WSD has a holistic basis that seeks to integrate the community involvement in education, improved Head Teacher management and a quality improvement programme through teacher training in three phases, Katchi Grade 3, Grade 4-5, and Grade 6-8. The training, mentoring support, monitoring and evaluation is undertaken by the Education Department's Institute of Learning (IoL) where a team of teachers have been trained and resourced to deliver the WSD programme. The IoL has an Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with the Directorate of Staff Development (DSD) in Lahore and works with them on materials development.The IoL will also work with the Government College of Education and Training GCET Faisalabad and the District Teacher Educators DTEs when they start their Provincial training programme and when cluster wise Teacher Resource Centres (TRCs) are set up to support this training programme. The materials that have been developed by the IoL team take account of the Solo Taxonomy2, an approach to planning and classroom interactions, which is the key planning feature of DSD training and the foundation of the newly reformed national examinations. Currently training of headteachers and teachers up to Grade 6 has taken place. Materials, training teams and training resources are in place to allow the City Government to continue the programme post Project term and draft materials have been developed for training up to Grade 8. Kits for Science, Maths and Language have been developed for schools to support the training methodology, and training for using School Council Funds to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools has also taken place. Gradually funds are being sent to schools.

Solo Taxonomy is a development from Bloom's Taxonomy which for many years has been a basic planning tool and psychological framework for learning in Asia. It depends more on modes of questioning and active responses from students which in turn impact on teacher's lesson planning.

City District Government Faisalabad Strategic Policy Unit

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

The Case

The marginal Tehsils and Union Councils of Faisalabad District, including inner city slums, have been the target of WSD. The WSD programme is a model for quality improvement of the primary and elementary schools that has been developed during the project term in Faisalabad and that has been 3 successfully implemented in other DFID Projects . This model depends on a locally based commitment of Head Teacher, community, teachers and students to improve education in their school. The training helps Head Teachers and the School Council and teachers to develop a School Development Plan (SDP) to enable schools to achieve a minimal level of educational provision (teachers, building and resources) that will allow quality improvement to take place. Materials and training have been developed that encourage and support teachers in this process. 2.1.2

Teacher Training Teacher training in the primary school has taken place over a four week period. Teachers have attended training for three days, and returned to their schools until the fourth week when they attend a further three days classroom feedback and training. Where possible mentoring visits have also taken place to the school. During this school-based period teachers kept a journal in which they wrote about changes that took place as they tried to implement new ideas and try out more active ways of teaching 4 and learning in the classroom . Six days is a very short time to transform teachers or teaching practices and often there is a loss of impact if there is no follow-up from the trainers or support from the Head Teachers. However the journal writings indicate that in many teachers there was a shift towards some degree of reflection about their teaching and that they begin to identify areas of difficulty and success. In a similar programme in China it was found that there was a significant shift from blaming children, parents and circumstances for learning failure to an understanding that shifts in teaching methodology and in the attitude and relationship of the teacher with the learners was important. Three monitoring studies have all shown that schools that have taken up WSD with some enthusiasm have shifted their perception of children. 'Changed teacher behaviour', 'no longer using sticks', 'teachers are friendly now with the children' are frequent comments from both the monitoring team and from community members. Evidence from journals and from the journals of mathematics teachers kept during the mathematics research show the process of reflection and change. Visits to training and focus group interviews with teachers and Head Teachers during training also indicate significant trends and areas of change. School visits, trainer reports, photographic evidence and interviews with students give supporting pictures and stories of change in the classroom.

2.1.3

Management Change The training of Head Teachers and members of the community has been the initial motivation towards change in the programme. Head Teachers have been through a reflective process in which they have been asked to consider their school against a number of indicators of quality. After consultation with teachers and community the Head Teacher and community/school council member have drawn up a Whole School Development Plan that includes improvement in infrastructure and in teaching and learning processes.

3 4

In S.Africa through the IMBEQU project, in Gansu, China through the Basic Education Project To date only a few sets of teacher responses have been translated into English and so the examples in this case study are not selected but consist of what was available at the time of writing. It is hoped to translate more journals and to include other research journal writing in a wider international research field in future.

