MY SCHOOL by Dr .Nilesh Gopal das Joshi (beginner reading books for adults .txt) 📕

the resources dedicated to these, and the key outcomes and targets it intends to achieve.

The School Development Plan (SDP) is a strategic plan for improvement. It should bring together, in a clear and simple way, the school priorities, the main measures it will take to raise standards, the resources dedicated to these, and the key outcomes and targets it intends to achieve.

The SDP emphasises that school improvement is first and foremost the responsibility of the school.  It is based on the premise that schools themselves are best placed to identify areas for improvement and to implement changes that bring about better outcomes for pupils.

School improvement is most likely to be sustained when a school establishes a culture of aspiration and a commitment to promoting regular and robust self-evaluation.  Self-evaluation must be an integral part of the school development planning process with the resulting actions and targets captured in school development plans (SDPs).

 

What a School Development Plan is?

A school development plan is a three-year plan aimed at improving teaching and learning at the school The plan shows the main things that the school wants to improve and how those improvements are to be achieved

As per Section 22 of RTE Act 2009, SMC need to prepare and share a School Development Plan (SDP) with government. SDP is prepared to ensure the quality of education. School Development Plan is a road map that establishes the changes that the school needs to improve student achievements and shows how and when these changes will be made. The SDP includes the problems, needs, goals, objectives, standard and targets, implementation plan, etc.

Main Features of School Development Plan

Estimates of class wise enrollment for each year Details of existing infrastructure Master plan for the school Teacher requirements Physical requirements of the school Financial requirements over the three year period

What is School Development Planning?

A Process

School Development Planning is a process undertaken by the school communityto give direction to the work of the school in order to ensure that all pupils receivea quality education in terms of both holistic development and academicachievement.

The process is based on a number of presuppositions:

The quality of a school’s education provision is the product of a complexinteraction of factors, which must be planned for in a co-ordinated way. As education is a partnership enterprise, quality planning should involve inputfrom all the partners in the school community. The quality of a school’s education provision is rooted in the expertise andcommitment of the principal and teaching staff.

 Therefore,

The key agents in the process are the principal and teachers, whosepartnership in planning is the cornerstone of effective school development. A key focus of the process is on supporting and empowering the principaland teachers in their work by providing for their professional needs interms of working environment and professional development.

These presuppositions help to determine the characteristics of the schooldevelopment planning process.

The School Development Planning Process is:

◆1. Systematic

It involves a systematic approach to the planning work that is already being donein schools: it co-ordinates and integrates piecemeal planning activities into thecoherent structure of an overall plan.

◆2. Collaborative

It is essentially a collaborative process that draws the whole school communitytogether in shaping the school’s future. While it depends largely on thecollaboration of the principal and the teaching staff, it should also includeappropriate consultation with all key stakeholders in the school community: Patron/Trustees, Board of Management, support staff, parents, pupils, local

community, and the Department of Education and Science.

◆3.  Ongoing

It is an ongoing process, rooted in a school culture of systematic self-review, inwhich policies and plans are continuously developed, implemented, evaluated andrevised in the light of the school’s fundamental aims and the changing needs of itscommunity.

◆4. Progressive

It is a cyclical process that yields cumulative and progressive results. Each planningcycle builds on the outcomes of the previous cycle.

◆5. Enhancing

School Development Planning is a means, not an end – a means of enhancing thequality of educational experience in the school through the successful managementof innovation and change. Accordingly, the process is sharply focused on theeducational needs and achievements of the pupils and concomitantly on theprofessional development and empowerment of the teachers.

Finally, as every school is unique, the operation of the planning process will varyconsiderably from school to school. The School Development Planning process isflexible. It is not a set of rules to be followed blindly but a framework forcollaborative creativity. Each school must adapt the framework to suit its ownparticular circumstances.

The Rationale for School Development Planning

The fundamental purpose of School Development Planning is to enable the schoolto achieve and maintain the highest possible level of effectiveness in meeting theeducational needs of its pupils in a culture that is characterized by change.

School Development Planning promotes:

◆1. School Effectiveness

Internationally, there is widespread acceptance among educationalists thatcollaborative School Development Planning is a powerful means of promotingschool effectiveness. It enables the school community to develop a clear vision ofwhat the school is about and where it is going, a shared sense of purpose, acommon set of goals, and consensus on the means of attaining them. It

constitutes the school as a learning organisation that focuses on meeting theprofessional needs of teachers in order to meet the educational needs of pupils.

◆2. School Improvement

School Development Planning is a continuous improvement strategy. It provides amechanism for systematic self-evaluation that enables the school community toreview its progress, identify priorities, and prepare plans for further improvement.

◆3. Quality Enhancement

School Development Planning directs the attention and energy of the schoolcommunity in a systematic way on the central task of the school: the provision ofa quality education that is appropriate to the abilities and needs of all its pupils. Itfocuses on enhancing the quality of teaching and learning through collaborativeaction.

