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Teacher Training
in Whole School Development
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

March 2008 Brigid Smith

City District Government Faisalabad, Pakistan


This document is produced as part of the Strengthening Decentralised Local Government in Faisalabad (SDLGF)
Project for the purpose of disseminating lessons learnt from the project. The views are not necessarily those of DFID
or the City District Government Faisalabad

(c) SDLGF March 2008

Parts of this case study may be reproduced for educational use, provided that such material is not printed and sold.
The authors expect that, any material which is used will be acknowledged accordingly.

Printed by: FaizBakht Printers, The Mall, Jhang (Punjab) Pakistan.


VISION
“Pre-empting Poverty, Promoting Prosperity”

MISSION STATEMENT
“We will provide high quality services which compare with
the best in the country. We will work with everyone who wants
a better future for our District. We will establish an efficient,
effective and accountable District Local Government, which
is committed to respecting and upholding women, men and
children’s basic human rights, responsive towards people’s
needs, committed to poverty reduction and capable of
meeting the challenges of the 21st Century. Our actions will
be driven by the concerns of local people”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This case study is the culmination of efforts by a number of individuals from government and the technical
assistance team. Firstly it is important to thank all those who have cooperated with the team preparing this
case study not only in the last few weeks but over the course of the last four years. They have been critical to
the work and demonstrated what is possible to achieve in government when the right set of conditions prevail.

The author would like to thank the communities and elected representatives of the district that assisted the
SPU team in implementing this project and its various components.

The author wishes to thank Rana Zahid Tauseef, City District Nazim; Maj (Retd.) Azam Suleman Khan,
District Coordination Officer; and Dr. Tariq Sardar, EDO Finance & Planning for their valuable contribution
in making this project a huge success.

The author is also thankful to: Mr. Ch. Zahid Nazir, ex-District Nazim Faisalabad; Mr. Tahir Hussain, ex-
DCO Faisalabad and Mr. Athar Hussain Khan Sial, ex-DCO Faisalabad for their valuable contribution to the
success of this project.

The author is further thankful to all CDGF employees (past and present) and CDGF partner departments but
would like to specifically mention by name the following: Mr. Mumtaz Hussain Shah, EDO Education; Mr.
Ch. Zulfiqar Ahmed District Officer Secondary Education, Mr. Ashiq Ali, District Officer Elementary
Education (male) and Ms. Kishwar Naheed Rana, District Officer Elementary Education (female) for their
efforts in successfully implementing reforms in their departments.

The author is thankful to all DFID Project Advisers and Management that have assisted in this project since its
start and would like to specifically thank Mr. Mosharraf Zaidi, Governance Advisor, DFID Pakistan and Mr.
Wajahat Anwar, Deputy Program Manager, Accountability and Empowerment team, DFID Pakistan, for their
continuous support and professional technical guidance since their involvement in 2005.

The author is also thankful to Mehreen Hosain for proof reading the document and all the SPU team members
for their dedication, hard work and the many late hours spent designing, implementing and documenting the
work of this project. These include: Khatib Alam, Nadir Ehsan, Mahmood Akhtar, Imran Yousafzai,
Muhammad Shahid Alvi, Muhammad Tariq, Kashif Abbas, Ajaz Durrani, Farhan Yousaf, Muntazir Mehdi,
Gul Hafeez Khokhar, Muhammad Mirza Ramzan, Muhammad Sharif, Sumara Khan, Humaira Khan, Saima
Sharif, Mubarak Ali, Noor Muhammad Khan, Nuzhat Hanif, Syed Sheraz Akhtar, all the master trainers and
training associates of the Institute of Learning, and all long and short-term international and national
consultants.
Teacher training in Whole School Development: Table of Contents
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ACRONYMS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1

1.0 BACKGROUND 3

1.1 General Context 3


1.2 Specific Context 3

2.0 THE CASE 4

2.1 Overview 4
2.1.1 Targeting Whole School Development 4
2.1.2 Teacher Training 5
2.1.3 Management Change 5
2.2 Design 6
2.2.1 Designing the Whole School Development Programme 6
2.3 Implementation 7
2.3.1 Early Years Focus of the Materials 7
2.3.2 Head Teacher Training and Reflection 7
2.3.3 Teacher Training 8
2.3.4 The Aims of Training 8

3.0 LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS 9

3.1 Reflection and Transformation 9


3.2 Journal Writing: Introduction to Reflection after Day 1 9
3.3 Reflections after Day 2 and 3 10
3.4 Journal Writing during the interim school based reflection 11
3.5 Reflective questions 11
3.6 Four Journals of Reflective Teachers 12
3.6.1 How will I know if children have learned? 12
3.6.2 What was good and what was difficult? 12
3.6.3 What was difficult? 13
3.6.4 What did I learn? 14
3.6.5 Whose Fault is the failure to learn? 14

4.0 CONCLUSIONS 15

BIBLIOGRAPHY 17

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Acronyms
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

ACRONYMS
AEO Assistant Education Officer
CRC Convention on the Right of the Child
DOE Department of Education
DDEO Deputy District Education Officer
DEO District Education Officer
DFID Department for International Development
ECD Early Childhood Development
EDO Executive District Officer
EE (F) Elementary Education (Female)
EE (M) Elementary Education (Male)
EFA Education for All
EMIS Education Management Information System
GoP Government of Pakistan
LC Learning Coordinator
LGO Local Government Ordinance
LSQAs Learning Solution and Quality Assurance
MOE Ministry of Education
NGO Non Governmental Organisation
NRB National Reconstruction Bureau
PESRP Punjab Education Sector Reform Programme
PTA Parents Teachers Association
SC School Council
SDLGF Strengthening Decentralized Local Government in Faisalabad
SE Secondary Education
SMC School Management Committee
SPU Strategic Policy Unit
SWAP Sector Wide Approach
UPE Universal Primary Education
WSD Whole School Development

