Mrs. Duyile, strengthening support systems in Lagos through The Professional Theme day

“I am confident that whenever we train the SIOs they will go into the schools to do the same
thing with the same level of professionalism when they train the head teachers and
consequently the class teachers” Mrs. B. Duyile

These words are those of Mrs. B. Duyile, a State School Improvement Team member (SSIT,)
while she trained a group of School Improvement Officers (SIOs) at Amuwo Idofin local
government area of Lagos state during the Professional Theme Day (PTD). This is a day set
aside for addressing teaching and learning challenges identified from the previous school
term. These challenges are identified through an effective school support system which sees
SIOs going to schools to support the head teacher and the class teacher. When these
challenges are seen among a group of schools, they are documented and scaled up to the
SSIT who reserve it to be corporately solved among a group of other SIOs during the PTD.
This way everybody sees the challenge and can solve it among peers strengthening their
working relationship.

This structure of consistent professional support was established with the help of ESSPIN
over the years and arranged within the school systems of Lagos and all the states the
programme operates in. Duyile says: “Our own initial trainings, by that I mean the SSIT, is
quite rigorous because we explore all the options and techniques available at our disposal to
overcome teaching and learning challenges that we meet on the field. It is the same manner
and approach that we hope the SIOs will deploy innovatively during their consequent school
visits”.

ESSPIN supports the design and creation of systems that cater for an effective means of
strengthening teaching and learning albeit within state structures. These systems ensure
that head teachers and teachers themselves become a part of a well-planned process that
improves the quality of teaching and learning as a whole. Mrs. Duyile and her colleagues are
a vibrant part of that system working with minimal supervision now to achieve results.

“At every point we strive to keep on improving on the trainings and furthering the support we
give to the SIOs and by extension the head teachers and invariably class teachers. We are not
there yet but we will get there. We shall”.

Schools have been the context and focus of measuring the effectiveness of these support
systems. Over the years, remarkable improvements have been noticeably achieved across
the state regarding pupil’s learning. These successes are direct benefits of the dedicated
efforts of people like Duyile as they effectively work within these state.