Assessment and Record Keeping

Unit 6

Introduction
Monitoring and Evaluation are necessary tools in ensuring and determining school effectiveness. Pupils would not benefit much from a system of education unless there was some form of evaluation aimed at assessing pupil performance levels at different stages in their school career. If such assessment did not take place one of the main purposes for which schools exist would be defeated. In this context, the school system would be unable to monitor the growth and levels of attainment of the pupil population. In this unit, we review various aspects of evaluation of pupil performance levels through assessment procedures including examinations, testing and record keeping.

Although examinations, testing and record keeping are three distinct activities they are mutually interdependent. It is important to understand that without the presence of each the whole process of measurement of pupil performance and our skills as teachers would be very difficult indeed. Examinations and testing provide one objective measurement of pupil attainment. However, the teacher is a professional and should also be able to draw conclusions about the performance of his / pupils based on experience. Although these may be subjective, they will be based on evidence and can be a support to objective testing. Indeed, headteachers ought to be aware, that qualities other than academic performance must also be developed and assessed in each pupil. This is often done better through teacher observation and assessment rather than formal testing.

Without a well maintained system of record keeping for pupil examination and test performance there will be nothing to build on. Records provide a long term profile of achievement for each pupil. It is noteworthy that every effort must be made to use the results of examinations and tests as feedback mechanisms for further development of pupil learning, teaching strategies and other curriculum processes.

In this unit we will also consider “baseline testing” or “pre-tests” as a means of determining the initial level of performance of the child, setting targets and measuring performance against those targets. This is particularly important for children with learning difficulties or with some form of Special Educational Needs. Reference will also be made to Formative, Summative and Continuous Assessment procedures.

In this unit we will discuss:

¨ principles and constraints of assessment
¨ examinations and tests
¨ baseline testing and target setting
¨ Formative, Summative and Continuous Assessment procedures.
¨ reasons for internal school examination
¨ influence of external examinations on teaching, and
¨ pupil assessment records.

Individual study time: 3 hours.

Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit you should be able to:

¨ differentiate between the purposes of examinations and tests
¨ identify other ways of assessing the all‑round capabilities of pupils
¨ understand the conditions necessary to maintain validity and reliability in examination and test scores at the school level
¨ understand the importance of baseline testing and target setting
¨ devise ways of keeping records of the levels of attainment of each pupil
¨ present and interpret pupil records for the benefit of pupils, parents and employers.

Principles and constraints of assessment procedures

Consider for a moment the main principles upon which the assessment procedures are based in your school. Consider also the restrictions you may face when carrying out assessment.

In giving thought to this, you will perhaps have identified some of the following:-

¨ Any form of assessment must be pupil‑centered and discriminative.
¨ Assessment is used to determine the current performance of a pupil
¨ It can be used to set targets for future performance for individual pupils or classes
¨ Assessment procedures can help to determine the effectiveness of a teacher’s learning strategies
¨ Examinations should be guided by the syllabus or scheme of work.
¨ Pupil assessment records should be up‑to‑date and as comprehensive as possible.
¨ Such records should be shared with the pupil and his / her parents
¨ All efforts must be made to create satisfactory conditions for examinations. An invigilators' manual with guidelines for standard procedures should be available.
¨ All internal tests and examinations should contain a diagnostic component to reveal the learning needs of the pupils.
¨ Tests, where possible, should be standardized and given under similar conditions of invigilation, time and venue, to all the pupils concerned. However, children with learning difficulties or Special Educational Needs should be given assistance to ensure that what is being tested is not hindered by their disability or learning difficulty. E.g. a reader to be provided when testing concepts rather than reading ability.

The above may be considered to be ideal but reality often produces constraints. Some of these listed below may have been part of your deliberations.

¨ It is very difficult, if not impossible, to reproduce similar conditions for school examinations and tests across a year group in terms, for example, of time, nature of invigilation, distractions and noise level, unless the whole group sits the examination at the same time in the same room.
¨ Pupil environmental differences, for example, deprivation in early childhood, home conditions, family size, income level, and variables in previous experience and practice, affect school performance.
¨ Children with learning difficulties or Special Educational Needs will often find assessment procedures challenging.
¨ The atmosphere of an examination room affects pupils differently, for example, into conditions of over stimulation or fear. For many pupils examinations are written under duress.
¨ There may be a lack of adequate and secure storage space for pupil assessment records.
¨ Teacher skills and knowledge in examination and test setting and marking, and in record‑keeping may be inadequate.
¨ Teachers may lack the ability to make appropriate assessments of pupils’ work based on experience.

The difference between examinations and tests
Tests provide a means for pupils and teachers to take a regular measure of the extent to which understanding and skills are being achieved and a means of diagnosing problems both in the learning and teaching which may then be given additional attention.

Exams provide a much more formal and public means of measuring the level of achievement of each pupil in respect of the objectives of a course of study available to everyone within a system. By providing a common 'currency' the abilities and qualities of each pupil may be described. We need to distinguish between internal school examina­tions and external public examinations.

In this sense, tests are formative in character and provide continuous assessment of the child’s progress and examinations are summative. See section below on Formative and Summative Assessment.

Activity 6.1
Consider the statements below and decide, based on the information above, which of the factors listed would apply to examinations, to tests or to both?

¨ Set by an individual teacher for his/her own pupils
¨ Set by an individual teacher for other pupils
¨ Taken by the whole year group at the same time
¨ Set as a departmental exercise
¨ Subject to formal supervision
¨ Moderated by external personnel
¨ Assesses performance over the whole syllabus
¨ Pupil results are often on a synthesis of practical work projects and written work
¨ Correct answers are provided immediately by the teacher on completion
¨ Used to reinforce acquired skills
¨ Provides immediate feedback to pupils
¨ Facilitates progression from one stage of learning to the next

Comments
There is a thin dividing line between tests and examinations. It is essential, though, that what is being tested is the work of the individual pupil and therefore, good test conditions must be observed. In essence, tests provide an ongoing or continuous assessment at pupil or class level, indicate areas for improvement and usually provide immediate feedback; whereas examinations are more summative in nature, test a whole unit, syllabus or programme and are used to supply the learner and teacher with a formal result of their interaction.

Reasons for internal school examinations
Internal examinations are held in every school. It would help to consider why this happens so that we can gain the greatest benefit from them. Below are some of the reasons.

¨ to check the learning progress of each pupil in order to report to parents, teachers and the school managers
¨ to identify current performance and set targets for future development
¨ to describe the performance of pupils preparing for certification, through public examinations
¨ to diagnose any learning difficulties so that appropriate remedial actions can be taken by the teachers. This is particularly important when identifying any special needs that children may have.
¨ to provide feedback for pupils about their performance and thereby moti­vate them to improve
¨ to identify pupils with the abilities and interests for specialized. subjects or courses
¨ to have informed instructional decision‑making and planning by the teachers, for example, on where to begin teaching a topic for a teacher new to a class
¨ to assess the levels of performance relating to a topic, unit or course by a class of pupils
¨ to provide data for the pupil record of attainment.

Think for a moment about any other uses that the results of internal examinations can be put to.

Baseline testing and target setting

“Weighing a pig will not make it any fatter”

Indeed this is very true and could equally apply to the indiscriminate use of tests with school children. There is often a tendency to over-test in schools. Indeed so many tests are often a substitute for quality teaching and learning in the classroom. The pig farmer who weighs his pig every day to ascertain his potential profits would be better spending his time providing a nutritious diet for the animal. Likewise testing children in itself, does not necessarily develop their knowledge and skills. For this reason, we must be very clear about why we test.

