Ministry of Education

Education Policy and Contemporary Issues

in Ethiopia

September 2013
i
 Addis Ababa
Ministry of Education
Module Title: Education Policy and Contemporary
Issues in Ethiopia
Prepared by: Jimma University
Module Writer: Mitiku Bekele (PhD)
Internal Editor: Tadesse Abera
Technical Advisor: PRIN International Consultancy
& Research Services PLC
Module Development Expert: Getnet Demissie (PhD)

ii
Icons Used
Dear Learner, throughout this module, you will find the following icons or graphic symbols
that alert you to a change in activity within the module. Critically study what each icon
represents before using the module.



Introduction



Objectives


Activities

Questions

Focus

iii
 Module Information

Module Title: Education Policy and Contemporary Issues in Ethiopia

Code: PGDSL 604
Credit hours: 3 (2+1) (2 face-to-face, 1 distance)
Contact hours: 48 hrs; 5 ECTS
Prerequisite courses: None
Mode of delivery: Mixed mode

Acronyms: PGDSL - Postgraduate Diploma in School Leadership

Module Description
Rationale
Policy is a framework to guide operations. It provides direction so that activities are
performed and decisions are made in line with the directions. School Leaders, therefore, are
those who should take the prior position in ensuring compliance of school activities with
various policies. To this end, the purpose of this course is to equip school leaders with the
necessary knowledge, skills, instincts and personal stances that will help them to digest and
apply education policy, strategies, directives and other relevant development policies and
cross-cutting issues in their day-to-day operations.

Module Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module, learners will be able to:

1. Analyse the link between national development policies and school activities;
2. Understand various strategies and techniques to monitor school activities in light
of the national development policies;
3. Critically evaluate whether school activities comply with different national policies
(GTP, sectoral development) and education policy, strategies, programs, etc;
4. Develop school specific policies in line with the Ethiopian educational policy
framework;
5. Ensure that school activities comply with current educational programs;
6. Examine and explain contemporary issues in education.

iv
Module Approach
This is a mixed mode course offered through a face-to-face summer program followed by a
one-semester workplace-based reflective action phase. Having developed a broader and
deeper awareness of the policy context of schooling during the face-to-face program,
participants will have the opportunity to reflect on and improve the alignment of their own
school’s practices with policy through tasks undertaken in the workplace.

Module Learning Strategies

Breaking with common approaches to teaching policy, this course aims to engage participants
in exploring policy actively and drawing links with their experience of, and obligations in,
leading schools. During the face-to-face sessions, participants will take part in activities such
as brainstorming, story-telling, word-searches, and scenarios on policy issues. During the
school-based phase, where the focus will be placed equally on the learning outcomes of Units
3 and 5, participants will build case studies showing how they are applying their learning
about policy to their practice. Participants will be visited by their instructors at least once
while working on school-based tasks.

Module Assessment
During the face to face session, participants will be assessed through a combination of
continuous assessment and a final exam, totaling 50% of the course assessment. The
remaining 50% will be allocated to the assessment of school-based tasks, which will be
documented in a portfolio and submitted at the end of the first semester of the school-based
phase.

v
 Unit One
National Policy and the School (6hrs)

 Introduction

Dear learners, in this unit you will be introduced to some of the national policies. You are
expected to see how school activities are linked with the national development policies of the
nation and appreciate that schools are doing one of the most important activities that
contribute to the overall development of the nation. Moreover, you will be introduced to
strategies and techniques to monitor school activities in light of the national development
policies and use these policy directions in planning and implementing school activities. I
hope you will appreciate and enjoy leading and managing school activities when you
investigate how each and every school activity contributes to the development of the nation in
general and implementation of various national policies in particular.

 Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

 identify the interdependence among various national policies and school activities;
 explain the importance of monitoring school activities in light of national
development policies;
 use policy directions in planning and implementing school activities;
 monitor school activities in light of the national policies;
 use issue specific policies according to the nature of the issue under consideration;
and
 deal effectively with deviation from the schools standards and guidelines

1
 1.1 National Policies and School Activities

 Activity 1

Think of the national policies that you know and list them down as much as you can.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

a. Show your list to someone sitting beside you and also see the list of your
classmate. Add the ones that you missed to your list. Then discuss for few minutes
with your classmate about:

 The purpose and importance of the national policies you have listed out and

 Write a statement about the importance of the various policies to the national
development. (Do it in pairs)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
b. Try to find out the interdependence among the national policies you have listed
out and list the features as much as you can that indicate the interdependence of
various national policies (Do it in pairs)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

2
 1.1.1National Policies

Needless to say every nation has the quest for sustainable national development towards
which it mobilizes its resources. The policy is the road map to reach and/or realize such
development goals. Hence, all governments formulate policies that indicate the way to
achieve the desired national development. National policies are broad courses of action
adopted by governments in pursuit of their objectives.

Policies are the strategic link between the organizations’ vision and its day-to-day operations.
But why is that so important? It's because well written policies allow employees to
understand their roles and responsibilities within predefined limits. Basically, policies allow
management to guide operations without constant management intervention.

A "Policy" is a predetermined course of action which is established to provide a guide toward

accepted strategies and objectives. Policies identify the key activities and provide a general
strategy to decision-makers on how to handle issues as they arise. This is accomplished by
providing the reader with limits and a choice of alternatives that can be used to "guide" their
decision making process as they attempt to overcome problems.

Policies are required when there is a need for consistency in your day-to-day operational
activities. They also provide clarity to the reader when dealing with accountability issues or
activities that are of critical importance to the organization, such as, health & safety, legal
liabilities, regulatory requirements or issues that have serious consequences.

National Policy Objectives


Activity 2
1. Governments of developed as well as developing countries have top agenda about
which they are much concerned. Think of the issues which you believe any
government should commit itself to:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
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 __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
2. Had you given the chance to lead a nation, what issues do you keep as a top
agenda? List as much issues as possible and explain to a group why you selected
the issues.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

A key step in identifying the most important policy issues on which to concentrate is to
identify the government's own policy objectives and to gain some idea of the relative
importance of each of these objectives. While they are sometimes difficult to prioritize, a
rough ranking is both possible and essential if overall policy is to be effective and not
deflected by internal or external interest groups.

The terms in which governments state their objectives vary in each country. However, most
objectives can be classified as falling into one of five broad groups:
 Independence objectives
 Economic efficiency objectives

 Resource conservation objectives

 Stability objectives

 Equity objectives

Independence objectives are concerned with obtaining and preserving a satisfactory degree
of political and economic autonomy. Independence implies that a country neither depends on
foreign aid to meet the basic needs of its population nor is susceptible to external political

4
interference (the former is often linked to the latter). Meeting the independence objective
requires a high degree of self-reliance, in the sense that a country will wish either to be
entirely self-sufficient in basic food commodities or to dispose of sufficient foreign exchange
to meet part of its demand through imports.

Economic efficiency objectives are concerned with increasing the level of real national
income and its growth rate over time. Efficiency implies that a country uses existing, and
generates new, technology to minimize costs per unit of output, and seek a combination of
outputs consistent with its comparative advantage in the international market.

Resource conservation objectives are concerned with preserving the natural resource base
in order to ensure long-term efficiency and independence.

Stability objectives are concerned with avoiding abrupt and large changes in incomes, in the
price and availability of domestically produced basic commodities and inputs, and in the
consequent need for foreign exchange to buy essential imports.

Equity objectives are concerned with the fair distribution of income and wealth within
society. The equity objective also concerns the relative well-being of producers and
consumers, the distribution of purchasing power between different groups of consumers and
the availability of employment opportunities. The market process alone will not normally
lead to greater equity. Indeed, it may actually increase inequity, especially when the status
quo is already inequitable or when economic power is becoming increasingly concentrated.
Improving equity is, ostensibly, considered essential to policy formulation in many African
countries.

These five broad classes will account for the declared objectives of most governments and
can be gauged from public statements and documents such as national development plans.
The objectives actually pursued by policy makers may differ from the government's declared
objectives. These real or undeclared objectives can often only be identified from the day-to-
day decisions made by governments.

Key objectives of national development policy includes –

a. increase competitiveness (e.g. increase research and development
expenditure, facilitate development of SMEs);
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 b. increase the rate of employment;
c. increase competitive skills (e.g. improve public education, promote life-long
learning);
d. improve the health status of the population (e.g. improve the health care
system);
e. strengthen social cohesion (e.g. reduce growing social inequality);
f. improve physical accessibility (e.g. develop transport infrastructure);
g. move towards an information society (e.g. increase the rate of ICT
penetration); and
h. protect and use sustainably natural resources and environmental assets.

 Activity 3

Very good! By now you have already gone through the content about the national policy
objectives. Great! Now do the following exercises.
1. Match the national policies you have previously listed with the appropriate
objective that they address.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
2. Discuss your answers with classmate in pair and try to investigate how
interdependent the national policies are to justify that all the national policies are
functioning in an integrated way to bring about the required national development.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
3. Try to suggest how policy makers and policy implements in various sectors
should work in collaboration to realize the national goals.

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 __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

Think of the issues treated in education and training policy and relate them with the national
objectives that they address.
1. _____________________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________________________
4. _____________________________________________________________
5. Try to match the following national policies with their guiding principles given
below.
National Policies
1. Education and training policy
2. Health policy
3. Youth policy
4. Energy policy
5. Employment policy
6. Environment policy
Guiding principles
a. The development, use and management of renewable resources shall be based on
sustainability; and every person has the right to live in a healthy environment
b. Bring up citizens who respect human rights, stand for the well-being of people, as
well as for equality, justice and peace, endowed with democratic culture and
discipline
c. Allocation and apportionment of water based on comprehensive and integrated
plans and optimum allocation principles that incorporate efficiency of use, equity
of access, and sustainability of the resource.

7
 d. Raising Productivity of the Non-farm Private and Informal Sector, Skill
development, Access to working premises, Access to finance, Ensuring decent
working conditions, etc.
e. To raise the efficiency of the energy sector and develop the necessary institutional
and manpower capabilities by introducing appropriate incentive measures, to
undertake energy development programs.
f. To create young generation empowered with democratic outlook and ideals,
equipped with knowledge and professional skills, get organized and built on
ethical integrity.
g. Increasing the prevalence of contraceptive use from the current 4.0% to 44.0% by
the year 2015.

1.1.2 School Activities

Schools are accountable to all stakeholders to bring about continuous improvement of student
achievement through quality teaching and learning. This is enhanced and supported by the
recognition of the rights of the child and a child-centered approach to growth and
development.
Key areas important to maximize student achievement in all aspects of their lives are:
School Leadership – the process of setting direction and goals for the school and putting in
place the necessary mechanisms and strategies to achieve the intended outcomes.

Student Achievement - student learning, in all aspects of their lives, is dependent upon a
holistic approach that takes into account their ability to learn and achieve at a high standard.

Staff Management - ensures the effective management of staff members so as to maintain

standards and ensure professionalism in the effective delivery of education for students.

8
Curriculum – ensuring that the school curriculum is responsive to the needs of the child and
relevant to the socio-economic needs of the multicultural society in which they live.

Teaching and Learning - the effective planning and delivery of teaching in a collaborative
effort between the teacher and student to ensure effective learning takes place.

School Resources Management - the allocation and management of school resources

(human/ physical/ financial) to ensure the school achieves its educational goals for students
effectively and efficiently.

Learning Environment - the school addresses the students’ intellectual, physical, social,
emotional, spiritual, moral and cultural needs to maximize learning.

Community Involvement - the school community interacts with the school in the
achievement of their combined goals for its students.

Schools Responsiveness - the school responds to the needs of students and stakeholder and
adapts and adopts such measures when these needs change.

Informed professional judgments based on the collective use of the characteristics of each of
the nine key areas require determining how effective a school is in maximizing student
achievement. A school that is engaged in thorough improvement processes and in improving
student achievement will be considered as being an effective school. A school that has
disorganized processes and adds little to student achievement will be judged ineffective. And
hence, unsatisfactory schools will need to take immediate steps to become effective.

 Activity 4
Great! Dear Participants, now you have got information on school activities that focus on
improving students’ achievement. Try to carefully identify how these school activities are
related to the national development objectives. And discuss in groups the extent to which the

9
school activities are in line with the national development objectives. The facilitator will form
groups of three to five and help the discussion to go smoothly.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

1.2 Monitoring School Activities

 Activity 5

Try to define the following terms in your own words and discuss in groups how they differ.
a. Monitoring
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
b. Evaluation
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
c. Reporting__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
d. Feedback__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

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1.2.1 The Concept of Monitoring
The term Monitoring and Evaluation tends to get run together but they are two distinct sets of
organizational activities which are related but not identical. The common ground between
them is they enable you to learn from what you are doing and how you are doing it by
focusing on efficiency, effectiveness and impact.

Evaluation involves a systematic and objective analysis of a policy, program or project’s

outcome and the impact in relation to its goals & objectives. It involves looking at what the
organization intended to achieve - what difference did it make? What impact did it want to
make? By assessing its progress towards what it wanted to achieve and its impact targets.

Monitoring and evaluation help improve performance and achieve results. More precisely,
the overall purpose of monitoring and evaluation is the measurement and assessment of
performance in order to more effectively manage the outcomes and outputs known as
development results.

The following are terms usually used in connection to one another:

Monitoring is a continuing function that aims primarily to provide the management and main
stakeholders of an ongoing intervention with early indications of progress. Monitoring
focuses on the measurement of the following aspects of an intervention:
o Quality of the implemented activities (outputs: What do we do? How do we manage
our activities?)
o Processes inherent to programme (outcomes: What were the effects /changes that
occurred as a result of your intervention?)
o Processes external to an intervention (impact: Which broader, long-term effects
were triggered by the implemented activities in combination with other
environmental factors?)

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Evaluation is a selective exercise that attempts to systematically and objectively assess
progress towards the achievement of an outcome. Evaluation is not a one-time event, but an
exercise involving assessments of differing scope and depth carried out at several points in
time in response to evolving needs for evaluative knowledge and learning during the effort to
achieve an outcome. All evaluations—even project evaluations that assess relevance,
performance and other criteria—need to be linked to outcomes as opposed to only
implementation or immediate outputs. Evaluations appraise data and information that inform
strategic decisions, thus improving programme in the future. Evaluations should help to draw
conclusions about five main aspects of the intervention: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency,
impact and sustainability.

Reporting is an integral part of monitoring and evaluation. Reporting is the systematic and
timely provision of essential information at periodic intervals.

Feedback is a process within the framework of monitoring and evaluation by which

information and knowledge are disseminated and used to assess overall progress towards
results or confirm the achievement of results. Feedback may consist of findings, conclusions,
recommendations and lessons from experience. It can be used to improve performance and as
a basis for decision-making and the promotion of learning in an organization.

A lesson learned is an instructive example based on experience that is applicable to a general

situation rather than to a specific circumstance. It is learning from experience. The lessons
learned from an activity through evaluation are considered evaluative knowledge, which
stakeholders are more likely to internalize if they have been involved in the evaluation
process. Lessons learned can reveal “good practices” that suggest how and why different
strategies work in different situations—valuable information that needs to be documented.

 Activity 6

Think of any educational program carried out at your school and answer the following
questions;
a. What decisions were made to improve future plans and
activities?____________________________________________________
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 ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
b. What decisions were made to improve the progress and success of the
program
underway?___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
______________________________________________
c. How the data obtained about the program is communicated to the
stakeholders?_________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
d. How the information obtained from stakeholders is utilized by the school
management?_________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
e. How the information obtained was utilized the better implement future
plans and programs?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
________________________________________________

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 1.2.2 Uses of Monitoring and Evaluation

Monitoring allows the school principals to make a transparent and objective evaluation of
whether the school has been successful or not. It will help schools to demonstrate to
stakeholders the success and/or failure of schools in achieving objectives. If school leaders do
it, they will be able to know if they succeed or not. However, without a well thought out
Monitoring and Evaluation Plan school leaders will not be able to tell whether a school has
achieved its objectives. This significantly undermines the value of the school and result in
loss of school credibility, stakeholder support and possibly withdrawal of involvement in the
school. Inadequate monitoring and evaluation will result in a perception of school failure –
and, as perception becomes reality, a school that cannot clearly demonstrate success will
always be in danger of being seen as a failure.

Specifically monitoring and evaluation of school activities have the following uses:

Management tool- monitoring inputs and outputs can help determine whether programs and
services are reaching their target audiences or whether issues related to content, scope,
defined coverage areas or target audiences should be re-examined. Monitoring also helps in
formulation of new annual plans of action by detailing what has or has not been
accomplished by previous ones.

Accountability to beneficiaries- provides feedback to all project levels, including the

community. This feedback may encourage grassroots support from the beneficiary
population.
Advocacy – it provides credible information about programme progress, problems and
potential to success. Advocates can use this information to mobilize greater personal
commitment and financial support from improved policies and programs.
Reporting requirements – most donors require some form of reporting so that they can
assess whether their resources are being used for agreed upon objectives when programmes
or projects are funded by several different donors. These often require writing different
reports each according to a particular donor’s specifications.
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The development of a monitoring and evaluation plan consists of several steps:
1. Defining a programme’s goal, objectives, inputs, activities, outputs, and
outcomes;
2. Identifying indicators or data points and other information to collect and
measure critical program components;
3. Determining the sources of data, the frequency of their collection and how
they will be analyzed;


Activity 7
1. Think about the programs underway in your respective schools. Choose one of the
programs and define the program goal/objective, identify indicators and determine
the sources of data.
a. Program goal/objective
____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
b. Indicators of the program
objective(s)__________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
c. Source of data for the indicator
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

1.2.3 Developing a monitoring and evaluation implementation plan

Determining how to monitor and enhance school effectiveness is one of the major concerns in
current education reforms in different areas of the world. School effectiveness includes
technical/economic, human/social, political, cultural, and educational effectiveness at a
variety of different levels; that is, individual, institutional, community, societal, and
15
international. Depending on the types of school effectiveness and the models of school
management, various conceptual possibilities and dilemmas exist in monitoring school
effectiveness. The paradigm for monitoring should therefore be shifted from a simplistic
conception to a multi-type and multi-model conception. It should address practical dilemmas
involved in monitoring school effectiveness:
(1) balancing between internal development and external accountability;
(2) balancing between school self-evaluation and external evaluation;
(3) choosing an appropriate combination of indicators;
(4) deciding who selects the effectiveness of indicators and performance
standards; and
(5) Managing the differences between the school-site level and the system
level

Hence the school effectiveness dimensions need to be guided with the national policy
directions so that the core school activities are in line with the standards and expectations of
the policy.

