Guyana

Ministry of Education

Education
Management
Certificate
Course

Self-Development
for
Educational Leaders
Module One
Drive
Developing

Teamwork

Influencing LEADERSHIP Vision

Confidence
Accountability

Commonwealth Secretariat
Modified from
Better Schools
Resource Materials for Headteachers

1
 These materials were prepared co-operatively under the Training and Support
Programme for School Headteachers in Africa in the 1990s. They were adapted and updated
considerably in Guyana in 2000, 2008 and 2019 to meet the needs of the Guyanese
educational context.

Governments in developing Commonwealth countries wishing to reproduce or adapt the

materials in whole or in part in any language should inform the Commonwealth
Secretariat which may be able to offer some assistance in doing so.

For further information, write to the Director of the Education Programme, Commonwealth
Secretariat, London.

COMMONWEALTH SECRETARIAT

Education Programme
Human Resource Development Group
Marlborough House
Pall Mall
London,
United Kingdom
SW1Y 5HX
or
THE DIRECTOR

National Centre for Educational Resource Development, MOE

3, Battery Road
Kingston
Georgetown
Guyana

Prepared for publication by the Materials Production Unit (MPU), National Centre for
Educational Resource Development (NCERD).
Originally designed and formatted by Geoffrey Wadsley.
Updated design and format by NCERD staff in partnership with

© Copyright Commonwealth Secretariat & Ministry of Education, NCERD Guyana 2019

Notes on Assessment
Please note that each unit contains two kinds of activities as follows: e.g.

1. Reflection – You will see these from time to time throughout the booklet in bold
text. You are not required to submit your thoughts on these issues to your
Master Trainer. You may make notes if you wish but they are your own
personal reflections on the issues raised.

2. Activities – These are formal assessments which you will have to submit to
your Master Trainer as part of your portfolio. You should number them in the
same way as the units and carry out the activity as stated.

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Contents
Your first step should be to examine the following list of contents to select the
order you may wish to study the units. At the start of each unit, there is an
introduction and a set of learning outcomes which should enable you to decide
quite quickly whether the material is likely to be of value to you. However,
please remember that the assignment and examinations will be based on the
whole module.

Module 1: Self-Development for Educational Leaders 24 hours

Unit 1: School mission, values and objectives 6 hours

Unit 2: Styles of leadership and management 4 hours
Unit 3: Needs identification 6 hours
Unit 4: Job analysis 4 hours
Unit 5: Time management 4 hours

As could be seem from the above the module is divided into five (5)units.

Unit 1: School mission, values and objectives

In this unit you will learn why and how your school should identify its mission and its value,
and how you may express these in terms of practical objectives.

Unit 2: Styles of leadership and management

Here you will identify various leadership and management styles and how each is likely to
produce different results. This should enable you to reflect on your own approach to school
leadership and how you may improve it.

Unit 3: Needs identification

In planning the development of your school and the activities which you organise there, it is
important you recognise that many groups, in addition to your learners, have expectations a
and needs. In this unit you will learn who these groups are and how you may recognise
their needs.

Unit 4: Job analysis

The purpose of this unit is to enable you to analyse the jobs of those employed within your
school, and to produce clear job descriptions which enable everyone to understand their
own roles and tasks, and the relationships involved.

Unit 5: Time management

Time is the one resource of which we all have the same amount, yet some people
use it far betterthan others. Through this unit you will learn how to make the best use of
your time as a headteacher.

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 Self-Development for
Educational Leaders Module 1

Introduction
We think you will enjoy Module 1. It is self-contained and you should complete the entire
module including the activities.
Schools today are complex organisations to manage. This is due to:
• the difficulties of providing for a wide range of abilities and interests among learners
• the challenges of providing learners with relevant and usable skills for success in an
increasingly complex society.

Overseeing the task of meeting the expanded range

of school objectives and processes is the
headteacher. Thus, while in the past, proficiency and
success in classroom teaching were important criteria
for promotion to headship, today a wider range of
skills is also necessary.

