Open Society Education Update

When you plant Chinese Bamboo, nothing happens in the first year, nor in the second or in the third or fourth years. You don't even see a single green shoot. And yet in the fifth year, in a space of just six weeks, the bamboo will grow 90 feet high. The question is, did it grow 90 feet in six weeks or in 5 years?

F. Dick (1992) as quoted by Louise Stoll at the

School Effectiveness and School Improvement Seminar

UNDERSTANDING EDUCATIONAL CHANGE: SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT SEMINAR

For the first time in the history of the Soros Foundation Network, representatives from all 24 Foundations came together in Budapest for four intensive days on developing and improving school leadership training programs, May 12-15. The Seminar, sponsored by the Education Program Support Unit, was developed in response to Foundation requests to develop in-depth workshops on particular topics. The results of a pre-seminar survey showed that 9 countries have school leadership training programs and 15 did not. Of the countries that had such programs, 7 had a "train the trainer" component, and 7 had a "network of schools" dedicated to continuous improvement. All 15 countries that did not yet have such a program indicated that they were interested in starting one.

Participants in the conference were Foundation program officers with educational practitioners from their countries (school directors, teachers, members of educational institutions). "Education is the key to change," said Michele Pierre-Louise, Executive Director SF Haiti "and we must all participate in the change process." Country teams worked together in learning the content of school effectiveness and school improvement, as well as practical skills for developing programs in their countries. "What we're talking about is trying to make the lives of children in our schools better, where they are free to learn and free to participate," said conference director, Susan Rona. By the end of the Seminar, each team developed an action plan for the development of school leadership training programs in their countries. "The practical work is the most important for us" said one participant, "and the Seminar provided both a practical and theoretical framework for our work."

CHANGE PROCESS

One key concept learned by participants at the conference was the importance of understanding the process of change itself. "If teachers are not good at change, they will not teach students to be good at change. If students aren't good at change, they will not be good at change as adults. If adults are not good at change, the society will not succeed at change," said Michael Fullan. Therefore, when dealing with school improvement, staff development, or other programs, participants in change must understand the change process, itself; otherwise it can lead to burnout. "We must work hard to make a difference in the life chances of individual students. But, we find that the more committed you are, the more frustrated you get," said Fullan. He describes a natural process that schools go through when they implement change: there are problems and frustrations, but these must be experienced and overcome in order to implement real, lasting change. Understanding that programs usually go through problems and an "implementation dip" before they achieve their goals, is an important part of fighting fatigue and frustration of change agents. "Now that we understand the implementation dip is natural, we will expect it and know better how to deal with it," said Anna Muravieva, OSI Moscow. Understanding the change process "applies not only to the change in schools but to the change in our own institutions and our own societies," said Terrice Bassler, EPSU Director.

CASE STUDIES

Participants had the opportunity to present case studies of successful school improvement projects in their countries.

SUCCESS IN A RURAL AREA: In Lithuania, the foundation began the school leaders program two years ago, and it has now grown into a very active Association of Schools with Initiative. Grazvydas Kakakevicius, director of a small rural school participating in the program, said they had difficulties in the beginning, because people felt that change and innovation were the responsibility only of the center or the capital city. "We now believe that we can do it and we should do it, even though we are part of a very small town," said Kakakevicius. The school aimed to improve pupil academic achievement, to create international links, and to involve the school in the cultural events and programs of the city. "We need to change the mentality of the people so they think of themselves not as residents of a province but as principals and teachers who have potential."

STUDENTS AS PARTNERS: Marona Carianopol, School Director of an English-Romanian bi-lingual school in Bucharest discussed her success in improving the school although it faced many obstacles and constraints to school-level innovation. She has endeavored to empower students and implement as many of their ideas as possible. "The students started a school newspaper that is now sold in the town, and they have a disco on Saturday nights," she said. "We participate in the Soros program to send secondary students abroad. This is my subversive policy. When the students come back, they want to change things." Other changes in the school include the establishment of a staff room for teachers, new materials, and new equipment. "These material changes help teachers cope with other changes, especially those that do not want change," said Carianopol.

