Building capacity
While the impact of the Commonwealth programme in Ghana may be told most powerfully by these heads, the adoption by the Ministry and the Ghana Education Service (GES) of the LfL principles, together with a commitment to the further professional development of senior school leaders, offers the promise of longer term sustainability.
In addition to professional development workshops for 632 Assistant Directors, headteachers and circuit supervisors from five regions, over a thousand heads (including 800 from Kindergartens) have attended sessions managed by GES staff with support from the PDLs and Alfred Ampah-Mensah, the LfL national co-ordinator. Appointed in 2010 Alfred’s post was underwritten by funding from the Commonwealth Education Trust and, provided with an all terrain vehicle. He has been able to play a vital role in monitoring and researching practice, gathering and feeding back data, networking across schools and districts and acting as a conduit among the various partners.
The revision of the Headteachers’ Handbook incorporating the five LfL principles is further evidence of commitment by the Ministry and GES to a recasting of leadership whose prior concern is with the quality of classroom learning and the professional development of teachers. A digital resource provides access to materials and techniques that can be used even in the most remote of areas. While in rural schools without access to computers, internet or even electricity, the support of circuit supervisors and District Directors becomes the vital link in giving access to these tools and their deployment.
One of the most encouraging aspects of the programme has been the embrace of ‘critical friendship’, the web.jpg)
reciprocal support and challenge offered byheadteachers to their colleagues and staff. While the concept was applied in the first instance to the PDLs for whom this became integral to their role and to their practice, it struck a particular chord with circuit supervisors for whom the balance between being a critic and a friend had previously tilted too far to the former, with none of the moderating and formative impact that could be brought by friendly counsel. Many of the heads saw it as a role they could exercise in relation to their staff and in their relationships with heads in the same area circuit.
The role of the Cambridge team in leading the development work has receded with remarkable speed as the LfL programme is taken forward by a combination of key Ghanaian players, who together fashion and lead a national programme. There is encouraging evidence that the aim of capacity building, local ownership and sustainability are being realised. The depth and continuity of commitment at district and regional levels will continue to be tested by the vagaries of political parties but in many respects, evidence of profound improvement permits no turning back.
The determination of headteachers to effect change was illustrated by heads extending the compass of their activities beyond the school, exploring potential resource, seeking support by negotiation, persuasion, cajoling, enlisting help from the PTA, the community, private donors or wherever else it could be found.
A two week visit in April by Suseela Malakalunthu, a visiting scholar from Malaysia to the Commonwealth Centre, offered further evidence of how far the five schools studied had traveled in making leadership for learning centre stage in their thinking, planning and execution.
A summary of these issues can be found on the poster produced for the Commonwealth conference, which took place at the end of June in Mauritius. Note that the image on the right is for illustrative purposes only. Please click on the link to download the full size poster in pdf format.