schools core

University Degree Education and Teaching

Introduction:

In a recent annual report the Chief Inspector notes that "The gap between the average achievement in the highest performing schools and the lowest continues to widen." (OFSTED 2003, Pura. 79). Seeking for the reasons behind this wide gap, it would appear clearly that the clue is a school resource which is the main factor behind school performance. Elaborating on the title of the research I'm going to demonstrate, "What features of resource and organization would be expected to find in a school that is focused on providing the best education for all its pupils?" through the following points (School Resource – All School Population Needs – Organization And Management Of School – Constraints Impede Achieving a Fully Effective School – Challenging Circumstances – Effective School Focusing On Achievement For All Its Pupils).

School Resource:

Simply school resources are facilities, managed by the teacher or a qualified person, contains types of teaching and learning resources, IT, learning methods, school buildings and some entertainment places such as swimming pool…etc. These facilities make the learning process easier, faster and enjoyable. (http://en.wikipedia.org) Significantly, human resources are the most important factors in any organization as a tool for implementing organizational strategic plans. Pupils, head teacher, teachers and administrators who use the maintenance resources should be aware that they are using them properly to achieve a full useful use of them. Now teacher should be qualified and have necessary management skills. Thinking about time, "Time and resources in all organizations are always subjects to alternative uses, making it difficult but necessary to achieve an optimum deployment and use of staff, accommodation, finance, materials and equipments." (Alan Paisey 1981). Finally, The curriculum, "All the learning which is planned and guided by the school, whether it carried on in groups or individually, inside or outside the school" Kelly (1983:10; Kelly 1993).

All School Population Needs:

Recently, there is a careful consideration of 'every child matter' and 'inclusion'; ‘... the most effective schools do not take educational inclusion for granted. They constantly monitor and evaluate the progress each pupil makes … They take practical steps – in the classroom and beyond – to meet pupils’ needs effectively and they promote tolerance and understanding in a diverse society.’ (Evaluating educational inclusion, Guidance for inspectors and schools, Ofsted, 2000). These concepts dictate us to understand what exactly the pupils need well to make them happy with the education provided. Also we shouldn't forget the diversity of pupils' abilities. So, we must seek carefully for what features school resources should provide in order to cover the differentiation of the pupils. "Corresponding to the idea in classical organization theory that it is best for an individual to report to only one person." (Alan Paisy, 1981, p.4|). In this case the teacher has to assess pupils' needs, manage and organize school resources individually for every pupil and provide available resources and make sure that the pupils are on the right way to fully achievement according to realistic targets which match with their needs and abilities. Significantly, external intervention can be useful; Parents can help greatly to understand their child's needs.

Organization And Management School Resources:

Significantly we need management and organizing between resources and objectives. The basic meaning of management is;

* Planning: deciding what we want to happen in the future.

* Organizing: making optimum use of the resources to guarantee carrying out plans.

* Leading: motivating others to play an effective role in achieving goals.

* Controlling: Monitoring the progress which may need modifications.

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Organization And Management School Resources:

Significantly we need management and organizing between resources and objectives. The basic meaning of management is;

* Planning: deciding what we want to happen in the future.

* Organizing: making optimum use of the resources to guarantee carrying out plans.

* Leading: motivating others to play an effective role in achieving goals.

* Controlling: Monitoring the progress which may need modifications.

(Alan Paisey, 1981) defines management education as "The personal process of learning values, attitudes, information and skills to achieve desired relations between resources and objectives." In my point of view, the following (Venn diagram) shows the relation among the pupil, the teacher and parents. Clearly, if we can manage and organize the relations between these groups for every pupil we will guarantee the highest achievement for all pupils.

Schools need the following steps of Management to achieve its objectives.

Careful evaluation of the school needs for resources.
Careful target setting for school and pupils.
Schemes of work.
Wise use of time.
Practical training for teacher.
Monitoring teacher's work.
Co-operating teacher – head-teacher – parents.

Constraints impede achieving a fully effective school:

In the following lines, the impact of resources will be demonstrated and which problems associated to the resources. Firstly, financial resources, it is impossible to make a plane before you know your budget, "for the school budget is an expression of the school plan in fiscal terms." (William G Cunningham, 1982). Significantly, private schools have good budget and they can accept money from parents but estate schools which mainly represent the biggest number have very poor budgets which don't allow them to develop and improve school resources. Another Important aspect, human resources impact, job satisfaction, employee attitudes… "Planning problems typically develop problems during implementation when individual and group conflicts begin to emerge within the organization." (William G |Cunningham 1982). Beside the teacher's quality, there is no differing between teachers' salaries because there aren't clear measurements for teachers' quality. Poor communications between the top leaders who plan for change and the teachers. No chance for teachers to involve in taking decisions. Finally, The impact of smaller class sizes and the percent of teacher-pupil, "The most optimistic findings are that for younger children, smaller class sizes are associated with higher test scores." "Smaller class size / pupil-teacher can be associated with other positive outcomes." (e.g. in Dustmann et al, 2003).

