The school emerges as an important tool for behaviour control when it has a strong inhibitory effect on learner delinquency regardless of the youth‘s family structure (Stewart, 2004). The school could become an arena for reducing delinquency when it introduces delinquency prevention programmes and also uses its academic programme to provide appropriate knowledge and skills (Hawkins, 2009). At the same time, school managers may provide learners with adequate academic facilities in order to curb possibilities of strikes. When the school lacks important academic facilities like instructional materials such as library resources, materials to undertake science practicum, and lack of instructors, learners might use this situation to engineer the destruction of school property (Casella, 2001:120; Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2004:58). Learners could, also, chase an educator who has failed to deliver appropriately and to their expectations.
The problem of instruction in large classes in Uganda‘s universal education system should not be underestimated as one of the causes of learner disruption (Tumuloreine, 2003:27). Large class sizes make it hard for educators to teach effectively because they make close monitoring of learners difficult to attain (Ssekasanvu, 2009:15). Also, it could be hard for a single educator to ensure orderliness and concentration in large classes. Big class sizes deter an educator from providing equal academic opportunities like counselling to each and every learner (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2004: 56). For example, it may not be easy for educators to carry out regular discussions in large classes, correct each and every learner‘s assignment, and ensure timely and frequent feedback in order to facilitate active problem solving. Consequently, huge classes could turn into scenes of misbehaviour since close supervision can hardly be provided (Dwyer & Osher, 2000:110).
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The qualities of educators and other school staff are also vital school-level dimensions that influence school progress in terms of academic achievement and building positive disciplinary communities (Todnem & Warner, 1993:33). However educator and staff qualities in managing schools could be improved upon using professional development programmes undertaken by the schools, where educators have long considered professional development to be their right— something they deserve as dedicated and hardworking individuals. But these professional development programmes must be effective and efficient in ensuring that the right quality of staff for the schools is maintained (Guskey, 2002:2).
Evaluating professional development of school staff therefore could be one of the good strategies to ensure that the right programmes are underway (Guskey, 1997:38). Traditionally in Uganda, educators have not paid much attention to evaluating their professional development efforts. Many consider evaluation a costly, time-consuming process that diverts attention from more important activities such as planning, implementation, teaching, and follow-up. Others feel they lack the skill and expertise to become involved in rigorous evaluations. As a result, they either neglect evaluation issues completely or leave them to evaluation experts.
Evaluation is the systematic investigation of merit or worth (Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation [JCSEE], 1994:3). Systematic implies a focused, thoughtful, and intentional process. Educators conduct evaluations for clear reasons and with explicit intent.
Merit or worth denotes appraisal and judgment. Therefore educators use evaluations to
determine the value of something. Some educators understand the importance of evaluation for event-driven professional development activities, such as workshops and seminars, but forget the wide range of less formal, on-going, job-embedded professional development activities like study groups, action research, collaborative planning, curriculum development, structured observations, peer coaching and mentoring. But regardless of its form, Guskey (1997) asserts that professional development should be a purposeful endeavour, and through evaluation, educators can determine whether school activities are contributing positively to academic achievement and positive learner behaviour.
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In addition to the above, broad categories of School-Wide Practices (SWPs) have been identified as important for actions aimed at developing goals for schooling and inspiring positive learning and behaviour (Leithwood & Riehl, 2003:6) and these are:
a) Identifying and articulating a vision. Effective educators help their schools to develop or endorse visions that embody the best thinking about teaching and learning and to inspire others to reach for ambitious goals.
b) Creating shared meanings. Because people usually base their actions on how they understand things, educators and principals help to create shared meanings and understandings to support the school‘s vision (Leithwood, 2001:217). School legitimacy and effectiveness are enhanced when both internal members and the broader community share clear understandings about learners, learning and schooling.
c) Creating high performance expectations. Effective educators and principals convey their expectations for quality and high performance. They help others to recognise the challenging nature of the goals being pursued. They sharpen perceptions of the gap between what the school aspires to and what is presently being accomplished. Effective expressions of high expectations help people see that what is being expected is in fact possible (Leithwood & Menzies, 1998:326).
d) Fostering the acceptance of group goals. Effective educators and principals promote co-operation and assist others to work together toward common goals. In the past, educators have often worked under conditions of relative autonomy, but new models of schools as professional learning communities emphasize the importance of shared goals and effort.
e) Monitoring organizational performance. Effective educators and principals assess how well the school is performing along multiple indicators and use that information as goals are developed and reviewed. This requires astute skills for gathering and interpreting information, as well as a tradition of inquiry and reflection. Successful educators and
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principals ask critical and constructive questions, emphasize the use of systematic evidence and encourage careful monitoring of both teaching and pupil progress.
f) Communicating. Skilful educators and principals focus attention on key aspects of the school‘s vision and communicate the vision clearly and convincingly. They invite interchange with multiple stakeholders through participatory communication strategies. They frame issues in ways that lead to productive discourse and decision-making. Most work in schools is, of course, accomplished through the efforts of people. Effective educators and principals influence the development of human resources in their schools.
g) Offering intellectual stimulation. Effective educators and principals encourage reflection and challenge their staff to examine assumptions about their work and rethink how it can be performed. They provide information and resources to help people see discrepancies between current and desired practices. They enable educators to understand and gain mastery over the complexities of necessary changes.
h) Providing individualized support. Most educational improvement requires significant levels of change for the individuals involved. Successful educators show respect for staff and concern about their feelings and needs. They also provide incentives and structures to promote changes, as well as opportunities for individual growth and development.