1

Continuous Professional Development

(CPD-DESL)

Student Manual

Module 1: OVERVIEW OF SCHOOL LEADERSHIP/ WORKING

WITH PARENTS AND THE LOCAL COMMUNITY
3rd Edition
Please cite this publica�on as:

UR-CE (2019) Con�nuous Professional Development Diploma in Effec�ve

School Leadership, Student Manual, Volume 1, 3rd Edi�on, Kigali.

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 Continuous Professional
Development Diploma in
Effective School Leadership
(CPD-DESL)

STUDENT MANUAL

VOLUME 1: OVERVIEW OF SCHOOL LEADERSHIP/ WORKING WITH

PARENTS AND THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

3rd EDITION, JUNE 2019

 iii

Table of Contents

LIST OF FIGURES vi

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF ACRONYMS viii

ABOUT THE AUTHORS ix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xi

GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAMME 1

PROGRAMME STRUCTURE 2

PROGRAMME PRINCIPLES 3

PROGRAMME ASSESSMENT 9

MODULE ONE: OVERVIEW OF SCHOOL LEADERSHIP AND WORKING WITH PARENTS AND

THE LOCAL COMMUNITY 16

Learning outcomes 16

UNIT ONE: OVERVIEW OF SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 18

Introduction 18

Learning outcomes 19

Section 1: School Leadership and School Management 20

Section 2: Key Characteristics of School Leadership 24

CPD-DESL Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership UR-CE 2019
 iv

Section 3: Key Roles of the School Leader 27

Section 5: Leadership Styles 42

Section 6: Professional Standards for School Leaders in Rwanda 45

UNIT TWO: GENDER AND INCLUSIVENESS IN SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 53

Introduction 53

Learning Outcomes 56

Section 1: Key Terms 57

Section 2: Status of Gender Equality in Rwandan Education 62

Section 3: Gender in Schools 68

Section 4: Gender in Classrooms 73

Section 5: Making Schools Gender Responsive 76

Section 6: Understanding Inclusive Education 80

UNIT THREE: WORKING WITH PARENTS AND THE LOCAL COMMUNITY 92

Introduction 92

Learning Outcomes 93

Self-Evaluation 93

Section 1: Research on the involvement of parents and the local community in the school 96

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Section 2: Epstein’s Model for School-Family-Community Partnerships 99

Section 3: Building School-Community Partnerships in Rwandan Schools 103

Section 4: Involving the Local Community in Achieving Inclusive Education 106

Section 5: Strengthening the Capacity of the School General Assembly Committees 118

Section 6: Planning and Conducting Effective SGA and SGAC meetings 129

MODULE REFERENCES 133

APPENDICES 139

Appendix 1: Definitions Education Indicators 139

Appendix 2: Multiple-Choice Questions for Module 1 141

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: CPD-DESL Programme Structure with 4 modules that reflect the professional
standards for school leaders 2

Figure 2: Personal Interpretative Framework 5

Figure 3: Becoming a school leader while you’re being one 8

Figure 4: Programme Assessment Structure 10

Figure 5: Leadership versus authority 21

Figure 6: Primary and Secondary Processes of School Leadership 22

Figure 7: Components of Professional Capital in the school 28

Figure 8: Models of school leadership 33

Figure 9: Situational Leadership 41

Figure 10: Leadership Styles 43

Figure 11: Eight dimensions of successful school leadership 47

Figure 12: Professional Standards of School Leadership 48

Figure 13: Gender equality and gender equity 58

Figure 14: Gender Bottlenecks, barriers, options and opportunities in Education 69

Figure 15: Components of Inclusive Education 81

Figure 16: Differences between special, integrated and inclusive education 83

Figure 17: Example of poster on barriers to inclusive education 85

Figure 18: Example of a mountain diagram 89

UR-CE 2019 Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership CPD-DESL
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Distinguishing leadership and management 20

Table 2: Professional standards for school leadership 49

Table 3: Roles and Responsibilities of school leaders per standard 50

Table 4: Selected gender-disaggregated education indicators 62

Table 5: Gender Stereotypes in schools 70

Table 6: Typical Role Distributions in classrooms and schools 74

Table 7: Self-Evaluation on School – Parent/Community Partnerships 94

Table 8: Roles and Responsibilities of Parent Representatives and school Leaders 123

CPD-DESL Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership UR-CE 2019
viii

LIST OF ACRONYMS

CBC Competence-Based Curriculum

DDE District Director of Education

DEO District Education Officer

DHS Demography and Health Survey

GDI Gender Development Index

GMO Gender Monitoring Office

GER Gross Enrolment Rate

GIR Gross Intake Rate

IE Inclusive Education

KOV Katholiek Onderwijs Vlaanderen

MINEDUC Ministry of Education

NER Net Enrolment Rate

NIR Net Intake Rate

NISR National Institute of Statistics in Rwanda

REB Rwanda Education Board

SEI Sector Education Inspector

SGAC School General Assembly Committee

SGA School General Assembly

SIP School Improvement Plan

SRGBV School-related gender-based violence

UNCRC United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

UR-CE University of Rwanda – College of Education

VAWG Violence Against Women and Girls

VVOB Flemish Association for Development Cooperation and

Technical Assistance

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dr Claudien NTAHOMVUKIYE (PhD) is a Lecturer at the University of Rwanda-College

of Education. He holds a PhD in Educational Leadership and Management from the

Witwatersrand University, South Africa since 2012. He has over 20 years of work experience

in the field of education where he occupied various posts at secondary and tertiary level of

Education in Rwanda. He has been involved in various education related projects, especially

in the field of school leadership and management. Dr Ntahomvukiye has published a series

of articles related to school leadership and management for school improvement.

Dr Irénée NDAYAMBAJE (PhD) is a Lecturer at the University of Rwanda-College of

Education. He holds a PhD in Educational Planning from Kenyatta University. He has a wide

teaching, research, publication and consultancy experience in the areas of (i) Research

Methods in Education and Social Sciences, (ii) Educational Planning and Policy Formulation,

(iii) Monitoring and Evaluation and (iv) Open, Distance and eLearning.

Dr Gabriel Nizeyimana (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Education at the University

of Rwanda-College of Education. He is a PhD holder in Teacher Education. His research

interests focus mainly on student engagement and teacher beliefs.

Dr Philothère Ntawiha (PhD) is a lecturer at University of Rwanda-College of Education.

He holds a PhD in Economics of Education and Educational Planning. His areas of interest

include: educational planning, internal efficiency of education systems, equity, public

private partnership in education, peace education, human rights education, and research

methods in education. Philothère has a wide teaching, research and publication experience

in his fields of expertise.

Mr Jean Claude Ndagijimana is an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Rwanda-College

of Education. He holds a Master of Education Degree in Curriculum (Higher Education).

He has taught at university level for over ten years. He has taught courses related to

CPD-DESL Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership UR-CE 2019
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curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. He has conducted research and consultancies in

the field of curriculum development, teaching, learning and assessment at both secondary

and higher education levels. He has also been engaged in the field of training of trainers in

different areas of education.

Mr Dieudonné Tuyishime is an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Rwanda – College of

Education (UR-CE) where he has taught for the last 3 years. He holds a Master’s Degree in

Education (Leadership and Management) from Mount Kenya University. His research

interests include school leadership, teacher motivation and guidance and counselling.

Mrs Chantal Kabanda Dusabe is Education Advisor School Leadership with VVOB. She holds

a Master of Education in Educational Administration from the University of Eastern Africa,

Baraton - Kenya. Before joining VVOB in June 2017, she was a lecturer at the University of

Rwanda-College of Education.

Mr Stefaan Vande Walle is Education Advisor School Leadership and STEM Education with

VVOB. He holds Master’s Degrees from the University of Leuven, Belgium (geography),

Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands (project planning) and the Open University,

UK (online and distance education). He has been working for VVOB since 2008 in Cambodia,

South Africa and Rwanda. His areas of specialization include school leadership, STEM

education, pedagogy and online learning.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We owe a large debt of thanks to the authors of this guide: Dr Claudien Ntahomvukiye,

Dr Irénée Ndayambaje, Dr Gabriel Nizeyimana, Dr Philothère Ntawiha, Mr Dieudonné

Tuyishime, Chantal Kabanda Dusabe and Stefaan Vande Walle. We extend a special

word of gratitude to Karel Binon (Katholiek Onderwijs Vlaanderen), Mieke Van Vlasselaer

(Katholiek Onderwijs Vlaanderen), Diane Mills (UNESCO Consultant), Lieve Leroy (VVOB),

Regine Muramutse (VVOB), Emma Rubagumya (VVOB), Dr. Celestin Kayonga (UR-CE), Dr.

Gaspard Gaparayi (UR-CE), Thacien Musabyimana (UR-CE), John Musiime (UR-CE), Pontien

Macumi (UR-CE), Ali Kaleeba (UR-CE), Runyange Albert (UR-CE), Uwera Marie Providence
(Save the Children/ Mureke Dusome), Solange Umwizerwa (Save the Children/ Mureke

Dusome), Sofia Cozzolino (Save the Children/ Mureke Dusome), Innocent Uwimana

(School Leadership and Management Unit/ REB) and Eugene Rukeba (School Leadership

and Management Unit/ REB), Kwizera Jean de Dieu (Head Teacher, GS Bumbogo), Sewase

Jean Claude (Head Teacher, GS Busanza), Mushimiyimana Aimée Béata, (Head Teacher, GS

Gihogwe), Hategekimana Marc, (former Head Teacher, GS Kabuga) and Mukaneza Jeannine

(Head Teacher, GS Kimisagara) who have played crucial additional roles in developing and

reviewing the course text.

This programme would not have been possible without the financial support from the

Belgian Government, Mastercard Foundation and UNESCO/OFID Fund for selected parts of

this programme.

Finally, we like to thank the Ministry of Education in Rwanda (MINEDUC), Rwanda Education

Board (REB) and the University of Rwanda, College of Education (UR-CE) for their continued

support to education in Rwanda in general and to this Continuous Professional Development

Diploma in Effective School Leadership for School Leaders in particular.

CPD-DESL Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership UR-CE 2019
 1

GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE OF

THE PROGRAMME

There is a lot of evidence that effective school leaders strongly influence student learning and

other aspects of school performance (Leithwood, Seashore, Anderson, Wahlstrom, & others,

2004; Bloom, Lemos, Sadun, & Van Reenen, 2015). School leaders are especially important

in times of rapid change. Rwanda’s education sector has undergone several changes over

the past decade, such as 9-year and 12-year basic education, ICT integration, school feeding

and the introduction of the CBC. These changes require competent educational leaders

who can design a strategy, make sense of an unpredictable environment, provide a vision
for how to deal with change to improve the quality of education and influence others to

commit to this vision. School leaders have the responsibility to assist others in harnessing

the opportunities that changes provide, but they can only do this if they are reflective about

their own responses to change, their ability to lead others and if they possess the necessary

leadership skills. School leaders’ educational values, reflective strategies and leadership

practices shape the processes and pedagogies that result in improved learning.

The purpose of this Diploma Programme is to equip school leaders with knowledge,
competences and values to contribute to school development that results in enhancing

student achievement. Head teachers and deputy head teachers will explore their role and

develop their competences in creating strategic direction for the school, leading teaching

and learning, managing the school as an organization and involving parents and the local

community in the school.

The programme is composed of four modules. In module one we give an overview of school

leadership and discuss parental and local community involvement in the management of

the school. In module two we explore how you can create strategic direction for the school.

Module three focuses on managing the school as an organization. Finally, in module four,

we discuss the roles of school leaders as leaders of teaching and learning.

CPD-DESL Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership UR-CE 2019
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PROGRAMME STRUCTURE

The programme follows a modular structure that is based on the professional standards for

effective school leadership, as identified by REB. There are 4 modules of 10 credits each

(see Figure 1). Apart from many links between the modules, there are also 5 crosscutting

themes (school improvement planning, inclusive education and gender, monitoring and

evaluation, ICT integration and school collaboration). These themes will be discussed in

each module. The programme is offered through 7 monthly face-to-face sessions of 2 days

each with some content and activities offered through online and/or distance learning. In

between sessions, you will engage in practice-based assignments. Figure 1 illustrates the

structure of the programme.

OVERVIEW
OF SCHOOL
CREATING
LEADERSHIP/
STRATEGIC MANAGING THE
WORKING LEADING LEADING
DIRECTION SCHOOL AS AN
WITH TEACHING LEARNING
FOR THE ORGANISATION
PARENTS AND
SCHOOL
THE LOCAL
COMMUNITY

School Improvement Planning

School Collaboration
Inclusive Education and Gender
Monitoring & Evaluation
Integration of ICT
Figure 1: CPD-DESL Programme Structure with 4 modules that reflect the professional standards for school
leaders

UR-CE 2019 Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership CPD-DESL
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PROGRAMME PRINCIPLES

This programme is structured and delivered according to four main principles.

1. Competence-Based Approach

In alignment with the competence-based curriculum, this programme is competence-

based. This means that:

 The focus is on mastery of competences rather than only acquiring knowledge;

 The focus is more on improving daily practice than on academic proficiency;

 Participants’ competences are explicit, measurable and transferable learning

outcomes;

 Assessment is meaningful, authentic and a valuable learning experience in itself;

 Feedback to participants is timely and personalised.

2. Importance of the group as a source of learning

The programme is based on research that people learn more in groups. Interactions with

each other are at least as important as interactions with lecturers and programme content.

Interacting with each other helps to create meaning from the programme content for

practice through co-construction of concepts and creative conflict between theory and

practice. Participants can share experiences and good practices with each other. This

means that participants discuss the content with each other, link it with their personal

professional experiences and apply it to their school situation. These interactions foster a

culture of dialogue and learning.

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3. Development of a Personal Interpretative Framework

School leaders’ professional behaviour develops throughout their career. The end of

a programme does not mean the end of learning and the achievement of competence.

Professional development refers not only to trainings and workshops, but also to the way

competences and identity of school leaders change during their career (Kelchtermans &

Vandenberghe, 1994). Professional development is a continuous and complex process in

which programme concepts, activities, experiences, changing insights, attitudes and skills

interact and where, as a result of these interactions, the learner notices that he or she has

changed (Kelchtermans and Vandenberghe, 1994).

The Personal Interpretative Framework of a school leader consists of professional self-

understanding and a subjective education theory (Figure 2) (Kelchtermans & Vandenberghe,

1994). A person’s Personal Interpretative Framework is his or her unique filter (or glasses)

through which that person interprets professional situations and knowledge. Professional

development is a constant interaction between thinking and practice. This improves the

quality of their professional know-how and strengthens the basis to make school leadership

decisions. This will improve the effectiveness of their work. In turn, concrete practices

will influence their personal interpretative framework. For example, the opinion about a

new education policy will be influenced by how school leaders think it will work in their

school. The professional experiences of school leaders result in a continuously changing

professional self-understanding and a subjective educational theory (Figure 2).

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Figure 2: Personal Interpretative Framework (Kelchtermans and Vandenberghe, 1994)

The ways in which teachers and school leaders achieve, maintain, and develop their

identity, their sense of self, in and through a career, are crucial to understand the actions

and commitments of teachers and school leaders to their work.

Professional Self-Understanding

A school leader’s professional self-understanding is how a school leader sees him-/herself

and his/her job. It changes all the time as the result of interactions with people and the

environment (teachers, parents, students, other school leaders, SEOs, training…). The

self-understanding influences the way people perceive concrete situations and their daily

behaviour. Now we will more concretely describe this multidimensionality (Figure 2).

 Self-image is a school leader’ answer to the question: who am I as a school leader?

 Self-esteem is how school leaders assess the quality of their professional behaviour.

How good do they think they are as school leaders?

CPD-DESL Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership UR-CE 2019
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 Job motivation refers to the motives that make people start a career as a school

leader.

 Job satisfaction refers to the degree to which school leaders are satisfied with their

job.

 Task-perception refers to the content of the job as perceived by the school leader.

What must a school leader do to be a good school leader? What is part of the job

and what not?

 Future perspective refers to the expectations that school leaders have about the

future development of their career and job situation.

Subjective Educational Theory

Subjective educational theory relates to what school leaders know about school leadership

and how they relate this to concrete school situation (Kelchtermans & Piot, 2013) . It is

the knowledge, opinions and values that school leaders hold about their professional

activities. It is called subjective because it refers to someone’s personal interpretation of

education theory, not to the education theory itself. That interpretation will be different

for every school leader. As for the professional self-understanding, this changes as a result

of professional development and daily experiences in the job. For example, when a school

leader learns about group dynamics, he or she will remember some parts of the theory and

apply them to her own situation. Other school leaders may remember other aspects of

group dynamics, or interpret it differently, which will lead to a different application in their

situation. We use the term ‘subjective’ because it is a personal interpretation of educational

theories and knowledge. It is different for every school leader.

In this CPD programme, we introduce many concepts and theories. Their value lies in

providing a language, a lens through which school leaders are stimulated to look at their

UR-CE 2019 Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership CPD-DESL
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practice. Each lens provides a useful, but in itself incomplete picture of the organisation and

the role of school leaders (Morgan, 1997). The theories and concepts in this programme

should not be memorized, but be used to challenge practice. Learning to become a better

school leader results from the dynamic interaction between theory and practice (Figure 2).

4. Reflective Practice

Reflection is a key skill in developing, evaluating and improving one’s personal interpretative
framework. Reflection is the human capacity to look back explicitly and think about one’s
own actions as a school leader within a complex education context. Complex means that
there are many factors influencing education. These factors are all related to each other,
making it impossible to predict with certainty how a change in one factor will affect teaching
and learning in a school. This context is complex because there are technical, emotional,
moral and political dimensions to school leadership. Reflective practice is a crucial process
to maintain a critical approach towards yourself and your work. Reflection can be learned
through analysis of case studies, using questioning techniques and discussion one’s practice
with peers and experts. Reflective practice is closely related to the development of one’s
personal interpretative framework, based on an evolving understanding of the self and
changing subjective education theory.

