Any organization’s success is dependent on the effectiveness of its leader. Much like any other institution or company, schools need strong leadership in order to excel. Schools with strong leadership promote good teaching and high level of learning. Effective school leaders recognize and assume a shared responsibility not only for students’ intellectual and educational development but also for their personal, social, emotional and physical development. Moreover, effective school leaders collaboratively create a vision of success for all leaders and use their skills in communication, cooperation, and community building to ensure that the vision becomes a reality.
What makes an effective leader in education? What can be considered good leadership?
The following qualities can be seen in effective educational leaders:
- Vision for success.
- High expectations for student achievement.
- Build capacity for leadership.
- Demonstrate ethical and moral leadership.
- Nurture and support a learning community.
- Acknowledge and share responsibilities for high academic achievement of all students.
In today’s climate of high expectations, school leaders especially the principals are the focus on improving teaching and learning. They need to be educational visionaries, instructional and curriculum leaders, assessment experts, disciplinarians, community builders, public relations experts, budget analysts, facility managers, special program administrators and expert overseers of legal, contractual and policy mandates and initiatives.
The job requirements sound overwhelming. But they also signal that the field has begun to give overdue recognition to the critical role and mounting demands on school principals. The question is: are present and future principals getting the professional preparation they need to meet them?
Growing consensus on the attributes of effective school principals shows that successful school leaders influence student achievement through two important pathways — the support and development of effective teachers and the implementation of effective organizational processes. This consensus is increasingly reflected in preparation and licensing requirements, which generally subscribe to a set of common expectations for the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of school leaders.
There is evidence that suggests that school heads make a strong impact on student learning. The principal’s abilities are central to the task of building schools that promote powerful teaching and learning for all students.
Recent research has reinforced the critical nature of the principal’s job. Three aspects can be considered essential to the principal’s role:
- Developing a deep understanding of how to support teachers
- Managing the curriculum in ways that promote student learning and
- Developing the ability to transform schools into more effective organizations that foster powerful teaching and learning for all students.
Principals who undergo concept-driven preparation programs that consist of a yearlong and carefully mentored program received higher performance evaluation ratings by supervisors and were perceived by teachers as being more effective in managing their schools, according to a recent study.
Therefore, continuous, career level-appropriate, and seamless professional development is essential to a principal’s progress. Training activities should build on prior learning experiences and continue throughout the stages of a principal’s career. It is therefore important that closer links should be made between teacher preparation, administrator preparation, and administrator professional development in order to provide a continuity of learning experiences framed around the principles of effective teaching and instructional excellence.
Effective resource management is a challenge for any institution.
It is an even tougher feat for schools, which are generally considered not for profit. Operation expenses for school supplies, teachers’ wages, instructional equipment, and the maintenance of classrooms, laboratories, gymnasiums, and other facilities can be steep. School management has to be prudent—and at times, creative—not just to make ends meet but to achieve high educational standards at that.
It is a good thing that management training for school administrators has been more available in recent years. Many school heads are teachers who have been promoted because of outstanding teaching and people skills. Although these skills are important to running a school, it takes so much more to run it effectively. Many academic managers are just that—academic. Very few have undergone management education. Few are conscious about profit-and-loss and other financial matters. Many acknowledge the need to enhance their leadership and managerial skills. Short training courses, such as the Leadership Strategies for School Managers (LESSM), aim to address this need.
The Leadership Strategies for School Managers (LESSM)
The LESSM has been running since 2006 and has benefited hundreds of school administrators nationwide. It features respected education consultants from top institutions such as the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, and the Asian Institute of Management, among others. It covers management issues such as finance, human resource development, and legal policies governing schools.
This 2008, the LESSM adopts the theme School Managers Surviving the Global Crisis in response to the world financial meltdown. The two-day conference aims to make school leaders more aware of the global situation and how they can combat its possible effects on the educational system. To be held on December 5 and 6 at the Ateneo Institute of Social Order, it will cover topics such as Achieving Financial Stability, Meeting Accreditation Standards within a Budget, Strategic Resource Management, Promoting Excellent Instruction on a Tight Budget, Financial Implications of Legal Problems, and School Leadership and its Cost. Dean Roberto Borromeo and Ms. Lilia Vengco of the De La Salle University System; Dr. Cornelia Soto of the Ateneo Education Department; and Prof. Liza Carascal of the U.P. Open University are among the invited resource speakers.
There will also be a brief session on how principals can recreate their professional image for less the cost during the conference. Each session will provide practical how-to’s and bank on actual school management scenarios. For more information on the LESSM, call 927-7770 or 0917-5009099, or log-on to www.educ18.net.
There are many ways a school can cut on cost without appearing cheap or stingy.
Schools can maintain good facilities and give decent teachers’ wages without going bankrupt or making tuition fees so high. The following are some of the ways schools can cut on expenses without compromising its services.
On any operations budget, electricity charges take up a huge chunk. Determine the electricity consumption of the appliances and equipment that your school uses through an energy audit. Find out which equipment use up the most electricity and cut down on any unnecessary use of the equipment.
Take for example the air-conditioner, which uses a lot of electricity.
School heads should come up with guidelines on the use of air-conditioning units. For example, these could only be turned on when at least three people are in the room. Units must also be turned off during lunch breaks and an hour before people leave the office.
Measures could be established on the practice of bringing and plugging in personal equipment such laptops and cell phones and appliances such as radios and coffeemakers in schools. In the United Sates, some schools allow teachers and staff to use personal appliances in the school, for a fee.
