TRAINING:Seven Asian countries discuss initiatives undertaken to enhance educational quality in schools
Information and communication to improve school practice

A few years ago, IIEP launched a research project on Improving the quality of education through better use of information. The first phase of the project resulted in the publication of From data to action: information systems in educational planning, which included case studies from Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. Authors contributing to this study challenged much of the conventional wisdom about the value and utility of centrally managed information systems in improving school and classroom practice, where the real process of education occurs.

The second phase of the project identified new examples, particularly in Asia, where sustaining improvements in school practice requires information-based planning and monitoring at all levels of the education system. Case study materials of the second phase

of the project from Indonesia, Republic of Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand, as well as abstracts from the above-mentioned book, were discussed during the regional workshop on The use of information for improving school practice held in Manila last November. A joint SEAMEO/INNOTECH, IIEP and ABEL Project (Washington) venture, the workshop brought together 21 participants from seven countries1 who operate at different administrative levels, and who are involved in planning and managing programmes aimed at improving educational quality.

The main objective of the workshop was to exchange national experiences on initiatives undertaken to improve school practice and the role of information and communication in preparing and monitoring these changes at all levels of the education system.


The workshop programme
The programme focused on five topics:

roles and contributions of actors at different levels in improving the quality and efficiency of education; roles and contributions of actors at different levels in improving the quality and efficiency of education;

strategies used to improve school practice;

optimizing the use of local information;

encouraging local access to, and use of, national data;

using information within the policy-making process.

The strategies used to improve school practice presented at the workshop were mainly central-level initiatives and comprised:

changing teacher training and teacher incentives, modifying national tests, revising textbooks, and introducing multi-grade classrooms.

However, most of the plenary and working group discussions focused on optimizing the use of local information sources and encouraging local access to, and use of, national data.

The participants presented significant national experiences on improved school practices and educational quality. General introductions were given on each of the main topics, illustrated by previously selected workshop papers, followed by discussions in 'cross-country' working groups. The national teams worked on how to apply certain workshop ideas in their home countries. The facililties and support provided by INNO-TECH during the workshop were excellent.


Highlights of the discussions
The discussions highlighted the following:

Information systems managed at the central level should also provide the information required to solve the problems faced by people working at the local level.

Information flows do not always have to be directive, but may assist local actors without telling them what to do.

By increasing communication, teaching-learning processes can be improved, better student results achieved, and at the same time stronger relations with, and support from, the local community.

At school and school-cluster levels, one should strive for a

better balance between accountability strategies (tests, evaluation, recommendations, teacher promotion, etc.) and capacity building strategies (i.e. developing teaching materials for schools).

The kind of information needed to initiate changes at the classroom level is different from that needed to sustain the change.

Innovations/reforms are launched too frequently and tend to disrupt on-going innovations not yet stabilized.

It is important to anticipate possible negative unintended effects of quality improvement measures (both within the education sector and across sectors) and to start with a pilot phase.


Need for change
The views resulting from the different workshop discussions, exercises and workshop materials, point to a necessity for altering traditional ways of information use and dissemination when planning and managing the improvement of school practice. It not only seems important that such planning takes into account the viewpoint of teachers and headmasters, but also that the methods used to introduce improvement programmes be more participatory.

Two national experiences were used to illustrate this. First, the Republic of Korea's case study showed that materials intended for a teacher's initial use should contain a lot of accurate advice on how to proceed, focusing on essential elements of the innovation (i.e. anticipating teacher problems).

Second, the Thai case study provided an example of a more participatory way of communicating an innovation, both as regards the interaction between the central level and the school teachers, as well as local community involvement in the innovation (i.e. the new curriculum on environmental issues). The Thai example used a draft handbook which gave the project teachers an opportunity to adapt, modify, or improve the document according to their own experiences.

Brief proposals on how to apply workshop ideas to a major educational quality problem in their respective home countries were outlined by the national teams. Some of the case study materials and texts used during the workshop will be part of a forthcoming IIEP publication.

Lars Mählck and Anna Smulders