[ Abstract for this presentation ] [ Proceedings Contents ] [ Schedule ] [ Abstracts ] Action research for staff professional development: A case study of a school in Uganda Jaya Earnest Research Unit for the Study of Societies in Change Curtin University of Technology

To date, only a few studies of school improvement, action research and staff professional development have been undertaken in Uganda and none have been at the early childhood level. The present study evaluates one early childhood institution's attempt to improve the school effectiveness and classroom environments that teachers create, through positive leadership and on-going teacher professional development.

This longitudinal study, implemented over four years, involved the investigation of factors that influenced school effectiveness, and teacher professional development in an early childhood institution in Kampala, Uganda. The study made use of action research methodology with a framework of teacher professional development. Uganda's rapidly expanding education system and largely teacher centred mode of delivery makes this study timely, because it provides potentially significant insights into how a school improvement program using action research methodology can provide a sustainable means of professional development.

Objectives

• To evaluate the success of a professional development program, developed using action research methodology incorporating Stoll and Firk's, 1996, Halton Approach for Effecting School Change and Fullan's 1992, School Improvement Framework.

• To investigate whether links were established between effective leadership, professional development and school improvement.

Background to the study

A historical background on Uganda

Figure 1: Map of Uganda

In October 1962, Milton Obote became the first Prime Minister of Independent Uganda. Obote's own political ideologies were directed to creating a United Republic. He did this by abolishing all kingdoms. The constitutional crisis in 1966, unearthed Major General Idi Amin, who was now head of an army Obote could not do without. This situation prevailed until the January 1971 when Amin ousted Obote, and took over as Head of State. Killings in the army, where Amin's tribesmen engaged in systematic massacres, were the first signs to a watching public of the madness to follow. The Asian exodus in 1972 was one of the most significant events in Uganda's history. It has scarred Uganda for the rest of its national life and the wound, only now beginning to heal, was open for nearly a quarter of a century (Government of Uganda, 2002). Milton Obote won his second reign in December 1980 and this came to be known as the Obote II reign. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was sworn in as President of Uganda in January 1986. The distorted and violent policies of a whirlwind of governments had left Ugandans without a true belief in their leaders.

Education, rehabilitation in all spheres and awareness have been the key areas targeted by government programs initiated. With political stability since 1986 and infrastructural redevelopment underway, the Government was able to focus on the ailing economy. Currently 80% of the population is agrarian and rural. The magnitude and impact of the HIV/AIDs crisis also had a grave impact on the economic and social life of Ugandans. The Government published a White paper on education in 1991, since the early 1990s there has been a steady expansion of the education system (Government of Uganda, 2002).

The Aga Khan Education Services (AKES)

The leading characteristics of the work of the Aga Khan Education Services are:

• The continuing pursuit of excellence in educational practice and management
• The pursuit of this excellence in diverse and challenging settings;
• Child-centred teaching methods;
• A special emphasis on female education; and
• School-based teacher training.

Theoretical framework

Linking school leadership and professional development to improve school environment

Action research cycle

Effective schools

1. A common mission: which a shared and communicated vision of school goals. The principal plays a major role in communicating this vision to teachers, parents', and students'.
2. An emphasis on learning: characterised by teachers who have and convey high expectations to their students. Teachers also use a variety of teaching and monitoring strategies to create curriculum materials that are linked to school goals.
3. A climate conducive to learning: where morale of teachers and students is high, where there is recognition and incentives. Under this category are the characteristics of student involvement, responsibility and behaviour, of parental and community involvement, of recognition and incentives.

School improvement program

During the course of the program a cyclic action research model of professional development was developed, in which on-the-job training, workshops, peer-coaching and mentoring were coupled with leader support and regular feedback. I was influenced by Fullan's (1992, 2001) model of change and school improvement. According to Willis (1999), reflective practice is a way for teachers to understand, critique and improve their professional work. The reflective practice cycle involves describing activities that are used during teaching, appraising them, suggesting ways in which they can be improved in future sessions and planning for subsequent action. Finally, continuous support through weekly workshops, professional development courses and contact with peers and the head teacher was used to encourage sustained change.