Activity 1

“Learning to become a school leader, while you’re being it, is like…

Building the bridge while you are walking on it

Not easy, but not impossible either

Challenging and scary” (KOV, 2017)

Explain the figure below. Do you recognize yourself in the image below?

CPD-DESL Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership UR-CE 2019
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Figure 3: Becoming a school leader while you’re being one (KOV, 2017)

UR-CE 2019 Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership CPD-DESL
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PROGRAMME ASSESSMENT

1. Introduction

This section contains detailed information about the assessment of the CPD Diploma

Programme on Effective School Leadership. It describes the assessment structure, outcomes

and detailed descriptions, requirements and assessment criteria for each assignment, the

role of the field visit and the final evaluation.

2. Assessment structure

The assessment of CPD-DESL consists of continuous assessment (60%) and summative

assessment (40%). A total score of 50% on each module is a requirement to be awarded

the CPD Diploma Programme in Effective School Leadership.

Continuous assessment is based on 3 components (Figure 4):

1. eight assignments, two per module (40%)

2. participation during in-training activities and online or distance education activities

(10%)

3. portfolio of evidence (50%)

1. The assignments will help you to relate the course content to your practice and

demonstrate the competences that the programme aims to develop. Some assignments

will require working on your School Improvement Plan with your school team. For other

assignments, you will need to reflect individually or with others on what concepts in the

course mean for your practice. Other assignments will require you to organize activities

with the stakeholders in your school. For every assignment, you will receive detailed

CPD-DESL Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership UR-CE 2019
10

information on what is required and how the assignment will be evaluated. In every

assignment, it will be clearly indicated what you need to submit individually and what

you need to submit as a school leadership team.

Figure 4: Programme Assessment Structure

2. Throughout the programme you will be required to engage in online activities in

between the sessions. These activities can include reading, posting your ideas on the

discussion forum and taking part in online quizzes. Engagement in these activities is an

integral part of the programme and therefore compulsory. Completing the activities

will count for 10% of the continuous assessment score.

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3. Throughout the Programme you will compile a portfolio of evidence. The purpose

of the portfolio is to document systematically all evidence of changes in your practice

as a result of participating in the programme. Secondly, the portfolio provides you

with an opportunity for reflection on individual progress. This portfolio should contain

all documents and outputs that you create during the course that show evidence of

improvements in your practice as a result of what you learn during the course, including:

 signed letter of commitment to actively participate in and improve practices as

a result of the Diploma Programme

 self-assessment on 5 standards for effective SL and identification of actions

points

 course assignments (8)

 feedback on the assignments

 Mission, vision and core values of the school

 Evidence of dissemination of vision, mission and core values

 School Improvement Plan (strategic and operational) with minutes of planning

meetings

 Evidence of engagement in a Professional Learning Community at the sector

level

 Written reflection report (at end of the Programme), related to action points

and self-assessment

 Any other evidence of implementation of what you have learned during the

Programme, for example:

CPD-DESL Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership UR-CE 2019
12

àà minutes of feedback conversations with teachers

àà plans and minutes related to the management of school resources

àà CPD plan for teachers

àà Evidence of initiatives to make the school more inclusive and gender

neutral

àà Evidence of initiatives to promote collaborative learning and Communities

of Practice

àà Evidence of M&E (using data on teaching and learning to improve school

quality)

Moreover, the Portfolio of Evidence can contain pictures, videos and other materials

(experiments, posters, teaching resources…). At the start of the programme, you will

receive a folder and checklist to help you construct your portfolio.

During the field visit and the examination, you will discuss your portfolio to the trainers, and

they will give you feedback on it. The portfolio will be evaluated during each exam. The

assessment tool to evaluate your performance on each of the 5 standards that will be used

to evaluate your portfolio, is available in your course manual (refer to Appendix).

Evaluation of the portfolio will be done using following criteria:

 The evidence is sufficient

 The evidence is authentic

 The evidence is relevant

UR-CE 2019 Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership CPD-DESL
  The evidence shows involvement of others in the school

 The evidence is structured, presented and submitted in accordance with the

requirements

What is sufficient?

Your evidence must cover all aspects of the assessment criteria for each module. Each

module requires specific evidence and you should check the list above to see what is

needed. Sufficient does not mean a mass of evidence. It simply means collecting enough

evidence to demonstrate competence.

What is authentic?

You must be able to explain and support the evidence you put forward. It is important,

therefore, to ensure you only submit evidence relating to your own performance. There

is also a declaration that is completed upon submitting your portfolio to confirm your

evidence is authentic.

What is relevant?

Any evidence must relate clearly to the learning outcomes. The evidence should clearly link
a learner’s performance with specific learning outcomes. You should avoid the inclusion
of reference documents, training materials, lesson plans, minutes of meetings and other
evidence that does not clearly demonstrate competence.

What does involvement of others in the school mean?

Your portfolio should show evidence that you have made concrete improvements in the
school on each of the five professional standards. An evaluation rubric for the portfolio is

available in the appendix.

Summative assessment counts for 40% of the total score. There will be a two hours

examination paper per module. Each exam will be organized a few weeks after the final

session pertaining to that module. Only participants who meet the following requirements

will be allowed to sit for the final exam:

 present a valid student registration card or national ID;

 at least 85% attendance for the module;

 having submitted all assignments of both modules;

A special exam is organized for participants who fail to sit for the final examination for a

valid reason. Supporting documents will need to be provided by the participant to the

Programme leader in order to be granted permission to take part in the special exam. The

special exam may take place outside your usual training centre.

3. Graduation requirements

You must score at least 50% per module, to be awarded the Continuous Professional

Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership (CPD-DESL).

4. Competency-based nature of the programme assessment

Assessment for this Programme is competency-based. This means that assignments will

assess whether participants possess the competences (knowledge, skills and attitudes)

that are intended by the programme. Under a competence, we understand the ability to

implement some skill in practice.

Required competences are laid out in the learning outcomes per module and unit.
 15

Assignments have been designed in such a way that they require participants to try out what

they have learned during the course in their schools, involving stakeholders and reflecting

on it, closely following Kolb’s experiential learning cycle. Assignments are assessed with the

assessment rubric that you find in this guide.

School Improvement Planning is a key priority for REB and forms a common threat

throughout the Programme. School improvement planning involves conducting an in-depth

and quality evaluation of the school, based on all factors that affect student learning. During

the planning process, changes will be identified and linked to actions. With reference to the

School Improvement Plan, Annual Action Plan and Monitoring and Evaluation templates

provided in the student manual, you will be requested to develop or review your School

Improvement Plan (strategic and annual action plan) for each standard of effective school

leadership.

5. Field visit

Towards the end of the Programme, a field visit will be conducted to your school. The field

visit will be conducted by one of the trainers in the Programme.

The purpose of the field visit is to discuss the implementation of the Programme content

in your school. It is an opportunity to ask questions, share challenges and show what you

have changed in your school as a result of the Programme.

Thereby, the field visit will also be used by the trainer to discuss what you have written in

the assignments and the portfolio.

CPD-DESL Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership UR-CE 2019
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MODULE ONE: OVERVIEW OF SCHOOL

LEADERSHIP AND WORKING WITH PARENTS
AND THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

This module introduces the concepts of school leadership and management. It also

introduces gender and inclusive education as crosscutting topics for this programme. We

also introduce the professional standard of working with parents and the local community

in school leadership.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this module, participants should be able to:

 Demonstrate an understanding of the concepts school leadership and

management;

 Explain strengths and weaknesses of school leadership models;

 Describe school leadership practices and their implication on the teaching and

learning process for improving students’ achievements;

 Explain principles of parent-community-school partnerships;

 Demonstrate an understanding of inclusiveness and gender in education;

 Explain how involving parents and local communities can contribute to inclusive

education;

 Describe and critically engage with different leadership models;

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 Establish strategies to enhance collaboration between the school, parents and

the local community as an instrument for improving the quality of teaching and

learning;

 Act as role model in the community;

 Demonstrate equity and inclusiveness in school leadership;

 Show empathy in executing leadership roles;

 Value the importance of adopting various leadership styles according to the

context;

 Recognize importance of equity in school leadership;

 Appreciate the importance of involving parents and the local community in the

school.

CPD-DESL Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership UR-CE 2019
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UNIT ONE: OVERVIEW OF SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

Introduction

School leaders play a crucial role in creating the conditions for effective teaching and

learning. No school has sustainably improved the quality of education without effective

school leadership (Leithwood, Harris, & Hopkins, 2008). Good leaders identify the aspects

of their schools on which to focus to help students learn. They do this through various

dimensions of leadership practices. In this unit, we will explore what school leadership and

school management mean. Different models and styles of leadership will help us to reflect

on our school leadership practices and identify key elements of effective school leadership.

In this unit, we will explore what it means to be a leader in a school. What makes a good

school leader? Is a school leader the same as a school manager? We will introduce various

models and concepts of school leadership and management. These models and concepts

are useful to help you reflect on what your role as a school leader means for you.

Activity 2

Individually, think about an outstanding school leader that you know and list down the
reasons why this leader is outstanding for you. After a few minutes, discuss your list
with your neighbour and try to agree on some key reasons.

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Learning outcomes

By the end of this unit, you will be able to:

 Demonstrate an understanding of the concepts school leadership and school

management;

 Explain school leadership practices and their implication on teaching and learning

process for improving students’ achievement;

 Critically evaluate different leadership models;

 Apply situational leadership to your school context;

 Show empathy in executing leadership roles;

 Value the importance of your role in achieving quality education.

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Section 1: School Leadership and School Management

Good school leaders perform both leadership and management tasks. Leadership tasks refer

to tasks that set a direction, motivate and inspire, such as providing vision and strategy and

leading change. Management tasks relate to planning and controlling such as budgeting,

organizing and staffing, problem solving and monitoring. While managers are providing

structure and frameworks of operation, leaders provide inspiration.

Both leadership and management skills are fundamental to success. Without the

inspiration and motivation by the school leadership, staff would be unproductive. Without

structure, rules and management processes, they would be inefficient. Management is

about doing things right, leadership is about doing the right things. Cuban (1988) and

Kelchtermans & Piot (2013) link leadership with vision and change while management is

about implementing and executing decisions and preserving the effective functioning of

the organisation. They stress the importance of both leadership and management. Table 1

summarizes the differences between leadership and management (Kotter, 1988).

Table 1: Distinguishing leadership and management

Managers Leaders

Plan and budget Establish direction

Maintain Change and innovate

Control and solve problems Inspire and motivate

Short term view Long term view

Do things right Do right things

Source: Kotter, 1988

Some authors stress that focusing too much on the distinction between school management

and school leadership is not helpful (Bush, 2008; Bush & Glover, 2014). For example, the

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development of a School Improvement Plan (leadership task) cannot be separated from the

implementation and monitoring of the plan (management task). Many tasks of a school

leader have a leadership and a management component. For example, financial management

of the school also contains tasks related to planning, vision and staff motivation, which are

considered leadership tasks. Successful management of a school requires strong leadership

skills. The role of the school leader is to lead and manage the school.

Finally, good leadership is not easy to define (Cuban, 1988). We recognize good school

leadership, but it is difficult to clearly identify what makes a good school leader. Leadership

is not the same as being the boss, which refers to formal authority (Figure 5). What we see

as good leadership in schools also changes over time. The most important change is that

school leadership has become more complex. Schools and schooling are being given ever

bigger responsibilities for children’s development and for contributing to and supporting the

schools’ local communities (Pont, Nusche, & Moorman, 2008). As a result, many schools

have seen a diversification of their leadership, through the involvement of deputy head

teachers, school general assembly committees and different forms of teacher leadership:

school-based mentors, subject leaders and teachers who lead the various teams and clubs

in a school. Even learners can take up leadership tasks within a school.

Figure 5: Leadership versus authority ([Link])

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Another way to look at leadership and management tasks is through the distinction

between primary and secondary processes (Figure 6). Primary processes are processes

that are directly related to the learning process such as teaching quality, curriculum

implementation, learner repeating and dropping out, care… (Scheerens, 1990). Secondary

processes are related to the creation of suitable conditions for the primary processes and

the learning process of the team: personnel, infrastructure, finance, quality control… The

primary processes correspond with leadership tasks and the secondary processes with

management tasks. Both primary and secondary processes are important tasks for school

leaders. Beginning school leaders often focus more on finding their way in the secondary

processes. As secondary processes create the conditions for the primary processes, having

attention for both is crucial for school leaders.

Figure 6: Primary and Secondary Processes of School Leadership (Scheerens, 1990, adapted by VVOB)

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Activity 3

Individually, think about how much time you invest in primary processes and how much

in secondary processes? How could you change the balance of time invested in primary

processes and the time invested in secondary processes?

After a few minutes, discuss your ideas with your neighbour. Is there a difference in

balance between head teachers and deputy head teachers?

Spending time on primary processes has the biggest impact on learning outcomes. “The

closer educational leaders get to the core business of teaching and learning, the more likely

they are to have a positive impact on students’ outcomes” (Robinson, Lloyd, & Rowe, 2008,

p. 664). The secondary processes are the basic conditions that need to be in place before

school leaders can focus on the primary processes. Therefore, they should not be neglected.

In Module 3 (Managing the School as an Organisation), we will discuss in more detail the

main secondary processes. The other modules focus more on the primary processes.

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Section 2: Key Characteristics of School Leadership

Rather than focusing on one definition for school leadership, some authors have identified

key characteristics of school leadership. What does it mean to be a school leader? Bush

and Glover (2014) identified three key characteristics of school leadership: influence, values

and vision.

2.1 Leadership and Influence

One definition considers leadership as a “social influence process whereby influence is

exerted by one person (or group) over other people (or groups) to structure the activities
and relationships in a group or organisation” (Yukl, Gordon, & Taber, 2002, p. 3).

This definition includes several key elements (Bush, 2008):

 The focus is on influence rather than on authority. Influencing is not the same as

imposing or controlling. Both influence and authority are dimensions of leadership,

but authority is based on formal position, such as that of the head teacher, while

influence can be exercised by anyone in the school (Figure 5). In this sense,

leadership is independent of formal positions while authority is linked directly to it.

For instance, a head teacher who has been officially appointed has legal authority.

However, this appointed head teacher may not be trusted because of various

reasons such as incompetence, non-acceptable behaviour, etc. It will be difficult for

him to influence teachers. On the other hand, a teacher with high competence and

strong social reputation may influence colleagues although she/he does not have

legal positional authority;

 The process is intentional. The person who is exercising influence is doing so to

achieve certain goals.

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 Influence may be exercised by groups as well as individuals. This supports ideas

such as leadership teams and distributed leadership.

2.2 Leadership and Values

Influencing can be done with good or bad intentions. It is neutral as it does not explain

what goals should be pursued. However, leadership is linked with values. Leaders are

expected to base their actions on clear personal and professional values. This idea reflects

the growing interest in moral leadership (Bush, 2008).

School leaders´ values are key components for successful leadership. Research shows clear

links between leaders’ personal qualities and leadership success (Day & Leithwood, 2007).

The most successful school leaders are open-minded and ready to learn from others. They

are flexible rather than dogmatic, but with respect for their core values. They are persistent

in their high expectations of others, and they are emotionally intelligent and optimistic.

Such characteristics explain why successful school leaders facing difficult conditions are

often able to achieve results against the odds (Leithwood et al., 2008).

Activity 4

Individually, think about what for you are the key values for effective school leaders.

After a few minutes, share your values with your neighbour and agree on three key

values. Prepare to share your selected values with the whole group.

2.3 Leadership and Vision

Vision is a third important component of leadership (Bush & Glover, 2014). Beare, Caldwell,

& Millikan (1997, p. 99) write that “outstanding leaders have a vision of their schools - a

mental picture of a preferred future - which is shared with all in the school community”.

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They formulate ten generalizations about leadership of which three relate directly to vision.

These three are:

1. Good leaders have a vision for their schools.

2. This vision must be communicated in a way which creates commitment among all

those who are involved in the school.

3. Good leaders pay attention to institutionalising the vision.

An example of a vision:

G.S. Kimironko will be the first diverse school system to work with

families and the community to successfully educate all of its students

at high levels.

Having a vision does not mean that school leaders should not be open to new ideas and

criticism. Fullan (1992) warns that overly visionary leaders may damage rather than improve

their schools:

“The current emphasis on vision in leadership can be misleading. A

vision can blind leaders in a number of ways. The charismatic principal

who ‘radically transforms the school’ in four or five years can . . . be

blinding and misleading as a role model . . . Principals are blinded by

their own vision when they feel they must manipulate the teachers

and the school culture to conform to it.” (Fullan, 1992, p. 19).

In Module 2 (Creating Strategic Direction for the School), we will discuss in more detail the

process of developing a vision and mission for a school.

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Section 3: Key Roles of the School Leader

Activity 5

In the previous section, we identified 3 key characteristics of school leaders: they

influence others, based on values and a vision for the school. Starting from these

characteristics, what roles should school leaders play in their schools, according to you?

Agree on the most important roles.

In this section, we will discuss two major roles of the school leader: as an educator and as
an agent of change.

