With funding from the Scottish Government, DFID and UNICEF, LCD Malawi is developing programmes and policies to support the Government of Malawi in achieving quality education for all.
“School Performance Review is more than inspection as it involves all the stakeholders in a school and reveals all the pertinent issues which makes it very easy for the Primary Education Advisors to support the schools.”
Mr Gossam Mafuta, Mulanje District Education ManagerLCD Malawi works in Dedza and Mulanje districts to develop policy and improve schools through a systemic approach to whole school and whole district development. LCD Malawi aims to demonstrate its impact in the two districts where it is based so as to influence policy at a national level.
LCD Malawi has developed programmes with the aim of supporting the National Education Sector Plan and Education Sector Implementation Plan in Malawi.
School Performance Review
SPR is the core component of LCD Malawi’s work and is currently being implemented in both Dedza and Mulanje districts. It is an innovative method for school monitoring and support and provides schools with accurate feedback about their strengths and weaknesses, builds community involvement and facilitates tailored support to be delivered to schools.
LCD Malawi is exploring how SPR can best support the education sector in Malawi by providing a basis for quality planning and improvement at school, zone, district and divisional levels. SPR data was first collected and fed back to schools and districts in 2008 and data has since been collected from over 220 schools across the two districts. In 2009, the SPR cycle was completed in all 149 schools in Mulanje and evidence to date suggests that it has had significant impact with PEAs devising competitions and other similar initiatives in their zones to promote better learning.
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"To build a better future in our schools, it is imperative that every concerned citizen should revisit the past and experience the present performance of his/her school. This cannot be accomplished unless the “beauty of SPR” is fully absorbed in our blood circulatory system. Beloved ladies and gentlemen try SPR and you will see what difference it brings into a school” Mr. G. Balaka, Primary Education Advisor, Tchetsa Zone
School Improvement Planning
LCD Malawi continues to build on the training and support for the development of quality School Improvement Plans (SIPs) that started back in 2006 in Dedza. Since 2006, every school and community in both Mulanje and Dedza has received support from LCD to develop quality School Improvement Plans. In February 2008, LCD Malawi was invited to take part in a national-level workshop in Lilongwe that brought together organisations both governmental and non- with the aim of drafting a coherent and consolidated approach to School Improvement Planning in Malawi. LCD’s approach was highlighted for its simplicity and appropriateness for the Malawian context. LCD is currently working closely with government to finalise the process.
Direct Support to Schools
With funding from the Department for International Development (DFID), LCD Malawi in partnership with the Dedza District Education Office has implemented a pilot to explore Enhanced Direct Support to Schools. The pilot’s objective is “to design and implement a small-scale project delivering significantly scaled up and discretionary direct support to public primary schools (DSS) to generate evidence for future policy decisions on DSS”. In so doing, the pilot explores the extent to which scaled up and discretionary direct support to primary schools can meet the challenges faced by primary schools in Malawi. In particular, the pilot has set out to explore possible policy options that focus on the teaching and learning environment in Standards 1 to 3, the recruitment of auxiliary teachers, measures to encourage girls to complete a full primary cycle, and double shifting all within the framework of a costed School Improvement Plan (SIP).
In the event of Fast Track Initiative (FTI) endorsement of the National Education Sector Plan as well as the establishment of a Joint Financing Agreement in the sector, it is likely that a form of DSS will be set up and implemented in the medium term by MoEST. The current nationwide DSS offers one perspective on such a future in which schools and communities have little control or decision-making power in the process and where little emphasis is placed on school improvement activities and planning over the course of a school year with sustained community involvement. The Enhanced DSS pilot offers learning from the other end of the spectrum in which schools and communities are significantly empowered in their own school improvement activities with the means to implement ambitious improvement plans in line with national strategy. The way forward for a nationwide DSS is likely to lie somewhere between the two.
In 2009, the pilot moved into its second phase with 52 schools across 5 zones in Dedza receiving grants directly into their newly set up school bank accounts. In phase 2, LCD has handed over the lead implementation role to the Dedza District Education Office.
District Capacity Building
LCD’s district capacity building includes the following key activities:
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Training district staff in data collection using School Performance Review instruments;
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Training district staff in data entry and analysis associated with SPR;
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Training of trainers in School Improvement Planning;
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Joint implementation of all programmes to ensure ownership, sustainability and skill-sharing;
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Capacity support for school inspections and the promotion of quality in schools across both districts.
Global Teacher Programme
Since 2006, over 60 Scottish (“Global”) teachers have been placed in schools in Dedza for 5-weeks during June/July to share skills and mentor in their placement schools. At the end of the school placement period the teachers have teamed up to deliver in-service training in partnership with Primary Education Advisors with a focus on literacy and numeracy, leadership and management as well as on child-centred teaching skills. This has enabled the Global Teacher Programme to support the introduction of the new primary curriculum in Malawi (PCAR). LCD Malawi plans to place the 2010 Global Teachers in Mulanje for the first time.
Link Schools Programme
LCD Malawi in partnership with LCD Scotland supports over 45 school partnerships between Malawian and Scottish schools. Learners from both sides of the link engage in joint curriculum projects with an increasing number of teachers visiting their partner schools on reciprocal visits. There are currently over 20 Special Projects being carried out in schools in Malawi thanks to the generous efforts and funding from partner schools and Global Teachers. These projects range from building latrines, stocking libraries with locally-sourced books to equipping classrooms with locally-made desks and starting up new vegetable garden projects.
