PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF SCHOOL MANAGEMENT

Philippine School Management

Methodologies

Reported by:

Hanna Shen S. de Ocampo

MAED Student
"Every school need to have systems that help
create the conditions for staff and students to
work effectively together.
School systems provide simple,
clear goals and effective
processes to effectively
communicate the ground rules for
everyone.
They ensure a measure of
consistency in approach and
action across the school".
These practical guide is for first-time and recently
appointed principals to have an insight of global school
management system methodologies,

aligned to Department of
Education in the Philippines
to adopt and apply it in
school leadership across
school systems on a day-to-
day basis.
School Management
School management refers to the administration of a school
to provide the condition for staff, teachers and students to
work in the most efficient way possible , maximizing the
utilization of available resources.
Education in the Philippines is
managed and regulated by
the Department of Education,
referred to as the DepEd.
The DepEd uses a School Based
Management system that governs
the Philippine education system,
including the curriculum used and
the allocation of funds.
 Resource Management
The efficient and effective deployment of an organization's
resources in the most efficient way possible , maximizing the
utilization of available resources to achieve organization goals.
Such resources may include tangible resources such as

It can also include ideas assigned to task that adds Ideas…

value. These include… ..
 In the past resource management, a key issue has been
how to improve or re-engineer the internal school process as
a whole to add value through school effectiveness.

The answer:-
a new trend in school management,
-knowledge based with empowerment
to its internal process to maximize
its resources for operation and
continuous development in
management, teaching & learning,
within the new changing 21st century
that adds value

SBM, a key component of Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda or BESRA.

Value added in Education
-is the quantification of a student's progress during different stage
of his/her education.
It is measured by quantifying the input (entry point) over output
score (performance) and comparing the results from previous
to evaluate the progress made.

EFFECTIVE

Student performance
improves when compared
to the entry point
ADDED VALUES IN
STUDENT OUTCOMES
In the past, schools system were
managed by the state and the
districts. Now the trend is for
individual schools to make their
own decisions and policies within
the boundary of the Department
of Education.

School Based Management- a strategy to decentralize

decision-making authority to the individual school site
of which devolution of authority is the fundamental concept.
 School-based management (SBM)
-the decentralization of decision-
making authority from state and
district (central, regional, division)
levels down to the school level.
Responsibility and school operations
is transferred to principals, teachers,
parents, sometimes students, and
other school community members with
the intent to unite.

The school, however, have to conform to, or operate,

within a set of centrally determined Policies.
WHILE THE OBJECTIVES ARE TO
1.Empower school heads
to lead their teachers and
students through reforms
that leads to higher
SBM
learning outcomes
OBJECTIVES
4.Integrate School
management and
instructional
reformation for the
school effectiveness
2.Bring resources including funds,
down to the control of schools to
spur change in line with
decentralization
3.Strengthens partnership
with communities as well as
local government units to
invest time, money and effort
in making the school a better
place to learn
SBM reform for successful practice
A need in paradigm shift in education governance, from being
school-centered to community- and child- (learner) centered and
towards enhancing the principle of shared governance to support
the stewardship of children’s learning outcomes.

It is also imperative in the review and refinement of SBM to account

for the evidence of successful practices. Conclusive findings
suggest that the reforms in education governance systems must be
linked tightly with the changes in curriculum and instruction.
Thus, the inception of K to 12 must be integrated
in the organizational change.
 INPUT PROCESS
(What comes into the system?) (What is done with the inputs?)

Finance School cult ure

Physical Property Motivation level
Student readiness Instruction
Teacher ability Learning Time
Parental Support Leadership

OUTPUT
(What is the effect of process?, and How much?)

Student Achievement
 INPUT
INPUT in Managing School
Resources are
(What comes into the system?)

Finance
Physical Property
Student readiness
Teacher ability
Parental Support
SCHOOL BASED RESOURCES provides information
about school finances and resourcing.
It covers:
 Annual School Budget
aligned with the Annual
Improvement Plan
Attainment of school targets
and desired learning outcomes
Manages and controls funds
with minimal fiscal authority/
autonomy
Funds allocation with utilization and disbursement
Recording, reporting and accountability
Sourcing general financial information
Available in Dimension of School-Based Management
(BESRA) under SCHOOL BASED RESOURCES