 Activity 8

Discuss in groups of five (with fair number of male and female) the uses of monitoring and
evaluation of school activities in light of national policy implementation.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
1. Take one of the programs in your school, and develop monitoring and evaluation
implementation plan.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

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 __________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
1.2.4 Purposes of monitoring
Monitoring serves at least the following four purposes:
1. To learn from experiences to improve practices and activities
2. To have internal and external accountability of the resources used and the
results obtained;
3. To take informed decisions on the future of the initiative;
4. To promote empowerment of beneficiaries of the initiative.
Monitoring is a periodically recurring task already beginning in the planning and allows
results, processes and experiences to be documented and used as a basis to steer decision-
making and learning processes. Monitoring is checking progress against plans.

Information gathered in relation to these aspects during the monitoring process provides the
basis for the evaluative analysis. In monitoring school activities, the school leaders need to
answer the following questions properly:
1. What Data should be collected?
Schools have to identify the student achievement data they need to collect and determine if
they are making progress toward the attainment of their priority goals. It is worth
emphasizing that in addition to the student performance data collected to monitor school
improvement goals, teachers may also need tools to collect student performance data on all
the indicators they are responsible for teaching. In a perfectly aligned system, this would
replace a teacher's grade book that is also a data collection tool though rarely aligned with the
content standard indicators.

In order to promote ownership, principals will want staff to collaboratively develop a

monitoring plan. The staff needs to divvy up the indicators/objectives in ways that make
instructional sense and discuss what data need to be collected on each objective to determine
progress. The discussion should be framed around the question, "What data have we collected
(or should we collect) as evidence that students are learning specified objectives?”

17
After schools have identified the student data they need to collect to monitor progress, they
will find it useful to create a data collection template (a table, grid, database, or spreadsheet)
for staff to use it in recording the data. The school must also decide in what format they want
to record the data and where it should be submitted.

2. How Frequently Should Teachers Submit the Data?

It is important to collect data on an ongoing basis. Some schools already collect data on a
quarterly basis using a common assessment. Although quarterly assessments provide
information about student performance, this strategy has a number of drawbacks: 1) it often
results in teachers viewing the monitoring piece as external to their instructional program, 2)
it is not frequent enough to inform instruction, and 3) it does not move staff to the ultimate
goal. The ultimate goal is to have teachers instructing and assessing the indicators they are
responsible for teaching on an ongoing basis so that they will know where their students are
at any given time and will use the information to direct their instruction.

Principals will need to determine how frequently monitoring data should be submitted and to
whom. Since the ultimate goal is to have teachers regularly collecting, discussing, and using
the data to inform classroom instruction, then you may want the data to be submitted every
two or three weeks to the team leader for structured discussions of the data at team meetings.
You will want to see that the data have been submitted, because it will be your responsibility
to deal with any teacher not complying with the expectation.

3. How will Teachers Record and Submit the Data?

Once teachers know what indicators they are responsible for teaching and assessing and how
frequently they need to submit the data, they need to determine the format for recording
student performance on those indicators. A discussion among teams or departments about
how a student can demonstrate proficiency on a specific indicator should help to broaden
thinking and develop some consistency in how student performance is assessed. However, it
is more important for staff to be able to diagnose student performance to determine what a
student knows and still needs to learn. Using a holistic rubric to score a student response does
not give you the diagnostic information to inform instruction.

18
 4. Why Do You Need to Monitor?
Both research and common sense support the notion that we need to monitor student
performance on an ongoing basis. If we are ever to know how we are doing, we will need to
know where our students are. But that is exactly what we don’t know. The effect of
assessment for learning, as it plays out in the classroom, is that students keep learning and
remain confident that they can continue to learn at productive levels if they keep trying to
learn. In other words, students don’t give up in frustration or hopelessness.

5. What Do You Need to Monitor?

The ultimate goal for monitoring student progress is to ensure that all students are successful
in attaining the required proficiency. Teachers need to teach and assess the indicators they are
responsible for teaching on an ongoing basis so that they will know where their students are
at any given time in. Teachers need to regularly ask these four questions: what do I want my
students to know and do? Where are my students? What evidence do I have to know that?
And what do I plan to do about it? This on-going monitoring is also the way teachers
determine whether their instructional strategies are working for all students and which
students need instructional interventions.

 Activity 9

Monitoring requires determination of what to monitor? Why to monitor? How often to

monitor? What data is needed? Select any school program and answer the following
questions with sound justifications for each.
a. What do you want to monitor?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
b. Why do you want to monitor?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

19
 ____________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
c. What type of data do you need?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
d. How often do what want to carry it out?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

1.2.5 Components of Monitoring

Monitoring, as a tool to measure if plans are being done effectively or not, will have
components such as inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and impact through with the success
of a certain policy, program or projects is judged. Now it is important to see what this each
component refer to and what issues need to be addressed to by any responsible body for
monitoring.
Inputs – are resources used to implement activities (financial, materials, human, time,
information).
Process/activities - Regular efforts needed to produce the outputs.
Outputs - Products or services needed to achieve the outcomes
Outcomes - Set of beneficiary and population-level changes needed to achieve the
goal (usually knowledge, attitudes and practices)
Impacts - statement of results to achieve the policy intentions

 Activity 10

1. Discuss in groups of five (with fair number of female in each group) how each of
the following terms: inputs, processes, outputs, outcomes and impacts relate to

20
 one another. Give an example for each in school context and explain their
relationship.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

To enhance understanding of the components of the monitoring it is very important to define

and identify indicators for each of them. Indicators can be in both qualitative and quantitative
form. For instance, Input indicators are quantitative or qualitative means to measure
utilization of stated inputs (resources used for activities); process indicators are quantitative
or qualitative means to measure completion of stated activities; that is, attendance at the
activities; output indicators also refer to quantitative or qualitative means to measure
completion of stated outputs (measures the immediate product of an activity). Outcome
indicators measure achievement or reflect the changes connected to stated outcomes, and
impact indicators measure achievement or reflect the changes connected to stated goal.

The other important concept in relation to the components of monitoring is measurement. In

its broadest sense, measurement refers to assignment of value to a certain variable so that it
can be qualified or quantified. Measurement in monitoring process may refer to data source,
and data collection frequency for stated indicators. And hence, monitoring process requires
determination of the right source of information to describe the indicator identified.

To make the monitoring process so effective, consideration of the factors out of the policy
control that could restrict or prevent the policy from achieving the expected outcomes is
important. If the failure or success of the policy is more affected by factors not within the
control of the education policy, any changes recommended to improve the internal system
may not be fruitful. Therefore, assumption of the external factors that restricts or prevents
access to inputs help to properly use monitoring information to improve implementation.

21
Impacts - Simple clear statement of the impact or results to achieve by the policy or program

 Activity 11

Chose a program at your school and develop at least two indicators for each of the following
components of monitoring.
a. Inputs
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
b. Processes____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
c. Outputs_____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
d. Outcomes____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
e. Impacts_____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
1.2.6 Areas of Monitoring

Schools perform a lot of activities which require monitoring to check if the activities are
being performed as planned. For example, availability, accessibility and adequacy of the
institution’s physical facilities (classrooms; offices; sport fields; etc.); availability,

22
accessibility and adequacy of the institution’s learning resources (library; computer centers
with appropriate software and hardware, audio-visual equipment; Internet access;
laboratories; workshops; etc.); resource utilization and mechanisms for maintenance and
updating; the financial stability of the institution and the adequacy of its budget to run and
sustain its programs as well as the academic and administrative staff to realize the
achievement of school objectives.

The quality of an educational program depends strongly on the quality of the staff who
provide teaching and student support. Institutions should ensure that their staff recruitment
and appointment procedures include a means of making certain that all new staff have the
necessary level of competence. Every secondary school is expected to have sufficient and
appropriate staff to ensure effective implementation of its programs. Hence, availability of
adequate number of qualified staff to support programs and an appropriate staff-student ratio
for each program as well as the suitability of the teaching staff in terms of the mix of
qualifications, experience, etc. are very important. To run quality educational program, the
necessary conditions include the existence of suitable, clearly stated, well-established and
effectively implemented policies for the appointment and promotion of staff; the operation of
a transparent staff appraisal system that identifies the strengths and weaknesses of staff and
which leads to action and the provision of pedagogical and other training organized to
support staff development.

 Activity 12

Monitoring requires identification of the most important school activities and areas to check
if they all are going on as planned. Now try to list out documents that would help to get
relevant information to monitor school activities properly.

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

23
Possible answer for the above activity includes:-
Documentation on legislation; faculty manuals; staff development policy; staff workload
documents; student /staff ratios; minutes of meetings at department and or school level,
Interviews with senior management, principals, department heads, Academic Development
and Resource Centre, students and teachers.

Every school is expected to employ appropriate teaching learning and assessment methods to
ensure effective implementation of its programs. In order to ensure that the programs are
effectively implemented, the following points should be considered:
 The appropriateness, variety and level of innovation of teaching methods, practice
regarding academic advice and tutorial support;
 the balance of theory and practice;
 evaluation of approaches to teaching and learning and the consequent action;
 appropriateness and consistent application of the assessment policy and procedures,
criteria that ensures fair grading of students and maintains standards;
 the extent to which assessment policy and procedures are communicated,
 appropriateness of mechanisms used to ensure the use of balanced assessment
methods to each subject;
 the extent to which the assessment mechanisms matched to the learning outcomes and
are applied appropriately; and
 the adequacy of the student appeal procedures

1.3 Using Policy Direction in Planning and Implementing School Activities

No matter how differently every school deals with matters related to their school context,
ultimately effectiveness of a school is evaluated in terms of the national goals, using national
criteria. It is, therefore, necessary to increase the level of accountability within the education
system by strengthening the support given to schools by Regional, Zonal, or Woreda
professionals. These professional may support schools by providing feedback to all
stakeholders, and by identifying aspects of excellence within the system. Providing feedback
to all stakeholders may serve as a means of achieving continuous school improvement and

24
identification of aspects of excellence within the system models good practice and improve
the general understanding of what factors create effective schools.

As stipulated in the policy, the core mission of schools is to improve the educational
achievements of all learners. And hence, it is the responsibility of school leaders, supervisors
and support services to identify to what extent the school is adding value to learners’ prior
knowledge, understanding and skills.

In principle, all members of a school community are responsible for the quality of their own
performance. However, the contributions made by staff, learners and other stakeholders to
improve school’s performance should be properly recognized through proper planning of
school performances based on the overall policy directions.

Accordingly, school community and school leaders in particular are expected to establish
minimum level of performance standard for the level of acceptability of performance by
identifying major school activities. Yet the process of setting standards should consider the
problems associated with setting too high and too low performance standards. If standards are
set too high, performance in every respect becomes unsatisfactory and everything then
becomes a priority issue. If set too low, then everything is acceptable and there is no priority
to change anything. Therefore, standards should be set at a level that draws attention to a
small number of really poor performances.

 Activity 13

1. Think one of the major school activities and try to set standards that are not too high or
too low so as monitoring will be carried out effectively to facilitate better attainment of
the objectives. (Do this in groups- the instructor will facilitate the group formation and
identification of the issue to set the standard).
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

25
______________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

2. Identify the major activities of your school and try to investigate if they are aligned
with the national policies of the nation.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Some of the core school activities include
o Setting directions – indentifying and articulating a vision, creating shared
meaning, creating high performance expectations, fostering the acceptance of
group goals, monitoring organizational performances and communicating
effectively.

o Developing people – offering intellectual stimulation, providing individualized

support and providing an appropriate model.

o Developing the organization / the school – strengthening school culture,

modifying organizational culture, building collaborative processes and
managing the environment.

o Responding productively to challenges and opportunities created by the

accountability – oriented policy context in which they work i.e. Creating and
sustaining a competitive school, empowering others to make significant
decisions, providing instructional guidance and strategic planning.

o Building powerful forms of teaching and learning, creating strong

communities in schools, expanding proportion of students’ social capital
valued by the schools and nurturing the development of families’ educational
culture.

26
  Activity 14

Great! Now I believe that you have a good understanding of the core school activities that
will make an effective school. Hence, the facilitator will help the participants to link the
above school activities with the overall policy directions.
1. Help the participants to list out all school activities as much as they can and
categorize them into core activities.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
2. Identify the policy direction for each core activity
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
3. Explain the relationship among the core school activities and policy directions.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

Unit Summary
Policy is a road map to reach national development goals. It strategically links organization’s
vision and its day to day operations. The basis for policy in general are the goals of the
government developed to meet various national needs such as independence, economic
efficiency, stability, equity, resource conservation, etc. Governments, through policy
implementation, will be able to increase national competitiveness, rate of employment,
improvement of health status, increase social cohesion as well as use of natural resources.
Schools are responsible to improve student achievement through quality teaching and

27
produce human capital that meaningfully contribute to the realization of the various national
policies. In this regard, planning and monitoring school activities such as school leadership,
student achievement, curriculum, teaching and learning, learning environment and
community involvement are very important to meet the national needs.

Unit Delivery Approaches/Methods/Strategies

Varieties teaching-learning strategies that encourage active participation of students such as
brainstorming, gapped lecture, questioning and answering, group discussions, students’
presentation, project method, pyramiding, jigsaw, role play, crossover group, micro teaching,
pair work, individual work, storytelling, word search, scenarios, etc can be used accordingly.

Learners’ and Facilitators’ Activities in the Teaching-Learning Process

A. Learners’ Activities – in order to effectively learn and achieve the major learning
outcomes of the unit, the learners are expected to:
 Regularly attend the lessons

 Actively participate in individual and group activities.

 Raise questions on areas that need further elaboration

 Read the suggested materials and make their own notes.

 Use the constructive feedback given orally or in writing as a means for

further improvements

 Compile and report the results of their group activities to their classmate
and the facilitator.

B. Facilitator’s Activities – having responsible to make the teaching learning process

lively, organized and focused, the facilitator will be responsible for:
 Presenting key points in each lesson by using various active learning
methods.

 Involving students actively in each activity both individually and in groups

 Giving clear directions to each tasks of the unit

28
  Assessing student’s involvement and progress using observation, oral
questions and written tasks.

 Giving feedback to students and making them develop the feeling of

success and achievement.

Unit Assessment Strategies and Techniques

Continuous assessment techniques shall be employed. Varieties of continuous assessment
techniques such as observation, active listening, oral questions, self assessment, peer
assessment, group assessment, etc. will be used to examine learners’ progress. In addition,
project papers (assignments), presentations and progress in work can be used. Test /quiz shall
also be used to collect data about learners’ progress.

Reading Materials
Frenkel, A. Jacob (1985). International Interdependence and the Constraints on
Macroeconomic Policies, pp171-210
FRDE Education Sector Development Program IV (ESDP IV) 2010/2011 – 2014/2015 2003
EC – 2007 E.C
Education and Training Policy (ETP), MOE 1994
Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP), FDRE 2010
Second General Education Quality Improvement Program (GEQIP II), MOE 2013
National Population Policy of April (1993). (National Population Policy of Ethiopia, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, Office of the

29
 Unit Two
Education Policy and School
 Introduction
Dear learners, in this unit you will be introduced to how education policy designed and
developed at the national logically linked with schools passing through region, zone and
Woreda education structures. Moreover, various strategies, programs and projects at various
levels of education policy implementation are also presented to give you an overview of how
policy is expected to be implemented. Policy provides guidance to schools through school
directives, rules and regulation and procedures. The mentioned policy related issues will also
be discussed in light of the advantages of running schools within the policy framework.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this unit, the participants will be able to:
 Define key terms (education policy, strategies, programs, projects, directions,
rules and regulations, procedures) related to education policy and schools
 Explain the logical relationship ship among education policy, strategies,
programs and projects, directives, rules and regulations and procedures
 Run schools within the policy framework
 Apply school directives, rules and regulations in light of the education policy
framework
 Recognize the dynamics of national and local polices to make good school
related decisions


Dear learner!
You are advised to attempt the following questions before you start to study the details of the
unit.
1. Policy is a widely used term in our day to day life. What do understand by a policy? Define
it in your own words before you start reading the content.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
30
 _____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________
2. Why do changes in the political and economic environment make understanding the policy
process essential for today’s school leaders?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

3. What roles can educational leaders play in shaping and influencing education policy?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

2.1 Education policy, strategies, programs and projects

Activity 1


1. Based on your previous knowledge and experiences, try to define the terms policy,
strategies, programs and projects.
a. Policies___________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
31
 b. Strategies__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

c. Programs__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

d. Projects___________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. What are the differences among the above terms?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________

A policy is a principle or protocol to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy
is a statement of intent, and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally
adopted by the Board of or senior governance body within an organization whereas
procedures or protocols would be developed and adopted by senior executive officers.
Policies can assist in both subjective and objective decision making. Policies to assist in
subjective decision making would usually assist senior management with decisions that must
consider the relative merits of a number of factors before making decisions and as a result are
32
often hard to objectively. In contrast policies to assist in objective decision making are
usually operational in nature and can be objectively tested policy.

Policy, can be defined broadly as the dynamic and value laden process through which a
political system handles a public problem. It includes the government’s expressed intentions
and official enactments as well as its consistent patterns of activity and inactivity (Fowller,
2004:9). And hence, education policy may mean collection of laws and rules that govern the
operation of education systems.

Strategies are alternative ways that are designed to implement any plan. It answers the
question of how to go about it. Strategy may determine the need for the resources i.e the
human, the material and the physical setup which are needed to effectively implement the
plan on the table.

A project is a set of investment and other planned activities aimed at achieving specific
objectives with in pre-determined time frame and budget. It has specific objectives, specific
geographical unit, and specific target group and requires capital investment. A project can
also understand as subdivision of a program and a carefully planned piece of work to enhance
overall implementation of the program. It is characterizes as a single use plan, none routine,
one time effort which is limited by time, budget, resources and performance specifications
designed to meet customer needs. A project is any work that happens only once, has a clear
beginning and end, and is intended to create a unique product or knowledge. It may involve
only one person, or thousands. It may last several days, or many years. It may be undertaken
by a single organization, or by an alliance of several stakeholders. A project may be as simple
as organizing a one-day event or as complex as constructing a dam on a river.