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Executive Summary
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Key Education indicators in Pakistan show that efforts to improve the quality and
spread of education and to impact on poverty have failed to produce change. At the
start of the 'Strengthening Decentralised Local Government in Faisalabad' Project'
funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) there was no
infrastructure for teacher training operational in Punjab. Change in education has
the teacher at the heart of the process. However over a decade of donor-aided teacher
training programmes change has not impacted significantly on the classroom in S. Mumtaz Hussain Shah
Pakistan. Teacher Training is necessary because teachers are often untrained, poorly EDO (Education)
trained or unmotivated to teach. Pre-service training is poorly focused, not based on
classroom experience and often taught by people who are not themselves dedicated and passionate educators.
In-service training is delivered on a cascade model, not related to the immediate needs of the teacher or
school.

As part of the Strengthening of District Government programme in Faisalabad the Education component has
worked in 472 schools to introduce a Whole School Development (WSD) programme that has included
teacher training, materials for the classroom, provision of resources and the dissemination of good practice.
The head-teacher and teachers in the elementary school have been the focus of the training programme.

WSD is a community based, holistic programme that aims to improve the quality of education through joint
activity between community and the school. The Headteacher is considered to be the change agent in the
school and is supported to plan, prioritise, fund raise and mentor teachers. The creation of a Child Friendly
School supports the later teacher training and resource provision.

Materials have been developed and training of trainers has taken place, and an Institute of Learning (IoL) has
been set up to house the trainers in Faisalabad. The team of trainers are all good teachers who have proven
primary or elementary classroom experience.

The reflective teacher is the teacher who is able to embrace change and to understand and support innovation
in the classroom through planning, intervention, analysis and action. Headteachers and teachers have been
involved in WSD in a reflective process through the use of journals.

Headteacher journals are started during training and headteachers reflect on the training and on the course of
action that they intend to take in their schools. The journals allow them to reflect on things that they have
found difficult in the training, what they like and what they intend to implement in the their schools. The
trainers read the journals and give feedback to the headteachers.

Teacher training has been planned to fully encompass the process of reflection and change. Training is in two
parts each of three days and between the two sessions teachers return to their schools and keep a reflective
journal on the work they plan and do over two weeks. They summarise their work and progress, consider
what worked well and why and plan the next input based on their analysis. Although the process is very
simple and teachers do not write a great deal there is nevertheless a considerable amount of evidence about the
changes that are taking place in their thinking and that are then followed up in action. The vocabulary and
grammar of the writing changes to the use of more reflective vocabulary, questioning and tentative
conclusions.

Additionally teachers undertake short case studies of two children in their class one a fast learner and one a
child with special needs. It is interesting to find that the locus of blame moves from the child and parents to
the need to adapt and change lessons to meet the needs of the learner.

Although this is only a small study it yet shows the potential for change in teachers and the way in which they

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Executive Summary
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

are able to undertake action research paradigms within a classroom setting. Including a reflective process as
part of training, and also dividing teacher training in two so that classroom based work can be tried out and
then shared with others, means that teachers are able to learn to think about their teaching in a supportive
environment. Better still trainers or AEOs have been able to mentor some teachers and this adds a further
dimension of support.

The teacher is the change agent in the classroom, as the headteacher is in the school. The difference in attitude
towards children and a renewed interest and enthusiasm for teaching has been evident from reading some of
these teacher journals. They remain a powerful developmental tool as well as inducting practitioners into a
form of action research.

The continuation of the IOL as part of the CDGF reform programme, the place of the team of teacher trainers
within the education department and the provision of teacher training modules to all schools so that they will
eventually receive WSD training up to elementary level are key features of the sustainability programme for
localised teacher training in Faisalabad.

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Background
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

1.0 BACKGROUND
1.1 General Context

Education has been one of the Federal Government's main concerns in Pakistan in recent years and
has been seen as a key strategy for poverty alleviation. This approach was given emphasis through
the reports of the Poverty Task Force, census surveys including the UNICEF survey of 2004 and the
2006 White Paper1 which linked education and improvement in quality and reach of education with
all the relevant social factors of health and population growth as well as growing concerns in relation
to political unrest and declining governance in the country. The concerns of Federal Government
early in 2007 translated into raising the proportion of GDP for Education from 2.6 percent, one of the
lowest in the world, to 4 percent. However education remains a balancing item in the budget and
continues to need protection from budgetary allocations to defence and other sectors. Political
uncertainty and volatile social and security situations have impacted on plans to improve education
and shifted agendas for reform. Education in Pakistan remains an issue of grave concern, with key
indicators continuing to be amongst the lowest globally.

The City District Government Faisalabad's (CDGF) reform programme, following the national
policy of strengthening local governments through devolution, has taken place against a backdrop of
increasing instability, which has had inevitable impact on progress. Education reform has been
central to the CDGF's efforts, and aspects of the change programme in the sector form the focus of
this case-study.

1.2 Specific Context

The Strategic Policy Unit (SPU) was set up by the Faisalabad district government in 2002, as a policy
think-tank. Its key aim was to act as a conduit in the district from which all development programmes
could be initiated. In 2004, the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID)
agreed to provide technical assistance to the district using the SPU as the platform from which change
would be driven.
The SPU over a four year period has acted as a key resource fostering social capital within the city
government and often being the focal point for local and international technical assistance and
programme development. With a cohort of key technical resources and change management agenda
it plays a key role in facilitating public sector reforms and is replicable. It has been instrumental in
assisting Faisalabad become a modern administration.