Challenging circumstances:

"The term 'school facing challenging circumstances' is often used interchangeably with number of descriptive terms including 'school in challenging contexts' (Harris, Muijs et al. 2003) 'schools in difficulty' (NCSL 2003). (Christopher Chapman 2005) gave a definition of school facing challenging circumstances as: "A school that has a disproportionately large number of negative factors acting on it, which in turn significantly inhibits its capacity building and school improvement processes. These factors may be either internally generated, externally governed by local context, or a combination of both." Clearly, school's problems which impede achieving a fully effective school didn't occur in one day and will not be solved within day and night. (William G Cunningham, 1982) resolved 8 key questions for school change:

Where are we?
Where do we want to go?
What resources will we commit to get there?
How do we get there?
When will it be done?
Who will be responsible?
What will be the impact on human resources?
What data will be needed to measure progress?

Effective School focusing on achievement for all its pupils:

"The most effective school does not take educational inclusion for granted. They constantly monitor and evaluate the progress each pupil makes … They take practical steps in the classroom and beyond to meet pupils needs effectively and they promote tolerance and understanding in a diversity society." (Evaluating Educational Inclusion Guidance for INSP). (Stoll and Fink 1996, P.28) Stated that a school is effective if it:

- Promotes progress for all pupils beyond what would be expected.

- Gives consideration of initial attainment and back ground factors.

- Ensures that each pupil achieves the highest standards possible.

- Enhance all aspects of pupil achievement and development.

I think, school must continue to improve from year to another nonstop improvement. A school research should be done yearly to measure the progress and see how the performance of the school was and compare progress to previous year/years. And decide what school needs to make a plan and set targets for the next year. These plan and targets should be realistic and count on what weaknesses need improvement and modifications. A careful consideration should be given to the curriculum. Obviously the curriculum must match today’s people’s needs in order to work and live.

Conclusion:

In Egypt

All schools need lots of resources even private ones. The number of pupils in one class is not less than 35 pupils and in lots of estate schools it reaches 60 pupils and there is only one teacher in the class per lesson. There are no assistant teachers. The pupils study nothing if their teacher is absent. The class just has black board or might be green one. Rich classes have white marker boards. There is only one room in every school which is well equipped with computers, big screen, printer … etc. the school has to make a time table to allow all the classes visit this room. Lots of time wastes to move and change classes inside the IT area. Most schools have very small playground because they used part of it to build some other classes. Most schools haven't got since lab. My school has no rooms for teachers. We stay in the library which is a room 2 by 3 Meters. The school building consists of 5 floors and I think this is disadvantage. The curriculum is not flexible and depends on saving information only.

In England

Mostly, the school's building is one floor. The buildings have good design and the buildings of the school are linked together. All classes are well equipped with IT. The school has vast green areas. There is more than one playground inside the school. There is a teacher inside every class and about four or five assistants. The curriculum is flexible and it is allowed for the teacher to choose from it according to the pupil's ability and needs. Mainly, English schools have a plenty of school resources.

In Conclusion, Obviously, a full understanding of what weaknesses impeded achieving school effectiveness is needed in order to carry out the right plan and take steps forward for change and improvement in the future. I think a school research should be done yearly to measure the progress, how the school performance was, what resources are needed and comparing progress to previous year/years. Management of resources, efficiently and effectively and employing resources in all subjects in order to get the best learning and teaching. Setting target for the pupils individually is essential and for the school as well. I believe that we have shortage in lots of things such as financial resources, maintenance resources … etc, but we have human brains which can challenge all these circumstances. I think we should change leadership roles and encourage external intervention which can be pressure and support and can help with providing schools with essential resources. I believe, challenging circumstances isn't so easy, short and long term planning is needed to face these circumstances for constructing effective school focusing on achievement for all its pupils.

References:

Christopher Chapman (2005), Improving schools through external intervention, Continuum International Publishing Group: London.

Stephen Machin & Anna Vignoles (2005), What's The Good Of Education?: The economics of education in the UK, Prenceton University Press: UK, USA.

Richard A. Villa & Jacqeline S. Thousand (2005), Creating an inclusive school 2nd edition, Association for Supervision and curriculum development (ASCD):Alexandria, Virginia USA.

OFSTED (2003), Excellence in Cities and Education Action Zone: Management and Impact, OFSTED Publications center: UK.

William G. Cunningham (1982), Systematic Planning for Educational Change, Mayfield Publishing Company: United States of America.

Alan Paisey (1981), Organization and Management in School: Longman Group Limited UK, Longman Inc. New York, USA.