Program refers to a series of planned activities with a broader scope than a project. Unlike
project, programs do not necessarily include investment. The execution period of a program
is often longer than that of a project. A program may consist of a set of projects, aimed at
achieving several related objectives. It has general objectives, may or may not have specific
geographical unit, may or may not have specific target group, may or may not require capital

33
investment. It is normally an intermediate type and single use plan (longer than one year and
shorter than five years) that encompasses a wide set of activities with a common focus.

Effective and fully implemented policies create a professional environment that allows your
organization to comply with outside requirements and provide tools necessary to assist your
organization’s growth, and help protect your assets.

 Activity 2

Identify which of the following school activities pertain to policy, strategy, program and
projects and discuss with a friend sitting beside you. Some of the activities may not necessary
be identified into the category.
a. Inclusive education __________________________________________
b. Education sector development program ____________________________
c. School improvement program ___________________________________
d. Construction of school toilet ____________________________________
e. Supervision of school activities __________________________________
f. Teachers’ performance appraisal _________________________________

2.2 National and local education policies and strategies

 Activity 3

1. What is the difference between national and local education policies and
strategies?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

34
 2. What do you think are the major concerns of national educations policies? How
do they relate with the local policies and strategies.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

3. What do you think that would happen to the schools if the school leaders lack
good understanding of the national education policies and strategies?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

National education policies are nationwide concern of governments for the interest of public
in educating the citizens. The national policy comprises issues related to provision of
education at all levels and ensuring that education is accessible for all. Moreover, the
provision of education should satisfy the criteria of equity, quality and relevance. Hence, the
education policy mainly deals with the extent to which they type of education provided meets
the standards of quality, relevance, equity and access. National strategies also stipulates
mechanisms by which these core concerns of education be attained focusing on the school
structure and the types of programs and projects.

Local policies, however, are mainly concerned with the better effective implementation of the
national policies in the context of the local needs and realities. Local policies address the
local issues in light of the national policies and realize the objectives of the national policies.
Hence, it becomes mandatory for local education policy makers to have a good understanding
of the relationship between intents and strategies of the national policy and the local needs. It

35
also requires local policy makers to know the extent of the decision making power vested and
the authority to be exercised.

1. Discuss with a friend how centralized and decentralized system of educational

management affects the relationship between the national and local education
policy and strategies.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
2. What specific and practical issues do you expect to be addressed in local policy
and strategies to achieve the core educational concerns such as access, equity,
relevance and quality of education?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

2.3 School Directives, Rules, Regulations and Procedures

 Activity 4

1. Dear participants, you must have heard and used the terms above in your school
so many times. You may sometimes use them synonymously and sometimes
anonymously. Sometimes, you may even not recognize which one you are using.
Now, you are required to carefully think and define each of them here below and
try to explain how they differ from each other.

36
 a. Directives
_______________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
b. Rules
_______________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
c. Regulations
_______________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
d. Procedures
_______________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

2. Explain here below how you think the terms defined differ from one another.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

3. Great! Now I am sure you have thought about the terms very critically and tried to
define them and show their differences .Once again before you read about the
terms try to give an example of directives, rules, regulations and procedures from
the various guidelines used in school operations.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

37
 __________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

Directives are formal and usually mandatory executive or official pronouncement on a policy
or procedure, or one which encourages or discourages some activity. It can also be something
that serves to direct, guide, and usually impel toward an action or goal; especially: an
authoritative instrument issued by a high-level body or official.

Rules are basic generalization that are accepted as true and that can be used as a basis for
reasoning or conduct. Rules and regulations are principles governing conducts, actions,
procedures and arrangement in a state or country. They are the customary circumstances that
are controlled by the government, institutions or dominions. They refer to regular,
authoritative and prescribed direction for conduct, especially one of the regulations governing
procedure in a legislative body or a regulation observed by the players in a game, sport, or
contest. It allows the person in a position to exercise control, dominion, or direction over and
govern.

Regulation refers to the act of regulating or the state of being regulated. It is a principle, rule,
or law designed to control or govern conduct. It is a governmental order having the force of
law. Rules and regulations are important for a number of reasons in life. Without them there
would be a total collapse of the organized societies that we are used to today. Regulation,
therefore, is a term used to describe the act of controlling or managing something. If
something is regulated, it typically follows a specific pattern or set of guidelines. Regulations
are known as being similar to rules. However, they aim more toward things one is not
allowed to do. Regulations are usually punishable in one way or another and as you get older
punishments.

Procedures are fixed, step-by-step sequence of activities or course of action (with definite
start and end points) that must be followed in the same order to correctly perform a task.

38
Repetitive procedures are called routines. It can also mean a particular course of action
intended to achieve a result; a process or series of acts especially of a practical or mechanical
nature involved in a particular form of work. It is a document written to support a "Policy
Directive".

A Procedure is designed to describe Who, What, Where, When, and Why by means of
establishing corporate accountability in support of the implementation of a "policy". The
"How" is further documented by each organizational unit in the form of "Work Instructions"
which aims to further support a procedure by providing greater detail. For example, a
manufacturing facility established a policy that all overtime shall be approved. A procedure
can be created to establish “Who” can approve overtime (ranks, roles & responsibilities),
"What" forms/systems need to be used, "Where" they are located, "When" overtime is
applicable. And the "Why" refers to the management directive established via a "Policy".

The output of a procedures become input into a work instruction which is a set of actions or
operations which have to be executed in the same manner in order to achieve intended results
under the same circumstances. Policies and procedures are designed to influence and
determine all major decisions and actions, and all activities take place within the boundaries
set by them. Procedures are the specific methods employed to express policies in action in
day-to-day operations of the organization. Together, policies and procedures ensure that a
point of view held by the governing body of an organization is translated into steps that result
in an outcome compatible with that view.

1. Analyze the following in light of the definitions provided for directives, rules,
regulations and procedures.
a. a university admission criteria
b. wearing uniforms in primary and secondary schools
c. disciplinary case treatment at secondary schools
d. regular attendance of students
e. teacher promotions

39
 f. training opportunities for teachers
2.4 Running Schools within the Policy Framework

 Activity 5

1. What do you understand by policy framework? Put in your own words what
comes to your mind about policy framework?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
2. What do you think will happen to schools which are not run within the policy
framework? How do you think school leaders benefit by running schools within
the policy framework?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

A policy framework is a logical structure that is established to organize policy

documentation into groupings and categories that make it easier for employees to find and
understand the contents of various policy documents. Policy frameworks can also be used to
help in the planning and development of the policies for an organization. Policy framework is
guided by principles such as availability, coverage, pricing, ownership, stewardship,
collection, copyright, preservation, quality, integrity, and privacy.

40
Policy Framework is a tool, or roadmap, that anyone can use to guide policy in ways that will
improve the health, learning, and economic outcomes. Policy Framework outlines three
policy priority areas essential for the healthy growth and development of young children:
health, family support, and learning. Evidence-based and innovative best practice policy
options are provided in each of the policy areas.

The Policy Framework consists of statutory documents that have to be adopted or approved
by the Council as well as locally determined policies and strategies that form an integral part
of the decision making process.

Thus, if schools are within the policy framework, they will be able to meet the societal needs
in general and able to secure whatever support they require from the community, the
government, the political leaders, etc. Some of the importance policies that contribute to
create safe and conducive school environment that builds the nation through teaching
learning process includes bus behavior, sexual harassment, random search
with metal detectors, notice of search policy, emergency phone calls, leaving school during
the school day, cell phones, attendance policy, regular attendance, dress for respect, etc.

All schools, be it in developed or developing countries, have addressed most of the above
listed issues in their education policies though there may be little discrepancies in including
all and some as well as the level of strictness to which the policies have been implemented.
However, the rationale behind all school policies is to effectively achieve the national and
local goals of education. To run schools effectively it is necessary to have an understanding
of the available school policies.

Some of the mandatory school policies may include : pupil discipline (including anti-bullying
and exclusions procedures), race equality, registration of pupils, sex and relationships
education, special educational needs, staff appraisal, staff discipline and grievance, target
setting and teachers’ Pay. Yet, some of the mandatory school policies may not fit to our
context.

41
  Activity 6

With the help of your facilitator, try to identify some of the school policies among the one
listed in the above paragraph and discuss why they do not fit in our context.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________
a. List as much as you can in groups of three the mandatory school polices in
our schools and discuss whether they are adequate or not. Try to suggest
the issue that you think should be included in the school policy and or to
be cancelled from school policies that we have in place. Support your
suggestion with justifications.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________

The following paragraphs will present some of the most common school policies that play a
significant role to run schools effectively at a reasonable depth.
1. School attendance policy -
Regular school attendance is a necessary part of the learning process and the means to
graduation with a good education. Students who are frequently absent may be putting their
futures in jeopardy. Chronic absenteeism, especially truancy, is a behavior that is highly
associated with dropping out of school. Regular attendance is essential for success in school.
The attendance policy is, therefore, an effort to continue school by school leaders’

42
conscientious efforts in making regular school attendance a priority. As students spend more
time in the classroom, their academic success continues to improve. Regular and punctual
attendance is expected, encouraged and, as necessary, enforced. School attendance, however,
works only with cooperation between the students, parents and schools.

Regular Attendance guidelines may include information that requires students to verify an
absence through various mechanisms for example, bringing a doctor’s note within 48 hours,
providing accurate, current phone numbers and contacts to verify absences and allow students
to leave school for appointments, etc. otherwise, unverified absences may be labeled as
truancy. Then as a legal truant, students may be referred to legal action taken against them.

2. School Uniform / Dressing Policy

Appropriate dress is necessary for the health, safe and undisturbed operation of school and
classes. Students should come to school well groomed. Clothing should be appropriate and
not distract from the learning environment. Depending upon the culture and tradition of the
school community, acceptable way of dressing should be determined by school leadership for
both male and female students to facilitate for effective teaching and learning environment.
The details of the styles are expected to explicitly present in the policy including the color of
the dress. The following clothing, for example, is not permitted:

Clothes, jewelry or accessories containing or alluding to obscenity including but not limited
to sex, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, or racial, ethnic or religious prejudice.
Clothes, jewelry, accessories, or any manner of grooming that, by virtue of its color
arrangement, trademark or any other attribute, are specifically identifiable as belonging to an
unauthorized group or gang.

3. Cell phones
Cell phones if not properly used may distract the learning environment of the school so that
school needs to have a cell phone policy. Cell phones may be carried in purses or
backpacks, but may not be apparent throughout the school day. They are not to be worn on
the person, nor ring at any time while on campus. Any transgression of these rules may result
in confiscation requiring a parent/guardian to come in to claim the phone from the school. In
43
case of emergency phone calls, the school wishes to cooperate with students and parents;
however, miscellaneous messages cannot be delivered during the school day. Appointments
or other activities after school should be reviewed with parents outside of school time, as only
in the case of a true emergency will the school try to deliver personal messages.

4. Leaving school during the school day

No student may leave the campus without permission from the homeroom teacher or the unit
leader which indicates the reason and time for dismissal. Any student leaving without the
permission will be considered truant.
5. Notice of Search Policy
Along with delivering a quality education, the safety and security of students, employees, and
visitors is a high priority to schools. Therefore, the schools may adopt a Student Search
Policy in order to assure that the schools are free of any materials that might threaten the
safety and security such as weapons, knives, drugs, etc. The school may be allowed to
conduct random searches of students, their bags, backpacks, etc. to maintain school safety.
These searches should be conducted to deter students from bringing any items which might
cause harm or injury.
6. Sexual Harassment
School policy prohibits sexual harassment from occurring among its employees and/or
students, and will make efforts to prevent it from happening by advising its employees and/or
students of its prohibitions and provision of handbooks on sexual harassment at school.

7. Health Service Policy

If students have a health problem and require first aid, or become ill at school, they may need
to report to the nurse where available and or to the principal. And hence proper action need to
be taken to help the student including taking them to the health centers. However, to
minimize health related problems the school may state the condition in its policy as:
a. Do not come to school if you have a cold or a fever.
b. Do not report to the health office between classes unless it is an
emergency.

44
 c. Those students who must take prescription medicine during the course of
the school day should check with the nurse and follow the procedures
outlined by the nurse.
Undoubtedly, the above health service policy works for schools well established and
well facilitated. However, where there are no nurses to provide the aforementioned
health services, the homeroom teachers, the unit leaders and the principals may be
responsible to help the students who need health service by taking them to the health
center ( in case of emergency) or contact the parents of the students. Moreover, the
first aid club coordinator may also be given short term training so that members of the
club along with the coordinator may help in this regard.

8. Use Policy
Acceptable use policies provide clear guidance in schools about internet usage. A school
system establishes an acceptable use policy to define how and by whom the Internet service it
provides may be used. These policies may vary by school, however, most acceptable use
policies ban users from visiting sites that contain adult content, violence, hate speech and
other types of content that are not consistent with a school system's mission. Some policies
restrict social networking sites, such as Twitter and Face book that may serve as distractions
for students.

Another common purpose of acceptable use policies identifies the individuals who are
authorized to use school Internet resources. Many schools limit the use of Internet resources
to students and staff, while some include parents of students and the community. To ensure
compliance with the acceptable use policy and to safeguard students and staff, many schools
systems monitor Internet use to some degree. Authorized users are informed that their
Internet activity may be monitored.

To sum up, running schools within the policy framework includes understanding of both the
national and local policy guidelines and applying or implementing them according to the
specific demands.

45

Activity 7
1. In groups of five (with fair number of male and female) draw on your school
experiences and list out any harmful items brought to school by students that
threatened school safety.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________

2. Drawing upon your experiences of school, identify any area which requires policy
direction and discuss with a friend about the issues in detail and formulate a sound
policy that should be approved.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

3. Are the following among the common high school policy?

a. If you failed in English or Math (Or both), will you remain at the same grade
next year?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
b. How fair is it for a student who does really good in other academic subjects,
but did badly in math or English to repeat class for the whole year?

46
 _______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

Unit Summary
Policy refers to a principle that guides decisions to achieve rational outcomes. It is a dynamic
and value laden process through which a political system handles public problems. And
hence, education policy refers to collection of laws and rules that govern the operation of
education systems. Strategies are ways of choosing the most effective and efficient way to
achieve goals and a project may refer to one strategy used to attain objective through
identification of specific priority area to enhance policy implementation.

National education policies mainly refer to the nationwide concerns of government to educate
citizens. The governments commit itself to provide education to all citizens equitably. Hence,
education policy lays framework to see the extent to which they type of education provided
meets standards of quality, equity, relevance and access. National strategies stipulate
mechanisms by which these core concerns of education attained by focusing on the school
structure, types of programs and projects.

The concern of local policies is effective and efficient implementation of the national
policies. Local policies address local issues in light of national policies. And therefore,
effective implementation of local policies will also directly or indirectly mean effective
implementation of national polices. And this clearly explains what running schools within
policy framework means. Implementation of local policies include all activities guided by
school policies such as school attendance, school uniform, cell phone policy, notice of search
policy, use policy, health service policy, etc that will help to run schools effectively.

Unit Delivery Approaches/Methods/Strategies

Delivery methods have greater importance for effective teaching learning process. Thus,
selection and use of appropriate delivery method is essential. Accordingly, he following
delivery methods has been suggested for this unit. Active learning methods such as
47
brainstorming, gapped lecture, questioning and answering method, small group discussions,
students’ presentation, project method, method, role play, individual work, word search,
scenarios, case studies ,etc can be used.

Learners’ and Facilitators’ Activities in the Teaching-Learning Process

A. Learners’ Activities
 Attending lessons regularly

 Participating actively in individual and group activities

 Raising questions that require further elaboration

 Consulting reading materials suggested and make their own notes

 Carryout independent tasks so effectively

 Take corrections when feedbacks are given by the facilitator or classmates

 Compile and report the results of their group activities to their classmate
and the facilitator.

B. Facilitator’s Activities
 Introducing the lesson of each session and prepare students for learning

 Presenting key points in each lesson by using various active learning

methods.

 Engage students actively in each session both individually and in groups

 Provide clear directions to each of the tasks of the unit

 Assessing student’s progress through observation, oral questions and

written tasks.

 Providing feedback to make students develop the feeling of success and

achievement.

48
Unit Assessment Strategies and Techniques
Continuous assessment techniques help to assess progress of learning more effectively than
the summative assessment techniques. Hence, varieties of continuous assessment techniques
such as observation, active listening, oral questions, self-assessment, peer-assessment, group-
assessment etc, are supposed to be used to examine learners’ progress. In addition, individual
and group assignments as well as presentations will be used. Test /quiz shall also be used to
collect data about learners’ progress.

Unit Reading Materials

Epstein, Joyce, L. (2009). School, family, and community partnerships – Your handbook for
action Third Edition. Corwin: California.
Hirsh, S. (2009). In J. Killion & P. Roy. Becoming a learning school. Oxford, OH: National
Staff Development Council.
Katz S., Earl L., & Ben Jaafer S. (2009). Building and connecting learning communities: The
power of networks for school improvement. Corwin: California
Leithwood K., McAdie P., Bascia N., & Rodrigue A. (2006) Teaching for deep understanding
– What every educator should know. Corwin: California
Moss, Connie, Brookhart, Susan M. (2009). Advancing formative assessment in every
classroom – A guide for instructional leaders. ASCD

49
 Unit Three
Formulating School-Specific Policies

 Introduction

Schools are generally believed to be an open system i.e. system highly exposed and
influenced by changes in external environment. Yet, school has their own unique features and
context that distinguishes them from others i.e. its boundaries. Therefore, the school policies
that have considered the nature of all schools at the district, region or national level may not
be sufficient to run each and every school effectively. Thus, it is necessary for schools to
formulate school specific policies that help them operate more effectively and efficiently. In
this unit you will be introduced to the importance of formulating school specific policies and
the techniques and or procedures to be followed in the process of the policy formulation.

 Learning Outcomes

Upon the completion of this unit the participants will be able to:

 Recognize the education policy framework

 Identify steps to be followed in school policy formulation
 Formulate school specific policies that serve the school to better operate
 Show interest in the policy formulation process
 Identify elements in the policy document


Pre Reading activity

1. What do you understand by school specific policies? Try to identify some policies
which do you think are your school specific and explain why you have them.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

50
 2. Do you think that it is necessary for school specific policies? Having justified why
it is necessary to formulate school specific policies, draw on your experiences and
share it with a friend.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
3. What type of information and knowledge do you think school leaders need in
order to formulate sound and practicable school specific policies?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

3.1 Understanding Educational Policy Framework

 Activity 1

1. What do you understand by policy framework?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

2. How understanding of education policy framework in general help to formulate

school specific policies? Justify your answer with practical examples from your
school experiences.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
51
 __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

The education policy framework is a legitimate document that stipulates the overall goals of
education of a nation. It identifies the core activities in the sector and indicates the necessary
arrangements for its success such as the curriculum, the structure, assessment, the governance
and management, finance, etc.

