Managing the Curriculum and Resources

Module 4

Introduction
The Education Management Programme is aimed at teachers from all levels of school education from Nursery, through Primary and finally Secondary. This module will provide you with an insight into all three. If your experience is limited to one level, please ensure that you work through the parts pertaining to the other levels because it is essential that, as a headteacher in Guyana, you would understand the issues faced by all. It is only though having a detailed understanding of the whole school system that you will be thoroughly prepared to meet any challenges that may face you. In addition, many teachers change levels and you will need, therefore, to be prepared in advance if such a move becomes necessary.

The curriculum of a school includes not just the planned academic programme but also all extra‑curricular activities and other events, as well as that which pupils learn through the nature and quality of the school ethos.

The main task of the head of each school is to provide and deliver effec­tively an appropriate curriculum using all the resources ‑ human, material and financial ‑ which are readily available. This involves mobilising all possible resources including those from the Ministry of Education, the community and other organisations, and then ensuring their full and effective use.

In this module we aim at improving your skills in different aspects of curriculum management, including timetabling, curriculum development and assessment, and resource management, including the provision of text­books, library and media resources, and their control. The material in Module 5 on Financial Management will provide you with more information about mobilising and managing financial resources.

Individual study time: 27 hours

Objectives
After working through this module you should be able to:

¨ improve your effectiveness as the manager of the curriculum and the resources which support it
¨ identify how to mobilise financial and material resources for your school and ensure their full and effective use
¨ demonstrate improved asset management and registering of stock in your school
¨ know how the curriculum of nursery, primary and secondary schools may be adapted to the human and natural environments where they are located, and ensure these environments are used.
¨ be a more effective manager of change, and know how to regularly update your school curriculum
¨ ensure your school has a well designed and operated timetable and that the national timetable is used effectively
¨ draw up and apply criteria for the selection of textbooks, and ensure that those available are fully used and properly managed
¨ suggest ways of improving the library, media and low cost teaching aids, including their use
¨ improve the quality of pupil assessment, including providing orderly examining, regular and systematic testing, formative and summative assessment, target setting and full and accurate records
¨ be aware of the need to cater for the educational needs of all children in your school, especially those with S.E.N.

Units
This module is divided into nine units.

Unit 1: Establishing the curriculum 2 hours
The curriculum of your school needs to be adapted to the human and natural environments within which it is located, and to be continuously updated. This unit aims at enabling you to establish your curriculum within the national framework, recognise the diverse nature of the curriculum and undertake its development.

Unit 2: Timetabling 4 hours
In this unit you will identify some of the issues in designing and operating school timetables, including the need for careful preparation and finding ways of organising the timetable to make full use of your teachers, to follow ministry requirements and yet adapt it to the special conditions of your school, and to provide your pupils with choice.

Unit 3: Organising resources to support the curriculum 2 hours
Through this unit you identify the range of resources which are needed by your school, and the difficulties of obtaining them. You will learn how resources may be produced and acquired, and how they may be properly managed.

Unit 4: Selecting and managing textbooks 3 hours
Textbooks provide one of the key teaching and learning resources in your school. You will develop criteria for their selection, and learn how to ensure that the books are fully and properly used.

Unit 5: Libraries, media, and low cost teaching aids 3 hours
There are many ways in which the resources of your school may be improved. In this unit you will identify ways of developing three particular types of resource and how they may be managed.

Unit 6: Examinations, testing and record‑keeping 3 hours
The assessment of the progress of your pupils provides a measure of the level of their performance, which is one of the purposes for which your school exists. In this unit you will review different aspects of assessment, including the importance of record‑keeping as a means of maintaining a profile of the progress of each pupil.

Unit 7. Resource maintenance 3 hours
Through this unit you will recognise the importance of keeping good asset management records and learn of ways in which this may be done.

Unit 8: Finding financial resources 3 hours
Here you will recognise that although governments provide some resources for your school, you cannot expect to rely entirely on this source, and so you need to find ways of adding to those you have.

Unit 9: Special Educational Needs 4 hours
In this unit we will look at the role of the teacher as one who will include every child in his / her classroom. We will examine the nature of Special Needs and some of the issues relating to “Inclusion” in the mainstream classroom. In, particular, we will examine ways that the Headteacher will lead his / her staff to ensure that all children are catered for equally.