Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
28 September, 2010
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Summary
The workshop was part of the ED-Links project framework. A group of 35-38 District
Education Officials (DEOs), hailing from Sindh and Baluchistan provinces, attended this
two-day session in December 2009. The aim of the workshop was to develop the
leadership and management potential of the officials. The objectives of the workshop have
been to help the course participants identify the problem areas in their context, investigate
their different dimensions, and propose certain problem solving measures. A problem
solving matrix has been used to help the participants present their
action points. Two key aspects have emerged from the responses,
namely most enjoyable/ engaging job aspects and least
enjoyable/challenging job aspects. Furthermore, the report contains
certain problem-solving measures proposed by the course participants
for the aforementioned problem areas. A few observances gleaned from
the date have been provided, which has been followed by an end of the
report conclusion.
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Table of Contents
Summary................................................................................................................. iii
Table of Contents.................................................................................................... iv
MAIN FINDINGS ...................................................................................................1
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MAIN FINDINGS
WORKSHOP’S DIMENSIONS
The workshop is part of the ED-Links project framework. A group of
35-38 District Education Officials (DEOs), hailing from Sindh and
Baluchistan provinces, attended this two-day session in December
2009 . The course participants possessed a diverse range of
experience that is some of them were new entrants in the field,
having an experience of one year or above; whereas others were
seniors, possessing 15 years of experience or above.
Aim
The aim of the workshop was to develop the leadership and
management potential of the officials. The workshop was designed
in a way to help the officials plan for and initiate educational change
in their schools by not only articulating the problem areas and
challenging aspects of the job but also positive areas and exploring
the possibilities of resolving them.
Academic Duties
Many of the DEOs found the task of assisting head teachers and
teachers in creating a learning environment in their schools
invigorating. Several of them enjoyed the rigor involved in
conducting local annual examinations in the schools and gauging the
development, progress and attainment of pupils. Their position gave
them a chance to have direct contact with the students and get
feedback from them regarding the effectiveness of the teaching and
learning process in the schools. Many of the DEOs expressed a keen
interest in organizing sports and other co curricular activities in their
schools.
Teacher Absenteeism
Most of the DEOs mentioned the difficulties associated with teacher
absenteeism and their low motivation as aspects that made their own
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Resource Management
The course participants emphasized the need for human and material
resource management through delegation of tasks and distribution of
power. They also pointed out that teachers should be deputed and
transferred according to students’ enrollment ratio, subject needs,
and in consultation with parents and the community members.
Similarly, the other school staff should also be deployed in
accordance with the need and not on the basis of favoritism. Also,
teachers and staff members should be ideally posted near their
residences, so that they are able to save invaluable time and energy
while travelling, and logistical issues related to transport and
accommodation are reduced. Similarly, resources can be managed in
an efficient way through gleaning data authentically and accurately
and proper budget allocations should be made. Hence, the
headteachers and staff members should be properly trained for this
purpose, and bills, payroll and performas can be randomly checked
by the DEOs for inconsistencies.
and timely feedback to the higher ups (ADEOs, etc.,) and policy
makers about the problems encountered in the schools. They felt
that through keeping the communication channels open, many issues
can be addressed and viable solutions can be sought. This way
respective policies, programs, and projects can be interpreted,
prioritized, implemented, monitored, supervised and evaluated in an
efficient and comprehensive manner. Similarly, regular visits and
monitoring and reporting at regular intervals can help in smooth
running of the system. A few course participants aptly remarked that
there is a need to move from government to governance in their
working.
A FEW OBSERVANCES
Certain common observances have been made from the course
participants’ responses, they are:
CONCLUSION
The initiation of change in modern day learning communities is as
challenging a task as ever. One underlying principle behind the
workshop ‘Planning for Educational Change’ was Thoreau’s
philosophy that things do not change; we change. Thus, the
facilitators aimed to not only to make the course participants
articulate their contextual problems but also recognize their own
circle of influence and awaken them to their own problem-solving
potential and abilities. As a result of the workshop, the course
participants were not only able to identify problems and issues in
their context, but they were also able to analyze and investigate
these problems and recognize their own role in solving them, and
thus initiating a process of change in their own contexts.
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