How to manage a broken school

Tshwarelo Hosia | Monday May 29, 2023 06:00

At the policy level the system of education requires a data-driven human resource deployment plan. This is the one key element missing link, which if well taken care of, can kick-start a sustainable school turnaround game plan. This is to underscore the fact that the human element constitutes a kingpin in the quest for improved learning outcomes. It must be stated categorically that all broken schools are redeemable and therefore can be saved. However, there is one condition which must be met. All schools must be managed and managed well. Which principal can manage which school? Can principals at the stroke of a pen simply switch from one school to another willy-nilly? The question of deployment of school leaders is critical and must be given due diligence and attention.

There are three types of schools in the country. These are: chronically low achieving, mediocre (average achievers) and high performing schools. Chronically low achieving schools are many and mainly are located in the rural underdeveloped areas. Deployment of school leaders should take into consideration the nature of the school. The crème de la crème should be deployed in the chronically low achieving areas in order to give those schools a good chance for redemption. And additional incentives should be awarded to those patriots who selflessly agree to serve with loyalty and distinction in adverse work environments. Leaders make the impossible possible. Taking cognisant of this, schools skating on thin ice in particular must be placed under the care of capable hands, carefully identified through robust and watertight selection criteria. No two schools are the same and as such schools have varying degrees of challenges. This clearly renders obsolete and nonsensical a system of indiscriminate rotation and deployment of school principals between schools and across levels. When a leadership vacuum (vacancy) is created in a school, any replacement contemplated should be preceded by deep exercise of data processing intended to yield appropriate deployment of the right leader in the right institution. Data-driven resource allocations not least deployment of school managers should gain currency in the education system. The system must first think data before any action can be taken. Data should be processed not only to identify failing institutions but also to work out and calculate appropriate interventions. A school leadership deployment strategy should be a water tight agenda not easily influenced by power struggles, whims and practitioner wishes. This means a proper and data-driven leadership deployment plan should take into cognisance peculiar and unique circumstances of each and every school.

The speed with which a school gets out of the doldrums rests on quality of the principalship. Besides getting the policy environment right, it is equally important to fashion a practice environment to meet and satisfy priorities. A principal is essentially the architect of a practice environment (what actually happens in a school); whereas policy may be an imposition from outside but how well teachers are executing their teaching duties rests with school leaders. Essentially getting the practice environment correct in a school context means fine tuning instructional practices and aligning the budget with priorities. The use of resources in schools is far from optimal. This is a concern and it is the duty of every principal to address this concern adequately. Some schools are sitting on some critical resources, which if optimally used, can alter the performance trajectory of learning institutions. Despite a justified call for improved provision of resources, there are questions regarding utilisation of libraries, ICT gadgets and even deployment of staff.

Inappropriate deployment of staff can ruin a school. The degree of utilisation of resources depends on the quality of leadership. Two schools which may be having almost the same resource endowment (critical teaching and learning inputs such as teachers, books, classrooms and laboratories ), may not necessarily experience the same fate in terms of learning outcomes.

The one school may be a high achiever while the other may be struggling to achieve good learning outcomes. Clear availability of resources may not in and of itself guarantee improved student learning outcomes. Success hinges on how the leadership channels resources towards creating a rich and learner centred teaching and learning environment. Schools led by extra ordinary leaders will always distinguish themselves from those managed by mediocre leadership. In the same token, utilisation of budget allocations differs from one school to the other. Again the calibre of leadership determines how well or badly finances are deployed.

One cannot fault school leaders for faltering in this critical area. In any case with or without a budget, all schools will get their share of the budget anyway. Professor Jaap Kuiper in his study on low achievement levels in secondary schools in Botswana contends that finances do not seem to play a significant role in learning outcomes. He further contends that budget allocations are based on the one-size-fits-all principle rather than peculiar and specific requests of individual schools. The challenge is that there appears to be no deliberate plan to ground school leaders on matters of finance and how to align the budget with priorities. Therefore it is not much of a surprise that the question of budgeting is not given the serious attention it deserves in many institutions.

A budget it would seem is crafted and produced for compliance purposes. The situation is compounded by the fact there are no serious consequences for non-compliance with the budget plan or returning unused funds to the treasury. However, there are school leaders, to their credit, who continue to use their budget allocations to create a positive climate for teaching and learning. Through improvisation and creativity, some school principals have carried out extensions in staff rooms to accommodate the ever growing population of staff while others have erected work stations to create a conducive work environment for their teachers to plan and mark students’ work. Amidst budget cuts, well governed schools continue to organise excellence awards to motivate top achievers and inspire those struggling to raise the bar.

Properly managed institutions continue to organise in-house in-service professional training to close performance gaps identified. Once again leadership plays a fundamental role in the channelling of resources to the core business. The one thing clear is that it is not necessarily the size of the budget that determines student learning outcomes; rather it is the knowledge of how to align the budget with the purpose of the school.

Essentially this means a well led school will invest heavily in raising the bar in the classroom. All in all it has been established that injecting life into what certainly looks like a lifeless school is never an impossible mission. It takes a courageous and strong willed leadership to instil a fearless posture among the troops and to mobilise all resources at the disposal of a school to fearlessly confront all road blocks smothering progress. Granted, uprooting a deep seated and entrenched culture of negativity and underperformance is no picnic but no problem can withstand the will and courage of a purpose-driven school. There is virtually nothing that can rival the efficacy of the teaching profession. Teachers only require leadership and if led well, they can rise to the occasion to wipe off the culture of negativity and mediocrity presently bedevilling our schools.