The power of school principal

Tshwarelo Hosia | Monday November 28, 2022 06:00

Besides, executing the principal function of providing instructional leadership, school principals shoulder the onerous task of building and sustaining a culture of rapprochement and harmonious relations in their schools.

To render quality service to its students, a school should strive to be an oasis of serenity and tranquility. Unity of mind and purpose is a prerequisite for attainment of improved learning outcomes. Those privileged to manage schools and monitor instruction should optimise all available resources including the human capital by ensuring that their charges pull together as a united front.

However, the stark reality is that no system is perfect. No matter how hard a school system may try to stay clear of trouble, divisive issues and conflicts will always find a way of visiting. If the dynamics of a school environment are not well managed, a school that otherwise could have the potential to accelerate student achievement could easily descend into a battle ground. This is a scenario that should be prevented at all costs or navigated well once it has occurred. The number one priority of a school principal is to minimise unproductive conflicts.

Conflicts are not only powerful distractors but are also energy sapping. A school at war with itself runs the risk of losing focus on issues at the heart of effective instruction: rigour and quality of teacher- student engagement and professional development. It is on account of its potential to derail a school that the issue of dispute resolution should receive sufficient attention. And principals must be seen to be on top of their game in this regard. All school managers should be grounded on matters of grievance procedure, conflict management and resolution of disputes. Conflict resolution should therefore form part of the training of school managers. Alas, a handful of school mangers are adequately trained in this critical area.

It goes without saying that designated middle managers, such as regional directors and education officers (working closely with schools) should equally undergo training in dispute resolution. It is not enough to require them to engage in conflict resolution by virtue of their positions but they must be given the knowledge and skills to do the job. When handling disputes, school principals should be guided in the main by the principle of subsidiarity. This is to say that efforts should be made to resolve and settle disputes at the school level. Most grievances on the part of school teachers should therefore be resolved with the school managers. Problem solving is a very important aspect of effective school governance. A school should avoid acting like a conveyor belt by prematurely inviting external help before thoroughly exploring home brewed solutions. Every school should aspire to be a self-supporting institution and it should be noted that the ability to find amicable solutions internally adds credit to the institution while conferring some degree of autonomy over its own affairs. Schools should enlist the support of the regional office or central ministry only when it is clearly impossible to find a local solution.

Creation of order and peace entails developing a spirit of collaboration and partnership with all stakeholders within the school including teacher trade union activists. One of the positive developments ever to happen in schools, in my view, has been the rise and growth of teacher unionism. I am fully conscious of the fact that some quarters view unions with suspicion. Principally for all intents and purposes, unions exist for a noble cause - to champion the rights of their members. They can be unsettling to managers because of their numerical strength. But they have a duty to bargain and advocate improved conditions of service and recognition of the value of their profession. In addition to their core functions of taking care of their members, unions have also become champions of school reforms geared towards raising academic achievement levels.

Teachers unions in this country have done a sterling job on instructional matters by advocating manageable class sizes while also encouraging their members to exhibit a high degree of professionalism and discipline. In my journey as an education superintendent, I have enjoyed the privilege of working collaboratively with union leaders on matters of staff promotion, professional development and dispute resolution. School principals too stand to gain a lot from cultivating close and cordial working relations with shop stewards deployed in their schools. I am aware of a living example of a top achieving school, which is not shy to attribute its success (partly) to the existence of a rock solid partnership with unions. Judging by the success of the school in question, I have no doubt that if accorded the respect they deserve, union representatives can give more to a school than they would ordinarily do.

One of the highlights of my superintendence work was a visit to the high performing school to meet its management. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the principal had invited the union representative to the meeting, which was supposed to be an exclusive preserve of managers. That was a first and a rare experience in my school supervisory work. And clearly this rare development marked the strength of the mutual respect and peaceful co-existence between the union and management. In this school, the perception that unions are rabble rousers proved to be a thing of the past. The school treated unions as partners and not adversaries. Other principals can take a leaf from this experience. Principals have a duty to minimise conflicts and get all hands on deck. They should channel the energies of their charges including perceived trouble makers to the worthy cause of improving instruction. They should leave no stone unturned in the quest for a school turnaround. Building a network of alliances for purposes of improving student learning outcomes cannot be over emphasised.