City District Government Faisalabad Strategic Policy Unit

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

2.2

Design

2.2.1

Designing the Whole School Development Programme

The Case

From the start of the project the education team has been concerned to locate their work in the Education Department. The initial WSD office was in the Education Department. In a series of workshops across the District the idea of improving the quality of education in Faisalabad was debated and a team of committed primary and elementary school teachers was identified as a potential training team. Some young graduates from the private sector were added to the team. This team was trained in basic educational theory, in gender and equity issues, language, maths and science and its application in primary school. The need for a proper centre for the team resulted in the provision by the Education Department of a set of rooms in the grounds of the city technical school. The IoL houses not just the team but also technical and library resources. Additionally the team undertook community mobilisation with a large number of mothers' meetings at village level as well as interaction with Union Council officials and village members. The orientation programme was given in 80 pilot schools - mobilising the communities, giving teacher training and school based support. At the end of this time the team and national and international advisors started to develop the training materials and to finalise the design of the programme on the basis of the findings from the pilot phase. The most important findings were that: l l l l l l

The Head Teacher is the critical change agent and must be trained and brought into the programme if change is to be possible; The community mobilisation was essential to the ownership of the WSD programme by the community; Teachers required more than lectures and debate. Change in the quality of teaching requires supportive training materials and on-going mentoring support; The support of the wider community including the Union Council was necessary for sustainability and effective change; The Education Department was a critical factor in future training, sustainability and overall District improvement; The most neglected area of the primary schools, the Katchi class and Grades 1-3, was also the most important. Here the enrolment rate is quite substantial and the drop-out rate is the highest. Those who drop out are usually the poorest children. Teachers disregarded this drop-out and tended, from the beginning, to concentrate on the brighter children who were going to stay on in school. Resources should be given to teachers during training or as soon as possible afterwards.

Additional evidence came from the Learning Achievement Baseline Surveys of Grades 2 and 4 conducted by the Research Advisor and SAHE5. This evidence showed some interesting insights into the importance of the quality of the school environment buildings, supply of electricity and water, provision of toilets, adequate classroom light and space and the effect of teacher numbers. A large percentage of WSD schools were two, three or even one teacher schools. Elementary schools operated mostly well below the level of required and sanctioned staffing. The most useful information for materials development came from the information about areas of difficulty experienced by the learners. This informed the development of training materials and 5

Baseline Survey of Learning Achievement: Grade 2 2005 Baseline Survey of Learning Achievement: Grade 4 2006

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

The Case

support materials for the teachers. Additional information came from the Examination Commission analysis of 5th year national examination questions and answers. Trainers also took note of the curriculum and methodology implications of the Federal Government White Paper. With all this information, their own observations of classes, their knowledge as teachers and with the experience they had gained in training, the teacher training materials were developed. Current research into mathematics at Grade 4 and the mistakes that children make, linked to provision of additional teacher training, will also produce interesting results in this field. 2.3

Implementation

2.3.1

Early Years Focus of the Materials The team decided to concentrate on the Katchi class and Grades 1-3 in the first phase of training and on training and support for Language (Urdu and English), Mathematics and Science. This is the largest number of children in the most neglected area of education sitting on the ground, often without shelter, without books or wall charts, games or activity resources and taught by teachers who are often the least interested or dedicated. Recitation of numbers and alphabets supported by plenty of 'stick work' seemed to be the norm in many classrooms that were initially visited. The challenge for the team was to try and move these uninterested, passive teachers into active, enthusiastic teaching mode. Activity Based Training materials were produced that were attractive and colourful and that allowed teachers in the training session to experience for themselves the methodology and materials promoted in the training. Teachers therefore played games, read Big Books together, discussed and problem solved, role played and acted out dramas and performed experiments. All these activities were integrated into a basic theoretical background in the training handbooks and additional activities, lesson plans and ideas for classroom implementation are given in three handbooks for Language, Mathematics and Science. These materials are freely available on the City District Government website www.spu.com.pk and can be downloaded by anyone.

