Information And Communication Technology In Saint Lucia

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

This is a developmental study that seeks to examine the current methods used to accept applications from prospective teachers and the process used to deploy the successful applicants into the education system. It will seek to identify any shortcomings it has and to the key factors that are driving the development a more efficient system. In addition, it will examine the risks and benefits of developing and implementing an information system within the education sector of Saint Lucia.

The number of Schools in Saint Lucia is increasing; there are approximately 75 kindergarten and primary schools and 25 secondary schools. However, since 2002 Union agreements specify that the staff to student ratio must be 1:25 from kindergarten to grade 2, 1:30 for grades 3 to 8 and 1:20 in Secondary Schools (Government Negotiating Team & Saint Lucia Teachers' Union, 2009) This has resulted in teachers being multi-skilled in different subject areas so as to satisfy the staff ratio requirements. This has posed a major problem as some areas are not easily cross fertilized and Principals are under constant pressure to maintain staff student ratio on one hand and to satisfy Parent/student aspirations.

Currently, in order to source new or replacement teachers; principals must visit the Main education office and manually go through the records to find suitable teachers. A paper based system has many limitations which do not allow efficient management of scarce human resources. This study will attempt to promote the development of a system that would allow school administrators to perform their human resource requirement sourcing from their desks using a web based database linked to the Ministry of Education. It will also highlight the many benefits that would accrue to the Ministry as a result of implementing such a system.

The literature reviewed will show that our use of technology seems to be focused on literacy and procedural tasks rather than using technology to enhance decision making and improving the effectiveness of management in the education sector. In addition, it will demonstrate that the business processes are functional rather than process driven, thus the Ministry is always in reactive rather than proactive mode because information is not shared seamlessly across the various departments and with school administrators.

This study will seek to develop a process based information system that would provide the tools to administrators enabling them to make astute tactical and strategic decisions in real time. The system will allow them to conduct a number of ‘What-if’ analyses promoting forward planning and enhancing fiscal and human resource efficiencies and effectiveness.

Information & Communication Technology (ICT) in Saint Lucia

Information & Communication Technology (ICT) in Saint Lucia

Information and communication Technology can be defined as the Information and communication technologies used to create, design, store, manipulate and transmit information in its various formats.

ICT can be subdivided into two sub-components:

Information Technology

Information Systems

Information Technology

Information Technology refers to the hardware, software and communication devices used by the organization to process various tasks that are to be performed to achieve business objectives. Information technology is used to increase business efficiencies. According to the National ICT Strategic plan, it is clearly shown that Saint Lucia has a well-developed communication infrastructure; the main Government locations are situated along the Castries waterfront and are linked to other ministries and departments by a wide area network running at 1Gbps on a fiber optic backbone. This network is maintained by Government’s in-house ICT agency: Computer Centre Ltd (CCL). Frame relay technology is utilized to provide interconnection to other Government Departments across the island. This infrastructure is maintained by a major local telecommunications provider.

Information systems

Information Systems refers to the use of Information Technology by persons in the organization to collect, process, and store and disseminate information so as to improve decision making within the organization.IS is used by the organization to improve effectiveness. The use of information systems within the Ministry of Education of Saint Lucia is the focal point of this research paper. It will examine the current situation using documented as well as anecdotal evidence. The research paper will then attempt to outline a process of change that would result in improved information flows vertically and laterally in the Ministry and other stakeholder groups leading to improved decision making both at the tactical and strategic level.

Ministry Of Education (Saint Lucia)

The Ministry of Education has a hierarchical structure, the political head is the Minister of education and its administrative head is the Permanent Secretary. It is comprised of 17 departments and is responsible for the management of Education sector in Saint Lucia. As was stated in the introduction, this ranges from pre-school to tertiary level education. Unfortunately, as with all Government departments, structures developed pre-ICT age have not adjusted to the IT/IS era and as a result; all business processes are driven functionally by departments, the level of supervision is deep and information has to make its way up the chain of command until hopefully, it reaches someone who feels comfortable in making a decision, in the same manner; instructions must be filtered down until it reaches the level where it can be implemented. This has resulted in decisions being taken reactively rather than proactively and in many cases, decisions are based on ‘feelings’ or ‘personal knowledge’ rather than on available information.

Information Systems in the Ministry

The use of information systems in the Ministry is primarily procedure based; transactions with well- defined processes that focus on efficiency. It is predominantly clerical in nature and the data collected is stored within the departments that are responsible for its collection creating islands of information that department heads fiercely guard to promote a feeling of self -importance. Furthermore, not all methods of data collection rely on information technology, large quantities of data still resides on a paper based filing system

All primary documents relating to ICT strategic plan highlight a distinct reliance on computer literacy and not information literacy. This researcher is mainly interested in developing systems that would provide financial efficiencies and improved effectiveness for the Government in general and the Education sector in particular.

The Necessity for Change

Change is necessary so the questions are:

Who must change?

What must be changed?

How can change be handled?

What would be the benefits of these changes ?

