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Our Sustainable Approach |
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Train Trainers of Trainers, Maintain Client Support to Assure Quality Control in the Classroom |
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Train Educators
Over the past 8 years, we have developed a teacher training manual that includes the principles of early childhood education and strategies to ensure achievement in the elementary school. The manual is based on established program approaches that incorporate child development, theories of learning, constructivist learning, child-centered instruction, mastery learning, and classroom management. The manual is translated into French and Creole and has been used in Haiti and Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. Both teachers and school directors participate in the training.
The training process begins with an initial training |
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workshop followed by a second training. The participants are actively involved in the training and practice and implementation of training objectives for each session. Each participant receives a training manual that can be used later as a reference for implementation in the classroom. After participants have a comprehensive understanding and are able to implement the training in their classroom, candidates are selected to become trainers. |
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Train Trainers of Educators
Educators who have achieved the most success in understanding and applying the training are selected to become trainers. They are introduced to the training process within the regular teacher training sessions. Meetings are held prior to the training and after each training session to ensure the trainers understand how each session proceeds and understand their teaching assignments. During the training they work with WCR teaching specialists who lead the sessions with the assistance of the training candidates. When the training sessions have been completed, successful candidates receive a certificate as a trainer. The process ends after another training event when the new trainers conduct the entire training with the support of the WCR teaching specialists. |
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Maintain Client Support to Assure Quality Control in the Program
After each training workshop, follow-up is provided through school visits and observation of teachers who are implementing the training. The teacher training manual contains a teacher evaluation form that guides educators and trainers in the behaviors that are expected for the evaluation. Generally, two or more people conduct the evaluation. Teacher practices and instruction are observed to determine how well the training is evident in the classroom. After the observation, the trainers discuss their findings and have a conference with the teacher. Suggestions are made and clarifications are discussed where improvement is needed. Follow-up training can be conducted to provide further assistance. The best support is a mentoring process whereby teachers who are experienced in using the training and trainers become mentors to the newly trained teachers. Each country has a WCR Representative who coordinates the program. The representative makes frequent visits to the schools to discuss progress and address problems that the trainers in that school have encountered. The country representatives are responsible for planning training events, scheduling teacher evaluation visits, and keeping records of training participants, network schools, and student success. Ongoing assessments in the classroom and end-of-year testing done by government officials can be collected to further measure successful student achievement. The country representative also meets with parents, villagers, elders, and school staff to provide information and discuss the progress of the program. |
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World Children’s Relief: A network of schools |
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When World Children’s Relief was organized in 2001, the initial approach was to adopt schools and add additional schools as circumstances permitted. A focus was to provide assistance to schools through teacher training and improvement of school facilities. As the work evolved over a period of years, teacher training became the primary and sustainable focus of the organization. |
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The Training Process
The ultimate goal of teacher training is to enable local educators to take over the training for their schools and other schools in the district. There are several steps in reaching this goal.
- Conduct initial teacher training for preschool and primary grade teachers.
A basic training manual translated into Creole and French is used for all training sessions. The training is conducted for 4 or 5 days using a participant-centered approach. Application activities are integrated into the five training sessions. Attention is given to participant interactions and questions. Training session topics include: Principles of child development; Preschool curriculum framework; Child-centered curriculum; Classroom management; and Teaching strategies and assessment.
Training focuses on preschool classrooms; however, much of the content of the training is applicable to the primary grades. Participants receive a certificate of participation at the end of the training. |
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Evaluating Teacher Practices Following the Training
At the end of the training participants are introduced to an Evaluation Form that includes all of the components of the training that can be implemented in individual classrooms. Plans are made for the country representative, school directors, and local officials to participate in evaluation of the teachers who have participated in the training. When evaluations are conducted, the persons conducting the evaluation are able to use the evaluation form to determine the participant’s progress in implementing the training. Following the classroom observation, the teacher and evaluators participate in a discussion of the teachers’ progress and plans for future improvement.
An example of an evaluation model follows:
- Regular visits are made to observe teachers during the school year. Individual teachers are evaluated using the Evaluation Form at each visit. These evaluations can be integral to the system’s evaluations or conducted as a separate process. (In Burkina Faso it is suggested that implementation of the WCR training will count toward success in exams taken for promotion. District evaluation is merged with WCR evaluation).
- Workshop sessions are scheduled twice a year to assist teachers who are having difficulty in implementing the child-centered curriculum in their classroom. Information from the teacher evaluations is used to determine the topics needed for retraining.
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Evaluating Student Achievement
Teacher training includes strategies to implement assessment into periods of instruction. Information is provided on how to assess student learning in an ongoing process throughout the year. Some schools have reporting periods during the year when student progress can be monitored. At the end of each year, national exams are conducted with students. School directors, government officials, and country representatives review and report student achievement to WCR.
Quarterly student evaluations can be used to monitor the success of the teachers. The teachers’ performance can be compared with student performance to determine if student success is influenced by implementation of the WCR training.
Final student evaluation on national tests at the end of the year can be used to evaluate both teacher and school success. Schools within the district can be compared on overall student achievement. In addition, grade levels across the district can be compared. Again, teachers who have implemented WCR training can be compared with teachers who have not received the training. |
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Training Educators to Become Trainers
Once a substantial group of teachers have been trained and are implementing the training, the country representative and local education officials are able to identify individuals who are best suited to become trainers. As subsequent training sessions are scheduled, future trainers participate as leaders in the training sessions. Daily meetings are held with future trainers to review content, training strategies, and how t conduct participant-centered activities. A second set of training sessions are held to guide the trainers in conducting the entire training. Once the trainers are competent to conduct the training, the process is turned over to the country to be continued with the support and supervision of the African coordinators. |
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The transition to a network of schools
In 2009, as WCR focuses on becoming a provider of services, the approach is to establish networks of schools rather than adopted schools. This approach is seen as the most productive and cost-effective method to expand teacher training. Schools within the district currently being served by WCR now have the opportunity to become a network school. There are 6 steps a school must accomplish to become a network school. All schools including current “adopted” schools must achieve the steps to become a network school.
- All teachers from preschool through third level are trained.
- All teachers from preschool through third level are successfully implementing the training.
- An ECD class has been established.
- Trainers are identified, trained, and are using the teacher evaluation process on a regular basis.
- School trainers provide mentors and mini-training courses for ongoing improvement in the classroom.
- The school applies and is approved to become a WCR network school. Teachers are identified as WCR network teachers. Certificates of recognition are awarded.
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Expansion of WCR to a new district
World Children’s Relief can expand its work by moving into new districts to provide teacher training. The country representative working with educational supervisors can provide the leadership in this expansion. A series of meetings with district education officials, school directors, and teachers and villagers are held to explain the program and the services that are to be provided. Schools that are interested in participating in training and implementation become the first schools to organize the new network.
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