Haiti's (lack of) capacity for education oversight: Encourage, entice, and enrich

I'm amazed at the commitment level of teachers and directors (principals) in Haiti. Of course, like in Canada, there are exemplary teachers and not such exemplary teachers. Yet, considering the wages and teaching conditions, it's remarkable that so many educators are as committed as they are.

This past trip reminded me although there is significant commitment at the local (i.e. school) level, the Haitian government is ill-equipped and ill-prepared (and ill-committed??) to oversee macro-type of change. The disparate school systems (state, private, "blended" - and a whole spectrum of quality within each) are essentially left to monitor themselves. I firmly believe that most teachers want to do the very best they can in their profession. However, without encouragement, enticement, and enrichment from an overseeing body, sometimes the lowest level of expectation is the target.

A healthy, functioning Ministry of Education should encourage and enrich teachers by providing paper, human, and electronic professional resources available to all. It also would entice teachers through a certification and qualification process. By identifying, and monitoring, expectations of pedagogy, classroom management, communication, etc., the Ministry of Education would contribute significantly to the improvement of the educational system in Haiti.

For now, grassroots efforts are making a difference - just without the consistency and "10,000 foot view" that an overseeing body should be able to provide.

Planting seeds for educational partnerships in Haiti

I had an excellent trip to Haiti last week. I made contacts with educators in multiple parts of the country: Carrefour, Leogane, Petit Goave in the west; Port au Prince; and, Cap-Haitien and Limbe in the north. Some highlights:

1. Meeting Dr. Manigat, the vice-rector (vice-president) of Universite Quisqueya, one of the best universities in Haiti. Dr. Manigat was also a former presidential candidate in Haiti and a constitutional law expert. We discussed how UQ and WLU might work together in the future.
2. Meeting with the rector (president) and dean of the the L'Universite Publique du Nord au Cap-Haitien as well as the director of the North Department for the Ministry of Education. We spent an evening dinner as well as a morning in discussions about supporting their programs.
3. Participating in the graduation of 48 students who completed their Master of Education through Laurel University - an amazing experience!
4. Bringing five new Haitian school leaders on board with the Digital Mentoring Project. Research in Motion (RIM) donated 5 Blackberries to these new participants and they were thrilled to receive them!

There were many other meetings as well as opportunity to see parts of Haiti that I have never been to. I am excited about how the capacity which has been built through the M.Ed. - one example is the director of the North for the Ministry of Education who has a new vision for education in Haiti. Leadership capacity is being built and I am glad to be part of the support of it.

Haiti M.Ed. graduation and networking meetings

Next week I'm back to Haiti for a week of meetings and to celebrate the graduation of the M.Ed. students I have taught. I have supervised 12 M.Ed. projects so it will be particularly gratifying to see these amazing school leaders receive their degree! I am hoping to edit another book which will be based on the research projects these 12 have completed.

The graduation ceremony is May 12. I will spend two days in advance of that in meetings with university administrators in Port au Prince and Carrefour (south of PAP). Then from May 13-15, I will fly to Cap Haitien (Haiti's second largest city - in the north), where I will have a chance to meet officials from the Ministry of Education as well as representatives from universities. I'm hoping to see a few schools in between meetings as well. It's going to be a busy week! So exciting to see the ground-swell of interest in, and support of, leadership development in Haiti schools!

Comparative and International Education Conference - Puerto Rico

This week I have had the opportunity to be at the CIES conference in Puerto Rico. I am presenting a paper on measuring global citizenship dispositions within teacher education candidates. You can find a copy of my PowerPoint on my Wilfrid Laurier University website research page (click here).

Canadian perspectives on global citizenship

Today I'm presenting a paper at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) meeting in Vancouver. The paper provides an overview of a variety of Canadian university programs for global citizenship education as well as some of the recent Canadian literature on the topic. The second part of the paper considers the transformationalist (McGew, 2000; Shultz, 2007) approach we've taken at WLU with our Glocal initiative.

A copy of my PowerPoint from today's presentation is available on my WLU web-site (click here):
Steve Sider's WLU Research Home-page

Sorry for the goose-chase but I couldn't attach the PowerPoint in my blog!

Networking to improve student learning in Haiti (Pt 1 #5)

5. Liaise with MENFP, Haitian universities, and other partners to further develop the educational system in Haiti.

One of the challenges of working to improve student learning in Haiti is the lack of coordination and cooperation between the many different groups involved with education. A national principals' organization could serve as the conduit (and catalyst) to change this.

Working with the Ministry of Education (MENFP), Haitian universities, and other interested groups (external universities, NGOs, IGOs), a national organization of principals would serve as a hub for networking. Without a particular charitable, political, or financial purpose, but with the mission of improving student learning through enhanced educational leadership, the organization would be logically situated to bring the different groups together around this goal.

The organization could partner with MENFP to recognize and credential the principal qualification program (described earlier). It could work with academics within the various ecole normale superieure (university faculties of education) and external universities to provide professional development opportunities (courses, workshops, journals, newsletters, etc) as well as research support. By being a non-partisan organization, it would be able to communicate with the disparate private school systems throughout the country and not be viewed as infringing on a particular mission, charity or business.

When we (re)imagine a new educational possibility for Haiti, it begins with leadership. A national principals' organization would provide the contextual capacity for such leadership, whether by developing a certification process, initiating and supporting research projects, providing professional development resources, and/or networking with the various stakeholders.

Professional learning communities in Haiti (Pt 1 #4)

4. Provide professional learning opportunities such as regional events and a national gathering of school principals

Approximately 15% of schools in Haiti are public (government) schools. The remaining 85% of schools are a wide variety of Catholic, Protestant, and other private schools. A system of professional learning communities would provide an opportunity for networking and shared professional learning around a common goal: improved student learning. Although there is a strong sense of "silo-ism" (i.e. not wanting to collaborate or cooperate with other schools/school systems - sometimes based on suspicion of the intentions of others or in an attitude of "what's in it for me?") in Haiti, my experience has shown that there is a move among new, emerging, school leaders to break this down. A national principals' organization, in partnership with universities and the Ministry of Education, could serve as the catalyst for breaking down these barriers. The organization could also lead the effort for developing regional professional learning events and even a national convention for school leaders. On-line professional learning communities could be developed in tandem with these face-to-face events and would serve as a networking hub to support and extend professional learning on a 24/7 type of basis.

Regional events would be relatively easy to develop in Haiti. The country is already organized around 10 (geographically-based) departments that would serve as natural professional learning regions. A national event may be more challenging (e.g. costs and time involved with transportation) but utilizing digital technologies could overcome these challenges. For example, a national event could take place in a large city such as Port au Prince or Cap Haitien and web-cast to regional hubs. I am already familiar with a leadership conference which occurs in the United States which is simulcast in Port au Prince. A similar model, with a central conference and regional hubs, could be utilized in Haiti. If the event couldn't be simulcast (live), it could be taped and then distributed to the regional hubs for regional conferences scheduled a few weeks later.