When we speak of using information systems; it is not simply a case of identifying the information requirements of an organization and implementing an information system. That formula has resulted in a failure rate of over 70% of IT projects, therefore in 2012 and beyond and also as a developing country; we need to learn from the mistakes of others and develop a better system.

Who must change? An organization is made up of people and in the case of the Ministry of Education. There are professionals and non- professionals at various levels of the organizational structure. Change starts here. The vision that must be defined clearly and disseminated to the staff so there is ‘buy-in’ to the plan with a ground swell of support from operational level staff and executive leadership from the Minister. The change must not be seen as coming from the IT department or as a ‘computer’ thing but as a business plan that would improve the quality of education delivery.

What must change? An organization has a culture and politics that determine plans that succeed or fail. A culture of hiding information and releasing it when it is convenient has to change, department heads must see the benefits of information flowing seamlessly across their screens allowing them to be empowered, in addition personality clashes reduce the effectiveness within organizations and it must be driven out from the top of the organization.

How can change be handled? The Ministry of Education is a unique organization with many well educated professionals; however, these professionals have very limited decision making powers. The problem lies in a lack of real time data and structures that promote team based work rather than depend on the chain of command and authority from the top. The business process must become process driven so that it encourages information to flow across department boundaries.

What would be the benefits of these changes? Change would result in an education system that would be more responsive to change in the 21st Century, thereby providing the students an educational experience that better prepares them for life. A second beneficiary that is of prime importance in a developing country is the impact on the public purse. Education is funded by tax payers and a more effective education system would allow funds to be properly allocated and the results of any expenditure provide greater benefits to our society.

Significance of the Study

This study has taken on urgency that it is not only academic, but provides profound solutions to problems faced by small economically developing states in the Caribbean. Governments in the Caribbean and Saint Lucia in particular are under increasing pressure to reduce the public sector wage bill. This would have serious ramifications since it would increase the currently high levels of unemployment, but would also give rise to social upheavals. It is therefore imperative that smarter solutions be developed to harness and manage the available human resources so as to maximize its efficiency and the country’s finances.

Research Questions

In order to guide my enquiry and to ensure that my research not only satisfies its academic requirements, but, also has sound business principles that would allow it to be successfully implemented in the organization. The following research questions will be answered.

Main Research Question

What Are The Key Design Aspects Of The Teacher Deployment Information System And Identify The Key Benefits Of Such A System To The Education Sector?

What are the current practices for teacher deployment in Saint Lucia and how are these methods negatively affecting teacher deployment?

How can Information Systems be used in increasing deployment efficiency and effectiveness and what would be the key design aspects of the system?

What are the costs, benefits and risks involved in implementing an information system for teacher deployment in Saint Lucia and how can the costs and risks be minimized?

What are the Recommendations for expanding Information System/Information Technology usage in the Education System of Saint Lucia?

Research Aims and Objectives

To examine the current teacher deployment practices in Saint Lucia and identify the shortcomings in current deployment methods.

To develop an Information system to promote systematic improvements in the deployment of teachers within the education sector and identify key design aspects of the system

To identify costs, benefits and risks involved in implementing teacher deployment IS and to develop a strategy to minimize the costs and risks of such a system

To identify and recommend ways of expanding Information System/Information Technology usage in the Education sector of Saint Lucia.

Plan of Work

Proposal Presentation …………………………………….. 3rd December 2012

Written Project Proposal (Draft)………………………….. 4th January 2013

Written Project Proposal (Final) …………………………. 18th January 2013

Development of Questionnaires………………………….. 22nd January 2013

Distribution of Questionnaires……………………………. 29th January 2013

Information and Data Collection……………………… ….11th February 2013

Analysis of the Information Collected…………………. …28th February 2013

Final writing of dissertation……………………………. …1st March 2013

Submission of Dissertation………………………………..22nd March 2013

Chapter Summary

This chapter began by describing the purpose of the study. It also provided a preview of Saint Lucia’s education structure before providing a snapshot of the information and communication landscape of the country. It concluded by highlighting the significance of the study and stated the questions that the research would seek to answer along with the aims and objectives of the study.

In Chapter 2, a review of the literature on education management information systems will be undertaken. It will include a critique of the steps involved in software selection and the accompanying risks if improperly done. The benefits of an information system in teacher deployment, both locally and also in some other countries will be compared. The literature review will provide the basis for assisting the researcher in identifying key factors in its implementation in the Saint Lucian Education System

Chapter 2

Literature Review

Introduction

The literature review used in this study will generally examine the importance of information systems in education and the many benefits that have accrued from its proper implementation. Moving across various jurisdictions, an attempt will be made to compare education systems that are similar to the Saint Lucian experience to see what problems were being experienced before a teacher deployment information system was developed. The factors that would make an information system successful in its implementation and it will also look at attempts in Saint Lucia to develop and Information & Communication Technology strategy; areas of success and also areas of failure.

Teacher Deployment in Saint Lucia

The term teacher deployment has to be clarified before any attempt can be made to fully develop a study on its impact on the Education sector. In this study, it will refer to the placement of a teacher in a school after careful selection by school administrators based on the teachers’ qualifications and other characteristics that may impinge on the delivery of quality education. This study will attempt to identify the key factors in developing an information system for efficient teacher deployment in Saint Lucian schools.

