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Sharing of overseas training experiences with the teachers and the students

This experience was also shared with the heads of schools of my district. The School Leadership
programme received further impetus in Kullu when Sh. Rakesh Kanwar, the former State Project Director
SSA took over the charge of Deputy Commissioner. With the active support and guidance of the Deputy
Commissioner and keen interest of the Deputy Director of Higher Education, this district progressed
further in the capacity building programme under the SLDP since August 2013. A District Resource
Group was formed to steer the programme and first phase training of all the principals and headmaster was
held in October 2013 and 38 clusters consisting of Senior, Higher and Elementary schools were formed
with the aim to review and share the experiences and resolve the challenges and problems at local level.

The opportunity to work as a facilitator at state level workshops held at Shimla and Dharamshala in
November and December 2013 further sharpened my understanding of leadership and enhanced my
commitment to school transformation. The 10 days‘ state-level workshop on leadership organized at Kullu
in July 2014 with the partnership of NUEPA helped me understand more deeply the tools of lesson
observation and learning round and also made me focus on developing self. I relished each and every
training on leadership with more flavor and energy.

All my learning‘s of the school leadership programme can be summed up in the following points:

The key goal of a school head is to ensure that effective learning happens for every child, every day in
every classroom.

1. The management of teaching and learning process is not enough; there is a need to lead the
teaching and learning.
2. The school heads need to spend more time with the teachers and the students instead of working in
the office.

3. The transformation requires focusing on the continuous professional development of school staff.

4. Lesson observation and Learning Round are the most important tools for bringing improvement in
teaching and learning.

5. For effective teaching and learning, asking higher order and reflective questions in classrooms and
encouraging the students to ask questions in the classroom could contribute a lot to the
improvement of the quality of education.
6. Identification of stakeholders and partnership with them is another key area to create a conducive
environment for the holistic development of children.

This capacity building training under SLDP made us focus on teaching and learning. The real challenge
lies in the translation and adaptation of best practices and ideas into real situations in schools. The greats
challenge, I realized, lies in the transformation in our own attitude, behavior, and style of functioning.
Even after understanding the various aspects and dimensions of school leadership, we more often fall prey
to our traditional way of working which impedes our efforts in the direction of reforms. Nevertheless, the
continuous engagement in the intended quality reform programme at school has been gradually bringing

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