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You
are here: Endings, Lessons Learned and New Beginnings
April 2004
The sixth in a series of journal reports from Cambodia on a new school leadership professional development project
It is the season of Khmer New Year and the country is in a celebratory mood. Families go to their homeland, parties are planned and school is out for two weeks. It is predicted that the first day of the New Year will find Phnom Penh deserted and the highways to the provinces packed with excited families going home. The dress is fashionable and traditional (especially for the women.) More people will be at the pagoda than at home. Traditional games will be played everywhere (even dancing in the streets.) All of this in very hot weather! This is our first time to experience the New Year, so it is fun to watch and wonder and participate. And it is a good transition time for the work.
The final workshop
The final workshop in the series of eight took place on March 25 and provided a wonderful opportunity to experience some of the changes in the principals. They were animated, eager to move into groups, excited about sharing their "good ideas" with each other and very thoughtful in their analysis of the final case study. Reaksmey and I smiled as we watched and reflected on the difference between the first workshop last October16 and this final one. And it felt like we have traveled many miles together. Indeed, we have.
At the last workshop we gave the principals an opportunity to help us evaluate the pilot program. First in small groups and then individually, we asked them to think about, discuss and then write about the worth of the program. What did they like or not like? What learnings could they apply? Did my school visits add anything of value to their learning? What suggestions did they have for future work like this? They worked for almost an hour and gave very, very thoughtful feedback.
Reaksmey and I have been looking carefully at their evaluations and it is apparent that they all felt that the time spent was worthwhile and that they have learned a great deal. Not surprising, each principal found something different as the "most helpful part of the program." I guess we all take what we need from our life experiences and for each of us it is tailored to our unique reality. They were asked to give an overall rating of the program on a scale of 1-5 (we had been using this same scale for each of the individual workshop evaluations) and they gave it a score of 4.5. Not bad!
A principal in Takeo Province standing by the first "outdoor library area." It contains games and learning activities that students can use during their breaks.
One of the most appreciated learning activity in the workshops was the introduction of Thinking Maps. This wonderful construct was brought to Cambodia by Eric Nelson (principal at Sanislo School in Seattle) and Tanya Mau (teacher at Rainier View School in Seattle) in February of this year. They helped with Workshop #6, brought children's books in Khmer for the school libraries and brought an infectious enthusiasm to the work. The principals loved them and really loved the different kinds of Thinking Maps. They were able to use them in their schools immediately. On the final evaluation form, these Maps got rave reviews and it is a good reminder that the more we can help principals gain very practical knowledge and skills, the more they will be empowered as leaders.
With the principals' feedback and 6 months of thinking, feeling, listening, reflecting and doing, Reaksmey and I have learned much about content, process, culture, language and more. I am pasting into this journal entry the "Lessons Learned" reflection piece that I wrote this week. While it is general in some parts, it is quite specific in others. I would be very interested in feedback from anyone who has ideas after reading it. Reaksmey and I are serious that we view this document as just a beginning point. It is to be expanded, altered, revised and more.
Sarik and Reaksmey handing out certificates of completion to the principals and other participants.
Lessons Learned
Between October 2003 and March 2004, Kim Reaksmey (translator) and I conducted eight, day-long leadership workshops for 40 school principals in three provinces in Cambodia. In addition, we made 82 school visitations. The following are some conclusions that I think are important to consider for future work in school principal leadership training in Cambodia. This is not an exhaustive list and certainly is one that will grow as time passes and reflection deepens. I view it as a beginning point for discussion as, hopefully, the work of leadership development for school principals here expands. These reflections will help shape our next series of workshops for principals in Phnom Penh.
In General:
*There is a deep hunger for knowledge and skills among the principals who participated in the pilot program. I do not know how widespread that hunger is outside a select group of principals who chose to participate in the program.
*Building trust and relationship with the principals is essential and opens them (and me) to learning and risk taking.
*Leadership is an uncomfortable coat to wear when you have acted and seen yourself only as a manager for so many years. In addition, others are also accustomed to seeing you only as a manager. To suddenly claim to be a leader takes real courage…and skill. Most school principals do not think of themselves as leaders. Their job is to manage the operation of the school. They worry about buildings, fences, supplies, filling out forms and reports for the Ministry etc. The improvement of teaching and learning is the responsibility of teachers not principals. The idea that school principals must also worry about and do something about teaching and learning in a leadership way is a new and difficult concept to grasp.
*Finding the most appropriate Khmer word translations to accurately convey certain English concepts is difficult but possible. In workshops and visits, the translations for those concepts must be more specific. Some examples of this include: helping them to understand clearly what is meant by "values" or "vision" or the difference between "what we did and what we learned".
