Institutional Development Programme

The Institutional Development programme aims to increase institutional effectiveness by bringing about qualitative changes and improvements in the system through development of leadership and managerial capacities
at all levels of the institution.            School Improvement Programme - Video Clip

Objectives

• Capacity building of faculty and staff to achieve institutional goalsStreamlined systems and processes to enable achievement of goalsImproved student achievement and learning
• Becoming and remain a Learning Organisation

Outcomes

The institution will have

• Clearly articulated institutional vision, goal/s and strategiesIncreased capacity of teachers to lead effective classroom processesIncreased capacity of management/administrators to lead ongoing school improvementStructures, systems and processes to support change envisaged
• Improved student learning

Approach

The model of intervention used by CEMD for institutional development of partner institutions consists of three phases: the entry phase of trust-building and joint need identification, the direct intervention phase and the support phase.Concerted efforts are made to formulate a core group—Change Management Group--comprised of functionaries from all levels of the institution (school or system of schools) in order to develop internal change agents and thereby ensure sustained engagement with the programme to institutionalize change.As individuals in leadership positions start observing the benefits of changes they have facilitated, they begin to understand the need to streamline systems within the institution to sustain those changes. The process of systems’ development marks the last part of the direct intervention phase, as academic, financial, infrastructure, information and human resource management are aligned to the organizational vision and goals.In the final phase of the model of intervention, the institutions have become learning organizations, able to identify, initiate and facilitate change needed.

Intervention Phases

Institutional AuditThe Institutional Audit is aimed at reviewing organizational systems and operations of the school to benchmark the institution and to identify areas of training and development needs of the staff and the systems. The management is provided an objective presentation of the current situation.Multi-Stakeholder Participative Vision-BuildingIn a workshop, all stakeholders revisit/develop a shared vision for the school, define goals, identify one change to be undertaken and collectively plan a roadmap and plan of action. A Change Management group with representation of all stakeholders, and including heads of all department/school levels, is constituted to lead the reform processCapacity-buildingTrainingAll Staff: A team-building workshop is conducted with the Change Management group and the entire staff of the school.Administrators: The Principal and other members of the Change Management Group enroll in the Education Leadership Programme to build the leadership capacity of those who are to lead the change process.Teachers: All teachers are trained together for Instructional Effectiveness and then separated into levels, with focus on teaching, learning and assessment. The participative processes of these trainings aim at empowering the teachers for ongoing improvement of practice.Students: Towards Student Leadership Development, some students from every class undergo training and Student Councils are established and supported in primary and secondary classes.Parents: A workshop with the Change Management Task Force and all staff is held for sensitization and development of a strategy for developing a meaningful parent-school partnership. The school is then supported towards achievement of this goal.

Support for Institutionalization

On-site VisitsOn-site visits are carried out in the course of the project. These will be interactions with the change management group, principal and teachers for providing support to implementation and monitoring of change.NetworkingThe Change Management Groups of all schools undergoing Institutional Development in the same geographical area meet in an open Educators’ Forum for ongoing school improvement.MonitoringMonitoring is carried out every 6 months to assess progress and diagnose need for further support.Duration of the ProjectThe Institutional Development project is undertaken for an initial period of three years. It is expected that by the end of three years systems are in place for ongoing school improvement such that the internal change agents are able to identify need, harness resources, and design, implement and monitor reform. The project may be extended up to two years if specific schools require additional support to consolidate changes undertaken.

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