3.1 School leaders as educators

A successful school leader is an educator, not in the traditional sense of a teacher who

stands in front of the class, but as a modern educator who can stimulate and motivate

others to learn (Verbiest, 2014). Michael Fullan has written a lot on the role of the school

leader as a “leader of learning” in the school (Fullan, 2014). Being an educational leader can

be considered as another key element of school leadership. John Hattie (2009, p. 83) found

that school leaders who help teachers to establish goals and create ‘safe’ environments for

teachers to criticize, question, and support other teachers to reach these goals together are

the school leaders who have most effect on learning outcomes.

An important role of school leaders is to lead teachers in a process of learning to improve

their teaching (Fullan, 2014, p. 55). In their influential study, Robinson (et al., 2008, p.

58) found that school leaders who make the biggest impact on learning are the ones who

“participate as a learner” with teachers in helping to move the school forward.

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Leading learning in a school does not mean giving trainings to teachers, nor does it mean

observing individual teachers and giving them feedback. Leading learning means creating

an environment in the school that helps everyone to perform to the best of his/ her

abilities and to improve continuously. Fullan uses the concept of professional capital

(Figure 7).

Figure 7: Components of Professional Capital in the school (Fullan, 2014)

Professional capital is the result of the interaction of three components: human capital,

social capital and decisional capital (Figure 7). In a school, human capital refers mostly

to the quality of teachers in the school - their teaching competences and qualifications.

Human capital must be complemented by social capital. Social capital is about how people

working together to achieve common goals. A few strong, but isolated teachers do not
make a good school, as a few good football players do not make a good team. Social capital

consists of the quality and quantity of interactions and relationships among people. Social

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capital in a school affects teachers’ access to knowledge and information, their expectations

and trust, and their commitment to work together for a common cause. Decisional capital

refers to the quality of decisions being made by individual teachers and teams. Professional

development involving teams or groups of teachers, rather than individual professional

development, helps to develop the professional capital of the school (Hargreaves & Fullan,

2012).

“The role of school leaders is to build professional capital across and

beyond the school” (Fullan, 2014, p. 71).

Social capital improves individuals more than individuals improve the group. For example,
it is very hard for a weak teacher who enters a highly collaborative school to remain there

without improving. On the other hand, a highly skilled teacher will not perform well in a

non-collaborative school (Fullan, 2014, p. 72).

Focusing on developing professional capital is also efficient for a school leader. The more

you invest in human, social and decisional capital, the less energy and the fewer resources

you need to spend on micro-management, and the more support you get as teachers help

each other. Micro-management means that you are closely involved in all small tasks of

your staff, and that you don’t delegate any tasks to others.

3.2 School Leaders as agents of change

As school leadership has grown more complex, the role of school leaders as “gatekeepers”

has grown (Kelchtermans & Piot, 2013). A gatekeeper guards the entrance of a building and

decides what and who comes in and out. The gatekeeper is the bridge between the inside

and the outside. Similarly, a school leader finds him/herself between different groups

inside and outside the school, such as teachers, parents, students and SEIs. These groups

often have different and sometimes even conflicting expectations, for example parents

and teachers (Kelchtermans, Piot, & Ballet, 2011). The school leader sits in between these

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groups, sometimes leaning more to one group, sometimes more to another. It is a very

intense and complex role which requires strong emotional, communication and diplomatic

skills.

The school leader is also the key person to bring external innovations to the school context.

He /she needs to understand the innovation, decide about the relevance and feasibility,

and lead its implementation in the school. Thereby, he/she needs to be able to facilitate

change processes in the school (see Module 3). Hereby, it is crucial to keep the right

balance between change and conservation: preserve what is going well, change what can

be improved. The capacity to implement changes in the school is something that needs to

be built in a school through the right professional development. We will discuss this role of

the school leader in more detail in the section on change management in Module 3 of this

Programme.

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Section 4: School Leadership Models

There are many models of school leadership (Bush, 2008; Bush & Glover, 2014). Each model

focuses on certain aspects of school leadership. These models reflect different schools

of thought, but also the history of school leadership research. We can divide models

in two categories: on the one hand, the concentrated views of leadership (leadership is

concentrated in the person of the formal leader) and on the other hand the distributed

view of leadership (where leadership is shared by several members of the organization).

Another way that we can classify the models is by their focus on the key characteristics of

school leadership (influence, values, vision, change, educating).

Activity 6

Read the following two case studies and answer the following questions:

1. What is the difference between these two school leaders (School A Vs School B)?

2. How would you call the leadership model that each school leader applies?

Case Study 1

School ‘B’ is led by Mr John. He called all teachers into a meeting and informed them about

the Competence Based Curriculum. He told them that “This curriculum is a national policy

and you must implement it as it is. Guidelines are clear”. One teacher raised her hand and

asked “Excuse me Sir, I think we need time to understand it and trainings on how to use it’.

The head teacher promptly replied “Madam, it is not negotiable, instructions are clear and

after all you are qualified teachers”. The meeting was closed and the teachers left.

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Case Study 2

In School A, staff members already held key roles in teaching, learning, discipline and

attendance. The head teacher asked the deputy head teacher to provide a clear link

between the role of the school management team and the staff so that the school work

is discussed weekly as strategic meetings. During these meetings, team members brought

individual cases to discuss with colleagues and their shared thinking informed the next step

for the week ahead. Every member was very happy that his/her views were considered.

Each team member has developed skills so that the good functioning of the team is now

independent of the team leader.

Activity 7

Work in groups of 4. The facilitator distributes cards that each describe one leadership

model. Read the description and discuss the positive and negative elements of that

model. Do you recognize yourself in that model? Why (not)?

Prepare to present your findings to the whole group.

In this section, we discuss some of the most common leadership models (Figure 8).

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Figure 8: Models of school leadership (VVOB, 2017, based on Bush, 2008)

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4.1 Managerial school leadership

In managerial school leadership, the focus of school leaders is on managing the functions,

tasks and behaviour of all members in the school. Authority and influence are based on a

hierarchical structure with decision-making based on positional authority. It is a top-down

approach to school leadership. Developing a vision and goal setting are tasks of the school

leader(s) and teachers need to accept and implement them without question.

Managerial school leadership means (Bush & Glover, 2014):

 A hierarchical structure of authority, clearly identifying the role of each position.

 A goal orientation, with clear targets set by formal leaders for each position.

 A clear division of labour, with staff having well described tasks and clear rules.

 Not very personal relationships, based on formal relations, between school leaders

and teachers, among school leaders, among teachers and between teachers and

learners.

 Accountability to the higher level in the formal hierarchy, rather than to school-level

stakeholders such as parents and learners.

The critique on the managerial leadership model is that it neglects the importance of a

vision and mission for the school. It is also a hierarchical and rigid structure. It focuses on

the management tasks of a school leader, whereas the leadership and educational roles of

the school leader have the greatest impact on learning outcomes (Pont et al., 2008). On

the other hand, managerial skills are an important component of school leadership because

vision without effective implementation leads to frustration (Bush, 2015).

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4.2 Instructional school leadership

Instructional leadership is based on the idea that the school leader is more than a manager.

They have the responsibility to improve learning outcomes in the school. Therefore,

they should focus on setting school goals, curriculum implementation, inclusivity, quality

of instruction and the school environment. The model is valuable because it focuses on

the role of the school leader to enhance teaching and learning (Robinson et al., 2008).

The instructional leadership model suggests that school leaders are the most effective

of all instructional leaders because they are situated within the school context, unlike

administrators in ministries (Pont et al., 2008).

The model has been criticised because it puts too much focus on the head teacher. For a head

teacher to be a direct instructional leader demands a lot from him/her. The contribution of

other staff, such as deputy head teachers, in instructional goal setting, oversight of teaching

and the development of a positive academic and learning culture is neglected in this model.

It presents a heroic and unrealistic view of the role of the head teacher that few can achieve

(Hallinger, 2005). It is also still a top-down approach to school leadership.

Nevertheless, instructional leadership is an important part of school leadership. Robinson

and colleagues (2008) point out that leading teaching and learning can be counterproductive

if school leaders do not know what specific pedagogical practices are effective in improving

teaching and learning. Without good knowledge of pedagogy and educational research,

school leaders risk reinforcing educational myths, promoting ineffective pedagogical

methods and focusing on compliance rather than promoting active and effective teaching

approaches. For example, many teachers integrate group work or experiments in their

lessons, not because of a conscious decision to help them achieve the lesson objectives, but

because their school leaders want them to do it.

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4.3 Transformational school leadership

Transformational leadership has its origins in research on the ability of some school

leaders to inspire teachers to high levels of commitment and moral purpose (Bush, 2017).

Researchers argued that this commitment transformed the schools by developing people’s

capacity to work collaboratively to overcome challenges and reach ambitious goals. It is

closely related to Weber’s idea of charismatic leadership (Tucker, 1968).

This model focuses on individual characteristics of school leaders to inspire and motivate

everyone in the school (focus on intrinsic motivation). The head teacher develops a vision

and inspires and convinces other school leaders and members in the organisation to pursue
activities linked to that vision. Transformational leadership addresses the critique that a

narrow focus on instructional leadership neglects other dimensions of school leadership.

Transformational leadership emphases vision as the central dimension of leadership. It is

individual leadership at its most powerful (Leithwood, Jantzi, & Steinbach, 1999, p. 9).

This model has also its limits (Bush, 2015). First, transformational leadership may be used

to manipulate or control teachers who are required to support the ‘vision’ and goals of the

school leader. Second, it lacks the focus on the pedagogical dimension and the impact of
the school leader on optimizing learning processes and outcomes (Verbiest, 2014). Third,

it is a centralized and individualistic model of leadership (Kelchtermans & Piot, 2013).

There is limited scope for others in the school to contribute to decision-making as the main

assumption is that the head teacher can persuade others of his or her vision.

4.4 Moral school leadership

Research on leadership in schools has focused on the task dimension of leadership –what

do leaders need to do in order to make schools effective and functional (Kelchtermans &

Piot, 2013)? In recent years, there has been growing interest in the emotional dimension

of leadership (Kelchtermans et al., 2011). How school leaders experience their working

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conditions and their role is very relevant to understand their actions and attitudes. School

leadership is much more than a set of technical tasks, it continuously involves dealing with

emotions and taking moral decisions. Moral school leadership focuses on the importance

of values in school leadership.

4.5 Transactional school leadership

Transformational leadership is often contrasted with transactional leadership (Bush &

Glover, 2014). Transactional school leadership states that the relationships between head

teachers, deputy head teachers and teachers are based on exchange of resources (more focus

on external motivation than intrinsic motivation). Teachers provide educational services

(teaching, extracurricular activities) in exchange for salaries. This approach views school

leaders and teachers as employees who “do their job” in exchange for a salary. Duties and

responsibilities are specified in a job description and clear accountability mechanisms are

laid down. The head teacher gives teachers the authority to complete tasks. Transactional

leadership does not focus on the importance of having a shared vision for the school.

4.6 Participative school leadership

Participative leadership focuses on the role of the school leader in involving others in the

decision-making processes of the school (Leithwood et al., 1999). This model is based on

three arguments (Bush & Glover, 2014; Leithwood et al., 1999):

 Participation increases school effectiveness, as decisions of higher quality are made

and those involved own the decisions.

 Participation serves to bond staff together in working towards shared goals.

 Participation increases the total leadership available in the school.

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For example, when school leaders involve teachers in developing a vision for the school,

teachers will have a greater commitment to the goals, because of their ownership of them.

The model assumes that school stakeholders want to take part in decision-making and that

people are more likely to accept and implement decisions in which they have been involved.

When there are many people involved in decision making, participative leadership may

slow down the process, as inputs and feedback reach the head teacher from all sides.

4.7 Distributive school leadership

Distributed leadership has become the preferred school leadership model in the 21st

century. Harris (2013) argues that it is one of the most influential ideas to have emerged

in school leadership. Like participative leadership, it focuses on collective, rather than

individual, leadership.

The difference with participative leadership is that distributed leadership uncouples

leadership from positional authority. Distributed leadership concentrates on engaging

expertise wherever it exists within the organization (Harris, 2013). This means that not

only school leaders are involved in the leadership of the school, but also teachers, parents

and students. Whereas head teachers have the formal authority in schools, distributed

leadership emphasizes informal sources of influence. This does not mean that the role

of the head teacher is reduced. Harris (2013) argues that head teachers play a big role in

creating and nurturing the space for distributed leadership to occur and that it would be

difficult to achieve without their active support. Distributive leadership relies more on

delegation of leadership tasks by head teachers and is therefore more suitable for well-

established groups (see unit one on group dynamics in Module 3).

Leithwood and Jantzi (2006) found that leadership has a greater influence on schools and

students when it is widely distributed. Schools with the highest student achievement

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attributed this to high levels of influence from all sources of leadership, not just from the

head teacher.

“Total leadership accounted for a quite significant 27 per cent variation in

student achievement across schools. This is a much higher proportion of

explained variation (two to three times higher) than is typically reported

in studies of individual head teacher effects” (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2006,

p. 12).

Hattie (2012) calls the collective development of teacher expertise one of the most significant

factors in improving learning outcomes. In other words, distributed leadership has positive

effects on learning achievement compared with individual leadership approaches.

Muijs & Harris (2003) write that meeting all challenges that schools face nowadays is

impossible unless teachers adopt some of the roles that were previously the role of school

leaders. Therefore, teachers are more and more expected to contribute to the overall school

quality by taking on responsibilities beyond their classroom duties, such as mentoring,

engaging on communities of practice (Struyve, 2017).

So why do not all schools have a distributed leadership structure? The existing authority

structure in schools is often a barrier to the successful introduction of distributed leadership.

In distributed leadership, the power relationship between followers and leaders becomes

blurred (Bush & Glover, 2014). Also, teams need to develop the competences to take

up leadership tasks (Remmerswaal, 2015). The optimal leadership style depends on the

competence level of the group and not all groups are ready for a distributed leadership

approach. Starting leaders sometimes expect too much from the team (Binon, 2017).

A positive school climate is an essential condition for distributed school leadership. Harris

(2013) argues that good collaboration among teachers is essential and that teachers need

time to meet and work together for collective leadership to develop. Also, distributive

leadership requires a shared vision on where the school needs to go, a culture of trust and

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support and structures that support leadership roles by teachers. Therefore, the role and

position of the head teacher and other school leaders is still very relevant and important!

Activity 8

Think individually about the questions below. Next, discuss them briefly with your

neighbour.

 What do you take away from this overview of school leadership models?

 Which model corresponds best with how you work in your school?

4.8 Situational school leadership

There is no ideal school leadership model that is best under all circumstances. Each
school leadership model that we discussed has its value. Ideally, school leaders should use
strategies and options from different models. Successful leadership is multi-dimensional,
complex and depends on the context of the school. Strong school leaders consider the
circumstances they are facing and the people with whom they are working. Therefore,
we need school leaders with a large repertoire of practices and the capacity to choose
from that repertoire as needed, not school leaders who can only apply one “ideal” set
of practices. This is particularly important when school leaders need to lead the school
through processes of change.

The term situational leadership is used to highlight the diverse nature of school contexts
and the need to adapt one’s leadership model to the situation (Figure 9):

“What is important is how leaders respond to the unique organizational

circumstances or problems. There are wide variations in the contexts
for leadership and that, to be effective, these contexts require different
leadership responses” (Leithwood et al., 1999, p. 15).

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Figure 9: Situational Leadership (VVOB, 2017 based on Leithwood et al., 1999)

For example, school size can have a strong impact on the applicability of leadership models.

Participative approaches are much easier to adopt in small schools while large high schools

with subject departments may need more elements from managerial and transactional

approaches.

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Section 5: Leadership Styles

Activity 9

Thinking about your own style as a school leader and the style of school leaders that you

know, can you describe some different styles of leading a school?

Leadership styles refer to the way school leaders interact with their staff. There is a relation

with the leadership models that we discussed in the previous section. Some leadership

styles will fit better in some leadership models. For example, a delegating style corresponds

well with distributive models of leadership, whereas a directing style is more suitable in

instructional or managerial leadership models.

Research also showed that leadership styles should be linked with the skill level that is

present within the team (Remmerswaal, 2015). Teams with low levels of competence need

more direction. This is not to keep them at a low level, but to develop them. Also, newly

formed groups need more structure. When you engage with new groups in very distributive

way, it may create a lot of tensions. The same may happen when a new school leader

applies a very authoritative style with an autonomous group, a group that has been working

together for a long time. In working with a group, the leadership style should evolve from

highly to less directive and from high to low levels of support (see Figure 10).

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Figure 10: Leadership Styles (Remmerswaal, 2015)

Remmerswaal (2015) distinguishes four leadership styles (Figure 10):

(S1) and (D1): Directing: At this level, people do not have much knowledge of the task.

They still have to learn the skills needed to be proficient at the task and so they need

clear directions and guidance. They need to be told how to do something and what to

do.

(S2) and (D2): Coaching: during this stage, team members still need a lot of direction

from the leader, but he/she now begins to explain ideas and the reasons for such. This

helps the members to develop their skills and reasoning. With this style, leaders begin

to explain their message to influence and develop the team.

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(S3) and (D3): Supporting: At this level of development, the leader adjusts his/her style

to focus more on relationships and less on the task. He/ She allows the team(s) to create

their goals but works with them to do this. As the team is competent with the task, the

aim becomes to further develop the team to act and to think more autonomously and

give them greater scope for self-leadership.

(S4) and (D4): Delegating: The team is well functioning and is highly competent with

the task at hand. The leader now delegates goal creation and decision making to the

team and as such, they competently get on with the task: setting goals, creating plans

and executing them autonomously. The leader focuses on monitoring progress and

evaluating the result of the task.

Give an example where you use a delegative, directing, supporting and coaching style
in your school.

