Effective Administration in Schools

One of the greatest challenges before most schools, today, is to find an effective administrator who is both an educationist, a public relations officer, a guidance counsellor, a guide, a policy maker and an executioner of various policies that give a positive direction towards the growth and development of any institution. Today, more than ever before, the Executive Head of the school cannot cocoon himself in his office without interacting with students, teachers, parents and the society at large. Interacting with parents helps provide valuable feed back about the parents’ perceptions of what is going on in school! Such feedback however, needs to be taken with a pinch of salt and has to be filtered carefully!

Thus, in an age of transparency, it is important to provide enough information to parents and the society about the policies and decisions being taken to run the school. Many schools have rather prudently set up Parents Teachers Associations, and also Students’ Councils on top of the House system. These associations work as a safety valve to help water down or moderate disagreement between parents and the school Management! It is important to understand that a successful administrator realises that the school works well only as long as there is a working partnership between the students, teachers, parents, the society and the administration.

Effective leadership especially in schools is the result of a judicious mix of strictness kindness, leniency and harshness along with being able to be accessible to all. Another important quality of a good administrator is the ability to delegate work to responsible subordinates. Today, more than ever, it has become the need of the day to delegate work as much as possible! The  centralisation of powers and responsibilities might not work very well where transparency is the by-word! Effective sharing of responsibilities and duties could help make the administration of schools more smooth!

A sound knowledge of different subjects knowledge of computer basics extensive reading of latest educational journal, and awareness of latest trends in education will help the administrator stay in touch with the latest. It goes without saying that a good school administrator should be adaptable to such changes. He should embrace growth and change as a reality. Today, computer based software is being used in preparing result sheets, teaching modules and and interactive classes. Most students of good public schools will have come across the concept of “Smart Classes” which are  innovative and effective in teaching lessons in humanities and sciences.

Last but not least, effective administration is all about effective guidance, leadership, setting of goals and objectives which are realistic, and the ability to handle difficult situations with coolness.

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