Title:
1Lessons from the Aga Khan School Improvement
programmes in East Africa
- A Presentation made to the
- 15th International Congress for
- School Effectiveness and Improvement, Copenhagen,
Denmark, 3-7 January 2002
David Hopkins
2Overview
- The Aga Khan School Improvement Programme in East
Africa - Six Key Issues
- A Policy Proposal
- A Perspective on Educational Innovation in
Developing Countries - This presentation is based on Chapter 10 The
Aga Khan Foundation East African School
Improvement Initiative An International Change
Perspective by David Hopkins, in in Anderson, S
ed. (2002) School Improvement in the Developing
World Case Studies of the Aga Khan Foundation
Projects. Lisse, The Netherlands Swets and
Zeitlinger Publishers. Electronic copy available
from david.hopkins_at_nottingham.ac.uk
3The Aga Khan School Improvement Programme
Principles
- School based
- Whole school as unit of change
- On-going professional development of teachers
- Attend to school management and other
organisational conditions - Prepare for institutionalisation and
sustainability - Involve stakeholders.
4The Aga Khan School Improvement Programme
Strategies
- Investment in district level teacher development
personnel - The emphasis on enhancing teachers general
pedagogical expertise - A focus on the adoption and use of child centred
activity oriented methods of teaching and
learning and - The promotion of data-based decision-making for
school development.
5A Brief Summary of the Aga Khan Projects from a
School Improvement Perspective
- The purpose of this section is to provide a
brief review of the Aga Khan projects in East
Africa from a school improvement perspective.
The intention is simply to provide a context for
the analysis of key issues that follows. For
details about the individual projects, the reader
should refer to School Improvement in the
Developing World Case Studies of the Aga Khan
Foundation Projects edited by Anderson (2002).
6The Mzizima Secondary School Improvement Program,
Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
- The Mzizima Secondary School in Dar-es-Salaam
provided the focus for the first Aga Khan school
improvement project. The Aga Khan Foundation
funded a three-phase project at the school
between 1985 1994. Phase I and Phase II
(1985-90) focused on development of curriculum
and learning resources and teaching strategies
for the transition from Kiswahili to English
medium instruction. Phase III (1991-94) of the
Mzizima SIP had the following aims - to sustain the accomplishments of Phases I and
II - institutionalization of the school improvement
project (SIP) structures and processes - to involve all subject areas and teachers, and to
shift SIP activity from curriculum development to
improvement in teachers pedagogical knowledge
and skills, - to develop the leadership capacity of teachers in
the school to carry out the process on their own
and, - to continue to share the Mzizima SIP experience
with other Tanzanian schools and educational
institutions.
7The Kisumu Municipality School Improvement
Project, Western Kenya.
- This Aga Khan supported school improvement
project (SIP) began in January 1990 in response
to declining academic standards in the Kisumu
Municipality as measured on the Kenya Certificate
of Primary Education (KCPE). The aim of the SIP
was to improve the quality of teaching and
learning in primary schools in the Kisumu
Municipality by promoting the adoption of
child-centered teaching methods and developing
strategies to institutionalize the processes and
outcomes. The school improvement strategy
involved training teachers in a workshop setting,
providing classroom-based technical assistance
and support and providing instructional materials
to support learning.
8The Kampala Primary Schools Improvement Project,
Uganda.
- The Kampala School Improvement Project (SIP)
began in November 1994 for an intended period of
three years. The purpose of the SIP was to
improve the quality of teaching and learning in
Kampala primary schools through the promotion,
institutionalisation and adoption of
child-centred teaching methods and resources in
project schools. This was to be achieved through
a training model similar to Kisumu where a team
of local master teachers were recruited and
trained to provide workshops and intensive school
based assistance to successive cohorts of
government and privately funded primary schools
in urban Kampala. The project also adopted a
child-centred approach that they defined as
increased extent of activity-based learning
through greater pupil participation and group
discussions.
9The Mombassa Primary Schools Improvement Project,
Kenya.