ASSOCIATION OF INNOVATIVE SITES: The Soros Foundation Kyrgyzstan continues its work with the Association of Innovative Sites which was formed as a result of the Transformation of School Leaders program in 1994. The Foundation supports 45 pilot schools through workshops, school materials, textbooks, resource centers, and computers. The initial program worked with school leaders, and now the foundation has expanded to work with teachers and students, as well. "We realize that the school principal has a key role but cannot do everything alone without a team," said Akhmat Madeuyev of the SF Kyrgyzstan. One key of the success of the program in Kyrgyzstan is the close monitoring of the schools and the programs. "Unfortunately, we had to expel 5 schools from the program that did not meet the criteria," said Madeuyev. For example, one school director kept the computer and video at his home rather than making it accessible to students and teachers. The schools in the Association sign a contract about the proper use of the inputs given by the Foundation, and the Foundation has high expectations that these criteria will be met.

SEMINAR INNOVATIONS

ROADSIDE CONSULTING: The Seminar involved several Western specialists in the fields of change management, school effectiveness and school improvement. Many foundations were interested in receiving advice or consultation from them on their individual programs. We set aside time during lunches, dinners and breaks for private consultation between country teams and the presenters. Those foundations that participated indicated that it was very helpful in their programs, and the specialists said they enjoyed the experience, as well.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PRIZES: All four outside presenters at the Seminar donated scholarships and prizes from their institutions which were raffled off to Foundations at the end of the Seminar. McGill University offered two scholarships to the Centre for Educational Leadership Summer Institute (winners: Ukraine and Latvia). The University of Toronto offered two scholarships to the Summer Institute in Education (winners: Ukraine and Czech Republic). the University of Nottingham offered two scholarships to the summer Doctoral Seminar in Education (winners: Moscow and St. Petersburg). And, the University of London offered two one-year memberships in the International School Effectiveness and School Improvement Network (winners: St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk).

MANAGER'S DAY

Following the conclusion of the School Effectiveness and School Improvement Seminar, education program managers were invited to stay in Budapest for an additional day to share experiences in implementing education programs and to discuss concerns associated with managing these initiatives. "Managers" were defined as staff who are responsible for overseeing large national education initiatives and for supervising teams of education program coordinators. Participants identified several key suggestions in the areas of regional collaboration, support for education programs, need for management training across levels, pre-service teacher education programs, and issues relating to program sustainability and management of 'operational' programs vs. grant based programs.

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE CENTERS: DIVERSITY OF APPROACHES

Many foundations have established educational resource centers to support the teachers, educators, schools, and others involved in foundation programs. There are several different approaches within the Network toward these centers, and some of the same questions are arising. How do we make these centers sustainable? How should they be governed? How do we keep the resources up to date and of high quality? Some foundations have found creative answers to these questions.

CENTER FOR EDUCOLOGY IN LITHUANIA, the Center for Educology Studies aims to be a leader for universities in the field of education. It deals with the areas of teacher retraining (in-service) and university education of teachers (pre-service). It has a one-room library, open to the public but mainly working with doctorate students in the field of education. The center aims to develop partnerships with schools involved in the Association of Schools with Initiative that grew out of the Foundation's school leadership programs.

BULDING MINISTRY CAPACITY IN SOUTH AFRICA, Victor Modise, Director of the NGO Teacher Opportunity Programs (TOPS), aims to develop capacity in the new governmental structures by helping them reach their goals. The TOPS Center assists in identifying needs, sorting priorities, and providing support. "We try to balance the political agenda with educational goals," said Modise. "We assist in developing systems of data collection and even basic computer literacy" for Ministry of Education staff.

A FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABILITY IN BOSNIA: The Open Society Fund Bosnia Herzegovina has built sustainability into the planning of its Teacher Education Resource Centers. It has reached agreement between a secondary teacher education school that will provide the space for the center, the Pedagogic Institute who will provide one staff member to link the center with the activity of the Institute in teacher education. The third partner, a commercial educational supplier will provide the maintenance and the replenishing of materials in the center. The company is willing to undertake this expense because the center will be a sort of show room for their goods and services.

UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP IN ALBANIA: In Albania, the Albanian Education Development Project (AEDP) is using its Teacher Education Resource Centers as an incentive to universities and the Pedagogic Institute to work together in pre-service and in-service teacher education. Universities provide the space and have the benefit of allowing their students and professors to use the Centers. The Pedagogic Institute, who can use the centers for in-service teacher training or "train the trainer" models is encouraged to be more in touch with the developments at the university in pre-service teacher education. And, this allows the university students and professors to come into contact and exchange with "real teachers" working in the system. For content, the AEDP looked to partner centers in Bari, Italy who have provided lists of key videos, journals and other resources to be included in the centers.