The core objectives of the CDGF's reforms relate to strengthening governance, and targeting poverty,
to reduce inequality and put in place structures and systems of justice and reform that will achieve this
end. The reforms are supported by the Department for International Development (DFID) through
the 'Strengthening Decentralised Local Government in Faisalabad' Project. The Strategic
Development Plan (SDP) for CDGF is headed: 'Pre-empting Poverty and Promoting Prosperity'.
The rhetoric of poverty has a high profile in Faisalabad. The means of indicating areas of poverty, in
a city that is also regarded as one of the highest income and economic status cities of Pakistan, has
been addressed through a number of surveys, collection of data at village level and studies of poverty.
These form a background of information against which the interventions of Whole School
Development (WSD), the training and quality improvement programme of the Education
Department through its Institute of Learning, can be considered.

1
December 2006. Javed Hasan Aly & National Policy Review Team. A White Paper: Document to Debate and Finalise the National Education Policy.
Islamabad, Federal Government

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: The Case
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

At Provincial level the Provincial Government's Punjab Education Sector Reform Programme
(PESRP) is providing upgrading of infrastructure to 400 schools initially in the Faisalabad District.
Fifty one-classroom schools also are in process of getting an additional classroom. However the
identification of schools requiring support is a political issue and data indicates that resource
allocation has been skewed with few resources being devolved to the Union Councils (UCs) on the
margins of Faisalabad District where the level of poverty and the provision of educational resources
remains dire. Inputs from the education component have concentrated on these under resourced rural
areas and slum areas of the city and towns.

At the start of the Project there was no teacher training programme in place in Punjab and Faisalabad
was asked to go ahead and pilot some teacher training activities. At that time the GCETs were
confined to pre-service training and within the purview of the Education University.

In-service training was no longer taking place and the GCETs were no longer the network of training
institutions. Over the course of the Project GCETs have been brought back into the teacher training
frame, the new provincial resource centres are housed in the GCETs and training materials relating to
subject content and some headteacher training has started as a centrally administered activity from
the Province. The means of training has been set up by appointing DTEs who will deliver training
packages. No training plan has yet been set in motion.

2.0 THE CASE


2.1 Overview

2.1.1 Targeting Whole School Development

The WSD programme is essentially a school based training programme for Head Teachers and
teachers with the aim of improving the quality of education in the school. WSD has been
implemented in 472 schools in Faisalabad District over the Project Term. WSD has a holistic basis
that seeks to integrate the community involvement in education, improved Head Teacher
management and a quality improvement programme through teacher training in three phases, Katchi
Grade 3, Grade 4-5, and Grade 6-8. The training, mentoring support, monitoring and evaluation is
undertaken by the Education Department's Institute of Learning (IoL) where a team of teachers have
been trained and resourced to deliver the WSD programme. The IoL has an Memorandum Of
Understanding (MOU) with the Directorate of Staff Development (DSD) in Lahore and works with
them on materials development.The IoL will also work with the Government College of Education
and Training GCET Faisalabad and the District Teacher Educators DTEs when they start their
Provincial training programme and when cluster wise Teacher Resource Centres (TRCs) are set up to
support this training programme. The materials that have been developed by the IoL team take
account of the Solo Taxonomy2, an approach to planning and classroom interactions, which is the
key planning feature of DSD training and the foundation of the newly reformed national
examinations. Currently training of headteachers and teachers up to Grade 6 has taken place.
Materials, training teams and training resources are in place to allow the City Government to
continue the programme post Project term and draft materials have been developed for training up to
Grade 8. Kits for Science, Maths and Language have been developed for schools to support the
training methodology, and training for using School Council Funds to improve the quality of
teaching and learning in schools has also taken place. Gradually funds are being sent to schools.

2
Solo Taxonomy is a development from Bloom's Taxonomy which for many years has been a basic planning tool and psychological framework for
learning in Asia. It depends more on modes of questioning and active responses from students which in turn impact on teacher's lesson planning.

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Strategic Policy Unit
Teacher training in Whole School Development: The Case
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

The marginal Tehsils and Union Councils of Faisalabad District, including inner city slums, have
been the target of WSD. The WSD programme is a model for quality improvement of the primary and
elementary schools that has been developed during the project term in Faisalabad and that has been
3
successfully implemented in other DFID Projects . This model depends on a locally based
commitment of Head Teacher, community, teachers and students to improve education in their
school. The training helps Head Teachers and the School Council and teachers to develop a School
Development Plan (SDP) to enable schools to achieve a minimal level of educational provision
(teachers, building and resources) that will allow quality improvement to take place. Materials and
training have been developed that encourage and support teachers in this process.

2.1.2 Teacher Training

Teacher training in the primary school has taken place over a four week period. Teachers have
attended training for three days, and returned to their schools until the fourth week when they attend a
further three days classroom feedback and training. Where possible mentoring visits have also taken
place to the school. During this school-based period teachers kept a journal in which they wrote about
changes that took place as they tried to implement new ideas and try out more active ways of teaching
4
and learning in the classroom .

Six days is a very short time to transform teachers or teaching practices and often there is a loss of
impact if there is no follow-up from the trainers or support from the Head Teachers. However the
journal writings indicate that in many teachers there was a shift towards some degree of reflection
about their teaching and that they begin to identify areas of difficulty and success. In a similar
programme in China it was found that there was a significant shift from blaming children, parents and
circumstances for learning failure to an understanding that shifts in teaching methodology and in the
attitude and relationship of the teacher with the learners was important.