This sets out the way schools

are resourced and includes
associated regulations and
processes.
This guide contains useful information on understanding
school property.
It covers:
Property plans
School property policies and
procedures
Departments’s guideline to
property and health and safety
Property management
Property and its relationship
to achievement strategies.
Student Readiness is a student's current
understanding and knowledge towards a unit or
topic of study.
The potential to
learn is influenced
by our prior
knowledge and
connection to the
new material.
 Student Readiness
The K to 12 Program
Aims to provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills,
develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary
education, middle-level skills development, employment, and
entrepreneurship.
Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education comprising
 6 years Primary Education,
 4 years Junior High School and
 2 years Senior High School (SHS)
INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS requires that Teachers are
trained, aware of their rights and responsibilities and apply
their knowledge acquired from attending trainings.
Teachers are trained on curriculum

content and pedagogy

Are aware of their rights and
responsibilities as primary
stakeholders

Teachers
Apply knowledge, process skills
and instructional innovations
acquired from participation in
trainings
INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS mentioned that
Parents assume responsibilities as partners in the
learning process
 Process

‘PROCESS’ in Managing School Resources

are
(What is done with the INPUTS?)
School culture
Motivation level
Instruction
Learning Time
Leadership
"Principals who focus on the school culture on
enhancing learning and teaching:

-build distributed leadership

networks that secure commitment
and responsibility for continued
improvement through all levels of
the school
-challenge and modify values and
traditions which are not in
students’ best interests.”
Engagement and attendance:
Such strategies can be viewed as 'pull factors', working
to retain or increase engagement in learning.
Promotion of the school as a
supportive and caring place is
commonly at the core of
strategies to strengthen
engagement.
The nature of teaching and
learning is being included in
strategies to reduce absence
levels.
Engagement and attendance: beyond data collection
Non-attendance does not go away. Students may leave,
but the issue remains visible in school attendance records.

'In-school' or 'school-based'
factors offer the best starting
points for principals and
teachers to apply strategies
to reduce non-attendance.
Instruction
Instruction
•Transformation – takes place when school culture permits
•Create a culture to sustain Change.
• Framework – well defined process for culture of excellence and
continuous Improvement
4 PDCA stages:
How to do it?
1.Plan- gather and analyze data
to determine priorities,
-explore possible solutions
and assess readiness for
Change.
2.Do-Implement plan, create and
communicate Improvement.
3.Check-monitor and adjust.
4.Act-realign and correct
outcome back to Plan
 Lesson study
Introduced in Japan around the 1870s.
-case analysis on practice of lessons, to aid development of teachers
to learn from each other on real practices at classroom.
-three parts: Plan, Observe and Reflect

Plan, one or group of teachers plan a lesson;

Observe, one teacher conducts a lesson based on the plan and
colleagues observe the lesson;
Reflect , teachers reflect on the observed lesson together
 Learning Time
Presence and absence: -the administrative requirements
A good attendance system needs to be in place to support
quality learning. Good attendance systems help create
conditions for staff and students to work together
effectively.

In such a system, simple, clear

goals and effective procedures
are known and expected by all.
Directions, regulations, and
practices for managing student
attendance are well-defined and
available online.
Learning Time
Your school: attendance as it is now
Principals who use management systems to support and
enhance student learning: know effective management
practice and systems, use them, prioritize and select
targeted areas for improvement,:-
use evidence to monitor progress,
plan, and manage change
delegate the running of systems to
appropriate staff
establish contingency strategies for
when unseen circumstances arise
analyse the attendance data to
understand school patterns.
Learning Time
Directions, regulations, and practices for managing student
attendance.
Use the Student Attendance collection as

the source for regulations and guidelines

for in-school actions.

(Within the Student Attendance collection,
refer to the Guidelines in DepEd for Schools

to give you a clear picture of the legal

requirements and expectations.)
Keep up to date about attendance
regulations.
(electronic registers provides useful policies
Leadership
Leadership model
(Hallinger, 2003)

Framing Commu- Supervising Protecting Promoting

school nicating & evaluating instructional professional
goals school instruction time development
goals
Providing
Coordinating Maintaining
incentives for
curriculum high visibility
learning
Monitoring student Providing incentives
progress for teachers
Successful schools
have a clear sense of direction through
Vision Statement.
–shared sense of direction derived through
a visioning process involving all members
of the school.
Once affirmed, it needs to be able to be
articulated by all.
-when achieved everyone can then align
their efforts behind the vision and by a
process of self-reference and professional
development the school will reach.

