Mason, who works with government and other stakeholders to strengthen the education system in Sierra Leone through the nongovernmental organization EducAid, and Galloway, who has worked as an educational psychologist and professor in the UK, outline an approach to school improvement through continuing professional development and learning for teachers, focusing on lessons learned from an initiative created by EducAid in Sierra Leone. They describe the history of education and school improvement in the country; the origins, development, and approach of EducAid; the role of schools in upholding democratic values, the implications for school improvement programs, the role of professional learning networks, and the structure and content of the program of continuing professional development and learning in the country's primary schools; and the evaluation of the program and its results and how students made more progress in attendance, literacy, and behavior. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. Annotation ©2022 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
Lessons in School Improvement from Sub-Saharan Africa describes the planning, delivery and evaluation of an improvement programme by EducAid. The evaluation showed that children in schools, whose teachers had taken part in the programme, made more progress in literacy, attendance and behaviour than children in control schools.
Why do programmes of continuing professional development and Learning (CPDL) for teachers so frequently fail to deliver sustained improvement in childrens social behaviour and academic performance? How can schools that prioritise the most disadvantaged children in one of the worlds poorest countries consistently achieve among the best academic results in the country? How can teachers in these schools, most of whom have received little or no formal training, provide CPDL that leads to improvement in other schools?
These questions are as relevant in high income countries as in Sierra Leone, where the research for this book was carried out. Lessons in School Improvement from Sub-Saharan Africa addresses them head-on by describing the planning, delivery and evaluation of a school improvement programme in which development of professional learning networks (PLNs) was a key component. The evaluation showed that children whose teachers had taken part in the programme made significantly more progress in attendance, literacy and behaviour than children in control schools.
The books professional relevance is strengthened by an accompanying Practitioners Manual with full details of the CPDL. This enables replication of the results and provides a guide for future school improvement programmes and PLNs, both in low and high income countries.
Why do programmes of continuing professional development and Learning (CPDL) for teachers so frequently fail to deliver sustained improvement in childrens social behaviour and academic performance? How can schools that prioritise the most disadvantaged children in one of the worlds poorest countries consistently achieve among the best academic results in the country? How can teachers in these schools, most of whom have received little or no formal training, provide CPDL that leads to improvement in other schools? These questions are as relevant in high income countries as in Sierra Leone, where the research for this book was carried out. Lessons in School Improvement from Sub-Saharan Africa addresses them head-on by describing the planning, delivery and evaluation of a school improvement programme in which development of professional learning networks (PLNs) was a key component. The evaluation showed that children whose teachers had taken part in the programme made significantly more progress in attendance, literacy and behaviour than children in control schools. The books professional relevance is strengthened by an accompanying Practitioners Manual with full details of the CPDL. This enables replication of the results and provides a guide for future school improvement programmes and PLNs, both in low and high income countries.