- The Mombassa School Improvement project (MSIP)
began in 1994 for an intended five years. This
SIP built on the lessons of the Kisumu and
Kampala projects and was more ambitious than its
predecessors. It was designed to influence all
primary schools in the District (initially 112
but grew to 162 during the lifetime of the
project) and to explicitly enhance capacity
building within the local educational system.
The aim of MSIP was to improve the quality of
teaching and learning in Mombassa primary schools
through the promotion of child-centered teaching
methods. The key strategy for achieving this
goal was classroom-based in-service teacher
training. Others were the provision of
headteacher training, increasing the capacity
of school management committees and local
education authority systems and the involvement
of parents.
10The Dar-es-Salaam Primary Schools Improvement
Project, Tanzania.
- The Dar-es-Salaam Primary Schools Project
(DPSP) is being implemented in the Kinondoni
District. It began in 1996 for completion in
March 2000, and works with 15 of the Districts
70 public primary schools. It has introduced 5
schools to the program in each of 3 Cycles. The
DPSP addresses whole school improvement in light
of Tanzania Government policy to decentralize the
education sector. The main foci have been the
strengthening of the capacity of school
committees and school heads to manage schools
effectively and efficiently, and to provide
professional support for teachers of English,
Mathematics and Science. The Projects approach
combines a center-based training model using a
modular approach, as well as school-based
support, follow-up and monitoring.
11The Zanzibar Secondary English Language
Orientation Project
- This project is quite different to the other
five described here in that it caters for a quite
specific need - the introduction of English
medium instruction in schools. The project has
largely focused on curriculum development so the
emphasis on training and skill levels seen in
other projects are not as well developed. The
Zanzibar education system is unique in Africa in
providing ten years of basic education. Gradual
reorganization of the system has allowed the
phasing in of an orientation year, but the future
of an orientation year is therefore uncertain,
given that the Ministry in Zanzibar is planning
to move teaching in the medium of English down
through primary schools. There is a strong push
towards teaching in the medium of English in
Zanzibar and approaches such as the FIELOC
developed in the Aga Khan Mzizima Secondary
School have been utilized in the SELOP course.
12Lessons from the Aga Khan School Improvement
Programme
- The commitment to child centred learning
- Curriculum versus pedagogic development
- The focus on teacher learning, professional
development and leadership training - The school as the unit of change and capacity
building - Local support infrastructure
- Sustainability
13The Commitment to Child Centred Learning
- Defining Child Centred Learning
- Differing Perspectives on Child Centred Learning
- The Case for Constructivist Approaches
- The Need to Focus on Learning as well as
Attainment
14Curriculum Versus Pedagogic Development
- Child Centred Learning and School Based
Curriculum Development - What is a Curriculum?
- Models of Learning - Tools for Teaching
- Implications - link curriculum and instruction
and develop a range of comprehensive programmes
15The Focus on Teacher Learning and Leadership
- The East African context
- The theory-demonstration- practice-feedback
paradigm - The workshop - workplace distinction
- Leadership for transforming learning
16Whole School Approaches and Capacity Building
- The necessity for a whole school approach
- Components of capacity
- Knowledge, skills and dispositions of staff
- A Professional learning community
- Programme coherence
- Technical resources
17Local Support Infrastructure
- Networks have the potential to support
educational innovation and change by - Disseminating good practice
- Keeping the focus on teaching and learning.
- Enhancing the skill of teachers
- Building capacity for continuous improvement at
the local level - Ensuring that systems of pressure and support are
integrated - Acting as a link between the centralised and
decentralised initiatives.
18Sustainability
- Human resource issues
- Re-professionalisation
- Conceptualising strategies with whole systems in
mind - High degree of policy consistency
19Strengths and Weaknesses of the Aga Khan School
Improvement Programme
- The main strength of the initiative was that it
focussed on the crucial lacuna in current reform
initiatives, the lack of attention to capacity
building. - The main weakness of the Aga Khan approach was
that it was insufficiently strategic. This is not
to say that the focus on child centered learning
and capacity building was wrong, it was rather
that they needed to be conceptualised somewhat
differently. In educational cultures like those
in East Africa there is a desperate need for
curriculum and teaching programmes that directly
effect student learning in achievable and
practical ways.