Policy formulation requires proper analysis of the existing policy framework and identifying
its areas that need to be addressed. Otherwise, policy formulation decision will not have
strong ground to convince all stakeholders to get their cooperation and acceptance as well.
The first step in school specific policy formulation, therefore, is having a good understanding
of the national education policy framework.

3.2 Policy Formulation Process

Current development thinking suggests that the policy framework is critical in determining
the performance of firms, farmers, households, public sector bodies, and other economic
units. By extension therefore, the economic development of a country depends on the quality
of this policy framework, the decisions taken, and the processes involved in formulating each
decision.

It is clear also that countries throughout the world, developed and developing, vary
considerably in their ability, and perhaps their willingness, to formulate and implement
policies that will generate improved development performance.

Governing bodies often agree that additional policies are necessary for efficient conduct of
the school. In order to be effective, it is important that policies are reviewed regularly so that
they reflect current legal requirement and educational practice. School inspection teams

52
expect to see that schools have in place all policies which are legally required, and that all
policies are being implemented in practice.

The key to writing policies is to make the documents rigid enough to document the rules of
the organization, but flexible enough to be able to be followed easily, mostly without
deviation as you must document every little veer off your designed path. Documents form the
backbone for an organization, so writing them well will help keep the organization on path
and ensure that standard procedures are being conducted the same way by all staff.

In policy formulation, it is necessary to consider policy formulation processes within the

context of the national institutional environment i.e. political, economic, cultural and social.
Policy formulation process includes identification of the policy issue, specification of policy
objectives, and the development of policy options, decision-making, promulgation, and
implementation. It also includes the gathering, processing and analyzing of data in connection
with each of these activities.

It is useful to involve non-governmental actors and stakeholders - civil society - in policy

formulation. Civil society should not be a passive element in policy-making. Its members
(farmers, workers, industrialists, parents, teachers, either individually or in groups and
associations) have vested interests in the outcomes of the process of national policy
formulation.

 Activity 1

1. Dear participants, now you have given a clue that policy formulation requires
understanding of the policy framework the identification of policy actors and stakeholders.
Discuss in groups of five (fair number of male and female) and list down the policy actors
and stakeholders and explain how they affect the process of policy formulation.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

53
 _____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

2. Dear participants, the process of policy formulation may also be affected by the extent to
which the stakeholders involved in the process. In this regard policy formulation may be
either centralized or decentralized. Discuss in pairs what do you understand by centralization
and decentralization and then define the terms list out their advantages and disadvantages
below.
a. . centralization
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
___________________________________________

b. decentralization
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
c. advantages and disadvantages in school context
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
_________________________

3.2.1 Centralization versus Decentralization

One of the most interesting live forums in centralization versus decentralization issue
involves transactions that favor both viewpoints. Both tend to function more like business
brokers in the heartland than the central management. Interestingly enough, arguments in
this realm tend to be equally balanced for both centralization and decentralization. In
manufacturing organizations,” centralization" can be used to eliminate redundancies and cut
costs. On the one hand, it combines product lines and manufacturing resources to achieve
longer production runs, reduces relative set-up time, and achieve other cost efficiencies. On
54
the other hand, those who favor decentralization tends to increase the absolute ability to
decisively mobilize massive resources more quickly than the competition.

The ‘natural’ versus ‘dictated’ conceptual dichotomy can be applied to the analysis of
school system and its administration. The ‘natural’ way of management tend to
spontaneously and informally evolve on a grass roots level and stands for the rest of time
over many generations. It also tends to have an informal and familial flavor to involve direct
personal contact, leadership by personal example, and an emphasis on voluntary
cooperation. In contrast, the ‘dictated’ political system often involves selecting few people
at the highest levels of power who like to use force, deception, and various props of power
to serve their own selfish interests and bend people away from what they would ordinarily
do for themselves under ‘natural’ circumstances.

This is because in a small village where everyone knows everyone else pretty well, it is easy
for representative people to get together in a large room and informally hash out their
complaints and concerns. It is also much easier to settle grievances in a one-to-one manner
with anyone within a small village. A small village is generally a much more informal and
‘natural’ environment than a political or economic power center in a big city.

The concepts of centralization and decentralization are important to consider as they

ultimately influence the effectiveness of schools in educating children of the nation and
nationalities.

The term centralization usually means more top-down that has a loose association with a
whole garden variety of interesting terms, such as central planning, headquarters-directed,
authoritarian, autocratic, conglomerated corporative, regimented, militarized, imperialist
and fascistic. Centralization also refers to the condition whereby the administrative
authority for education is vested on the central body rather than the local community. The
central body has complete power over all resources such as money, information, people,
technology, etc. It makes decision on the contents of the curriculum and controls the budget,
employments, the building of educational facilities, discipline policies, etc.

55
Decentralization refers to the extent to which authority has been passed down to the
individual school. School-based management is an example of decentralization in
individual schools in order to make their own decisions related to finances and curriculum.
Only overall power to supervise remains at the centre. The advocators of decentralization
believe that the system will result into higher student performance; more efficient use of
resources; increased skills and satisfaction for school administrators and teachers; and
greater community and business involvement in and support for schools. Decentralization
also tends to mean more ‘bottom-up’ approach in nature and has loose but significant
associations with its own garden patch of interesting. The term has strong link with
concepts such as self-actualization, innovation, free market, entrepreneurial infrastructure,
task organization, matrix management, and close to the customer, productivity, etc.

However, there are arguments on the analysis favoring one of the systems. On the one
hand, scholars like Michael Fullan posit that neither centralization nor decentralization
works alone because both ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ strategies are necessary.
Centralization emphasizes on the side of over control, whereas decentralization focuses on
the chaos. He argues that school-based management may fail in the long-run because not
enough attention is paid to the centre and vice-versa. Therefore, school and district
development must be coordinated. There should be personnel move or transfer, and
selection and promotion in order to foster staff development and solve problems through
coordinated activities.

On the other hand, there are scholars who advocate the advantages of decentralization over
centralization. According to these scholars, decentralization will empower the individual
schools to adapt to changes in their external environment and be more responsive to the
needs of learners and the community. As identified by the scholars in the field, the
following are major assumption to favor decentralization over centralization.

1. It is virtually impossible to manage large and complex organizations from the top.
Inflated/tall bureaucracies are extremely slow to respond to local needs.
2. Centralization does not fit the current trends of participatory management,
empowerment, and shared decision-making. However, decentralization provides
local administrators with greater autonomy for creativity, resourcefulness and
personal enhancement in the area of problem solving.
56
 3. Decentralization provides for persons at the scene of the action to become involved
in the decision-making process. This allows for greater flexibility, and makes it
possible for better decisions to be made because persons at the scene of the action
are more close to the problem.
4. When individual schools are given the opportunity to make decisions, a higher
degree of morale and commitment to the organizational goals and objectives are
fostered. If the principal through decentralization is given the authority to generate
and spend funds, great gains could be realized. The staff, then, would exert more
effort since it would be a means by which their strategic plans for curricula and
program development could be implemented.
5. Decentralization also promotes the professional development of principals.
Everyone has the innate tendency towards self-actualization. Therefore, being
responsible for the development of school goals and objectives and their
implementation would encourage principals to seek various means for achieving
professional growth while maximizing their potentials.
6. Decentralization demands the establishment of accountability and evaluation
mechanisms. This by itself would ensure that individual schools operate at a higher
level of efficiency in promoting students achievement.
7. Decentralization promotes greater parental and community involvement.
Community members and parents can provide valuable insight about how schools
can be improved to better educate the children in the community. Parents having a
greater stake in the educational process, would have a better understanding of the
problems facing schools, and would tend to increase their support.
8. Reform is never initiated by central administration. It usually originates at the
bottom and finds its way to the top because of the pressure exerted by those who are
affected by unreasonable and ineffective policies.

 Activity 3

Based on the information given about centralization and decentralization, draw upon your
school experiences and decide which approach is predominant. Discuss if your school is
really benefiting from the approach or not.
__________________________________________________________________________

57
 __________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________
The issue of centralization versus decentralization can also be summarized as in the
following table.
Table 1: A comparison of centralization versus decentralization
Centralization
1 Driven by "top-down" greed factors that
emphasize financial engineering. Relatively
little attention is paid to "bottom-up"
2 Requires leadership skills, emotional
maturity, a long term time horizon, and a
sense of caretakership towards societal
interest.
3 The public never seems to learn and there is
lack of transparency and the management
hides serious underlying problems.
4 Associated with ‘Dictatorial’ Political
system
5 It is grazing grounds for risk-averse,
politically-sensitive; bureaucratically in
highly structured environments.
6 Rigid and non-entrepreneurial and non-
innovative in nature
7 Corporate leaders are more likely to take
responsibility; engage in bureaucratic blame,
non-flexible, inefficient, and non-responsive
to specific problems.
8 More interested in changing the world with
imperial adventures and are more focused on
external affairs and far for national issues
and customers demand.
9 Lacks transparency, more complex than
small corporations, and difficult to monitor.
There is large product lines and difficult to
connect management performance with
performance results
10 The professional managements of big
companies are more likely game the system
to carve out perks for themselves regardless
of underlying corporate performance.
Decentralization
Driven by "bottom-up" greed factors that
emphasize performance engineering. It pays greater
attention to develop better products and create a
climate of mutual trust and a shared sense of
ownership and purpose among co-workers.
Requires more of commitment and sense of
belongingness.
Transparency is required in order to develop
trustfulness among the management and the
employees.
Associated with ‘Natural’ way of political system.
More likely to attract self-motivated people with
visionary, flexible, innovative, decisive, and
entrepreneurial personalities.
Entrepreneurial and innovative in nature
Tend to have fewer layers of management to slow
down decision-making; less encumbered by rank,
formalities, and protocols and has smaller staffs,
whose members tend to know each other better and
work more cohesively.
Tend to have fewer product lines, which is to mean
better management focus in areas of core
competency and tend to be more responsive to local
needs and greater closeness to the customer.
Greater transparency, less complex and easier to
monitor. There is fewer product lines and easier to
connect management performance with
performance results.
Workers tend to have proportionately large share
positions in their organizations. They also tend to
have more pride and ego invested in the success of
their organization, particularly when they are
inventor-entrepreneurs.
58
 3.2.2 The Rationale for Educational Decentralization

Decentralization is a move to more of transparent way of management on the part of the

government. Therefore, the need for more transparency on the part of management includes
educational decentralization. The following are major reasons for decentralizing the
education system.

A) Increasing educational financing: decentralized system helps to generate revenue

for the education system by mobilizing the local community;
B) Increasing effectiveness and efficiency: decentralization eliminates many
bureaucratic procedures and increases commitment on the part of the policy
implementers;
C) Promoting redistribution of political power: decentralization focuses on ensuring
community empowerment at the grassroots level;
D) Improving education quality: decentralization helps to understand cultural
differences at local level and there by facilitate learning environment;

3.2.3 Factors Affecting the Success of Decentralized Education System

Literatures on school effectiveness suggest that the success of decentralized management

in education system often affected by:

 Information gap: the information gap between central and local level educational
administration as well as among the implementers themselves affect the process of
decision-making at grassroots level;
 Diversified interests: considerable number of staff and other employees may resist
the proposed changes;
 Incomplete decentralization: effectiveness and efficiency at the grassroots level
requires decentralization in fiscal, management autonomy, curriculum development,
etc.;
 Local school management capacity: quit limited capacity in school management
may hinder the implementation of decentralization; and
 Community involvement: decentralization is aimed at increasing the participation
of the local community on issues related to education. Therefore, the level of

59
 community participation determines the effectiveness of decentralized management
system in education.

 Activity 4

1. What is the rationale for decentralization of education system in Ethiopia?

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________

2. What are the major obstacles to the success of decentralization in education

system?___________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

Advantages and Disadvantages of centralization and Decentralization in

Education

A) Advantages of Centralization:

 It permits greater uniformities of policy formation, policy implementation, decision-

making and effective practices in schools;
 It enables full utilization of the main office e.g. MoE;
 It helps to establish strongly coordinated management system and control;
 It helps to efficiently utilize resources but requires highly qualified education
personnel;

60
  It helps to minimize/avoid duplication of works; and
 It eliminates the conflicts that may arise from delegation of authority.

B) Disadvantages of Centralization:

 It overburden the executive management body;

 It fails to participate stakeholders like parents, teachers and other community
members to decide on issues related to school effectiveness and efficiency;
 There can be difficulties to implement the policy due lack of knowledge on the part
of the implementers;
 There can be low relationship between top-level management and the workers due to
lack of transparent communication system;
 There can be a gap between national or expert needs and local needs;

A) Advantages Decentralization

 Provides better opportunities to respond to local level needs;

 Increases regional and local autonomy and empowers the local community on issues
pertaining to their children’s learning;
 Moves decision-making power to the grassroots level;
 Reduces administrative workload at the centre e.g. MoE
 Gives opportunity to utilize resources in a more effective and efficient ways;
 Simplifies the operation of education system at grassroots level; and
 Increases community accountability pertaining to education sector development at
the grassroots level.

B) Disadvantages of Decentralization

 It is difficult to implement in case of scarce resources;

 There can be work overload and duplication at different levels;
 Different localities may fail to respond equally to national questions on time;

There can be problem of coordination due to shortage of skilled human power.

61
3. Stages in Policy Process

 Activity 5

1. Any policy formulation is not a one shot activity rather it is a process that requires passing
through various stages. Based on your experience identify the logical stages through which a
policy formulation process should pass.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

With regard to stages of policy formulations process, different writers come up with different
stages. However, they all share the issues to be addressed but at different stages. For
example, writers such as Hadad (1995) identifies a conceptual framework that involves seven
stages as
1. Analysis of existing situation
2. Generation of policy options

3. Evaluation of policy options

4. Making the policy decision

5. Planning of policy implementation

6. Policy impact assessment

7. Subsequent policy cycles

Some other writers divide the stages only into five:

1. Problem definition
2. Agenda setting
3. Policy adoption
4. Implementation
5. Evaluation

62
And still others put the stages of the policy making process as;
1. Generating Policy Options
2. Evaluating policy options
3. Pilot Study
4. Making a Policy Decision
5. Policy Implementation and Impact Assessment

However, close analysis and scrutiny of the various types of classifying stages of policy
formulation make clear that the detailed process undertaken shares a lot. Therefore, the
following policy making process is taken for our purpose for it is very clear and simple to
follow (Corkery, Land, and Bossuyt, 1995).

1. Issue/Problem Identification;

2. Specification of Objectives;

3. Development of Possible Options;

4. Choice of Preferred Option;

5. Policy Decision Making;

6. Design of Implementation Strategy;

7. Policy Review and Reformulation.


Activity 6

Read very carefully the various types of stages in policy formulation process and
identify the differences and similarities among them. (Discuss and do in groups of
three)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
63
In developing policies governing bodies are likely to have developed their own processes for
formulating policy but, on those comparatively rare occasions when a brand new policy is
needed; the following suggestions will be helpful:

• The governing body should identify an individual or group to produce a first draft,
to cover the objectives the policy will achieve and will set a timetable for the
work.

• At this early stage, the draft should:

– Ensure that responsibility for implementing the policy is clearly identified

– Ensure that any resources (including training) required to ensure the

effective implementation of the policy are identified

– Define how the policy requirements will be monitored

– The draft should be circulated to all members of the school community

likely to be affected

– After consultation the final version will be agreed by the governing body

– The policy will be communicated within the school to all who will be
affected by it

– The governing body should ensure that arrangements are in place to

evaluate the effectiveness of the policy

– In post evaluation, the governing body will decide whether or not the
policy needs revision

Great! Now you have understood the stages of the policy processes. Next is the process of
writing a manual of policy and procedures. Writing sound policy manual requires
understanding and application of certain techniques by following the instructions given
below.

64
Writing a Manual of Policy & Procedures

Writing a policy and procedures manual can seem like an overwhelming task, and it can be,
unless you think about certain variables ahead of time. Spending time to create a solid plan
will make writing a policy and procedure manual manageable and worthwhile to vendors,
employees and management.

Instructions

1. Define the scope by looking at other existing regulations. Determine if parts of the
process or policies are already documented elsewhere. Then determine if the
procedure will be national, regional or local task specific. This will help you
define the beginning and ending parameters of the scope.
2. Decide on format and relationship to existing documentation. Consolidate when
possible by referring to general higher documents on policies. Policies tend to be
broader whereas the details of the tasks in procedures tend to be more defined.
3. In large organizations, it is common to have four or more levels of documentation
with global procedures and divisional procedures that deal with environmental,
government and employee regulations. Functional group or task related processes
can be modified based upon local operations, but still need to meet the
requirements of the highest level of documents.
4. Define and outline all of the things that will be included in the policy manual.
5. Make a decision on where to store information and develop a revision control
process.

6. Never allow multiple versions of the same document out for editing
simultaneously as it can cause problems later. Use a first in, first out method
then, modify again, if necessary, with new changes so you can track history.

7. Create templates for procedures, policies and flow charts so that those that are
writing the documentation don’t have to concern themselves with formats.
Provide sections within the templates for writers to specify other documents,
tools, and links to organize their materials.
8. Assign writers and subject experts to develop content for each section. Give them
an example to refer to within the template and highlight any other rules such as

65
 spelling out acronyms, or how generic or detailed you want them to be when
detailing their steps in procedures.
9. If there are decisions within the procedures, highlight additional references and try
to give employees enough information with all potential decision paths to help
them make informed decisions. Decision points are usually where the process
fails, be as clear as possible in these areas. Validate the written procedure by
having someone walk through it according to the instructions before publishing, to
flush out any potential problems.
10. Assign a review team to oversee and edit the final publications to keep the
documentation language and level of detail is fairly consistent across the different
steps of the process. Address inconsistencies by improving formatting and
training methods.

Instructions for Writing Policies

1. Draft an outline of any procedures and policies your organization needs. Creating a brief
outline of procedures and policies will help you organize your writing. Organize the outline
with the most important documents at the beginning so you can prioritize the drafting.

2. Break the individual procedures and policies down into the separate tasks involved in
completing each document. In your outline, add sub-tasks for each document so that the steps
are clear, logical and in order. In this fashion, the documents almost write themselves. Make
sure to add in only the broadest steps.

