Marcelo Souto Simão, Programme Specialist 14 -15 January, 2013, UNESCO HQ, Paris, France

1. Experts meeting on 10,000 Principals Leadership ProgrammeContributionsfrom IIEP/UNESCO Buenos Aires’ experience Marcelo Souto Simão, Programme Specialist 14-15 January, 2013, UNESCO HQ, Paris, France

2. Background • IIEP/UNESCO Buenos Aires Office, 1998 • 1990’s – Educational reforms in Latin America • De-centralisation • Change of school management procedures • Massive training programmes • 2000: • Limits and criticism of previous reforms • Revision of training programmes • National technical capacities in areas of curriculum design and development • IIEP research: need to complement existing programmes in areas of cross-cutting competences in school management

3. Background Training programmes delivered by IIEP/UNESCO Buenos Aires related to school leadership • Trainers: Angola, Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay • Inspectors/ supervisors: Angola, Argentina, Costa Rica, Uruguay • School principals: Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala IIEP/UNESCO Buenos Aires’ institutional strategy • Move from training principals at grass-roots level • Focus on policy advice and technical assistance towards capacity building • Training when linked to knowledge development (piloting) and capacity building

4. Meeting (qualified) expectations Demand of national counterparts IIEP/UNESCO Buenos Aires’ response Close articulation with national counterpart to discuss training needs, programme and strategies Proposed intertwinement of training, technical assistance and research Balance between contents that refer to international/regional trends and context-specific issues Invitation to senior policy makers and researchers Pedagogical and didactical approaches conducive to reflexive practice (within material constraints): workshops, case studies, practical assignments, intervention projects, etc. Tailor-made programmes that substantially differ among them (for each programme it is usually necessary to elaborate new training materials, even when some of them are based on materials developed in the framework of prior initiatives) Foster dialogue around effective quality education policies and capacity development. • Update on international and regional social and educational trends and policies • Enable access to world-class professionals and academicians and state-of-the-art knowledge • Practical orientation: professional training instead of “academic training” provided by universities • Replication of IIEP’s Regional Training Programme and/or other training programmes developed at national level • Raise learning achievements

5. What outcomes does IIEP/UNESCO Buenos Aires try to promote when engaged in training? • Learning at individual and group level • Team and network building • Building and sharing knowledge • Capacity development at institutional and national level • Policy development Feasibility of reaching outcomes beyond individual and group level varies among projects, depending among other things on the demand of the national counterpart.

6. Designing training programmes Concerns when defining training expected outcomes • Assessment of training needs • Articulation with national educational policy • Coherence between expected learning outcomes and material resources available (teaching and learning time) • Focus on areas covered by IIEP’s mandate and comparative advantages (avoid overlap with existing national technical capacity) • Sustainability Selection of training strategies to contribute to competence development: • Promote dialogue between theoretical claims and professional experiences and practices • Provide opportunity for learners to recognize, value, share and systematize the knowledge acquired along their own professional histories • Practical assignments and field work related to professional routines to enhance relevance • Blended learning also as a means to increase learning time • Alternate training workshops with practical assignments (dual model) to foster reflection about action and gradual competence building

7. Designing training programmes Recurrent themes: • International and regional trends in education policy options in areas such as access to education, rights-based approach, equity and diversity, teacher policies, curriculum reform, quality monitoring and evaluation systems. • Cross-cutting competences to educational management: school leadership, communication, teamwork and conflict management. • “National component” usually developed in partnership with national counterpart institution. Training materials: • Tailor-made. Provide conceptual frameworks for the analysis of situations relevant to professional practice. Draw from international bibliography and IIEP’s research and work in the field. • “Toolbox” for competence development of school management teams. Based on mini case studies drawn from Latin American public schools, continually adapted and improved. • Assignments that enable debates among peers, encourage the reflection about action and the systematization of professional knowledge, while promoting understanding and ownership over new concepts and proceedings.

8. Traning of trainers: specialconcerns • Build on existing programmes, contents and approaches that are familiar to them. • Ensure that trainers have the opportunity to experience innovative strategies and contents they are supposed to teach. For instance, use didactical strategies similar to those they are expected to employ with their students and foster meta cognition; promote action-research. • Actively engage trainers in the design of the training programmes they are expected to deliver and, most importantly, to prepare their training materials. • Build teams of trainers: enhances institutional capacity and programme sustainability, besides contributing to local adaptation and ownership. • Provide supervision and coaching throughout training delivery.

9. TheAngolan case: reform of educationalinspection Demand: • Training in cross-cutting competences • Inspectors and supervisors at national, provincial an municipal levels • Cascade approach Response: • Training needs assessment • Policy gap/overlap identified • Open for policy dialogue, prior to delivery of training

10. TheAngolan case: reform of educationalinspection Project phases: • Policy dialogue, 2009 (six months) • Policy guidelines • Design of training programme to provincial inspection teams • Action-research within training, 2010 (nine months, +400 hours) • 8 provincial inspection teams trained • +200 primary schools reached • Inspection methodology (institutional evaluation) tested and improved • Training of trainers, 2011 (nine months, +400 hours) • Focus on pedagogy and didactics applied to training programme • Fine-tuning of the inspection methodology • Design of training programmes by teams of trainers • Development of training materials • Supervision of training, 2012 and on-going • Distance-based (e-learning platform) • Direct observation • Community of practice • Technical assistance in other policy areas, such as pedagogical supervision