Region 3 rolls out five-year School Improvement Plan

May 10, 2019 News

With a workshop at the Region 3 Boardroom yesterday, the Ministry of Education rolled out its five year guide for developing school improvement.

head teachers at the School Improvement Plan Workshop yesterday

Facilitator Anthony Hunte (Consultant with the Ministry of Education) said the programme is an instrument that enables head teachers and school management teams to undertake strategic planning regionally at school levels, primarily focusing on improving the school’s facilities, and raising educational attainment. It also is geared at increasing literacy and reasoning skills. He said that the programme also caters for the well-being of students and teachers and caters also for school welfare issues.

According to Hunte, the Ministry of Education has begun to train head teachers in proving and nurturing structured education. He said the programmes has a structured five year format for all school levels,(nursery, primary and secondary) that allows for better preparation for education at a tertiary level.
He noted that parents and the business sector play a vital role in the programme’s success, hence, the business sector has been encouraged to show support in any areas where there may be shortfalls. As a result, the business sector has been sponsoring school trips and other initiatives. He added that presently they are at a point where all head teachers in Region 3 are being trained, and yesterday’s event was one such initiative.

At the School Improvement Workshop yesterday, head teachers were made to present on particular subject areas and ventures to assess their knowledge on preparation, planning and executing school based initiatives. This exercise was done to assess their existing planning/executing abilities in preparation for higher levels of training as dictated by the School Improvement Plan.

Hunte informed that parts of the programme deal with change, which starts with the head teacher and is transferred to the teachers, then students, and by extension the parents. He said the segment of the programme that deals with planning is preparing head teachers to deal with their own lives, which will further equip them to deal with school based issues, and even situations in their communities.
He said the programme had allowed for schools that excelled to utilise a grant of $1M, which was to be used to facilitate positive changes in schools countrywide.
This initiative saw schools making extensions to their facility, renovations, adding solar panels, upgrading laboratories, and introducing electricity to some institutions. Some schools also built libraries, reading corners, built IT facilities amongst other ventures.
Hunte noted that schools ought to focus their staff meetings around the objectives of the plan by invoking that staff members fully comprehend their roles (and the roles of others) as part of the process. He said that a Staff Development Plan must be developed and effectively implemented to address the needs of staff, thus ensuring they are equipped to execute the plan.
According to Hunte, a Communication Strategy must be developed and effectively implemented to raise awareness of the School Improvement Plan to all stakeholders and objectives.
In closing, he said that investing time in a thoughtful, focused plan will pay dividends to the school over time, emphasising that the plan should be viewed as a work in process and subjected to regular reviews. The concept of the School Improvement Plan will be also taught through a number of interactive exercises that develop abilities and competences.