2.3.2

Head Teacher Training and Reflection All Head Teachers were trained to work with the community to provide an annual School Development Plan that looked at the needs of the school, possible sources of funding and the focus for learning improvement. Head Teachers also had orientation to activity based learning through a day session using some of the teacher training materials. Their role as mentor and support for change was emphasised. Monitoring visits to training also gave indications of changing attitudes in Head Teachers. Head Teachers also kept reflective journals. From an analysis of these journals it is possible to see how change in thinking was taking place: Every student should be treated equally and we should change the attitude of our students by changing our attitude with them. We have learnt how we can make our school an ideal school. HT Boys Primary Our trainers' attitude is very friendly with us and I will behave like my master trainers in the school with teachers and students. HT Boys Primary Teachers' attitude with children should be like an elder sister/brother, who not only take care but also facilitate them wherever they need, so that children can understand in a better way. We will do everthing that hasn't been done before. HT Girls Primary

This unexpected finding that the relationship of the trainers to the teachers and Head Teachers modelled a different and more supportive and friendly attitude towards the students, was very

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

The Case

welcome. Much of the early resistance in almost every training course had come from Head Teachers and teachers about the banning of corporal punishment in schools and how difficult it made teaching. Finding that there was this attitudinal change was very encouraging for the trainers. This was confirmed by the first monitoring report of the team: 'Teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attitude towards the children was very friendly'. (School 8) 'The most significant change was in the friendly attitude of the teachers towards the children. Children were sitting in the classroom quite relaxed and happy'. (School 3) 'Teachers work with children and are the friends of the children'. (School 10) The work with Head Teachers and the community had a number of tangible benefits. Many Head Teachers for the first time shared the problems of their school with the community and received support. In one union council the woman representative decided to visit all the girls' schools and support the Head Teachers and help them look for funding. Another Head Teacher reported: Teachers agreed that participation of the community in the school has improved to such an extent that everything is in the possession of the community and teachers do not have to bother about the things of the school. (School 4) Sometimes Head Teachers could not implement the enthusiasm that they felt during the training when they returned to their crumbling schools and some communities remained intransigent, sometimes for political or social reasons. 2.3.3

Teacher Training The first phase of teacher training, related to the Early Years of Schooling, was of particular importance in effecting a change scenario. There had not been training for this area before, teachers had not considered it important and there were no special materials for teaching the youngest learners. Classes were often enormous, in excess of 100, and children spent a good deal of time unoccupied or milling around aimlessly. Particularly in boys' schools it seemed that the most elderly or least able teachers were given these huge classes to look after. The teachers had no resources and really no idea how to go about teaching these little children, other than continuous repetition of the numbers and alphabets. As Head Teachers and teachers began to plan for better conditions and teaching for the early years section of the school some schools attached a voluntary teacher from the village, often a Matric educated girl or girls. These girls take the pressure off the numbers, can work in small groups with children and can undertake games and activities. Plans to train such girls are at the moment held up by the political situation but it is hoped that they will continue once the situation settles down. Teachers came for the first three days of training and from many schools they had already had some briefing from the Head Teacher and so some had a more positive attitude. The reaction of teachers to the activities, the pace of the training, the team of trainers and the materials was very positive.

2.3.4

The Aims of Training A defining principle of training and training materials has been the intention to make teachers aware of their responsibilities towards their students and to inculcate in communities and school managers/Head Teachers a sense of responsibility for the education of their students. In initial visits when asked who was responsible for improving facilities and learning in the schools almost every response was 'The Government'. WSD as it has progressed has shown that, teachers, parents and the community can themselves assume that responsibility and that when they do things can change that which previously appeared impossible to change. The initial Needs Analysis included a series of

City District Government Faisalabad Strategic Policy Unit

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Lessons and Reflections

Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

focus group discussions with students of different ages. The findings were shocking and they have shaped discussions and the process of reflection and change with teachers and Head Teachers as well as school communities. 70 percent of children interviewed subscribed to the following findings in their life circumstances: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Home Poverty (Rs. 3000/ - PM) Average 5 - 7 children Education not a priority for parents Suppressed atmosphere Violence towards mother and children Malnutrition Child labour Practically a child does not feel any relationship with parents Child escapes to street for relief from home

School 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

No pleasure of learning No relationship with teachers Suppressive atmosphere Physical and psychological violence Lonely child

Community 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Insecurity for female Indifference Child labour Less sen sitized for collective affairs Lacks futuristic direction

These findings profoundly affected the thinking and aspirations of the training team. Their training takes account of these findings and the continual theme has been to encourage participants to think and to reflect on the effect of their own actions and to encourage teachers to understand the life experience of their students. Journal writing has been a part of that process. The Journal has two intended outcomes; that teachers should think about the training they are doing in the context of their working place and that the process of reflection should help them to change their practice and their understanding of teaching and learning.