Current Practices in Saint Lucia

The current practice of teacher deployment is a flat paper based file system that requires administrators to go through raw application data in order to arrive at a suitable candidate. In addition, some prospective applicants may hear of a vacancy and bring an application directly into the school. There may be an interview process, however this process is not standardized across all schools and depending on the urgency of the vacancy, it may not even be carried out. However, the successful candidate cannot be formally placed in the classroom until the appointment is ratified by the Teaching Service Commission (TSC).

Limitations of the Current System

The current system was adequate when the number of schools on the island was small and the subject offerings were basically grammar school subjects. It is now woefully inadequate to deal with large number of teachers required in the system. Some of the shortcomings include

Mismatching of qualifications and subjects being taught by the teacher resulting in inefficient use of the resources.

Rapid staff turnover due to dissatisfaction

Inability to track good teachers and identify poor teachers because of separate records being kept.

Some key subjects being under subscribed because of the inability of the system to source replacement teachers.

Inability to do any forward planning because there is no unified recording and reporting system. Has a direct impact on (d).

Saint Lucia has to evolve by reconfiguring the current system to match the performance of those countries with high performing school systems. Globalization has made the world indifferent to tradition and cultural practices. It is only the citizens of countries which are swift to adapt, slow to complain and open to change that would be successful. Therefore the task of the Government of Saint Lucia is to ensure that the island rises to the challenge by getting the right people to become teachers (sourcing) and ensuring that the system is able to deliver the best possible instruction to every child (deployment) (M., 2007).

Comparison of Teacher deployment Practices of the UK and Saint Lucia

Prospective teachers are sourced through a number of avenues; these include the public service website (United Kingdom Government, 2012), local authority vacancy searches (Chelsea, 2012) and many of the daily newspapers (Anon., 2012). Teaching positions include full and part-time posts which cater for a wider range of persons. However, in addition to placing weight on the prospective teachers’ academic qualifications, many protocols promoting the welfare of children and young people are followed. These include the list 99 and criminal background checks.

There is also a structured interview process that uses information systems to analyze the attributes of the candidates and they are also required by some school boards to demonstrate their teaching and classroom management skills by conducting a demonstration lesson. In a personal interview with the principal of a St.Piran’s School, she said "Some candidates are advised to provide a portfolio showing their best lesson plans, best class assessment results and any endorsements from their previous school in order to set themselves apart from other candidates".

It was instructive to note that placement in the classroom does not end the deployment process. Newly Qualified Teachers (NQT) undergoes a probationary period of lesson observation by more experienced teachers or NQT advisors. Additionally, new entrants are not left to navigate through the classroom, but are provided with rich sources of information

Professional standards for teachers guide

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skill audit and ICT factsheet

Behavior Management factsheet

Resources for catering for students with Special Education Needs (SEN)

Differences between UK and Saint Lucia deployment practices

The deployment process in the UK uses information systems to make structured decisions on teacher selection and deployment. The interview process uses statistical tools to analyze the data collected on the candidates either from their personal responses to interview questions or responses from references. Documentation that is process driven is the key to the system as it seems that safeguarding children is the focus of the deployment process. "Schools are expected to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people in their care, and teachers have a big role to play" (Anon., 2012).

Another key difference is the support structure for new teachers which is used to assess their development in the classroom in order to maintain the standard of education, such a protocol is used in Saint Lucia, but in the UK it is a standard and structured practice and not an ad-hoc activity. Finally, the various documents provided electronically to assist a new or even experienced teacher in navigating in the classroom and interacting with the children in their care are some of the key differences between the UK and Saint Lucian models.

Draft Saint Lucia ICT Strategy

Saint Lucia has been attempting to develop a national ICT strategy since 2000, however, according to a study "St. Lucia ICT Assessment" conducted in 2002 by Carana Corporation (Owen, 2002). "At present, the Government of Saint Lucia has no national plan or strategy for the deployment or utilization of ICTs. It also lacks strong visible leadership within the public sector for ICTs. It has no Government ICT "CZAR" or designated office providing critical Government commitment and leadership to the deployment and utilization of ICTs in St. Lucia"

Instead, the study found many sub-committees forming ‘islands’ of ideas lacking any energy of motivation required to build or develop any ICT policy. The study also found a fairly good Government web portal loaded with country statistics that was all static offering no dynamic or interactive material that could be used by citizens. They concluded that there was a genuine lack of understanding by senior government officials of the benefit of ICTs for improving the efficiency of their Ministry operations and providing services to citizens.

Draft policy for integrating ICT in education

This policy was developed in 2003 (Ernest, 2003). It articulated some of the ideas being developed by this researcher. It highlighted the need for reform and capacity building by utilizing computer management tools such as a comprehensive Education Management Information System (EMIS) to strengthen institutional capacity of the Ministry, Education offices and Schools (Ernest, 2003). However, after 10 years, the ideas have remained just that: "Consigned to a dusty shelf with no apparent deliverables". It contained some aspects of the research; therefore it was examined to see the journey of earlier studies and soon realized its many shortcomings. Two of them were major.