SELF-FINANCING CENTER IN CANADA: Sylvia Sklar, Director of the McGill Center for Educational Leadership has made her center entirely self-financing. Participants in the courses provided by the center must pay fees, and the Center actively markets itself to the educational community. Schools use funds that are allotted to them for professional development by the government to attend the seminars. Sylvia offers the following advice for organizations starting up resource centers: "Keep it small, know your constituents, keep your advisory groups informal, and keep your staffing dynamic and elastic." Sylvia operates her center with only two full-time staff (herself and an assistant) and calls upon graduate students at the university for part-time help when the workload becomes larger.

"3-LANGUAGE POLICY" IN KYRGYZSTAN

The Soros Foundation Kyrgyzstan supports programs in its pilot schools for language pluralism. "The long-term goal of the Foundation is to help create an environment that will facilitate the study of Kyrgyz among non-Kyrgyz school children, the study of Russian among the non-Russian children, and the study of English among all students" said Executive Director and OSI Board Member, Chinara Jakypova. Since the collapse of the USSR, language has been a difficult political and social issue in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyz was established as the official language, and harsh expectations were declared by the government to introduce Kyrgyz into daily life. However, large parts of the population (particularly urban) do not speak Kyrgyz. And, Russian has been the traditional academic language in Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz language has not been broadly disseminated among Russian speaking populations, and there are not enough qualified staff, textbooks and learning materials for the Kyrgyz language. The government timeline to introduce the official language was unrealistic and created tensions between the different language groups. Russian speakers had no interest in learning Kyrgyz, and Kyrgyz speakers had no interest in learning Russian. But, all language groups are interested in learning English.

In two years, the Foundation hopes that, in the Pilot School Network, all Russian language schools will offer Kyrgyz, all Kyrgyz language schools will offer Russian, and all pilot schools will offer English. The Foundation hopes to initiate the learning of English in Kyrgyz schools as widely and successfully as in the Dutch school system. The Foundation promotes this vision through the establishment of Resource Centers in diverse locations, and teacher training to make language learning appealing to children. The Resource Centers will also support the writing, publication and distribution of materials in Kyrgyz language as well as translation of English materials into Russian and Kyrgyz.

CIVICS EDUCATION TAKING OFF IN THE NETWORK

Several Foundations are initiating or continuing programs in civic education, both inside and outside the classroom.

OPEN EDUCATION CENTER BULGARIA HOSTS 1st BALKAN CIVITAS CONFERENCE : From June 10-14, 1996 in Bourgas, Bulgaria on the Black Sea Coast, a group of approximately 25 pedagogues, NGO's, teachers, and foundation representatives convened to discuss civic education in the Balkans. Soros Foundation representatives from Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Romania, and OSI Budapest attended, along with non-Foundation participants from Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey. The group shared experience and research in civic education from their countries, as well as various models of civic education programming. The conference participants also included a group of 15 Bulgarian secondary school students who added to the lively debate about the role of civic education in schools and in societies in transition.

CIVIC FORUM IN ALBANIA: The Community Development Unit of the Albanian Education Development Program is working with parents, teachers and students on an out-of-school Civics Forum program, addressing civic issues (elections, land rights, ecology, crime, drugs). The program is implemented through the parents' councils of the schools. In the past, parents councils were seen as a formal mechanism, but now their role is taking on new and real meaning for the parents involved. "We must have civic courage to look after our rights and the rights of our children . . .there are ways to achieve these aims. We're now conscious that we can do something" said one parent participant. Students and teachers have also benefitted from the program, which creates simulated participatory exercises around civic issues. During the simulations, students are often asked to play the roles of adults, and vice versa, which has offered all participants a new perspective on the rights and responsibilities of different actors in the community. The Albanian project is interested in sharing experiences with other foundations in the network running community civic education programs. For more information, contact Blerinda Idrizi at the AEDP: tel/fax (355 42) 305 06 or (355 42) 277 31, email: bidrizi@aedp.tirana.al.