3. Interview the staffs who perform the tasks. Don't overlook the valuable input from the
employees currently doing the tasks. Ask the workers and not the managers to do some
authoring of draft documents. They can always be strengthened by a technical writer.

4. Fill in your outline with more detailed procedures for your staff to follow. It's best practice
to keep it simple when writing policies and procedures.

5. Decide on who will sign off on the procedures and policies. Sign off should hold some
high level names so that the bosses are aware of how things are being done. Some
organizations run every policy and procedure through the human resources department or
their legal branch to ensure no laws are being broken.

66
6. Call a review meeting to gather all signatories in one room to discuss the policy. If at all
possible, getting all parties together in one room to have a discussion about one specific
policy will move the document forward at a much more rapid pace than passing it around and
asking for comments.

7. Sign, date, version control and circulate the finalized procedures and policies. Consider
giving each employee an employee handbook that can be updated with the revised documents
as needed. In fact, create a policy and procedure for handling of the notebooks, including
auditing the employee handbooks periodically to ensure that all staff should be up to date.

8. Review the existing approved on a schedule. Every policy should be reviewed either
annually or, at a minimum, bi-annually to make certain that the practices and policies have
not changed. Make sure to get fresh signatures and dates so that, if audited, there is a clear
paper trail of back versions.

POLICY AND PROCEDURES WRITING GUIDE

A. DRAFTING A POLICY – POLICY FORMAT

All policies must follow a standard format to ensure consistency between policies. Below is a
description of the information that should be included under each major heading.

Policy Number – for new policy drafts, this section should remain blank until a number is
assigned by the Policy Group. For revisions, this number will remain unchanged.

Effective and Revised Dates – to be determined by Policy Group.

Policy Title – should capture the content of the policy; should not include the word “policy.”

Purpose – a brief statement of the purpose of the policy which many include a basic
explanation for the policy if not apparent on its face.

Additional Authority – list of statute, regulation, State Board policy, Executive Order, or
other relevant authority governing the policy.

67
Scope – to who or what does the policy apply? For example, all employees, or all credit card
payments.

Responsible Party – list unit, department, college or other pertinent area responsible for
administering or enforcing policy. A contact phone number should also be included, but due
to the difficulty associated with updating information, please do not name specific contact
employees.

Definitions – uncommon words or words with meanings unique to higher education should
be defined and listed in alphabetical order.

Policy Statement – the policy statement provides a rationale for the policy, including
underlying philosophy of the policy and what the policy hopes to accomplish. This section
may include a statement of how the policy is related to the institution’s core mission and
values. Policy Statements range from 1-2 sentences to a paragraph in length, depending upon
the subject matter.

Procedure -includes the steps necessary to comply with the policy, with sufficient detail that
end users will readily understand how to comply with the policy mandates. Procedures should
be consistent with the policy section. Forms associated with the procedure should be linked in
the document.

B. DRAFTING A POLICY – STYLE TIPS

 All policies should be drafted in MS Word, using Arial 12 pt font and 1″

margins.
 Policies should be clear and concise and written in the third person.
 Words should be selected carefully. Words such as should and may imply
choice.
 Do not use information that may quickly become outdated such as employee
names or web addresses.
 When using acronyms, spell out the words the first time, then indicate the
acronym in parenthesis
 Schools are at the heart of local communities. They are places where children
become equipped for their future role in society. We have been working to
68
 strengthen local communities so that they are active, confident and resilient.
Government schools have an important role to play in achieving this. Research
shows that student learning and the health, wellbeing, safety and economic
security of all community members can be enhanced when communities have
close links with their schools.

3.4 Policy Formulation and Implementation in Schools

The greatest challenge facing schools is to put policies and procedures in place to meet the
statutory requirements of all the acts applying to schools, as well as those non-statutory
policies and procedures which may be necessary for the operation of schools. (Clarke 2007:
352). Thus an attempt is made to find conceptual and practical coherence among the
following inter-related aspects:
– policy formulation in schools,
– policy implementation in schools and
– the involvement of school management teams in policy matters.

3.4.1 The Concept of School Policy

Policy is an action programme directed towards the accomplishment of some intended or
desired sets of goals (Hanekom, 1987: 7-8). “A policy consists of plans of action intended to
influence and determine decisions, actions and other matters”. It is made up of rules and
regulations that serve as guidelines or plan that are used to achieve objectives (DoE 2007:
91). School policies can thus be defined as instruments that give direction to the day-to-day
operations of a school by guiding the behaviors of educators, learners and parents whilst
clarifying the school’s expectations.

School policies provide the basis for the structures and organization of the school and are
effective ways of communicating the core values that are inherent in a school’s vision and
mission statement (DoE 2007: 80). The following issues or aspects are usually covered by
school policies:
• school budgets;
• developmental priorities;
69
 • school uniforms;
• code of conduct for learners;
• staff and parents;
• broad goals on the educational quality;
• school-community relations; and
• the curriculum programme

3.4.2 Policy Implementation in Schools

Authorities do not always distinguish between the terms policy formulation and policy
implementation as different processes, in reality it is difficult to draw a clear distinction
between policy-making and its administration” (Sallis 1964: 96). However, in a school
context existing policies can be seen as the basis for the structures and organization of the
school or as the instruments that give direction to the day-to-day operations, whereas the
implementation of policies have to do with actions by individuals or groups that are directed
at the achievement of objectives set forth in policy decisions (Cloete et al. 2008: 183).

Implementation is a mechanism for the translation of policy into practice. In a school

situation the focus is usually on how to increase commitment to the plan by those responsible
for its implementation (Reimers and McGinn 1997: 34). What is also particularly applicable
in the area of school policies is that new policies have to be implemented in a planned way.

The different interdependent stages of policy implementation distinguished are:

– The development of particular implementation guidelines. This dimension
includes priority determination and budgeting.
– the translation of the original policy into practical measures that involve issues
such as human resource provision, work procedures and organizational
arrangement.
– The third stage deals with leadership of an enabling nature, that will ensure
that corrective action and review may come about during implementation.

70
Even if the above mentioned stages of policy implementation are consistently applied,
policies originally formulated are not always implemented in an unchanged way in practice.
Levin (2001: 143) explains this non-implementation of policies by stating that policies
convey intentions and that policy implementation can only be understood in terms of actors’
intentions. Policy implementation is not just a concrete text to be implemented but a
transformation of intentions in which content, practices and consequences are generated in a
dynamic environment (Brooks 1998: 66). The implementation of policies is, therefore, not an
automatic process but demands strong impetus and coordinated effort.
Policy failure can sometimes be attributed to poor implementation or a lack of insight into
policy processes and not only as policies that are not properly formulated. What is
particularly relevant in the educational sector is that school officials as well as members of
SGBs and SMTs must have implementation details available in writing so that all the role
players involved in the implementation process know what is required from them (DoE 2007:
124). The acceptability and the eventual successful implementation of school policies also
depend on the SMTs and other school leaders who have to provide motivation and resources
for the implementation of new policies.

School based task

 Activity 7

Dear participants, by now I hope that you have learned all the necessary things that will help
you develop or formulate school specific policies. Therefore, now you are requested to
identify issues in your respective schools than need policy direction for effective
implementation and apply the knowledge you gained about policy formulation and formulate
school specific policy. (The policy document is expected to be part of your portfolio for the
purpose of assessment).

71
Unit Summary
Schools as an open system are affected by changes in external environment such as
economic, social, political and technological. However, the extent to which each school is
affected by these factors differs due to various reasons of which one is their internal situation.
Though schools in general share a lot, each school faces different challenges due to the
context in which it operates. This justifies that national policy framework may not suffice to
serve the individual school needs equally. Hence, formulation of school specific policy
becomes very important.

Policy formulation requires analysis of existing framework and identification of the area that
needs to be addressed. Policy formulation, therefore, is not a one shot activity but it is a
process that passes through well identified logical stages: issue/problem identification,
specification of objective, development of possible option, choice of preferred option, policy
decision making, design of implementation strategy and policy review and reformulation. It
includes gathering, processing and analysis of data in connection with each activity.
Moreover, identification and participation of main policy actors and stakeholders has
significant importance to formulate workable school policies. The acceptability and the
eventual successful implementation of school policies also depend on the school management
teams and other school leaders who have to provide motivation and resources for the
implementation of new policies.

Unit Delivery Approaches/Methods/Strategies

Delivery methods have greater importance for effective teaching learning process. Thus,
selection and use of appropriate delivery method is essential. Accordingly, he following
delivery methods has been suggested for this unit. Active learning methods such as
brainstorming, gapped lecture, questioning and answering method, small group discussions,
students’ presentation, project method, method, role play, individual work, word search,
scenarios, case studies ,etc can be used.

Learners’ and Facilitators’ Activities in the Teaching-Learning Process

A. Learners’ Activities

72
  Attending lessons regularly

 Participating actively in individual and group activities

 Raising questions that require further elaboration

 Consulting reading materials suggested and make their own notes

 Carryout independent tasks so effectively

 Take corrections when feedbacks are given by the facilitator or classmates

 Compile and report the results of their group activities to their classmate
and the facilitator.

B. Facilitator’s Activities
 Introducing the lesson of each session and prepare students for learning

 Presenting key points in each lesson by using various active learning

methods.

 Engage students actively in each session both individually and in groups

 Provide clear directions to each of the tasks of the unit

 Assessing student’s progress through observation, oral questions and

written tasks, portfolio, etc

 Providing feedback to make students develop the feeling of success and

achievement.

Unit Assessment Strategies and Techniques

Continuous assessment techniques help to assess progress of learning more effectively than
the summative assessment techniques. Hence, varieties of continuous assessment techniques
such as observation, active listening, oral questions, self-assessment, peer-assessment, group-
assessment etc, are supposed to be used to examine learners’ progress. In addition, individual
and group assignments as well as presentations will be used. Moreover, assessment of the
portfolio of the school specific policy formulated by each participant will be critically
assessed in light of the policy formulation process.

73
Unit Reading Materials

Corkery. J, Land. A and Bossuyt. J .(1995). A Study Based on the Introduction of Cost-
Sharing for Education in Three African Countries, European Centre for
Development Policy Management. ISBN 90-72908-18-X
Byarugaba, F. and T. Dejene. 1991. A comparative study of the policy formulation
process in three African countries: Uganda study. Maastricht: ECDPM.
UNDP. Strengthening educational planning in support of the Government education
sector adjustment programme. Unpublished project report.
UNDP. Management Development and Governance Division. 1995. Public sector
management, governance, and sustainable human development: A discussion
paper. New York: United Nations Development Programme.
@Refs@World Bank. 1994. Governance: the World Bank's experience.
Washington: World Bank.
World Bank (1988). Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: A World Bank policy study.
Washington: World Bank.

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 Unit Four
Educational Programmes and the School (8hrs)

 Introduction

This unit is devoted to the monitoring and evaluation of various educational programs at
school level by developing various education developments indicators and measuring the
targets. The approach to this chapter differs from all the previous and the following chapter in
that it requires students to practically develop education indicators based on the education
programs that have been implemented in their respective schools, monitor and evaluate the
programs and develop a portfolio that will be assessed by the instructors to ensure whether
the participants have demonstrated the expected level of competence.

Learning Outcomes


Upon the completion of this unit, the participants will be able to:
 Identify various national educational programs
 Explain the purposes and implementation strategies of various
education programs
 Develop education development indicators to measure educational
targets
 Monitor effectively the implementation of any educational program

4.1 Educational programs (GEQIP, ESDPs)

Activity 1


Based on the information given in the previous units about educational programs including
GEQIP and ESDP, identify the one which is currently implemented in your school. Develop
tools that will help you monitor evaluate the program. Record all the information assessed,
use it to make improvements in implementation and report the results. (Support your report
with evidences).
75
The instructor will help the participants on how to carry out this activity by providing them a
sample hypothetical example.

 Activity 2

1. List out as much educational programs as you can and show it to friend. See your
point of difference and similarities and combine your list to come with better list
of national educational program.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2. Discuss the focus of each of the programs that you have listed and reflect to the
class and reflect on your experience to the class.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
________________________________
3. Definitely, you have the programs GEQIP and ESDP among your list. Now write
down in the space provided the full description of the programs and discuss in
groups of three the educational issue entertained in these programs.
a. ESDP__________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
_________________________________

b. GEQIP________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

76
Realization of national education policy is hardly be possible without effective design and
implementations of sound programs. Cognizant of this the ministry of education embarked
on sectoral development plan called (ESDP). ESDP, which is usually the result of education
sector analysis, is strategic approach to bring about the development of the education sector.
According to Haddad (1995), the major issues to be considered while analyzing education
sector development are:
i) access to educational opportunities;
ii) equity in the distribution of educational services;
iii) structure of the education system;
iv) internal efficiency;
iv) external efficiency; and
v) institutional arrangements for the management of the sector.

The analysis of education sector development across time horizon can also help to sensitize
the tendency for the system to move constantly with objective realities which demand the
compatibility of the system.

ESDP
Since the introduction of the policy, different measures have been undertaken for its
implementation. One of the remarkable measures is the introduction of five years of
education sector development program (ESDP). Education sector Development Program
is a periodical program set for five years. The first ESDP was organized from 1996-2000;
the second ESDP plan was organized from 2001-2005 and the third ESDP plan was
organized from 2006-2010. Both ESDP I and II were set to execute, coordinate and
mobilize the necessary resources for education expansion. According to MOE(2002:59) the
first ESDP document was focused on issues like building of primary, secondary, technical
and vocational schools as well as institutions of higher education; supply of text books and
other educational materials; training of teachers; change of curriculum; and measures that
could build the implementation capacity of professionals. Regions were also given the
responsibility to prepare their own five years plan. Annual education forum conducted every

77
year to evaluate success of the program. All concerned stakeholders like MOE, Ministry of
Finance, Donors, Regions, and other NGOs involve in the evaluation.

Under ESDP III, Ethiopia made significant progress in education. Access at all levels of the
education system increased at a rapid rate in line with a sharp increase in the number of
teachers, schools and institutions. There were important improvements in the availability of
trained teachers and some other inputs which are indispensable for a high quality education
system. Disparities decreased through a more than average improvement of the situation of
the disadvantaged and deprived groups and of the emerging regions.

Efforts were made to make the content and the organization of education more relevant to the
diversified needs of the population, for instance through the introduction of alternative basic
education and the development of innovative models such as mobile schools. Woreda
education offices and communities have strengthened their involvement in education
planning, management and delivery. Increased attention was given to the need to strengthen
science and technology education. The university system experienced an important
expansion.

The achievements under ESDP III are fundamental to allow Ethiopia to progress towards
becoming a middle-income economy by the year 2025. Challenges, however, remain in order
to realize this long-term vision. Because of the progress made during the previous years and
within this long-term vision, the focus of education policies under ESDP IV will shift
towards priority programs which address these remaining challenges. At the same time, work
will continue on other areas to ensure that the important achievements of the previous years
are not lost.

The main challenges which ESDP IV will address are as follows:

i. A strong improvement in student achievement through a consistent focus on the
enhancement of the teaching/learning process and the transformation of the school
into a motivational and child-friendly learning environment.
ii. The developments of programs which help attract the unreached and the
disadvantaged into school and ensure that they complete primary education.

78
 iii. A renewal of adult education with a specific focus on Functional Adult Literacy. The
number of illiterates has remained high and, for reasons of justice as well as economic
and social development, efforts need to be strengthened to build partnerships against
illiteracy.
iv. The strengthening of the capacity for knowledge creation, in particular in the domain
of science and technology, through an expansion of access to TVET and to higher
education without sacrificing quality.
v. Further improvement of the effectiveness of the educational administration at all
levels, through capacity development and the creation of motivational work
environments.
Some key outcomes for general education (which includes early childhood, primary,
secondary education and adult literacy) are:
i. Repetition and drop-out rates decreased through higher quality of teaching and
learning.
ii. Learning outcomes improved at primary and secondary schools through the
reinforcement and better coordination of key quality inputs and processes.
iii. Access to primary education universalized by 2015, through a continued expansion of
formal primary education and when wherever necessary through ABE centers.
iv. General secondary education expanded in view of its universalization by 2025 in line
with the Middle Income Country Vision.
v. Equitable access to quality primary and secondary education expanded amongst the
four emerging regions and the gap between the emerging regions and other regions
reduced, by giving special support to the education of emerging regions’ children
(both female and male).
vi. Capacity of educational management bodies at various levels strengthened 95% of
adult illiterates will participate in a two-year FAL program.

 Activity 3
1. Dear participant, what do you understand by ESDP in general? Discuss in groups of
three and appreciate how concerned the government is to the development of
education through the program.

79
 _____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
2. If you were given the opportunity to participate in ESDP IV, is there any educational
issue you want to change or add. Discuss in groups of five based on your experiences
and list them out.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. What do you understand by sector development? Share your ideas in pairs and then
reflect to the whole class.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
GEQIP
One of the major programs being implemented in our education system is GEQIP. It
basically focuses on the achievement of quality education. Currently, the GEQIP is
considered as key feature to achieve quality education.

 Pre-reading Activity

Dear distance learner!

You are advised to attempt the following questions before read about GEQIP?
1. What do we mean by quality education? (Do this in groups of three).
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________

80
 2. Why GEQIP is need at this moment in Ethiopia?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

4.1.1 Quality Education

It is vague to define the term quality in general and that of education quality in particular,
because the description of the term quality education requires the consideration of various
elements such the provision of quality teaching-learning process; professionally managed
education system; quality and quantity research in education; successful and apparent
linkage between education and training; active involvement of key stakeholders in the
provision of quality education; etc. Lacks of these elements resulted into major challenges
in ensuring the provision of quality education in Ethiopia (MoE, 2006).

Quality, in its broad sense, may mean the general standard or grades of something. The
quality or grade of something can be poor or good depending upon its nature or character
and social demands it satisfies. In relation to education, quality can be defined as the
standard of education that produce knowledgeable, skillful, competent, confident and
committed citizens for personal and national development. The term quality education
may also be defined as the assurance, qualification and accreditation, and recognition of
the qualification of a person.

The overall quality of education of a given country often determine by the mode of
delivery and qualification of teachers; the supply of educational materials; teacher-
students ratio; the level of educational wastage; rate of literacy and the status of adult and
non-formal education; etc. For instance, the standard qualification for primary education in
Ethiopia requires teachers with minimum of TTI certificate for the first cycle (grads 1-4)
and minimum of diploma for the second cycle (grades 5-8), and first degree and above for
secondary education.