As principal of the early childhood school, I used Michael Fullan's 1992, model of the three interconnected cogs of the wheel, where the teacher as learner changes the classroom-learning environment, under the leadership of the principal and brings about school improvement in the school. Research in western countries indicates that successful educational change is achieved by treating the individual school as a unit and ensuring that the school principal is a key player who mentors teachers repeatedly as they deploy new skills in their classrooms (AKDN, 2004). My study tested how far this formula held true in a unique post-conflict context where many of teachers have no more than high school education themselves and where there is extreme shortage of funds.

Methods and data sources

The framework for analysis emerged from the case study and was shaped by the introspective data available from long-term collaboration in which both the head teacher and the teachers in the school were involved in reflecting on their teaching to improve the classroom learning environment and school effectiveness (Wallace & Louden, 2000). The present case study made use of interpretative and ethnographic analysis from multiple research methods.

Sample

Gathering of qualitative information

Action research for organisational change

Figure 2: The Action Research Cycle developed at the school

The importance of action research is not to be underestimated, because it provides teachers with a legitimate and more appropriate alternative to traditional research designs' (Hopkins, 2002a). Hopkins (2001) recognises that a teacher's perception of research involves time that most busy teachers cannot afford. By recognising that a teacher's first and most important role is to teach, this study confined itself to improve teaching practice within the classroom and bring about change in the classroom learning environment and student learning in a rehabilitated school in a post-conflict country.

The head teacher as a mentor

Tilley (2002, p.17) strongly asserts; "Mentors need to be committed to the educational exercise and to take an interest in the personal and professional development of the mentee. Mentors need to be flexible enough to tolerate and appreciate the uniqueness and individuality of the mentees". As a principal in a school, in one of the poorest countries in the world, I had

• To learn to listen,
• To understand and explore cross-cultural sensitivities,
• To understand that most of my teachers had experienced trauma and grief,
• To deal with differences in levels of training and of opinion;
• To learn to ask open questions;
• To be flexible, innovative and creative;
• And to use these skills for the benefit of my teachers

Professional development

Professional development in the school was school-based where the whole school was a unit of change, where there was on-going professional development of teachers. The emphasis was on enhancing teacher's general pedagogical expertise; there was a focus on the adoptio n and use of "child-centred" activity oriented methods of teaching and learning. A professional development plan for the year was developed with the help of teachers and weekly professional development sessions were held in school on a Thursday afternoon with the staff over a period of two years.

Classroom observations and interviews

Classroom observations and interviews with all teachers were carried out on an on-going basis each month for 2 years. In addition, four teachers were selected for more in-depth data collection. These teachers were selected as a representative sample of the staff, ranging in experience, qualifications and grade levels. Classroom observations were made on a weekly basis in each of these teachers' classes. In addition, in-depth interviews about the school improvement program and the associated professional development were held at least once every two weeks.

Discussion

1. The teachers and I in the school began to understand the change process;
2. We built a professional learning community of teachers at the school level;
3. In the fourth year of the school we began focussing on an outreach program to assist and help other early childhood institutions in Kampala.

At the school level

At the school level, implementation of the school improvement program was found to increase interaction between the head teacher and the teachers, increase teacher cohesiveness and teacher collaboration and improve teacher self-efficacy. The school improvement and professional development program was a systematic approach to school-wide improvement that incorporated every aspect of a school -- from curriculum and instruction to school management.

At the classroom teacher level

At the classroom level, the results indicated that teachers who were involved in the program developed student-centred classrooms, incorporated cooperative learning in their lessons. The teachers began using team teaching, as there were a group of three teachers in a class. They had weekly planning meetings where they developed strategies suitable for their group of children. There were attractive student displays in the classroom. Teachers began to use locally available low cost material to make resources.

At the student level

At the student level, an overall improvement in student achievement (literacy and numeracy) was noticeable over the four years and student enrolments increased sevenfold. A program and a process was designed to enable all students to meet challenging academic content and performance goals of the Ugandan primary system that was exam oriented. The students at the school were happy, responsive, energetic and had high self esteem and this was measured by classroom observations, parent feedback and discussion, teacher feedback and talking to students.

