“The Philippines is in a better position to face this crisis because of fiscal reforms undertaken by the government in 2005-2006. The impact on domestic financial markets of ongoing global financial stress would have been greater if these reforms had not been in place.” This is according to International Monetary Fund Resident Representative Reza Baqir.
Economic reforms initiated by the government and Filipinos’ innate resiliency are what cushion us from the effects of the ongoing world financial crisis. Amidst news of foreign businesses going bankrupt and of the international stock market in disarray, Filipinos are at the malls shopping for Christmas, eternally hopeful for better days. But can we survive on sheer optimism? How do we know that the global crisis won’t plunge us into deeper poverty? Is our positivism steering us to concrete solutions or are we just drifting, going with the flow, without any direction?
In these critical times, every industry—particularly one as vital and influential as the education sector must be even more cost-conscious and budget-smart. It is a huge challenge for schools to maintain excellent standards while making sure that they have enough resources to go around.
Fortunately, management training that addresses the specific concerns of running an academic institution is now available to school owners, principals, and finance officers. One such program is the or Leadership Strategies for School Managers (LESSM), which has been running since 2006. With the theme “School Managers Surviving the Global Crisis”, the LESSM will tackle finance and management issues 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 Leadership and its Cost on December 5 and 6 at the Ateneo Institute of Social Order. It will feature highly respected resource speakers such as Dean Roberto Borromeo and Ms. Lilia Vengco of the De La Salle University System; Dr. Cornelia Soto of the Ateneo Education Department; Prof. Liza Carascal of the U.P. Open University; and law in education expert Atty. Maritonie Renee Resurreccion.
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.
Student Performance – A Result of School Leadership
The success of any organization lies 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.
Effective Leadership in Education
Effective school leaders share the following qualities:
- They have a vision for success.
- They set high expectations for student achievement
- They build capacity for leadership
- They demonstrate ethical and moral leadership
- They nurture and support a learning community
6. They acknowledge and share responsibilities for high academic achievement of all students What is good leadership made of? In today’s climate of great 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.
A Big Load to Carry
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. But 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.
Evidence suggests that, second only to the influences of classroom instruction, school heads make a strong impact on student learning. Principals’ abilities are central to the task of building schools that promote powerful teaching and learning for all students.
In recent years, research has reinforced the critical nature of the principal’s job, of which there are three aspects:
- 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.
Moving to Improve
Principals who participated in a preparation program that is concept-driven and consisting 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, ongoing, career-staged, 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 leadership.
Equipping Educators for “Battle”
A consensus on the first World Conference on Education held in Thailand 14 years ago states that there could be no development in financial, social, and health terms…”unless the battle for education was won.” 14 years after, has the Philippines won the battle?
In 2008, the Department of Education received a budget of 144 billion pesos, while State-run Universities and Colleges were allocated 19.4 billion pesos through the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
We’ve seen several successful development projects in the public school system recently. Under the leadership of Education Secretary Jesli Lapus, student achievement has increased. Procurement of textbooks, supplies, and equipment are more closely monitored and major savings have been achieved.
There is, of course, still a lot to be done. Many public school facilities remain in a sorry state and 85% of the budget allocated for the salaries may not be enough to encourage Filipino educators to stay put.
Teachers Going Elsewhere
All 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 dwindling funds. While private schools can implement tuition increases to cover their expenses, they can only go so high. Higher tuition fees put off parents, who are feeling the economic crunch. Many have already transferred their children to less expensive private schools and to public schools because of financial constraints.
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 overcrowded public schools, in turn, receive the Php5,000 subsidy for the students’ tuition.
Drop-out rates, insufficient funds, and low 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.
The Quest to Learn
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 must keep ahead of the curve.
“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 programs 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 struggles. 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 problems in implementing ICT education for instruction: teachers’ fear of the technology and lack of appreciation of school principals to the idea of ICT education.
Educators should believe otherwise, as Jacqueline Lazo of PSA Novaliches surmised, “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.
It is a comfort to know that there are still educators who remain dedicated to improving the educational system in the country. Despite economic limitations, 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—leadership, communication, and management-mindedness.
Through these mentors, the battle for education can be won.
For more information on the LESSM, you may call 927-7770 or 0917-5009099, or visit www.aheadpro.com.
Saving Smarts for Schools
Schools can maintain decent facilities and competitive teachers’ wages without going overboard with tuition increases—through a little prudence and creative. Here are few tips on how schools can cut on cost without cutting on quality.
1. Control energy consumption
Electricity bills take up a huge part of the operations budget. 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—equipment that 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 personal appliances such as radios and coffeemakers in schools. In the USA, some schools allow teachers and staff to use personal appliances in the school, but 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 be small as well. 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.
2. Review purchasing practices
Schools use up a lot of 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.
3. Get the cooperation of the whole school
Effectively and clearly communicate 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 smoothly 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. School heads can expand their network of contacts through seminars and conferences, where they get 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 most helpful.