81
4.1.2 Key Features of the GEQIP

GEQIP comprises a larger portion of the third Education Sector Development Program
(ESDP III) to improve the quality of general education through a set of specific
interventions. The following are key features of the GEQIP, which distinguishes the
program from other centrally supported education programs:

 There is strong government ownership of the program and the components are
integrated into the regular government education program and ESDPIII;

 External support to GEQIP is provided through pooled funding from different

countries and development partners;

 GEQIP implementation follows the existing government structures, financial

regulation and procurement procedures;

 GEQIP mobilizes both external and domestic resources for quality improvement;

 A formula-based approach is used to ensure equity of resource allocations to

regions, Woredas and participating teacher education institutions;

 Institutions that are responsible for the implementation assesses and work on
building their capacity;

 Activity 4

1. What is the relationship between GEQIP and ESDPs?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

2. What are the units of measurement for quality education?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

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4.1.3 Goals of General Education Quality Improvement Program
The General Education Quality Improvement Program (GEQIP) is a project that planned to
implement the education and training policy (ETP). The project plan has focused on the
realization of the vision and missions of the education sector development stated in
ESDPIII. The ESDPIII has missions to extend quality and relevant primary education for all
children and to provide standardized education and training programs; making educational
establishments more of production centered; and ensuring gender equity in education.
The following are goals of GEQIP implementation program.
1) Promoting greater understanding of the processes of quality education by
enhancing relationships among implementing units;
2) Establishing procedures and criteria to make the government, public, development
partners and other stakeholders to feel accountable to ensure quality education;
and
3) Establishing procedures and criteria to enable the beneficiaries get access to
quality education.
The above mentioned goals of the GEQIP are interrelated and integrated with the objectives
of general education that described under ESDP III as follows (MoE, 2005:33).

 To produce responsible and competent citizens;

 To increase access at primary level, to achieve Universal primary Education (UPE)

by the year 2015;

 To improve the quality of education;

 To enhance efficiency and use resources wisely;

 To address equity issues by narrowing the gap between male and female, among
regions and rural and urban areas;

 To provide increased access to Adult and Non-Formal Education in order to combat

the problem of adult illiteracy; and

 To increase access to quality secondary education based on the demand of the

economy for trained human power at middle and higher level and the intake capacity
at the tertiary level.

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4.1.4 GEQUIP and its Components
General education comprises Grades 1 to 12. The provision of general education is the
concurrent responsibility of Federal, Regional and Woreda governments. The Federal
Government plays a significant role in the provision of post-secondary education, by setting
standards and providing overall policy guidance and monitoring and evaluation for the
entire sector. Regional governments are responsible for adapting the primary syllabus to
local conditions, over sighting training of primary school teachers, and producing primary
school textbooks. Similarly, Woredas are responsible for paying and recruiting primary
teachers, and supervision of training of primary and secondary school teachers.

The overall objective of the GEQIP is to improve the quality of general education. The
MOE sets the national standards based on a coherent national framework for their
achievement and additional resources “earmarked” to achieve these standards.

The GEQIP project is primarily designed to improve general education quality; the
quality of schooling and initiating parents to enrol their children; equity in access to
quality education especially for girls and disadvantaged children in rural areas; internal
efficiency (ensure that children are promoted on time to higher grade levels); and to ensure
quality learning outcomes. This operation contributes to the attainment of education
sector objectives that has strong relationship with both poverty reduction and economic
growth. The GEQIP has designed to enhance coordination and synergy among
components that operate separately but interdependent in nature.

The GEQIP has five major components under consideration.

(i) Curriculum, Textbooks, and Assessment;

(ii) Teacher Development Program (TDP), including English Language Quality

Improvement Program (ELQIP);

(iii) School Improvement Program (SIP), including school grants;

(iv)Management and Administration Program (MAP), including EMIS development;

and

(v) Program Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation.

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 
Activity 5
1. What are the major goals of GEQIP?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

2. Discuss and identify the relationship among the major components of GEQIP?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________

4.1.4.1 Curriculum, Textbooks and Assessment

The main objectives of this component are to:

(i) Implement a new school curriculum designed to be responsive to international

economic realities, national democracy, and gender equity;

(ii) provide textbooks and teacher guides developed for the new curriculum; and

(iii)Align student assessment and examinations with the new curriculum.

The Federal Ministry of Education has prepared GEQIP implementation manual in (2009).
According to the manual, the curriculum component has the following sub-components.

The reform addresses improvement of the sequences of the contents and orients instruction
toward the adoption of more active learning methodologies. It also designed to address the
concerns in civic education, gender equity, HIV/AIDS education, and other government
policies and strategies. The New Curriculum Orientation also focuses on Science and
Mathematics, Alternate Basic Education (ABE), and Monitoring and Evaluation.

The teaching and learning materials are required to have high quality standards in content
in order to develop active learning methods and trial-test in actual classroom situations.
The MOE has designed a comprehensive national development and provision program for
85
making textbooks and teacher guides available to all schools in all subjects at primary and
secondary levels.

With regard to examination, guidelines are developed at the federal level, and the regions
carry out the preparation and administration of the examinations. The pass norm is also
determined by the region. For Grade 10, the MOE develops and prints, administers and
marks the examinations. Grade 12 national examinations serve as the university entrance
examinations for students who are placed on the preparatory track.

The academic supervision and coaching of teachers focuses on delivering quality

education. The current practice of teacher support in general and that of school inspection
in particular is to be reviewed or, reformed by deriving best practices in order to provide
pedagogical support.

 Activity 6

Identify and explain the measures under taken in the area of curriculum reform?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

4.1.4.2 Teacher Development Program (TDP)

The number of teachers in Ethiopian schools is increasing rapidly, however, there is
concern regarding the ability and skills of the recently recruited teachers because the
selection system is not attractive to pool the most suitable candidates to teaching
profession. There is also under-representation of females and linguistic and ethnic
minorities in the profession. Beside this about 90 percent of teacher candidates do not
identify the teaching profession as their preferred career.

Therefore, the TDP has emphasized to address the following quality improvement
programs: (a) revising the intake and selection procedures for student teachers; (b)
updating the teacher education curriculum and training materials; (c) enhancing pre-

86
service practice teaching; (d) improving the capacity of teacher educators; (e) improving
training for instruction in English; and (f) providing training for Alternative Basic
Education (ABE) facilitators.

Enhancing the capacity of teacher educators through a program known as higher diploma
program (HDP) is among core issues for the quality of teacher education. HDP is a one-
year part time course that aimed at developing the pedagogical skills of teacher educators.
The provision of the program includes (i) the revision of the HDP curriculum and
development of teaching materials; (ii) the development of a network of “moderating
institutions” and cluster of institutions to maintain the quality of HDP; and (iii) the
delivery of the HDP in each of the relevant Teacher Education.

Pre-service teacher training is aimed at enhancing the quality of existing teachers in

primary and secondary schools. The in-service teacher education program focuses on
enhancing teachers in the first cycle of primary to possess a diploma, the diploma holders
to possess their first degree, and ensuring continuous professional and career development
for teachers.

The TDP that has addressed through in-service component of teacher education has
designed to support teachers through: (a) the provision of continuing professional
development at the school level;(b) English Language training for teachers of English and
those teachers using English as a medium of instruction; (c) career structure and licensing
and re-licensing system; and (d) primary teachers with a certificate qualification to
diploma level.

So far Continuous Professional Development (CPD) has introduced in most schools

employing weekly sessions, drawing on either school-based, cluster or district-level
expertise. The CPD materials are under taking revision in order to enhance teacher’s
professional development. The TDP program has designed to support (a) the
development, printing and distribution of CPD manuals at the federal and regional levels,
(b) awareness-raising to facilitate the expansion of the program; and (c) capacity building
for CPD tutors at the regional level. The CPD program also includes the use of an
experienced mentor (teacher) in order to provided training for the newly employed
teachers.

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English Language Quality Improvement Program (ELQIP) which aimed at providing
opportunities for English teachers to improve their English Language through face-to-face
training is also among the concern of the TDP and CPD programs. The ELQIP program is
designed to be supported by school-based English mentors and scheduled for 120 contact
hours. It is also planned to be supported by reflective action tasks. In summary, the
ELQIP component of the CPD includes three main activities namely; (a) English
Language teachers in primary and secondary schools, (b) experienced teachers in primary
and secondary schools through the use of school-based English mentor (SBEM), and (c)
training of trainers at local level.

In addition to TDP, the GEQIP has assumed to enhance standards and provide incentives
for teachers to develop their skills and performance. Accordingly, teacher licensing and re-
licensing system will be implemented for teachers at different levels in the system.
Similarly, the system has developed to provide incentives for head teacher and cluster
supervisors in order to develop their skills and performance. It is also anticipated that this
revised career structure can be implemented through the support of the GEQIP for the
development standards guidelines as well as building of awareness at the national,
regional, Woreda and school levels.

In order to make the program more effective, teacher training institutions are expected to
re-arrange their activities in order to enhance teacher and education leaders’ development.

Activity 7

1. Identify and list out the major categories of TDP?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________
2. Explain the objectives of TDP in line with the GEQIP?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

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 _____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

3. What is CPD and how it is related to TDP?

____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

4.1.4.3 School Improvement Program (SIP)

It is a program that emphasizes on school’s self-assessments to strengthen the capacity of
schools to participate in the management of resources in a more effective and efficient
manner. The Concept of SIP often interchangeably used as improving school
effectiveness. The term school effectiveness can be defined as the degree to which schools
achieve their goals (Scheerens, 2000). An effective school is simply regarded as ‘good
school’. The good school can be expressed as the outcome that can be measured in terms
of the average achievement of students at the end of a period of formal schooling.

Literatures in the fields of school effectiveness have identified five core indicators of
school effectiveness. These are: (a) strong educational leadership; (b) an emphasis on the
acquisition of basic skills; (c) secured educational environment; (d) high expectations of
students’ achievement; and (e) frequent assessment of students’ progress. Accordingly, the
Ministry of Education (MoE) has set standards and policy guidelines for the purpose of
school improvement and quality education.

The concept of school improvement program also related to the transformation of ‘inputs’
into ‘outputs’. The inputs in school system include students’ enrolment, teachers,
administrative personnel, and other material and financial resources. The outputs include
students’ achievement, improved curricula, student-centred methodology, teachers’
performance, etc.

Therefore, the rationale for the introduction of school improvement program can be
summarized as follows:

 Making schools the principal entry of any change in education system;

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  Enabling schools operate on a relatively autonomous basis to solve problems in
collaboration with stakeholders;

 The hierarchical structure in school is simple and specific to apply systematic self
evaluation and increase participation of stakeholders;

 The conditions prevailing in the school determines the success or failure of any
equality, equity and success in education sector development;

 The improvement of organizational capacity of the school requires clear

communication among stakeholders;

 Any school improvement program requires the consideration of global issues and
innovative ideas rather than piecemeal issues for change; and

 The school environment is required to promote transparency to implement the

principles of Education and Training Policy

With this rational, the following objectives of the school improvement program (SIP)
have been identified:

a. To improve the capacity of schools by prioritizing needs and developing school

improvement plan in order to enhance the quality of education;

b.To enhance the school and community participation to generate and utilize resources
effectively and efficiently at all school levels;

c. To improve government’s capacity to deliver specified amounts of school grants at

the Woreda and school levels; and

d.To improve the learning environment by providing sufficient resources to schools.

 Activity 8

1. Take into consideration the objectives of SIP and identify the extent to which these
objectives have been achieved by your school? Try to sort out the problems your
school faces while striving to achieve these objectives.

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 _____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

The Domains of School Improvement Program (SIP)

International evidences have shown that school personnel, parents and communities
should be best placed to make informed decisions regarding some aspects of school
effectiveness and efficiency. This can be realized by enhancing community participation
and ownership of schools resources through the system of decentralization of
management. The SIP program introduced to Ethiopian schools in 2006 has identified the
following four domains:

(i) Teaching-learning process;

(ii) Student learning environment;

(iii) Leadership and management in school; and

(iv) Community involvement in school affairs.

The School Improvement Plan implementation process requires consensus building among
major stakeholders such as parents, teachers, community members, etc. The School
Improvement Committee (SIC) or stakeholder group takes the lead to develop a 3 or 5-
years strategic plan. The School Improvement Plan helps to identify techniques of
addressing the problems that are identified by the SAF. However, the operational plan
requires user-friendly template as guidelines for the School Improvement Plan
implementation.

The GEQIP project implementation needs simplification and revision of the SIP materials,
SIP instruments and Guidelines. This will ensure that the practical implementation is
manageable and appropriate for both schools and alternative basic education (ABE)
Centres. Therefore, the process of SIP needs to generate a priority areas and preparation

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of objectively verified plan in order to maximize the use of limited resources. The process
of needs identification and preparation of objectively verified plan involves the
consideration of the following elements.

 Participation of key stakeholders: is considered to apply the SIP Guidelines, and

achieve what has been required. Regular meetings with stakeholders are necessary.
The feedbacks and recommendations should be drawn together in order to improve
the program.

 In-depth assessment about the achievements: the impact of the SIP is required to be
assessed in order to update and improve the SIP Guidelines.

 Considerable capacity building: mostly required at the Woreda and school levels in
order to implement the SIP to realize measurable gains in school performance.

School-based planning processes require proper allocation of resources to finance the

implementation of the plans. Currently, in Ethiopia, despite the recommendations in the
Blueprint, schools generally do not receive cash from Woreda Office for Finance and
Economic Development (WOFED) because there are acute constraints on Woreda
education budgets which results in a much lower overall level of expenditure across the
country. The issue of budget allocation to schools is too far from what has been prescribed
in the Guidelines for “Education Organization and Management, Community Participation
and Finance” that prepared by the Ministry of Education (MoE)in August, 1994 E.C.
Therefore, building on lessons learned from the existing school grants program, GEQIP
has been designed with interlocking sub-components to address the following problems
related to school grants. These are: (a) funding unpredictability; (b) competing budget
priorities; (c) lack of autonomy in decision making and related authority; and (d) weak
monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

The provision of school grants through GEQIP is expected to address needs identified
through school-based needs assessments and planning for quality improvements. The
capacity building support given to the Woreda and school levels takes priority areas under
GEQIP planning. Community participation, financial management, accountability and
monitoring, in collaboration with the management and administration program (MAP)
team are used to standardize the program across the country.

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  Activity 9

1. Draw on your school experience and explain the conditions on which your school
receives school grant?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
2. Discuss with a friend and explain the differences and similarities between school
budget and school grants.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

4.1.4.5 Management and Administration Program (MAP)

Management administration Program (MAP) is a program that focuses on enhancing the

capacity of education officials to perform their roles. It is required to support the
government initiatives to strengthen the planning, management, and monitoring capacity
of Regions and Woredas to implement system-wide primary and secondary education
programs effectively and efficiently. The MAP has the following objectives:

(a) To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of educational planning, management,

resource allocation and utilization through human capacity building;

(b) To strengthen the linkages between the Federal, Regional, Woreda and Schools;

(c) To design and implement a transparent, low-cost and productive system of

management and administration; and

(d) To strengthen the EMIS including improved collection and use of system data for
planning, management, evaluation and policy making.

The focus on management and administration program also aimed at (a) enhancing
capacity development that responds to institutional and organizational changes resulting

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from the BPR; (b) supporting the ongoing civil service reforms that may affect sector
management and performance; and (c) assessing the impact of capacity building programs
currently under implementation. The capacity development program of the MAP also
focuses on coordinating and working closely with capacity development activities
supported by different programs and projects.

The capacity building for education planning and management under GEQIP has
deliberately considered to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of general education
planning and management at all levels for the purpose of enhancing decision-making and
resource utilization processes more sustainable to improve the education sector
performance.

The capacity building for school planning and management has also focused to contribute
towards strengthening participatory school planning, management and monitoring for the
purpose of greater effectiveness, efficiency and accountability in school performance, and
improved teaching-learning processes. The capacity building for school planning and
management has two major components SIP training and the leadership and Management
trainings.

Leadership and Administrative Management Program (LAMP) has been initiated under
the TDP in order to build the capacity of school principals and supervisors in planning and
management. Training for primary school principals and supervisors is to be implemented
through Diploma Programs delivered by the CTEs whereas; training for secondary school
principals and supervisors is to be implemented through the Advanced Diploma Programs
that deliver by the universities.

Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) is a category of GEQIP that use to

focus on strengthening the existing education management information systems; and
building the capacity for policy analysis and planning of the MOE in order to improve
education provision.

The establishment of EMIS has the following goals to be achieved: (a) to provide relevant
data for each year on time; (b) to deliver information to those who need it as quickly as
possible such as policy makers, planners, implementers etc.; and, (c) to increase levels of
accuracy of data in each year.

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4.1.4.6 Program Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation: Role of Key Stakeholders

Effective implementation of the GEQIP is determined by efficient coordination

mechanisms; proper financial management and procurement practices and the timely
implementation of effective monitoring about project outcomes.

This component has two major categories program coordination, and monitoring and
evaluation. The MOE is responsible to coordinate the overall planning and reviewing of
project work plans, for the allocation of resources, and to closely work with the Regional
and Woreda Governments. The technical aspects of the project implementation are
assigned to teacher training institutions. MOFED is responsible for financial management
and reporting aspects of the GEQIP. The REBs play key roles in all technical aspects of
the Project. Each REB involves in Planning Process and assigns a team to coordinate and
implementation the GEQIP project in their region.

The project coordinating organs are responsible to disseminate information and facilitate
communication strategy in order to: (a) inform the general public about the program; (b)
provide targeted messages to highlight the benefits of education; and (c) build support
system among key stakeholders.

Monitoring and evaluation system are required to see the prudent outcomes and broader
educational trends to provide feedback to improve performance. It is the responsibility of
the Federal, Regional and Woreda Governments to monitor and evaluate the outcome of
the project. Monitoring involves a continuous and systematic collection of data on
specified indicators to provide management and main stakeholders of an ongoing
development intervention with indication of the extent of progress and achievement of
objectives in the use of allocated funds. It is the activity of collecting, recording,
communicating, analyzing and using information for the purpose of management control
and informed decision-making. Its purpose is to identify and promote the actions
necessary to improve implementation. It also measures the quality and effect of processes
and procedures.