Three monitoring studies have all shown that schools that have taken up WSD with some enthusiasm
have shifted their perception of children. 'Changed teacher behaviour', 'no longer using sticks',
'teachers are friendly now with the children' are frequent comments from both the monitoring team
and from community members.

Evidence from journals and from the journals of mathematics teachers kept during the mathematics
research show the process of reflection and change. Visits to training and focus group interviews with
teachers and Head Teachers during training also indicate significant trends and areas of change.
School visits, trainer reports, photographic evidence and interviews with students give supporting
pictures and stories of change in the classroom.

2.1.3 Management Change

The training of Head Teachers and members of the community has been the initial motivation
towards change in the programme. Head Teachers have been through a reflective process in which
they have been asked to consider their school against a number of indicators of quality. After
consultation with teachers and community the Head Teacher and community/school council member
have drawn up a Whole School Development Plan that includes improvement in infrastructure and in
teaching and learning processes.

3
In S.Africa through the IMBEQU project, in Gansu, China through the Basic Education Project
4
To date only a few sets of teacher responses have been translated into English and so the examples in this case study are not selected but consist of
what was available at the time of writing. It is hoped to translate more journals and to include other research journal writing in a wider international
research field in future.

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: The Case
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

2.2 Design

2.2.1 Designing the Whole School Development Programme

From the start of the project the education team has been concerned to locate their work in the
Education Department. The initial WSD office was in the Education Department. In a series of
workshops across the District the idea of improving the quality of education in Faisalabad was
debated and a team of committed primary and elementary school teachers was identified as a
potential training team. Some young graduates from the private sector were added to the team. This
team was trained in basic educational theory, in gender and equity issues, language, maths and
science and its application in primary school. The need for a proper centre for the team resulted in the
provision by the Education Department of a set of rooms in the grounds of the city technical school.
The IoL houses not just the team but also technical and library resources. Additionally the team
undertook community mobilisation with a large number of mothers' meetings at village level as well
as interaction with Union Council officials and village members.

The orientation programme was given in 80 pilot schools - mobilising the communities, giving
teacher training and school based support. At the end of this time the team and national and
international advisors started to develop the training materials and to finalise the design of the
programme on the basis of the findings from the pilot phase.

The most important findings were that:

l The Head Teacher is the critical change agent and must be trained and brought into the
programme if change is to be possible;
l The community mobilisation was essential to the ownership of the WSD programme by the
community;
l Teachers required more than lectures and debate. Change in the quality of teaching requires
supportive training materials and on-going mentoring support;
l The support of the wider community including the Union Council was necessary for
sustainability and effective change;
l The Education Department was a critical factor in future training, sustainability and overall
District improvement;
l The most neglected area of the primary schools, the Katchi class and Grades 1-3, was also the
most important. Here the enrolment rate is quite substantial and the drop-out rate is the
highest. Those who drop out are usually the poorest children. Teachers disregarded this
drop-out and tended, from the beginning, to concentrate on the brighter children who were
going to stay on in school.
l Resources should be given to teachers during training or as soon as possible afterwards.

Additional evidence came from the Learning Achievement Baseline Surveys of Grades 2 and 4
conducted by the Research Advisor and SAHE5. This evidence showed some interesting insights into
the importance of the quality of the school environment buildings, supply of electricity and water,
provision of toilets, adequate classroom light and space and the effect of teacher numbers. A large
percentage of WSD schools were two, three or even one teacher schools. Elementary schools
operated mostly well below the level of required and sanctioned staffing.

The most useful information for materials development came from the information about areas of
difficulty experienced by the learners. This informed the development of training materials and

5
Baseline Survey of Learning Achievement: Grade 2 2005
Baseline Survey of Learning Achievement: Grade 4 2006

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: The Case
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

support materials for the teachers. Additional information came from the Examination Commission
analysis of 5th year national examination questions and answers. Trainers also took note of the
curriculum and methodology implications of the Federal Government White Paper. With all this
information, their own observations of classes, their knowledge as teachers and with the experience
they had gained in training, the teacher training materials were developed. Current research into
mathematics at Grade 4 and the mistakes that children make, linked to provision of additional teacher
training, will also produce interesting results in this field.

2.3 Implementation

2.3.1 Early Years Focus of the Materials

The team decided to concentrate on the Katchi class and Grades 1-3 in the first phase of training and
on training and support for Language (Urdu and English), Mathematics and Science. This is the
largest number of children in the most neglected area of education sitting on the ground, often
without shelter, without books or wall charts, games or activity resources and taught by teachers who
are often the least interested or dedicated.

Recitation of numbers and alphabets supported by plenty of 'stick work' seemed to be the norm in
many classrooms that were initially visited. The challenge for the team was to try and move these
uninterested, passive teachers into active, enthusiastic teaching mode.