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Section 6: Professional Standards for School Leaders in

Rwanda

6.1 Background and underlying principles

The Teacher Statute describes professional standards as the knowledge, skills, attitudes
and values that a professional must demonstrate as they do their work. The standards
reflect a commitment to ensure that all students have access to quality learning and that
all schools are administered, managed and led by competent professionals. The standards
serve as a guideline for good practice in school leadership. They help school leaders to
know what is expected from them and so they can make the necessary efforts to perform
to the expectations laid out in the standards. These standards are also a useful instrument
when designing systems of accountability, monitoring and evaluation. Table 3 describes the
standards for effective school leadership (see also Teacher Statute, 30 October 2014) and

Table 4 describes the roles and responsibilities for school leaders per standard.

The standards are based upon the following principles (REB, 2018):

 The standards reflect the importance and centrality of student learning and
well-being.

 The standards cover broad areas of a head teacher’s work rather than micro-
level competences.

 The standards describe a practice that are valid no matter where the school is,
its size or socio-economic status.

 The standards are explicit in their expectation but are not prescriptive in terms
of methodology acknowledging that good head teachers can achieve the same
outcomes using different methodologies.

 The standards highlight areas that are measurable and observable.

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The five standards for effective school leadership are based on international research. (Day

& Leithwood, 2007) identified eight dimensions of successful leadership.

Successful leaders:

1. define their values and vision to raise expectations, set direction and build trust;

2. reshape the conditions for teaching and learning;

3. restructure parts of the organization and redesign leadership roles and

responsibilities;

4. enrich the curriculum;

5. enhance teacher quality;

6. enhance the quality of teaching and learning;

7. build collaboration internally;

8. build strong relationships outside the school community.

In Figure 11, the inner circle represents the core focus of leaders’ attention, the middle ring

their core strategies, and the outer ring the actions they take in support of these strategies.

Building trust and defining a vision, values and direction for the school are necessary

conditions for each of the actions in the outer ring.

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Figure 11: Eight dimensions of successful school leadership (Day & Leithwood, 2007)

6.2 Professional standards for school leaders

REB is in the process of approving professional standards for school leaders, which, together

will describe the roles and responsibilities of school leaders in Rwanda (Figure 11). Although

knowledge and skills are assigned to each of the five standards, they are all related to each

other.

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Activity 10

Work in groups of 4. You will receive a card with the description of one standard. Read

the description and the roles and responsibilities for the standard given to you. Translate

the standard to your context. What does the standard mean for your school? What are

you already doing and is going well with relation to the standard? What is the role of

the head teacher and the deputy head teacher for this standard? What do you expect

from this programme to improve upon still in your school? Write your thoughts on a flip

chart and prepare to present and discuss with the whole group.

Figure 12: Professional Standards of School Leadership (REB, 2018)

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Table 2: Professional standards for school leadership (REB, 2018)

STANDARDS FOR EFFECTIVE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

STANDARD 1: Building a vision and mission for the school community is a

CREATING STRATEGIC fundamental responsibility of school leaders to build trust,

DIRECTION FOR THE to inspire and motivate students and staff. This vision should

SCHOOL express the core educational values of the school.

STANDARD 2: The role of school leaders is to ensure that all students learn.

LEADING LEARNING This implies setting high expectations for all students and

staff members. Creating a constructive and safe learning

environment and culture is an essential aspect of the role of

the school leader.

STANDARD 3: To ensure that all students learn effectively, teaching must

LEADING TEACHING be of the highest possible standard. The school leader must

create the environment, conditions and structures to support

this.

STANDARD 4: School leaders need to ensure that the school’s structures,

MANAGEMENT OF policies, people and resources are organized and managed

THE SCHOOL AS AN in such a way that they contribute to an effective and safe

ORGANIZATION learning environment.

STANDARD 5: Improvements in the school and in the local community are

WORKING WITH interdependent. School leaders should commit to engaging

PARENTS AND THE with parents and the local community to raise expectations

LOCAL COMMUNITY and improve student outcomes and well-being.

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Table 3: Roles and Responsibilities of school leaders per standard (REB, 2018)

STANDARDS ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF SCHOOL LEADERS

STANDARD 1: ▪▪ Develop a vision for the school which is clear, shared and
CREATING STRATEGIC widely understood and which takes a range of views into
DIRECTION FOR THE account
SCHOOL
▪▪ Translate the vision for the school into a strategic plan with
clear objectives and high expectations for all

▪▪ Create a school climate that is motivating and inspiring

and a culture that encourages innovation, creativity and
collaboration among staff
STANDARD 2: ▪▪ Set individual, group and school targets related to student
LEADING LEARNING learning

▪▪ Monitor, analyse and review data related to student learning

▪▪ Create a positive, safe and conducive learning environment

▪▪ Ensure that there is a continuous, school wide focus on

students’ achievement

▪▪ Ensure that evaluation and assessment of students are well

organized

▪▪ Promote excellence, equity and high expectations for all

students
STANDARD 3: ▪▪ Ensure that all teachers share a common understanding of
LEADING TEACHING quality teaching and the role of a teacher within the school

▪▪ Establish structures and systems to support teaching and

learning

▪▪ Monitor and review classroom practice and promote

improvement strategies

▪▪ Ensure arrangements for performance management are in

place to hold teachers to account for their students’ learning.

▪▪ Devote sufficient time to observe teaching and learning

activities and engage in constructive conversations with
teachers on teaching and learning

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STANDARDS ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF SCHOOL LEADERS

▪▪ Develop a programme of continuous professional
development

▪▪ Stimulate collaboration among staff.

▪▪ Supervise an induction programme for new staff

STANDARD 4: ▪▪ Coordinate the development and implementation of clear
MANAGEMENT OF improvement plans and policies
THE SCHOOL AS AN
ORGANIZATION ▪▪ Manage the school resources efficiently and effectively in a
way that promotes student learning

▪▪ Ensure that providing equitable learning opportunities is at

the centre of strategic planning and resource management

▪▪ Monitor, evaluate and review the systems, policies and

structures and the effect of these on student outcomes

▪▪ Make regular inspections of the school to ensure that school

premises and equipment are being used properly

▪▪ Create a sense of ownership and involvement in the school

with all staff by involving them in decision making.

▪▪ Manage and organize the school environment effectively and

efficiently to ensure that it meets the needs of the curriculum,
health and safety regulations

▪▪ Manage the school’s financial and human resources

effectively and efficiently to achieve the school’s education
goals and priorities

▪▪ Assign tasks and delegate duties

▪▪ Promote income generating activities for the school

▪▪ Organize recruitment of support staff and ensure their

contracts are signed

▪▪ Promote and implement strategies for motivating staff and

students

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STANDARDS ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF SCHOOL LEADERS

STANDARD 5: ▪▪ Create and maintain effective partnerships with parents
WORKING WITH including communicating effectively about student
PARENTS AND THE performance and welfare
LOCAL COMMUNITY
▪▪ Partner, where appropriate, with NGOs, agencies, businesses
or other organisations to support teaching and learning

▪▪ Serve as a link between school and different stakeholders

▪▪ Establish partnerships and share practices with other schools

▪▪ Ensure the school plays a productive role as a member of its

local community

▪▪ Meet parents and discuss learners’ progress, results and

conduct

Activity 11

In Appendix 2, you find the self-assessment tool for the 5 standards of effective school

leadership. Complete the self-evaluation about your knowledge and skills of each

standard and calculate your score. For each standard, identify one personal priority

that you want to improve upon during this programme.

This self-orientation is intended to help you identify areas for improvement. It is not an

evaluation of your work or your leadership competences. You do not need to hand in

your self-evaluation to the facilitator.

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UNIT TWO: GENDER AND INCLUSIVENESS IN

SCHOOL LEADERSHIP
Introduction

In Rwanda, gender equality has been incorporated in the Constitution. Rwanda has

adopted a National Gender Policy (Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion, 2010) and a

Plan of Action to ensure effective gender mainstreaming and full participation of women

in all activities related to nation’s socio-economic development. The National Institute

of Statistics (NISR) and the Gender Monitoring Office (GMO) have established a Gender
Statistics Framework (GSF) for Rwanda which includes the annual publication of a National

Gender Statistics Report. The most recent report can be downloaded at [Link]

[Link]/publication/gender-statistics-public-sector-rwanda.

The Government of Rwanda places a high priority on gender equality. In the 2013

parliamentary elections, 64% of the elected leaders were female. On the Gender

Development Index (GDI), Rwanda scored 0.992, placing it in the top group of countries

in 2015 (UNDP, 2017). However, important challenges remain at the household, school

and societal level. Rwandan society is characterised by a patriarchal social structure that

underlies the unequal social power relations between men and women, boys and girls. This

has translated into men’s dominance and women’s subordination. Intensive campaigns and

advocacy by Rwandan civil society are making progress in changing the patriarchal mindset.

However, important barriers remain to achieve gender equality for Rwandan children. Half

of all girls and six out of ten boys in Rwanda experience violence during their childhoods

(UNICEF & MINEDUC, 2017). Violence in childhood leads to mental distress, early pregnancy

and sexual risk-taking, and is a contributing cause of violence later in life. Boys who are

subjected to harsh physical punishment, who are physically abused themselves, or who

witness their mothers being beaten are more likely to abuse their partners later in life.

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Within the education sector, school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) remains a

challenge, contributing to high repetition and dropout rates (UNICEF & MINEDUC, 2017).

In the recently published LARS (Learning Achievements in Rwandan Schools) III results, boys

significantly outperform girls both in numeracy and literacy.

In this unit, we will introduce key terms related to gender and inclusive education, discuss

the status of gender equality in Rwanda and discuss your role as a school leader in promoting

gender and inclusive education.

Activity 12

Based on a role play, identify what distinguishes a gender sensitive and inclusive school

leader from a gender insensitive and non-inclusive leader.

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Activity 13

Form 2 concentric circles according to the guidelines of your trainer. With your partner

in front of you, you briefly discuss each question below. Under the guidance of the

facilitator, you regularly change your position, so that you discuss each question with

different people.

 In what ways do you think education in Rwanda is doing well in terms of gender?

 In what ways do you think gender in education can be improved in Rwanda?

 What are the effects of gender discrimination in the school and classroom?

 What are you doing in your school to promote gender equity?

 What can you do more in your school to ensure gender equity?

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Learning Outcomes

By the end of this unit, participants should be able to:

 Understand the importance of inclusiveness and gender in school leadership;

 Explain key terms related to gender and inclusive education;

 Devise ways how involving parents and local communities can contribute to inclusive
and gender responsive education.

 Demonstrate equity and inclusiveness in school leadership;

 Actively address gender stereotyping and gender blindness within their schools;

 Value the importance of gender equity and inclusive education.

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Section 1: Key Terms

Sex refers to the biologically determined characteristics for males and females. It is a biological

term referring to people and animals as being either female or male depending on their

genes and is therefore generally unchanging and universal. Sex also refers to biologically

determined differences between individuals that make them male or female. Gender refers

to the socially constructed roles, attitudes, behaviour, activities and attributes that society

considers appropriate for men and women. The allocated roles and prevalence of attitudes

and values vary per culture, class, age, ethnicity and time. Gender is a socially constructed

perception about the roles that men and women play in a culture or community. Gender

also involves issues of power in terms of who takes decisions and who owns resources at

household, community and society level (Subrahmanian, 2005)in this regard. These two

goals are distinguished as gender parity goals [achieving equal participation of girls and

boys in all forms of education based on their proportion in the relevant age-groups in the

population] and gender equality goals [ensuring educational equality between boys and

girls]. In turn these have been characterised as quantitative/numerical and qualitative goals

respectively. In order to consider progress towards both types of goal, both quantitative

and qualitative assessments need to be made of the nature of progress towards gender

equality. Achieving gender parity is just one step towards gender equality in and through

education. An education system with equal numbers of boys and girls participating, who

may progress evenly through the system, may not in fact be based on gender equality.

Following Wilson (Human Rights: Promoting gender equality in and through education.

Background paper for EFA GMR 2003/4, 2003.

Activity 14

Based on the picture below (Figure 13), discuss the difference is between gender equal-
ity and gender equity? How does this relate to the education system in Rwanda?

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Figure 13: Gender equality and gender equity (Save the Children, Mureke Dusome project, 2017)

Gender equality refers to a situation where both girls and boys are equally represented in

numbers in classes, schools or jobs (Subrahmanian, 2005)in this regard. These two goals are

distinguished as gender parity goals [achieving equal participation of girls and boys in all

forms of education based on their proportion in the relevant age-groups in the population]

and gender equality goals [ensuring educational equality between boys and girls]. In turn

these have been characterised as quantitative/numerical and qualitative goals respectively.

In order to consider progress towards both types of goal, both quantitative and qualitative

assessments need to be made of the nature of progress towards gender equality. Achieving

gender parity is just one step towards gender equality in and through education. An

education system with equal numbers of boys and girls participating, who may progress

evenly through the system, may not in fact be based on gender equality. Following Wilson

(Human Rights: Promoting gender equality in and through education. Background paper

for EFA GMR 2003/4, 2003. Rwanda has taken major steps in ensuring gender equality in

education enrolment. However, gender inequalities persist at the level of participation and

performance and this calls for a clear understanding of the underlying gender issues.

Gender parity is a 50:50 ratio of males and females accessing education. Gender parity is

about equality in terms of numbers and proportions of women and men, girls and boys.

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Analysing gender parity in education means a comparison of female and male learners’ level

of access to education at each level of education (Colclough, 2007). Rwanda has achieved

gender parity in primary school enrolment as one of the few African counties.

Gender equity is the process of being fair to women and men (Subrahmanian, 2005)in

this regard. These two goals are distinguished as gender parity goals [achieving equal

participation of girls and boys in all forms of education based on their proportion in the

relevant age-groups in the population] and gender equality goals [ensuring educational

equality between boys and girls]. In turn these have been characterised as quantitative/

numerical and qualitative goals respectively. In order to consider progress towards both

types of goal, both quantitative and qualitative assessments need to be made of the nature
of progress towards gender equality. Achieving gender parity is just one step towards

gender equality in and through education. An education system with equal numbers of

boys and girls participating, who may progress evenly through the system, may not in fact

be based on gender equality. Following Wilson (Human Rights: Promoting gender equality

in and through education. Background paper for EFA GMR 2003/4, 2003. Gender equity

calls for those who are in disadvantaged positions to have fair share of the benefits. This

means giving to those who have less based on needs and introducing special measures

and interventions to compensate for the historical and social disadvantages that prevent

women and men from operating on a level playing field (Figure 12). Gender equity leads to

gender equality.

Gender awareness means that teachers, civil servants and policy makers are informed about

challenges concerning gender and education in Rwanda. Lack of gender awareness may

lead to cases of gender stereotyping. However, shifts in gender equality require not only

awareness and behaviour change, but also changes in the fundamental power dynamics

that define gender norms and relationships (UNICEF, 2017).

Gender stereotypes are simplistic generalizations about differences between males and

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females. Gender stereotyping is related to gender blindness. Gender stereotypes assign

roles to males and females based on their sex, rather than their competences or preferences.

For example, maths is for boys and nursery is for girls (Zuze & Lee, 2007).

Gender blindness is about failing to see how it is gender and not innate (born) differences

that create differences between males and females in our society (UNICEF, 2017). For

example, a gender-blind teacher may see no problem with learner’s leadership without fair

gender representation.

Gender sensitivity is the opposite of gender blindness. It is the ability to recognize gender

issues, men’s and women’s different perceptions and interests arising from their respective

social roles.

Gender mainstreaming in school leadership refers to considering gender issues in all school

activities. It involves making gender an integral part of the planning, design, implementation,

monitoring and evaluation processes within the school (UNICEF, 2017).

Gender responsiveness refers to taking action to correct gender bias and discrimination so

as to ensure gender equality and equity (Mlama, 2005).

Gender-based violence refers to acts of violence inflicted on women because of their

gender and sexuality. It includes physical violence in the form of corporal punishment,

psychological violence such as verbal abuse, and sexual violence ranging from unwanted

sexual talk and indecent touch to rape.

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Activity 15

Watch the video below on the use of the expression “like a girl”.

[Link]

Does the video ring true to you? Can you give examples from the Rwandan context?

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Section 2: Status of Gender Equality in Rwandan Education

In this section, we will discuss how the Rwandan education system is doing in terms of

gender equality. Table 4 shows some key gender-disaggregated (data for males and females)

education indicators. Appendix 1 contains definitions for the main indicators in the table.