3.0

LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS

3.1

Reflection and Transformation What do we mean by a reflective process? Are Pakistani teachers generally given to reflection or to considering the underlying meaning of actions, the reasons e.g. for children's failure or to consider their own teaching against an internal criteria indicating success? There is plenty of literature on the reflective teacher, Head Teacher as reflective manager, the reflective school in the academic work of Western educationalists. There is little evidence of interest in teachers' reflexive processes in Asia although the use of journals as a reflective tool is being used in some projects now. Attempts to ascertain the level of teacher's understanding or take up of ideas given in training has often been done by researchers or 'experts' without much attention to the teachers themselves. In this way teachers are being measured against non culturally specific criteria for the benefit of others. Using journals engages teachers in the reflective process and gives them a tool for thinking about what they are doing. Lesson planning has been seen as being an important tool for teachers that will improve the quality of their teaching. This is true so far as it enables them to plan, create additional resources and give a learning outcome to lessons. However post lesson reflection is something different, leading to action and requiring teachers to think forward as a result of the reflection they have done. In this sense it is very much participatory action research oriented process.

3.2

Journal Writing: Introduction to Reflection after Day 1 Journals were introduced on Day 1 of the training and teachers asked to reflect honestly on the day's training and write up their journals overnight. In the event hardly anyone did this task and the trainers asked them to take 15 minutes of silent time and do it in the session. This they did and then on subsequent nights reflected on the day's training. There is a qualitative difference as teachers become more used to thinking about the day and writing down their feelings. On the first day many women teachers referred to their difficulty over sitting in the same training room as men teachers:

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

Lessons and Reflections

‘Today the seating plan was not good the trainer was finding it difficult to see the faces of some participants because they were facing in different directions. Training of males and females should be conducted separately so they can talk openly and not feel any hesitancy.' Noveeda. GGPS Also, the contents tended to be descriptive, re-telling what had happened in the workshop with maybe a short comment. The most consistent content of the journals on this first day were comments on the mode of training and the attitude of the trainers and a sense that this training was different. Many teachers used the words 'interesting', 'different' about the training methodology and 'friendly', 'pleasant', 'affectionate' about the trainers. 'The instruction methodology was very good. We lost our inhibitions, and by relating events learnt about the way things related to the lessons.' Shakila GGPS 'In today's workshop we were told about different teaching methodologies. The attitude of the trainers was very affectionate and civilized. If we also teach in this way children will study and become confident and improve the quality of education in our schools. A stall was also put up in the workshop. Children can learn in a free environment and by looking at items and discussing their price learn math. If such workshops continue teachers will be able to teach more effectively and the literacy rate will improve.' Abdul GPS Here it is interesting to see how the experience of the teachers begins to link with the potential for change in the classroom. There were many journal writings that showed this: ‘Trainers taught in very friendly and loving manner which made us realize that we needed to develop such qualities in ourselves so that we can teach children in the same manner' Nasir GPS 'The attitude and behaviour of trainers with us was very pleasant and they taught with affection. If we teach in this way children will learn to be confident and not be hesitant in expressing themselves.' Ghulam GPS It could be suggested that how training is given is therefore an important element of the response that teachers make, and therefore highlights the potential that there is that they might change their practice and attitudes towards students. There is a long way for many teachers to go. During the monitoring visits in December 2007 teachers were asked whether they thought they had changed in any way, and what that change was. One teacher replied that everything had changed in her classroom. 'Now', she said, 'I know the children's names'! These post training diary reflections do bear out the findings in the monitoring study that change in attitude towards children, diminishing of harsh punishment and more attention to children as individuals, was a significant impact of training on teachers and schools. 3.3