Activity Based Training materials were produced that were attractive and colourful and that allowed
teachers in the training session to experience for themselves the methodology and materials
promoted in the training. Teachers therefore played games, read Big Books together, discussed and
problem solved, role played and acted out dramas and performed experiments. All these activities
were integrated into a basic theoretical background in the training handbooks and additional
activities, lesson plans and ideas for classroom implementation are given in three handbooks for
Language, Mathematics and Science. These materials are freely available on the City District
Government website www.spu.com.pk and can be downloaded by anyone.
2.3.2 Head Teacher Training and Reflection

All Head Teachers were trained to work with the community to provide an annual School
Development Plan that looked at the needs of the school, possible sources of funding and the focus
for learning improvement. Head Teachers also had orientation to activity based learning through a
day session using some of the teacher training materials. Their role as mentor and support for change
was emphasised. Monitoring visits to training also gave indications of changing attitudes in Head
Teachers. Head Teachers also kept reflective journals. From an analysis of these journals it is
possible to see how change in thinking was taking place:

Every student should be treated equally and we should change the attitude of our students by changing our attitude with
them. We have learnt how we can make our school an ideal school. HT Boys Primary

Our trainers' attitude is very friendly with us and I will behave like my master trainers in the school with teachers and
students. HT Boys Primary

Teachers' attitude with children should be like an elder sister/brother, who not only take care but also facilitate them
wherever they need, so that children can understand in a better way. We will do everthing that hasn't been done before.
HT Girls Primary

This unexpected finding that the relationship of the trainers to the teachers and Head Teachers
modelled a different and more supportive and friendly attitude towards the students, was very

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: The Case
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

welcome. Much of the early resistance in almost every training course had come from Head Teachers
and teachers about the banning of corporal punishment in schools and how difficult it made teaching.
Finding that there was this attitudinal change was very encouraging for the trainers. This was
confirmed by the first monitoring report of the team:
'Teacher’s attitude towards the children was very friendly'. (School 8)
'The most significant change was in the friendly attitude of the teachers towards the children.
Children were sitting in the classroom quite relaxed and happy'. (School 3)
'Teachers work with children and are the friends of the children'. (School 10)

The work with Head Teachers and the community had a number of tangible benefits. Many Head
Teachers for the first time shared the problems of their school with the community and received
support. In one union council the woman representative decided to visit all the girls' schools and
support the Head Teachers and help them look for funding. Another Head Teacher reported:

Teachers agreed that participation of the community in the school has improved to such an extent
that everything is in the possession of the community and teachers do not have to bother about the
things of the school. (School 4)

Sometimes Head Teachers could not implement the enthusiasm that they felt during the training
when they returned to their crumbling schools and some communities remained intransigent,
sometimes for political or social reasons.

2.3.3 Teacher Training

The first phase of teacher training, related to the Early Years of Schooling, was of particular
importance in effecting a change scenario. There had not been training for this area before, teachers
had not considered it important and there were no special materials for teaching the youngest
learners. Classes were often enormous, in excess of 100, and children spent a good deal of time
unoccupied or milling around aimlessly. Particularly in boys' schools it seemed that the most elderly
or least able teachers were given these huge classes to look after. The teachers had no resources and
really no idea how to go about teaching these little children, other than continuous repetition of the
numbers and alphabets. As Head Teachers and teachers began to plan for better conditions and
teaching for the early years section of the school some schools attached a voluntary teacher from the
village, often a Matric educated girl or girls. These girls take the pressure off the numbers, can work
in small groups with children and can undertake games and activities. Plans to train such girls are at
the moment held up by the political situation but it is hoped that they will continue once the situation
settles down.

Teachers came for the first three days of training and from many schools they had already had some
briefing from the Head Teacher and so some had a more positive attitude. The reaction of teachers to
the activities, the pace of the training, the team of trainers and the materials was very positive.

2.3.4 The Aims of Training

A defining principle of training and training materials has been the intention to make teachers aware
of their responsibilities towards their students and to inculcate in communities and school
managers/Head Teachers a sense of responsibility for the education of their students. In initial visits
when asked who was responsible for improving facilities and learning in the schools almost every
response was 'The Government'. WSD as it has progressed has shown that, teachers, parents and the
community can themselves assume that responsibility and that when they do things can change that
which previously appeared impossible to change. The initial Needs Analysis included a series of

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Lessons and Reflections
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

focus group discussions with students of different ages. The findings were shocking and they have
shaped discussions and the process of reflection and change with teachers and Head Teachers as well
as school communities. 70 percent of children interviewed subscribed to the following findings in
their life circumstances:
Home School Community
1. Poverty (Rs. 3000/ - PM)
2. Average 5 - 7 children 1. No pleasure of learning 1. Insecurity for female
Education not a priority for parents 2. No relationship with 2. Indifference
3. Suppressed atmosphere teachers 3. Child labour
4. Violence towards mother and children 3. Suppressive 4. Less sen sitized for
5. Malnutrition atmosphere collective affairs
6. Child labour 4. Physical and 5. Lacks futuristic direction
7. Practically a child does not feel any psychological violence
relationship with parents 5. Lonely child
8. Child escapes to street for relief from home

These findings profoundly affected the thinking and aspirations of the training team. Their training
takes account of these findings and the continual theme has been to encourage participants to think
and to reflect on the effect of their own actions and to encourage teachers to understand the life
experience of their students. Journal writing has been a part of that process. The Journal has two
intended outcomes; that teachers should think about the training they are doing in the context of their
working place and that the process of reflection should help them to change their practice and their
understanding of teaching and learning.

3.0 LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS


3.1 Reflection and Transformation

What do we mean by a reflective process? Are Pakistani teachers generally given to reflection or to
considering the underlying meaning of actions, the reasons e.g. for children's failure or to consider
their own teaching against an internal criteria indicating success? There is plenty of literature on the
reflective teacher, Head Teacher as reflective manager, the reflective school in the academic work of
Western educationalists. There is little evidence of interest in teachers' reflexive processes in Asia
although the use of journals as a reflective tool is being used in some projects now. Attempts to
ascertain the level of teacher's understanding or take up of ideas given in training has often been done
by researchers or 'experts' without much attention to the teachers themselves. In this way teachers are
being measured against non culturally specific criteria for the benefit of others. Using journals
engages teachers in the reflective process and gives them a tool for thinking about what they are
doing. Lesson planning has been seen as being an important tool for teachers that will improve the
quality of their teaching. This is true so far as it enables them to plan, create additional resources and
give a learning outcome to lessons. However post lesson reflection is something different, leading to
action and requiring teachers to think forward as a result of the reflection they have done. In this
sense it is very much participatory action research oriented process.

