cambodia

SCHOOL–BASED MANAGEMENT

THROUGH CLUSTER SCHOOLS:

A CASE STUDY FROM CAMBODIA

Anne H. Dykstra[1]& Pawan Kucita[2]

Its education system gutted by years of civil war, Cambodia’s surviving schools are banding together to rebuild the country’s once proud educational legacy. By decentralising authority and en-couraging community participation in decision-making, the cluster school structure promotes ownership of schools by students, parents and local educators. Anne H. Dykstra and Pawan Kucita describe how clusters of village schools are finding strength – and needed resources – in numbers.

BACKGROUND______

O

rganised education in Cambodia does not have a long history. In 1900, there were seven teachers at the one primary school for Khmer students in Phnom Penh. In 1944, approximately 500 Khmer students per year completed their primary education certificate, but by 1950 enrolments had risen to approximately 20,000 primary students and 1,000 Khmer secondary students. From 1950 through 1970, there was a major quantitative increase in the number of schools and, because of this, greater access to a basic education for many students. This was accompanied by a state policy establishing a system of primary schools rather than allowing the management of primary education to rest predominantly with temple schools controlled by the Sangha (clergy). In 1962, three universities opened in Cambodia and by 1968, there were nine. The quality and number of teachers increased. Estimates are that there were one million educated youth in 1967 or approximately 20% of the Khmer population.

The destruction of schools began in late March 1970 during heavy fighting and bombing which was an adjunct to the Vietnam War. The war escalated and was especially destructive in 1970–71. Between 1974 and 1979, foreigners left as the country withdrew in isolation from the outside world and experienced a tragic civil war. School buildings were destroyed or put to other uses as communal kitchens, dormitories, storehouses or prisons. There was virtually no formal classroom education during this time, and books and teaching materials were destroyed. The remaining schools were abandoned and the majority of teachers died or left the country. The 35–year old educational system was shattered almost before it began.

At the end of the civil war in late 1979, a new socialist government was formed and began to re–establish the country’s education system as a priority. There remained only a scattered and traumatised group of educators numbering fewer than 5,000. Those that could, returned to teach, and roughly 1,000 were recruited to become administrators of schools and to form a ministry of education. Those that taught gathered students in remaining schools or temples, makeshift palm–thatch classrooms or under trees. New teachers were recruited from citizens who could read and write, crash–training was undertaken to provide basic teaching skills, and the government mobilised rice as payment for the growing cadre. The effort to rebuild schools was severely impeded by the continued critical shortage of teachers and school buildings, as well as shortages of the most basic teaching materials and supplies, including school furnishings, blackboards, chalk, paper, pens and pencils.

In spite of many constraints, the country’s school system expanded rapidly. By 1981, more than 1.5 million children were attending primary and lower secondary classes (grades 1–4 and 5–8, respectively). The number of primary school students exceeded the estimated number of children 6–10 due to enrolment of large numbers of older children whose education had been interrupted by war.

During this period, UNICEF provided emergency supplies for school repair and teaching supplies and restarted the publishing house. NGOs worked to train teachers, to build schools, and develop pilot projects in education. In 1991, Redd Barna, the Norwegian NGO, began administration of cluster schools in three provinces. The project focused on teacher training at the local level and provided training to instructors at the provincial teacher training college. Supervision of teacher training in primary schools in the cluster was provided through the provincial teacher–training college and Redd Barna staff in co–operation with district and local educators.

The overall objective of cluster schools is to redress any imbalance in education by group-ing schools that are located near each other into a cluster, mixing strong schools and dis-advantaged schools in such a way that the latter benefit from the advantages of the former.

Schools continued to expand even though classes were taught on a four–hour, double–shift schedule, six days a week, because the supply of teachers and classrooms remained critically short. Classes with 70–80 students in the first and second grade were routine in cities and major towns while small schools in sparsely populated areas were often only one or two grades, a branch school of a five–grade school 5 to 10 kilometres away. The rapid expansion of students was achieved at the expense of edu-cational quality. The wastage rate included high primary school re-petition (approximately 40% in first grade). Of those starting first grade in 1989, only 13% finished fifth grade in 1994. Although the national Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) was 83%, children in remote areas, especially in the mountains, had a GER of only 40–60%.

In large measure, the high wastage could be attributed to the lack of qualified and trained teachers. Less than 1% of the working teachers in Cambodia had finished 11th grade in 1992, and their teaching depended on rote learning because they themselves did not possess the basic skills in mathematics and Khmer to teach these foundation subjects.