Translation into reality

by means of a Teaching framework or
belief system.
Leadership
SBM collaboration with Community Participation
 OUTPUT
OUTPUT in Managing School
Resources are
( What is the effect? and how much? )

STUDENTACHIEVEMENT
The intended Output of the systems-oriented Revised SBM
framework is at the Center, a functionally-literate citizen
who is self-reliant, patriotic, productive and service-oriented.
 1960 &1970 1980’s

Coleman et.al (1966) Brophy & Good, (1986), Sanders

et. al. (1994)
HOW THE WORLD’S BEST PERFORMING SCHOOL SYSTEMS
COMES OUT ON TOP
Students McKinsey & Company Sept 2007 UK
Performance
100 %
90 %

53 %

50 %

37 %

0% Age 8 Age 11 Students’

age
Check with your Department of Education to understand your
School management system, its requirements and regulations.

This guide contains useful information about school & its

systems as practiced.
Check out the board and management responsibilities
under legislation on personnel and employment matters,
industrial policies, and being a good employer.

Employment agreements:
collective and individual
Employment agreements are used
to confirm the conditions of staff
employment. Check the links to all
school collective and individual
agreements
This guide contains useful information about school
employment.
It looks at:
legislation and regulations
payroll
appointing staff
concurrence
individual and team

performance.
Legislation and Regulations
A number of legal requirements and Department of
Education regulations exist for employment. The relevant
legislation is contained in these Act:

Details can be found on the

Department of Education
legislation and regulation
Act for requirements
pertaining to education
practice, including
employment.
 SBM DIMENSION RESPONSDENTS
School Head
Assistant to school head / head Teachers / Teachers /
1. SCHOOL LEADERSHIP Grade chair / Dept head

Parent association representative / Teacher association chair/

Head of student council / Organization
2. INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS
Parent association representative / Teacher association chair
LGU Barangay chair/representative / SGC chair/representative
3. EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDER Chair of any other active groups involved in the school
(eg. NGO’s, Alumni association)

4. SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT School Head

Parent association representative
PROCESS Teacher association chair / Head of student council

5. SCHOOL-BASED School Head

Person in charge of school fund (eg.Budget officer/Supply
RESOURCES Officer) / SGC chair/representative / PTA chair/representativ e
LGU Barangay chair/representative

6. SCHOOL PERFORMANCE School Head

Parent association representative
ACCOUNTABILITY Teacher association chair / Head of student council
SGC chair/representative / LGU Barangay chair/representative
Payroll
Check that your school is using all the staffing it is entitled to.
This list will help you to overview payroll elements.

These regular tasks mean that

your staff will get paid. The
regular arrival of correct pay
ensures that they can meet
their financial commitments.

Even a few dollars missed off a payment or, even worse,

having to wait a fortnight for pay can result in financial
difficulties for people.
Payroll
Confirm:-
the staffing levels determined and paid
for by the Department of Education.
 who is paid directly by the DepEd for
Teachers Salaries (TS).
other staffing determined and paid for
by the board of trustees.
who is paid from the Board Grant (BG).

that the full cost of wages and salaries to be paid for from
BG for the year match with budget expectations.
 that your schools banking staffing processes follow the
pattern you expect.
Payroll
Check:-
the SUE (Staff Usage and
Expenditure) reports to see all your staff
have been paid correctly.
 Their level of pay must fit the
conditions of their employment
agreement.
This includes special allowances,
responsibility payments, and any
adjustments from a previous pay period.
pay adjustments for the next pay period are made before the
'cut-off' time laid down by your pay authority.
Appointing Staff
As an educational leader, you will seek the best appointees
for your school.
Use processes that
ensure new staff
members are able
and ready to help
advance school
development.

Plan the steps in advance that you need to work through

around staff appointments.
Appointing Staff
Identify what sort of appointment, if any, is possible or should
be made. Use curriculum needs, DepEd regulations,
confirmed staffing levels, and board of trustees budget
limitations to help.
Know and use the
school’s advertising and
appointment procedures,
and ensure your
procedures meet the
requirements of the
Collective Employment
Agreements. Use
guidelines to assist.
Appointing Staff
During the selection and appointment process, carefully
check the background and performance of applicants.

Start with registration, contact

all referees, ask searching
questions about capability, and
think of and ask about what
has not been stated on paper
or in an interview.

Be very methodical in building a picture of applicants on

your short list.
Appointing Staff
Know and use the school induction processes to help the
new staff member adapt to the changes involved in a new
place of employment.
Details of appointment
processes and a range of
templates are available from
the Department of Education
on School Employment.