Table 4: Selected gender-disaggregated education indicators

Indicator Percent Percent Male Source

Female

Gross Intake Rate in P6 in 66.1 56.4 Rwanda

2014 (completion rate) Education

Statistics 2014

Net Intake Rate in P6 in 2016 16.7 12.9 Rwanda

Education

Statistics 2017

Gross Intake Rate in P6 in 86.2 72.3 Rwanda

2017 Education

Statistics 2017

Net Intake Rate in P6 in 2017 22.0 17.1 Rwanda

Education

Statistics 2017

Gross Intake Rate in S6 in 28.8 28.9 Rwanda

2017 Education

Statistics 2017

Net Intake Rate in S6 in 2017 13.3 12.4 Rwanda

Education

Statistics 2017

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Indicator Percent Percent Male Source

Female

Transition rate from Primary 73.7 75.4 Rwanda

to Lower Secondary Education

Education (P6 To S1) Statistics 2017

Transition rate from lower to 83.4 87.2 Rwanda

upper secondary in 2016 Education

Statistics 2017

Students in tertiary 45.3 54.7 Rwanda

institutions (%of male/ Education

female) in 2017 Statistics 2017

Gross Enrolment ratio in 140.1 138.2 Rwanda

primary education (2017) Education

Statistics 2017

Gross Enrolment ratio in 40.1 36.3 Rwanda

secondary education (2017) Education

Statistics 2017

Gross Enrolment ratio in 7.2 9.1 Rwanda

tertiary education (2017) Education

Statistics 2017

Percentage of teaching staff 27.2 72.7 Rwanda

for secondary education Education

Statistics 2017

Percentage of teaching staff 54.5 45.5 Rwanda

for Primary education Education

Statistics 2017

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Indicator Percent Percent Male Source

Female

Repetition rate in Primary 15.1 17.7 Rwanda

Education Education

Statistics 2017

Repetition rate in Secondary 5.4 5.0 Rwanda

Education Education

Statistics 2017

Dropout rate in Primary 5.3 5.9 Rwanda

Education (2016-2017) Education

Statistics 2017

Dropout rate in Secondary 4.7 4.0 Rwanda

Education (2016-2017) Education

Statistics 2017

Percentage of women age 12.7 NISR: DHS

15-19 years old who have 2014-15

begun childbearing without

Education

Percentage of women age 15- 9.2 NISR: DHS

19 years old who have begun 2014-15

childbearing with primary

education

Percentage of women age 15- 4.3 NISR: DHS

19 years old who have begun 2014-15

childbearing with Secondary

or higher education level

Sources: MINEDUC, 2018; National Institute of Statistics in Rwanda, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, & Ministry of Health,
2016

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Activity 16

Answer the questions below individually. Next, discuss your answers in pairs. Does the

assessment help you to identify gender issues in your school?

1. Find out information in your school about the following:

 Which statistics in the table do you have in your school? Compare the

statistics you have with national statistics.

 Are there any gender gaps in your school? List them.

 As a school leader, what are you doing to fill these gaps?

2. When visitors come to the school who does the following tasks between female

and male teachers, girls and boys:

 Receiving the visitors

 Cooking and serving

 Presenting the visitor with gifts

Discuss the gender implications of this situation.

3. What are the specific gender roles in the local community of the school. Make

a list of the tasks typically performed by men, by women, by boys and by girls.

 Is there a gender equitable distribution of the tasks?

 What impact do these have on the education of the girls and boys?

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Discussion gender statistics

Some key findings from the overview of gender-disaggregated education statistics are:

▪▪ GIR for Primary 6 have increased considerably between 2014 and 2017, both for

males and females, showing that more children finish primary education. There is

no gender imbalance at this level.

▪▪ NIRs remain much lower than GIRs, meaning that there are many over-aged and

under-aged children in the education system. To achieve the universal target of

100% GER, more strategies and plans should be elaborated to ensure the smooth
transition of students to secondary level (so that over-aged children do not remain

in primary). Moreover, a recommendation is that parents should be sensitized to

send their children on time to the Nursery level. This would enable children to be

school-ready to join the primary level at the appropriate age.

▪▪ Transition rates for primary to secondary education are lower than those from

lower secondary to upper secondary education. This means that the transition from

primary to secondary education remains the main barrier for learners, where most

drop-outs take place. Transition rates are slightly higher for boys than for girls.

▪▪ Dropout rates in primary and secondary education are similar for boys and girls.

However, dropout for younger boys tends to disrupt their education and contributes

to over-ageing, whereas dropout for girls more often represents the end point in

their education (UNICEF & MINEDUC, 2017).

▪▪ Despite recent declines, repetition remains a major issue in Rwanda’s education

system. By Primary 6, 85% of children in the education system have repeated at

least once (UNICEF & MINEDUC, 2017). A key characteristic of Rwandan classrooms

in primary and secondary school is high age‐variation within grades. High age‐

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variation within grades inevitably affects class dynamics and the quality of teaching.

At primary ages, girls are less likely to repeat than boys, a difference that reverses

in secondary education.

▪▪ GER in secondary and tertiary education are much lower than for primary education.

Strong differences between gross and net rates point to many learners that are not

at the right level according to their age level, due to late entry, temporary drop-out

or repetition. Enrolment and intake rates at secondary level are gender balanced,

but at tertiary level, there are still more males than females who enrol.

▪▪ Data on the percentage of women age 15-19 years old who have begun childbearing

according to their education level show that the higher their level of education, the

lower the number who have begun childbearing in their teens.

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Section 3: Gender in Schools

The gender inequities that exist in society have an impact on the school environment.

This is reflected in school processes such as teaching, teacher–student interaction, school

management, and the planning and design of the physical infrastructure (Figure 14).

Teaching and learning materials, for example, may contain gender stereotypes. Teachers are

not always aware of the gender specific needs of both girls and boys. School management

systems may not sufficiently address gender constraints such as sexual harassment, and

many schools do not have adequate or separate toilets for girls and boys. As a result, the

schools do not provide a gender responsive environment for effective teaching and learning

to take place.

Activity 17

Reflect on the gender situation in your school and identify gender inequities with respect

to the following aspects:

 Number of teachers (males and females)

 Number of students (boys and girls)

 Learning outcomes

 Leadership roles (student leaders, heads of department, subject leaders)

 Infrastructure (toilets, dorms, girls rooms, ICT use etc.)

What do you think are the causes of the inequities?

As a school leader, what are you doing to address inequities?

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Figure 14: Gender Bottlenecks, barriers, options and opportunities in Education (UNICEF, 2017)

A gender responsive school is one in which the academic, social and physical environment

and its surrounding community consider the specific needs of both girls and boys. This

implies that the teachers, parents, community leaders and members, and the boys and

girls are all aware of and practice gender equality. It also assumes that school management

systems, policies and practices recognize and address the gender- or sex-based needs of

both girls and boys. In addition, in a gender responsive school the academic delivery,

including teaching methodologies, teaching and learning materials, classroom interaction,

and management of academic processes, is gender responsive. The students, both girls and

boys, are empowered to practice gender equality and to protect the rights of all learners.
Gender responsiveness includes the physical environment in the school – including

buildings, furniture and equipment.

Schools play a powerful role in constructing male and female identities (Aikman &

Underhalter, 2007). They influence how boys and girls see themselves and each other.

Schools are places of intense interaction where both the formal and informal curriculum

shape learners’ understanding about gender. Every day attitudes and beliefs about

gender are brought into the classroom and influence what is taught and how it is taught.

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Teachers, school leaders and learners construct gender through their daily interactions and

relationships. Below are some of the stereotypes that may be held by teachers and head

teachers about boys and girls in a school.

Activity 18

Discuss the stereotypes and gender equity challenges below. Which of them do you

recognize in your school? Can you add more? What are you doing to address them?

Table 5: Gender Stereotypes in schools

Boys Girls

▪▪ Are loud and clear in speech ▪▪ Speak softly

▪▪ Are not shy ▪▪ Are shy and cannot express

themselves well
▪▪ Are assertive

▪▪ Accept whatever is decided

▪▪ Are energetic

▪▪ Have no physical energy

Here are some examples of gender equity challenges in East African schools (Zuze & Lee,

2007; Mlama, 2005):

 Young girls who drop out of school to take care of their young siblings;

 Young girls who drop out of school to become nannies;

 Young girls who are not allowed to participate in school clubs like their brothers

because of being busy with domestic chores;

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 Young girls who are absent from the school because there are no hygienic facilities;

 Girls being involved in sweeping while boys are playing or reading story books;

 Boys who dropped out from school and perform child labour such as making bricks,

mining, keeping animals etc.

 Social norms that boys are better at maths and science than girls;

 Girls are viewed as temporary residents in the parental home so returns on education

will be enjoyed by the husband’s family;

 Different treatment in classroom of boys and girls (See section 4).

Activity 19

Read the two case studies below. Discuss whether such clubs would be useful in your

school.

Case study 1: Saving Clubs in GS Bubazi in Kamonyi District

13 groups of learners from S1 to S3, 8 groups for girls and 5 for boys, are member of a
saving club. Each group is under the guidance of a mentor teacher of the same sex.

Every week on Monday learners save from 50 to250 Rwandan Francs. At the end of the

year, learners can use the saved money to invest it in productive means, such as buying

a chicken. They can also use the funds to buy school materials. If necessary, learners

can also opt to borrow money, at an interest. Every month learners come together with

their mentor to discuss issues related to social and economic affairs. For example, both

girls and boys learn about sexual development and reproduction.

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Learners say that the saving clubs help them to be self-supportive and acknowledge the

value of money. Teachers report that the clubs have created a more trustful and friendly

relationship between teachers and learners. The saving club has had a positive impact

for example, School leaders report a lower dropout rate in the school as a result of the

programme and the establishment of a girls’ room.

The project is regularly evaluated by school leaders, teachers, parents and learners

during scorecard meetings. During these meetings, successes and challenges are shared

and possible solutions are discussed.

Case study 2: Entrepreneurship Club at GS Aspeka in Kamonyi District

Under the guidance of the entrepreneurship teacher, learners in S4 to S6, have set

up a mixed entrepreneurship club. In the club, they save a weekly sum of minimum

500 Rwandan Francs. The savings are used to invest in materials needed to set up a

local business. For example, the current cohort of learners have decided to create a

business to make brochette skewers from bamboo. They have assigned one teacher to

sell the skewers on the market. Last year, the club’s activities turned a profit of 1 million

Rwandan Francs.

The purpose of the Club is to help learners to find employment after they graduate.

After graduation, they are encouraged to continue the business together. In the Club,

learners also develop other skills, such as debating and public speaking, learn about

reproductive issues and question traditional beliefs.

Girls who are members of the Club report that the clubs have helped them to understand

that boys and girls have the same abilities and that they can invest and run a profit as

well.

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Section 4: Gender in Classrooms

Activity 20

Discuss following questions briefly with the whole group:

 What do you understand by gender responsive pedagogy?

 Give examples of how gender responsive pedagogy is implemented in your

school.

 Which aspects of gender responsive pedagogy do you focus on during classroom

observations?

Observations of classroom practices show that teaching and learning is often gender biased

(Consuegra, 2015). Many teachers apply teaching methodologies that do not give girls and

boys equal opportunities to participate, and often this happens unconsciously (Consuegra,

2015). They also use teaching and learning materials that reinforce gender stereotypes.

Therefore, there is an urgent need to introduce gender responsive pedagogy.

Gender responsive pedagogy refers to teaching and learning processes that pay attention to

the specific learning needs of girls and boys (Mlama, 2005). Gender responsive pedagogy
calls for teachers to take an integrated gender approach in the processes of lesson planning,

teaching, class management and performance evaluation. As a school leader, it is important

that you can make teachers aware of gender responsive pedagogy and help them to become

more sensitive to gender stereotypes in the classroom.

For example, in many schools, classroom roles are allocated per learner’s sex. This practice

reinforces certain social values which reflect gender stereotyping. Table 7 indicates some

roles that are often assigned to boys and girls.

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Table 6: Typical Role Distributions in classrooms and schools

Boys Girls

Lead a team Acts as secretary to discussions in a group

Head prefect Assistant Class prefect

Spokesperson Peel potatoes and bananas

Play football Play netball

Run marathon Fetch water

Lift weights Clean the blackboard

Practice boxing

In girls’ schools, roles are often assigned depending on the perception of the teacher as to

how the girls correspond to boys in terms of:

 Physical structure (appearance, body form, height, weight, strength)

 Intelligence (class performance)

Strong and intelligent girls are likened to boys and their performance is compared to that

of boys, often in a positive light. For example, Umutoni runs as fast as a boy, Kayitesi is as

intelligent as Rurangwa. These practices reinforce the perception that only boys can do

better and therefore girls can only play the role of followers or copycats.

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Teachers and school leaders can reinforce gender stereotypes in other ways during teaching
and learning:

 Asking more difficult questions to boys;

 Asking more questions to boys;

 Have higher expectations for boys than for girls

 Giving more opportunities to boys to solve problems at the blackboard

 Believing that boys are more able to do maths and science than girls.

 Using examples that are more appealing to boys than to girls.

Examples of a gender responsive pedagogy are (Mlama, 2005):

 Ask same amount of questions to boys and girls;

 Ask questions of same difficulty level to boys and girls;

 Use examples that reflect interests of boys and girls;

 Provide equal opportunities to boys and girls to engage with learning resources
(experiments, concrete materials, ICT);

 Use examples that feature boys and girls in equal amounts and in non-stereotypical
situations (e.g. word problems in mathematics, women as scientists, men as
caregivers);

 During group work, make sure that boys and girls take up leadership roles;

 Foster high expectations for all learners for all subjects (e.g. girls can be equally
good at mathematics and science than boys).

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Section 5: Making Schools Gender Responsive

School leaders should determine the level of gender responsiveness of the school. This can

be done by collecting following information:

 Does the school ensure that both girls and boys have equal access to school resources

such as textbooks, library resources, and laboratory equipment?

 How does the school deal with sexual harassment? How many cases of sexual

harassment are reported in a given period?

 Are there separate and adequate toilets and hygienic facilities for both boys and

girls?

 How many teachers have knowledge and skills about gender responsive teaching?

 Does the school have any activities to promote the participation of girls in science

and maths?

 What action has the community taken to support girls’ education? For example,

curbing early marriage, reducing pregnancy rates, reducing household tasks for

girls, monitoring school attendance of girls, monitoring behaviour of teachers.

Activity 21

With examples, discuss how you can make your school gender responsive.

Based on the collected information, you can indicate steps that might be taken in each

area to improve gender responsiveness. However, a gender-responsive school requires

an integrated approach involving various interventions in an integrated way. Becoming a

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gender responsive school should be a key objective in the development of your SIP (see:

Module 2).

Becoming a gender responsive

school should be a key objective in
the development of your SIP.

The interventions to make your school gender responsive can include the following:

 Organising gender sensitization activities for parents, community l members,

teachers, girls and boys to raise their awareness and understanding of the need to

support the education of girls and boys.

 Training teachers in the skills for making teaching and learning processes responsive

to the specific needs of girls and boys.

 Empowering girls with skills for self-confidence, assertiveness, speaking out,

decision making and negotiation for them to overcome gender-based constraints

to their education.

 Empowering boys with skills to refrain from gender oppressive attitudes and

practices such as macho-ism, bullying and sexual affronts and to develop the self-

confidence needed to accept gender equality positively.

 Training the school community in the skills necessary to improve their reproductive

health and protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases, particularly

HIV/AIDS.

 Training the school community to manage sexual maturation issues of both girls and

boys with emphasis on menstruation management.

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 Training teachers and students in guidance and counselling skills.

 Establishing guidance and counselling desks to provide services for the social and

psychological development of girls and boys.

 Working with the community to provide support to needy girls and boys to ensure

that they do not drop out of school.

 Providing gender responsive infrastructure including:

àà Separate and adequate toilets for girls and boys.

àà Adequate and clean water and sanitation, especially to enhance menstruation

management and the overall health of the school community.

 Carrying out activities to promote the participation of girls in science and

mathematics subjects.

 Establishing a gender responsive school management system that ensures gender

equality in the governance and operation of the school. This may include collecting

gender-disaggregated data on all aspects of teaching and learning.

 Involving the community and other stakeholders in monitoring and taking action to

ensure improved enrolment, attendance and performance of girls and boys.

 Establishing a database to track student performance and welfare as well as the

levels of gender responsiveness of all aspects of the school

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Activity 22

How can you improve gender equity in your school? In your group, agree on 3 concrete
actions that you will work on in your school during the next school year.

Also, think about how you will monitor progress and how you will know at the end of
the year whether your actions were successful.

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Section 6: Understanding Inclusive Education

Rwanda signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) on 26

January 1990. According to this Convention, disabled children have a right to education,

and schools have a responsibility to educate all children. However, the priority needs of

disabled children are not special, they are basic. Disabled children need food, shelter, love

and affection, protection, and education.

The UNCRC protects and promotes the rights of all children including disabled children. Key

articles are:

 Article 2: non-discrimination

 Article 23: disabled children’s rights

 Articles 28 and 29: right to education.

Activity 23

Describe in 1 sentence what inclusive education means to you. Compare and discuss

with your neighbour.

Inclusive education is about treating all learners as individuals. It is about making sure that
all learners can learn. Therefore, it is much broader than special needs education, which
focuses on learners with disabilities.

When we think about inclusive education, often we just think about getting children into
school, i.e. making sure they are present in school. However, we also need to ensure that
children are participating in lessons and school life, and that they are achieving academically
and socially as a result of coming to school.

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Always think about: Presence, Participation and Achievement (Ainscow, 2005) (Figure 15).

Presence

Participation Achievement

Figure 15: Components of Inclusive Education (Ainscow, 2005)

It is not enough that they simply attend the lessons; all children should be given the same

opportunities to fully participate and achieve.

Equal presence: Teachers should be instructed to do daily attendance of the children

disaggregated by sex. If there is an attendance issue specific to boys or girls, talk with

parents through SGA meetings. Invite the concerned parents at school to speak about why

girls and boys should be provided with equal learning opportunities and how to support

their learning needs.

Equal participation: Teachers should ensure that both girls and boys are participating actively

and given chances to lead in classroom activities, classroom discussions, and different clubs.

There should be full participation of both a girl and a boy student representative during

SGAC meeting.

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Equal achievement: Parents, teachers and school leaders should ensure both boys and girls

have equal opportunity to access learning materials and that there are not any achievement

gaps. You may think it is too difficult to address the needs of a diverse range of children,

as there are so many challenges. However, by working as a team within your school, with

support from families and local communities, and by making small changes to your teaching

methods, schools can meet the needs of all children − including those with disabilities.

The differences between special education, integrated education and inclusive education

can be explained using the analogy of pegs (Figure 16). In a special education system,

there is an education system for “normal” children (round pegs) and a separate system

for children with disabilities (square pegs). In an integrated education system, children
with disabilities are considered a problem and need to be changed so they can fit into the

“normal” education system (from square to round pegs). An inclusive education system is

a system that can accommodate pegs of all shapes. In inclusive education the system has

to change, not the child.