The objectives contained in the document were not ‘SMART’ It was not specific; it contained many loft goals with nice sounding technical jargon.

There were no measurable outcomes that would allow any successes or failures to be qualitatively assessed.

It contained too many objectives which made it highly unattainable; the objectives were not even classified as mandatory, essential or desired to provide guidance to those implementing the plan.

Responsibilities were abstractly assigned. It does not specify who would be directly responsible for carrying out various tasks so it lacked substantive responsibility; for example Statement No. 20:

The MOE will employ and encourage the use of various information systems, at different levels in the educational administration process:

Executive support system (ESS) and decision support systems (DSS) in order to assist with handling of structured and unstructured decision making at all levels of administration

Knowledge work systems (KWS) that can assist in the creation and integration of new

knowledge in schools e.g. timetable systems and computer managed instruction (CMI) systems.

Office automation systems (OAS) such as word processing, electronic mail, and scheduling applications are used effectively throughout the education system.

Transaction-processing systems (TPS) that can assist in performing routine transactions such as registration, attendance, budget preparation and examination grading.

There was no time scale so that targets could be assigned. Any strategic plan must have a time frame on which goals can be assessed as to their success or failure and to provide guidance to the strategists as to future adjustments to the plan.

The second failing of this document in this researcher’s opinion seemed to follow the shortcomings of all ICT plans of the early 2000. It addresses hardware and software acquisitions in depth, but, does look at changes to organizational structure and processes that must be made to successfully implement the IS part of the ICT strategy. It seemed as if the planners would have used the same compartmentalized structure with its old culture and politics and tried to implant a system that was totally different to the one that they currently used. History is replete with examples of such strategies crashing and burning with huge financial losses for investors or taxpayers. This document was probably prepared with the best of intentions; however, in hind sight it lacked vision and proper goals for successful implementation in the Education system.

National Strategic Plan 2010-2015

The National ICT Strategic plan looks at the main sectors of the Saint Lucian economy namely Tourism, Agriculture, Education, Health, Community Development, Business and Government Services. However, this paper will concentrate on the plan for the Education sector and how the plan impacts on the development of a process based system.

The broad policy objective for education: "Education - To foster the use of ICT in education to develop human capacity, enhance competitiveness, modernize the teaching and learning environment, facilitate equity of access, and to develop individuals who are capable of functioning effectively in a technologically driven society".

National ICT plan continues to focus on the technology aspect of ICT. This author has realized that the failings of many strategic plans when it seeks to enhance ICT are that its proponents always place the emphasis on the technology and forget to engage the users or the business process. Our focus is on the Education sector which involves 16 departments and over 100 schools, any plan must look at the process and seek to align process and users before building the technology to solve the problem and increase business efficiency and effectiveness.

Recommendations

This study seeks to approach the development and implementation of a teacher management information system from a business driven perspective, rather than from the technology driven approach. The rationale for such an approach is that previous attempts at implementing information systems placed the technical personnel in the fore front and quite often, they would approve of the system, but were never involved as end users. The result of such an oversight is that end users never accepted a system that they thought was too technical and geared towards the technology user rather than an ordinary user.

In addition, the ordinary users were invariably middle and upper level management within the education sector and if they did not find the system useful then they did not support its continued use, hence the new joint approach is to get these persons involved throughout the development and implementation process getting feedback so as to finally get a system that would provide effective and efficient information for decision making.

Use of Information Systems in teacher Deployment

Successful management of today’s education systems requires effective policy making and system monitoring through data and information. Many countries have invested significant resources into collecting, processing, and managing more and better data through Education Management Information Systems (EMIS). However, the design and development of EMIS is limited to information technology enhancements, or data storage with insufficient attention paid to the management environment in which EMIS operates and the type of data required for policy decisions (Herstein, 2003). The Saint Lucia policy document also stressed the use of various types of information systems that could be used in making informed decisions at all levels and in improving efficiency of operations (Ernest, 2003).

According to a report by the Cross City Campaign (Allen, 2005) which analyzed the reforms of three school systems of Chicago, Milwaukee and Seattle, the report concluded that "The three districts had decentralized resources and authority to schools and had undergone significant organizational changes to facilitate their ambitious instructional improvement plans. However, many principals and teachers finally realized that they were unable to produce much improvements and the evidence demonstrated that student learning cannot improve without improving the quality of teaching".

The top performing school systems consistently attract capable persons into the profession, leading to improved student performance. This is accomplished in three different ways; making entry requirements for training teachers highly selective, developing effective processes for selecting the right applicants to become teachers and payment of a good starting compensation (M., 2007). It is the second point that drives this study by seeking to identify the factors that would allow the development of an information system to enhance the effective sourcing and deployment of teachers.

Software Selection

It therefore means that significant planning must be undertaken in choosing a suitable EMIS for Saint Lucia, failing to handle this critical area properly would result in another ‘White Elephant’ that does not answer the questions or provide the desired results. The strategic choices in selecting a system are to identify its primary role. Should the primary role be transactional software versus Management or planning software? After identifying the role, then a second decision has to made; developing versus buying software (Moses, 2001).

