2. WHAT IS STAFF DEVELOPMENT?
Staff development refers to the process,
programs and activities through which every
organization develops, enhances and improves
the skills, competencies and overall
performance of its employees and workers.
It provides the activities intended to upgrade
and update the knowledge, skills and
understanding of the human resource in the
school. The aim is to create positive and
productive changes in the human resource’s
thinking and behaviour, and to secure
compliance with school and national policies.
3. TYPES OF STAFF DEVELOPMENT
Induction training
Job orientation
In –service education
Continuing education
Training for special function
4. FOUR TYPES OF IN-SERVICE TRAINING
1. Induction or orientation
2. Foundation training
3. Maintenance or refresher
4. Career development
5. WHY TO PARTICIPATE IN STAFF DEVELOPMENT?
Interest lifelong learning
Sense of moral obligation
To maintain and improve professional
competence
To enhance career progression
To keep abreast of new technology and
practices
6. STEPS OF STAFF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Asses the educational needs off all staff
members
Set priorities
Develop general objectives for the staff
development program
Determine the resources needed to reach
the desired objectives
Develop a master calendar for the entire year
7. STEPS OF STAFF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Develop and maintain staff development
record system
Establish file on major educational topics
Regularly evaluate the staff development
program.
8. BENEFIT OF STAFF DEVELOPMENT
1. Gives teacher the ability to get most
current information.
2. Gives school the opportunity to affirm
their goal
3. Allows teacher’s to perform their job
better
4. Personal development of staff
5. Provide students with the latest on the
topic that is being taught
9. PROMOTING STAFF DEVELOPMENT
The School Plan has an important part to play
in the promotion of staff development. In this
regard the School Plan will usually include
initiatives and steps that can be taken to
promote the professional development of the
staff.
In order to achieve this, it is necessary in the
first place to identify the professional needs of
the
teachers.
10. PROMOTING STAFF DEVELOPMENT
• a school self-review system
• dialogue at school level
• a school report furnished by an external
evaluator,
12. THE NEED FOR A SCHOOL PLAN
It is accepted that the most effective
organisations are those which place a
great emphasis on clarifying their aims
and objectives, as well as engaging in
corporate, collaborative and
comprehensive planning in order to
achieve those aims and objectives.
13. THE NEED FOR A SCHOOL PLAN
The school is also an organisation and
likewise needs to be effective. In order to
be so, it needs to enable all its partners
to join in the clarification and statement
of its aims and objectives and to agree
on strategies to achieve them. School-
based planning is the most important
means through which this is done.
14. THE NEED FOR A SCHOOL PLAN
To assist the school in becoming
effective and in promoting school
improvement, a strategy is necessary to
harmonise the sometimes differing
expectations of teachers, boards of
management and parents. Collaborative
school planning and the production of a
School Plan can provide a framework for
the development of such a strategy.
15. While the School Plan will ensure adherence to
the school’s own aims and objectives, it will
also enable all partners to be aware of and to
subscribe to the stated over-arching aims of
the education system as expressed
• by statute
• in curriculum guidelines
• in the circulars of the Department of
Education and Science
• in accepted national policy reports and
documents.
16. PURPOSE OF THE SCHOOL PLAN
The School Plan has as its essential purpose
the achievement of school effectiveness as
well as being a significant support for school
improvement. It will help the school to realise
its stated aims and objectives which will be
firmly
directed towards meeting the present and
anticipated needs of the pupils.
It will help to ensure quality in teaching and
learning throughout the school
17. FEATURES OF EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS
The following are regarded as important features of schools which
are effective:
• purposeful leadership by the principal
• curriculum planning and development
• appropriate communication structures
• teacher/classroom preparation
• intellectually challenging teaching
• an environment in the classroom which is conducive to learning
• a positive climate
• parental involvement
• assessment and record keeping
• consistency in the implementation of agreed policies.
18. WHAT IS A SCHOOL PLAN?
The School Plan is a statement of the educational
philosophy of the school, its aims and how it
proposes to achieve them. It deals with the total
curriculum and with the organization of the school’s
resources, including staff, spa facilities, equipment,
time and finance. It includes the school’s policies on
such key issues as: pupil assessment, special needs,
record-keeping, staff development, teachers’
preparation, homework, the code of behavior, home-
school links, equal opportunities in the curriculum for
girls and boys, intercultural education, health and
safety standards.
19. WHAT DOES A SCHOOL PLAN CONTAIN?
A School Plan contains two main sections.
The first section deals with the total
curriculum to be implemented in the school.
The second section describes a range of
policies and practices which largely have to
do with administrative aspects of school life.
Some of these policies will change very little
from year to year.
20. THE SCHOOL PLAN AND SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT
The School Plan is concerned with the
creation of realistic targets which lead, if
achieved over a period of time, to
improvements in the education offered to
children. The School Plan provides a shared
long-term vision for the school. It establishes
priorities for action and provides a
mechanism for reviewing progress. The
School Plan enables the school to control the
direction and pace of its own development in
a professional way.