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Figure 16: Differences between special, integrated and inclusive education (Thomazet, 2009)

Activity 24

Brainstorm on the question: Who needs to be included in your school?

Inclusive education is about making sure that all learners can be present, take part

in learning and achieve good learning results. Which learners are most at risk to be

excluded?

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Activity 25

What are the barriers to inclusive education in your schools for:

 environment

 attitude

 policy

 practice

 resources

Discuss in groups and prepare an original poster with your ideas. Through a gallery

walk, you will discover the ideas of each group. With post-it notes, you can add your

ideas on each poster. The photo below (Figure 17) shows an example of one such poster

with some post-its added.

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Figure 17: Example of poster on barriers to inclusive education

Every school, community and country is unique, and has its own set of reasons why children

with disabilities cannot access school, or have a good educational experience when they

are at school. When we view inclusive education from a social perspective, we are looking

at the causes of exclusion within the society and education system (for instance, we say that

it is not the fault of the child in a wheelchair that she cannot access the school building,
it is the fault of the school building designers for not creating an accessible building). To

understand in more detail the reasons why some children do not attend or join in at school

we need to analyse the barriers getting in their way.

When we are trying to develop more inclusive, quality and child-friendly education, we

need to have a clear idea of what challenges (or barriers) we are facing, so that we can

find appropriate solutions that suit each unique context. Barriers are not always obvious,

they cover a wide range of issues, and different people may perceive or prioritise different

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barriers to inclusion within the same situation. As we have already discussed, we also need

to think about these barriers from a social perspective – i.e. think about the problems in the

society and/or education system that cause children to be excluded.

There are different types of barriers:

 Environmental barriers: e.g., school buildings and toilets, which are not accessible.

 Attitude barriers: e.g., fear, embarrassment, shame, pity, low expectations.

 Policy barriers: e.g. inflexible school timetables; lack of mother tongue teaching.

 Practice barriers: e.g., a lack of interactive and co-operative teaching.

 Resource barriers: e.g., a shortage of teachers, large class size.

When we think about barriers to inclusion, often we immediately think about physical

barriers, such as stairs and a lack of ramps. However, the biggest barriers to the inclusion

of everyone in education may not always be physical – they may be caused by negative

attitudes, by government or school policies that are discriminatory, by teaching practices

that are not of high quality or by a lack of human and material resources. Some barriers

require us to spend money to solve them (like building a ramp or printing accessible books).

However, many of them can be achieved without a huge investment of money, but instead

by more carefully using the money that is already available.

As a school leader, you have a role to play as a problem solver. You need to discuss with

teachers and other stakeholders in the school how the school can overcome various barriers

and become more inclusive. You need to stimulate teachers to think outside the box and

avoid that teachers see inclusion as something that cannot be achieved in their school.

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When we are thinking about barriers to inclusion, we need to be as specific as possible, so

that we can find specific and appropriate solutions that will work. For instance, when looking

at teaching practices we might say that, “poor teaching practice is a barrier to inclusion in

my school”. This is a very generalised view of the problem: it doesn’t tell us what is wrong

with the teaching practice; why is it so poor? This would not give us much information on

which to base our ideas for solving the problem. We would need to think more specifically

– for instance, teachers poor practice may be associated with the fact that they just stand

in front of the class and write on the blackboard but never interact with the children and

do not allow children to speak.

When we are thinking about solutions to inclusion barriers we also need to be specific. We

could say that to improve teaching practices we need to ‘sensitise teachers’ – but this is

vague; what would actually be involved in this task? To be more specific with the solution

we could, for instance, suggest that there needs to be a project that works with the district

or REB to develop an in-service teacher training program about active learning methods,

and techniques for enabling child participation in class.

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Activity 26

In small groups, select a barrier from the previous activity that is relevant for you. Make

sure that each group has selected a different barrier. Discuss what obstacles your school

encounters on the way to inclusive education and what could be done to overcome

them. Examples are:

▪▪ change negative attitudes of parents

▪▪ stop child labour

▪▪ increase learning of children with disabilities

▪▪ implementing policies

For your poster, use a mountain diagram (Figure 18): on the top of the barrier is the goal.

On the road to the mountain, there are obstacles that represent barriers to inclusive

education.

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Figure 18: Example of a mountain diagram

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Activity 28

In this activity, we will discuss in more detail what inclusive education means in a school.
Think about each statement and vote whether you agree with it or not.

1. All children with learning disabilities should sit together in the same class – this
means they would not feel different.

2. Communities and schools can work together to make school environments more
accessible.

3. Children who are visually impaired will get a much better education in a special
school for the blind.

4. Teacher training on inclusion for children with disabilities would be most effective
if it is separate to all other training – this is because it is a specialist area. Should
be integrated, it’s about good teaching practice.

5. The main concept of inclusive education is to ensure that children with disabilities
are educated.

6. Children with special needs should be allowed extra time when taking exams.

7. It is a good strategy for children who have difficulty moving around to be able
to watch other children playing sports such as basketball and football. By doing
this they will feel included.

8. A child who is consistently late for school should be punished – no matter what
the reason is.

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Some key elements about inclusive education that you may have discussed during the

previous activity:

 Collaboration is a key element to achieve inclusive education. It is not about

teachers needing a lot of specialized knowledge and skills to deal with learners with

disabilities.

 Inclusive education is about treating all learners as individuals. It is about good

teaching.

 Inclusive education means getting to know your learners and understanding why

learners behave in the way they do. Why is a learner absent-minded, filthy or

disruptive?

 An important role for a school leader is to create a culture of inclusive education by

acting as a role model through each of the standards of leadership.

 Inclusivity goes beyond the school. It is about children who are not learning because

of their home situation, because they are sick or poor or have too many domestic

responsibilities. Therefore, it is important to involve the local community and look

for support to become an inclusive school.

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UNIT THREE: WORKING WITH PARENTS AND

THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

Introduction

Productive and positive parent-school partnerships play a critical role in promoting student

learning. Parents are the first educators of their children and they continue to influence their

children’s learning and development throughout the school years. Given the limited time

that children spend in school, interactions with family and community members are likely

to have more impact on a child’s learning and development than school-based interactions.

For this reason, parental and family involvement in education is a critical ingredient in any

successful school.

A balanced approach to school decision-making and parental involvement creates a sense

of shared responsibility among parents, community members, teachers and school leaders.

In turn, shared responsibility:

 Ensures that parents’ values and interests are heard and respected;

 Allows for more engaged and supportive parents;

 Makes the school more accountable to its community.

 Helps learners to value the role of their parents in their education.

The school should be a welcoming environment where school leaders and teachers value

and understand the important role of parents in children’s education success. In such

schools, parents are active participants in the life of the school, and feel connected to each

other, to school staff, and to what children are learning.

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Learning Outcomes

By the end of this unit, participants should be able to:

 Describe the principles of parent/community-school partnerships;

 Demonstrate ways to involve parents and the local community in the school;

 Establish strategies to enhance collaboration between the school and parents/ local
community as an instrument for improving the quality of teaching and learning;

 Support the capacity development of the SGAC as a partner in the achievement of

sustainable learning outcomes;

 Act as a role model in the community;

 Value the importance of involving parents and the local community to achieve high
quality inclusive education.

Self-Evaluation

Activity 29

Think individually about common practices in your school and indicate whether the

statements in the table below are valid for your school.

Next, share and discuss your answers with your neighbour. On which statements do you

have the same opinion, and on which did you make a different assessment?

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Table 7: Self-Evaluation on School – Parent/Community Partnerships

In my school, Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly

agree disagree
Parents and school staff are
active partners in decisions
that affect children’s
learning.
The School General
Assembly plays a role in
creating policies, practices
and programs that
continuously improve the
school.
The school is a welcoming
environment whereby
school leaders and teachers
value and understand the
important role of parents in
children’s education success.
Parents are active
participants in the life of the
school, and feel connected
to each other, to school staff,
and to what children are
learning.
Parents and school staff
engage in regular and
meaningful communication
about children’s learning and
wellbeing. Information is
shared between school and
parents through a variety

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In my school, Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly

agree disagree
of communication channels
to promote ongoing
constructive dialogue.
Parents and school staff
continuously collaborate
to support children’s
academic progress both in
the classroom and at home.
Assessments are used to
inform support strategies
and monitor learning.
Parents and school staff
actively promote the needs
of all children. Learning
environments are responsive
to diverse communities, and
ensure equity in relation to
gender, disability and family
background.
Parents and school
leadership cultivate positive
relationships with other
services within the school
community and work
together to support school
improvement. The school
serves as a centre for
community learning events
and requests support for
extra-curricular activities.
Source: Save the Children, Mureke Dusome project, 2017

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Section 1: Research on the involvement of parents and the

local community in the school

International evidence makes a strong case that schools alone cannot be responsible for the

education of children, but that this is the shared responsibility of schools, families, and local

communities. Various studies have found that lack of positive relationships between school

staff and families can have negative effects on children’s learning outcomes (Henderson &

Mapp, 2002). But the opposite is also true; when families and school staff know each other

and have personal, respectful relationships, students have more academic success. These

relationships and the regular participation of parents help to share the responsibility for
learning, and reduce the potential blaming of teachers for student failures by the parents

(Florez, 2011).

When parents are asked by schools to support their students, they develop confidence in

their ability to help their children succeed academically, have positive experiences with

teachers and school leadership, increase their understanding of the school’s needs, and

experience improved communication with their children. Researchers also found that

“educators experience greater job satisfaction, higher evaluation ratings from the parents

and administrators and more positive associations with their families” when they collaborate

with parents (Nyatuka, 2015).

Finding ways to facilitate relationships among parents may lead to increased participation

of families and increased impact of a school’s family engagement strategy. By creating

a social network and community feeling around school priorities, parents’ interest and

enjoyment in attending school events may increase. This network also may help to improve

collaboration and communication among families around student learning, as well as

ownership and accountability for attendance and participation in school priorities.

For years, research has shown that children who benefit from engaged parents and

supportive community environments are much more likely to succeed in school than

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those who do not (Henderson & Mapp, 2002). Specifically, these students tend to have

better learning outcomes, higher completion rates, higher attendance, and better attitudes

towards school (Jeynes, 2003). This evidence is true for primary and secondary school

students, regardless of their parents’ education level, their family’s socio-economic status

or where they live (Henderson & Mapp, 2002).

Even though the evidence is clear, effective collaboration requires understanding from all

stakeholders, time, and creativity. Effective parent–school partnerships are collaborative

relationships which involve school staff, parents/guardians and the school wider community.

This collaborative relationship is based on mutual trust and respect and shared responsibility

for the education and learning of all students at the school.

It is worth noting that throughout this guide, the term ‘parents’ is used to refer to all primary

caregivers. This recognizes that there are children, in Rwanda and globally, with unique

family situations that involve different family or non-family members.

Parent-school partnerships in many Rwandan schools are not yet sufficiently developed

to ensure children meet the learning goals set in the curriculum. Many barriers to

effective collaboration stem from a lack of understanding around the impact parents and

communities can have when they truly engage with children in ways that support their

learning and development. Kabarere, Muchee, Makewa, & Role (2013) found that high

performing schools in Rwanda tend to have more involved parents. However, all schools

scored low in involving parents in the management of the school and benefiting from

parents as resources to improve teaching and learning.

Historically, expectations around family and community support for learning have focused

mainly on paying school fees, buying uniforms and materials, or participating in / contributing

resources and labour to school building campaigns (REB, 2012). Many school leaders have

been content when some parents turned up at the SGA meetings (Kabarere et al., 2013).

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Engagement has been focused on involvement that does little to build understanding, trust,
or collaboration. A 2007 study of Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zimbabwe found that
important education decisions are almost never decentralized in a way that encourages
genuine local community participation (Dunne, Akyeampong, & Humphreys, 2007).

Evidence suggests that many parents still believe that a child’s education is the sole
responsibility of schools and feel ill-equipped to support their child’s education at home
(Nganga, 2009). Rwandan teachers report that many parents do not have the time or
resources to support their children’s efforts to learn and that many parents do not regularly
meet with teachers to discuss children’s progress (Kabarere et al., 2013).

There is clearly a need to develop and foster appropriate, effective linkages between
students, their families, their schools, and their communities that support learning of
all students. There is not a single perfect approach for fostering impactful partnerships.
However, evidence suggests that it is possible - with concerted efforts - to create enabling
environments in the home, school, and community that encourage and support learning,
while building awareness and understanding that opportunities for learning are valuable
and more than just school-bound activities.

The following activity highlights barriers to the active engagement of parents and identifies
strategies to overcome them.

Activity 30

What barriers to active engagement do parents face?

For each barrier, what strategies can you use in your school to overcome it?

Parents (male and female, rich and poor, literate and illiterate, parents with and without

disability) may face a wide range of challenges and require additional support to participate

in the school. However, they can also bring unique expertise and insights to the school and

help the school in becoming more inclusive.

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Section 2: Epstein’s Model for School-Family-Community

Partnerships

In this section we explore what role parents and local communities can play to raise the
quality of teaching and learning in Rwandan schools. To do this, we use a research-based
model that was developed by Joyce Epstein, an American educator. She has been studying
and writing about school-family-community partnerships for over thirty years. Over
time, she has developed and refined a framework for successfully involving parents and
community members in schools (Epstein, 1987). While this framework was developed in
and around American schools, these principles, or some variation of them, have served as

a framework and are applicable to the Rwandan context.

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Activity 31

Think about the following statements and vote whether you agree or don’t agree:

1 It is not necessary to involve all parents as some of them are not interested in their
children’s education.

2 The main purpose of involving parents is to raise funds for the school.

3 It is the school’s responsibility to help parents to support their children with their
education.

4 Parents who are illiterate cannot do much to support their children at school.

5 It is a good idea to organize literacy courses for parents after school hours or during
weekends.

6 I already do a lot to involve parents in the school, but many parents don’t have time
to be involved in the school.

7 Parents should be able to observe lessons of their children in the school.

8 The SGAC meetings are the best instrument to involve parents in the school.

Epstein’s model emphasizes six types of community and parental involvement that schools
can use.

1. Parenting: Assist families with parenting skills, family support, understanding

child and adolescent development, and setting home conditions to support
learning. Assist schools in understanding families’ backgrounds, cultures, and
goals for children.

2. Communicating: Communicate with families about school programs and student

progress. Create effective, reliable two-way communication channels between
school and home.

3. Volunteering: Improve recruitment and training to involve families as volunteers

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and as audiences at the school. Enable educators to work with volunteers

who support students and the school. Provide meaningful work and flexible
scheduling.

4. Learning at Home: Involve families with their children in academic learning at

home, including homework, goal setting, and other curriculum-related activities.

5. Decision Making: Include families as participants in school decisions,

governance, and advocacy activities through school councils or improvement
teams, committees, and other organizations.

6. Collaborating with the Community: Coordinate resources and services for

families, students, and the school with community groups, including businesses,
agencies, cultural and civic organizations, NGOs and colleges or universities.

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Activity 32

Complete the following table by indicating your current practices in relation to the
different components of Epstein’s model. Explain how you could use ICT for each type
of parent/community involvement.

Types of Current practices

involvement
By school leaders By parents How ICT could be
used

Parenting

Communicating

Volunteering

Learning at home

Decision making

Collaborating
with community

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Section 3: Building School-Community Partnerships in

Rwandan Schools

The National Parent-School Partnership Standards from REB identify what parents and
schools can do together to support student learning. They aim to guide SGAC leaders,
parents, school leadership, teachers, community members and students to work together
for the educational success of all children. The Standards also highlight best practices for
effectively engaging families and communities in supporting children’s learning both in and
out of school.

More specifically, the National Parent-School Partnership Standards aim to:

 Highlight expected competences from parents and schools to build effective

partnership

 Inform the development of a school improvement plan

 Monitor progress in reaching school improvement goals

 Assess current parental involvement practices at the school

 Inform capacity building needs for School General assembly organ

 Develop ideas for engaging parents and communities

Activity 33

Rwanda Education Board and its partners developed the National Parent-School

Partnership Standards, based on Epstein’s work. Read these standards and relate each

standard to the Epstein’s model.

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Standard 1-Sharing Responsibility for Learning

Parents and school staff are active partners in decisions that affect children’s learning.

The School General Assembly plays a role in creating policies, practices and programs that

continuously improve their school.

Standard 2- Active Participation in the School Life

The school is a welcoming environment whereby school leadership and teachers value and

understand the important role of parents in children’s education success. Parents are active

participants in the life of the school, and feel connected to each other, to school staff, and
to what children are learning.

Standard 3- Communicating Effectively

Parents and school staff engage in regular meaningful communication about children’s

learning and wellbeing. Information is shared between school and parents through a variety

of communication channels to promote ongoing constructive dialogue.

Standard 4- Supporting Learning

Parents and school staff continuously collaborate to support children’s academic progress

both in the classroom and at home. Assessments are used to inform support strategies and

monitor children’s learning.

Standard 5-Ensuring Equity and inclusion

Parents and school staff actively promote the needs of all children. Learning environments

are responsive to diverse communities, and ensure equity in relation to gender, disability

and family background.

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Standard 6-Collaborating with the Wider Community

Parents and school leadership cultivate positive relationships with other existing services

within the school community and work together to support school improvement. The

school serves as a hub for community learning events and solicits support for extra-

curricular activities.

Activity 34

Based on your self-evaluation, write two action points for improvement. Share them
with your neighbour. Explain why you chose these actions.

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Section 4: Involving the Local Community in Achieving

Inclusive Education

Parents and the local community play an important role in making the school more inclusive.