At the school principal level

During the crucial first years of establishing the school, I found I was the curriculum leader and mentor for the teachers, initiator of the professional development program, a manager of resources available for the school. I was also a public relations officer and responsible for budget preparation and maintaining on-line budgetary control. I also had to attend to school management issues and other organisational meetings. At the end of the study, I felt that a clear vision and leading by personal example influenced and improved the effectiveness of the school improvement program. I had developed a school induction and appraisal policy for new teachers, and initiated a school development plan with the teachers. I gained a wealth of experience and knowledge that comes from practically working in a situation of post-conflict and I have benefited tremendously from this experience. I have understood complex issues of grief and trauma, human rights violations and admired the resilience of my teachers and parents to survive against great odds.

Educational importance

The main strength of the initiative was that there were no school improvement and capacity building initiatives at the early childhood level in Uganda, in that sense the effort was a pioneering effort. The whole program was conceptualised to fit into the educational culture of Uganda where there is a desperate need for curriculum and teaching programs to directly impact student learning in achievable and practical ways (Hopkins, 2002b).

References

AKES. (2002). The Aga Khan Education Services, Kenya. The Aga Khan Foundation's Education Activities [verified 9 Sep 2004] http://www.akdn.org/agency/akes.html

Altrichter, H; Posch, P. and Somekh, B. (1993). Teachers Investigate Their Work. Routledge, London

Costa, A. (1994). The school as a home for the mind. Paper presented at the Annual conference of the Association of International Schools in Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2000). Research methods in education. NewYork, USA: Falmer Press.

Erickson, F. (1998). Qualitative research methods for science education. In B.J. Fraser and. K. Tobin (Eds.), The international handbook of science education (pp. 1155-1159). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Fullan, M (1992). Successful School Improvement. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.

Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco, US: Jossey-Bass.

Government of Uganda (2002). A political history of Uganda. [verified 9 Sep 2004] http://www.government.go.ug/static/history.htm

Hopkins, D. (2001). School Improvement For Real. London : Routledge / Falmer.

Hopkins, D. (2002a). Improving the Quality of Education for All. London: David Fulton Publishers.

Hopkins, D. (2002b). The Aga Khan Foundation East African School Improvement Initiative: An International Change Perspective. In Anderson, S. (Ed), School Improvement in the Developing World: Case Studies of the Aga Khan Foundation Projects. The Netherlands: Swets and Zeitlinger Publishers

Somekh, B. (1995). The contribution of action research to development in social endeavours: A position paper on action research methodology. British Educational Research Journal, 21, 339-355.

Stoll, L., & Firk, D. (1996). Changing our School: Linking School Effectiveness and School Improvement. Open University Press, Philadelphia.

Tilley, D. (2002). In Helm, N. & Allin, P. (Eds.) Finding support in ministry. pp. 16-19. Cambridge: Grove Books Ltd.

Wallace, J., & Louden, W. (2000). Teachers' learning stories of science education. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Willis, P. (1999). Looking for what it's really like: Phenomenology in reflective practice. Studies in Continuing Education, 21, 91-112.

Author: Jaya Earnest PhD, an educator and sociologist, is currently a lecturer a t the Centre for International Health and Research Unit for the Study of Societies in Change (RUSSIC) at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia. Her research interest lies in health and education policy in post-conflict transitional societies. This interest is a result of working in countries where education systems were being rebuilt after years of political instability. For fifteen years, she has worked in India, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Australia. She won the WAIER 2004 Early Career Award and is currently involved in a study in East Timor. Dr Jaya Earnest, Lecturer/ Research Fellow Centre for International Health, Research Unit for the Study of Societies in Change Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia Please cite as: Earnest, J. (2004). Action research for staff professional development: A case study of a school in Uganda. Proceedings Western Australian Institute for Educational Research Forum 2004. http://www.waier.org.au/forums/2004/earnest.html