One good reason for a diagnostic test is to ascertain the current performance of a child, rate his / her potential and set an appropriate target for improvement based on the age and ability level of the child. To some teachers this will appear to be an onerous task with so many children to deal with. Indeed it is, but good teachers will understand that a curriculum based on the needs and potential of individual children i.e. a child-centred approach, will produce the best results.

In Guyana, the curriculum which has been developed, for example in English and Maths, bases its lessons on the average expected performance for a child of that age group. By carrying out a baseline or pre-test, underperformance will be identified and corrective measures taken. Likewise, those children performing above and beyond expectations can be stretched to achieve the highest limits. Target setting has benefits for average children, those with learning difficulties and also gifted children. Such a method encourages the teacher to see children as individuals rather than groups and focus his / her lessons on their individual needs rather than “teaching to the class”.

When setting targets, it is essential that thorough record keeping is carried out. It is better that this process is on the level of the school and is common to all and part of school policy. Baseline testing and regular (but not too frequent) repeat tests will become part of the normal procedures of the school by which it will measure its success and that of individual students and teachers. Results will be recorded and examined by the Headteacher or those with responsibility for an area of the school. Appropriate action, rewards or sanctions, will be the result of this analysis.

Targets can be set at the level of the pupil, the teacher or the school. Remember, however, that targets must be S.M.A.R.T
Setting targets for improved pupil performance is crucial in the school self improvement cycle. Targets drive school improvement and provide impetus to challenge complacency. To be effective, targets for school improvement need to be S.M.A.R.T. targets. This means they should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable and Realistic, and set against an appropriate Timescale.

Specific targets
Analysing pupil performance enables teachers to identify specific areas of work in the school which could be improved. For example, analysis may reveal that pupils, or groups of pupils, in the school make better gains in communicating than early number skills, in which case the teaching of early number skills needs to be targeted for improvement. Through professional discussions and the sharing of judgements about the effectiveness of current teaching practices in the school, the target can be refined to identify more specifically the particular elements of mathematics teaching for improvement.

Measurable targets
SMART targets will be measurable, and reflect the criteria used for measuring pupil performance. Having identified and agreed the aspects of teaching and learning to target for improvement, teachers will need to make judgements about translating teaching practice into improvement in pupil performance in the future. This involves deciding what more pupils will achieve when more successful teaching practices are implemented, over and above what they would be expected to achieve given current teaching practice. Those outcomes are the school’s measurable targets.

Achievable and realistic targetsTargets should be set that closely reflect their pupils’ performance priorities, as well as reflecting the national priorities of literacy and numeracy. For some schools this will mean setting targets for particular year groups. For other schools, it will mean setting targets for particular groups of pupils. It is important that school targets should focus on pupil learning. outcomes.

Timed targetsHaving identified targets and how they will be measured, it is important to set realistic timescales for when the pupil, the teacher or the school will reach these targets. The timescales chosen will depend on the nature of the target, the needs of the pupils and what action is necessary for the school to take. The key to this element of target setting is to set a timescale that will provide the optimum effect in terms of pupils’ achievements. Targets should be set against timescales that both maintain impetus and are sufficient for new teaching strategies to take effect. Many schools find it helpful to use the same timescale for all targets.

Activity 6.2
Consider the above description of baseline testing and target setting and give some examples of three or more appropriate targets you might consider for your own school for the following:-
¨ Individual pupils
¨ A year group
¨ A teacher
¨ A Department or Level
¨ The whole school

Comments
Targets for individuals pupils will focus on development to at least the level of the average child and hopefully beyond. Year group targets may be more general and could be about work ethos, attitudes and behaviour as well as overall performance. Teachers and departments or levels will be challenged by targets which are linked to the performance of their pupils and will benefit most from understanding how they can improve their teaching to achieve this. Support for such targets will be essential. Targets for the whole school may focus on improved overall performance, in summatiuve terms (see below) for example results in grades 2, 4, 6, 9 tests, CSEC, A levels and CAPE.

Formative and Summative Assessment procedures.
Consider some of the reasons why we assess children

¨ Identifying the next steps for learning
¨ Checking progress
¨ Motivating children
¨ Diagnostic testing
¨ Identifying possible future achievement
¨ Record of overall achievement
¨ Placing chilldren in rank order
¨ Evaluating a teaching method
¨ Evaluating a pupil, teacher or school
¨ Setting targets
¨ Discussing progress with parents/guardians

There are different categories of assessment. We perform each for different reasons.

Formative Assessment is day to day ongoing assessment which is used as part of the repertoire of teaching strategies, based on how well students fulfil learning intentions, providing feedback and involving students in improving their own learning.

Some uses of formative assessment can be found below:-

¨ Pupils achieve academic success more readily
¨ Target setting: for individuals over time for ongoing aspects – e.g. reading and writing
¨ Ensures student motivation and involvement in progress
¨ Keeps teachers informed of individual needs
¨ Provides a full record of achievement over time. Feedback to the student: must reflect the learning intentions of the tasks to be useful and provide an ongoing record. It can can be oral or written.
¨ It tracks progress diagnostically and informs student of successes and weaknesses and provides clear strategies for improvement.
¨ Develops student self-evaluation: they are trained to evaluate their own achievements against the learning intention (and possibly beyond), in oral and written form.
¨ Empowers the student to realise his or her own learning needs and to have control over future targets.
¨ Provides the teacher with more assessment information – the student’s perspective.
¨ Sharing the learning intentions wiith students for every task ensures they are focused on the purpose of the task, encourages their involvement and ability to comment on their own learning as well as helping the teacher to be clear about learning objectives for the class.

Summative Assessment is a snapshot testing which establishes what a student can do at a particular point in time.
Some examples of the uses of summative assessment can be found below:-
¨ Grades 2 – 9 National Tests in Guyana and CSEC, CAPE and A level
¨ Class tests: created by individual teachers and used in day to day lessons (e.g. mental number tests). Such tests can also be used formatively if the results are used to assist children in their learning.
¨ To improve students’ mental recall and establish what they have remembered or learnt so far.
¨ School Tests: in-house tests written by teachers, usually ‘end of module’ tests, used at the end of a taught unit to establish general attainment .
¨ Commercially produced tests purchased independently by schools. These tests are controlled by publishers to enable schools to monitor progress through summative means at different points in time
¨ Baseline tests - produced tests applied to students at entry to school, ranging from observation of students’ behaviour to specific oral or activity items to establish the students’ abilities at the beginning of their education, so that subsequent achievement can be compared and measured against actual improvement. They can also be used formatively, to identify weaknesses and strengths and provide appropriate learning experiences for individual students.

In terms of the Education Management Certificate Programme, the reflections, activities and assignments are formative assessments and will be used by the Master Trainers to develop the teachers’ understanding of the concepts learnt. The examinations, however, are summative and provide no specific feedback to the trainee other than an overall grade.

The validity of a test or examination
There are ways in which the effectiveness or reliability of examinations across classes in the school may be compromised.

¨ having different lengths of time for the same paper given to different classes
¨ giving different test taking instructions
¨ having different tests on the same topic in the same subject (although this may be appropriate for children with learning difficulties or S.E.N.)
¨ different levels of preparations for the test by teachers
¨ different test conditions e.g. time of day, noise levels, disturbances

Administration of external examinations

The administration of external examinations always has to be under­-taken efficiently.
Consider in what chronological order you would implement each of the following activities.

