Effective School Management

Effective change
Change is an essential function of the managerial role. It may be initiated
from within the school or imposed from without. It may take the form of
making improvements in the way in which we achieve ongoing goals, or we
may have to cope with new goals and challenges.
Over the last thirty-five years, schools have had to carry through a number
of radical reorganizations caused by changes in politics, philosophies and
birth-rates. In the years that lie ahead, the one thing that seems certain is that
the rate of technological and social change will, if anything, accelerate, and
the ability of our pupils to succeed – or, indeed, survive – in a changing
environment will depend on our ability to adapt the content, methods and
ethos of education to the new needs.
Change features strongly in the pages which follow. By definition,
strategic decisions involve change. As managers, we are involving others in
that change, and we need to bear in mind that the following phenomena tend
to come into play, affecting both ourselves and those whom we manage:
‘Not invented here’. Next time you are in a meeting and hear someone propose
a course of action, note carefully how many of the ensuing comments are
positive and how many are negative. (NB ‘Yes, but’s’ count as negative.) The
natural tendency in people is to resist and even resent ideas which are not
their own. The tendency is even stronger if a change is parachuted upon them.
Listen to the comments when a memo from the headteacher is posted on the
staff-room notice-board announcing almost any change – or when yet another
government circular comes round.
‘I haven’t time’. 
Implementing changes always takes time, and teachers’ time
is always in short supply. It is easier to apply a standard solution which has

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EFFECTIVE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
worked in the past, to go over the same ground, to repeat the same syllabus
using the same methods, than it is to prepare and implement a new approach.
However good intentions may be, crises and routine will usually take priority
over preparation for change. The only way to overcome the time barrier may
be to set clearly defined action deadlines. However much time may be given
for these, we will often find that the action is not taken – by ourselves or
others  – until the last minute, when it is promoted to the ‘crisis’ category
because someone is ‘breathing down one’s neck’.
‘A bird in the hand’. Change means risks and unforeseen problems. Will there
be timetable clashes? Will the pupils respond in the way that is hoped? Will
we have the resources to cope? Can we handle the new situation?
Restricted vision. Research has shown that the most important indication of
high management potential and effective managerial performance is the
‘helicopter’ quality – the ability to take the broader view of one’s activities
and to see them in context.
However, we all have a tendency, particularly in times of stress, to move
our sights down a level instead of taking this broad view. Thus we may
(1) jealously conserve the interests of ourselves or our departments instead
of relating to the interests of the total organization; and
(2) take decisions to deal with instant crises and forget that the decision may
create a dangerous precedent which will itself provoke more crises (the
history of management/union relations is littered with catastrophic
short-term expedients).
Problems of reorganization, status, demarcation, authority. As well as consuming
time, such changes are seen by most people as containing ‘threats’. Usually
our first reaction is to concentrate on these threats instead of looking for the
opportunities. A sign of individual confidence and organizational health is
said to lie in the ability to reverse this trend.
Shortage of money.  Change almost always costs money!