THE

INNOVATION______

In 1993, in co–operation with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MOEYS), an integrated educational programme began. At the same time, the ministry began the reform of education. As part of the support for capacity building, UNICEF established cluster school pilot projects in four provinces.

Definition and Objectives of Cluster Schools

The overall objective of cluster schools is to redress any imbalance in education by grouping schools that are located near each other into a cluster, mixing strong schools and disadvantaged schools in such a way that the latter benefit from the advantages of the former. As stated in the Guideline for Cluster Schools issued by the National Cluster School Committee, MOEYS:

A cluster school is a grouping of 6–9 primary schools for administrative and educational purposes. It is an organisation of schools in the same vicinity or neighbouring villages which are grouped together for the benefit of sharing available resources such as teaching and learning materials, facilities and staff so that the access for all children and the educational quality of all schools within the cluster are improved. The model implies a degree of decentralisation and also permits strong local participation in decisions.

The model implies a degree of decentralization and also permits a strong local participation in decision making.

The ministry also set objectives for the cluster school project in four main areas:

1. Economic Objectives

The country could not afford basic equipment such as supplemental readers, science materials, or even silk screen supplies and paper for each school. Therefore, by furnishing one resource centre with equipment and supplies that allowed teachers to make learning aids, several schools benefited. The clusters therefore had an economic objective: sharing facilities and staff, and bulk ordering of materials such as stationery, chalk, paper and other supplies for the cluster. Conservation of supplies such as promoting systems for the return of school books and better maintenance of schools were also more efficient within a cluster system. Resource centres permit teachers to participate in ongoing in–service training without distant travel. Although an unplanned bonus, teachers have used cluster schools to form a larger pool of money to which they contribute a small amount each month and from which they can borrow when needed.

2. Pedagogic Objectives

Improved student learning would be achieved through a variety of strategies to be carried out through clusters equalising student access to teacher specialists and resources (such as supplementary readers), in–service training every Thursday and mutual sharing of the experiences among the teachers. Also, teachers had the opportunity to pilot new curricular materials that the ministry with UNICEF support developed, along with academic competition and evaluation to motivate better performance. Teachers in cluster schools worked on setting and monitoring of learning goals and standards according to the newly adopted competencies in language and math for students.

3. Administrative Objectives

Improved administration was sought at all levels through simplifying paperwork, authorisation procedures and communication processes primarily by working through the cluster school heads for micro–planning, personnel management, and resource mobilisation instead of trying to contact every headmaster. Authority to supervise and monitor teachers, goal achievement and other functions was devolved to cluster heads.

4.School–Community Objectives

Community participation in schools, not only in construction but in many other aspects of school management and learning, was promoted by involving parent-teacher associations (PTAs) in localising curriculum, monitoring school services, or mobilising children to enrol at the correct age. Local policies for the use of the cluster schools as a learning centre for adults and a delivery centre for other services by development and community agencies were formulated by cluster committees or PTAs.

Organisation of Individual Clusters

Cluster School Head

Elected by principals and teacher representatives from the cluster schools

Cluster School Committee

  • Village Chief, Honorary Chair
  • Cluster School Head
  • Headmasters of schools in the cluster
  • Teacher representatives elected from each school
  • A representative of the PTAs (elected)
  • Head of Cluster Technical Committee
  • Member of Sangha (monks) according to the wishes of the community

Schools(6 grades) & Branch Schools(less than 6 grades)in the Cluster

  • Principal
  • Technical Committee: Senior teachers in each subject, appointed by the headmaster
  • Teachers
  • PTA

Cluster Technical Committee

  • Heads of Technical Committees from each school in the cluster

National Cluster School Committee

The first activity of the project was to form the National Cluster School Committee (NCSC) under the General Education Department. It was staffed by 12 educators who were technicians from various departments in MOEYS. Within the first year, the NCSC drafted cluster school guidelines, including definitions for the role and function of each level of the cluster, indicators for the measurement of wastage within the cluster and an accompanying training syllabus. There was close collaboration of the four provincial offices of education chosen as cluster school pilot sites with technical advisers and partner NGOs in the development of the structure, role, responsibilities and objectives of cluster schools as stated in the guidelines.