¨ Ensure invigilators thoroughly instruct pupils on the correct way of recording answers on the answer sheets.
¨ Return corrected school entry lists in accordance with the time scale laid down by the examination authorities.
¨ Send off all answer scripts to the Examination Board.
¨ Return pupils' entry forms to the Examination Board promptly.
¨ Check that the school adheres to the prescribed examination administration procedures.
¨ Appoint a Chief Invigilator from your staff.
¨ Make sure that school invigilators are fully aware of external regulations and comply with them.
¨ Follow exactly the security arrangements as laid down by the examination authority.
Comments
In this case we have not included an answer. You may check your answer against the guidelines for examiners you should already have in your school. If you don't have any guidelines, then your answer could provide a basis for a discussion with your senior staff as to what actions need to be included and in what order.

Comments
In this case we have not included an answer. You may check your answer against the guidelines for examiners you should already have in your school. If you don't have any guidelines, then your answer could provide a basis for a discussion with your senior staff as to what actions need to be included and in what order.

Influence of external examinations on teaching

Consider some of the ways in which examinations can affect both adversely and positively the nature and quality of teaching in your school.

Comments
There is no doubt that external examinations have a direct and considerable influence on curricula and teaching methods because of the importance of such examinations to the careers and lives of the pupils and the competition for places at higher levels.
In Guyana, there are a number of such examinations which are administered, namely:

Grades 2, 4, 6 and 9 National Tests
Caribbean Secondary Examination for Schools (CSEC / CXC)
Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination.
Advanced level General Certificate of Education (GCE A Level)

Schools cannot risk failure, therefore teaching tends to rehearse pupils for these examinations with strict concentration on syllabi and set books, with teaching methods based on formal expositions, dictated notes, memorisation, rote learning and reproduction. Unfortunately, examination pressure intensifies the tendency to concentrate on the interests of the abler pupils and forget the rest. This is, of course, extremely bad practice on the part of the teacher as all pupils deserve an equal opportunity for success at their own level.

On the other hand, examinations do help to concentrate the minds of both pupils and teachers towards meeting the curricular objectives.

Pupil assessment records
Keeping up‑to‑date records of all pupil test and examination scores is important but other related records are equally valuable. The overall objective of the school is to have as complete a record of the growth and progress of each pupil as an individual as possible. For this purpose, continuous assessment records, non‑academic appointments, term class reports, special incident accounts and the normal data found in the pupil's file all contribute significantly.

The most compact way to present such information, facilitating access and updating, is usually as a form or chart. Increasingly, in schools throughout the world, computers are used for this purpose.

Consider the form shown in below. It is used to present pre‑reading, writing and number activities for nursery pupils in their first 4‑5 weeks in school.

Criteria of assessment

A Can see similarities and differences in size
B Can pick one name from others
C Can see and remember
D Can pick a different item given five
E Can sort for kind
F Can sort number dots and remember symbols
G Can sort pictures
H Can sort pictures and words

Give each pupil a grade A - H

Savatri Balbahadur

John Mackenzie

Marshall Lewis

Reginald Singh

David White

This chart is capable of producing diagnostic information. A tick means success, a blank means no success.

Reflect for a moment on how you might improve this chart if it were to be used for your subject in your school.

Activity 6.3
Design a form or charts for one of the following:

¨ assessment marks for each pupil for the duration of a course;
¨ a termly report for parents showing test marks, non‑academic achievements, general behaviour, and other areas you think appropriate;
¨ marks, averages or medians for each pupil in a class
¨ character and behaviour assessment for each pupil to be updated at regular intervals during his/her school career;
¨ record special incidents of good/bad behaviour or non‑academic achievement;
¨ to present a testimonial/ reference/ school leaving certificate which will be derived from the above records.

Completing, storing and retrieving pupil records

Records are likely to achieve the purposes described in the sections above if they:

¨ make explicit what students know, understand and are able to do in relation to others and what has been taught in the curriculum
¨ are flexible enough to record the achievement of all students
¨ are manageable and can be easily understood by all who use them
¨ provide teachers with information about achievement, in particular about those parts of the curriculum which were taught earlier
¨ provide an accurate and reliable record of student achievement
¨ are consistent throughout the school and are passed on from one teacher to the next
¨ provide information in a form which allows schools to monitor student achievement and progress.

It is also very important to have a clear, well managed system of storing and retrieving pupil records. Firstly, you need to check that you have the right type of record books and documents on which to record information about each pupil. You may need to design and produce suitable material yourself. In Guyana, record cards are provided and should be passed on from school to school. However, you may need to design your own, especially for formative testing as those provided are mainly summative in nature. Secondly, you need to assign duties to each member of staff so that they know very clearly what information is required, by whom and when. Thirdly, you need to have secure places for keeping the records which should be confidential. Lastly, as school head you will need to manage the system, ensuring everyone is doing the work well and reviewing procedures to find ways for improvement.

Summary
Although assessment procedures including examinations and tests serve different purposes, both are impor­tant professionally within the school and should therefore be organised and managed responsibly. The school head must appreciate the need for good arrangements and tight security in internal and external examinations. She or he must, however, be aware that such examinations form only part of the assessment of the innate abilities of her/his pupils, and must recognise the need for a comprehensive system of record‑keeping which will benefit pupil, teacher and parents in giving a full profile of each child.

Resource Maintenance

Unit 7

Introduction
A head is charged with the proper utilisation and care of all resources in his or her school. Some of these resources are intangible, for example, time, manpower and space; others require accurate recording and accounting, for example, finance; and a third category needs physical maintenance, for example, school buildings.

School resources

The concern, in this unit, is with learning about the maintenance of tangible resources.

Individual study time: 3 hours

Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit you should be able to:

· distinguish between different categories of resources
· explain the importance of maintaining resources
· describe the procedures to keep resources in your school properly maintained
· identify the procedures for obtaining general and replacement items of supply
· train and supervise inventory holders to care for items in their charge
· understand the principles of asset management
· keep stock and other relevant school records


Principles and constraints of resource maintenance

Principles
Each school head needs to understand the importance of the following basic principles with regard to the maintenance of resources in a school:

All school buildings, equipment and property must be well maintained.
A school head must be conversant with government financial regulations as far as it affects his / her responsibilities.
All school purchases must be correctly recorded and maintained in good order.
All school purchases must be used for the purpose for which they were bought.
Goods and materials must be frequently checked and controlled to ensure their effective use.
An up‑to‑date inventory must be kept in every location where there are school resources
There should be an up-to-date full school asset register with copies on and off site.

Constraints
School heads are faced with many constraints which affect their ability to manage school resources effectively. These constraints include:
· insufficient funding
· shortage of or no personnel trained to handle maintenance and supplies
· lack of effective supervision of staff responsible for maintenance and supplies in schools where this applicable.
· lack of storage space
· insecure storage facilities
· delays in the disposal of unserviceable stock items and equipment
· arrival of replacement orders delayed or wrongly delivered because of transport difficulties or inefficiencies
· lack of consultation between supplier and user
· increase in maintenance demand because of overuse of limited facilities and equipment.

Activity 7.1
As a newly appointed head you arrive at the school which has limited financial resources and find, amongst other deficiencies, many broken windows, blocked toilets, a sports field overgrown with grass and bush and a broken perimeter fence.

Which problem would you tackle first, and which last, and why?

Comments
The first step would be to make a list of the main problems to be tackled, and separate them out into different levels of urgency, noting those which for reasons of Health and Safety, would need to be tackled first in order not to put pupils and staff at risk. Blocked toilets would be an example of this.

You would need to do this in conjunction with your staff, including non‑teaching staff and your pupils. Then you would need to identify that which the school, the school community and other organisations could handle and those which should be reported to the Education Department for action. For those problems that the school and the school community could handle, you need to accept responsibility and ascertain what resources are needed, are available and could be easily obtained.

The next step would be to organise your resources, of people, materials and finance, to tackle the problems. Lastly, you would need to ensure that a regular system of maintenance is put into place, becoming part of the everyday regime of your school.

