Strategic Review of the EDUCO Program - EQUIP123.net

Strategic Review of the EDUCO ProgramJuly 2010to significantly and effectively sanction them in a timely manner and even to dismiss teachers when theirregular conditions recur. At least four out of every 10 principals said that in CDE schools the steeringentities have few mechanisms for demanding improvements on the job, especially when teachers demonstrate“unwillingness, incompetence, and unhealthy behavior,” in the words of one principal. (In ACEschools, in contrast, there are complaints that teachers are abused. In CDE schools, there are complaintsthat teachers are abusive.) All of this implies that CDE and ACE schools suffer from diametricallyopposite or complementary ills, and that there are advantages and disadvantages to both models. Thisconclusion is vital to understanding the why of the options spelled out below.Principals said that the education system has not taken actions to set examples to other teachers, evenwith teachers with the worst behavior. In addition, they said that there is a need for some actions of thistype so that teachers in general can see the consequences of their actions and job performance.Principals said that on several occasions they have had teachers who do not meet their expectations,demonstrate incompetence, unwillingness, or other improper behavior. In response to this, they verballyreprimand them. When this does not have a positive effect, they have continued with disciplinaryactions (publically reprimanding them again, doing so in writing, etc.). When this also fails, they havethen informed the instructional advisers or supervisors. When this also fails to bring about the desiredresults or the cases are very serious, they file formal grievances. Furthermore, some of the intervieweesalleged that principals sometimes tend to be authoritarian or arbitrary, and that they represent “factions”(bandos) of teachers. Schools, in many cases, seem to be divided into “factions” and principals seem totake the side (or in fact, represent) one faction or the other. Schools seem to be the site of clashes ratherthan teamwork. This ailment appears to be more common in CDE schools. From there, what is importantis not so much whether or not the regulations provide principals with the necessary procedures forbeing able to discipline teachers, but rather that school governance in general seems to lead to tensionsand conflict and creates an environment where teamwork is difficult.In general, the situation gives the impression that, if the school does not have a community to which it isclearly and specifically accountable in a concrete way, regarding goals that are standardized and regulatedby the Ministry, groups within the school have the luxury of fighting among themselves insteadof trying to work toward a common goal. This appears to occur less in ACE schools. In general, however,it does appear that school governance, and therefore school labor relations in El Salvador, tend tobe fraught with tension. In ACE schools, this can manifest itself as tension among groups of teachers,between teachers and principals, etc. However, this tension appears to be common to all schools.Legal FrameworkThere are bottlenecks in the Teaching Profession Law and in the legal defense processes for teachers,which have a negative impact on students’ rights to an education. According to the interviewees,a formal complaint has a certain time period for being formally accepted and the respondent30