Performance of students in school is a great concern to everyone. Good performance of students enhances social and economic development. The government has set an education policy in school to achieve equity in education and also prepare students for higher education. Despite the control, measures set, there are various aspects that still drag down performance in schools. School inspections and audit is a vital instrument for the government to assure that there is good performance in schools. Therefore, audits need to effective and efficiently done (Wenger, 1998). This audit report focuses on how and to what extent schools address the issue of poor performance. It also focuses on the way it works in terms of planning, and being able to conduct school inspections to achieve the set objectives.
The vision of Emanex School and its values statement reflect the school's ambitions for its students. Laying of the values took place in conjunction with the National curriculum statements that aims in setting conducive learning challenges, responding to the learning needs of students, being able to overcome the potential barriers to learning, and assessing individual students. The learning environment also ought to be favourable for inclusive education. Inclusive education is the philosophy that ensures all children can access school, centres of learning and educational systems. All learners will have a part to play in all aspects of school-life. It also means being able to identify, reduce or remove barriers within and around the school that may hamper learning. For this to happen, teachers, schools and systems need to adjust the physical and social environment in a way that fully accommodates the multiplicity of learning needs that pupils may have.
Emanex School also emphasises that students who may be prone to exclusion, marginalisation and underachievement are identified and receive target provision to ensure their presence participation and achievement. Emanex School's mission statement aims in establishing a tradition in which children, parents, staff and governors feel protected, confident, valued, and supported. It goes ahead to motivate everyone to work together in a respectful atmosphere extending the respect to the wider community. Everyone gets an opportunity to attain his/her full potential in an environment of great expectations. The vision is an open minded community, observant and has a learning desire. Everyone within the community takes pride in all they do.
The main purpose in every audit made is accountability. Accountability is the root of administration and needs organisations to mange their human, physical, and financial resources in a responsible manner as they pursue their purpose of existence (C.A. Baragwanath, 1997). The future accountability framework aims in enhancing accountability in schools and improve the general performance of students. The accountability framework represents an integrated planning, development and reporting mechanism.
With the introduction of the framework, there is significance progression in terms of assessing performance of the school, in line with world best practice. This action makes the school commitment formal to improving student learning outcomes. The audit carried out at Emanex School found out that the framework provides a basis for assisting schools' performance through evaluations, and improving student learning outcomes (C.A. Baragwanath, 1997).
During the audit, there were several the major findings. The assessment teachers carry out are not yet fully reliable for measuring the student learning achievements as the teachers still view it as a new process. The time allocation measure used by schools in assessing curriculum goals needs improvement to recognise the integrated nature of the curriculum. The school also has to measure the form, content, and impact of professionals' development in addition to the time teachers spend on the activity. The department should also investigate the rate at which the teaching staff are absent from classrooms as this affects students learning.
Further to that, the audit also found out that the introduction of teacher and parents' surveys is a positive initiative as it provides useful information relating to school performance and school management. Parents are not in a position to provide the required informed survey statements used in accessing the quality of teaching within schools. The department of accountability should develop performance measures to boost the achievement of goals including the welfare, social and cultural development of the school. Inclusion of the performance of teachers in the framework of accountability would provide a broad analysis of the school's performance (Baragwanath, 1997)
Emanex School had its own views in the audit. The school expressed satisfaction with the performance of external reviewers. It also agreed to the fact that the audits were a positive initiative in providing guidance and directions in the new charter. There are some members of staff who took less concern in the importance of having a school performance data and making use of it. There are also still some doubts on the accuracy and importance of the performance data collected.
After looking at the key audit findings, the framework of accountability within the schools sort to correct the finding in order for the school to have inclusive education. Several measures and corrections need to be made to obtain this. A new program to enhance implementation of the strategies was set up. This program has the following targets. First, to grant all students with education and skills that will give them the best chance for the future. This includes the need for all students to be literate, and adapt to an information technology institution and have a strong knowledge base. The second is to ensure the school has adequate staff, which are gifted and inspired. This will enable the quest for knowledge and understanding in the students enabling them to proper. Lastly, it aims at enhancing education opportunities through innovative technologies and wherever appropriate enhances investment in technological infrastructure.
The future of the school depends on the strategies laid and how they will be implemented. There is need to have a defined accountability framework. This means that there is much focus on the students to improve the standards of achievement. This should be performance oriented. This means that the school emphasises on the performance of the students rather than the compliance with policies and procedures. The process also needs to be transparent to enable visibility of the targets and their achievements.
The school also needs to adopt inclusive practices (Ainscow et al, 2003). To obtain this, we require putting in several practises involving efforts to overcome barriers to the involvement and knowledge of students. We may also involve teams from the department that will attempt to move the practice forward. The development of inclusive practice doe not involve adoption of new technologies as presented in most of the existing literature (e.g. Stainback & Stainback, 1990; Thousand & Villa, 1991; Wang, 1991; Sebba & Sachdev, 1997; Florian et al, 1998). Rather, it is a social learning process that influences the actions of people and the thinking that informs these actions.
Inclusion is a process that seeks to find better methods of reacting to diversity. It entails learning how to live with difference. In this way, one gets a different view of the differences and fosters more in positive learning. Inclusion is concerned with the removal of barriers. In this case, it focuses on information collection and evaluation in order to plan for policy improvements (Mittler, 2000). Inclusion also looks at the presence, participation and achievement of all students. This is to say, we put focus on where the students learn, how reliable the place is, and their punctuality in class. Participation is related to the quality of education they get at school. Lastly being inclusive means placing emphasis on the learners who may be at risk of marginalization, inclusion are under achievement (Moran & Abbott, 2003) There is moral responsibility associated with at risk. They are carefully monitored and necessary measures taken to ensure their maximum presence, participation, and achievement in the education system.
In conclusion, we recommend that governments continue in their efforts to enforce their civil rights laws and provide resources to meet them. Similarly, school boards need to develop inclusive policies and procedures and direct resources to that effort. Principals need to make certain that their schools are completely all-encompassing and take a lead role in modelling inclusive attitudes and behaviours. Teachers need to ensure that they have the knowledge and skills to adapt their teaching to include all children and the willingness to learn about the experiences of children with disabilities.
Finally, we all need to stop and listen to students with disabilities to better understand their realities. With its structures, rules, and objectives, a school is like a microcosm of our world. We have the opportunity to provide schools that model the behaviour and attitudes that we want our children to take with them into the real world. In order for our actions to reflect our words, we need to provide the necessary effort, educational policies, and resources to ensure that our values and principles are met (Duckworth, & Kostell, 1999).