STEPS in the right direction

Skills through English for public servants:

A four week intensive, residential course for professional government and non government staff supported by German Technical Cooperation's (GTZ) Performance Improvement Project on behalf of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the British Department for International Development called 'STEPS' was introduced recently.

Over a thousand people have already taken the placement test to see if they qualify for STEPS; more than seven hundred of them will benefit from the programme.

Participants come from the Northern and Eastern provincial Councils, provincial Ministries and Local Authorities, as well as their Central Government counterparts and the NGOs they work with in the North and East.

STEPS is a content-and-language integrated learning programme. The content is governance and development. The language is English. The course targets staff with a pre-intermediate level of English and brings them up one level in their speaking and writing.

There is an emphasis on accuracy as well as fluency which helps learners increase their confidence in the way they use English at work. In the process, capacity is developed in presentation skills, critical thinking, information management, team-building and interpersonal skills.

Course development for sustainability: STEPS was designed, written, piloted and published by an expert materials development team from the GTZ assisted Performance Improvement Project and the British Council Sri Lanka.

Course development included a rigorous quality assurance process, and the products - the Participants'Handbook, Trainer's Notes, Trainer's Resources and trainer-training programme - make STEPS sustainable.

Methodology: The materials, the trainer-training and the courses all embrace the same methodological approach - participatory, task based, learner-centred learning. All those who join the programme are encouraged to develop learner independence in the way they study and work, and to establish this sense of autonomy for their own on-going professional development.

Participants achieve this by activating their critical thinking skills for self assessment, activating their teamwork skills for peer learning, and building networks and support systems.

Meeting the project objectives :The outputs of the course meet several project objectives for strengthening management capacity in the North and East of Sri Lanka. English is used as a leveller and a link language.

The same level in English, the same band on the placement test, is the common denominator which brings participants together. By grouping people under this criteria alone, new combinations and networks become possible. Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims, senior management and support staff, old and young sit down and work together.

In any one class on the STEPS course there is a mix of those from government and civil society, central and provincial structures, urban and rural backgrounds, women and men. New networks are formed, most noticeably between provincial departments and their central government ministries in Colombo , and between local government and their NGO and civil society counterparts in the North and East. Interpersonal skills, teamwork, communication and presentation skills are successfully developed.

Specific sessions on the nature of conflict, conflict in the workplace, and conflict transformation emphasise interpersonal skills while the participatory, task-based, learner-centred approach, integrating project work, team tasks and participant presentations, turn concepts into practical new ways of working.

Management, planning skills and critical thinking are successfully developed. Specific techniques are taught for organising information, expressing opinions, re-drafting text, contextualising meaning, persuading, prioritising, negotiating and using active listening skills.

Tutorials and self evaluations are integrated into the course to provide participants with space for self reflection and development. On a daily basis, critical thinking forms an integral part of teaching and learning, in the thinking and processing tasks which are part of every session on the course.

These include analytical, conceptual and planning tasks as a matter of course. Greater awareness of governance and development issues is achieved. STEPS has four key themes - Economy, Conflict, Human Development and Environment.

The STEPS materials explore some of the underlying issues of these themes to emphasise governance, development, gender equity and conflict transformation. The STEPS materials have extensive background notes for the trainer, enabling them to research the topics further and guide participants in the sessions and towards similar self study in the future.

In addition, the participatory approach allows for 'experts' amongst the participants to come to the fore and share their experience in these fields. The trainer acts as a facilitator and activates the human resources within the group, in a positive management model for the work place. A critical mass of 'change agents' is returned to the work force.

A change is evident in those who follow the STEPS course. They come away with new motivation, a heightened sense of responsibility, an understanding of underlying issues, practical skills that empower them and new ways of problem solving in the work place.

Rather than returning isolated 'changed' individuals to an 'unchanged' environment, in any one department or organisation there are always more than three staff members who have gone on, or will go on a STEPS course. STEPS is more than a step in the right direction. It is a major step forward, supporting development actors in the North and East to strengthen performance in communication skills, management and planning.

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German Technical Cooperation (GTZ)

GTZ is an international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations. For 30 years, it has been providing viable, forward-looking solutions for political, economic, ecological and social development in a globalised world.

GTZ supports complex reform and change processes, often working under difficult conditions. Its corporate objective is to improve people's living conditions on a sustainable basis. GTZ's main client is the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).