In summary, monitoring is a continuous process of assessing progress of a given program

or project intervention using performance indicators in order to measure the degree to
which desired results are being achieved. Monitoring can also be defined as a continuous

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function that aims to provide the management and main stakeholders with early
indications of progress, or lack thereof, in the achievement of results of the undertaking.
However, evaluation is systematic and objective assessment of an on-going or completed
project, program, or policy, including its design, implementation and results. The aim is to
determine the relevance and fulfillment of objectives, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and
sustainability”. The purpose of evaluation is a combination of learning, guidance and
control based on an assessment of what has been achieved.
The GEQIP Implementation Manual (2009:54) notes the following about monitoring and
evaluation. Monitoring provides information on where a policy, program, or project is at
any given time (and over time) relative to respective targets and outcomes. It is
descriptive in nature. Evaluation gives evidence of why targets and outcomes are not being
achieved. It addresses causality and extends the traditional monitoring and evaluation
functions to focus explicitly on outcomes and impacts. Evaluation is a complement to
monitoring in such that when a monitoring system sends signals that the efforts are going
off track, then good evaluative information can help clarify the realities and trends noted
with the monitoring system.

While conducting monitoring and evaluation, various policy and evaluation studies are
required to address key issues like quality education, financing, teacher effectiveness and
the utilization of social assessments.

During the period of GEQIP project implementation, the following activities are
considered. (i) Baseline survey at the beginning of the project; (ii) provision of school
grants utilization survey; (iii) a mid-term review of the project; and (iv) final survey to
assess the impacts of the project.

In summary, monitoring and evaluation of the GEQIP project has the purposes to:

(a) Promote accountability by drawing information on efficiency and effectiveness and assess
whether the activities are likely to achieve expected results or not;
(b) Inform and support management decision-making and control project implementation;
(c) Draw lessons of experience in terms of understanding factors that have facilitated or
inhibited the achievement of the project objectives; and
(d) Provide information and feedback both internally and externally.

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  Activity 10

1. Dear participant, you have presented with broad information on Map. Having gone
through the text, explain what MAP refers to and why it is introduced.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
2. Drawing on your school experiences, identify how your school benefited from GEQIP
and or how it affected your school performances. Do you think GEQIP has achieving
operating to the expected level? What challenges are there at school level?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

Dear participant, attempt to answer the following questions on a separate piece of paper
that will help your check how much you understand the text.
1. List out the major goals of GEQIP?
2. What is the key concern of the curriculum reform?
3. What are the major emphases of TDP?
4. What are the rationales for SIP?
5. Define the term quality education.
6. Identify key feature of GEQIP and explain its goals.
7. Identify components of General Education Quality Improvement Program (GEQIP)

If you are not able to answer these questions, go back to the lesson you have already
attended, read once again and upgrade your understanding.

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  Activity 11

Based on the information given in the previous units about educational programs including
GEQIP and ESDP, identify the one which is currently implemented in your school. Develop
tools that will help you monitor evaluate the program. Record all the information assessed,
use it to make improvements in implementation and report the results. (Support your report
with evidences).
The instructor will help the participants on how to carry out this activity by providing them a
sample hypothetical example.

4.2 Various Education Development Indicators


Activity 2
1. What does education development indicator means?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. List out the possible education development indicators in groups of five.
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

4.2.1 Meaning and Definitions

Education development indicators are qualitative and quantitative measures used to indicate
nature, direction and extent of change in education. They play an important role in providing
clear picture of education system. Nowadays, indicators have become important tool of
looking at the functions of education system. Information of an education system’s functions
can be acquired with the help of indicators.

The literal meaning of indicator is that which points out/direct attention to something.
However, for our purpose, we have to define it in a specialized sense:

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An indicator is a composite index obtained from complex calculations performed to
amalgamate information. An indicator is statistics, especially put together and related, on an
objective of the education system. It is a tool that should make it possible both to have a
sense of the state of the education system; and also to report on that state to the whole of the
education community. They allow value judgments to be made about key aspects of the
functioning of education systems

Here it is important to note that an indicator is not an elementary item of information. It is

information processed so as to permit the study of an educational phenomenon. An indicator
is used to sum up and synthesize data into a structure geared to the needs of the users.
Generally, indicators imply a comparison against a reference point while statistics do not.
The pupil-teacher ratio for example, is distinguished as an indicator, so that the number of
pupils enrolled in a cycle would not be considered as indicator (though it could well be an
important item of management information). All statistics are not indicators. Statistics qualify
as indicators only if they serve as yardsticks (e.g. of the quality of education).

4.2.2 Purpose of Indicators

Indicators serve various purposes: to assess the current situation of the system compared to
objectives set, to identify unacceptable or problematic situations, to evaluate the degree of
disparity, to aid decision making (by strengthening the decision makers knowledge)

Indicators serve as an instrument of providing information on the functioning of the

education system in light of the objectives set. They facilitate the identification of problems
and allow for their magnitude to be measured but they do not identify the causes of problems,
nor can they provide solutions. Indicators highlight malfunctions and successes but don not
explain them. In sum, indicators reveal the system’s state of health, but diagnosis and
identification of suitable strategies requires more searching questions and analyses.

4.2.3Characteristics of a Good Indicator

1. Mention some of the characteristics of a good indicator?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

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 ______________________________________________________________________
____________________________________
The characteristics of a good indicator includes the following follows:

 Relevance: relevance or validity of the indicator is suited to the measurement of

the phenomenon being considered: The indicators should measure what they are
intended to measure

 Conciseness: a good indicator is precise, with no much overlap and double

counting. It also enables comparisons to be made among geographic areas,
institutions, and social groups.
 Reliability: an indicator is of good quality, from the collection to compilation of
the basic data needed to calculate the indicator.
 Feasibility: The cost of staff and data collection must be reasonable
 Timeliness and Feedback: Indicators should be adaptable to changing circumstances
and there should be adaptable to changing circumstances and there should be regular
updating of the indicator system. Moreover, information should become available
within the time frame necessary for decision-making.
 Comprehensibility: Indicators should provide information that can be readily
understood by a broad audience. Indicators need to easily comprehensible and
meaningful to those concerned: policy makers, the general public, the press, etc.
Thus, a good indicator or a set of indicators should enable to:
a. Measure how close to or how far one is form an objective;
b. Identify problematic or unacceptable situation;
c. Meet policy concerns, and answer the questions leading to its choice;
d. Compare its value to a standard, or to itself as computed for a different
observation period.
The value of an indicator can only be judged (understood) in relative terms by comparison to
a point of reference. Hence it is compared to:

 A standard vale: for instance, a ratio of 50 pupils in a section in wareda ‘A’ will be
compared to the national standard of 30 pupils per section; or if there is no national
standard, it is compared to the national or regional average.
 A previous vale: so data must be gathered regularly. For example the pupil/section
ratio will be compared to that of the previous year.
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  The value for other groups at regional or wareda levels, by gender etc. for example
the pupil/section ratio by wareda will be examined.

4.2.4 Rationales for the Use of Indicators

The use of indicators to measure the performance of education service has become
increasingly important since the 1980s. The reasons associated with this increasing
importance are:

 Increasing education costs cause stakeholders to examine the schools and the
education system more critically. “Are we getting our money’s worth”
 Society from time to time demands better results and holds education manager
responsible for achieving these results: “Is the education system doing its job
effectively? What does student performance look like?”
 More government intervention and role in the monitoring and evaluation of the
functioning of the education system particularly the functioning of schools. In many
countries, this was stimulated by dissatisfaction and criticisms on school performance
and poor results (outcomes). This led to increased emphasis on accountability for
what schools do in turn leading to the use of various instruments of monitoring such
as performance indicators, internal and external evaluation, etc.
 Education indicators are part of the search for information about educational activities
and are part of an evaluation system. They are used as means of external validation of
the work of schools. The belief that underpins the development of education indicator
systems is that the provision of information will optimize the conditions for
improvement. Education indicator systems are designed to strengthen monitoring and
evaluation and provide accurate and comprehensive information as a basis for
effective policy-making and improved educational outcomes.
 Indicators are designed to provide information about the state of an education system.
They are as an early-warning system that something may be going wrong or as a
measuring device that everything is functioning well.
Activity 12

Dear student, within the above mentioned contexts and uses list the benefits of education
indicators.
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___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Check your list against the following points:

 Policy makers use arguments solidly based on quantified information in order to

define education’s share in the budget;
 Provide objective data not only for the monitoring and planning of the education
system, but also for use in public debates with regard to the provision and quality of
education;
 Provide decision makers with more analysis and to the point information in a manner.
 Show the evolution of the education system, underscore certain trends, and highlight
problems.
Ideally an indicator’s document reports on the functioning of the education system in
all its aspects for reading purpose not specialized in statistics and quantitative
analysis.

4.2.5 Constructing Indicators

There are two basic requirements to develop indicators. Can you explain
these requirements? Do in pairs.

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
1. A reliable and usable information system: There should be a recent data from the current
school year or at worst from the previous year at a sufficient level of desegregations.
2. Clear and measurable objectives: These can be obtained from several sources:
educational plan, framework policy, and certain decrees.
Once you have reliable and recent data, and identify the objective of the education system,
then it is possible to transform policy objectives into indicators. Thus it is essential to identify
some fundamental objectives of the education policy and to classify the indicators by the
objective they are used to evaluate. The identification of indicators is done as a function of
the objectives. The same indicator can be used for several objectives.

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 Example:
Objective: Reduce overcrowding in schools possible specific areas:
i. Reduction of the number of overcrowded classes
ii. Reduction of the number repeaters
iii. Reduction of the number of averaged pupils
4.2.6 Framework for Constructing Indictors
To avoid an indiscriminate accumulation of indicators, it is useful to use a model of the
functioning of the education system that portrays the different variables. Building a system of
indicators that provides a valid representation of the functioning of the education system will
be most beneficial. This compensates for the one-dimensional nature of each indicators and
the ad hoc collection of readily available statistics. To give an overall picture of the system,
the selected indicators should be logically linked. The linkage should emanate from the
model or framework that describes how the education system works. The model can permit a
broader assessment of an indicator’s relevance.
The most commonly used framework to develop indicators is the input-process-output model
of education system. One way of depicting this is as follows. Using the framework, it is
possible to construct a number of indicators for each category depends on the need. Below is
a possible list of indicators across several education system dimensions components.

Inputs Processes
 Student characteristics
 Teacher characteristics
 Forms of instructional organization
 School characteristics
 Alternative technologies
 Instructional materials
 Use of student and teacher time
 Equipment characteristics
 Facilities characteristic
Outputs Outcomes
 Cognitive achievement  Employment
 Improved manual skills  Earnings
 Attitudinal changes  Status
 Behavioral changes  Attitudinal changes
 Behavioral changes

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4.2.7 Limitation of Quantitative indicators
As indicated earlier, there are concerns that quantitative indicators are limited as regards
qualitative description of the education system and hence are not sufficient to analyze the
way operates. The fact that quantitative indicators reduce the rich diversity and quality of the
information on the process has become an area of concern among some experts and
educators. They argue that indicators should not make the functioning of the education
system appear too simple.
Because of this, there are attempts to develop and include qualitative indicators intended to
show light on what happens in the ‘black box’ of schooling i.e. on teaching and learning at
the classroom level and school organizational functioning. These attempts base themselves on
the knowledge base produced by school effectiveness research.

4.2.8 Possible Indicators with Respect of Education System

 Activity 13

What do we mean by qualitative indicators? What about the “quantitative” one?

Analyze the differences and similarities of qualitative and quantitative indicators
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

To make an overall analysis of an education system, the major areas of analysis and the
possible list of quantitative and qualitative indicators may include the following:

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 Themes Possible Indicators
 Gross admission rates
 Admission rates by age
Access and  Gross enrolment rates
Coverage  Net enrolment rates
 Enrolment rates by age
 Transition rates
Breakdown of data on main indicators:
Equity  Demographic variables (age, sex)
 Geographic area
 Social groups
 promotion rates
 Transition rates
Internal  Repetition rates
Efficiency  Dropout rates
 Wastage ratios (Survival/completion rates)
 Average length of study per graduate
Quality:  Achievement scores from standardized assessment test
 Pass rates in national examination Attitude and social behavior of school
1. Output
leavers
Teachers:
 Pupils per teacher
 Level and type of qualification
 Level of pedagogical training
 Specialization
 Sex and age
 Status
 Length of service
 Distribution by teaching load
 Teachers teaching in multi grade class
 Teachers teaching in double shift
 Teacher absenteeism
Textbooks and materials:
2. Input  Textbooks per pupil
 Teacher guides per teacher or per school
 Delays in textbook distribution
Curriculum:
 Curriculum goals and objective
 Teaching learning methods
 Number of teaching hours set aside for core subject
 Number of subjects taught per class compared to the official number
 Percentage of time devoted by teachers for preparing lessons
 Type of materials used for school buildings
 Conditions of school buildings
 Averages surface area of school
 Averages surface area by pupils
 Proportion of schools with electricity, drinking water, toilets,
Process  Utilization of classrooms, laboratories etc.
 Use of experimental learning
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  Learning in small groups
 Amount and type of homework done and corrected per semester
 Absenteeism of teachers
 Absenteeism of pupils
 Actual pupil-teacher contact hours by subject
 Frequency of supervisory visits per teacher
 Availability and location of teacher resource centers
 Frequency of tests
Management capacity of school heads:
 Criteria of selection
 Job related training
Structure of employment by:
 Sector
 Occupational group
 Employment status
Education and training profile of the employed by:
 Sector
External  Employment status
Effectiveness  Occupational group
(Outcomes)  Self-employment (need and recent action)
 Response of the education system to the country’s social, economic and
ecological development needs:
 Relevance of curricula content to the country’s actual social, health, environmental
and other conditions
 Observed statistical impact of the level of formal education attained on
Socio-demographic behavior such as fertility rates, nutrition etc.
 Expenditure and resource allocation:
 Public expenditure on education as a percentage public budget
 Recurrent expenditure on education as percentage of total public expenditure
 Public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP
 Expenditure(absolute and percentage by level and type of education
 Breakdown of education budget by the type of expenditure: staff, materials
and equipment, maintenance
Cost and  Total real expenditure on education by level and type
 Sources of funding:
Financing
 Proportion of contribution of central government, regional/local administration,
external aid
 Paternal expenditure on education by level and type of education
 Amount and proportion of contribution of enterprise
 Cost and resource utilization:
 Unit cost by level and type of education and training
 Efficiency of cost control
 Teacher utilization: actual work load, classroom contact hours
 Strategic function:
 Linkage between education budget and management functions and goals
of education plans and programs
Management
 Adequacy of structures, human and other resources
 Degree of coherence and coordination of regulations structures supporting
the different management function and tasks

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  Management function:
 Effectiveness of accountability mechanisms
 Cost effectiveness of existing administrative procedure
 Human, financial and material resources, organization Structure and legal
political
context characterize the school, local, woreda, regional, levels educati
management
 Information and operational:
 Appropriateness of information systems and other management tools
 Degree of motivation of various actors: teachers, school heads, teacher trainers,
supervisors, administrators different levels and departments
 Level of professional competence characterizing the knowledge actors

Unit Summary
Realization of national education policy is hardly possible without effective design and
implementation of sound programs. ESDP is among the strategic approach to develop the
education sector by systematically identifying and prioritizing the sectoral problems.
Quality education is almost always a top agenda of the education sector. Yet, it is difficult
to define in a comprehensive way. However, quality education may refer it its general sense
to the standard of education that meets societal needs and reaches higher level in producing
capable and competent citizens.

GEQIP is mainly designed to improve general education quality. It promotes greater

understanding of the processes of quality education by enhancing relationship among
implementing units and attempt to produce responsible and competent citizens. The GEQIP
has included different components like curriculum reform, teacher development program
(TDP), school improvement program (SIP) , management and administration program
(MAP) and program coordination, monitoring and evaluation. The effective implementation
of all the components is believed to result in improved general education quality.

An indicator can be defined as a composite index obtained from complex calculations

performed to amalgamate information. There are also other definitions which are provided in
a specialized sense. Indicators have various purposes which are assessing the current situation
of the system, identification of unaccepted or problem situations, evaluation of the degree of
disparity and to aid decision making. Indicators have various characteristics. These may

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include relevance, conciseness, accuracy and comparability reliability, feasibility, timeliness
and feedback and comprehensibility. The construction of indicator consists of some basic
requirements. They are a reliable and usable information system and clear and measurable
objectives. The most commonly used framework to develop indicators is the input-output
process model of education system.

Unit Delivery Approaches/Methods/Strategies

Delivery methods have greater importance for effective teaching learning process. Thus,
selection and use of appropriate delivery method is essential. Accordingly, he following
delivery methods has been suggested for this unit. Active learning methods such as
brainstorming, gapped lecture, questioning and answering method, small group discussions,
students’ presentation, project method, method, role play, individual work, word search,
scenarios, case studies ,etc can be used.

Learners’ and Facilitators’ Activities in the Teaching-Learning Process

A. Learners’ Activities
 Attending lessons regularly

 Participating actively in individual and group activities

 Raising questions that require further elaboration

 Consulting reading materials suggested and make their own notes

 Carryout independent tasks so effectively

 Take corrections when feedbacks are given by the facilitator or classmates

 Compile and report the results of their group activities to their classmate
and the facilitator.

B. Facilitator’s Activities
 Introducing the lesson of each session and prepare students for learning

 Presenting key points in each lesson by using various active learning

methods.

 Engage students actively in each session both individually and in groups

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  Provide clear directions to each of the tasks of the unit

 Assessing student’s progress through observation, oral questions and

written tasks, portfolio, etc

 Providing feedback to make students develop the feeling of success and

achievement.

Unit Assessment Strategies and Techniques

Continuous assessment techniques help to assess progress of learning more effectively than
the summative assessment techniques. Hence, varieties of continuous assessment techniques
such as observation, active listening, oral questions, self-assessment, peer-assessment, group-
assessment etc, are supposed to be used to examine learners’ progress. In addition, individual
and group assignments as well as presentations will be used. Moreover, assessment of the
portfolio of the school specific policy formulated by each participant will be critically
assessed in light of the policy formulation process.