20Powerful Learning, Powerful Teaching and Powerful
Schools
Learning Potential of all Students
Repertoire of Learning Skills
Models of Learning - Tools for Teaching
Embedded in Curriculum Context and Schemes of Work
Whole School Emphasis on High Expectations and
Pedagogic Consistency
Sharing Schemes of Work and Curriculum Across and
Between Schools, Clusters, LEAs and Nationally
21Towards a Policy Framework
- Focus unrelentingly on student achievement,
learning and empowerment. - Create professional learning communities within
schools. - Fund the development and evaluation of a range of
curriculum and teaching programmes. - Help schools make informed choices across a range
of models. - Target funding and support for implementation of
proven practices. - Establish support networks at all levels of the
system.
22How Schools Improve(Dalin 1994XVII)
- Dalin notes that many people assumed that there
were certain obvious truths about reform - reforms should be incremental and gradual rather
than wide-ranging - tight inspection and control are essential for
success - the issue is designing a reform and its materials
so well that it can be implemented faithfully and
well with minimal training and assistance, in
other words teachers are consumers of new
reform ideas - success depends mainly on the quality of the
reform ideas - schools in general are resistant to reforms
- either top-down or bottom-up strategic work
depending on the educational context referred to. - In line with the Aga Khan approach, Dalin notes,
all these obvious truths have been shown to be
false.
23How Schools Improve Study Findings
- Educational reform is a local process.
- Central support is vital.
- Effective system linkages are essential.
- The reform process is a learning process.
- Think systemic and big.
24How Schools Improve Study Findings contd
- Focus on classroom practice.
- See teachers as learners.
- Commitment is essential at all levels.
- Both local and central initiatives work.
- Parent and community participation contribute to
success.
25The Breakdown of the Culture of Learning and
Teaching (Pam Christie)
- Recognise the complex group and organisational
dynamics crippling the work of schools - The major task is the regeneration of schools as
functioning organisations. - The substantive task of learning and teaching
needs to be bolstered. - Organisational failure needs to be remedied in
terms of school management and leadership. - Build a sense of agency and responsibility at the
school level.
26For more information on our approach to teacher
development and school improvement
- Hopkins D (2001) School Improvement For Real.
London Routledge / Falmer. - Hopkins D (2002) Improving the Quality of
Education for All. London David Fulton
Publishers. - Hopkins D (2002) A Teachers Guide to Classroom
Research (3rd Ed.). Buckingham Open University
Press. - Hopkins D and Harris A (2000) Creating the
Conditions for Teaching and Learning. London
David Fulton Publishers. - Joyce B, Calhoun E and Hopkins D (2001) Models of
Learning Tools for Teaching (2nd Ed.).
Buckingham Open University Press. - Joyce B, Calhoun E and Hopkins D (1999) The New
Structure of School Improvement. Buckingham
Open University Press.
27Presenter Note
- David Hopkins is currently Professor of Education
at the University of Nottingham, where between
1996 and 2001 he served as both Head of the
School and Dean of the Faculty of Education. He
is also Chair of the Leicester City Partnership
Board and a member of the Governing Council of
the National College for School Leadership. - David Hopkins professional interests are in the
areas of teacher and school development,
educational change, teacher education, and policy
implementation and evaluation, and he has
published over thirty books on these themes.
Among the most recent are School Improvement For
Real (Routledge / Falmer, 2001) A Teacher's
Guide to Classroom Research (Third Edition, Open
University Press, 2002) Models of Learning -
Tools for Teaching (with Bruce Joyce and Emily
Calhoun, Second Edition, Open University Press,
2002) and, Improving the Quality of Education
for All (Fulton, 2002). - David Hopkins becomes Director of the Standards
and Effectiveness Unit at the Department for
Education and Skills in February 2002 , and in
that position succeeds Michael Barber as the
Chief Adviser to the Secretary of State on
standards issues. He is also an International
Mountain Guide and has climbed in many of the
world's great mountain ranges.