Thereafter began an overall co–ordination of each provincial pilot project by forming teams of two or three NCSC members each assigned to a province. The team became the facilitator of the planning process for the cluster, and reviewed renovation and construction plans, academic goals, work plans, and budgets. They provided information about the progress of the cluster to officials and committees at each level. Similarly, they gave information about conditions in schools and problems faced by students and teachers to the minister and central department heads. They solved contractor disputes, facilitated the delivery of supplies, helped schedule textbook tryouts, evaluated teacher training in the cluster, organised material exchanges, reviewed localised adaptations of cluster operations and gave technical assistance in organising PTAs.

Common Responsibilities of Provincial, District and Cluster Committees

A cluster school committee is formed at each level. Their common functions are to set goals for access to education and reduction of wastage rates. They implement educational reform, each at an appropriate level and speciality, monitor the distribution of supplies and facilitate the construction and repair of school buildings. More importantly, they work vertically to assure that there is communication between levels and regular consultation to solve problems. They also work horizontally to provide training in concepts of cluster management and supervision. As cluster schools became nationalised, skilful teachers or education officials at the provincial, district or cluster levels, who had gained adequate experience from the project, became national trainers for new clusters in order to expand the model.

There is close liaison with civil authorities and all cluster committees in matters of security, transparency in systems designed to account for money, data verification, and problem solving in the distribution of supplies in construction. In addition to work that is common in any cluster, there are specific functions at each level:

  • Provincial Cluster School Committee

Provincial cluster committees organise a yearly training calendar for supervisors and headmasters and are responsible for the supply of teachers to clusters. This may mean training untrained teachers where there have been no classes for many years, especially when new clusters begin in remote areas. They approve new clusters, construction plans, and budgets and submit them to the NCSC for final authorisation and verification of projected costs.

  • District Cluster School Committee

The district education office is responsible for the operation of clusters within district boundaries, and for achievement of the workplan to meet the district education goals. They house the newly trained inspectors who work with teachers and supervisors in the cluster to implement curriculum reform. The district supervises cluster school heads.

  • Cluster Head and Cluster School Committee

The cluster school head supervises all headmasters in the cluster, sets the teacher–training schedule with other members of the committee, and assures that materials from the resource centre and teachers are supplied equally to all schools in the cluster. Cluster school heads are given the authority to inspect teachers and to make decisions on how to maximise the use of resources available in their own clusters. They may reassign teachers to schools that have a sudden jump in enrolment or lack instruction in a specific subject. They are the liaison to the community, to schools in the cluster and to the district. They are the advocates for their cluster through the ministry chain of authority and to civil authorities.

Every cluster maintains a resource centre where teachers come to share and make teaching aids. Books and expensive supplies, such as science equipment or musical instruments, are circulated among the schools in the cluster on a regular basis. Resource centres display data and graphs on wastage, and disseminate other information to educators and community members. The resource centre provides a place for special services, such as eye examinations and lending libraries. It can also function as an administrative centre for non–formal education classes and recreation events. The cluster school head oversees the resource centre operation and its use by educators and the community and also supervises the cluster school technical committee responsible for the improvement of teaching-learning in member schools.

  • Technical Committees and Teacher Training

Technical committees are responsible for the improvement of teaching and learning especially in support of the new curriculum. The cluster school technical committee establishes a training calendar for teachers. Cambodian policy sets every Thursday as an in–service day. The agenda for weekly training meetings include the preparation of lesson plans, development of teaching aids, class demonstrations and a summary of the weekly meeting as well as plans for the next month. Usually, teachers from various schools take turns meeting at the resource centre to make teaching aids and, on alternate weeks, they meet at their schools for other training events. There are often cluster–wide training events in the resource centre especially when new textbooks are introduced.

With support from UNICEF, Save the Children Fund Australia implemented an intensive teacher training model for working teachers. Within the project, they trained teacher–educators from the four cluster pilot projects along with those teacher–educators they had identified for their own project. These teachers returned to their home province and became technical teachers in local clusters. Once home, they organised intensive training sessions during school holidays, followed by weekly training sessions for small groups of teachers, and finally, supervision as follow–up to improve classroom applications of new methods.

Parent–Teacher Associations

In Cambodia, parents and communities traditionally contribute to school construction and renovation. In some remote villages, community members have recruited their own teachers and pay them in rice or by giving them land for farming, helping with planting and harvesting, or providing equipment and training for fishing. The cluster schools build on this tradition but also involve parents and communities in educating their children. At the initiation of a cluster, PTAs are formed for each school, and parents and teachers survey all school–age children in the cluster catchment area to ensure that they are enrolled in schools. PTAs help verify the reasons why children drop–out or don’t attend school and they set goals to remedy these problems.