Education Development Projects at AKU-IED: Implications and Lessons Learnt
The MEd programme at the Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED) helps to develop course participants (CPs) as teacher educators/educational leaders. CPs who are aspiring to become teacher educators engage themselves in learning and practicing more about curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment; and others who aspire to become leaders in educational development spend time in learning theories and observe practices regarding educational leadership and management. Both fields have one common element, that is, "education" -- one through the path of school curriculum and its effective delivery and the other by understanding leadership roles in organizing the effective implementation of school improvement. These courses assist CPs to "develop" and make meaning, use, access and connect their knowledge and information meaningfully and with conviction to achieve something for themselves and the institution.
AKU-IED conceived the Educational Development Project (EDP) as an alternative to Research to develop CPs' knowledge and skills required for developmental work. The EDP is concerned with capacity-building at classroom- and school-levels, depending on the needs of the relevant stakeholders.
A contextually relevant model was adapted for EDP at AKU-IED. This model consists of planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating steps (Magnen 1991, Khan, 1989, UNESCO, 1993, ADB, 2004). The CPs write a project report and give evidence of implementation in the form of concrete deliverables. They may choose to work in an area of school improvement and change. In this way they take a leadership role to initiate a change process and provide evidence of this change in the form of a written report/document.
The development work, given the timelines, was foreseen as a small project at a micro level, that is, its effectiveness is seen in real classroom situations and at the school policy level. This provides CPs with an opportunity to engage themselves in feasible educational development activities such as (a) teachers' pedagogical content skill development; (b) curriculum development and enrichment; (c) building community and school relationships, and (d) improving school leadership and management practices.
For the research to be reported in this paper the main question was: "To what extent do MEd CPs become proactive in planning for leading improvement efforts at the classroom and/or school level through educational development projects?"
The purpose of the study was to continue dialogue over the course developed for EDP at AKU-IED, identify gaps (if any) in the course, and offer recommendations to improve the course. Out of four areas mentioned above, two areas -- (a) Curriculum Enrichment and (b) Improving Leadership and Management Practices -- were looked into for the study. Out of six projects conducted by the CPs of the last MEd cohort within these two areas, four projects, two in each area, are shared as case studies. These are: (i) Let's talk, (ii) Let's know what is unknown in curriculum enrichment area, (iii) Developing school assessment policy and procedures, and (iv) Transforming the school environment in improving leadership and management practices area.
It was a non-funded study. Both investigators have been involved in the development and teaching of the course designed to prepare CPs for EDP. Case study method was used to collect data. The data was analyzed by seeking patterns, identifying themes, developing major categories and planning each category under a code to generate explicit findings. The data reveal that it is necessary to engage teachers and educational leaders in conducting small-scale educational projects to bring about whole school improvement. In general, the findings of this study help higher education institutions, including AKU-IED, to look for alternate ways to offer courses for teacher development at postgraduation level. Moreover, these findings point out some gaps in the course and implications of offering such courses.