Appraisal Of The Inspection Of Secondary Schools

Background of the Study

Education is one of the greatest human investments that can ensure and sustain the quick development of the economic, political, social and human resources of a country. Agreeing on this, Nwogu and Nzeako (2007:3) noted “Education advances the well-being of individuals in society and of society as a whole. It expands the opportunities available to individuals, enables people to fulfill their potential, underlies economic success, and enhances social cohesion”. Thus Gillies (2010) refers to education as the process, whether planned or not, formal or not, by which humans develop, in ways deemed to be socially acceptable, in terms of their knowledge, understanding, skills, attitudes, and judgments. In this light, good education is important to any society and is often seen as a cornerstone of social and economic development. As a result of this, many countries throughout the world have developed some means of monitoring the quality and standards of their education systems.

In this light, Akinkugbe (2003) researching for the Council for the Development of Social Sciences Research in Africa (CODESRIA) had noted with regards to the management of education that each level of government has appropriate structures to ensure the effective delivery of educational services, which is in line with the constitutional responsibilities imposed on them. On a similar note, Utouh (2008) remarks that government has a lot of instruments at its disposal for instance able to influence curriculum, number and competence of teachers, training materials, pedagogical practices etc. Cameroon therefore has embarked on various programmes to achieve an accelerated improvement in secondary schools and one of such institutions put in place to cater and uphold standards is the Inspectorate of Education which undertakes school inspection. According to Gillies (2010), an inspectorate is the formal name for the body of inspectors, set up to report on educational provision and gives advice to government.

In the Republic of Cameroon, the department which monitors and controls Secondary Education, is under the Ministry of National Education which was reorganized by Presidential decree No.2005/139 du 25 Avril 2005 to the Ministry of Secondary Education (MINESEC). National Pedagogic Inspectors exist in the Ministry of Secondary Education Yaounde who coordinate the activities of inspectors at the central service of the ministry. Under them in the Provinces changed to Regions Biya (2008), like the North West Region, (See Appendix 1) and directly under the Regional Delegate of Secondary Education (RDSE) are Regional Pedagogic Inspectors (RPIs). These are secondary school inspectors appointed by the Minister of Secondary Education to oversee the administrative and pedagogic management of the schools in the Region making sure the schools are run according to the norms of the state. A Chief of Centre for the Teachers Resource Centre (TRC) heads these panels of inspectors. Directly under the chief of Centre are different Coordinating Inspectors (CI’s) who coordinate the activities of the different RPI’s of their departments (See Appendix 2). The Region has eight CI’s in charge of the different subject departments, which include:

• CI in charge of promotion of Bilingualism: promotion of English in francophone secondary and technical schools and French in secondary general and technical schools.

• CI in charge of the sciences and technology in tertiary sector.

• CI in charge of foreign languages (French, English, Latin, Greece, German, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese).

• CI in charge of Technical Industrial.

• CI in charge of computer studies.

• CI in charge of Human Sciences: History, Geography, Citizenship, Philosophy, Moral Instruction, Manual Labour

• CI in charge of Sciences : Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Technology, sciences de la vie et de la terre, environmental sciences, hygiene et biotechnologie.

• CI in charge with Teacher Education. (Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon, 2005: 43-44).

Under the control of these Coordinating Inspectors are Regional Pedagogic Inspectors for the different subjects who range from two upwards and are responsible for the inspection of schools. Gillies, (2010) then opine that inspection is a formal system of assessment and evaluation conducted to determine the nature and standard of educational provision in a variety of sectors.

At the level of the Divisions, the Divisional Delegations are supposed to be equipped with two Pedagogic Advisers (PA’s): one for Secondary Technical and the other for Secondary General who ought to carry out the job of pedagogic control of the Division. Such a set up is not broad based enough to enable proper coverage of secondary schools in the Region giving its wide nature, difficult terrain, and lack of tools. All this in a bid to uphold standards and as Macnab (2004:53) noted:

All wish to have a school education system, which provides a rich and productive learning environment for their young people. Such aspirations are usually presented as a set of aims supplemented by sets of objectives and statements of expected attainment at various stages of education. To support and monitor the provision of education and attainment of expected standards within these aims and objectives, many countries put in place some form of external supervision often referred to as a schools inspectorate.

In the Nigerian educational system, professional supervisors or inspectors are attached to the Ministry of Education, and the Local Government Education Authorities (LGEA). These inspectors or supervisors like in Cameroon are outsiders visiting the school to watch the teachers teach for few hours. They serve as middlemen between what is gong on in the ministry and the schools.

In Britain, school inspection is in the hands of a non-ministerial government department established in 1993 under the Education (schools) Act

1992 known as the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED). It is a non- ministerial government department separate from the Department of Education and Skills (DfES) whose remit (area of work) is to ’improve standards of achievement and quality of education through regular independent inspection, public reporting and informed independent advice’(McLaughlin 2001:649). Its major responsibility is the inspection of schools in England and, it is concerned not merely with the outcomes of education in schools but also with the quality of the process and activities within them.

The Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon (2000) in the special status of the Education corps of Cameroon, reports that Regional Pedagogic Inspectors and Divisional Pedagogic Advisers are appointed from secondary school teachers who must have been in service for not less than ten years. This indicates that some professional and or academic qualifications and experience as a teacher is required for the appointment of inspectors. These notwithstanding, it would seem as if some of these inspectors are appointed on political and or tribal considerations because among the inspectors, one could find inspectors who are just four or five years in service as teachers with very little experience without minding the fact that no core school exist in the country for inspectors. From the foregoing, it would seem as if there is indiscriminate appointment of secondary school inspectors for the North West Region.

Regional Pedagogic Inspectors for the North West Region according to the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon (2005:43) reorganizing the Ministry of Education, have as their mission under the authority of Coordinating Inspectors charged with:

• a permanent duty of pedagogic supervision, animation and control;

• a permanent duty of the inspection of teachers and programmes at the level of the Divisional Delegation of secondary education;

• the organisation of refresher courses, seminars and pedagogic conferences;

• the conception, production and the circulation of pedagogic documents meant for the supervision of teachers and the different partners of the education community;

• the promotion and circulation of pedagogic research works carried at the Regional Delegation of Secondary Education (RDSE);

• the authentication of documents produced by teachers in collaboration with the inspectorate General of Secondary Education;

• the making available to all, experimental initiatives and practices;

• the assistance to the distance education of teachers.