Asset Register
Each part of the school must have an inventory of capital items which are owned by the school. This would be updated and kept by the person or persons responsible for that area of the school. For example, a music teacher would be responsible for steel pans and the Home Economics teacher for cooking utensils and stoves. In addition, a central record of all of these items, copies of the original perhaps, would be kept in the possession of the Headteacher as a duplicate record. All of these records in total for all parts of the school form the Asset Register which is the log of all school possessions for which the Headteacher is ultimately responsible. It is good practice to keep one copy on site and another off site in case of fire, loss or damage for which insurance claims might have to be made.

Consumable and non‑consumable items
A consumable item is usually of a lesser cost and has a shorter life span or might be “used up” through normal wear and tear or usage. Although from a common sense point of view the school head may decide what is consumable and what is not, it is wise to consult local regulations. No single factor alone is used to determine the category. Three factors have to be considered, namely: cost, life span and whether replacements will be required through wear or usage. For example, a 20 litre container of dishwashing liquid might be considered to be a consumable item because it will eventually be used up, whereas a 40 kilogram cylinder of gas would be non-consumable capital item because it could be re-used and has a value of its own. However, the gas within it would be consumable.

Activity 7.2
For each of the items below indicate whether they are consumable or non‑consumable.

Chalk, Chalkboard, textbooks, school generator, school vehicle or boat, pencil, pupil chair, computer, beaker, fuel, dining hall table

Comment
Common sense will usually be enough to distinguish between consumable and non‑consumable goods, but there are borderline cases. For example, a pupil's workbook is consumable if it is being used more as an exercise book, than as a textbook.

Procedures for schools heads who are spending school funds
Heads must be aware of the need to observe some simple practices whenever funds are being received and expended. They must keep a Cash Book which must include all financial transactions and be kept fully up to date. This would ensure that all funds received from any source are recorded, and that all monies expended are accounted for. This is necessary as all monies received by a school become public funds.

It is also essential that all Heads have a ‘Consumable Stock Book’ ledger as well as the Asset Register already mentioned in the previous section. These ledgers would contain all particulars of the acquisition and distribution of capital goods and consumable stock.

Non-consumable or capital stock must be entered on the inventory forms and asset register as requested by the financial regulations. All capital items e.g. computers, stoves, gymnasium equipment should be clearly and indelibly marked unless they are not owned by or leased to the school.

See the Ministry of Education Guidelines and, in particular, Module 9 “School Records and Documents” for further information on the use of the cash book, asset register, inventories and consumable stock books.

Reflect for a moment on the reasons why it is necessary to have these records and the consequences for the school of not keeping them.

Comments
Reasons for maintaining these records include:
Accountability – to satisfy government, Ministry and local Department of Education regulations
Avoid financial impropriety or appearance thereof
Ensure stocks are available when needed

Stock‑keeping, which is critical to the maintenance of resources, is the process of maintaining inventory and asset register data on the quantity and condition of supplies and equipment in order to know what is available for issue and distribution, and also to provide a base for making decisions on procuring / requesting additional supplies.

Stock must be classified as consumable (capital goods) or non‑consumable and then recorded accurately in the appropriate ledger by the designated teacher and checked by the school head.
Consumable items, when issued against the signature of the user, are used and the use properly monitored.

Non‑consumable items are issued and entered by the officer in charge of supplies on the appropriate inventory form. The items and the form are checked at regular intervals.

A ledger for consumable items would include columns for these entries:

date of arrival of goods;
date of issue;
balance;
quantity received;
quantity issued.

Please check your local regulations to ensure you include everything which is required.

Ensuring resources are well maintained
It goes without saying that, when you have responsibility for the resources in your school, they will need to be well maintained and working properly to gain maximum benefit from them. This, in itself, can be very challenging because there are cost implications for repairing items which no longer work. Decisions will need to be made whether to repair existing items or use the money to buy new or different things. This will depend on your priorities.

It is a good idea, when faced with multiple requests for scarce resources, to decide what you would do immediately, what you would do in the next few days, in the medium term and the long term or even never.

The following are some of the resourcing issues and situations which a Headteacher may find within the school.

¨ Pupils are inexplicably hungry.
¨ There is a dramatic increase in the consumption of fuel in the kitchen.
¨ Teachers complain of the lack of chalk.
¨ Pupil chairs are moved from one classroom to another continually.
¨ Gas cylinders unexpectedly become empty in the science laboratories.
¨ Wheelbarrows are left on the agricultural garden.
¨ Football kit disappears from the washing line.
¨ There is an unexplained broken window in a classroom.
¨ Part of the school fence goes missing overnight.
¨ A water pipe bursts, flooding part of the school.

With most problems or crises there are two solutions; one is the immediate action which is required to bring the problem under control, the other is to find ways of preventing the same thing happening again. Only by developing formal procedures, which must include the regular, frequent inspection of physical plant and stock, can problems be kept to a minimum. Because there is so much to be looked at, much of the work of inspection should be delegated. However, no matter how thorough your procedures may be, critical incidents will still occur!
Sources of school maintenance

Activity 7.3
To the best of your ability, complete the diagram below. Fill in the blanks with people and agencies who you think are responsible for school maintenance. Attempt to give two examples of what they should maintain in the school.

To see this diagram, you will need to view the PDF version which can be downloaded from the sidebar on the right.

Comments
As you completed this exercise, you may have thought of areas where your standards of maintenance could be improved and of action you could take to effect improvement.

Preventative maintenance

You may have included some of the following on your list:-
· boundary fence
· sanitary facilities
· borehole
· planer
· computer
· classroom furniture
· First Aid kit
· school compound
· stairway
· gas oven
· generator
· access pits
· access road
· roofs of buildings
· fire extinguisher
· photocopier
· classroom walls and floors
· windows and doors

As the development of your school takes place, so the range of resources which require preventative maintenance will increase, as will the cost. The purchase of any resource, whether it is a building or a textbook, must take account of its durability and how much it will cost to maintain each year. An estimate of recurrent costs should be included in your yearly budget submissions to the Department of Education.

Checking stock
The frequency with which stock is checked and the interval of time between checks is important. You will need to record all of the items that you or your staff have checked, when you did so and any abnormalities that you found.


You should ensure that when you make checks that

a physical check is made at frequent intervals
a random check is carried out to ensure the balance of stock is correct
a check is made to ascertain when items were issued
a check is made that items issued were received and signed for
you indicate who the inventory holder is. It is important to note that all inventory holders should receive full instruction on their responsibilities.

Summary
Time, money and effort expended on resource maintenance and management is money well spent. A school head must manage all school resources efficiently in the interests of the school, and therefore full, proper and timely maintenance of these resources is imperative. In order to do this he or she must

be aware of the resources under his control.
have a maintenance schedule for these resources.
ensure that schedule is implemented.
be aware of the procedures involved in having maintenance carried out.
keep proper inventory and asset management records.
keep an up to date consumable stock book.

Finding Financial Resources

Unit 8

Introduction
Without financial resources a school cannot survive; indeed unless a certain minimum level of financial provision is reached the effective operation of a school in terms of the quality of education offered is threatened. Note there­fore, that the title of this unit is 'Finding Financial Resources', since it is quite likely that no school can exist just on what the funding authority provides, but will have to find and create additional funds.

Funds are needed to:

¨ help facilitate the implementation of school policies and programmes
¨ enable activities such as educational tours and excursions to take place
¨ assist in the involvement of pupils in extra‑curricular activities such as music and sports
¨ assist in the development of schools as educational establishments.

In this unit we consider ways in which additional financial resources may be obtained. You should also study Unit 3 'Mobilising financial resources' in Module 5 Financial Management.
Note: Before working through this unit you should be aware of regulations and principles which should be observed in the raising and management of additional financial resources.

