School mentoring visits are an onsite resource support mechanism to the member schools of IAME.It aims to strengthen the academic and infrastructural base of these schools. Class monitoring is an integral part of these visits. Every teacher is evaluated on her class room performance followed by a feedback and suggestions for improvement. Students products, their reading, writing and arithmetic skills are also checked and evaluated. IAME aims at a paradigm shift from behaviourism to constructivism in pedagogy. This message is conveyed to the academic community through our mentoring visits.
The infrastructural facilities available in the school are instrumental in the achievement of its academic goals. Hence they are also to be monitored. Facilities such as library, science labs, computer lab, sports and health and sanitary arrangements assume more significance in this context. It is not the availability, but its utilization that matters. The availability of books on different subjects and age groups, their frequency of issue, reference habits of teachers and the presence of a trained librarian are the significant parameters to be evaluated in a library. Weather the equipments and chemicals kept in the science lab are sufficient for the student population who uses it, how often these faculties are utilized and the facilities for conducting experiments or demonstration classes etc are valued in a science lab. The number of systems and its availability for use, software used seating and other facilities for demonstration classes are sine qua non for a computer lab .Improving physical fitness of children, which is being neglected now, is the primary duty of any school. The priority given to sports and games is a yardstick of this goal. Facilities including playground, equipments, sports room, frequency of training given to students and the availability of a full time physical education teacher are the points to be noted in this area .Health and sanitary conditions of the school also requires special attention. The number of toilets available to boys and girls, their proportion to student population, frequency of cleaning and neatness, conditions of staff toilets , sewage facilities and availability of drinking water, cleanliness of the school surroundings and classrooms, first aid facilities, sick room and a trained teacher in charge of it are considered for evaluation.
Club activities form a part of extracurricular activities in a school. They are activities which are important but difficult to implement in a regular classroom setting. It includes outdoor activities too. Hence we form different clubs related to different subjects like Science, Maths, English, Social Science etc. Do the clubs functions properly and regularly ?, Do they have a calendar of activities ? What are the major activities undertaken by them ? Do the children have assigned roles to perform ? Is there a teacher in charge of it ? etc are checked and counted for evaluation.
Schools now a days are offering ‘Something extra’ to woo children which include Roller skating, Kung fu, Karate, Football, Abacus, Aerobics ,Spoken English etc. with the help of experts from outside. However, the quality of such training, its duration and how it affects the normal schooling time need to be studied and evaluated.
Office management is another area requiring special mention .Do they maintain all the important records as per education act and rules ?. How these records are maintained and kept ?. Is there a proper filing system? and time taken for rendering various services to the parents and community need to be noted for feedback and further Improvement.
Administration and Management of the school also need mentoring and support. The role and functions of the principal, vice principal, manager and other office bearers are to be studied for this. It is mainly done through separate interviews with them. More over a questionnaire is served to the teachers to know about the academic and service conditions prevailing in the school. Whether the school has a long term plan incorporating their vision, mission and goals will be made clear through these methods .Such as a master plan clearly mentioning academic and infrastructural development is the secret of planed growth of a school. Equipping all member schools to prepare, implement and monitor their own development plan, and there by making them self-sufficient in academic matters is the ultimate aim of IAME mentoring visits.