Paving the way for Quality Education through School Leadership

Teachers and school leaders around the world are working to ensure that children have the foundational skills necessary to thrive in their education. From our conversation with Deborah Kimathi , Executive Director at Dignitas Project she highlighted the significance of investing in teachers and school leaders to achieve this mission of providing quality education for all children. According to The Global Partnership for Education 274 million students are not learning the basic skills in their schools. Teachers are central to this transformation as they are the drivers of quality education and setting students on a path to success. Dignitas Project emphasizes on the importance of investing in teachers and school leaders as partners who help transform their classrooms into spaces where children build the necessary skills they need to succeed in life. Education is the catalyst that helps in poverty eradication, promoting sustainable development and enhancing opportunities for the next generation.

We have a big goal of ensuring that all children receive quality education so they can thrive and succeed. But how do we achieve this goal? Below are four strategies that Dignitas Project focuses on to improve student outcomes and promote equitable education.

• Leadership Matters

Teacher leadership is a catalyst for positive change in the classroom and in schools. Many teachers, particularly those from marginalised backgrounds lack access to the necessary resources and training they need to effectively transform their learning spaces. Deborah Kimathi highlights that through research, Dignitas Project identified three key areas with the greatest impact on children in schools: instructional leadership, learner engagement, and classroom culture. Investing in leadership training and coaching is one of the ways to bridge the gap and build capacity for educators. Data indicates that providing teachers and school leaders with targeted training and support has a profound impact on student outcomes. The training enables educators to create inclusive learning environments, ultimately improving the quality of education and fostering a future where all children thrive and succeed. This investment does not only benefit the teachers, but the wider education ecosystem including learners, governments, and the community at large. Dignitas runs a one year program for educators in different parts of Kenya where they provide training and coaching to build teachers capacity.

• Purposeful Partnership

Partnership is the cornerstone of progress in the education sector. By collaborating with various stakeholders, we unlock the potential to achieve more impact together. Deborah highlights the power of collaboration by describing the role played by Regional Education Learning Initiative- RELI Africa . RELI unites small to mid-sized organisations working in East Africa’s education sector. One of the challenges in most sectors is actors working in silos, yet we can multiply our impact when we work together. Collaboration enables actors to unite their voices and advocate for policy changes and amplify impact. Within this network, Deborah Kimathi emphasizes that they have had ample opportunities to build evidence, share knowledge, exchange expertise and advocate for policy reforms in their respective fields.

But partnership goes beyond various organisational leaders and trickles down to the teachers who understand the local context and are best placed to advise on strategies that work in their communities. Dignitas’ partnership model priorities this direct participation and engagement with teachers to ensure their ideas and feedback are being integrated into the program. A critical mass formed by diverse entities working towards the same goal is a driving force for lasting change. Through this collective effort, we can achieve the goal of providing quality education to all children.

• Be Agile and Adapt to Change

The education sector can be volatile and susceptible to a range of external factors such as pandemics, conflicts, extreme weather events, insecurity, poor infrastructure, and many other factors that disrupt access to education. We have witnessed this on several occasions with the pandemics like Ebola, or schools being washed away during floods. The most recent event that took the world by surprise was the COVID-19 pandemic, and for people in marginalised communities, education had to be halted permanently for some months. Due to lack of access to technology and electricity, millions of children had to be out of school for a significant period of time as they waited for alternative solutions for learning.

Deborah Kimathi shares that this was an opportunity for Dignitas Project to pivot and design new ways of working with teachers and children in the communities they serve. As she explains, the process was not straight forward, as it entailed the team addressing various challenges related to technology accessibility and competency levels needed to transition teachers and parents to the new technology. The teachers in their program were truly remarkable as the navigated new approaches of implementing their curriculum while learning new modes of distance learning.

What helped the Dignitas team stay grounded in that season was their dedication to addressing the core problem and devising new solutions. The team was willing and ready to ask the hard questions, shift things around, and test what was going to work in the ‘new normal’. It was an ultimate test of reflection and learning, which helped the team achieve their vision in new ways. This was important to ensure that more children were not left behind as a result of the barriers in their communities.

• Influencing the System

In international development, the paramount focus on influencing systems is driven by the pursuit of long lasting change. From decades spent on different interventions, we know that isolated efforts can only go so far, and actors need a strategic approach to catalyse transformation in the education space. Deborah Kimathi explains that influencing systems change is one of the top priorities for Dignitas in the coming years. This approach will include harnessing the power of other organisations and the government to ensure scalability and broader reach of educational initiatives. By focusing on systems, actors are able to target the root cause of different challenges and proactively deliver tailored interventions for different communities. Deborah also emphasised a central element, the importance of a systems approach as a way to refocus our attention on children and aligning our efforts to improve learning outcomes.

It is important to acknowledge that systems level change is a long-term commitment, requiring the dismantling of various layers of bureaucracy. As highlighted by Deborah, the education sector in Kenya, for instance, is segmented, and the journey involves gradually working through this system to establish a working pattern. Moreover, capacity development across the sector is pivotal to ensure all stakeholders, from teachers and headteachers to government representatives, non-profit actors, and civil society at large, work in unison toward the common goal of quality education. This elaborate web of alliances is essential for true success. Strengthening these systems serves to build resilience for future programs and preparing educators to thrive even in times of crisis. Importantly, it guarantees equity, ensuring that children from marginalized backgrounds receive the support they need, leaving no one behind. The ultimate aspiration is to provide all children with equal access to safe and quality education, removing any obstacles that may impede them from realizing their full potential.