There are five or six key steps to be followed in software selection, it begins with conducting a needs assessment based on the number of schools and the numbers of users, during this phase, cater for possible growth in the strategic plan. The best approach is to use a Joint application design approach because the failure to involve technical and managerial resources in this phase would be detrimental to its success (George, 2003).

The second step is to specify software requirements. Requirements would be broken into mandatory, essential and desirable. Mandatory requirements would be those that are needed for the system to carry out its basic functions, while essential would examine the enhance functionality and desirable features are additional bells and whistles that the users would like to have in the system. The danger of not conducting this step properly is that a lot of desirable functionality is made essential and essential made mandatory. This may increase the cost of the system without any additional gains in system effectiveness (George, 2003).

The third step involves developing an evaluation criteria, this should help to quantify priorities and features that are important to system functionality. This process is useful in weighing the emphasis on certain technical and non-technical categories. These categories should be linked to the detailed list of system requirements developed by the JAD in step 2. The same evaluation criteria should be used for all the software shortlisted by the Ministry of Education. It canned be over emphasized that the evaluation would fail if too much importance is placed on technical features and not on the overall operating environment or evaluating the software as an independent activity and not as part of the overall plan for the Ministry.

Step number four involves identifying software options after specifying the system requirements. Should you develop totally customized software? Or acquire existing off the shelf software. Both approaches must be carefully evaluated; developing a customized system may be appealing, however, does the Ministry have the prerequisite in house skills to develop such software, while an off the shelf package may need to be customized to such an extent that all of its features are stripped out, this is especially true if the off the shelf package was primarily developed for a North American education system.

The fifth step involves getting feed- back from "real" users, vendors would provide glowing reviews of their software, but it would be invaluable to get user information from colleagues within the region as they would have a similar operating environment with the same organizational cultures. They would be able to provide answers to pertinent questions such as user acceptance, level of training required, suitability of the system, would they choose the same system if given a choice and the level of vendor support.

The sixth step is probably the most important given the environment in which most development projects are carried out. The acquisition process and preconditions of the donor agency must be clearly understood and must be in line with the deliverables of the Ministry of Education before it is accepted, in the era of fiscal restraint; Governments cannot accept any agreements that are not strategically aligned to the benefit of its citizens. Therefore, in addition to providing funds to acquire the software, what are the clauses within the agreement? Would it cover training, annual license fees, upgrades, maintenance and acquiring hardware? If not, what would be the cost to the public purse?

In addition, some donors require that you purchase software from their shortlist of suppliers which throws steps 1 to 5 out of the window. Failure to understand and clarify this step would eventually lead to a "dead" project that fails shortly after implementation.

Another aspect of software selection that must be considered is the type of database. An object oriented database, according to (Bose, 2010) is one that would allow components to be added as additional parts of the business are added to the system and business processes are expanded. This approach has several advantages to the development of a complete Education Management Information System (EMIS), if the system begins with a teacher deployment component then it reduces the cost of implementing a full system that would only be used for the deployment information system. Component based software is cost effective and optimizes time as the development of a large complicated system such as an EMIS can be subdivided into separate units that can be integrated or coupled as the system expands (Brown, 2000).

Secondly, the quality of the overall software can be improved by improving the quality of the individual components. Another benefit of component based software is that it can be modeled so that users can provide early feedback to the developers (George, 2003). This does not mean that there are no obstacles to this methodology. Some components may not link with others or it may not satisfy the requirements so it has to be customized resulting in additional cost of development and in the final analysis not completely satisfying the needs of the customer (Padmal, 2003).

Benefits of an Information System

The benefits of an effective education information system have a ‘domino’ effect on the entire sector. "The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers" (M., 2007). Effective teachers are the key to delivering quality education; however, good teaching is only able to thrive within a favorable environment. Governments have increased education budgets and provided salary increases. It was approximately 17.6% of recurrent expenditure of 2012 budget of Saint Lucia (Anthony & Prime Minister and Ministerfor Finance, 2012). However, these increases have not been accompanied by developments in education management systems (Bennell, 2007). Teacher management at the school level is crucial for teacher motivation and morale. (Halliday, 1994) Attributes inefficient teacher deployment and management as often being a consequence of a lack of adequate and reliable information on which rational planning and routine management decisions can be based.

The development of a comprehensive and efficient information system which would enhance management in Education sector remains a serious concern. According to a study conducted in four African countries (Gabriele Gottelmann-Duret, 1996). The study concluded that without reliable, accurate and up-to-date information, it was impossible to plan coherently and systematically for the development of the education service and in particular, to manage efficiently and effectively the utilization and deployment of teachers.

Benefits of Teacher Deployment Information System

The benefits of a teacher deployment information system will begin with effective management of human resources. In a developing country, human resources are always a limiting factor in development. According to (Gabriele Gottelmann-Duret, 1996) efforts aimed at improving the efficiency of teacher management are hampered by a lack of appropriate information on which rational decisions in the area can be based. Therefore any system that would allow this resource to be optimized would aid in economic development in general and improve the quality of education delivery in particular.