Individual study time: 3 hours

Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit you should be able to:

· describe the limitations of the Government of Guyana in providing financial resources
explain the need for careful management and control of the school budget
· understand the need to make a budget for the school and the necessity for the careful management and control of this budget.
· identify ways in which government provision can be supplemented
encourage parents, pupils and teachers actively to participate in fundraising activities
· use financial resources to promote learning and teaching in schools clarify the purpose of fund raising so as to stimulate support for fundraising efforts.
Principles and constraints of financing schools

Consider for a moment the main principles which you think govern the financing of schools.
Identify some of the main constraints you face as a school head in finding and managing additional financial resources for your school.

Comments
The main principles governing the financing of schools include:

All finances both from government and other sources must be properly recorded and controlled.
In the school, the head and the head only, is responsible and finally accountable for all financial management.
All financial provision should be marshaled for the benefit of the pupils.

Constraints
There are many constraints which school heads have to face in finding and managing additional financial resources. They include the following:

The need to observe correct procedures in some fundraising ventures may operate as a restriction.
Inadequate government provision of funds can undermine educational initiatives.
The low economic level of the local community may result in an overdependence on outside funding.
In urban areas a lack of sense of community may make it more difficult to develop a sense of commitment to the local school.
Boarding schools often have no local community.
The initiative, confidence and financial knowledge of the school head may be inadequate.
Audits of the accounts of a school may be based on financial rather than educational expertise.
The academic year is not the same as the financial year.
The head and the staff may lack the skills necessary to marshal others such as the PTA to raise funds.

Government financial provisions
In Guyana, government through the Ministry of Education is the main source of funding for schools. There are two main categories of such funding, namely, capital (development) funding and recurrent funding.

Capital funding is not the direct concern of the head of school. Decisions in this regard are made at higher levels, but the head should lobby for favourable decisions to be made when necessary. Recurrent funding is the provision of money to run the school for a particular financial year, and is managed by the Ministry and Departments of Education on behalf of all schools.
The head has to be aware of the limitations of government to cover all expenditures, particularly in innovative activities which often help to distinguish one school from the rest. In such areas additional funding from non‑governmental sources will be needed. It is, however, unfortunately true that the ability of the government to pay for even basic capital and recurrent expenditures is limited, so that additional funds from alternative sources are required by many schools both for capital projects and for supplementing recurrent funds.

Activity 8.1
Indicate whether the items in below are likely to be funded through capital or recurrent funding, or through neither.

¨ The provision of additional classrooms
¨ Teachers' salaries
¨ Teaching resources
¨ Computers
¨ Software for computers
¨ The provision of a computer room
¨ Food for pupils
¨ Travelling costs
¨ Building the school kitchen
¨ The purchase of sports equipment
¨ 20th Anniversary celebrations
¨ Student textbooks
¨ Purchase of a school vehicle
¨ Prizes for Prize‑giving

Comments
The nature of your answers will depend very much on how much money the Ministry of Education makes available to you to spend on education. Where funds are fairly freely available most of the funds, whether capital or recurrent, will come from the Ministry. But sometimes, where the opposite is true, funding is severely limited. Then maybe many of the items on this list will be funded from alternative sources, except, perhaps, teachers' salaries.

Planning for recurrent funding
Your school is dependent on the regular funding provided by Government and that this is the only expected source of finance available. Recurrent funds are based on the head's estimate of the money needed for the school to operate properly during the next financial year. In the initial stage the money requested in the different areas of school management is entirely dependent on the head's awareness and knowledge of what is needed and what may be obtained. The head's submission to the Ministry and the Department of Education is the principle source of information used to allocate funds.

Activity 8.2
Consider the list below and decide which of the items should the Head use when making out recurrent estimates for the school? Can you add any more items to the list?

Items for preparing recurrent estimates

1. Last year's recurrent estimates
2. Last year's electricity / telephone / water bills
3. Estimated costs for a new classroom
4. Present school staffing establishment
5. Cost of maintaining school grounds and playing fields
6. Ministry menu for pupil meals
7. Financial records for the previous year
8. List of medical supplies
9. Pupils' files
10. Present stock of sports equipment
11. Previous year's commitment ledger
12. Consumable stock register
13. The state of the school playing field
14. The distance of the school from the Ministry
15. The current rate of inflation

Comments
The range of items on this list demonstrates the diversity of information which has to be gathered in order to prepare the annual school estimates. Basically, the Headteacher must gather together all of the costs which the school incurs on a regular basis in order to carry out its function as a school. This will include all costs for services such as water, electricity, telephone etc, repair and maintenance of the school and its property, maintenance of grounds, purchase of instructional materials (consumable and non consumable). In addition, supporting paperwork will be required to back up the claim.

The information required and the means of funding schools is reveiwed by the Ministry on a regualr basis and, therfore, trainees should consult current legislation. See also Module 5 Financial Management.

Finding financial resources
As was suggested at the start of this unit, the emphasis here is on the word 'finding'.
All school heads must look for ways of augmenting their school's financial resources. Community involvement in this venture may increase community interest in the school; so the first source of extra finances should be your local community.

Consider for a moment the type of money raising activities that are likely to succeed in your community.

Comment
Every school and every area is different. Often the ability to raise funds will be dependent on the socio-economic area from which the school draws its pupils. This is not necessarily to say that children from poorer backgrounds will not have parents who will wish to support the school fully. However, the type and scope of the events may be different.

The following are often used to raise funds for schools:-

Sponsored events, (for example, walk, swim, spell, run), dances, discos, raffles, film shows, jumble sales, fetes, cake sales, fancy dress competitions, concerts, the sale of produce and the operation of a school canteen.

Remember that in Guyana, the Head should encourage others such as the PTA, Past Students’ Associations and the local community to raise funds for the school rather than doing it himself / herself.

Activity 8.3
A regular source of income comes from the contingency fund operated by many schools. In this way a regular amount of funding can be anticipated each year.

1. Choose the action you would take if a parent of a child refused to pay the levy from the following list. Would you:

make a home visit in the case of a non‑paying parent?
suspend the child from school until the levy is paid?
allow the child to attend school but instruct teachers not to issue the child with any materials or equipment?
meet with the parents to persuade them?
inform the PTA so that social pressures can be exerted?
publish names of pupils whose parents default?
report the child to the local school welfare officer?
make allowance for a proportion of poorer parents not to pay?

2. Can you think of any other appropriate action which might be effective?
Comments
It is important to involve both community and school in all stages of fundraising, planning, implementation and assessment of results. Some activities are ongoing with money being raised on a regular basis, for example, through the school canteen; others are single occasions aimed at raising fairly large sums. A school should organise a 'mix' of these activities.
The ability of a school to raise funds through contingency funds will depend on such factors as the amounts already being required, the income levels of parents, and the demand for places in the school. If too many parents refuse to pay then the scheme will be discredited and collapse. A distinction should be drawn, if possible, between parents who are reluctant to pay and those with genuine difficulties.

The need for supplementary fundraising
When a fundraising activity is promoted, the first task is to decide which educational need of the school will be satisfied by the money raised. The amount of money to be raised and the way in which the money will be spent must then be communicated to the community so that there is full support for the activity.

In most cases, it will be obvious to the Headteacher where there is an educational need. However, there may be so many that fundraising alone will not be able to meet them and, therefore, it is necessary to prioritise so that the money will be put to the best use. In addition, it is important to gain the enthusiasm of those who will do the work of fundraising. The scheme must be one which is “close to their hearts” and particularly, in the case of the PTA, which will directly benefit their children. Below you will find some suggestions of who you might consult and the process you might go through to help you decide upon your priorities.