Collaboration is a key word in achieving inclusivity. Parents and the local community can

help teachers and school leaders in finding solutions for learners with impairments. For

example, volunteers can help with assisting learners with visual or hearing impairments, or

with remedial exercises.

We will explore how school leaders can involve the local community to make the school

more inclusive through several case studies. Each case study introduces one aspect of
inclusive education and offers ideas that you may apply for your own school.

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Activity 35

Work in small groups. Read your assigned case story and underline examples of school
community collaboration. Discuss the questions at the bottom of each case story.
Prepare to present your case story and discussion for the whole group.

Case story 1
I am a head teacher in a 9 Year Basic Education school. We have only a small number
ofstudents. The capitation grant is not enough to accommodate school issues. I heard
thatcommunities in other schools are engaged to improve children’s learning.

I decided to visit a similar neighbouring school. In my learning visit, I was welcomed by

the head teacher at the primary school. I sat with him for a while in his office and he
shared with me how his school has managed to improve over the last several years. He
said that one of the factors that had helped children have better results was the useful
collaboration they have with the community around the school. The head teacher in
collaboration with the SGAC had mobilized funds during an accountability day. The
funds were used to purchase books and other reading materials to be used by children
and other people in the community. After seeing those books, parents began making
reading materials from recycled materials. On a quarterly basis, the community came
together to make additional reading or scholastic materials.

In a short tour around the school, the head teacher took me to a learning centre inside
the school where people from the surrounding community meet for capacity building in
various domains including learning languages as well as adult literacy classes. Returning
from the visit, I shared the learning with teachers and SGAC. We discussed how we
could apply similar measures in our school context and generated an action plan based
on these ideas.

Based on the examples described in the case story, identify other initiatives of collaboration
with the community that can help your school improve students learning outcomes.

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Case story 2
In my school, we had an issue of dropout and poor attendance for primary children.
Together with the SEO, SGACs, and cell and village leaders, we formed groups and
decided to visit households in the community. We interviewed children and adults in
the households separately to find out why children were not in school. In many cases,
adults reported that they were keen for their children to go to school, but the children
indicated that their parents wanted them to work or were prioritizing the education of
a sibling. Some parents were ignoring or hiding their children with disabilities, because
they thought they could not successfully attend school with other children.

After discussing this together, the school, village, and cell leadership decided to
collaborate to monitor daily attendance records. Children attending less than 15 days a
month are considered to have dropped out of school. School and community leadership
groups then visit the households of the children to find out why they were not attending.
They work with the parents and community to overcome the barriers they were facing.
Solutions have ranged from organizing extra support by adult volunteers to children
with disabilities, to creating funds to help the poorest families to enrol their children in
school. The sector is using the data from the visits to prioritize their resources in order
to reach all school aged children.

What best practices have you learnt from this story? How are you going to apply these
practices? What else can you do to ensure equity and social inclusion in your school?

Case story 3
My name is Mutoni and I am ten years old. In my family, I have a mother, two elder
brothers and one younger sister. My mother sells vegetables in the market in order to
support our family. I like reading books, but it is rare for me to find time to read. My
brothers often bring books home from school and read in the afternoons, but that’s
when I must cook dinner for my family.

During the weekend, my brothers attend the reading club in the village, but that’s when
I must clean the house, wash the clothes and care for my baby brother.

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By Monday, I’m exhausted from all the housework and haven’t found the time to do my
homework. When I get at school, I fail to do exercises given by the teacher.

During a Parent-Teacher Day, the Girls Club presented a sketch that reflected my life.
After the presentation, parents discussed the challenges girls were facing and many
testified that were also disproportionately burdening their daughters with domestic
responsibilities. My mother was also in the meeting. When we reached home, she called
me and my brothers together and told us that we need to share the domestic work so
that I could also have time to attend the reading club, revise my lessons and play. From
that time onward, I began arriving at school on time and my grades started improving!

To what extent do you think there are girls in your school who face similar challenges
as Mutoni? Are there other gender-related obstacles that girls or boys in your school
experience?

Case Story 4
Parent A: Last year my child repeated Primary One. I am interested in supporting my
child’s learning so he can do better, but I am not sure how. I take part in the SGA meetings,
but they seem to be rarely held. The head teacher appears to be very busy and I don’t
think she has time to work with the SGAC. The SGAC parent representatives are also
teachers, so I don’t feel as if I can approach them with my issues. I decide to stay out
of the school affairs and trust that the teachers will help my child to do better this year.

Parent B: Last year my child repeated Primary One. I heard that many other children in
the same class also repeated. Together with my child’s teacher, we raised our concern
during the SGA meeting. The SGAC President took note of the issue and a committee
was elected to investigate the causes of excessive repetition of students identifying
barriers both in and out of school. In the next SGA meeting, the committee presented
the findings.

Based on this, the SGAC made an action plan to resolve this challenge, and a special SGA
meeting was called to share it.

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Parents gave feedback on the improvement measures and responsibilities were clearly
laid out. School leaders, teachers and parents collaborated on the improvement plan,
and progress was monitored.

Parent A and Parent B describe different experiences with the school. Which type of
experience is more common in Rwanda? What do parents at your school often do when
their children are not succeeding academically? What can school leaders and SGAC do
to improve this?

Case story 5
I am a deputy head teacher in a school where most parents are not involved in children’s
learning. The School General Assembly meetings occur but only 40% of the parents
usually attend. In the SGAC meeting, we brainstormed how parents can be encouraged
to volunteer in the school. We identified areas where the school could use support from
parents.

Everyone in the SGAC was given a village in which he/she became a focal point to go
to work with the village chief in sensitizing parents on the importance of volunteering
in school activities. We shared different areas where volunteers were needed. Parents
were asked about their interest and availability to volunteer. Everyone indicated the type
of activities they could support and a schedule based on her/his availability, including at
least one volunteer day per term. Some parents committed to more frequent volunteer
visits, even on a weekly basis.

As a result, parents from all levels of socio-economic backgrounds started to volunteer

in different school activities. Literate parents planned visits to read with P1, P2 and
P3 students who are at risk of repeating. Artistic parents supported teachers to make
classroom displays, such as alphabet or number charts. Parents who knew how to sew
helped repair books and other ripped learning materials. Others who had building
experience, helped to make the new pre-primary classrooms more child-friendly by
adjusting desk height to fit smaller children.

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The parents got the opportunity to know each other through their volunteering efforts
which improved parents’ communication and support network. As a result of this
success, we organized an end-of-the-year event to celebrate our achievements.

Based on the examples provided in the case story and in the previous activity description,
identify 5 areas where parent volunteers could support your school improvement plan.

Case story 6
As a head teacher, I received several complaints from parents about teachers in my
school. Similarly, at staff meetings, teachers complained that parents weren’t supporting
their children. I discussed the issue with my deputy head teacher and the other SGAC
members, and we decided to organize a Parent-Teacher Day at school. We chose a
day during school holidays when teachers didn’t have lessons. We invited families to
come to school to discuss their children’s progress. During the Parent-Teacher Day,
some meetings were very productive. Teachers gave updates on the child’s strengths
and weaknesses, as well as other general observations. They also shared various ideas
with parents on how they could support their children’s learning at home. However, I
also noticed a meeting where the teacher was too critical of the child’s learning abilities.
He asked the parent why she never replied to the information he sent home. The parent
responded that she was frustrated about the negative messages she always received
and felt the teacher was not doing his job.

Based on the observations from Parent-Teacher Day, I realized that teachers need
guidance on how to give productive feedback to parents. I organized a session with
the teaching staff. I explained the importance of how we communicate with parents. I
suggested always starting communication with a positive aspect, for example, something
the child does well or a good personality trait. I explained that after the positive
comment, teachers can introduce challenges or areas for improvement, choosing their
words carefully to not make parents defensive.

They should also encourage parents to respond or share their ideas on the issue. Finally,
teachers should finish with another encouraging comment or appreciation in order to
end on a positive note.

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Teachers began applying this approach. Communication between parents and schools
increased. Teachers began communicating more positive feedback to parents. As a
result, I noticed parents coming to school to talk to teachers, not only when there was a
problem but also for regular interaction and communication.

What was the challenge this head teacher faced and the strategy she used to address it?
How did she refine her approach to be more impactful?

Case story 7
I was deployed to work in another district. I registered my child in the local school. I
noticed the school leadership was mostly focusing on Primary six classes and ensuring
teachers prepare students to pass the National Examination. However, even those
Primary six students were not performing well because they did not have the foundations
from the lower grades.

In the SGA meeting, parents blamed teachers and the school leadership that their
children were not performing well. I shared with them some of the factors that I saw
working in my child’s previous school. I discussed how the school empowered teachers
and parents to monitor students learning through formative assessments. Children were
assessed regularly through exercises and activities that checked if they were learning.
When struggling students were identified, parents and teachers met to discuss strategies
to support the child. Parents were interested so we organized another meeting whereby
a workshop was provided to parents on how they can support their children’s learning
both at home and at school. Parents were coached on how to help children to revise
lessons at home, read with them and provide the required learning materials.

Parents gradually became more confident engaging in their children’s learning process.
They monitored how their children’s learning was progressing and met teachers to
discuss areas where their children needed additional support. Parents in the communities
committed themselves to helping children complete their homework, revise for exams
and to read recreationally. Teachers were motivated by parental involvement in their
children’s education.

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They began using teaching methods to meet individual learning needs. They allowed
children to take learning materials home to use with their parents. They conducted
simple formative assessments and communicated regularly with parents when children
were having difficulty. The following year, children’s performance considerably improved.

Which actions do you think were the most significant to improve children’s learning?
Why?

Exploring school activities to support local communities

Activity 36

What is your school already doing to support the local community?

Individually, write on flash cards activities that you are doing in your schools to support

the local community. Then, stick them on the wall. Through a gallery walk you will

explore the activities from other participants.

Although schools have limitations they can still provide great resources to support

communities to address their challenges and increase their connection with the school.

 Provide expanded learning: By allowing community members to benefit from the

school resources. For example, allowing the community to access book collections from

the school library. A teacher can provide parenting sessions to the families in the school

community.

 Build broad-based support for increased welfare of the surrounding community: The

school can teach the neighbouring community about important community issues

such as hygiene, diet. etc. Additionally, the school can initiate projects to raise funds to

support the poorest families and to create programs that support vulnerable families.

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 Provide quality after-school programmes: The school can collaborate with parents to

strengthen after school learning activities. For example, teachers can be encouraged to

support and assist extracurricular community activities during school holidays.

 Creating a welcoming environment

ŠŠ Provide a display space for important information

àà Contact information for the school administrators, teachers, SGAC president

àà School calendar with a list of important dates and events

àà Announcements.

ŠŠ Invite parents to visit the school

àà Plan days and hours for the visit that are flexible to both male and female

parents

àà Through village meetings and Umuganda, share times when the head teacher

will be available at school for a meeting (e.g. Friday mornings)

àà Encourage parents to visit during break and lunch times when staff are more

available

àà Coordinate school tours and orientation for new parents

àà Inform parents at the beginning of each term on what their children will be

learning and how they can help them.

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ŠŠ Ensure physical space is made available for parent coordination and activities

ŠŠ Provide disability & gender sensitive access to buildings (classrooms, offices and

toilets)

ŠŠ Prepare and publicize school activities in which parents participate like leading

discussions on a given topic.

Parent-Friendly Staff

 Support office staff and teachers to

àà Be open and welcoming to parents

àà Communicate information (positives not just problems)

àà Encourage participation

àà Be responsive to parents and their needs/requests

Parent-Friendly Policies

 Working with SGAC and other parents, the school staff can develop and publicly

post a parent-school partnership policy that explains the school’s commitment to

involvement of parents in school activities and parents’ commitment to the school

and its staff.

 Ensure the SGAC and parents perspectives are included when developing the

school’s improvement plan. This will ensure their views are reflected and that they

have ownership of the plan and can support its implementation.

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Practical ideas for parent volunteer activities

 Support after school activities like reading clubs, mathematics practice, sport and

cultural activities

 Make class displays, like alphabet or number charts

 Repair textbooks, storybooks or other teaching and learning materials

 Construct new classrooms or rehabilitate old ones

 Plant trees in the school compound

 Assist in planning and organizing school events

 Give presentations in classes or at assemblies about their specializations and skills

in different domains (safety, hygiene, etc.)

 Provide one-on-one support to struggling learners or children with disabilities.

 Identify children in the community who have dropped out of school and work with

school staff to reach out to them

 Volunteer during lessons to support group or project work

 Support with the development of learning and teaching materials from recycled

materials.

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Activity 37

Think about the school you are leading. In the table below identify three measures you
will take to involve the local community in the school. Write them on a paper and indi-
cate the expected outcomes.

Measures Expected outcomes

1.

2.

3.

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Section 5: Strengthening the Capacity of the School General

Assembly Committees

In this section, we explore the role of the SGAC in improving teaching and learning. A SGAC

will only be able to support school leaders and teachers in raising the quality of the school

if it has the capacity to do so. An important role of school leaders is therefore to strengthen

the capacity of the SGAC.

Activity 38

Think individually about the following questions about the School General Assembly

(SGA) and the School General Assembly Committee (SGAC). Next, discuss your ideas

with your neighbour. Prepare to share the outcomes of your discussion with the whole

group.

▪▪ How are the School General Assembly Committees (SGACs) elected at your

schools?

▪▪ How do you work with the SGAC and SGA?

▪▪ What is the role and purpose of the School General Assembly (SGA) and the

School General Assembly Committee (SGAC)?

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The School General Assembly is the supreme organ in terms of learning, teaching and

welfare. It monitors the overall operation of the school and takes a keen interest in the

school development (Official Gazette n° 31 of 30/07/2012). In particular, it is responsible

to:

1. formulate the specific vision of the school in accordance with its mission;

2. provide views and suggestions in relation to the school’s overall development;

3. appoint and remove members of the School General Assembly Committee;

4. appoint and remove Audit Committee members;

5. submit meeting reports to the Sector authorities with a copy thereof to the

Executive Secretary of the Cell in which the school is located;

6. approve internal rules and regulations of the school;

7. approve the annual budget of the school;

8. to approve the contribution of parents if necessary.

The School General Assembly Committee (SGAC) is the level of the School General Assembly

that is in charge of implementing the decisions of the School General Assembly (Official

Gazette n° 31 of 30/07/2012). The SGAC should meet once a term. Whenever necessary,

the SGAC can hold a special meeting.

The SGAC members are:

 The President

 The Vice President

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 The owner of the school, or a representative

 The school head teacher who is also the secretary

 Two advisors elected by the parents

 Two teachers (a man and a woman) representing all teachers, elected by the body

of teachers

 Two students (a boy and a girl) representing the students, also elected by the

students.

At least thirty percent (30%) of members of the SGAC must be females.

Key responsibilities of SGA and SGAC members and key principles of engaging SGA and

SGACs are stipulated in the ministerial order no 003/2016 of 08/01/2016 that governs the

functioning of SGA and SGAC. The basic responsibilities of the SGAC are the following:

 Follow up of the implementation of the decisions taken by the General Committee;

 Prepare the General Assembly meeting;

 Follow up on the use of school’s budget and its wealth;

 Examine the school’s existing problems and ways of solving them;

 Present to the General Assembly the objectives for improving the quality of

education and school performance and governance;

 Monitor students that have dropped out or have high rates of absenteeism, and

encourage them to value their education;

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 To link the school and the parents, neighbours of the school and the local authorities;

 To follow up on the promotion of a culture of reading within and outside the school;

 To follow up on the promotion of peace building, equity and inclusion;

 All other activities that the General Assembly will assign.

Relationship between the SGAC and school leaders

Studies show that better-achieving schools have higher levels of trust between school staff

and parents, while schools with the lowest achievement rates have minimal trust (Kabarere
et al., 2013; Save the Children, Mureke Dusome project, 2017). Therefore, SGAC members

must have a close working relationship with the school leadership. This working relationship

is characterized by:

 Collaboration in the preparation of school guidelines and development plans

 Building trust among SGAC and School Leadership

 Promoting transparency and sharing information on time

 Respect the number of SGA and SGAC meetings as stipulated in the Law

 Publicise and recognize the achievements resulting from the collaboration with

parents

 Work together to find solutions for challenges the school is facing

When this relationship is not well managed, it can create conflicts in the school. Some

problems which can occur are:

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 Some SGAC members, such as the school owner or President, conduct excessive

supervision of school activities;

 School leaders plan and implement all activities without involving other SGAC

members;

 Parent voices are not heard because elected parent representatives are also

teachers or school staff;

 The elected committee are based solely on the opinions of the head teacher;

 Only the head teacher and SGAC president are involved in school activities.

Other members of the SGAC are not involved;

 Meetings that are not carried out because there is lack of collaboration between

the head teacher and SGAC members

Activity 39

Using the table below, select 5 strategies that you will implement in your school. You

can also identify strategies that are not yet in the list.

Table 8provides a lot of suggestions on what parent representatives and school leaders can

do to improve the involvement of parents and the local community in the school.