Energy-saving measures can be big, such as implementing school-wide week-long breaks or shutdowns during summer or in between semesters, which can lead to one big reduction of bills and expenses. But cost-cutting practices can also be smaller-scale. Turning off the lights of various rooms that are not in use or of hallways that already have enough illumination, using low-wattage lights such as compact fluorescent lights, or, better yet, maximizing natural light to illuminate a room can lead towards a collectively substantial reduction in energy consumption. Asking computer users to make full use of energy-saving features of their equipment can help some more. Some equipment like vending machines refrigerators could be unplugged overnight.
A big part of the school budget also goes to paper, pens, pencils, and other supplies.
Take time to evaluate cheaper but still good-quality alternatives to what your school usually purchases. Give regular reminders to students and faculty members on the economic use of supplies. For example, each student or employee could help by using the econofast mode of printers and both sides of bond papers. This may cut down on ink and paper usage.
Communicate clearly and effectively to the whole school community the reason behind these new belt-tightening measures. School officials must be able to get the cooperation of all members of their community, from teachers to students to staff to parents, in order to effectively implement the changes in policies and procedures. They must be open to dialogues and suggestions in order to ease the anxiety felt by all stakeholders.
School managers can also actively seek out partner schools and organizations, which will allow them to learn other cost-cutting projects that could be applied to their own schools. Seminars and conferences, which provide a good network of contacts for school heads, are an opportunity for them to learn about the budget practices of other schools. Financial limitations are not uncommon in schools. Ideas and different perspectives from other administrators who have been successful in cutting down operation costs can be very helpful during these hard times.
A few years ago, participants of an international convention on education were asked what their priority was for their respective country’s educational system. Most of the attendees said that they want a desktop computer for each student in their country. The Philippines had a more modest goal – just a chair and a writing table for every pupil in public schools.
The government has of course introduced significant improvements recently.
Under the leadership of Department of Education Secretary Jesli Lapus, students’ performance ratings have increased. Resource management in public schools is under closer watch and considerable savings have been made. But much still has to be done. Many public school facilities remain in a sorry state.
Teachers have a common goal: to prepare students to be successful at what they do. But much as they love being part of students’ lives, Filipino teachers simply cannot support their families with their income. It’s no wonder that many of our teachers would rather work in other fields than practice the noble and valuable profession of teaching. Many are now abroad as caregivers, hospital aides, and office workers. Those who choose to remain in the country are opting for call center jobs, which offer above-average salaries.
Both public and private schools find themselves in the same tight fix of losing teachers and declining material resources. While private schools can implement tuition increases to cover their expenses, they can only go so high. Parents, who feel the burden of the weakening economics, cannot afford higher tuition fees. Many have already transferred their children to less expensive private schools and to public schools because of financial limitations.
Some private schools are turning to the government for support.
Through the Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE), students who can no longer afford private school tuition fees but cannot be accommodated by public schools are given financial assistance. Schools that accept students from overpopulated public schools, in turn, receive the Php5,000 subsidy for the students’ tuition.
Insufficient funds due to low enrolment and poor teacher retention are just few of the many troubles that the country’s educational structure faces. And such concerns are what school managers have to deal with every day. It takes sheer determination and strong purpose to manage and maintain a good school even in tough times. School managers need all the help and training they can get.
Competency is important
School administrators need to continuously improve and not be done in by “The Peter Principle” (rising to the level of incompetence). They need to keep ahead of the game.
“For a neophyte middle administrator like me, seminar-workshops would really be a great help to improve my leadership and working relationship with my subordinates,” says Adela Esmaquilan of St. Paul College Pasig.
One program that offers training-seminars to school administrators and educators is the Leadership Strategies for School Managers (LESSM). The LESSM is a series of training sessions specifically designed for school leadership enhancement. It tackles human and legal issues in school management, financial stability, excellent teacher retention, among other topics.
Great Mabuti, a school principal and a LESSM attendee has this to share, “It’s great to know what works and what won’t work in school leadership…”
The LESSM seminar mirrors every school administrator’s work challenges. It provides educators an opportunity to brainstorm with their peers on possible solutions to potential problems in school management. Majority of the participants who have attended the LESSM believe that good school leadership is one of the keys in maintaining effective schools. Such leadership is also vital in cascading a positive influence on teachers. As Mr. Lauro Silapan, an educator from Cebu, puts it, “…it is very important to manage the most important resource – personnel and teachers.”
Motivation is essential in retaining good teachers.
To that, Eric John Ambat, vice-president of Miraculous Medal School, agrees, “A teacher’s role is to bring out the best in every child, it is likewise a challenge to administration to bring out the best in every teacher.” Investing in an educator’s training will promote quality teaching, thus result to dynamic schools. “Setting high expectations would always drive an individual to perform better and set higher goals”, adds Ma. Cristina Elloso of Paref Woodrose School.
Technology can also help lead schools to global excellence. But a survey of 4, 310 public schools conducted by The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) showed two of the major problems in implementing ICT education for instruction are 1) teachers’ fear of the technology and 2) lack of appreciation of school principals to the idea of ICT education.
Educators should believe otherwise, as Jacqueline Lazo of PSA Novaliches says, “One shouldn’t stop learning and should be open to changes and new things.” Educators should equip themselves with the current trends in education. They cannot give what they don’t know and not have.
In spite of economic limitations, there are still educators who remain dedicated to improving the educational system in the country. These school leaders still believe they can make a difference. In their desire to provide students and teachers the best guidance, they invest time, money, and effort to enhance essential skills—communication, management-mindedness, and strategic leadership. For more information on the LESSM, you may call 927-7770 or 0917-5009099, or visit www.aheadpro.com.