· Consultation with PTA
· Consultation with teachers
· Consultation with student representatives
· Visiting other schools
· Personally noting deficiencies in physical plant
· Reports from social workers on needy pupils
· Subject enrichment plans ‑ e.g. educational visits
· By listening to appeals from parents
· Through reading educational literature
· Professional conversation with colleagues
· By observing the school in operation

Note, however, that fundraising should not be done in areas for which the Ministry of Education or other bodies have responsibility. (e.g. payment of teachers) Instead, you should lobby their support where possible and ensure that they carry out their function. You may wish to consider some of the following activities for fund raising support.

¨ School magazine
¨ School newsletter
¨ Educational visits
¨ Pupil prize giving
¨ Graduation and party for pupils
¨ Additional sports equipment
¨ Attendance at a music competition
¨ Transport for Sports Teams
¨ Purchase of reference books for teachers
¨ Purchase of First Aid kit for the sports teams
¨ Finance of a school based workshop relating to welfare of children
¨ Video camera for the Geography department
¨ Laser printer for computer studies
¨ Teaching aids to supplement those supplied by the education authority
¨ Sport Day competitions

Comments
Despite some limitations that exist on the raising of additional funds by schools, there is no school that doesn't need to raise funds somehow for maintaining and developing the quality of all aspects of school facilities and life.

As school head you must take a pro‑active approach to this by regularly consulting with the pupils, staff, parents and the community, as well as your line managers, to find ways of raising funds and identifying areas where the greatest benefit would be derived through some additional expenditure.

Summary
Each school experiences two levels of funding - recurrent and capital (or develop­mental). In order to secure adequate recurrent funding the school head must know how to prepare an annual budget to submit to the Ministry and Department of Education, and another to cater for funds expected from fundraising activities. He or she must also be able to motivate the PTA, other school bodies and the community, in fundraising activities to supplement the educational offerings of the school. All monies received by the school must be accounted for according to financial legislation and managed effectively by the head and staff to ensure that pupils are given the best possible education.

Special Educational Needs

Unit 9



Introduction
Although the final unit in this module on the curriculum, this one, relating to the role of the Headteacher in the management of Special Educational Needs, is perhaps one of the most important. It recognises and outlines the importance of including all children equally in the educational provision in Guyana. Although this has for many years been a guiding principle in Guyanese culture and politics, sadly, in practice it has not always been the case. It is not to say that it was not the intention of most teachers to run an “inclusive’ classroom but the challenges in doing so have often been quite insurmountable in attempting to do so.

Schools are made up of year groups, classes and individual pupils. It is convenient and practical to teach them in these groupings. However, each class of children is made up of 30 or more unique individuals with their own distinctive backgrounds, abilities, needs and aspirations. Very few teachers these days will believe that they can all be taught in the same way, have the same learning styles and would benefit from a totally uniform education. Most will accept that a child-centred approach is the most beneficial method of achieving individual learning. However, such an approach requires training, energy, dedication and resources; not all of which are readily available.

Added to this complicated situation is the fact that many children, through no fault of their own, have learning difficulties ranging from mild, which may be the result of their genetic make-up or possibly their family circumstances, to severe which have been identified as a recognised leaning disability such as dyslexia and autism. In addition, there are those children who have physical disabilities which can also range from the mild to the severe. However, in essence, they are all children who are not to be recognised by their disability or Special Educational Need but as individuals who have an equal part in “One nation, one people, one destiny”.

There is evidence that, left to their own devices, many teachers whilst agreeing with the above, would nevertheless teach their lessons to the “middle” or “average” in the class, failing to cater for children with SEN or to stretch those at the other end of the scale who are gifted. This culture clearly fails many children and it is, therefore, the responsibility of the Headteacher to ensure that there is a positive ethos of “inclusion” within the school, that teachers are trained to handle it and that examples of discrimination (e.g. failure to support adequately a child with SEN) are dealt with appropriately.

Individual Study time: 4 hours.

Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit you should be able to:

¨ Understand the history and development of education leading to the current position on S.E.N.
¨ Be clear about the meaning of the term Special Educational Needs
¨ Understand the reasons why all children have a right to an equal education
¨ Distinguish between learning difficulties and learning disabilities
¨ Understand the role of the Headteacher in the management of Special Educational Needs
¨ Be aware of the international context of SEN
¨ Devise strategies for meeting the needs of children with S.E.N.

A Brief History of Teaching Pupils with Special Educational Needs
Let us first consider how different approaches to teaching pupils with SEN have been used over the last few decades. The changes you will learn about have been happening globally but at different rates in different countries. Due largely to the immediacy of mass communications differences are being rapidly reduced and many countries, including Guyana, are being helped to bring their practices in line with current thinking globally.

We will start with a short history of Special Education. To begin this journey we need, first, to look at education generally. Over the last 2 centuries most countries have followed a similar pattern, albeit at different rates and in some cases for different reasons.
One factor that influences education in all nations is that of finance. Educating children costs money. A second factor is the perceived purpose of education.

Economics and attitudes to gender and disability led to education for able-bodied males up to the ages of 10 or 11 years being prioritised. This education focussed on literacy. Eventually this education was extended to 13 or 14 years and included useful, work-orientated skills. By the late 19th century many countries were able to include in their legislation the education of girls. At this stage most children who differed from the norm physically or mentally in any way were either institutionalised or merely kept at home. Either way they were usually regarded as uneducable because education was geared towards producing a useful workforce.

By the mid 20th century many countries acknowledged the need for people with disabilities to be educated in order that they may be able to participate more fully in society and maybe do some work of some kind. Special schools/units with a limited curriculum were set up for this purpose. Following quickly on from this remedial classes were set up in some regular schools. This happened in recognition of 3 factors:

¨ Some pupils were borderline such that it was not deemed appropriate for them to be educated in special schools and yet they were struggling with the rigid teaching styles common in schools at that time.
¨ Some mental disabilities did not show up fully until the pupil had been in school a year or two.
¨ It was less expensive to have a remedial class in a regular school than it was for the Ministries to set up Special Schools/Units for small numbers of pupils.

Much research was being done at this time that all served to highlight the fact that children with physical and/or learning disabilities should have the same rights to effective education and where possible be educated among children without tangible disabilities in order to progress faster. When this happened pupils were said to be integrated into regular schools. Out of this research came issues such as the basic rights of all human beings to be treated as equals and the realisation that many people with physical / mental learning disabilities / difficulties also have many strengths and are capable of learning as much as, and in some cases more than, people without recognised disabilities.



Activity 9.1
We have seen how economic factors: the cost of education and the need for it to provide a workforce that will increase a nation’s wealth, have dictated the sequence in which different sectors have society have received education.

List as many reasons as you can think of why pupils with SEN should receive as full an education as possible.

Comment
It is a basic human right that all people should have education without discrimination.
All human life is valuable and it is morally wrong to place a higher value on those who are unimpaired against those who have some discernable impairment. It is often impossible to be accurate about the potential of any individual from an early age much less the potential of someone with an impairment that may only result in delayed development rather than none at all. Much impairment does not prevent an individual from learning and going on to lead a fully productive life. Those who are severely impaired need education in order to become as independent as possible. Society needs to value human traits other than those, which lead solely to the generation of income.


What are Special Educational Needs?
The term 'special educational needs' refers to children (and adults) who have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn or access education than most children (or adults) of the same age. These children may need extra or different help from that given to other children of the same age.Children do not have learning difficulties just because their first language is not English. Of course, some of these children may have learning difficulties as well. Children in the interior of Guyana, therefore, speaking a local, native language do not have S.E.N.Children with special educational needs may need extra help because of a range of needs, such as in thinking and understanding, physical or sensory difficulties, emotional and behavioural difficulties, or difficulties with speech and language or how they relate to and behave with other people.