Reflections after Day 2 and 3 There is a general shift in journal entries on Day 2 and 3 to a more subject based understanding, an enumeration of new skills learned and determination to put it into practice on returning to school. For some there was regret that they did not know this earlier. 'I am going to write the truth. Before this training I had always thought that slow learners were dull and could never improve and that they were born unlucky. Today I have found out and my mind has changed regarding such children. I have learnt that in reality they are clever and we have to come down to their level to teach them. If I had learnt this earlier I would not have forced children into rote memorization' Unnamed teacher 'The English and Urdu phonics was completely new for us and we were not until now clear about this concept. “Picture talk” and “picture domino” are activities that are quite informative and can easily be applied during the learning process.' Razia

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

Lessons and Reflections

The quality of reflection shows an increased understanding of the learning process and an ability to reflect on the day's training and put it into context of the teacher's own classroom. 'On the second day the trainers conducted a number of activities with us in easy, simple and effective manner. We were attentive and listened with interest and participated in the activities. I thought that if I taught children in this way they would be very interested and learn quickly and not forget what they had learnt. Through such activities their hidden abilities would emerge and they would begin to think and understand.' Nasir GPS 'The training has provided us with methodologies we can also use in other subjects that were not touched upon.' 'Previously we did not understand what we had to teach now that we do and also have learnt different activities through which we can teach we will be able to perform our role better.' These journal entries often use the words, 'new', 'understand', ' think' and 'use' and in a comparative way 'previously', 'before' and 'used to'. This would seem to indicate shifts in understanding that are the result of reflection and thinking. Journals were read by the trainers and discussion held with the teachers about their ideas a short mentoring process being put in place. 3.4

Journal-Writing during the interim school based reflection After the experience of writing in the workshops teachers were asked to keep a journal over five days that looked at the lessons they were teaching and answered specific questions that were designed to promote thinking and reflection and action to improve the lesson next time round. The numbers of teachers involved over 120 on most occasions meant that the mentoring process that would have involved school follow up was not able to be done consistently. Some trainers did manage to make monitoring visits to schools nearby during the next training session.

3.5

Reflective questions The questions were printed in the journal with sufficient space between for teachers to fill in. Pre-Lesson Entry: 1. 2. 3.

What do I want the children to learn? How will I know that the children have learned what they were taught? What was in the lesson?

Post lesson entry: 1. 2. 3.

What was good about the lesson? What was difficult? What will I do in the next lesson?

At the end of the week the teachers were asked to fill in a summary: 1. 2. 3.

What work was done during this week? What did I learn? How did the children progress?

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

Lessons and Reflections

The next phase of three day training (after two or three weeks) started with feedback from teachers, including demonstration, showing children's work and reflections on their own learning. Additionally teachers were asked to select an average and poorly performing child and write about them after each lesson. 3.6

Four Journals of Reflective Teachers A full translation has so far been made of four journals of teachers from the same Tehsil but in different schools. The gender balance is not very good, only one woman's journal having had a full translation. There is enough material however to see some trends and to give an understanding of whether this is a useful exercise for teachers, and whether it has provoked change in any qualitative way.

3.6.1

How will I know if children have learned? A key planning question is 'How will I know if children have learned what they are taught?' This is both an action research question the question that starts the action research cycle and also focuses the outcomes of an action, and it is the planning agent that makes teachers think about the purpose of the lesson and the indicators that show that learning has taken place. Asking questions was a frequent way of checking children's understanding although with interesting additions: 'Asking questions not in the textbook ' 'Read individually and ask questions' The 'recitations' seem a bit close to rote learning checks but then a teacher who has done work in groups on parts of a flower writes: 'Ask groups about names of the flowers and then ask the children to write the names of parts of the flower.' Interestingly two of the teachers introduce not only different kinds of activities to check children's understanding taking an object out of a bag and saying if it is big or small, drawing a graph using the class test result, writing letters on the ground but also use the word 'observe'. One teacher writes; 'Constant observation will tell me how much the children have learned' This appears to show a wider understanding of classroom assessment, in fact one might say, a more reflective approach to assessment at work.

