Effective School Management

Teacher:_________________
(signature)
Team Leader:_________________
(signature)
Date:____________________

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9 0
EFFECTIVE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
ANNUAL REVIEW STATEMENT
Date of Review Meeting:
Teacher:
Team Leader:
Met
Further development
Objectives
(
o)
(
o)
1.
Yes
2.
Yes
3.
Areas of particular strength (specify)
Areas to be developed
Support and resources to be provided by school (specify)
Teacher’s comments
The content of this record has been agreed by:
Teacher:___________________(signature)
Team Leader:____________________(signature)
Date of receipt of the completed review statement by the teacher:_________

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RECRUITING, EMPLOYING, APPRAISING, DEVELOPING & DISMISSING STAFF
9 1
DISCUSSION TOPIC
How can we ensure that
(1) Appraisals are taken seriously?
(2) They lead to real improvements in the school?
MEETING DEVELOPMENT NEEDS
There are many ways of meeting development needs, and courses, if only
because they are the most obvious, should be the last that we consider. Other
methods are
(1) counselling, coaching and consultancy;
(2) planned reading;
(3) self-development;
(4) projects (e.g. organizing a school event);
(5) change in responsibilities (good for all concerned);
(6) sitting in on meetings (or e.g. being seconded to the Senior Leadership
Team);
(7) producing a research report; and
(8) visits.
THE RE-ENTRY PROBLEM
Individuals emerging from any development programme in which they learn
techniques, behaviours or approaches new to themselves and/or the school
are likely to feel some degree of frustration when they try to apply what they
have been taught. The re-entry problem is particularly apparent after an
intensive programme away from the school. Ex-autocrats who return
determined to be participative managers are often surprised to find that their
subordinates do not respond with ‘Hallelujah’ but are more disposed to say
‘He’s obviously been on a course; how long will this last?’ People feel
uncomfortable if one of the ‘norms’ in their environment appears to change.
They are suspicious. Unfortunately, this response may cause the returned
trainee to doubt the validity of what he or she has learned and the development
effort will have been wasted.
The re-entry problem will be eased if:
(1) Trainees are aware of it, bide their time a little (though not too much!) and
make an effort to discuss their intended change with their team and
involve them in helping to implement it.
(2) The trainee’s superior who, it is hoped, has been a key party to initiating
the development, provides support and counselling on and after re-
entry. This guidance should be a natural consequence of a pre-event

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9 2
EFFECTIVE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
discussion on why the trainee is undertaking the development and a
post-event debriefing. Sadly, these meetings do not always take place
and this is a serious dereliction of managerial duty involving waste of
training investment and demotivation of staff.
GROUP TRAINING
Many of the re-entry problems are overcome if staff are trained in groups or
as a total team, thus creating a common understanding and a ‘critical mass’
for implementing the learning. School managers should be viewing all their
decisions in terms of investment and return; a diagrammatic comparison is
given in Figure 6.4.
In-service training days provide a valuable opportunity to
(1) introduce new concepts to a critical mass of staff;
(2) work through cases and exercises to ensure active learning;
(3) debate the concepts and discuss their application;
(4) make plans to implement; and
(5) plan to review implementation at a specified staff meeting or at the next
in-service day.
A valuable contribution to school effectiveness can be made by going through
such simple exercises as having individuals or departments specify what they
(1) expect from other individuals or departments; and
(2) feel able to offer to other individuals or departments.
This can then be followed by reaching agreement or ‘contracts’ as to how
exactly individuals or departments can improve the service that they provide
to their ‘internal customers’.
Training investment
Individual
Group
Organizational resistance
Critical mass
Frustration
Implementation
Waste
Return