Administrator's Corner
Engage all stakeholders
with authenticity and
purpose
The most important thing to remember
is that everyone must be pulling in
the same direction and share a sense
of urgency to make things happen.
As principal, you need to be explicit
about everyone’s responsibilities and
set clear expectations and boundaries.
Each individual should be able to
explain their key priority – the main
focus in their area of responsibility at
any given point in time – and then be
able to articulate their contribution to
both evaluation and improvement.
Have courage and take
responsibility for getting
things done
It is important to realise that, although
exterior conditions do have an impact,
it is your internal decisions that are
far more important when it comes to
the actions you take and the type of
school you are striving to create. As
principal, your job is simply to take
charge of the school’s self-evaluation,
which requires responsibility, courage
and discipline. Now that you have
ensured that everyone understands
the contribution they are expected to
make to self-evaluation, your job is to
set key targets and milestones that will
allow you, and your senior leaders, to
take the pulse and manage the rhythm
of school improvement.
Create unity and motivate
your team to perform
The successful delivery of your school’s
self-evaluation will depend and rely
on the people who implement the
process. It is very rare that schools do
not have some appropriate processes
in place, but it is much more likely that
they do not have consistent behaviours
among their people. As principal, you
need to understand how to motivate
the different individuals on your teams
and ensure that everyone understands
that successful teams deliver more
than the sum of each individual’s
effort. There will inevitably be times
when it would be quicker for you to
do things yourself but demonstrating
respect and empathy in the workplace
means showing others that their ideas
and opinions are valued. If someone
makes a suggestion it is important
that their voice is heard and that you,
and their colleagues, do not dismiss it
too quickly. Team building is a learned
skill and fundamental to that skill is the
ability to identify the individual’s voice
and ensure that voice is recognised by
the wider group. Develop – what can we do differently
to make sure our self-evaluation
remains fit for purpose?
See obstacles as
challenges and
opportunities to grow Blend all the pieces to
develop sustainable
practices
Having a strategy for school-led self-
evaluation is important but having the
capacity to be flexible and adaptable
when circumstances change is just as
important. There are inevitably times
when the unexpected will occur and
you are faced with giving up or pushing
through – this is where resilience and
perseverance come into play. We already know that self-evaluation
is an ongoing process rather than a
one-off or intermittent event, so how
do we blend all the principles together
to develop and implement a coherent
strategy that creates sustainable self-
evaluation practice in the school?
The speed at which your school will
deliver its self-evaluation is as much
about managing the challenges and
obstacles that get in your way than
aligning performance with targets and
goals. If you have someone on your
team that you know is skilled in an area
you may be lacking, don’t be afraid to
go and ask them for help – remember
everyone has a special talent and skill
looking for an opportunity to shine
and add value.
Despite their hierarchical position
in the school, principals are often
left feeling vulnerable and isolated,
especially when things are not going
well. As principal, you need to accept
that feedback is rarely intended to
insult – even when it may appear blunt
and negative. It is important to learn
to take whatever truth there may be in
the criticism and act to move forward
rather than dwell on it.
• Never give up!
• We often underestimate the time
and amount of effort a goal will take
to achieve.
• Instead of giving up or lowering the
mark, give yourself more time and/
or increase your efforts.
Schools are learning organisations
and, as such, have developed highly
effective systems for reflection, review
and development that are applied
to personalise students’ learning. It
should therefore be a relatively easy
and natural progression to extend
this same philosophy to a school’s
self-evaluation to ensure that it is
truly personalised to the needs of the
school.
Reflect – what is working well and
what is not?
Review – what challenges
obstacles are we facing?
and
• Don’t try to do it alone!
• Keep it simple – prevent yourself and
your school from over-complicating
things to the point of paralysis and
inaction.
• Create a clear and compelling vision
to engage all stakeholders and
make sure they understand their
contribution.
• Break every action up into smaller
pieces until each individual chunk
seems like a manageable task (focus
and plan for one priority).
• Define and articulate the behaviours
you expect from your people.
• Recognise,
acknowledge
celebrate success.
and
• Navigate
obstacles
–
adapt
your approach – learn from your
experience.
Once you have developed your
strategy it will be much easier to
embed effective self-evaluation into
your school’s practice … the next
challenge is to ensure it is sustainable.
This hinges very much on maintaining
the morale and well-being of the
people who have to implement the
practice. Finding the right balance or
combination of work and play in your
school can be a challenge, particularly
when the stakes are high. However, it
is important to step back and build in
time for renewal and recognition to
ensure that everyone is engaged and
feels valued.
School improvement is hard work –
students and families are demanding
– governors expect results yesterday –
regulators expect schools to implement
initiatives overnight. Consequently, as
the accountable school leader, you
must take responsibility for setting and
monitoring the direction and pace of
the school’s self-evaluation by having
a clearly defined strategy.
Class Time
|
|
Jan - Feb 2019
| 09