3.6.2

What was good and what was difficult? These questions presuppose a degree of thinking about the lesson on the part of the teachers. Going back over what happened and then making a judgement about it requires a certain amount of honest reflection. Science lessons all threw up the difficulty of the actual textbook this is a difficult text with many English words and concepts not easily explained. Teachers too have difficulty with these scientific concepts and some of the content is not understood by them. Over the 20 lessons that were looked at in detail by teachers the concept of children being interested and enjoying the lesson was mentioned in every journal entry. Also the surprise of the teacher that the children learned easily and quickly was also mentioned many times. The female teacher and one of the male teachers became

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

Lessons and Reflections

very enthused by the response of the children and it led them to experiment with more of their own ideas for activities. The rather dry textbook lesson on computers led the teacher to try and find a computer to bring to school to show them, as he realised that talking about it was not sufficient. What will I do in the next lesson? l

I will try to bring the item that is mentioned in the lesson to the school.

What work was done during this week? l

I told children about the computer and also the new mobile. The children were very interested in both these inventions.

What did I learn? l

I learnt that children found it more interesting to learn by observing than by verbal explanation. By touching and working with the computer and mobile they were able to learn about them in their own way.

How did the children progress? l

Children who previously were surprised at hearing about the computer and mobile were now able to work them.

There is evidence of plenty of real life situations; using a map, writing in the mud, playing games, making graphs, talking about what jobs their parents do. The dry content of the textbook, although the teachers are still closely adhering to the lesson, has been transformed by discussion, examples and hands-on activities. Science experiments in particular teach both students and teachers the meaning of difficult concepts. 3.6.3

What was difficult? Reflection and planning can be very productive in terms of producing changes in practice. Thinking about what didn't work, what was difficult for teacher and for the students- brings about the necessary intellectual shift required to plan what to do next. What was difficult? l

There were many children and there was not enough time to give complete opportunity to each child.

What will I do in the next lesson? l

Next time I will divide children into groups and make the leader of each group do the exercise. In this way the group leader will be able to make each child in his group do the exercise under his supervision. I will only facilitate them.

This entry suggests a growing confidence in letting the children's experience and response determine the next step. Some responses clearly also delighted the teacher and maybe gave them some sense of vocation in the work they are doing.

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

Lessons and Reflections

What was good about the lesson? l

After this lesson children became clean and neat. They started coming to school on time as they were saying their Namaz on time. Children became more inclined towards religion.

One teacher (female) never stated that anything was difficult except vocabulary limitations when she allowed children to write for themselves for the first time ever. This lesson was actually observed on a monitoring visit by one of the trainers who commented on the level of enthusiasm shown by the children when they were asked to look at a chair and make up five sentences about it. 3.6.4

What did I learn? In reflecting on what they had learned teachers decide to work next time in groups, allowed children to touch and move things, and changed the way they presented the lesson. One teacher with great humility lists what he must do in order to do better next time: Need to improve on my own deficiencies. Need more activities to keep children busy. To keep children's interest need to tell more interesting stories. When they reflect on the learning that they have done they use a more professional kind of vocabulary it includes words like think, observe, respond, change, improve, learned. They think about the work they have done and the way the students have responded and change their practice accordingly. One teacher of Katchi and Grade 1 writes: l l

Children learn better through activities and what they do themselves In learning through play children want to learn more and feel free to ask questions which reduces the gap between the student and teacher and promotes learning

Others reflect on the response of older children and the effect of changes in their approach and handling of students: l

3.6.5

Keeping in view the interest of the children I felt that they did not like the traditional approach and preferred the new methodology, that is, they liked to learn when the teacher included them in the learning process in a friendly manner and also when many things were included for example teaching the lesson using a number of teaching aids to make it interesting.

Whose Fault is the failure to learn? The reason for asking each teacher to undertake a short case study of a weaker and an average student was to focus attention on the children who are often neglected. They sit in the back row although they may have hearing or seeing difficulties, they often have untidy uniforms, bare feet or inadequate shoes. They are more likely to suffer malnutrition and associated skin and growth problems. Sometimes they are from minority or poorly regarded communities. Several studies have found that these children are 'blamed' for their learning failures or the lack of interest of parents is cited as a reason for their failure. In the Chinese study6 it was found that increased support and the reflective journal changed this perception and that teachers started to talk about children with learning difficulties in terms of the changes needed in the teaching. These teachers too show an increased understanding of less able learners:

Smith ,B 2006 Gansu Basic Education Project Study of Bilingualism in Dongxian Schools