◆4. Staff Development

School Development Planning enhances the professional role of teachers andpromotes their professional development. It helps to ensure that teachers:

Are empowered to contribute decisively to the development of the school Are enabled to exercise a greater degree of ownership over the centralissues that influence their work, thereby enhancing their sense of being incontrol of events Are offered opportunities to engage in collaborative policy-making,planning and teamwork and to participate in the leadership andmanagement of development work Are involved in the identification of their own professional developmentneeds and the specification of provision to meet those needs Are enabled to extend their professional skills Are encouraged to reflect on and learn from their professional experiences Are affirmed and supported in their work through the creation of an ethosof collegiality and co-operation

◆5. Partnership

School Development Planning promotes partnership in the school’s developmentby engaging the major parties in the school community – principal, teachers,parents, pupils, Board of Management, and trustees—in a collaborative dialoguefocused on identifying and responding to emerging educational needs.Participation in this dialogue fosters the partners’ commitment to and ownershipof school policy.

◆6. Effective Deployment of Available Resources

Formalised School Development Planning enables the school to specify resourcerequirements and to target available resources towards meeting priority needs.

◆7. Management of Change

School Development Planning helps the school community to manage changeeffectively by enabling it to control the pace and direction of internal change andto build a capacity to respond rapidly to new challenges.

◆8. Furtherance of Aims and Priorities of National Education System

School Development Planning provides a structure that enables the schoolcommunity to subscribe to the stated aims of the national education system and toincorporate national education priorities into the work of the school.

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.

Basic Framework of School Development Planning Process

The School Development Planning process often begins with the Core:

The formulation of Mission, Vision and Aims. Some schools, however, find it more helpful to begin with the Review and to allow their understanding of their mission, vision and aims to become enriched and clarified through participation in the planning process, and in particular through reflection on the local, national and international context factors that will influence the shaping of the school’s future.

Structure of SDP

     SDP usually includes the following:

The school background

 It includes information like name of the school, enrollment strength, staff, and geographical area and other relevant information.

The school analysis

It says about the performance of school which also includes quality of education, strength and weakness of school.

The list of priorities

  It describes the important areas that need attention.

The summarized three year plan

 It says about targeted goals and plans that take more than 1 year to achieve.

The action plan

  It is an action document that says about what needs to be done  for the development  during the coming year.

The monitoring and evaluation plan

It describes about how planning activities will be monitored and evaluated. It ensures plan are carried out, report on progress are made.

Chapters supposed to be there in School Development Plan

 Broadly there would be Five Chapters in School Development Plan:

Chapter – One : General Information about School e.g. name of school, year of establishment, location of the school, distance from cluster, block office, District office, area of school neighbourhood, number of households, total population, children population in school neighbourhood, literacy of the people residing in school neighbourhood, etc. Chapter – Two : Present Status of the school and school neighbourhood e.g. number of teachers available in the school, student enrolment, number of building blocks, toilets, separate girls’ toilet, drinking water connection, electricity connection, playground, number of classrooms available, condition of classrooms and other rooms, how much parents are involved in school activities by school, regularity and punctuality of teachers’ and students’, availability of teaching learning materials/equipment, games materials, number of out of school children, students’ performance,etc. Chapter – Three : Analysis of Progress achieved in last year’s plan targets OR progress achieved as per the fund invested in the school, (grants received and utilized). This chapter also includes the list of activities conducted last year and the activity-wise expenditure incurred in conducting activities. List of assets created also need to be included here. Chapter – Four : Identification of problems according to the present status of school given in “Chapter – Two”, listing of these problems identified, its prioritization and Devising action/steps for solution during this plan period. Chapter – Three may also indicates the problems while analyzing the progress achieved. Chapter – Five : Estimation of cost of the Plan. The estimation and listing of activity-wise cost should be done on the basis of the list of activities prepared in Chapter – Four. Some of the activities can be done without investing money like improvement of teacher attendance, bringing out of school children in the school, etc. and the activities like household survey, construction of toilets, additional rooms, etc. require fund. The cost estimation should be done accordingly. Chapter: 16 STAFF COUNCIL AND STUDENT COUNCIL

STAFF COUNCIL AND STUDENT COUNCIL

The entire programme in a school functions with complete cooperation of staff and students. Both staff and students should have their bodies formed to facilitate smooth functioning of the school.

STAFF COUNCIL

Staff council is a group of headmaster and all teachers in any educational institution constituted to discuss, plan and monitor all matters of academic interest and all other problems relating to the development of the institution and to recommend measures for improvement of the institution. The headmaster shall convince the meeting of the staff council at least once in every three months in an academic year. Headmaster will be the president and there will be staff secretary selected from the teachers.

Purpose of Staff Council

Facilitate communication between staff and College officials. Foster a sense of community among our diverse population. Collect and disseminate information pertinent