21. THE SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
PROCESS IS:
Systematic
Collaborative
On-going
Progressive
Enhancing
22. SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING PROMOTES:
School Effectiveness
School Improvement
Quality Enhancement
Staff Development
Partnership
Effective Deployment of Available Resources
Management of Change
Furtherance of Aims and Priorities of National
Education System
23. PROCESS OF PLANNING
School planning is essentially a process in
which policy and plans evolve from the
ever-changing and developing needs of the
school community. An important
dimension in this process of planning is
the collaborative effort and co-operation
that takes place between the principal, the
teachers, the board of management and
the parents of the pupils attending the
school
24. PROCESS OF PLANNING
The involvement of all the partners in this
collaborative exercise enables each to make its
own special contribution which in turn is
complemented by the contributions of the other
partners.
The process involved in school planning is of
paramount importance to all those engaged in the
exercise at all stages of the plan’s development.
Effective school planning involves constant
review, design, implementation and evaluation
25. PRODUCT
It is recognized that the outcome of the
process of planning results in a product. This
will take
the form of a document or a series of
documents.
As already stated, this product will include
policies which are almost permanent features
of the
School Plan and will also include other policies
which will be open to more frequent review and
development.
26. FRAMEWORK OF THE SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT
PLANNING PROCESS
The basic framework is a planning cycle
that revolves around a central core.
The Core consists of the school’s
mission, vision and fundamental aims.
The Planning Cycle comprises four key
operations: review, design
implementation and evaluation.
27. THE FORMULATION OF MISSION AND
VISION SHOULD ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS:
Whom does the school serve?
What service does the school provide?
How is that service provided?
What are the key ideals, beliefs and values
that the school stands for?
28. THE FUNCTION OF THE STATEMENT OF MISSION,
VISION AND AIMS IS:
To give a clear sense of direction to the
work of the school
To inspire the school community with a
common sense of purpose
To provide a framework from which
policies and priorities can be derived
To establish a reference point against
which the school can evaluate the success
of its activities
29. SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING OPERATIONS
Time-Frame
The time-frame for the completion of the
Planning Cycle as a whole – review,
design, implementation and evaluation –
will vary from school to school. It is
envisaged, however, that a time-frame in
the range from three to five years would
be appropriate for most schools.
30. SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING OPERATIONS
1. REVIEW
The purpose of the review is twofold:
Description: to compile a comprehensive account
of the school’s current situation with a view to:
Heightening the awareness of the school
community of how and why the school
functions and of the context in which it operates
Providing data for analysis as a basis for
decision-making
31. Analysis: to establish the school’s internal
strengths and challenges and the
opportunities and threats presented by its
external environment, with a view to:
Identifying needs that must be addressed
Identifying factors that must be taken into
account in planning for the development
of the school
Prioritising areas for development
32. Areas for Review
There are many ways of classifying the
various aspects of the school for the
purposes of review.
34. PRIORITISATION
Where a school is undertaking formalised whole school planning
for the first time,
priorities to be addressed in the first planning cycle may include
the development of an appropriate planning infrastructure:
Establishing structures for delegation, collaboration, consultation,
and communication.
Designing a customised model of the school development
planning process.
Devising systematic procedures for monitoring and evaluation
Clarifying the school’s mission, vision and aims
Documenting the school’s policies in key areas
35. DESIGN
The Design stage encompasses designing the
structure of the overall school plan,
devising action plans to address the priorities,
and drafting and compiling the
component sections of the plan so that it can
be communicated to the whole staff
and presented to the Board of Management for
approval.
36. ACTION PLANNING
In the Design stage, the priorities identified in the
Review are translated into
specific objectives or targets, and Action Plan.
Outcome of Design Process: The Draft School Plan
The outcome of the Design process is the Draft School
Plan, a key component of
which is a set of action plans related to the
development priorities identified in the
review process.
38. THESE PLANS SPECIFY
What targets are to be attained
Who will do what, when, and with what
resources, to attain them
What will be done to ascertain how well they
are attained
39. IMPLEMENTATION
Monitoring
The implementation of School Development
Planning is greatly assisted by
the establishment of appropriate structures for
collaboration and consultation. Structures within
the staff may include a Steering Group
, chaired perhaps by a School Plan Co-ordinator,
to oversee the process
as a whole, Teams or Task Groups to address
particular needs.
40. EVALUATION
Evidence can be gathered from:
Questionnaires
Documents and records
Discussions
Interviews
Pupils’ work
Observation
Independent evaluation reports
41. THE PARTICIPANT IN SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT
PLANNING
Stake Holders
The Principal
The Teaching Staff
The Support Staff
Parents
Students
Local Community
