Effective School Management

Figure 18.2
Verbal barriers to change (used with permission of Derek Waters)

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EFFECTIVE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
1. The vertical axis
Using a form designed as shown in Figure 18.3, two or more people whose
roles inter-relate or who manage groups that have some interdependence (e.g.
a head of year and a head of department) develop a list of actions, decisions
or activities (e.g. disciplining pupils, recording disciplinary incidents, using
common equipment) and record them on the vertical axis of the form.
2. The horizontal axis
Then, working individually, each person identifies the ‘actors’ who have some
kind of behaviour towards each action or decision, and lists these actors on
the horizontal axis of the form. Actors can include
(1) those directly involved;
(2) those immediately above them in the hierarchy;
(3) groups as well as individuals (e.g. the senior management team); and
(4) people outside as well as inside the organization (e.g. the chair of
governors).
3. Charting behaviours individually
Still working individually, the required behaviour of each actor towards a