OSF-SOUTH AFRICA LAUNCHES INITIATIVE IN MATHS, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION

The Open Society Foundation for South Africa (OSF-SA) recently announced a program of US$15 million over the next three years to improve the quality of maths, science and technology education. The initiative, developed by OSFSA with EPSU support, will affect learners at all levels, from pre-school to university and adult education, with a focus on schools in historically disadvantaged areas. For decades, South Africa's apartheid regime provided vastly inferior education in the separate black townships and "homelands". Despite South Africa's remarkable political movements toward a more open society, the legacy of apartheid still affects education, and quality improvements will require long-term efforts. Of every 10,000 black youth who manage to enter formal schooling in South Africa, only 27 will ultimately qualify for university entrance, and only one will qualify in either maths or science. The OSF-SA initiative will target the Northern Province and Eastern Cape Province, two of the country's poorest areas, where intensive support will be provided to schools, universities, and teacher education colleges through teacher training, upgrading of learning materials and development of school leadership. OSF-SA is also commissioning development of higher quality learning programs and materials, beginning in maths. For more information, contact Prof. Michael Savage, OSFSA, Cape Town, fax 27-21-683-3550.

BULLETIN BOARD

CIVIC EDUCATION SUMMER CAMP IN KYRGYZSTAN: The Open Society Fund Kyrgyzstan will sponsor a summer camp for Kyrgyz students to model democracy and civil society. Students will play the roles of the government, the opposition, the independent media, etc. Kyrgyzstan is ready to invite students from other countries in the region. Interested foundations should contact Akhmat Madeuyev, OSF Kyrgyzstan.

I*EARN CONFERENCE IN BUDAPEST, JULY 6-12, 1996: I*EARN will have its Third Annual I*EARN International Conference in Budapest this July, which will concentrate on questions related to maximization of educational value of telecommunications in the classroom. I*EARN coordinators from national Soros Foundations and teachers from the region will attend, as well as teachers from all over Western Europe, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, US, South Korea, Thailand, and South Africa. The conference is being organized by I*EARN staff, Patricia Mullen in NY, Judit Lafferthon of SF Hungary and Katalin Sellyei, OSI Conference Planner. For more information, see the I*EARN Web site: http://www.iearn.org/iearn/ or contact Patricia Mullen at OSI New York: pmullen@sorosny.org.

SUMMER INSTITUTES FOR EDUCATORS: McGill University Centre for Educational Leadership offers summer institutes in the subjects of "Inclusive Classrooms and Schools July 9-13" "Cooperative Learning (peer mediation, assessment, adult learners...), August 5-8" and "Technology in Learning, August 12-15." For more information on registration, contact the Center: Centre for Educational Leadership, McGill University - 3724 McTavish Street, Montreal, Quebec H3A 12Y, tel (514) 398 7044, fax: (514) 398 8260, email: Leadership@cel.lan.mcgill.ca, www: http://www.cel.mcgill.ca/welcome.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND CIVICS EDUCATION SEMINAR, SEPTEMBER, 1996 IN BUDAPEST: The Education Program Support Unit will sponsor a seminar on Human Rights and Civics Education in mid-September, 1996 at the Kerepesi Conference Center in Budapest, Hungary. Foundations will be invited to send one Foundation representative and one "agent of change," a counterpart in the Ministry, Pedagogic Institute, a teacher, administrator, trainer, etc. who is or could be a partner in developing human rights and civic education programs in their home countries. Watch for more information coming to your foundation later this about this event!

RESOURCES

REGIONAL PUBLISHING CENTER: The Regional Publishing Center of OSI Budapest provides a Professional Support Service to national Soros Foundations and regional programs. The team is ready to provide technical assistance at the request of Foundations on issues related to any sphere of publishing. If you would like advice on commissioning a translation, securing copyrights, or contracting with a publisher, contact the Regional Publishing Center. Email: ceupress@ceu.hu, or visit world wide web: www.ceu.hu//ceupress/press1.html.

ORDERING BOOKS AND PERIODICALS: B.H. Blackwell Ltd., in Oxford, England, offers its services to Soros Foundations for ordering books and periodicals. Several foundations (Moldova, Lithuania, Belarus and Estonia) have established accounts for the regular ordering of books, textbooks and periodicals. Blackwell is able to offer flexible services such as specialized shipping, DHL and other options according to your needs. In order to establish an account, contact Mary A.R. de Jong, Customer Services Manager - Europe, tel: 44 1865 200 287, fax: 44 1865 792 792, email: lbdeur@blackwell.