The Self-Managing School

Brian J. Caldwell, Jim M. Spinks

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2005
• eBook ISBN: 9781135388935
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Offers a model for self-management based on research in effective schools. Guidelines and illustrations based on successful adoption are offered throughout. The aim is quality in education, with the beneficiary being the pupil.

Part B
The Process of Collaborative School Management

5
The Process at Work

This chapter contains a description of collaborative management at work in a school where the policy group is a school council consisting of a chairperson; ten members of the school community; ten members of staff, including the principal (head teacher); and four secondary students, two from Grade 9 and two from Grade 10. In keeping with the usual pattern, programme teams consist entirely of school staff members. Examples are used to illustrate the process at various points in the Collaborative School Management Cycle. These examples are taken from Rosebery District High School.

A description of the setting will be helpful at this point. The township of Rosebery is located on the west coast of Tasmania. The town has developed in conjunction with the mining industry. The school of some 600 students serves not only Rosebery but also the neighbouring Hydro-Electric Commission village of Tullah and the mining town of Zeehan. The school is referred to as a K-10 school as students are enrolled at the age of four years in kindergarten and continue through until the fourth year of high school, year 10. Approximately one-half of the students are of primary age, the other half being of high school age.

At Rosebery there was no conscious decision to adopt or implement Collaborative School Management. An approach to school management evolved over a seven-year period that eventually resulted in the process described in this book. This evolution occurred as the school and community endeavoured to address three major concerns that were evident in 1977. The first of these concerns was a strong desire by the community and staff to be involved in school management. This desire had arisen from problems within the school resulting from new mining developments and subsequent expansion of the mine and town. The school building and planning programme was at first not sufficient to meet the new situation and consequently there was dissatisfaction on the part of all involved.

The second major concern was related to the nature of the curriculum and its suitability to the Rosebery students. Today this idea is expressed as ‘the relevance of the curriculum’. Rosebery is an isolated town and the climate is wet and cold. These factors, together with the problems of overcrowding in the school and in teachers’ residences and hostels, meant that the school suffered a very high turnover of teachers. Consequently the school was unable to carefully plan courses that were always best suited to students. The curriculum content, of necessity, often reflected the background and experiences of staff rather than the needs of students. Obviously this was a further cause of dissatisfaction.

The third major concern related more to how the school operated as a part of the state system rather than to local problems. Circumstances dictated that systematic planning was impossible because the school never knew early enough, or at one particular time, what resources would be available in any one year. Staff were always being required to plan for some particular quantity and type of resource without knowing the whole situation. On this basis, planning for resources tended to be ‘spending’ instead of developing plans related to policies and identifying the resources those plans would require. It was also evident that this piecemeal approach to planning and budgeting was not only less than totally effective but an inefficient use of staff time.

In addressing these concerns a collaborative management style was developed which is now well established. This has enabled the development of clear, concise policy statements on important issues, including the curriculum. These policies are developed by collaboration of the staff and school community, thus ensuring relevance and commitment. These policies provide the school staff with a framework for programme planning which leads to the identification of the resources required within programmes. This information forms the basis for the school budget which is then approved by the council if it considers that the budget reflects established policies and priorities. What follows is an outline of the process through which this policy-making, planning and related budgeting occurs.

It is important to realise that Collaborative School Management is cyclical in nature and that the cycle is based on a school year which, in Tasmania, commences in February and concludes in December. It is advisable, therefore, to establish a timetable of events for each year that clearly identifies the actual tasks, those responsible for each task, and the deadline for completion of each task. In this way there can be no misunderstanding by the staff and council members concerned. Figure 5.1 contains the timetable used to prepare the 1985 programme plans and budgets at Rosebery. It should be noted that most of the policy-making and planning occurred during 1984. Each of these tasks will now be considered in some detail, and particular attention given to the roles of the policy group (council) and programme teams (school staff).

Figure 5.1 Timetable for preparation of 1985 programme plans and budgets at Rosebery District High School (school year is February-December)

	Task	Responsibitty	Completion
1	Brniftlne policy up to date	Council	1/6/84
2	Determination of projected enrolments	Principal	21/6/84
3	Identification of programmes and allocation of responsibility	Principal and senior staff	21/6/81
4	Identification and estimation of resources	Principal	21/6/84
5	Preparation of proposed plans and budgets	Programme teams	23/7/84
6	Preparation of summaries of proposed programme budgets	Principal	30/7/84
7	Reconciliation of proposed plans andbudgets with estimated resource revence	Senior staff	9/8/84
8	Adjustment of programme plans and budgets	Programme teams	23/H/H4
9	Preparation of summaries of programme budgets	Principal	30/8/84
10	Presentation of programme plans and budgets to school council	Principal	30/8/84
11	Budget approval	Council	Ocl-Nov 1984
12	Refinement of budget m light of first enrolments' effect on actual revenue	Principal and senior stall	February 1985
13	Ordering procedures	Programme teams	Ongoing
14	Accounting process	Bursar	Ongoing
15	Evaluation of programmes	Council and programme teams	Late 1985
16	Consideration of programme evaluation	Council	Early 19S6

Tasks in Collaborative School Management at Rosebery

Policy-making and the setting of priorities

Policy-making is the primary role of the school council. It is a continuing role because a set of policies can never be established for all time. However, it is necessary at some point for the council to pass to the head teacher and staff a set of policies to serve as the basis for planning for the next school year. Chapter 3 included an outline of the way in which policies concerning substantive issues are based on the philosophy of the school, goals to be achieved and identified needs. The policy on any particular issue states the purposes to be achieved and the broad guidelines by which those purposes can be achieved in a one-page, jargon-free format. The documenting of policies is a lengthy process, but once a set of policies has been established, the work of changing policies in line with new developments or emerging needs is easily accomplished by the council, using techniques described in chapters 6 to 11.

The school council, as the policy group, has the additional task of establishing some priority among policies. This is to aid the later allocation of resources, especially if resources available are insufficient to meet all identified needs. It is unrealistic to expect that all the policies of a school can be placed in an order of priority by the council. Most people may agree that language development should be first in the order but...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Part A: A Framework for Self-Management
• Part B: The Process of Collaborative School Management
• Part C: Making It Work
• Notes and References
• Appendix
• Index