Here, you can understand the annual staffing cycles and

whether you are in a position to offer a teaching position.
What are you going to do?
How staff changes link to leading learning
It is 29 June. A permanent teacher resigned yesterday,
taking effect from end of the month.
(if you are in a primary school) ,she is a composite year 3–4
class, or ( if you are in a secondary school), she is a teacher
of health and physical education
You are lobbied by some staff and your board chair to
immediately advertise the position in the Gazette that closes
at 5.00pm tomorrow.
What are you, as the educational leader, going to do
about this by noon tomorrow?
 Concurrence
The State Services Commissioner, under the State Sector Act
1988 has delegated the authority to the Education Secretary to
agree (grant “concurrence”) to a board of trustees wishing to
provide additional remuneration and other benefits in addition
to those specified in the Individual Employment Agreement
(IEA).
Check with your DepEd on the
employment agreement for this
additional remuneration or
benefits, if applicable.

It is not legal or binding without

the Education Department
concurrence.
Concurrence for additional Remuneration
Additional remuneration or benefit are for the limited
purpose of recognizing and compensating the principal for
the performance of the additional duties or responsibilities.
The additional duties or
responsibilities performed must
be for the benefit of their
school.
Reasons usually considered
an acceptable basis for the
payment of additional
remuneration include (but are
not restricted to) management
of, and responsibility for:
Individual and Team performance
Teacher registration, performance management, and
appraisal are parts of many school scene. They are confirmed
as law in the Education Act and its amendments, and the legal
requirements of the Employment Relations Act.
You must be aware of how
collective or individual
employment agreements
regulate some aspects of
appraisal and performance
according to the legislation of
DepEd regulations and
requirements.
You must follow their requirements.
Individual and Team performance
Increased emphasis on whole staff development has
expanded the importance of finding out how teachers are
performing, sharing teaching practice, and providing and
responding to meaningful teacher development.
A robust staff
appraisal system
will help you to
review how you
approach individual
and team
performance at
your school.
Staff appraisal system
A robust Appraisal system should be able to:
understand the qualities of your staff.
know and be satisfied with staff development processes at
our school.
know from regular reviews how staff development is
progressing and how to formulate teacher development goals
and strategies for the future.
know and understand the processes related to dealing with
teacher competency issues.
prepare to apply those processes to deal with competency
issues.
These sources of information focus on quality teachers,
quality teaching, and staff development:
What are you going to do?
A complaint about teacher performance
During the first month of being a principal, you have fielded
three expressions of concern about Mr Tim, a permanent
teacher, failing to provide his students with quality teaching.
Two of the concerns came from other staff and one is from
a parent you listened to at the latest school get-together.
The word 'concerns' is used because no-one has
specifically used the words 'complaint' or 'competency',
or committed their views to paper.

What are you going to do?

School Head initiates and organize
stakeholders, installing appropriate
SBM system
example school improvement
planning, budgeting and resource
management, staffing, performance
monitoring and reporting
School Head performs fund management
duties
example accounting/book keeping
functions
As principal you are responsible for ensuring the school’s
present and future achievement goals are served by your
school property.
Leadership related to property
involves:
ensuring compliance with
Dept. of Education property
regulations and requirements
resourcing strategically
ensuring a safe, orderly and
supportive environment
using the criteria provided by
the DepEd to efficiently manage
and enhance school property.
The Education Property Policies formally require all 10 Year
Property Plans to to be based on the standardized Building
Condition Assessment methodology and the Modern Learning
Environments (MLE) assessment tool.
Check with your DepEd Property Policies

With support from their contracted

project manager, this process will
enable schools to rank planned
projects into three priority areas:
Priority 1: Health and safety
Priority 2: Essential infrastructure
Priority 3: Modernizing learning
environments to the
core standard
School property policy and procedures
Check to ensure you have the core principles of school
property management, use and development sorted.

Ensure school policies/procedures take

account of the resourcing, school
environment and smart tools leadership
dimensions and their application to each
and every phase of property decision-
making and actions.