Many children will have special educational needs of some kind at some time during their education. Schools and other organisations should be able to help most children overcome their difficulties quickly and easily. But a few children will need extra help for some or all of their time in school.

So special educational needs could mean that a child has difficulties with:

¨ All of the work in school
¨ Reading, writing, number work or understanding information
¨ Expressing themselves or understanding what others are saying
¨ Making friends or relating to adults
¨ Behaving properly in school
¨ Organising themselves
¨ Some kind of sensory or physical needs which may affect them in school.

Many people believe that Special Educational Needs relates purely to Physical Disability and is accommodated only through Special Schools. As you can see, this could not be further from the truth.

The Right to Education

Reflect for a moment on how you would feel if you had a significant physical disability but were above average in your intellectual capacity and your parents decided that it would be better if you did not attend school.


Comment
In Guyana, this is often a realistic situation. Whether for reasons of embarrassment, inconvenience, finance, or even superstition a significant number of parents choose to do this. It is first and foremost the responsibility of the Ministry of Education to ensure that such children and their parents are given every opportunity and encouraged to attend school, whether in a Special School with a Specialist Curriculum or integrated into the mainstream.

It is the responsibility of the Headteacher and his / her staff to guarantee that such children are fully included in the activities, both leaning and social, of the school to the full extent that they are capable.

All children have a right to education at the fullest level of their capabilities and should be encouraged to reach their full potential. In this unit we will concern ourselves more with children who can be accommodated in the mainstream school; that is, those with mild to moderate learning difficulties and learning / physical disabilities. That is not to say that more severe cases cannot be included in the mainstream or are not important but that such information is best disseminated in a specialist workshop or training course.

Pupils with Learning Disabilities and Learning Difficulties
Think for a moment about what a Learning Disability and a Learning Difficulty mean. All teachers need to identify the learning needs of their pupils and the different constraints that their pupils will have and how these relate to their potential.

The characteristics that all learning disabled children have in common are:

¨ They have average or above average intelligence
¨ They have adequate sensory abilities
¨ There is a discrepancy between their potential and their achievement

However a great many other characteristics are found in a number of learning disabled children.

¨ Hyperactivity: The tendency to discharge energy through action rather than cognition resulting in non-goal directed activity that is inappropriate.
¨ Hypoactivity: Appears listless or daydreaming. Moves slowly, works slowly and speaks slowly. May be overweight. Does not socialise well. Does not participate unless urged. Does not finish assignments.
¨ Inattention: This may not be relayed to hyperactivity or hypoactivity. It can simply be a matter of actual inability to focus on any particular activity for any length of time.
¨ Perseveration: The tendency to continue a specific act, behaviour, attitude or thought in non-purposeful or inappropriate repetitions.
¨ Rigidity: Responding to the environment in an overly orderly, carefully controlled, inflexible fashion. This may be a learned behaviour to compensate for emotional disorganisation.
¨ Instability: Personal, social and academic performance fluctuations without obvious good reason.

Academic behaviour seen in Learning Disabled Children

Listening skills
¨ Easily distracted, especially by background noise
¨ Inefficient listening
¨ Unable to follow more than one direction at a time
¨ Forgets what is said
¨ Unable to reproduce rhythmic beats
¨ Short attention span

Reading
¨ Reads at a significantly lower rate than his/her peers
¨ Letter reversals
¨ Reads words backwards (was for saw)
¨ Reads from right to left or bottom to top
¨ Confuses letters and words of similar shape (r and h, n and h)
¨ Unable to read silently, needs to read aloud.
¨ Unable to explain ideas or organise thoughts when retelling a story

Oral Language
¨ May know the name of an object but is unable to say it
¨ Confused and disorganised when speaking of an idea
¨ Lack of sentence structure and correct grammar
¨ Difficulty speaking about a sequence of ideas
¨ Limited vocabulary
¨ Cannot say words while writing them

Mathematics
¨ Forgets basic arithmetical facts
¨ Relies on the concrete e.g. counting on fingers
¨ Difficulty understanding abstract concepts such as time, distance and space.
¨ Reverses numerals (21 for 12, 6 for 9)
¨ Difficulty with matching similar shapes
¨ Confused about which column to start with when doing mathematical computation
¨ Confuses signs ( - mistaken for + )

Writing
¨ Has difficulty copying from the board or a book
¨ Cannot print or write on a line
¨ Letters or words may be wrong in size and shape and spacing
¨ Moves the page excessively when trying to cope with a writing task
¨ Erases and corrects excessively
¨ Goes over and over one letter, or may write one word over many times
¨ Is slow in completing written work

Listed above are 33 typical behaviours a pupil with a Learning Disability may display. Note: the use of the word ‘behaviour’ here means, the way a pupil performs and it should never be assumed that these pupils are consciously or deliberately misbehaving.



Activity 9.2

Study the lists and think about the pupils you have taught or are currently teaching.
How many pupils display at least half of these behaviours?
How many pupils display only 5 or 6 of these behaviours?
How many pupils display none of these behaviours?
Now focus on the ones who display at least half of these behaviours. How do you think these pupils feel during lessons? How do you think they feel when told off for not working properly? What can you, as their teacher, do to help them?

Comments
Most pupils with a Learning Disability feel confused, embarrassed, and angry when they are unable to follow what is being taught or do the work they are being told to do. These negative feelings are compounded when they are told off for something that is beyond their control such that they may become defiant or quiet and sulky. As their teacher you need to first of all get to know your pupils’ strengths as well as their weaknesses and then plan your lessons differently so that all your pupils can learn something from them that they can feel good about.



Pupils with Learning Difficulties
The characteristics that all pupils with Learning Difficulties have in common are:
¨ Lower than average I.Q.
and/or
¨ Some significant sensory impairment
¨ Some limit to their potential and academic achievement

We know that all people are different in many ways and yet, differences are all too often ignored in the classroom. Lessons are planned and delivered as though every pupil were the same. Since you are studying this course, that places you among approximately the top 5% of people in Guyana who are capable of or have access to a higher academic education. Those who are unable to do this can nevertheless go on to lead successful lives using less academic skills and hence they still need to be educated whilst at school to their full potential. It is normal for persons in society to have a full range of ability. However, it is society itself which has decided that top academic achievers are more valuable than those who have other traits to offer – and teachers who decide that only the ‘easy to teach’ are worth bothering with.



Activity 9.3
Draw up a list of all the things you are good at.
Now draw up a list of all the things you are not very good at.



Comments
Check which list you put the following skills on:

¨ Painting pictures
¨ Reading music
¨ Playing an instrument
¨ Mathematics
¨ Reading academic texts
¨ Reading for pleasure
¨ Writing for study
¨ Writing for pleasure
¨ Working with wood
¨ Working with fabrics
¨ Singing
¨ Cooking
¨ Looking after babies/children
¨ Making people feel happy/relaxed in your presence
¨ Driving a vehicle
¨ Public speaking
¨ Looking after the environment
¨ Speaking a second language
¨ Using a computer
¨ Helping people to work through their problems
¨ Organising group activities
¨ Flower arranging
¨ Teaching children who do not find it easy to learn
¨ Teaching children who learn easily
¨ Cleaning a house
¨ Washing clothes
¨ Saying ‘Thank You’
¨ Asking for help and advice
¨ Studying science
¨ Writing poetry
¨ Mountain climbing


This list could be endless and you may have other things on your list. The chances are that you have more items on your list of things that you are NOT good at than you have on your list of things that you ARE good at. This is normal. No one can be good at everything and many people with Learning Disabilities/Difficulties will be good at many of the tasks that their academically able peers are not good at.
This is why we must value everyone for what they CAN do since the whole of society needs people with a very wide range of skills.



