Nota 10 Instrumentos financieros
10.3 Activos y pasivos de cobertura
All was not smooth sailing for Baarie as the School continued to face some challenges which constantly impact negatively on all the efforts and strategies that were put in place to improve students’ academic achievement. Notable among these
challenges was the generally poor academic preparation of students at Primary Six level prior to their entry into Junior High School. The students explained that the lack of teachers (trained or untrained) to teach them during their Primary schooling resulted in their inability to learn some of the concepts they were supposed to have learnt and mastered before entering a Junior High School (Ba Current students FG Meeting, 17/01/2010; Ba Ex-Students FG Meeting, 18/01/2010). The worst nightmare of teachers was the very weak foundation of children in English language and Mathematics. A teacher explained this:
We have just three years to change the poor level of English of our
students I do my best to bring them up but it is difficult. I always feel that the foundation has been very weak for the children. (Ba Teachers FG Meeting, 15/02/2010)
The students’ poor grasp of the English language was again aggravated by the fact that Baarie lacked the required number of English language text books for the use of students. An English teacher explained that in his year two classroom, he had only two text books for the use of 70 students in the class and these were actually the teacher’s copies. Even though they were insufficient, the School had a fewer copies of text books in ICT, French and Mathematics. These, according to a teacher were provided by the Ghana Government (Ba Teachers FG Meeting, 15/02/2010). All the teachers who had been interviewed complained about the absence of a trained French teacher in the School. They were worried that the lack of a regular French teacher in Baarie was negatively affecting the morale of their final year students, as a low score in
Key finding 5.8
Concerted and focussed positive leadership initiatives and practices introduced by Barrack in form of dissuasion, persuasion and supervision to improve Baarie’s academic environment engendered and promoted certain values such as team spirit, dialogue, hard work, positive competition, pride in school, studiousness, discipline and good rapport and interest for good sanitation and healthy lifestyles.
104 French language at the BECE would result in poorer aggregate score of these students. French had been made a core BECE subject like English, Mathematics and Science. Out of four JHSs studied, only one, Aarie had a trained French teacher on staff; others either had none or were making do with untrained French tutors informally recruited from a neighbouring town.
Another challenge that remained a cause of worry was the use of untrained teachers in the School in the absence of sufficient trained teachers. Both trained and untrained teachers explained that no matter how experienced an untrained teacher was, he or she would still make mistakes in respect of teaching methodology and could cause some harm to students’ learning and progress. One of the teachers who had taught in Baarie as an untrained teacher and later trained as a professional teacher explained this when he said:
Because I was a ‘helper teacher’ (an untrained teacher) in fact, to be frank, after the methodology I have learnt and acquired at the Training College, I realised that I was harming the children with the way I used to teach them. I was just tutoring them because I was very good in Science instead of teaching them. (Ba Teachers FG Meeting, 15/02/2010)
Lack of sufficient classrooms, which resulted in large classes of 70 to 100 students at a time, remained another concern in Baarie. One of the teachers explained that they needed more classrooms and more trained teachers to be able to teach adequately.
Other persisting challenges were the premature departure from school on
Fridays, by students. They travelled by bicycle or by foot to their distant villages for the weekend. They needed more time to reach their destination before darkness fell hence the early departure from school. These journeys were purposefully made by students whose foodstuffs and other basic necessities were depleted during the week and wanted to replenish new provisions for the subsequent week. Generally, Baarie students, who came from far-away villages from Saboba would stay with some relations and attend school. Those who had no relatives in the rural town would rent local mud rooms, where they would stay and go to school (Field Notes, 20/01/2010). In the absence of a regular and reliable means of transport this arrangement was their best way of accessing formal education.
This affected teaching and learning, as a good number of students would be absent on Fridays, while teachers would still teach as usual. Another concern was the absence of a female teacher in Baarie. Most teachers felt that a female teacher would
105 make a difference in advising their girl-students to concentrate on their studies and refrain from non-ethical conduct. About an average of four students got pregnant each school year until recently, when the new Barrack established a team of teachers who regularly counselled and advised the female students. This task, the teachers believed, would be better performed by a female teacher than male teachers who were
uncomfortable in discussing certain reproductive health issues with female students.