Secondly, an information system would facilitate the attempts to decentralize decision making. "The management structure in developing countries is still highly centralized. Attempts to decentralize authority have no formal scheme of delegation and as a result District Education Officers (DEO’s) are merely post boxes; they have no real authority to make even minor decisions. The resultant delays in decision making on minor matters causes a loss of morale in the classroom" (Gabriele Gottelmann-Duret, 1996).

Finally, an information system if implemented and used effectively would allow informed decision making by providing accurate and timely information which links resource inputs to education teaching and learning conditions and processes. This view is supported by the widespread use of information based decision making in some countries (UK) has resulted in more effective and efficient planning and identification of new information needs (Villanueva, 2003).

Risks of non-implementation of an Information System

An examination of the current system of teacher information management reveals a number of major weaknesses and their possible causes. Information on teachers is stored in isolated islands that are not easily accessed. The information extracted from the statistics department is usually not very up to date as it is collected annually and processed and disseminated after an extended delay. It makes it difficult for education decision makers to obtain a comprehensive picture of specific educational management or policy issue since the existing data is incomplete or unavailable.

The lack of a comprehensive and effective Education management information system which would help managers operating at the district level in evaluating policy options and monitoring the education sector on a regular basis has proven to be a handicap in planning and administration of the education sector and its human resources. The development and implementation of such a strategy will require significant funding but a cost benefit analysis would prove conclusively that there is a case for immediate investment of time and money as the lack of reliable data goes to the core of ineffective and inefficient utilization and deployment of teachers.

Chapter Summary

This chapter allowed the researcher to provide an overview of the deployment practices currently carried out in Saint Lucia, the limitations of the process and to provide a comparison of the process used in United Kingdom. The literature review provided the foundation on which the study will be constructed. Its purpose was to provide clear insights into previous work done in the area of the study and to provide the basis on which new theories could possibly be later developed from the data collected and analyzed.

In chapter 3, the concept of research will be introduced by defining what it is and misconceptions in the use of the term "research". The discussion will evolve around the research philosophy which will provide the underpinnings from which all knowledge is developed. The philosophy chosen would be used as the structural framework on which the e study would be conducted. Philosophy is overarching, it will determine the research strategy, data collection and data analysis methods used in the study.

Chapter 3

Introduction

Research in its most basic definition is something that people undertake in order to find out things. Building on this definition is the use of a systematic approach to the exercise to increase their level of knowledge. Sometimes, the term is thrown out by news organizations or companies in order to make a point or to sell a product. However, research is not the ad-hoc collection and reordering of facts or information without interpretation (Walliman, 2005). Good research is based on philosophical foundations which forms the basis on which new knowledge is developed. It is this philosophy that will guide the approach and based on this approach an appropriate strategy will be used to plan the choice, time frame and techniques of data collection and analysis.

Research Philosophy

This is the principal foundation on which new knowledge is developed. It would be used to guide the assumptions of the study. Philosophy is related to two concepts:

Ontology is concerned with the nature of reality. Are our decisions devoid of any social dynamics or organizational culture? This would be considered an objective reality. However; Is our reality coloured or influenced by social factors? This would be considered a subjective reality.

Epistemology is concerned with the question of what is or should be regarded as acceptable knowledge in a field of study. At the core of any epistemological consideration is whether the social world should be studied according to the principles of Natural Sciences. The position of closely following the Natural Sciences is associated with an epistemological concept called positivism. Positivism advocates that only methods of Natural Sciences be used in the study of Social Sciences, hence only phenomena and knowledge confirmed by the senses can lead to the production of credible data. Interpretivism is an alternative to the positivistic dogma that held sway for many decades. They advocate that researchers should understand the differences between humans and their role as social actors. It requires the Social Scientist to inculcate the subjective meanings of social action.

Choice of Philosophy in the Study

The Philosophical ‘camps’ of positivism and interpretivism seem to be diametrically opposed. It seems as if the researcher is forced to choose a side which is unrealistic in practice as research is rarely set in cement like boundaries and the researcher must be able to go where the data leads. Therefore choosing one philosophical domain over another could lead to incorrect conclusions. The choice of philosophy depends on the research question from which answers are being sought. This study will allow the research question to guide its philosophical underpinnings; such an approach adopts the position of the pragmatist. Pragmatism posits that the most important determinant of the epistemology and ontology is the research question.

Research Methodology

According to Greener 2003, research "Methodology" refers to the researchers’ attitude to and understanding of the research combined with the strategies chosen to answer the research questions. Many authors use the terms methodology and methods interchangeably, however, (Saunders, 2009). Uses a more precise approach to the term research "Methods" in referring to techniques and procedures used to obtain (data collection) and analyze (data analysis) data.

The strategy used in Research Methodology requires an examination of the relationship between theory and research. The distinction between theory and research cannot be easily identified. The term ‘theory’ is used in a variety of ways; its primary meaning is an explanation of observed regularities. For example:

Why are females out performing their male counterparts in Secondary Schools?