Headships now involve, to a large extent, the function

of leadership. As we suggested at the start of the
general introduction, it is now widely recognised and
agreed that one of the key factors affecting school
effectiveness is the nature and quality of the leadership and management provided by each
headteacher. Therefore, the purpose of this module is to encourage all
headteachers to:
• reflect on what they do and how, why they do it and with what success;
• discover ways in which they themselves might become better leaders and managers
and thus be responsible for the development of more effective schools.
Individual study time: 24 hours
Objectives
After working through this module, you should be able to:
• appreciate the significant role of the mission statement, values and objectives in the
leadership and management of the school;
• formulate a meaningful mission statement as well as a set of values and objectives for
your school;
• devise effective strategies for realising the mission, values and objectives of your school;
• use appropriate styles of leadership and management;
• understand how the needs of the learners, school authority, nation, community, staff,
headteacher and school can be determined;
• conduct useful job analyses;
• manage your time more effectively.

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 School Mission, Values
and Objectives Unit 1
Introduction
The headteacher of a school should play a leading
role in improving the quality of teaching and
learning. As a headteacher, you will appreciate
that it is your duty and responsibility to ensure that
your school is an achieving school, meeting its
objectives in an effective and efficient manner. It is
therefore in your interest to search for ways and
means of improving yourself as a leader and
manager. One way of improving your management
and leadership performance is to clarify the
purposes and directions of your school. These
purposes and directions are normally
communicated in a statement of mission, values and objectives.

The aim of this unit is to explain how to formulate a clear mission as well as a
statement of values and objectives for your school.

Individual study time: 6 hours

Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
• define the terms mission, values and objectives;
• explain the role of clearly defined mission, values and objectives in the
leadership of the school;
• indicate how classroom actions can be derived from a school objective;
• draft a mission statement as well as a set of values and objectives for your
school;
• indicate the importance of communicating the mission, values and objectives to
staff and other stakeholders;
• suggest strategies for realising the mission, values and objectives of your school.

Terminology
Let us clarify the terminology we will use here. There are several terms which are used to
indicate the purpose and direction of a school. Consider the following terms: philosophy,
mission, goals, aims, objectives and targets.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary describes the meaning of the word 'philosophy' in several
ways. One definition is that it is a system of principles for the conduct of life. Such a concept
is useful both for each of us as individuals and for each school. But as the term
'philosophy' may be seen as too complex, an alternative commonly used in the term ‘mission’,
and its expression as a ‘mission statement’. All Guyanese schools must have Mission
Statements.

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The differences between the terms 'goals', ‘aims’, 'objectives' and 'targets' lie mainly in the
degree to which the destination we want to reach is specified. Thus 'goals' and ‘aims’ may
suggest a broad vision, 'targets' an exact position, with 'objectives' somewhere in between.
There is really not much to choose between them, and you should feel free to make your
own choice. Here we will use the term 'aims' to mean a set of statements each of which
provides a clear indication of what the school wishes to achieve, and which together satisfy
the principles included in the mission statement. Objectives are very specific statements
describing positions which will be achieved within an agreed span of time.

Why Prepare Aims and Objectives?

We use objectives to chart and lead the course of our organization. They indicate the kinds
and levels of performance or outputs at which we will aim in order to realise the overarching
goals of the school. The rationale behind their use is that, if we decide in advance, the
outputs that we wish to achieve we can take steps to achieve them and determine if they
are achieved. Therefore, aims and objectives serve as guides to specific actions and
standards for measuring performance. Because of these two roles, they also help motivate
staff to achieve the goals of the school.

Therefore an important role of the headteacher is to:

• devise, in collaboration with the staff, school board and other stakeholders, the aims
and objectives of the school;
• monitor the translation of aims and objectives into appropriate action to meet them.

Kinds of Objectives
Objectives can be classified according to a number of factors. One such is the degree
of immediacy in realising the performance they describe.

General Objectives
Some objectives such as school, year level and unit objectives address performance which
can be realised at the end of an extended programme of teaching and learning, carried on
inside and outside the classroom. These objectives are known as general objectives. Below are
examples of a general objectives.