3.2 Journal Writing: Introduction to Reflection after Day 1

Journals were introduced on Day 1 of the training and teachers asked to reflect honestly on the day's
training and write up their journals overnight. In the event hardly anyone did this task and the trainers
asked them to take 15 minutes of silent time and do it in the session. This they did and then on
subsequent nights reflected on the day's training. There is a qualitative difference as teachers become
more used to thinking about the day and writing down their feelings. On the first day many women
teachers referred to their difficulty over sitting in the same training room as men teachers:

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Lessons and Reflections
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

‘Today the seating plan was not good the trainer was finding it difficult to see the faces of some
participants because they were facing in different directions. Training of males and females
should be conducted separately so they can talk openly and not feel any hesitancy.' Noveeda. GGPS

Also, the contents tended to be descriptive, re-telling what had happened in the workshop with maybe
a short comment. The most consistent content of the journals on this first day were comments on the
mode of training and the attitude of the trainers and a sense that this training was different. Many
teachers used the words 'interesting', 'different' about the training methodology and 'friendly',
'pleasant', 'affectionate' about the trainers.

'The instruction methodology was very good. We lost our inhibitions, and by relating events
learnt about the way things related to the lessons.' Shakila GGPS

'In today's workshop we were told about different teaching methodologies. The attitude of the
trainers was very affectionate and civilized. If we also teach in this way children will study and
become confident and improve the quality of education in our schools. A stall was also put up in
the workshop. Children can learn in a free environment and by looking at items and discussing
their price learn math. If such workshops continue teachers will be able to teach more effectively
and the literacy rate will improve.' Abdul GPS

Here it is interesting to see how the experience of the teachers begins to link with the potential for
change in the classroom. There were many journal writings that showed this:

‘Trainers taught in very friendly and loving manner which made us realize that we needed to
develop such qualities in ourselves so that we can teach children in the same manner' Nasir GPS

'The attitude and behaviour of trainers with us was very pleasant and they taught with affection.
If we teach in this way children will learn to be confident and not be hesitant in expressing
themselves.' Ghulam GPS

It could be suggested that how training is given is therefore an important element of the response that
teachers make, and therefore highlights the potential that there is that they might change their practice
and attitudes towards students. There is a long way for many teachers to go. During the monitoring
visits in December 2007 teachers were asked whether they thought they had changed in any way, and
what that change was. One teacher replied that everything had changed in her classroom. 'Now', she
said, 'I know the children's names'! These post training diary reflections do bear out the findings in
the monitoring study that change in attitude towards children, diminishing of harsh punishment and
more attention to children as individuals, was a significant impact of training on teachers and schools.

3.3 Reflections after Day 2 and 3

There is a general shift in journal entries on Day 2 and 3 to a more subject based understanding, an
enumeration of new skills learned and determination to put it into practice on returning to school. For
some there was regret that they did not know this earlier.

'I am going to write the truth. Before this training I had always thought that slow learners were
dull and could never improve and that they were born unlucky. Today I have found out and my
mind has changed regarding such children. I have learnt that in reality they are clever and we
have to come down to their level to teach them. If I had learnt this earlier I would not have forced
children into rote memorization' Unnamed teacher

'The English and Urdu phonics was completely new for us and we were not until now clear about
this concept. “Picture talk” and “picture domino” are activities that are quite informative and
can easily be applied during the learning process.' Razia

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Strategic Policy Unit
Teacher training in Whole School Development: Lessons and Reflections
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

The quality of reflection shows an increased understanding of the learning process and an ability to
reflect on the day's training and put it into context of the teacher's own classroom.

'On the second day the trainers conducted a number of activities with us in easy, simple and
effective manner. We were attentive and listened with interest and participated in the activities. I
thought that if I taught children in this way they would be very interested and learn quickly and
not forget what they had learnt. Through such activities their hidden abilities would emerge and
they would begin to think and understand.' Nasir GPS

'The training has provided us with methodologies we can also use in other subjects that were not
touched upon.'

'Previously we did not understand what we had to teach now that we do and also have learnt
different activities through which we can teach we will be able to perform our role better.'

These journal entries often use the words, 'new', 'understand', ' think' and 'use' and in a comparative
way 'previously', 'before' and 'used to'. This would seem to indicate shifts in understanding that are
the result of reflection and thinking.

Journals were read by the trainers and discussion held with the teachers about their ideas a short
mentoring process being put in place.

3.4 Journal-Writing during the interim school based reflection

After the experience of writing in the workshops teachers were asked to keep a journal over five days
that looked at the lessons they were teaching and answered specific questions that were designed to
promote thinking and reflection and action to improve the lesson next time round. The numbers of
teachers involved over 120 on most occasions meant that the mentoring process that would have
involved school follow up was not able to be done consistently. Some trainers did manage to make
monitoring visits to schools nearby during the next training session.

3.5 Reflective questions

The questions were printed in the journal with sufficient space between for teachers to fill in.