Why is there a decline in Caribbean migrants to the UK?

This second view allows us to see the significance in the relationship between theory and research. It is referred to as the deductive and inductive theory.

Deductive Theory represents the most widely held view of the relationship between theory and research. The researcher on the basis of what is known about a particular domain and the theoretical underpinnings of the domain produces one or more hypothesis that must be tested. Deductive theory follows the positivist approach usually associated with the Natural Sciences and involves empirical testing. It states that only phenomena which we can know through our senses (sight, taste, smell, hearing, touch) can produce "Knowledge". It promotes objectivity through experimentation to prove or disprove any hypothesis.

Inductive Theory is used by the Social Scientists. During the research, the hypothesis is carefully deduced along with the specifics of data collection in relation to the concept that make up the hypothesis. Inductive theory promotes the interpretivist argument and deals with subjective thoughts and feelings. This idea is based on the work by Max Weber (1864-1926). Who described Sociology as a Social Science "which attempts the interpretive understanding of social action in order to arrive at a causal explanation of its course and effects" (Weber, 1947). The researcher sets out to see the world through the eyes of the test group, allowing them multiple perspectives of reality rather than "one reality" of positivism.

Methods of Data Collection

Interviews

Observation

Questionnaires

Interviews

The research interview is one of the main data collection strategies in both quantitative and qualitative research. It is a purposeful discussion between two or more people; there are many types of interviews, each offering varied set of benefits which would have to be taken into consideration by the researcher. The structured interview is used in connection with quantitative research; it is a form of data collection suitable for descriptive studies as it can be used to identify general patterns and statistical data. The semi-structured interview provides less rigidity as the sequence of questions can be adjusted and the questions are more general in their frame of reference; however, the unstructured interview may provide a richer vein of data if properly conducted as the style of questioning is more informal. The main reason why the structured interview is preferred by survey researchers is that it promotes standardization of both the asking of the question and the recording of the answers.

Observation

There are many forms of observation in conducting research; they include structured observation or systemic observation, field observation or field simulation and organizational simulation. Whatever the form; observation is basically a technique or method for systematically observing the behavior of individuals in terms of a schedule of categories. The researcher must employ explicitly formulated rules for the observation and recording of behavior. One of the main advantages of observation over other survey techniques is that it allows behavior to be directly observed, unlike the other techniques in which behavior can only be inferred. The interest in structured observation within business and management was stimulated initially by the potential to provide researchers with greater insight into the activities of managers.

Questionnaires

Questionnaires are a variation of the structured interview in that instead of the questions being administered by the interviewer, it is self- administered by the respondent. It is one of the most widely used data collection tools in the arsenal of the survey strategy. Each respondent is asked the same set of questions and it provides quite possibly the most efficient method of collecting responses from a large sample before undertaking quantitative analysis. Since the strength of the questionnaire is in quantitative data analysis, it would not be particularly suited to exploratory or other types of research that requires data from large amounts of open ended questions.

Methods in the Current Research

Choice of Data Collection

The research will be conducted using self-completed questionnaires as a data collection tool. The questionnaire will be designed using a mixture of structured questions to capture biographical and technical data and semi-structured and unstructured questions that would capture the respondents’ views on the use of a web based database to assist in the acquisition and deployment of teaching staff. The reasons for using the questionnaire as a data collection tool is that it is best suited for descriptive or explanatory research; the study is attempting to obtain from Principals and administrators their attitudes and opinions as to the current system of teacher deployment and likely benefits from implementing a teacher deployment information system while at the same time seeking analytical data as to the relationship between acceptance of the current system and years of experience or to examine the impact of exposing administrators to the benefit of an information system and the responses they provide to its possible implementation. Secondly, it is cost effective; questionnaires can be distributed electronically by email to many respondents without incurring costs of arranging meetings or venues commonly the problem of researchers using the interview method of data collection. However, the use of the questionnaires also has negative consequences; one of these is the low response rate. This researcher would seek to minimize this possibility by casting a wide net and also use personal persuasion by sending follow up emails and peer to peer contacts.

Sampling Methods

The respondents would be Principals of Primary and Secondary Schools in Saint Lucia as well as some administrative staff in the Ministry of Education for whom such a system would have a direct impact on their ability to increase job effectiveness and efficiency. The data collection tool would be sent by emails to the various respondents using an online questionnaire from within Google. The sampling group would be a stratified sample by specifying that respondents are heads of their schools or occupying a senior position in the Ministry of education, the sample group would have a mixture of male and female respondents as well as Principals recently appointed as well as those with many years of administrative experience. Finally, a sample group of 32 Principals representing 25% of all principals, 4 District Education Officers (DEOs) representing 25% and the Chief Education Officer (CEO) would be representative of the administrative grouping within the education sector to provide an accurate snapshot of the information required to identify the key factors in developing an information system for teacher deployment.

