School Improvement and Transformation System in Lagos State Senior Secondary Schools Principals’ Planning Approach

Abstract

The study presents one of the ways by which school improvement plan which is a road map that sets out the changes a school needs to make to improve the level of student achievement and shows how and when these changes will be made. School improvement plans are selective; they help principals, teachers and school management board answer the questions “what will we focus on now” and “what will we leave until later. It was found out that curriculum delivery, school environment and parental involvement are significant relationship with school improvement and transformation system. Based on the findings and their implications, recommendations were made as appropriate. INTRODUCTION School improvement is the process which schools use to ensure that all students achieve at high levels. An effective school improvement planning process guides schools to develop a strategic and ongoing plan that focuses on quality education. Quality is the degree to which the institution is successful in achieving its objectives to the satisfaction of itself, the students and society. A school improvement plan according to Education Improvement Commission (2000) is a road map that sets out the changes a school needs to make to improve the level of student achievement, and shows how and when these changes will be made. School improvement plans are selective: they help principals, teachers, and school management answer the International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development April 2016, Vol. 5, No. 2 ISSN: 2226-6348 85 www.hrmars.com/journals questions “What will we focus on now?” and “What will we leave until later?” They encourage staff and parents to monitor student achievement levels and other factors, such as the school environment, that are known to influence student success. With up-to-date and reliable information about how well students are performing, schools are better able to respond to the needs of students, teachers, and parents. A school improvement plan is also a mechanism through which the public can hold schools accountable for student success and through which it can measure improvement. Education Improvement Commission (2000) notes that in developing their school’s improvement plan, the principal, staff, school management, parents, and other community members work through a variety of activities focused on three areas of priority: curriculum delivery, school environment, and parental involvement. For each of these areas, schools establish the following: • a goal statement • performance targets • areas of focus • implementation strategies • indicators of success • time lines • responsibility for implementing strategies • checkpoints for status updates • opportunities for revisions. School Climate School climate refers to the quality and character of school life. National School Climate Council (2012) states that school climate is based on patterns of students', parents' and school personnel's experience of school life and reflects norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, teaching and learning practices, and organizational structures. A sustainable, positive school climate fosters youth development and learning necessary for a productive, contributing and satisfying life in a democratic society. This climate includes:  Norms, values and expectations that support people feeling socially, emotionally and physically safe.  People are engaged and respected.  Students, families and educators work together to develop, live and contribute to a shared school vision.  Educators model and nurture attitudes that emphasize the benefits and satisfaction gained from learning.  Each person contributes to the operations of the school and the care of the physical environment. There is no consensus about what school climate dimensions measures. National School Climate Council (2012) suggest that there are four major areas that school climate assessment needs to include: safety, relationships, teaching and learning and the external environment. Each of these areas includes a series of sub scales of indicators. School climate is larger than any International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development April 2016, Vol. 5, No. 2 ISSN: 2226-6348 86 www.hrmars.com/journals one person's experience. When people work together, a group process emerges that is bigger than any one person's actions. A comprehensive assessment of school climate includes major spheres of school life such as safety, relationships, teaching and learning, and the environment as well as larger organizational patterns (e.g. from fragmented to shared; healthy or unhealthy). How we feel about being in school and these larger group trends shape learning and students’ development. Manpower Planning • Manpower planning enables an organisation to get hold of the right number and class of people required for operations within a defined timeframe. According to Obasan and Yomi (2011) Manpower planning which is also called Human Resource Planning involves putting right number of people, right kind of people at the right place, at right time, doing the right things for which they are suited.Manpower planning implies an attempt to integrate economic development and educational planning. It is a conscious attempt by the country to link the development of their educational systems to the demand for educated manpower by their economies. Obasan and Yomi (2011) quoting Fadipe (2011) states that manpower deals with human capital formation, allocation and utilization. Manpower, also known as human resources can be defined as the bulk of labour available for any particular kind of work. In more specific terms, it is the bulk of human being with the relevant skills, energies, talents, knowledge and attitude that can be committed towards the production of goods and services (Gbosi, 2003). SCHOOL TRANSFORMATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING Capacity building also referred to as capacity development. It is a conceptual approach to development that focuses on understanding the obstacles that inhibit people, governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations from realizing their developmental goals while enhancing the abilities that will allow them to achieve measurable and sustainable results. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2011) defines capacity building as a long-term continual process of development that involves all stakeholders; including ministries, local authorities, non-governmental organizations, professionals, community members, academics and even more. Capacity building uses a country’s human, scientific, technological, organizational, and institutional and resource capabilities. The goal of capacity building is to tackle problems related to policy and methods of development, while considering the potential, limits and needs of the people of the country concerned. The United Nations (2006) outlines that capacity building as taking place in individual, institutional, and the societal levels.  Individual levelCapacity-building on an individual level requires the development of conditions that allow individual participants to build and enhance existing knowledge and skills. It also calls for the establishment of conditions that will allow individuals to engage in the “process of learning and adapting to change.  Institutional levelCapacity building on an institutional level involves aiding pre-existing institutions in developing countries. It should not involve creating new institutions, International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development April 2016, Vol. 5, No. 2 ISSN: 2226-6348 87 www.hrmars.com/journals rather modernizing existing institutions and supporting them in forming sound policies, oganizational structures, and effective methods of management and revenue control.  Societal levelCapacity building at the societal level supports the establishment of a more “interactive public administration that learns equally from its actions and from feedback it receives from the population at large.” Capacity building must be used to develop public administrators that are responsive and accountable Deborah (2005) believes that capacity building is an approach to development based on the fundamental concept that people all have an equal share of the world’s resources and they have the right to be “authors of their own development and denial of such right is at the heart of poverty and suffering. Organizational Capacity Building: This is another form of capacity building that focused on developing capacity within organizations like schools and NGOs. It refers to the process of enhancing an organization’s abilities to perform specific activities. An Organizational capacity building approach which is used by schools and NGOs to develop internally, so they can better fulfil their defined mission. (Allan 2000). PROBLEMS OF EFFECTIVE MANPOWER PLANNING AND GOOD QUALITY EDUCATION IN NIGERIAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM. As far as manpower planning and quality education in Nigeria is concerned, the nation seem to be in quagmire, Okebukola (2008) and Olaniyonu, Adekoya and Gbenu (2011) agree on the following as obstacles to Nigerian educational system. 1. Policy incoherence and mplementation inconsistency. 2. Teacher inadequacies, both in quality and quantity. The shortfall in teacher number translate to high pupil/teacher ratio and severe stress on teachers. 3. Funding inadequacies. 4. Dearth of infrastructural facilities. Many learning environment in Nigerian schools are far from being conducive, thereby leading to poor quality education. 5. Curriculum inadequacies. The curriculum at all levels has been found to be deficient in relation to relevance and adequacy of content to meet contemporary needs of a knowledge society, and world of work. 6. Poor curriculum delivery. 7. Social vices such as examination malpractice, cultism and sexual harassment have crept from the larger s