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A Practical Guide to Education - CHAPTER 1 - |
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Assessment of Needs, Resources, and Available Facilities
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| One of the most important elements in developing educational programs is surveying and assessing local educational conditions, needs, priorities, and resources. Whoever makes a needs assessment and how the assessment is made can considerably influence the selection of priority topics and the setting of educational goals. In order to be responsive to the local needs, and to the needs of the disempowered and marginalized in particular, it is important to ensure that those who actually do the teaching (teachers) and the learning (pupils), those who directly or indirectly finance the schooling (parents and government), and those who will benefit more generally from education (community) are involved in the process of educational diagnoses (Shaeffer, 1994). Encouraging participation of different community members in the process of educational needs assessment will help you, the teacher, to better understand the population's own perceptions, priorities, and capacities regarding educational activities. Particularly, it will enable you: | ||
| l to make a more accurate needs assessment | ||
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l to identify relevant educational goals and objectives |
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| l to increase the motivation of the learners, parents, and the community to participate in educational programs | ||
| This section discusses several issues that are important to take into consideration when gathering information necessary for starting educational programs in emergency situations. It will help you: | ||
| l to identify the main effects of emergencies on education | ||
| l to assess available human resources | ||
| l to assess existing education facilities and services | ||
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| Teachers can play a special role in educational needs assessment, but they cannot do it alone. In addition to providing personal suggestions for program development and implementation, teachers may be particularly able to encourage parent and community participation in assessment of educational needs, resources, and available facilities. This can be facilitated in the following ways: | ||
| 1. Seeking parent and community opinion. Special emphasis could be placed on collecting the opinions of parents and other community members concerned about education - both in general and on more specific issues, such as the location of new schools or the kinds of skills children should obtain in school. In-depth individual and group interviews can help in this regard. | ||
| 2. Forum for the synthesis of data and the setting of educational priorities. School/parent/community associations become especially important as a mechanism or forum for the analysis of the data collected and the identification of priorities among these needs. | ||
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| Section I: EFFECTS OF THE EMERGENCY SITUATION ON EDUCATION | ||
| Please check the appropriate: | ||
| Community members do not demand education ___ | ||
| Community members are not organized to support education ___ | ||
| Parents are not interested in education ___ | ||
| Children do not attend school because of other duties (work, etc.) ___ | ||
| If you checked most of the above statements, it means that one of the causes for the prevailing situation is a lack of community and parent motivation to support education. Please review Chapter 2: How to work in conditions of change and instability. This chapter will provide some suggestions on how to promote community involvement and participation in education. | ||
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| Lack of teachers ___ | ||
| Lack of educated adults to replace teachers ___ | ||
| Lack of financial support for teachers ___ | ||
| Lack of institutional support for teachers ___ | ||
| If you checked most of the above statements, please complete section II of the questionnaire (ASSESSMENT OF AVAILABLE HUMAN RESOURCES) and then proceed to Chapter 2: What to do when there are not enough teachers. This chapter will help you to think about different ways of increasing teacher motivation and using parents and community members as teaching aids. | ||
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| School facilities have been damaged/are unusable ___ | ||
| Water on school premises is unsafe/not available ___ | ||
| Instructional materials are not available ___ | ||
| Lack of funds for equipment/materials ___ | ||
| Lack of funds for teacher remuneration ___ | ||
| If you checked most of the above statements, please complete section III of the questionnaire (ASSESSMENT OF FACILITIES AVAILABLE FOR EDUCATION) and then continue with Chapter 3: How to deal with a lack of resources. This chapter will provide practical suggestions on how to utilize the available environment for teaching and learning, obtain information about potential funding sources, and generate income. | ||
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| Children in need of education represent: | ||
| different age groups______ | ||
| different race & ethnic backgrounds______ | ||
| different gender composition _______ | ||
| different education levels _______ | ||
| If most of the above statements are marked, please review Chapter 4: How children learn and Chapter 5: How to teach in a variety of situations. These chapters provide information regarding different teaching techniques and methods, which can be used for teaching children of different age, race, ethnicity, and gender. | ||
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Section II. ASSESSMENT OF AVAILABLE HUMAN RESOURCES |
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| Who is available to teach children? | ||
| Trained teachers | ||
| Professionals from other fields (e.g., medical) | ||
| Older children | ||
| Community members | ||
| NGO members | ||
| Volunteers | ||
| Other (specify) | ||
| Who is available to support teachers? | ||
| Professionals from other field (e.g. medical) | ||
| Older children | ||
| Community members | ||
| NGO members | ||
| Volunteers | ||
| Other (specify) | ||
| Functioning institutions and organizations that can provide financial support. Please indicate a few names: | ||
| Community committees | ||
| Education ministry | ||
| Religious groups | ||
| Domestic NGOs active in education | ||
| Teacher training institutes | ||
| International NGOs active in education | ||
| UN agencies | ||
| Other (specify) | ||
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Section III. ASSESSMENT OF FACILITIES AVAILABLE FOR EDUCATION |
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| Are some schools still functioning? Yes ____ No ____ | ||
| If yes, please indicate: | ||
| Location(s) | ||
| Number of children attending | ||
| What locations can be used for classes? | ||
| Number of children that can be accommodated: | ||
| School/ Classrooms | ||
| Rehabilitation Center | ||
| Shelter | ||
| Outdoors | ||
| House | ||
| Religious buildings | ||
| Clinics, health centers | ||
| Other (specify) | ||
| Are the following facilities easily accessible? (specify) | ||
| Water Source | ||
| Lavatories | ||
| Showers | ||
| Toilets | ||
| Medical facilities | ||
| Facilities for the disabled | ||
| Electricity | ||
| How far would children have to travel to attend classes? | ||