Pupils with a Learning Difficulty may have an inherently low I.Q or a sensory impairment which makes it difficult for them to learn as much, or as quickly, as other pupils but they can learn and must be helped to learn as much as possible. Pupils with a Learning Disability have average to high I.Q but also a condition that affects concentration and/or the way they do things such that different teaching approaches are needed.

The Role of Headteacher in the Management of Special Educational Needs
In Module 8, you will read that the Headteacher is not merely an administrator or a manager but first and foremost a Leader. Some of the characteristics of a leader are as follows:-

¨ Creates a vision for the school for its short and long term development
¨ Empowers staff to work toward achieving the vision
¨ Provides and enabling environment in which they can work
¨ Encourages team work
¨ Is the lead professional of the school

All of these characteristics are essential when leading the staff in the management of S.E.N.
As the Lead Professional and in relation to the provision for SEN, consider what your vision for the school would be and how you would work with, encourage, empower and enable your staff to achieve it.

In answering the above, let us consider the reality of the situation in Guyana. It is probably true to say that almost all children will have a special need at some time during their time in school. This may be permanent, semi-permanent or temporary and it may be caused by external factors or personal circumstances. The permanent will remain with the child throughout his or her life (e.g. some physical disabilities for which there is no cure). The semi-permanent may improve as the child gets older and learns to cope with the disability, a cure may be found or he /he responds to treatment. The temporary will be short term and may very well be as a result of factors relating to home circumstances or the quality of education.

Many Guyanese children have a temporary special educational need which is related to external factors. They are of a normal ability range and are able to learn. This need may not be permanent although it often is because it is not recognised and appropriate strategies put into place to deal with it. Unfortunately, it is often a result of the following circumstances

¨ Knowledge, skill and ability of teachers
¨ Availability of resources
¨ Large class sizes
¨ Poor motivation of teachers
¨ Lack of adequate supervision of staff
¨ Low levels of teacher / pupil contact time
¨ Inappropriate teaching Methods

The skill is to be able to differentiate between children who have SEN and those whose performance is a result of these external factors. This is where the leadership of the Headteacher comes into play. You must take the initiative in relation to SEN and must make suitable provision happen. As Headteacher, in doing so, you will have a total commitment to “equality of opportunity”, a commitment to “Inclusive Education” in the mainstream (where it is in the interests of the child) and will be dedicated to meeting the needs of all children in every classroom.

The Statement and Framework for Action (UNESCO, 1994) re-affirms the right to education of every individual, as enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and renews the pledge made by the world community at the 1990 World Conference on “Education for All” to ensure that right for all, regardless of individual differences. The Statement also mentions the 1993 UN Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities which states that the education of disabled children should be an integral part of the education system.

It states:-
¨ Every child has a fundamental right to education, and must be given the opportunity to achieve and maintain an acceptable level of learning,
¨ Every child has unique characteristics, interests, abilities and learning needs,
¨ Education systems should be designed and educational programmes implemented to take into account the wide diversity of these characteristics and needs,
¨ Those who have special educational needs must have access to regular schools which should accommodate them within a child-centred pedagogy capable of meeting these needs,
¨ Regular schools with this inclusive orientation are the most effective means of combating discriminatory attitudes, creating welcoming communities, building an inclusive society and achieving education for all; moreover, they provide an effective education to the majority of children and improve the efficiency and ultimately the cost-effectiveness of the entire education system.
¨ Special needs education…. assumes that human differences are normal and that learning must accordingly be adapted to the needs of the child rather than the child fitted to pre-ordained assumptions regarding the pace and nature of the learning process.

Consider to what extent these maxims, which are now accepted by almost all developed countries, would apply to your school or education generally as you know it in Guyana.

The Headteacher, therefore, has a serious responsibility:-

¨ To set the expectations about inclusive education in the classroom
¨ To monitor the performance of teachers and children against those expectations
¨ To evaluate staff performance.
¨ To train and coach the staff on appropriate methods and behaviours
¨ To lead by example as the Lead Professional

However, in reading this, if such actions are not part of your normal practice, you will ask “How can this be done?” This is where there is an obvious link between what we are discussing now and the assessment procedures as outlined in Unit 6 of this Module. Baseline, Formative and Summative Assessment and Record Keeping are essential tools in the process. Teachers should be encouraged to follow the process outlined below:-

¨ Identification of child with SEN through observation and testing
¨ Comparison of data with the normal range for the age and ability of the child
¨ Recognition of the need through diagnosis of specific learning or physical / learning disability
¨ Creating an Individual Education Plan (IEP) with strategies for learning, teaching, monitoring and evaluating progress for children with severe needs and a Group Plan for more general needs (e.g. low class literacy levels)
¨ Monitoring the plan by the teacher and ultimately the Headteacher
¨ Testing for progress against baseline assessment
¨ Reviewing and updating the plan


Strategies for Meeting Special Educational Needs
Needless to say, these are numerous and to outline more than just a few would be impossible in this programme. However, you and your staff should consider the following once the need has been recognised:

¨ Setting children in classes where the type and pace of the lesson meets their needs
¨ Arranging children into groups of similar abilities and needs
¨ Matching the work to the needs of the children. This is commonly known as differentiation. With practice it is possible to provide several levels of work in the same class on the same subject.
¨ Adapting the curriculum – not a new curriculum – to meet children’s needs
¨ Holding remediation classes
¨ Appointing a fully committed SEN coordinator or giving an existing senior teacher this responsibility
¨ Finding ways of using classroom assistants, perhaps parents who volunteer, to assist and guide the children
¨ Involvement of health professionals
¨ The use of reward systems to encourage and motivate children for the small steps they make
¨ Focusing on classroom inclusion (keeping children involved)
¨ Creating an Educational Psychology Service. Although this is perhaps for the future, it is a role which could be carried out in the short term by the School Social Workers.

Consider whether any or all of these strategies might work in your school, given a willing staff.



Activity 9.4
You may ask why “inclusive education” is important. Consider these statement and decide whether you agree with them. If not, why not?



¨ All children must be equally valued
¨ Maintaining barriers to some students’ participation in the cultures, curricula and communities of local schools is unacceptable. (Reference to placing children in Special Schools where their SEN does not require them to be isolated from the main community)
¨ Inequalities occur when the school system is not responsive to diversity.
¨ Inclusion is not just about pupils with disabilities
¨ Viewing differences between students as problems to be overcome is disrespectful and limits learning opportunities
¨ Identifying academic achievement as the main aim of schooling detracts from the importance of personal and moral development
¨ Isolating schools and local communities from one another deprives everyone of enriching experiences
¨ Inclusion in education should not be a separate issue from inclusion in society


Comment
We would hope that you would not have found reasons to disagree with any of the statements.



Finally, a headteacher must be very proactive about achieving a special education for special children in a special way, whether in the mainstream or a special school or unit.

“Children learn better when excited and engaged. What excites and engages them most is truly excellent teaching which challenges them and shows them what they can do. When there is joy in what they do, they learn to love learning”.

The education system must excite, challenge
and engage special children too.

Summary
A Headteacher must be clear about the meaning of the term Special Educational Needs and how its history and international context has led to the current position on S.E.N. It is essential that, as the Lead Professional, he / she appreciates the reasons why all children have a right to an equal education and, in particular, his / her role in the management of Special Educational Needs.

Once all of this has been accepted, the challenge is to be able to devise strategies for meeting the needs of children with S.E.N. In short, the Headteacher must understand the issues of inclusion, be committed to equality of opportunity and to meeting the needs of individual children.

He / she must “make it happen!”