Workshops:
*Adult learning practices work. Small groups, role plays, problems to solve, case studies etc. are effective teaching strategies to use in the training of principals in Cambodia. For most of them, however, these are new experiences so it takes time and requires very clear directions in order to understand how to work in groups, do case studies, etc. Most of their training (not all) is comprised of sitting, listening and taking notes. Also, most of the training that they receive is "theoretical" not "practical". By this I mean that they are accustomed to being told what to do but are not often helped in the learning of how to do it. More active learning practices expand not only their own learning but also help them actually experience a more "student centered" form of learning. This enables them to translate these practices into the teaching practices of their teachers at school.
*Small group work also allows the principals more "air time" than they would get in large groups. Many are afraid to make mistakes in public so volunteer very little in large groups. Small groups provide them the safety to speak what they think and feel. And as they speak more and more in small groups they become more courageous and begin to gradually speak out in larger settings.
*I believe that "less is more" is important to keep in mind. We always planned way too much and barely scratched the surface. We need to do fewer things better. They need time to think, reflect, practice, think again etc.
*Khmer principals have little practice in building relationships with teachers, parents or especially children. Current relationships in education are hierarchical. The top people order the people below them, who order the people below them. It is the way the principals are treated by the DOE and it is how they treat the teachers. Increasingly, however, they are hearing the message (from the Ministry, EQIP etc.) that they must change, that they must work to build relationships. But no one shows them HOW to do it. These workshops can serve as an opportunity to learn those skills. They can learn new and creative ways of interacting with people.
*The principal as a role model is also an important notion that resonated with the principals. It came from the session about Authentic Leadership and emphasized that principals should walk their talk. If they want the teachers to come to school on time, then school principals themselves must come on time. If they want teachers to treat students with respect and kindness, than they must do the same. Their practice had been to tell the teachers but not necessarily do it themselves.
*We need to be more direct with them about the use of time for things like visiting classrooms, conferencing with a teacher and more. We need to help them think about how to creatively use the time they have. Some are very clever in the ways they construct time but others just say, "I am very busy and have no time."
*The message that I bring about leadership to the principals can be viewed as complimentary to the message that the Ministry brings. I must be clear from the beginning that the two are not contradictory, just different. The Ministry places emphasis on management, compliance and some leadership. My approach emphasizes leadership, empowerment and some management. As a result, there is confusion on the part of some principals about "what is the right answer". We must continue to emphasize that there are multiple pathways in leadership and it is not an either/or but a both/and situation.
*There is some difference of opinion, but most agree that the model used in the pilot program of having workshops spaced out to enable principals to practice what they learned is a good idea.
*Some people thought the handouts were too short and others said that some were too difficult. Perhaps the reason they thought they were too short was because they were so different from the handouts they receive in other trainings. Those handouts tend to be very long and very wordy. I think there is real truth to the fact that some of the handouts were too difficult. We need to work on these. The handouts that were used the most by the principals were the ones that displayed the information in lists.
*Principals seemed to like best those workshops that gave specific activities that they could do with teachers (e.g. Thinking Maps).
*When we present new ideas, we should always demonstrate first then ask them to retell in their own words to make sure they understand. In addition, write the directions on newsprint. Include all of the important steps in the directions.
School Visits:
*The school visits by Reaksmey and me proved to be an essential way to "personalize" the learning. Every principal said the visits were critical to their learning.
*School visits take a lot of time and require constant attentiveness. Open ended and honest questions allow the principals to think more deeply than they are accustomed and are an opportunity for me to learn.
*Before giving any advice, it is best to listen very carefully, ask lots of questions and in particular to ask what they have already tried.
*It is important to tell and retell what the purpose of the visit is. They are accustomed to visitors from the Ministry or POE or DOE who observe, inspect and judge…sometimes in a blaming way. I want them to know that I am coming as a helper, a learner, a consultant. They only have to relax and spend time asking questions, answering questions, showing me around, seeking advice or whatever they would like to make of the visit. The visit is for them, it is not for me. We need to remind them of this in every workshop! And, if they want to, they can plan in advance anything they would like to discuss or ask or just talk about.
*It is important to emphasize that I too am a learner and that the school visits afford me an opportunity to increase my knowledge and experience, which, in turn, I can use to help other principals. So, the truth is, I need their help as well as they need mine.
A picture of very happy principals having a celebratory party after the last workshop. And I was laughing and crying at the same time.
In just two weeks we will begin the new series of workshops and visitations with Phnom Penh principals and assistant principals. It will be an opportunity to learn the differences between urban and rural schools and school leadership. There will be an additional layer of complexity in that all of the principals are from one district, so they have history with each other. . . both good and bad. More lessons for me to learn. More assumptions to let go of. More good work to do.
You may email John Morefield at jmore44@yahoo.com.
© April 2004 New Horizons for Learning
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