Effective School Administration; Best Practice for Head Teachers and Principals

Greetings Steemians, how are you, I hope you are doing well. Let me share this article with you it may some Steemians process positively. Stay with me as I proceed.

1. Introduction

2. Conceptual Definitions

3. Principles of Schools’ Administration

4. Critical Task Areas for School Heads

5. Types of Administration

6. School Management Strategies

7. School Heads’ Effectiveness

8. Summary and Conclusion

Education is the principal instrument for academic progress, social mobilization, political survival and sustainable national development. Investment in education is a necessary condition for the promotion of economic growth and national development. Educational Institutions, including schools are established and managed essentially to achieve these goals and objectives. For educational institutions to meet these ends however, certain mechanism must be put in place towards ensuring the success of these institutions. In the school system, some of the integral pre-requisites for the actualization of educational goals and objectives include; adequate provision of educational resources, maximum utilization of these resources and most importantly efficient management of these resources to avoid wastages and improve the quality of the teaching-learning process in Schools. In the face of apparent constraints on educational resources, their efficient utilization for maximum result need not be overemphasized. This underscores the importance of administration in any organization. Supporting this assertion, Adebayo (2011) posits that there has to be administration in any organization as long as the organization consists of people brought together in an hierarchical set up, making use of tools, equipment, human and material resources, all in the quest of attaining the goals for which the organization was formed. The Administration of a School has the responsibility of harnessing various resources and allocating them effectively to accomplish the general goals of the Institution (NTI, 2006). At the head of the School Administration is the Head Teacher (Primary) and Principal (Secondary). The success or failure of any organization therefore depends on the strength or weakness of its administration. This article therefore examines the concept of School Administration with a view to making them more effective.

Source

For proper understanding of this work, i consider it expedient to preceded this article with an operational definition of key concepts used in the article as follows:

Source
Ejiogu (1995) define administration as a process whereby a leader, by virtue of his formal or informal authority and influence, directs and controls other people in the pursuit of a common goal. It involves the organization of available resources for the attainment of predetermined goals and objectives. Beyond this definition, Sergiovanni (1983) sees administration as consisting of seven related activities of; Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Co-ordinating, Reporting and Budgeting.

This measures the extent to which an organization attain her set goals/objectives

A School is an institution designed for attitude modification and teaching of pupils/students under the guidance of a teacher. It is a place or institution established for the purpose of teaching and learning (Musgrave,1978). The primary purpose of a School is to provide the society with the requisite manpower for development and to enhance the quality of life of the citizenry. Musgrave (1978) summarized the goals of School as an institution of learning to include: cognitive, moral or value, integrative and social mobilization.

Okendu (2012) define School Administration as a process through which resources are mobilized and utilized in educational institution to accomplish the goals of education. It is an activity process that requires expertise and training in educational principles and practice to have an in-depth knowledge of basic classroom management and instructional methods which are the foundation of pupils’ excellence performance.

This denotes the ability of the School Administrator to achieve the goals and objectives of the School.

An efficient School Administration is predicated on the following principles:

1. Creation of a community of learners who are physically and mentally efficient and responsive and with acceptable societal values

2. Teamwork: Both teaching and non-teaching staff must work together as a team

3. Collective decision making and all-inclusive School Administration

4. Administrative procedures and decisions must be consistent with the underlying philosophy of the School and geared towards achieving the goals and objectives of the School

5. Encourage and provide for the professional development and growth of staff: In-service training, Seminars, Conferences, Workshops etc

6. Regular Progress Report to relevant Educational Authorities.

In my next article I'll talk on 4. Critical Task Area for School Heads. I hope this article is useful to Steemians.