My first day back at work after the trip to the Lake was the first of three days of interviews. We have worked our way through 65 of the 67 students who took the Intermediate exam. The other two had really good reasons for not being able to make it and we shall see them in a week or so. We divided ourselves into two interviewing teams. We had a business manager, a tutor and someone to provide a Malawian perspective in each team. This meant that I worked with Brian, and Sue with David, we borrowed Annie Banda from JP11 to work with Sue and David, and Eunice Maonga from the Association of Pre-school Playgroups of Malawi to work with me and Brian. It was great to see Eunice again. She made an excellent contribution to the training with her session on making resources from local materials and it was very good to keep up the contact. We had put together a list of eight questions and each team went away to discuss how we would approach the interviews. It was interesting that we independently picked very similar approaches with Annie and Eunice asking why the students wanted to work in the Children's Centre and about their strengths, David and me asking about the age group they would like to work with and then asking them what activities they thought would be suitable and trying to build on their answers and build up an idea of their understanding of the particular needs of that age group and their ability to apply what we had taught them to developing a strategy to work with them. Sue and Brian asked about reliability and then told the students about the progress of the Children's Centre (slower than we had hoped) and explained how we planned to start everyone with two days a week of work and with a few children, and gradually increase numbers of children and hours of work until we end up with full time jobs. It has been a bit of a struggle to work out rota patterns that accommodate our needs but we think we have more or less done it. At the end we shall need between 50 and 60 full time staff when the Children's Centre is working to capacity. After a complicated assessment based on measures of punctuality and reliability, exam results, planning skills and interviews we have come up with a plan which gives all the students a chance to complete their training but identifies a group of 16 students who we have some reservations about, for all sorts of different reasons. These 16 we plan to offer a higher level of support for the first month and then review. Always we need to put the needs of the children first and must be seen to be fair. It is quite a responsibility!
I found the interviews fascinating and also affirming. I was so proud of many of the students who showed that they had learned a lot in the eight months they have been with us. Everyone had made an enormous effort to look the part. Many of the girls had had their hair braided or wore wigs. There were smart suits for both men and women. So much thought had gone into presentation; some must have trawled the second hand markets for exactly the right thing to wear. Many of the guys wore ties and smartly pressed shirts. There were of course a few who tried to cover up their lack of knowledge with a load of flannel, but very few! There were many thoughtful replies. I would have liked to hear more original ideas for activities, but perhaps this is asking a lot of students who have not yet had a chance to put into practice the theoretical training they have received. I think one or two (mostly men I have to say) had obviously planned a few quotations from people like Freud and Montessori to fit into their interviews and these came over as rather contrived. Generally speaking the students found it quite difficult to say positive things about themselves. Maybe they need practice at picking out their strengths. A few stated strengths that they would like to have, but were not good at backing up their assertions with evidence. Maybe it would be useful to have a training session on Interview technique where we practice answering strength and weakness questions. A few students really shone. Some of those with distinctions or merits in the exam answered questions about suitable activities with very good insight into the different needs of children of different ages. Some whose exam results were not great showed promise that their practical skills might well be much stronger. This was particularly true of some of the older women who have been out of education for many years and struggled with some of the more academic subjects but who have experience with children, warmth and good communication skills. I am sure they will prove to be an asset as soon as they start work. There were quite a few who I would have cheerfully handed my own children to care for on the basis simply of their performance at interview, so very well done to them. Brian almost fell in love with at least two of the girls, and I came back from showing one of the young men out saying 'that's my boy!' with great pride, and that gave us all a laugh! There were two students who I felt it would not be appropriate for me to interview personally, Fanny who I have got to know extra well as I have given her personal tuition as she couldn't attend every session of the course, and Maureen whose school I have visited several times. David declined to interview one student with whom he often plays Poole on Friday evenings.
Prior to each interview Prisca, our receptionist, took photos of each candidate and today we have spent much time matching students to age groups and producing teams of people to work together in each of the different rooms. Of course it was not possible for everyone to work with the age group of their choice. There are so many things that must be considered. Each room needs male and female staff. Some people's strengths and weaknesses indicate that they will be more or less suitable with particular age groups. There is previous experience to take into account. We cannot have all the really capable people working with the same age group. Weaker candidates must be paired with stronger ones so that someone sufficiently capable to take responsibility in case of emergency is always available. Every team must be able to meet the needs of the children in their care. We spent the whole day today moving about photographs of the students on the boardroom table, putting together the best teams that we could to staff the baby, toddler 3-4s, 4-5s and 5-6s. I do hope that everyone will be satisfied with our decisions. Of course the teams will not be set in stone. If students are really unhappy we shall be able to consider moving them. We shall need some flexibility as no student can do all their practical tasks with the same age of children. Each will have to show experience with babies, toddlers and the older groups.
It seems that there will be some unavoidable delays before the Children's Centre can be opened. Apparently some vital parts of the roof are in South Africa. Obtaining sufficient diesel and cement are persistent problems. There is a problem with the steel staircase that will link the North, multi-agency building with the South, Day Care building. The playgrounds will need to be landscaped; children cannot play in a building site. Much effort, incentive schemes of one kind or another, hard work and high aspirations are in evidence, but this is not the best time in the political history of Malawi and it seems that if the job is to be done properly some delay is inevitable. We must be patient. It is more important that the Children's Centre should be safe and of a high standard than it is to be open by a particular date. We have promised the students that we shall let them know a definite date by 31 August when they will hear the results of their interviews and the details of the placements they will be offered.
It seems to be a good idea to offer further free training to the students during any intervening period. So far suggestions for short courses include:
- Working with children with special needs
- Managing working relationships, team-working, dealing with conflict
- Basic ICT skills
- ICT for young children
- Art activities for babies, toddlers and young children
- Making maths boxes
- Encouraging outdoor play
- Themes and planning
Let us hope that the delay is not so great that we have time to do them all!
David and I still have a considerable job to do in putting together the practical assessment tasks. Only about a quarter of them are drafted and we need to get our heads together over the rest. Perhaps we shall need to actually do a few of them ourselves and make sure they work properly. We need to devise some kind of workbook for the students to keep all the tasks together and organised. So it will be 'busy, busy, busy' in the next few weeks.
We look forward to welcoming new folk to Mitsidi in the near future. Tony Smith is due to return this week, so is Sarah who will be Care Manager from now until Christmas. There is Marc who is to teach at St James' Primary School, Hugh an engineer who will replace Melvin who goes home in a couple of weeks, and Linda who will be working in the Finance Department. In a month or so they will be followed by the first of our Room Leaders for the Children's Centre. The Franciscan Father who wrote the Beehive song is expected for a return visit very soon. So it is all-change at Mitsidi again. Melvin has an American friend called Barbara visiting at the moment and I am looking forward to welcoming my sister Annie, and my friend Linda on 3 September, so there is plenty of company coming up! It's going to be good!
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