This is the way to save our schools

Business Day April 02 2009: Tom Clarke (Headmaster Parktown Boys)

With regard to David Wylde’s article (Future of nation depends on an urgent rescue of schools, March 27), we should focus on our teacher training and recruitment plans, and I would like to add the following to Wylde’s plan.

Reopen our training colleges, and focus on scarce subjects, such as maths, science, English, computers and accounting. The bursary to attend these colleges should be improved by informing potential students before they start their training rather than after, which often disillusions many aspiring student teachers.

Governing bodies are crucial to the success of schools. Where they are functional, give them the autonomy to function with accountability to the community they serve. Where they are not functional, establish a departmental system to do their functions until the elected governing body can be trained and motivated to offer their services without remuneration. Perhaps a new model of school needs to be developed to address this problem of dysfunctional governing bodies.

Ensure that resources, once bought or delivered to schools are looked after. The system of textbook issue and retrieval needs to be reviewed and schools need assistance in ensuring that learners return these books.

Only provide schools with computers etc, once the infrastructure is secured, and that a full-time trained technician is provided to each school to service all computers for both administration and educational use. Spending huge amounts of money on computers and expensive electronic equipment is a waste until the infrastructure and servicing problems are addressed.

Keep politics out of schools.

Focus teacher training and school management on effective and accountable classroom practice.

Get teacher unions to buy in on any plan that focuses on learners’ needs.

Introduce sponsored/subsidised correspondence courses on management for all educators who wish to apply for promotion to management positions.

The management structure at schools should be reviewed in the interests of managing schools more effectively. The outdated practice of giving all the accountability for management and organisation to the principal needs to be addressed. Management of schools needs to refocus on these areas: curriculum (subjects, timetables, teacher requirements, subject choice), assessment practices (continuous assessment, portfolios, projects, tests, exams), extra curricular (culture, sport, leadership, character development), resources (equipment, books, teaching aids), computer administration and e-learning, discipline and student affairs (codes of conduct, grade heads, houses, disciplinary hearings), counseling (interviews, therapy, motivation), public relations with the community, personnel and HR for both educators and service staff (salaries, conditions of service, appointments, staff morale), budgeting and financial controls of income and expenditure (school fee issues, exemptions, financial accountability), grounds and building maintenance (safety, security, renovation, development), registration and admissions.

The principal, as the department representative, should be responsible for the overall leadership of the above, but cannot possibly cope with all these responsibilities alone.

Principals should only be appointed after they have had at least two to three years experience as a deputy principal.

Tom Clarke

Head Master: Parktown Boys

Written By: adrian wales
Date Posted: 6/19/2009
Number of Views: 326

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