Effective School Management

participants who believe that they are there to take a decision (possibly
forcing it by a majority vote) and others who see the meeting as a vehicle for
giving and receiving information and airing views in order to enable ‘the
boss’ to take his or her own decisions.
Among the possible reasons for holding a meeting are to
(1) take decisions (e.g. on the organization of parents’ evenings, fetes,
curriculum changes);
(2) collect views, information and proposals in order to enable an informed
decision to be taken by an individual (e.g. on a submission to the LEA in
response to a circular);
(3) brief the meeting on, for example, policy;
(4) exchange information (e.g. on the progress of various aspects of a
common project);
(5) generate ideas by use of a ‘brainstorm’,  ‘spidergram’ or other creative
method (these techniques are discussed later in the chapter); and
(6) enquire into the nature and causes of a problem, such as the behaviour of
a particular child or group.
Any one of these purposes is legitimate and it is quite possible that different
agenda items will have different purposes. What is important is that the
purpose of the discussion at any time should be clearly stated and agreed. An
important function of a formal or informal chairperson is to ensure that this is
done, and to ‘remind’ the participants whenever the discussion appears to be
losing relevance. Where there is no chairperson, or where the discussion is

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EFFECTIVE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
straying wildly, any participant can often make a very telling and
constructive contribution simply by asking: ‘What are we trying to achieve?’
Attendance
All that needs to be said here is that attendance should be determined not by
status or convention but by relevance:
• Who has the information we need?
• Who can give a responsible undertaking?
• Who will have to act on the outcome?