An (extra) ordinary Monday morning at the office
on Michael Cashman (Ghana), 10/May/2010 23:29, 34 days ago
Charlotte is unwell and has had a sleepless night, and I go in instead of her for the regular Monday morning meeting at the WestMamprusiDistrict Education Office;  I have a couple of messages and notices from Charlotte e.g. she has been working with the GES  (Ghana Education Service) staff for some time on resurrecting the District Teacher Support Team, and there is a meeting on Wednesday people may need reminding about.The Monday morning routine is very different from 6 months ago.Then people would drift in, solemnly record 7.59 a.m. as their arrival time irrespective of the actual time, buy breakfast or other stuff from some of the traders who plied their wares in the office, and chat about the weekend.Now people are in place for the morning meeting before it starts, and it starts early. After a prayer and a short moral message, the Assistant Director Finance, John, who is chairing the meeting announces we are looking at the core values one by one. (The Director is in Accra). Last week it was Professionalism. This week it is Sharing Knowledge.He gives some examples, and others do too. This gives me a great opportunity to fulfil one of my instructions and plug the School Management Committee / Parent Teacher Association Training Manual developed byVSO, and I refer to theSMC/PTA trip by Charlotte, Robert,Ramatuand others to "Overseas" (seehttp://www.charlotteinghana.blogspot.comfor late March). I'm able to plug the manual as an example of sharing knowledge across organisations. (I have copies for people if they'll pay for them to cover the photocopying costs).Here are a few examples of other points covered. A.B.Mahama(Head-Teacher Adviser) gives a good briefing about the District Teacher Support Team meeting. (I was primed to remind people about this, but it's all in hand without my reminder, which is great). He explains there are still problems reconciling which school is in which cluster, but the group has worked on this and outstanding questions are with AD/Sup (Assistant Director, Supervision). A funding proposal has been submitted toTENI(this is what I was helping Charlotte with on April 22nd - the night of the scorpion sting). Next meeting will look at how the revitalisedDTSTwill be re-launched with Head-Teachers - this is important and theDTSTwill co-ordinate all in-service training. Sirina, thePre-School Development Adviser explains some ideas from a teacher-training workshop she has been to about key development areas for kindergarten children. There is talk about sharing ideas with teachers more, and strong encouragement for "cluster-based in-service training" - i.e. take the training to the teachers in their own "clusters" of schools. CharlesSumanithe Basics Schools Co-ordinatorraises questions about teachers not at school which generates some useful discussion for Circuit Supervisors. There is an encouragement to Schedule Officers not to "entertain" teachers in the morning in the office when the teachers should be teaching - if teachers have problems and need to come into the office they should do this in the afternoon after classes. Someone observes that the Schedule Officers need to be in the office promptly in the afternoon in that case - recognised by the Chair as a very good point.So the culture of thisGES(Ghana Education Service) as a whole still has some way to go, sure. But this meeting sets a great tone for the week. It's purposeful, open, interactive, no-messing (someone starts to have a mobile phone conversation in the meeting and is summarily sent out - that's a change!), and has some real problem-solving going on. It is taking the values and making them real - I'm pleased about this, I'd suggested this to the Director and he's taken it up. And this purposeful meeting has become part of the new routine - and it happens like clockwork even though the Director isn't here. There is some way to go, but the impact of the Organisational Development is already very evident.This is (now) an ordinary Monday morning meeting, but it's extraordinary what a change we have seen in 6 months.These aren't the greatest pictures because I was trying to be unobtrusive taking them, but hopefully they illustrate the meeting. The Values statement witheveryone'ssignatures is behind AD (Finance) - John- the Meeting Chair. (The Director has now had the values added to the Office's letterhead).But just as a reminder of the challenges the District is facing, here's another school with the roof blown off in the recent storms (see April 22nd and 30th entries).By the end of the day Charlotte is feeling a little better, though not eating yet ...