Leadership emphasised at head teachers' conference

Leadership emphasised at head teachers’ conference

Oct 16, 2008 News

With the aim of having the heads of public schools play a more integral role in implementing the Education Ministry’s new Strategic Plan 2008-2013, the Department of Education in Georgetown yesterday commenced a two-day conference for head teachers of nursery, primary and secondary schools.

Under the theme ‘Leading from the front’, the conference was held at the North Ruimveldt Secondary School where scores of head teachers and other top education officials converged and were exposed to several presentations, some of which emphasised the importance of leadership skills.

Education Minister Shaik Baksh, in his address to the gathering of educators, highlighted the importance of having them on board in order to eliminate a communication gap which currently exists within the system.

“We need to rectify that and get you on board. All that we will try to do in this strategic plan will rest on your active participation over the next five years,” Minister Baksh cautioned the teachers.

And since the role of all head teachers will be critical in the implementation of the strategic plan, the Minister disclosed that the Ministry will be holding sessions in every region to highlight its content.

The plan, according to the Minister, was recently completed and now forms the basis of all activities that will be conducted within the Education Ministry over the next five years, adding that the role of the school system cannot be over emphasised.

Minister Baksh said that although the Ministry has decentralised education management, the school system is of utmost importance.

“We have to dedicate much more time in supporting the school system…We have to support the work that you will be doing now and in the years ahead…and all of our efforts must be directed to that main objective.”

He disclosed that the Ministry has started an innovative education reform process, noting that a summary document is being created to outline the programme which is expected to be completed within a month’s time.

As part of the reform process, according to the Minister, some new units have been created, one of which is the School Health HIV/AIDS Unit which is staffed by top professionals.

Additionally, there has been the creation of a unit to look at the formulation, implementation and enforcement of policies across the country which is headed by a Deputy Chief Education Officer.

Further, Minister Baksh said that the Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Unit which is an expansion of the previous education inspectorate is serving to better the delivery of education countrywide.

According to him, the process for the monitoring system has been clearly defined and is headed by the Deputy Chief Education Officer, Development, Ms Donna Chapman.

“The role of that unit is to engage the Departments of Education across the country, engage them and support them in monitoring and supervising the delivery of education…They will have to play a supportive role that is key to the realisation of our goals and objectives. They will also be reporting their findings to the top level of the Ministry and they must also disseminate to you so that you get an understanding of what is taking place.”

According to the Minister, while the monitoring team will not be able to visit all schools, it will visit selected schools and try to do some diagnostic work on what is taking place.

“When you read the first report (of the Monitoring team) for the first half of the year (ended July 2008) you will get a better understanding and appreciation for the gravity of the situation you faced in education delivery in this country.”

According to the Minister, the report is not intended to cast blame but rather highlight problems which can be rectified with the view of improving the system, adding that the heads will have to help to uncover solutions to the existing problems.

Minister Baksh related that without effecting some changes in the education structure and processes, there cannot be success in implementing the strategic plan.

“A plan can just be a plan on a shelf and nothing can come out of it…To operationalise the strategic plan we needed to have some changes in the way we do things and that is what the reform and the innovation have been about.”

According to the Minister, the plan is directly related to the vision of the education sector to improve the quality of the delivery of education in schools.

The head teachers’ conference is intended to look at traditional and alternative leadership styles and explore practical examples of their use in the school context; explore the use of the internet for education management purposes and outline the role of the head teacher in catering for special education needs provision within schools.

The intense conference is expected to be concluded today.