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Table 7: Roles and Responsibilities of Parent Representatives and school Leaders

What Parent Representatives can do What school leaders can do

Support the school leadership to identify Organize meetings within the school and

community partners that can support invite all stakeholders and community

families and school partners to create a plan for working

together, along with check-in points to

assure progress is occurring

Work with the school to plan school Identify and invite partners in the

improvement activities and send out community that can support the school

invitations to community partners who can to provide rewards during school events

fund efforts.
Connect low income and vulnerable Support vulnerable parents to find

families with agencies that can support opportunities to raise their income and

them to raise their income be able to satisfy the learning needs of

their children
Agree with school leaders on which school Discuss with the community ways of

resources can be used by the community, maintaining well the rented resources

as well as the time, place and specifics of

accessing them
Communicate to the community the Inform the community members the

available school resources that vulnerable available resources at school that can be
families can access useful to them and how they can benefit

them
Collaborate with village leaders to celebrate Celebrate the achievements of the school

the achievements of the village as result of resulting from the collaboration with the

use of school resources community and acknowledge partners

who availed resources to be benefited by

the school

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Work with the school to identify teachers Work with the SGAC to identify teachers

for facilitating parenting sensitization for facilitating parenting sensitization

sessions sessions
Engage former students who completed at Engage former students and Urugerero

least primary level to participate in out of youth to participate in the development

school children’s learning activities of the school

Mobilize parents to use locally available Collaborate with volunteers who are

materials to be used by children in reading promoting afterschool learning activities

clubs within the village and support them with basic materials to

make learning resources

Peer learning from other SGAC on their Peer learning from what other schools
achievements in promoting collaboration achieved in collaboration with the wider

with the wider community community

Participate in establishing school vision and Involve parents in the establishment of

Guidelines school vision and guidelines

Working in partnership with the school Present school projects and plans to

leadership, identify ways the SGA can parents and value their inputs

support one or more goals of the school

improvement plan
Encourage parents to participate actively Involve all parents in decision making

in various SGA committees and other

temporary committees formed to resolve

identified issues as they arise

Encourage both male and female parents Ensure SGA meetings are well planned

and parents with disabilities to participate and involve all SGA members either males

in SGA meetings and arrive on time or females

Encourage women to communicate their Communicate the importance of women

ideas in meetings and to assume SGAC having equal representation in terms of

leadership responsibilities leadership and voice

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Ensure there is diverse parent Empower the SGAC members to

representation in the SGAC, including effectively assume their responsibilities

parents of children at different grade levels,

gender, social economic status or disability

Throughout the year, publicly acknowledge Acknowledge parents who participate

committed teachers and appreciate their actively in SGA meetings and contribute

efforts to the school improvement plan

Identify and share ways to make all families Adopt a specific schedule to meet with

feel welcome and involved parents

Encourage parents to visit children at school Ensure that all school staff are friendly,

and in classroom. Ensure that both males acknowledge and assist visitors
and females parents do follow up of their immediately, as well as answer the phone

children’s learning at school and at home regularly

Mentor parents who need support or Communicate activities that can be done

encouragement to be involved by volunteering parents within the school

Identify different talents parents possess Share with parents the school ‘s needs in

and share the information with the school terms of areas for volunteerism

leadership
Establish and monitor parent volunteer Establish and monitor parent volunteer

programmes. programs

SGAC reach out to parents who are not Value and include every parent regardless

involved and encourage participation in of social economic background

SGA meetings and school activities

Mobilize parents to participate in Inform the parents and the community

school events and support planning and what is happening in school and

organization when necessary encourage participation

SGAC ensure significant parent involvement Invite parents to be involved in developing

in the school improvement plan the school improvement plan

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Recognize the special constraints on Discuss with SGAC members strategies

parents with disabilities and share with the to involve parents with disabilities in the

school strategies to involve those parents school activities.

in the school activities.

Put in place mechanisms of supporting Put in place mechanisms of supporting

children with learning difficulties. children with learning difficulties.

Encourage parents to ask children what Ensure teachers provide regular

they have done or learnt at school each day. homework to children and ensure that

If the content is new or unfamiliar, have the children are supported to do it.

child explain it
Encourage parents to read their child’s Avail time to discuss with parents how

report cards and see where they are doing they can support children improve their

well and the areas where they need help. results

Encourage them to ask teachers how they

can help their child improve

Encourage parents to discuss with their Discuss with children about what they

children about what they think is helping think is helping or hindering their learning

or hindering their learning

Encourage parents to ask their children or Communicate to parents how children are

their child’s teacher what they are doing progressing and areas they need support

well in. What have been their successes?

Then praise them and celebrate progress.

Encourage parents to read together at Encourage teachers to lend books and

home. If they aren’t literate, help them find other reading materials to children to

someone else to read with. read at home

Encourage parents to ensure that their Communicate to parents the needed

child has the essential materials they need materials at the start of the year. Inform

to learn, such as notebooks, books, pens, them of the usefulness of those materials.

school bag, etc

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Encourage parents to play games with Encourage parents to sing, tell stories and

their children at home that use words share proverbs with their children

and numbers. Sing, tell stories, and share

proverbs
Encourage parents to make learning and Encourage parents to make learning and

play materials from local resources. Share play materials from the local environment.

and show examples. Show examples of materials developed

that can support different learning areas

Encourage parents to ensure that their Talk with parents whose children seem to

child is healthy, clean and has enough food. be unhealthy, unclean or hungry. Discuss

Children cannot learn well if they are sick how these challenges can be addressed
or hungry.
Encourage parents to discuss with teachers Identify children with special needs, talk

any learning barriers their child has. This with their parents and ensure that you

will allow the teacher to better create a take measures that facilitate them in their

classroom conducive environment that learning

supports his/ her learning

Ensure all school-aged children attend Work with other stakeholders, parents
school and that those with disabilities are and children to identify and consult

provided appropriate support. children at risk of exclusion, as well

as their families, to ensure support is

provided.
Recruit parent volunteers to provide extra Observe an extra-curricular activity such

support and supervision to children with as a reading club and provide constructive

disabilities. feedback to community volunteers on

how to better include all children.

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Sensitize all parents on how to talk to their Through careful observation of students

children about inclusion and discrimination. and by collaborating with teachers and

parents, identify children with learning

disabilities. Support these children to

learn with others in the classroom or

seeking further guidance from your SEO

or partners.
Encourage parents of children with Ensure teachers of children with special

disabilities to meet regularly with teachers needs meet regularly with parents to

to discuss the child’s progress, needs, and discuss the child’s progress, needs, and

how to best support his/her learning. how to best support his/her learning.
Provide gender-sensitization training to

teachers that include specific instructional

strategies

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Section 6: Planning and Conducting Effective SGA and

SGAC meetings

SGA and SGAC meetings are the ideal opportunity for parents, parent leaders and school

staff to communicate. For this communication to be effective, the meetings must be well

planned and facilitated.

Activity 40

Discuss the following questions in small groups:

 How do you plan or prepare for effective SGAC meetings? What needs to be

done in advance?

 How do you communicate the time for meeting to parents? Is this effective?

 How do you conduct SGA meetings? How do you identify the different agenda

items of the meeting?

 How do you encourage active participation of all parents?

 How do you encourage children (boys and girls) to raise their voices and
perspectives?

 What strategies are used to ensure communication is two-way (not just giving

information, but also receiving ideas)?

After your discussion, read the text below to learn more how to plan and conduct a SGA or

SGAC meeting.

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There are different ways to plan and conduct a SGAC or SGA meeting depending on the

objectives. Below are some guidelines:

 Prepare the objectives and agenda of the meeting in advance. Consult SGAC leaders

and other school staff to inform/decide on the main objective for the meeting.

 Think about who should attend the meeting and prepare invitations. Use various

communication channels to ensure that they are accessible to all parents, including

those with disabilities

 Send invitations on time (14 days in advance for normal meetings, and 5 days in

advance for urgent meetings)

 Prepare the venue for the meeting, ensure adequate seating for all.

 Agree on how the meeting will be conducted to engage parents to participate

actively.

PARTS OF THE SGAC or SGA MEETING

1. Opening the meeting

 Welcome word by the President of SGAC (Chair of the meeting)

 Presentation of the chair of the meeting, the minute-taker and any visitors

 Monitor attendance. Ensure there is a sufficient number of attendees required

to hold the meeting

 Explain the objective of the meeting

 Run through the agenda of meeting and check if there are any additional points
to be added

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 Set ground rules, such as respecting ideas of others, staying on topic, avoid

receiving calls inside the room, not interrupting others, etc.

2. Review the minutes of the previous meeting

 Give a summary of the previous meeting

 Check if action points taken were put into practice

 Discuss challenges or future action points

 Approve minutes

3. During the meeting

 Address each agenda item

 Minute taker records a summary of ideas

 Action points, responsible people and time frames are decided for each item

4. Closing the meeting

 Share with attendees a summary of decisions and action points

 Agree on date of next meeting

 Thank participants

 Remind participants to sign attendance list

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5. Things to be considered while chairing a meeting

 Good management of time. If necessary, end discussions or suggest that they

can be continued after the meeting.

 Ensure communication remains positive and productive

 Encourage active participation of all participants, including men and women and

people with disabilities.

 Discourage “sub-meetings” (meetings within meetings) of parents discussing

issues simultaneously

 Reach consensus after having discussed an issue

 Support attendees who have difficulty in expressing themselves, so they can

also be heard

 Manage different behaviours of participants in the meeting

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Colclough, C. (2007). Global Gender Goals and the Construction of Equality: Conceptual

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APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Definitions Education Indicators

The following formulas come from UNESCO’s Education Indicators Technical Guidelines

(2009).

1. Gross Enrolment Rate (GER)

Total number of students enrolled in a specific level of education, regardless of age,

expressed as a percentage of the official school-age population corresponding to the same

level of education in a given school year.

2. Net Enrolment Rate (NER)

Enrolment of the official age group for a given cycle of education expressed as a

percentage of the corresponding population.

3. Repetition rate (RR)

The proportion of pupils enrolled in a given grade and a given school year who study in

the same grade the following school year.

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4. Drop-out Rate (DR)

The percentage of pupils who leave the school without completing the grade they were
enrolled in during the school year.

5. Gross Intake Ratio (GIR)

Total number of new entrants in a certain grade of education, regardless of age, expressed
as a percentage of the population at the theoretical entrance age to that grade of education.
The GIR for P6 and S6 are used as an alternative for the completion rates of primary and
secondary education respectively. Calculation includes all new entrants to the grade
(regardless of age). Therefore, the ratio can exceed 100%, due to over-aged and under-aged
children who enter primary school late/early and/or repeat grades.

6. Net Intake Ratio (NIR)

New entrants to a certain grade of education who are of the official entrance age for that
grade, expressed as a percentage of the population of the same age. It is calculated by
dividing the number of children of official grade entrance age by the population of the same
age, and multiply the result by 100. The NIR should not exceed 100%.

7. Transition Rate (TR)

The number of new entrants in a given level of education as a percentage of the pupils
who were enrolled in the previous level of education in the previous year. Only new pupils
entering the next level of education are given consideration; repeaters at this level are
eliminated.

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Appendix 2: Multiple-Choice Questions for Module 1

Module 1, Unit 1: Overview of School Leadership

1. Which of the following statements related to leadership and management is correct?

A. Good school leaders perform both leadership and management tasks.

B. Good management is a condition for good leadership.

C. Good leadership skills are more important than good management skills.

D. The standards for effective school leadership refer to leadership and not to

management.

2. Which of the following statements related to leadership and management is not

correct?

A. Leaders establish the direction of the school, whereas managers focus more on

daily operations.

B. Leaders focus more on the long term, whereas managers focus more on the short

term.

C. The development of the SIP is an example of a leadership task

D. The monitoring of the implementation of the SIP is an example of a management

task

E. The role of a school leader can be clearly divided into leadership and management

components.

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3. Which of the following statements related to primary and secondary processes is not

correct?

A. Monitoring teaching quality is an example of a primary process.

B. Primary processes are processes that related directly to teaching and learning.

C. Making sure that the school infrastructure is of good quality is a secondary

process.

D. The primary processes correspond more with leadership and the secondary

processes with management.

E. School leaders should focus on the primary processes.

4. Which of the following is not a key characteristic of leadership?

A. Being open to new ideas and criticism

B. Being open-minded and ready to learn from others

C. Being able to influence others

D. Having a formal assignment as a leader

E. Being driven by clear personal and professional values

5. Which of the following statements related to school leadership models is correct?

A. School leaders should follow the participative and distributive leadership model

B. School leaders should follow a situational leadership model

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C. School leaders should start from a transformational leadership model and move to

a managerial leadership model

D. School leaders should start from a managerial leadership model and move to a

transformational leadership model

E. School leaders should try to adopt an instructional leadership model

6. Which of the following statements related to school leadership styles is not correct?

A. A coaching style of leadership is characterised by high levels of support and high

levels of direction

B. The optimal leadership style depends on the development level of the followers

C. Ideally, you move from a delegating leadership style to a directing leadership style

D. Teams with low levels of competence need a more directive leadership style

E. A group that has been working together for a long time will benefit from

delegative leadership style

7. Which of the following aspects is not part of the school leadership standard Managing

the School as an Organisation?

A. Manage the school resources efficiently and effectively in a way that benefits

student learning

B. Securing additional funds for the school

C. Make regular inspections of the school to ensure that school premises and

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equipment are being used properly

D. involve all stakeholders to develop an annual budget plan for the school

E. conducting regular lesson observations to make sure that teachers implement the

CBC.

8. Which of the following aspects in not part of the school leadership standard “Working

with Parents and the Local Community”?

A. Meet parents and discuss learners’ progress, results and conduct

B. Take initiatives to involve a wide group of parents and local community members

in the school

C. Promote income generating activities for the school

D. Organize events to explain to parents how they can support their children with

their education

E. Organize literacy classes for parents

Module 1, Unit 2: Gender and Inclusiveness in School Leadership

9. Which of the following statements on gender is not correct?

A. Gender parity is about equality in terms of numbers and proportions of girls and

boys

B. Gender equality means treating all learners the same way

C. In a gender equity approach, girls may need additional support compared to boys

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D. In a gender equality approach, average learning outcomes between boys and girls

can still be different.

E. In a gender equity approach, average learning outcomes between boys and girls

can still be different

10. Which of the following statements is not a gender stereotype?

A. Girls are better in languages than boys

B. Boys are better in science than girls

C. Men should provide for their wives

D. Women are responsible for the education of their children

E. Girls can have children, whereas men cannot.

11. Which of the following statements related to gender in Rwandan schools is not

correct?

A. Dropout rates in primary and secondary education are similar for boys and girls.

B. Most dropouts take place at the transition from primary to secondary education.

C. The higher a girl’s level of education, the lower the chance that she has begun

childbearing in their teens.

D. When girls drop out, it more often means the end of their education, compared to

boys.

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E. Girls are less likely to repeat than boys, both in primary and in secondary

education.

12. Which of the following statements related to girls’ rooms is not correct?

A. A boarding school for girls does not need a girl’s room.

B. A girl’s room should be a safe space where girls can get advice from a mentor

teacher or matron

C. A girl’s room should contain access to safe water and appropriate sanitation

facilities

D. A girl’s room can help reducing absenteeism among girls.

E. All the statements are correct.

13. Which of the following is not an aspect of a gender responsive pedagogy?

A. The number of questions asked to girls and boys

B. Asking questions of similar difficulty levels to boys and girls

C. Making sure that boys can support a girl in case she needs support

D. Making sure that examples used during the lesson involve boys and girls

E. Giving boys and girls equal opportunities to become a class monitor

14. Which of the following do not reinforce gender stereotypes during teaching and

learning?

A. Asking more difficult questions to boys;

B. Believing in all learners that they can achieve the learning outcomes

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 C. Giving more opportunities to boys to solve problems at the blackboard

D. Believing that boys are more able to do maths and science than girls.

E. Using examples that are more appealing to boys than to girls.

15. Which of the following is not a part of a gender responsive school?

A. ensure that girls and boys have equal access to school resources such as textbooks

B. ensure that the school has a policy in place to deal with sexual harassment.

C. ensure there are separate and adequate toilets and hygienic facilities for boys and
girls

D. plan activities to promote the participation of girls in science and maths.

E. discuss with parents about the need to reduce early marriage and teenage
pregnancy.

F. don’t distinguish between boys and girls when reporting exam results

16. Which of the following statements related to inclusive education is not correct?

A. Inclusive education means making sure all learners are present in school.

B. Inclusive education means that learners with special education needs can go to a
specialised school

C. Inclusive education means that all learners are actively engaged in the lessons

D. Inclusive education means that all learners are given the support they need to
learn

E. Inclusive education is the responsibility of all teachers in a school

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Unit 3, working with parents and the local community

17. Which of the following statements related to the involvement of parents and the local

community in the school is not correct?

A. The main reason to involve parents and the local community is to raise additional

funds for the school

B. Involving parents and the local community can reduce absenteeism and dropouts

among learners

C. Even illiterate parents can support their children in their education

D. Schools can serve as centres for community learning events

E. High performing schools in Rwanda tend to have more involved parents

18. Which of the following statements related to the involvement of parents and the local

community in the school is not correct?

A. It is not necessary to involve all parents as some of them are not interested in their

children’s education.

B. The main purpose of involving parents is to raise funds for the school.

C. It is the school’s responsibility to help parents to support their children with their

education.

D. Parents who are illiterate cannot do much to support their children at school.

E. The SGAC meetings are the best instrument to involve parents in the school.

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F. A child’s education is the sole responsibility of schools.

G. Many parents are illiterate and can’t really do much to support the education of

their children

19. Which of the following is not one of the six types of community and parental

involvement that schools can use according to Epstein’s model?

A. Parenting.

B. Communicating

C. Volunteering

D. Learning at Home

E. Fundraising

20. Which of the following is not an official role ((Official Gazette n° 31 of 30/07/2012) of

the SGAC?

A. to formulate the vision of the school in accordance with its mission;

B. to appoint and remove members of the School General Assembly Committee;

C. to submit meeting reports to the Sector authorities with a copy thereof to the

Executive Secretary of the Cell in which the school is located;

D. to develop the School Improvement Plan of the school

E. to approve the annual budget of the school;

CPD-DESL Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Effective School Leadership UR-CE 2019