Unit Reading Materials

1. African development Bank (2008). African Education Challenges and Policy Responses
Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the African Development Bank: A Paper Present
On the Annual Conference Held Nov. 12-14, 2008. (Unpublished)
2. Attfield, Lan and Mathewos Tamiru (2001). Setting up and using a Geographical
Information System for Micro –Planning and School Mapping in Ethiopian and
Palestine. Paris: UNESCO
3. Caillod, F.and Hallak, J.(2004). Education and PRSPs A Review of Experiences. Paris:
UNESCO
4. Chang, Gwang-chol (2006). National Education Sector Development Plan: A Result
Based Planning Handbook. Paris: UNESCO.
5. Chang, gwang-chol(2006). Strategic Planning in Education: Some Concepts and Steps.
Paris: UNESCO

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 Unit Five
Contemporary Issues in Education and Education Policy
(6hrs)

Introduction
Education is dynamic by its nature. It operates in continuous and rapid changes that bring in
many unanticipated things. Contemporary issues, therefore, are very common in education
policy implementations. Moreover, cross cutting issues and research outputs manifest how
important it is to deal with changing situations of the education for its success. Therefore, in
this unit you will be introduced to contemporary issues, cross cutting issues and nature of
research outputs in leading schools and implementing the education policy effectively.

 Learning Outcomes

Upon the completion of this unit, the participants will be able to:
 Explain contemporary issues, cross - cutting issues and research outputs in
education
 Identify contemporary issues and cross-cutting issues and deal with them in light of
policy guidelines
 Use research outputs and current developments in the area as an input to lead
schools
 Recognize the role of cross-cutting issues and contemporary issues as well as
research outputs in leading schools effectively

 Pre Reading Activity

1. What do you understand by contemporary issues? Give some examples of the

contemporary issues in your school.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
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 2. What do cross-cutting issues mean? List down some cross-cutting issues that
should be treated in educational policy.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
3. How do you think research outputs relate with school practices.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

5.1 Contemporary Issues and the School

The term contemporary generally refers to having particular relevance to the present time.
Some examples of contemporary issues include; international conflict, terrorism, pollution &
waste management, natural resources & energy conservation, urban development, market &
workforce globalization, mobile technology & communications, information management &
security, etc.

In education, the following are among the examples of contemporary issues: Discipline and
security, race, ethnicity, and equality; Bilingual education; Mainstreaming; Public versus
private educational provision, etc.

1. Discipline and Security

Expressions of violence have increased in many cultures across the world and so has violence
in the schools. With recent school shootings all schools must now directly address the
increased incidence of school violence. As a result some schools require all persons on
campus to wear identification at all times, some have installed metal detectors or conduct
random searches.

Although some people question whether the searches constitute illegal search and arrest, most
parents, students, administrators, and teachers feel that, given the risk involved, the
infringement on civil liberties is slight. Among many of the strategies schools employ to
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maintain school discipline and security is Involving the society to address the underlying
issues that make children carry weapons; including anger management and conflict resolution
as part of the regular curriculum; making counseling more available, and hold open forums to
air differences and resolve conflicts; requiring students to wear school uniforms; and public
schools across the country. Moreover, school uniforms are also believed to reduce social
class distinctions and less costly.

2. Race, Ethnicity, and Equality

It is necessary to make sure that equal educational opportunities are provided for people with
diverse backgrounds. Social class, family background and education, and family attitudes
toward education are found to be factors that affect student performance. The research report
by Coleman pointed out that children coming from poor, predominantly non‐white
communities began school with serious deficits and many could not overcome them.
According to the report, school facilities, funding, and curriculum played only minimal roles.

3. Language of Instruction
Offering instruction in a language other than mother tongue in our case constitutes an attempt
to equalize education for various nationality students. Supporters argue that students whose
mother tongue is not used as medium of instruction deserve an equal educational opportunity
unavailable to them unless they can receive instruction in their mother tongue. And as a
result, our education and training policy introduced the use of mother tongue as a medium of
instruction in primary schools. Though there is pedagogical advantage for students learning
in their mother tongue for it enables them to easily master the content of the curriculum, there
are still opponents with the view that it might affect the competence the students need in
communicating with members of a different language.

4. Mainstreaming
Mainstreaming is the practice of placing physically, emotionally, or mentally challenged
students in a regular classroom instead of a special education classroom. Educators continue
to debate the merits and problems of mainstreaming. In general, the practice seems to work
best for students who can still keep pace with their peers in the classroom, and less well for
students with more severe challenges. Experts note that exceptions do occur on both accounts
and recommend careful consideration on a case‐by‐case basis.
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 5.2.1 School Safety

 Activity 2

1. Think of school situations and list out as much as you can the factors that affect
school safety.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2. Discuss in groups and identify the possible mechanisms schools can use to
maintain school safety.
__________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

School should be a safe place, free of crime and violence. But that's not always the case.
Studies show that School Crime, victimization, fights, bullying, weapons, drugs, and alcohol
are increasing. As for school being a safe place? The study found that students aged 12-18
were more likely to be robbed in school, than away from school. One in 10 male high school
students reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property in the past
year. Almost one in four students reported the presence of gangs in their schools. And one-
quarter of all high school students had been offered drugs on school property.

The biggest problem on students' minds though is bullying. And for many, it was reason
enough to avoid school altogether. We all want school to be a safe harbor for our children.
But that is sadly not always the case. Talk to your kids about their school. Let them know
you're listening and that you take their fears or concerns seriously because no child should
have to be afraid in the schoolyard – whether they're 8, or 18.

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 1. Violence Prevention in Schools
Understandably, school shootings attract national and international attention, but we must not
be blinded to the reality that less sensational expressions of anger and intimidation occur on a
daily basis in our schools, expressed in such forms as teasing and bullying.

The reasons that children inflict physical and emotional pain on their peers are complex and
vary from one child to the next. The picture is also complex when we consider how best to
deal with angry, violent youth. When a shooting occurs, when a child is taunted or beaten by
other students, it is easy to focus our attention on safety measures such as the installation of
metal detectors or cameras in the corridors or to hold assemblies in which the concept of
respect towards others is extolled and consequences for acts of intimidation are outlined.

Each school and each community should be in the best position to decide what actions are
appropriate and, of course, legal. I also believe that values such as respect towards oneself
and others should be openly discussed in a school community and that guidelines must be
clearly defined for transgressions. However, metal detectors, cameras, and similar devices
provide some protection and that should not be minimized, but they fail to address what I
consider to be a vital component of school safety and violence prevention, namely, the
relationship that we develop and nourish with each student.

When students do not feel connected with school staff, then discussions we have with them,
even about themes of respect and kindness, do not have the desired impact. I recall an angry
adolescent I interviewed several years. He described a classroom dialogue that centered on
bullying and treating others with respect. He said, “If only some of the teachers knew how
they came across to us. Some are sarcastic, don’t say hello to you, and always assume you did
something wrong. It’s hard to take them seriously when they talk about respect and
kindness.”

2. Things Parents Can do to Stop School Violence

1. Recognize that keeping firearms in your home may put you at legal risk as well as
expose you and your family to physical risk. In many states, parents can be held liable
for their children’s actions, including inappropriate use of firearms. If you do choose
to keep firearms at home, ensure that they are securely locked, that ammunition is
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 locked and stored separately, and that children know weapons are never to be touched
without your express permission and supervision.
2. Take an active role in your children’s schools. Talk regularly with teachers and staff.
Volunteer in the classroom or library, or in after-school activities. Work with parent
teacher-student organizations.
3. Act as role models. Settle your own conflicts peaceably and manage anger without
violence.
4. Listen to and talk with your children regularly. Find out what they’re thinking on all
kinds of topics. Create an opportunity for two-way conversation, which may mean
forgoing judgments or pronouncements. This kind of communication should be a
daily habit, not a reaction to crisis.
5. Set clear limits on behaviors in advance. Discuss punishments and rewards in
advance, too. Disciplining with framework and consistency helps teach self-
discipline, a skill your children can use for the rest of their lives.
6. Communicate clearly on the violence issue. Explain that you don’t accept and won’t
tolerate violent behavior. Discuss what violence is and is not. Answer questions
thoughtfully. Listen to children’s ideas and concerns. They may bring up small
problems that can easily be solved now, problems that could become worse if allowed
to fester.
7. Help your children learn how to examine and find solutions to problems. Kids who
know how to approach a problem and resolve it effectively is less likely to be angry,
frustrated, or violent. Take advantage of “teachable moments” to help your child
understand and apply these and other skills.
8. Discourage name-calling and teasing. These behaviors often escalate into fistfights
(or worse). Whether the teaser is violent or not, the victim may see violence as the
only way to stop it.
9. Insist on knowing your children’s friends, whereabouts, and activities. It’s your right.
Make your home an inviting and pleasant place for your children and their friends; it’s
easier to know what they’re up to when they’re around. Know how to spot signs of
troubling behavior in kids—yours and others. To Work with other parents to develop
standards for school related events, acceptable out-of-school activities and places, and
required adult supervision. Support each other in enforcing these standards.

115
10. Make it clear that you support school policies and rules that help create and sustain a
safe place for all students to learn. If your child feels a rule is wrong, discuss his or
her reasons and what rule might work better.
11. Join up with other parents, through school and neighborhood associations, religious
organizations, civic groups, and youth activity groups. Talk with each other about
violence problems, concerns about youth in the community, sources of help to
strengthen and sharpen parenting skills, and similar issues

9.2 Cross-Cutting Issues

 Activity 3

1. What do we mean by cross-cutting issues?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
2. List out as much as you can the cross cutting issues in education.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
3. Characterize the cross-cutting issues you have identified briefly?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

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5.2.1 Good governance

Good governance is fundamental to the economic and social development process of all
countries. Good governance has six main principles; it is participatory and inclusive,
accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, and follows the rule of law.
Implicit in this is a zero tolerance towards corruption, that the views of minorities are taken
into account, and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in
decision‐making.

Of the elements that threaten good governance, corruption – the abuse of entrusted authority
for private gain – is among the most destructive. Zero-tolerance to corruption and
mismanagement has always been a guiding principle and hence mechanisms should be in
place to ensure that the funding is used in line with rules and regulations.

5.2.2 Sustainable development

Sustainable development is a framework for a long‐term vision of sustainability in which

economic growth, social cohesion and environmental protection go hand in hand and are
mutually supporting. The term “sustainable development” is defined as “…development that
meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their needs.” The many elements of sustainable development are often organized into three
dimensions or pillars: environmental, economic and social.

All programmes must reflect environmental considerations, not only those programmes that
are specifically aimed at environmental improvements. Examples may include infrastructure
projects, building activities or economic activities in different sectors. The key issue is to
assess systematically the environmental impact of programmes, to quantify them and to
integrate measures to limit any negative environmental impacts.

All programmes must also address economic and social sustainable development
considerations. Programmes should be assessed systematically at planning phase against the

117
positive sustainable social and economic impact they will have and integrate measures to
limit any negative impacts resulting from the programme in implementation.

5.2.3 Gender education and its implications

One of the critical issues identified in modern society is the status of the girls (women) in
relation to their counterparts the boys (men). We noted that the girls are disadvantaged,
discriminated and their rights are violated not only in Africa but also other parts of the world.
Thus, the issue of gender has attracted the attention of the international community in a bid to
address the plight of women worldwide.
Activity 4

Using your own words (or a dictionary), write down the definition of the following terms:
gender, sex, gender equality, gender disparity, pedagogy, equity and gender responsive
pedagogy.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________

The words gender and sex do not mean the same. Gender refers to the socially and culturally
construed roles, responsibilities and behaviours that are believed to belong to men and
women in a given society.

Sex on the other hand is the biological differences between women and men which are
universal and determined by birth. Identify any three biological differences between women
and men.

Let us look at sex roles and gender roles. What a female or male can do for the opposite sex
is referred to as sex role. To get this more clearly, focus on human reproduction.

Gender roles refer to a set of particular bahaviour or fuctions which we do just to show or
reflect our masculinity or femininity. These roles are learnt from childhood and are usually
influenced by culture. Examples appear in the table below.

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 Female
Behaviour/function Male (Masculine)
(Feminine)
Family Head Assistant
Child rearing Less concerned Concerned
Marital affairs Marries Gets married
Cooking Less concerned It is her work
Inheritance Does Not entitled
Decision making Decides Consults
Security Provides Is protected

Note: The examples given apply to many traditional societies in Africa but the situation
varies from one society to another.
Activity 5

In not more than 150 words, list down the major factors responsible for gender disparity in
Ethiopia and in other African countries.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Gender disparity: According to UNICEF (2007), gender disparity is created by society and
passed on from one generation to the next. The problem in Africa has become a ‘normal’ and
ingrained part of people’s lives. From a traditional cultural perspective therefore, women are
perceived as inferior to men. They are expected to be subservient, obedient, and accept the

119
role assigned to them by the society where they live. Their major “assignments” include child
bearing and rearing, housekeeping and other domestic chores.

Gender stereotypes: This refers to the characteristic of masculine or feminine as defined by

culture. Note that stereotypes are patterns of behavior. Below are examples of gender
stereotypes.

Women Men
Passive Active
Dependent Independent
Less Intelligent Intelligent
Timid Courageous
Careless Careful
Weak Strong
Submissive Aggressive
Followers Leaders
Importance of gender equality in education

 Activity 6

From the discussion above and your personal opinion, explain the importance of gender
equality in education.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________

Remember gender equality is about equal valuing of women and men and respecting their
similarities and differences. This in recognition of the fundamental human rights which, as
you are aware must be observed in all sectors including education.
Secondly, gender equality does not feature prominently in our education system. Thus
teachers like you need to be sensitized to minimize the danger of widening the gap between
the girls and boys through professional practice.

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5.2.4 Health Education
Societies in Africa including our country face growing danger of people’s poor health partly
due to rampant but preventable diseases. This state of affairs, among other factors, seriously
hampers the efforts geared towards social and economic development. One way of reversing
the trend is to empower the masses through sensitisation and mobilization programmes
focusing on public health, environmental conservation, poverty eradication and other
pertinent issues.

 Activity 7

In not more than 100 words, define the terms health, health education, health care, and
hygiene.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

You are now aware that health refers to “a state of complete physical, mental and social well
being of an individual or group” (UNO). In this context, Health education can be looked at as
the teaching and learning of the basic principles and practice of health.

Importance of Health Education

 Activity 8

In not more than 200 words, do the following:

(i) Identify the benefits of Health Education to the societies
(ii) Explain who needs Health Education and why.
___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

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First, Health Education is not only desirable but also indispensable in the modern world.
Those who are informed and knowledgeable about it are in a better position to understand
and value health as an asset to them and the society as a whole.
Secondly, they are empowered to prevent possible dangers to their health through
surveillance and other control measures. Remember prevention is better than cure. This
translates into improved life in the community where they live.

Closely related to the above, the people benefit from the improved conditions by cultivating a
culture and spirit of self reliance and determination (WHO, cited by Tabaro, 1988). This
means that good health education can enable the communities to solve their own problems.

Who needs Health Education?

You may have established that everyone needs health education. In your work place and
social life, you have a key role to play in promoting it among the people, especially those
under your direct influence (such as the pupils and parents). This is because not all of them
can easily access the health workers such as Doctors, Medical Assistants, Health Inspectors
and other officers.

Note that by promoting Health Education, you are not a health worker but a partner with
those who specialize in the field of health (see example above).

Common health hazards in Africa

 Activity 9

In not more than 250 words,

(i) Identify the major conditions which endanger the people’s lives in the African
communities (about 50 words).
(ii) Suggest ways of promoting public health in Africa (not more than 200 words)
For the conditions identified, your answer should revolve around the list below:
• Diseases like Malaria. HIV/AIDS, among others
• Poverty and deprivation
• Ignorance and low levels of education
• Poor sanitation and hygiene

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• Contaminated water
• Pollution e.g. air pollution and environmental degradation
• Accidents
• Poor diet and feeding habits
• Reckless sexual behaviour
• Alcoholism and use of drugs
• Inadequate health care
• Inadequate physical exercise
• Natural calamities
• Wars and civil strife
• Lack of self care, among others

5.2.5 Conflict and conflict resolution

 Activity 10

Read the articles titled Conflict and Conflict resolution again.

(i) Identify some of the ways of addressing conflict
(ii) Identify the methods of resolving conflicts.

You may have established that there are several ways of addressing conflict. Some of these
offer temporary rather than permanent solutions. Consider the following:
 Avoidance-where one avoids the dispute by postponing or ignoring it
 Collaboration-where you work together with the concerned party to find a mutual
solution
 Compromise-this involves finding a middle ground (give and take)
 Competition-by asserting one’s view until it is accepted
 Accommodation-involves surrendering one’s own needs and wishes to accommodate
the other
The methods include conciliation, mediation, arbitration and litigation. Check the glossary for
the meaning of these terms.

123
Note: You may realise that conflict resolution may produce both positive and negative
outcomes. In spite of this, the aim is to find ways of promoting the positive outcome and
minimize the negative.

To achieve this, you should listen to and provide opportunities to meet the needs of all parties
concerned. As a facilitator, remember to be impartial (neutral) or suppress whatever bias you
may have on the conflict or any of the parties.

The teachers’ role in peace education and conflict resolution

 Activity 11

Identify and explain the ways in which a teacher could promote peace in Africa?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

The teacher plays a very vital role in promoting peace and peace education both within and
outside school. That role should be exploited rather than abused. It is your responsibility to
ensure that the learners are modeled into peace loving and peaceful citizen in the
communities where they live.

You may have observed that as a teacher, you are expected to demonstrate understanding
of the knowledge, skills and values necessary for peace. Remember we looked at being able
to tolerate and appreciate other people, their views and also respect their rights. In other
words, you have to be a role model in society.

Unit Summary
Contemporary issues in education means the current, present day or existing. In this context,
contemporary issues in education refers to the various events, policies and developments of
an educational nature which exist in the modern world. Most of these are influenced by the
changes and initiatives caused modern trends and innovations in education, science and
technology, the spread of information and Communication Technologies, among others. At

124
the same time, many societies, like those in Africa, experience widespread poverty,
inadequate funding and facilitation in education, health, infrastructure and other related areas.
Similarly, civil strife, political turbulence and socio-cultural issues also impact strongly on
the modern world. In the area of education, the above phenomena influence elements of
access, quality, equity and relevance in education.

Unit Reading Materials

Tozer, J. (2004). School and society: Historical and contemporary perspectives. New York:
McGraw-Hill
deMarrais, K. (2006). The way schools work. Boston: Allyn & Bacon
Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum International Publishing
Group.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthy_diet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_management

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Ethiopian National Agency for UNESCO (2001). The Development of Education: National
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Haddad Wadi D.(1995). Education Policy Planning Process: An Applied Frame Work.
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Hallak, Jacques (1991). Managing schools for quality and Equity; Finding the proper Mix
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Jallade, Lucila, et.al.(2001). National Education Policies and Programs, and International
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