Women leaders in education, who attended the Anglican Alliance’s last Commonwealth Professional Fellowship Scheme, have now returned home and are putting their plans in to action.
A recent update from Janet Sarker, Education Coordinator for the Church of Bangladesh, has revealed the launch of her plans for long-term comprehensive training for teachers across Bangladesh and the development of the school system.
As a first step Janet has started to meet school teachers to share her learning from the Commonwealth Scheme, as well as working on activities to develop school management systems. She has a further proposal to develop a school management handbook.
While sharing her learning with her colleagues in the education sector, Janet highlighted the key aspects of her learning and the areas that would be focused on to improve school management. These included: conducting meetings and seminars effectively; introducing a student-centred learning process; systematic management of students’ progress; encouraging students to take part in school leadership; improved classroom management; and introducing the ‘5C Model of Intelligent Leadership’.
The 5C Model was introduced to the three fellows by Penny Bentley, who was the group’s mentor for the seven weeks of their programme. Penny encouraged the women leaders to reflect on their learning over the course of the programme and identify key ways that their experience could have an impact on the education system in their home countries.
Elizabeth Marahora from the Solomon Islands and Dushyanthi Thuseetharan from Sri Lanka worked with Janet Sarker on the Commonwealth Scheme, which was run by the Anglican Alliance from February to April 2014.
Elizabeth and Dushy are also sharing their learning with colleagues and school leadership, and we will be hearing more about their progress over the coming months.
All of the women agreed that they had had the “best possible” learning experience and all three were looking forward to putting their proposals into action.
The Church of Bangladesh said, “We believe the skills that Janet has gained from this training will enormously benefit school management in becoming more effective and efficient to deliver quality education and achieve institutional sustainability.”
In the picture: Janet Sarker shares with school teachers in Panihata village, Sherpur district, about her plans to improve school management.