Table 1. An example of a general objective

School Objective: Learners will have a strong work ethos

Year Five – End-of-Programme Objective Learners will demonstrate competence in
story writing.
Year 1 – End-of-Unit Objective Learners will be able to develop interesting
story lines.

Think about the general steps which need to be taken in order to realise the
behaviour stated in either of the objectives in Table 1.

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To bring about the performance described, we need to gradually develop behaviours, which
serve as building blocks for the realization of the general objective. These behaviours are
stated in what we often term enabling objectives. Thus, in order to prepare learners to
develop interesting story lines, we must first prepare and realise objectives directed at
ensuring that they know what a story line is and how to write a story line.

Learning Objectives
Some objectives provide specific guidance for learning. These are termed learning
objectives. They state not only the exact behaviours which learners must demonstrate but
also the conditions under which they must do so and the criteria for success. Thus, at the
level of a Grade Three lesson, an objective designed to help learners think
creatively could be:

Learning Objective: After listening carefully to the reading of the story, children will
be able to suggest a suitable alternative ending to Jack and the Beanstalk.

By now you would have realised that objectives can be placed on a continuum, ranging from
the general to the specific. At the overall level of the school, objectives address
performance which can be realised at the end of an extended period of study. At the level of
the lesson, they are likely to represent measurable, specific behaviour. Thus, the closer we
get to the level of classroom interaction, the more specific the objective, the more useful the
guidance it is likely to give.

Objectives can also be classified according to the kind of behaviours they address. These
are normally directed at the development for mental, emotional and physical abilities.

Realising Mission, Values and Aims

Collectively, the mission, values and aims represent the purposes of the school.
Realising them requires a series of actions led by the headteacher of the school.

Each headship or leadership approach discussed in this course represents a strategy which
can lead to the achievement of the ultimate purposes of the school. Nevertheless, we will
here consider a few general points which you need to observe if you are to achieve those
purposes.

Strategies for Promoting Mission and Aims

As headteacher, you are a key catalyst in the process of fulfilling the mission and objectives
of the school. A the same time, full understanding of and support for these purposes by
your staff, school board and other stakeholders is important. Therefore, you should:

• involve your staff, School Board and Parent Teachers’ Association(PTA) in the formulation
of these purposes. You should present your draft mission and aims to all of them as
well as to other stakeholders;

• communicate the mission, values and aims to all members of the school community.

• involve staff, PTA, School Board and other stakeholders in determining and
implementing strategies to realise these goals.

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You must also demonstrate your own commitment to the mission and aims because it will
have a positive influence on others in your school. You will also need to provide clarification
and guidance in the process of fulfilling these school goals.

Activity 1.1
Consider your own school. What would you say is the philosophy or mission of
your school? At this stage do not try to write a complete statement.

Comments
In undertaking the above activity, we hope you appreciated that a school mission
should include such things as:

• the promotion in the learners, an interest in learning and the skills needed to
learn;
• the acquisition by the learners of relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes;
• the provision of opportunities for learners to participate in, and contribute to,
their culture;
• a willingness, on the part of the learners and staff, to serve both the school and
the wider community;
• regional and national educational goals.

Values
Your mission statement will be based
upon your own values and those of
your staff as well as Guyana as a
whole. It should be what you want to
pass on to the next generation. Values
are guidelines for behaviour, and they
govern each person's actions and
attitudes. Values are learnt through
experience, education and observation.
It is necessary for the headteacher to
consciously and deliberately plan the
school programmes that promote the
values a society approves and wishes
to uphold.

Activity 1.2
List some of the values you hold and believe your school should seek
to promote. Check whether your initial ideas about your school mission gave
sufficient expression to your values. If you feel there are more values that
could be included, then indicate what they are.

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 Comments
Your list probably included the following values: acceptable behaviour, reliability,
honesty, efficiency, punctuality, diligence, politeness, courtesy, fairness,
self-discipline, tolerance, courage, respect for the dignity of labour, respect for
other people and their property, good sportsmanship, impartiality, perseverance,
respect for legitimate authority, public spiritedness, cleanliness, justice, etc.