Methods of Data Analysis

Initial Data Analysis

Data can be initially analyzed by looking at the individual variables and the individual components based on the research questions. According to (Sparrow, 1989) they may include specific values, maximum and minimum values, trends, proportions and distributions. Specific values may be summarized in the form of a frequency distribution table, however, numeric data should be grouped into categories that are reflective of the research questions before it is tabulated. This could be ideally used to represent the range of teaching staff in the various schools on the island.

Maximum and minimum values could be visually summarized and values emphasized by placing it in a bar or column chart. The height or length of each bar would represent the frequency of occurrences. This would ideally represent schools with the highest and lowest number of teaching or academic staff.

Trends can be captured on a trend line, it can be used for variables containing numeric data. A variable that looks at the rate of staff turnover in the last ten years could be found by a line to emphasize the trend.

The pie chart is the most frequently used diagram used to represent proportion or shared occurrences. Numeric or categorical data need to be grouped before presented in a pie chart. The Pie chart can be used to present the number of teachers in each department as a proportion of total staff.

The distribution of values should be established before conducting any statistical tests. This would have been observed while analyzing the frequency charts produced by looking at specific values; if the data displayed a bunching to the left and a long tail to the right, it would be considered as positively skewed; if however, it is bunched to the right with a long tail to the left; it would be considered to be negatively skewed. Data that follows a bell shaped curve is considered to be normally distributed.

Analysis of Quantitative Data

The method of data analysis will depend on the type of data that is collected using the research instrument. Quantitative data can be divided into two distinct groups. The categorical data refers to data whose values cannot be measured numerically, but can be classified into sets according to the characteristics that identify the variable (Berman- Brown, 2008). This type of data would be a variable grouping of school administrators into primary, junior secondary, comprehensive and grammar schools. This data can be further subdivided into descriptive and ranked by providing a count of the various types of schools on the island or a ranking based on school standard tables. Some statisticians also separate descriptive data where there are only two categories such as the gender of the respondents and refer to it as dichotomous data.

The numerical data group is also called ‘quantifiable’ are those whose values can be measured or counted numerically as quantities (Berman- Brown, 2008). Numerical data is more precise than descriptive or categorical data as each data value can be assigned to a value position on a numerical scale. There are two ways of categorizing numeric data; values that can take any value along a numeric scale such as age range of respondents is referred to as continuous data, while values that can be measured precisely such as number of students in a school or number of teachers on staff is referred to as discrete data. Before and during the process of deciding on the data and data types to be collected; the method of recording the responses should be determined by preparing a coding schedule along with a coding manual.

Coding Strategy

Coding enable the researcher to enter the data quickly with fewer errors and also subsequent analysis is easier. However, coding must begin by preparing a coding manual which provides a statement of instructions that specifies the categories that will be used to classify the text based on written rules. It provides a list of all categories of data and codes that will correspond to each category. The manual would also prevent some of the common problems experienced by researchers during data analysis; these include overlapping categories frequently encountered when capturing age range of respondents. Legitimate codes should be created and should be made available for all data especially missing data. Separate codes should also be prepared to handle situations where there are non- responses.

Statistical Methods

Statistical Analysis

Descriptive statistics allows the researcher to describe and compare numerical data. Statistical analysis used to describe numerical data focuses on two aspects: central tendency and dispersion. Central tendency examines the distribution of the data within the sample population. There are three tools used by researchers to describe central tendency; values that occur most frequently are termed the mode, values that occur in the mid- point of ranked data are called the median and a calculation of all data values is called the mean. The mean is the most frequently used measure of central tendency.

Dispersion is a statistical method used to describe how data values are dispersed around the central tendency; the main measurement of dispersion used by researchers is called standard deviation which measures the extent to which values differ from the mean. Descriptive statistics is only of limited value to the researcher as it provides a view of individual variables, however in order to prove or disprove a theory; it is necessary to compare the differences between values. Comparison of numerical data can be used by testing the result of standard deviation using the coefficient of variation. The coefficient of variation allows the researcher to compare the relative spread of data between distributions of different magnitudes.

Testing Relationships between variables

Statistical Relationships

This study will use two statistical tools to identify the relationships and differences in its numerical data types:

To test whether two variables are associated.

To predict the value of a dependent variable on one or more independent variables.

The chi-square test allows the researcher to establish the level of confidence that there is a relationship between two variables in a sample population. The value of the test can be interpreted in relation to its level of statistical significance. If the probability value (p<0.05) then there is a statistically significant relationship, statistically the null hypothesis can be rejected and the hypothesis accepted.

The regression coefficient enables the researcher to measure the strength of relationship between a numerically dependent variable and one or more numerically independent variables. It is a useful statistical tool that can be used to measure respondents opinions and its level of commonality with the opinions of other respondents within the sample. It allows the researcher to identify which opinions carry a greater weight within the sample population.

Chapter Summary

Research is an activity conducted in order to enhance knowledge. It is a systematic activity that has a philosophy, approach, strategy, choices, time horizons, techniques and procedures. However, although philosophy is the overarching term that relates to the development of knowledge; it is the research question that must drive the entire process because the goal of the researcher is to conclude by producing theory that would prove or disprove a hypothesis on one hand or on the other hand based on hypothesis develop new theories or adjust existing ones.