Pre-Lesson Entry:

1. What do I want the children to learn?


2. How will I know that the children have learned what they were taught?
3. What was in the lesson?

Post lesson entry:

1. What was good about the lesson?


2. What was difficult?
3. What will I do in the next lesson?

At the end of the week the teachers were asked to fill in a summary:

1. What work was done during this week?


2. What did I learn?
3. How did the children progress?

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Lessons and Reflections
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

The next phase of three day training (after two or three weeks) started with feedback from teachers,
including demonstration, showing children's work and reflections on their own learning.

Additionally teachers were asked to select an average and poorly performing child and write about
them after each lesson.

3.6 Four Journals of Reflective Teachers

A full translation has so far been made of four journals of teachers from the same Tehsil but in
different schools. The gender balance is not very good, only one woman's journal having had a full
translation. There is enough material however to see some trends and to give an understanding of
whether this is a useful exercise for teachers, and whether it has provoked change in any qualitative
way.

3.6.1 How will I know if children have learned?

A key planning question is 'How will I know if children have learned what they are taught?' This is
both an action research question the question that starts the action research cycle and also focuses the
outcomes of an action, and it is the planning agent that makes teachers think about the purpose of the
lesson and the indicators that show that learning has taken place.

Asking questions was a frequent way of checking children's understanding although with interesting
additions:

'Asking questions not in the textbook '


'Read individually and ask questions'

The 'recitations' seem a bit close to rote learning checks but then a teacher who has done work in
groups on parts of a flower writes:

'Ask groups about names of the flowers and then ask the children to write the names of parts of the
flower.'

Interestingly two of the teachers introduce not only different kinds of activities to check children's
understanding taking an object out of a bag and saying if it is big or small, drawing a graph using the
class test result, writing letters on the ground but also use the word 'observe'. One teacher writes;

'Constant observation will tell me how much the children have learned'

This appears to show a wider understanding of classroom assessment, in fact one might say, a more
reflective approach to assessment at work.

3.6.2 What was good and what was difficult?

These questions presuppose a degree of thinking about the lesson on the part of the teachers. Going
back over what happened and then making a judgement about it requires a certain amount of honest
reflection. Science lessons all threw up the difficulty of the actual textbook this is a difficult text
with many English words and concepts not easily explained. Teachers too have difficulty with these
scientific concepts and some of the content is not understood by them. Over the 20 lessons that were
looked at in detail by teachers the concept of children being interested and enjoying the lesson was
mentioned in every journal entry. Also the surprise of the teacher that the children learned easily and
quickly was also mentioned many times. The female teacher and one of the male teachers became

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Lessons and Reflections
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

very enthused by the response of the children and it led them to experiment with more of their own
ideas for activities. The rather dry textbook lesson on computers led the teacher to try and find a
computer to bring to school to show them, as he realised that talking about it was not sufficient.

What will I do in the next lesson?

l I will try to bring the item that is mentioned in the lesson to the school.

What work was done during this week?

l I told children about the computer and also the new mobile. The children were very interested
in both these inventions.

What did I learn?

l I learnt that children found it more interesting to learn by observing than by verbal
explanation. By touching and working with the computer and mobile they were able to learn
about them in their own way.

How did the children progress?

l Children who previously were surprised at hearing about the computer and mobile were now
able to work them.

There is evidence of plenty of real life situations; using a map, writing in the mud, playing games,
making graphs, talking about what jobs their parents do. The dry content of the textbook, although
the teachers are still closely adhering to the lesson, has been transformed by discussion, examples and
hands-on activities. Science experiments in particular teach both students and teachers the meaning
of difficult concepts.

3.6.3 What was difficult?

Reflection and planning can be very productive in terms of producing changes in practice. Thinking
about what didn't work, what was difficult for teacher and for the students- brings about the
necessary intellectual shift required to plan what to do next.

What was difficult?

l There were many children and there was not enough time to give complete opportunity to
each child.

What will I do in the next lesson?

l Next time I will divide children into groups and make the leader of each group do the exercise.
In this way the group leader will be able to make each child in his group do the exercise under
his supervision. I will only facilitate them.

This entry suggests a growing confidence in letting the children's experience and response determine
the next step. Some responses clearly also delighted the teacher and maybe gave them some sense of
vocation in the work they are doing.

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Lessons and Reflections
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

What was good about the lesson?

l After this lesson children became clean and neat. They started coming to school on time as
they were saying their Namaz on time. Children became more inclined towards religion.

One teacher (female) never stated that anything was difficult except vocabulary limitations when she
allowed children to write for themselves for the first time ever. This lesson was actually observed on
a monitoring visit by one of the trainers who commented on the level of enthusiasm shown by the
children when they were asked to look at a chair and make up five sentences about it.

3.6.4 What did I learn?

In reflecting on what they had learned teachers decide to work next time in groups, allowed children
to touch and move things, and changed the way they presented the lesson. One teacher with great
humility lists what he must do in order to do better next time:

Need to improve on my own deficiencies. Need more activities to keep children busy. To keep
children's interest need to tell more interesting stories.

When they reflect on the learning that they have done they use a more professional kind of vocabulary
it includes words like think, observe, respond, change, improve, learned. They think about the work
they have done and the way the students have responded and change their practice accordingly. One
teacher of Katchi and Grade 1 writes:

l Children learn better through activities and what they do themselves


l In learning through play children want to learn more and feel free to ask questions which
reduces the gap between the student and teacher and promotes learning

Others reflect on the response of older children and the effect of changes in their approach and
handling of students:

l Keeping in view the interest of the children I felt that they did not like the traditional approach
and preferred the new methodology, that is, they liked to learn when the teacher included them
in the learning process in a friendly manner and also when many things were included for
example teaching the lesson using a number of teaching aids to make it interesting.