As a headteacher, you will almost certainly wish to ensure that the values the
school cherishes pervade all the teaching / learning activities including the
co-curricular ones. In this way the gap between what a school says it does and
what it actually does may be reduced.

School aims
A general statement about a school mission may be explained more fully in terms of aims.
School aims indicate, in fairly specific terms, what the school intends to achieve.

Activity 1.3
1) Does your school have a set of aims?
2) To what extent would you say they are comprehensive and clear?
3) What areas should a set of school objectives cover?

Comments
School aims should take into account the needs of the learners, the staff, the
Community and the nation. Learners' needs include the desire for a complete
education that prepares them for the world of work; the fostering of
creativity to facilitate problem-solving; strengthening their abilities to learn
independently; the provision of a variety of co-curricular activities and opportunities
for them to enjoy and learn about their cultural heritage. Furthermore, learners
need opportunities to develop themselves as individuals; an environment that
encourages them to develop their leadership qualities and inter-personal skills,
within a culture of tolerance.

In addition to the needs of the learners, you need to be sensitive to the critical role that the
members of staff play in achieving school aims. It is, therefore, important for you to ensure
that your school aims address the following:

• The creation of an environment that enables both the learners and the staff of the school
to experience success.
• The provision of sufficient facilities, equipment and materials to facilitate the attainment
of these aims.
• The creation of organisational structures within the school that will allow both learners
and staff to realise their expectations.
• The provision of opportunities for professional growth of the staff.

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 In formulating the aims of the school, it is also important to consider the needs of the
community. These needs include the educational expectations of parents for their children;
the promotion of good citizenship; respect for community values and parental involvement in
school programmes. Furthermore, school aims must reflect the national goals of Guyana
which may include the development of human resources, the promotion of a common
national identity and respect for the dignity of labour.

Fig. 1 below summarises the different needs a school mission statement and aims
should address

Fig. 1 The needs school aims should address

School Mission
Staff Needs Learners Needs

School Aims

Community Needs National Needs

Common Values

Formulating a school mission statement and aims

A school mission statement

Each school must have a statement of its own mission. In designing the statement for your
school, you will need to consult your staff and address the following key questions:

1. What is the purpose of this school? Why are the learners and staff here?
2. What knowledge and skills do our learners need?
3. How does the school identify individual differences, abilities and capacities amongst
the learners, and how does it adjust methods, materials and programmes accordingly
to foster individual development?
4. How does the school provide equality of opportunity for all its members?
5. What are the desired relationships between:
• learners and learners;
• learners and teachers;
• teachers and the headteacher;
• the headteacher and the community?
6. What values does the school seek to promote?
7. How does the school prepare learners to participate fully in the real world?

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Consider your answers to the questions listed above and compare your responses to
the current mission of your school.

Comments
You should discover that your school mission will emerge from a discussion of the
responses to the questions cited above. If you do not already have a school
mission statement, this activity should provide you with a guide as to how you and
your staff may develop an appropriate one, or to reflect on the one you already
have.

Below is a sample mission statement

Mission Statement
The Mission of Crimson Grove Primary School is
to provide a total learning experience designed to equip learners with
the knowledge, skills, competencies and attitudes necessary
for developing themselves into productive citizens, developing their
community and Guyana, coping with change and participaing in
lifelong learning

In Guyanese schools, the Mission Statement and the Aims of the School should be displayed
in a prominent place where all can see them. They are useless, if they are not fully
understood by the whole community and put into practice.

School aims
Having agreed upon your school mission, it becomes necessary to break it down into
objectives that are realistic and achievable. You may find the questions posed below helpful
in formulating a set of aims for your school.

1. What is our school trying to achieve?

2. For whom does our school exist?
3. How is our school trying to achieve its mission?
4. What resources does our school have to achieve its aims?
5. How will we know when we have accomplished our aims?
6. Are our aims realistic and achievable?
7. Do the aims reflect the values of our school?
8. Could our aims be improved?