Reflect on your property knowledge and skills that it meet the

expectations confirmed by the demands of your 10 years plan
Property Strategy and your school’s achievement goals.
 Property management
Each board manages school property through applying
systematic processes that meet the requirements and
responsibilities defined in the Property Occupancy Document.
These are:
The 10 Year Property Cycle.
General maintenance from the bulk
grant.
Dept. of Education general support,
advice and, in special cases, funding in
times of emergency.
Community support and funding
where locally generated funds provide
for district facilities on the school site.
Dept.’s guideline to property and health and safety
The Dept. of Education’s main focus is on state school
property. Check out the details for Integrated Schools.
Check out its explanation of the
regulations and requirements for
state schools and descriptions of
the processes involved for each
stage of the property management
process.
It is essential ready reference for
all new principals and board
members.
Property and its relationship to achievement strategies.
Capture the view of the school facilities and their use
Find out property needs, safety issues and wish lists:
(If there is a worst classroom in the school go there first)

Discuss classroom
capacity to provide the
setting for meeting
achievement goals with the
teachers and students.
Do this in their space.
 Dimension 5 SCHOOL BASED RESOURCES
The school
 Has an Annual School Budget (ASB)
aligned with the Annual Improvement Plan

(AIP)
 The Annual School Budget (ASB)
resulted in the attainment of school targets

and desired learning outcomes

 The school manages and controls funds

with minimal fiscal authority/ autonomy

targets and desired learning outcomes
The allocation
 Optimally utilized and disbursement of
funds is aligned to SIP/AIP/ASB and
recorded, reported and accounted for
 Teachers’ salaries (TS)
The Principal is responsible for ensuring that the level of
staffing for the school does not exceed the levels confirmed
by the DepEd and that the specific payments to teachers
are correct in terms of employment agreements.
It is important all principals fully understand how this works.

Each teacher should have

an employment file where
pay increases etc. are
located and noted through
a bring-up system.
School funding sources
Aside from funding school property, government money for
state and integrated schools comes in two main 'parcels‘,
paid through generated roll-based formulae. One is salaries
of all teachers, the other is operational funding, commonly
called BG or Bulk Grant. Property funding for capital
works and funding for special
activities come from funds that
are administered through the
Department’s property division.

Community-generated funds collected from fundraising,

donations and parental payments, trusts or fee-paying
students are another source of income for schools.
This guide focuses on the administration of attendance,
attendance levels at your school, and getting beyond the
collection of data.

It covers:
-presence and absence in schools:
-the administrative requirements
-your school attendance as it is now
-analyzing the data
- engagement and attendance
- getting beyond just data collection.
Dealing with poor attendance
Put in place a school-wide attendance focus
Put in place a school-wide attendance focus as part of
your school’s learning strategy to have a daily recording of
attendance that provides accurate and timely summaries
every week.
use the attendance data
across a range of people
(class or form teachers,
deans, senior staff) as a
basis for strengthening
student engagement through
personalized approaches and
systems
 Dealing with poor attendance
Put in place a school-wide attendance focus
Reflect (at least every 6 months)
the attendance issues of concern
to teachers and provide action
based on the day to day data
analysis.
work collaboratively with other
schools and other agencies.
apply absence and truancy procedures fully and consistently.
informed parents regularly about their children’s attendance
weaknesses and ask to play a key role in rectifying them.
Dealing with poor attendance
Emphasize teachers' responsibility for attendance
Reduce in-school variation in attendance: Teachers taking
responsibility for the attendance at their class(es) will
personalize messages to students about any lack of
attendance.
Such action is likely to bring
improvement when combined with
active work on engagement
processes to provide "dynamic
class rooms led rather than ruled
by teachers”
Dealing with poor attendance
Emphasize teachers' responsibility for attendance
Target: Clearly identify those students who are not meeting
school expectations and require teachers to provide a
focus on them.
Such an approach will bring
attendance improvement with
another 5–15 per cent of
students as they respond to a
more personalized education
system.
Dealing with poor attendance
Decisions and actions to deal with poor attendance has to
be based on analysis of the school’s attendance data. A
guide as your school’s engagement in learning strategy:
-put in place a school-wide
attendance focus
-emphasize teachers'
responsibility for attendance
and
-to engage support agencies,

counselors, and other services

Analyzing the data
Take your in-school attendance data for a period, (say the
month of May) and analyze the patterns for girls, boys, different
ethnic groups, year levels, and Mondays and Fridays
Look at the bottom 10 %. What is the impact of their poor attendance on

both, their achievement and school? Compare this with the nationwide
picture.
Identify issues that need consideration – like in-school variations and
truancy.
Provide staff with regular snapshots of absence issues.
What do students think 'poor attendance‘ is? Need for a change
of perspective?
Are you satisfied with your school’s absence record, collection, analysis,

follow-up, and benefits gained from the processes involved?