3.6.5 Whose Fault is the failure to learn?

The reason for asking each teacher to undertake a short case study of a weaker and an average student
was to focus attention on the children who are often neglected. They sit in the back row although they
may have hearing or seeing difficulties, they often have untidy uniforms, bare feet or inadequate
shoes. They are more likely to suffer malnutrition and associated skin and growth problems.
Sometimes they are from minority or poorly regarded communities. Several studies have found that
these children are 'blamed' for their learning failures or the lack of interest of parents is cited as a
reason for their failure. In the Chinese study6 it was found that increased support and the reflective
journal changed this perception and that teachers started to talk about children with learning
difficulties in terms of the changes needed in the teaching. These teachers too show an increased
understanding of less able learners:

6
Smith ,B 2006 Gansu Basic Education Project Study of Bilingualism in Dongxian Schools

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Conclusions
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

There are many slow learners who have improved in their work. Children who were naughty are
now taking an interest in their studies.

I observed every child in the group and found that some change or the other had taken place. Also
children were asked a number of questions which were also answered by the average and slow
learners.

In my view children try to remain close to their environment. They like to work with their hands
and when they participated in different activities they learnt more. I think that through activities
and models even difficult topics can be taught effectively.

Here a number of professional opinions are being expressed-slow learners can take an interest,
naughty children may be bored or not understanding. Teacher observation means that children in this
class have become individuals. Then the teacher adds their own opinion of how this change has taken
place.

Another teacher considers the change in his classroom environment has been a significant factor in
children's improvement:

By creating a friendly environment quite a lot of change was observed. Previously such children became nervous on
seeing the teacher, this changed.

The average child has started doing good work; he does his homework daily and remembers his lesson well. Even the
weak child has started to work and participates fully in the learning process. He has started to remember and solve
questions.

I expect that quite soon they will both show greater improvement. Previously the average child would sit at the back of the
class and now he happily sits in front and also does his homework with interest. He is also interested in asking questions
during the learning process. The weak child is also participating more and although his result not so good but it is better
than before. I expect he will give better result in the future.

I think it is the friendly environment, as children usually become nervous and especially when they are very scared of the
teacher. But when the environment is friendly the children participate eagerly without fear. In the absence of a friendly
environment, children suffer from imaginary fears which has a bad effect on their learning.

In short children's performance can only improve in a friendly atmosphere, there is no other way.

It is interesting that the teacher includes improvement in the average child more active, more
confident, asking questions. For both learners the teacher now has high expectations of
improvement.

4.0 CONCLUSIONS
It does seem that there is a shift in thinking, which is reflected in monitoring reports, mentoring visits
and discussion with teachers and Head Teachers. If the IoL team of trainers is maintained and if the
lessons learned during the project term are remembered then sustainability should lead to
improvement. All teachers wanted more training of the same kind; the Education Department, AEOs
and senior officials now understand and support the process of WSD. We have learned that short
cuts erode quality and that it is necessary to spend time to work with the community and to maintain
time and quality of the teacher training.

Although in a short time, with a limited amount of input, change would not be expected to be
significant, there is still compelling evidence that when teachers are involved in a reflective process
during their training they are more likely to internalise some of the key contents of training and to
attempt to put them into practice even in the adverse conditions of many rural and urban slum primary

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Conclusions
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

schools in Faisalabad. The team believed that teachers could change and that given the right
circumstances-training, support, and resources that they would change. The evidence of
transformation during training is evident in the journals and can be seen in a significant number of
WSD classrooms.

In the wider context of Faisalabad and the over-all possibility of the teacher training programme for
WSD being continued, and the cross District spread of WSD achieved the Project has left in place the
resources and the skills required for this. Every school in the District has received the package of
modules and an orientation to WSD with the promise of training at a later date. The team of trainers at
IOL will continue to work as trainers for Faisalabad as a whole, and also to be prepared to train Master
Trainers in other districts that might want to take up WSD along with its materials. The CDGF has
promised to supply the kits and books to the rest of the schools in the District, as their teachers are
trained.

This particular piece of research has excited interest in the Education Faculty of Cambridge
University and, along with the maths research, which also includes teacher reflection, hopefully will
be part of an on-going research activity in the future.

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Teacher training in Whole School Development: Bibliography
Change and Transformation as a Reflective Process

BIBLIOGRAPHY
2006. Javed Hasan Ali & National Policy Review Team. A White Paper: Document to Debate and Finalise
the National Education Policy. Islamabad, Federal Government December

2007 Mohy Din Rana: Misconceptions And Errors In Mathematics Learning In Grade 4 Students. A
Research Study: Report 1. SPU, Faisalabad.

2002 'Pre-empting Poverty and Promoting Prosperity: Strategic Development Plan' Faisalabad City District
Government.

2002 Smith, B Seeking Quality Education for All: experiences for the DPEP, Occasional Paper. The
European Commission
2005 Smith, Brigid The Role Of Minority Language In Educational Access, Retention And Achievement:
Phase Two Practitioner Reflective ACTION RESEARCH Studies in active learning of Chinese in grades 1
and 2 in remote rural schools in Dongxiang County, Gansu.

2006 Smith Brigid, Poverty Paper: The contribution of the Whole School Development programme to
poverty reduction in Faisalabad District. SPU Faisalabad

2004 and 2006, UNICEF Reports Global Reports on Education

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brigid Smith - Education Consultant

She is an International education consultant and she has worked on the SDLGF project
as part of the education team since 2004.
City District Government Faisalabad
DCO Office, Near Iqbal Stadium
Faisalabad, Pakistan

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