Why School Leaders?
School Leaders are agents of change
We believe school leadership teams have the potential to drive positive learning and well-being gains for learners, therefore investing in the education workforce is investing in children. Ensuring the right support and development opportunities for every school leader and teacher will ensure every child has the opportunity to thrive and succeed.
By ensuring a focus on the often under-utilized lever of school leadership, Dignitas ensures school transformation not only targets learning and well-being gains, but is sustainable and supported for the longer term.
We know from educational research that school leaders have a very important effect on educational outcomes and the influence of quality school leadership on student achievement is stronger in adverse circumstances. We also know that investing in school leaders is one of the more cost-effective ways of improving educational outcomes. Given the ever-increasing demands on education budgets, school leadership could be a high leverage option for governments. Our partners Global School Leaders have compiled a useful reference guide that speaks to the role of school leaders, and the potential impact of offering the right support.
Growth and Development
Dignitas is committed to setting the trend for educational leadership in East Africa. We are driven by impact, and our programming is evidence based. Most school leaders and teachers in Kenya do not get the development opportunities and support they need to deliver quality teaching and learning. In addition, the majority of schools in Kenya’s urban informal settlements are not supported by government funding, teacher deployment or supervision, and are therefore often completely excluded from in-service training opportunities, and orientation on crucial policy and practice updates, such as the rollout of the new national curriculum.
Dignitas is already partnering with the government, through the national curriculum body (KICD), and national education management institute (KEMI) to train key curriculum developers and government stakeholders on our model of teacher support and development, focused around coaching. There is a keen desire to collaborate on a strategy to embed coaching at scale as a mechanism of improving curriculum delivery, and for ongoing school improvement. Dignitas is also partnering with NACONEK, the government body with oversight for education in marginalised communities, and we collaborate closely in all our field activities.
Dignitas is a thought and action leader on educator coaching in East Africa. Program evidence shows that coaching is the key to driving and sustaining school improvement, and transforming leadership and classroom practice in ways that are focused on improving learning for every child. Working with government partners, Dignitas applies this experience and expertise to the complexities of education systems; ensuring agile, dynamic responses that focus on learners, and prioritises their wellbeing and progress. Working together across partner agencies, we collaborate to embed our expertise, insight, evidence and practice into co-created solutions that will ensure impact for learners beyond our physical reach. Dignitas programming is aligned with government strategy, and seeks to shape the systems that influence how children across Kenya learn, thrive and succeed.
We also continue to extend our program base as this is critical in extending our understanding of how best to support school leadership teams, and in building evidence that will contribute towards influence and strategic, systems design. It is this program practice that will ensure our alignment with government and scaling efforts are evidence-based and impactful.