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

Conclusions

There are many slow learners who have improved in their work. Children who were naughty are now taking an interest in their studies. I observed every child in the group and found that some change or the other had taken place. Also children were asked a number of questions which were also answered by the average and slow learners. In my view children try to remain close to their environment. They like to work with their hands and when they participated in different activities they learnt more. I think that through activities and models even difficult topics can be taught effectively. Here a number of professional opinions are being expressed-slow learners can take an interest, naughty children may be bored or not understanding. Teacher observation means that children in this class have become individuals. Then the teacher adds their own opinion of how this change has taken place. Another teacher considers the change in his classroom environment has been a significant factor in children's improvement: By creating a friendly environment quite a lot of change was observed. Previously such children became nervous on seeing the teacher, this changed. The average child has started doing good work; he does his homework daily and remembers his lesson well. Even the weak child has started to work and participates fully in the learning process. He has started to remember and solve questions. I expect that quite soon they will both show greater improvement. Previously the average child would sit at the back of the class and now he happily sits in front and also does his homework with interest. He is also interested in asking questions during the learning process. The weak child is also participating more and although his result not so good but it is better than before. I expect he will give better result in the future. I think it is the friendly environment, as children usually become nervous and especially when they are very scared of the teacher. But when the environment is friendly the children participate eagerly without fear. In the absence of a friendly environment, children suffer from imaginary fears which has a bad effect on their learning. In short children's performance can only improve in a friendly atmosphere, there is no other way.

It is interesting that the teacher includes improvement in the average child more active, more confident, asking questions. For both learners the teacher now has high expectations of improvement.

4.0

CONCLUSIONS It does seem that there is a shift in thinking, which is reflected in monitoring reports, mentoring visits and discussion with teachers and Head Teachers. If the IoL team of trainers is maintained and if the lessons learned during the project term are remembered then sustainability should lead to improvement. All teachers wanted more training of the same kind; the Education Department, AEOs and senior officials now understand and support the process of WSD. We have learned that short cuts erode quality and that it is necessary to spend time to work with the community and to maintain time and quality of the teacher training. Although in a short time, with a limited amount of input, change would not be expected to be significant, there is still compelling evidence that when teachers are involved in a reflective process during their training they are more likely to internalise some of the key contents of training and to attempt to put them into practice even in the adverse conditions of many rural and urban slum primary

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

Conclusions

schools in Faisalabad. The team believed that teachers could change and that given the right circumstances-training, support, and resources that they would change. The evidence of transformation during training is evident in the journals and can be seen in a significant number of WSD classrooms. In the wider context of Faisalabad and the over-all possibility of the teacher training programme for WSD being continued, and the cross District spread of WSD achieved the Project has left in place the resources and the skills required for this. Every school in the District has received the package of modules and an orientation to WSD with the promise of training at a later date. The team of trainers at IOL will continue to work as trainers for Faisalabad as a whole, and also to be prepared to train Master Trainers in other districts that might want to take up WSD along with its materials. The CDGF has promised to supply the kits and books to the rest of the schools in the District, as their teachers are trained. This particular piece of research has excited interest in the Education Faculty of Cambridge University and, along with the maths research, which also includes teacher reflection, hopefully will be part of an on-going research activity in the future.

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY 2006. Javed Hasan Ali & National Policy Review Team. A White Paper: Document to Debate and Finalise the National Education Policy. Islamabad, Federal Government December 2007 Mohy Din Rana: Misconceptions And Errors In Mathematics Learning In Grade 4 Students. A Research Study: Report 1. SPU, Faisalabad. 2002 'Pre-empting Poverty and Promoting Prosperity: Strategic Development Plan' Faisalabad City District Government. 2002 Smith, B Seeking Quality Education for All: experiences for the DPEP, Occasional Paper. The European Commission 2005 Smith, Brigid The Role Of Minority Language In Educational Access, Retention And Achievement: Phase Two Practitioner Reflective ACTION RESEARCH Studies in active learning of Chinese in grades 1 and 2 in remote rural schools in Dongxiang County, Gansu. 2006 Smith Brigid, Poverty Paper: The contribution of the Whole School Development programme to poverty reduction in Faisalabad District. SPU Faisalabad 2004 and 2006, UNICEF Reports Global Reports on Education

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Brigid Smith - Education Consultant She is an International education consultant and she has worked on the SDLGF project as part of the education team since 2004.

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