Analyzing the data
Who has excellent attendance?
•Take the data for those who have excellent attendance and analyze it.
•Provide a report to the staff and board on those who attend well.
•What is done about students with very high levels of attendance?
•Do the characteristics of those students who have excellent
attendance provide any understandings that will help raise the levels of
attendance of others?
•What do students think 'excellent attendance is'?
Your school attendance patterns
•What are the correlations between attendance patterns and student
achievement for specific groups?
•What can you do about altering the present attendance situation?
•Keep these results readily available to assist school decision making and

action.
This guide offers some suggestions that will help you
to: -make the first term a positive one, -avoid major
issues and -develop good processes.
It cov.ers:
Making changes
Getting to know staff
Information on school performance
Building partnerships and networks
Professional advice
Being a teaching principal
Short-term goals
Relationships
Being a new principal

Sharing challenges & rewards

Making the first term a positive one
Starting off well in a school will make all the difference for a
new principal. Tuning in to the culture of the school will be
one of your key tasks when you begin your new job.

Listen, ask, and observe

before acting on any issues.
Check out traditional school
activities.
Become familiar with the
board and community's
expectations of their principal.
 Making changes
Every new principal will make some changes, and your staff
will expect this. Before making a change, make sure everyone
who will be affected knows why and remember that 'winning'
your first challenge is important.
Be considerate in your decision-
making around change.
Some people may raise issues
and want instant answers or
solutions. Premature action
could lead to the very
relationship problem you want to
avoid, so look at the issue
carefully first.
Making changes
Let staff know that you are going to work in this way, but
avoid statements like, “I won’t change anything during my
first term here.” You may miss a good opportunity.

Some issues 'hanging over' from the

previous administration might have
to be dealt with.
Not making any changes may
suggest your tacit acceptance of
situations that could come back to
bite you.
Getting to know staff
Gather information that will help you get to know staff and
learn about the school at the same time.

Organize individual meetings in

their space. This is an opportunity
for a personal connection and to
find out about the school:
What do you value most about
the school?
What needs changing?

Responses to the latter question may be shared as long as

privacy is maintained.
Engage support agencies, counselors, and other services

Participate in district truancy

initiatives and support any local
committee.
Recognize that at intermediate
and secondary school level, the
complexity of working with truants
is often beyond the resources of
your school alone.
Ensure there are means to reintegrate students who have
had lengthy absences so the ‘pull factors’ of school can get
to work.
Getting to know staff
Be visible around the school. Attend school social functions,
even initiate them if nothing is planned.

Showing a personal interest

in staff members is
important.
In this way, they know you
care about them as
individuals, not just as
teachers or support staff.
Information on school performance
Keep information on your school set out in graphs and tables,
and compares your school’s it with collated information for
schools like yours on a number of issues.
You can access from the
appropriate site, with a user name
and password. You can also
access the last 15 years of property
development in your school,
including your current 5-year plan
and maintenance grant.
Have a look at your school’s last annual report, charter,
analysis of variance, and current goals. These will give you
information about the recent priorities and the financial position.
 Building partnerships and networks
Local community will see you as an important person, so work
on developing your profile with them. Use any local events to
make yourself known and demonstrate that you are interested
in what's happening.
In rural areas,
there are many
opportunities for
becoming involved
in local events.
Building partnerships and networks
Principals’ meetings are places to make contact with
colleagues in the schools that yours contributes to, or that
contribute to yours; this includes early childhood if yours is a
primary school.
However, it is your school that
really counts. Your parent
group, board of trustees, PTA,
and any other school groups
are your most important
contacts.

Make the most of these contacts and listen to what they say.
You will build a picture as you do.
Professional advice
Until you find your feet, you might need ongoing support for
everyday management and organizational matters and for
dealing with professional, personnel, or community issues.
Ask for help when you need it.
Your principal colleagues will
respond. Cultivate a relationship
with a valued and trustworthy
colleague who can provide
support.
Everyone needs professional support and advice, especially
in the early stages of principalship..
If you do not have a personal contact who can help you,
contact a local Leadership and Management adviser.
Short-term goals
It is difficult to look too far ahead in a new job, so concentrate
on short-term goals until you have the confidence to start
thinking and planning for the longer-term future of the school.
Relationships
Research and experience make it clear that the vast majority
of problems in schools occur as a result of a breakdown in
relationships.
As a new principal, one of your
most important tasks is to build
good relationships and help to
ensure that those of staff,
board, parents, and students
are working well too.

Make sure you deliver on what you promise, and avoid

statements like “at my last school …".
 Being a new Principal
Sharing challenges & rewards