Parents sometimes complained about the long absence of their students from home, especially in the evenings, when students remained in school to attend extra- tutorials. Parents wanted their children to be at home to do house chores. In spite of all these challenges the commitment of Barrack, his teachers and students, and the
cooperation of some parents, was making a positive difference. The teachers mentioned their efforts in improvising teaching and learning materials for lessons in Science and one even used his own money to purchase a Science apparatus that he needed to be able to satisfactorily teach a particular concept in Science. One teacher explained this: “Our commitment overrides all the challenges, we teach with all our hearts” (Ca Teachers FG Meeting, 15/02/2010).
Summary
From the themes that emerged from the analysis of the research data, a flow- chart was constructed that captured the story of Baarie. This flow-chart, presented in Figure 5.1 guided the narration of the case study of Baarie.
Barrack’s personal background and teaching experience influenced his collective critical analysis of the academic environment of Baarie, which in turn, determined his vision and mission for the School. In light of the School’s vision and mission, he took three strategies to improve academic standards. He enhanced instructional, collegial and
Key finding 5.9
Certain challenges that seemed to be related directly to the system of rural schooling in Saboba, and were beyond the reach of Barrack and his staff remained unresolved. These were the use of untrained teachers, poor preparation of candidates admitted to the School, inadequate teaching and learning materials and lack of ICT equipment. Others were students’ premature departure from school at weekends, teenage pregnancy, inadequate infrastructure and absence of a female teacher on staff. Nevertheless, Barrack’s efforts to sustain an effective learning environment for better student performance received support from teachers, students and some parents.
106 community partnership leadership through the implementation of short-term and long- term strategies. These actions supported the emergence of new school values and also, resulted in rapid improvement of teaching and learning and better BECE results of Baarie students despite many enduring challenges.
Figure 5.2. The narrative flow-chart of the story of Baarie JHS
Barrack’s three years of teaching experience in Baarie prior to his appointment as Head provided him with knowledge of the prevailing leadership and academic problems of Baarie. This served as an opportunity for Barrack to uplift the School and to transform it within a short period of two years into a growing, high-achieving Junior High School in the Saboba District. Barrack did a thorough critical evaluation of the leadership, academic and resourcing situation of the School in concert with his staff and unearthed four major issues which plagued the School. He identified these as: a lack of
Barrack (BARRIE JHS)
Barrack’s collective critical evaluation of Baarie
Barrack’s Background and experience Barrack’s Attributes
Barrack’s Mission: Improving declining academic
standards and achieving better BECE results
Emerging Values
Three strategies to improve teaching and learning
Barrack’s Vision:
Becoming top-achieving school at the BECE level
in the District
Through Instructional leadership: Implementation of short and long-term strategies
Through Community partnership: Implementation of
Short & Long-term Strategies
Rapid improvement of teaching and learning and in 2009 top BECE achievement in the Saboba District
(Speedy realisation of the vision of becoming a top-achieving school through a revamp of teaching and learning, discipline and good sanitation)
Enduring Challenges
Through Collegial leadership: collective critical evaluation of Baarie’s low academic standards & Implementation of Short and Long-term Strategies
107 teacher professionalism and teacher support; student indiscipline and absence of
challenging academic and healthy environment; very low resourcing; and, absence of active partnership and cooperation with parents for their financial support.
In order to resolve these four hurdles Barrack, together with his staff decided to implement a set of strategies on a short-term as well as on a long-term basis. These strategies were to: restore teacher professionalism and teacher support as well as restore student discipline; to create an academically challenging and healthy environment; and, to revamp school resourcing through community partnership and school farms. These efforts yielded positive results which invigorated the academic environment of Baarie and improved teaching and learning as well as higher academic achievement within a short period. These efforts supported the emergence of values hitherto absent in Baarie: team spirit, discipline, hard work, positive competition, studiousness, pride in school, appreciation of good sanitation and good rapport among staff. These successes notwithstanding, Baarie continued to grapple with a number of enduring challenges, which had to do with maintaining a productive partnership with parents, sustaining and growing a challenging academic and healthy school environment, and finding adequate funding to invest in more expensive school materials and equipment in future. The key findings that emerged from the analysis of data from the Baarie case study are presented in Appendix G.
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