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 Activity 1.4
Based on your answers to the questions posed above, formulate objectives for
your school. Make sure that they cover all aspects of school life and are clearly and
concisely expressed. Do not make your list too long!

Strategies for promoting selected values

Since a school plays a very crucial role in exposing learners to selected values, the
headteacher and the staff need to devise strategies for promoting them.
Values may be promoted through:
• direct tuition or teaching during lessons;
• a well-designed programme of guidance and counselling; family life
education, education for living or pastoral care;
• the content and conduct of assemblies;
• allowing learners opportunities to develop their leadership qualities;
• ensuring that the school has a focus on learning;
• publicly honouring academic and practical achievement and by stressing their
importance through the appropriate use of symbols, ceremonies, etc;
• exemplary behaviour by the staff.
It is likely that, in the same way as for the formulation of the school mission, you will need to
work with your senior staff on the school objectives, before presenting them for further
discussion to various groups involved with the school.

Consider how values are promoted in your school through the above. Reflect
particularly on the last example.

Review and Evaluation

As the headteacher, you should regularly evaluate the appropriateness and currency of
your school mission and aims. You will need to do this in order to satisfy yourself that they
are:
• realistic, achievable and well-understood by all concerned
• giving direction to the school and staff
• meeting the needs of the school, learners and the community
• being achieved.

Module 6, Monitoring School Effectiveness provides suggestions as to how you may set
about carrying out an evaluation exercise.

Summary
In this unit we have explained the importance of the school mission, values and aims which
should guide all school activities. Furthermore, suggestions on how to formulate and realise
the school mission, values and aims, and the need to review and evaluate them regularly,

12
have been made. As the headteacher, you should ensure that your school has a clear
mission and a set of aims which reflect it.
Self-Assessment Exercise
1. In your own words, define the following terms:
a. school mission
b. school values
c. school aims.
2. Explain the role of the mission, values and aims in the management of the
school.
3. Indicate how you can derive classroom actions from a school aim.
4. Explain why it is important to communicate your school mission, values and
objectives to staff and other stakeholders.

You will probably have some of the following in your answers:-

1. Your definitions should encompass the following ideas.

a) A school mission identifies the philosophy or underlying thrust of the school.

b) School values are a set of principles which guide the behaviour of all staff
and learners of the school.
c) School aims are clearly stated indicators of what the school wishes to
achieve.

2. Together, the mission, values and aims encapsulate the purposes of the
school. Therefore, they guide the headteacher and other leaders in taking
actions to realize school goals.

3. To derive classroom actions from a school aim, the headteacher and staff must
identify - across subjects, years and units - a set of enabling objectives to serve
as building blocks towards the realization of the desired school aim. At the
level of the lesson, the enabling objectives should specify precise behaviours,
thereby clearly indicating actions.

4. It is important to ascertain that staff and other stakeholders are aware of the
school mission, values and aims since people are likely to be more committed
to the realization of goals which they know and understand.

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Styles of Leadership and
Unit 2
Management
Introduction
As we have seen, the headteacher should play a critical and determining role in
achieving the central purpose of a school. Thus, his or her style of leadership is
important since it will affect the school’s tone either positively or adversely.

The extent to which a headteacher succeeds in attaining the school’s objectives and
fulfilling the principles included in the mission statement depends on skilful
development and use of a suitable leadership style. A successful style will depend
largely on the headteacher’s own personality. It will also depend on his or her being
trained to realise that there is a range of ways of working with people.
The aim of this unit is to explain the various styles of leadership that the headteacher
can develop and use. It must be remembered that, although there is a range of styles
and probably only one or two of them will be dominant for a particular headteacher,
he / she must be prepared to use different styles in different situations.
Individual study time: 4 hours
Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit you should be able to:
• explain various styles of leadership;
• identify the strengths and weaknesses of each style;
• describe the circumstances in which various styles of leadership may be best
developed and used;
• match styles of leadership to given situations.

Styles of leadership
For you to be an effective headteacher, knowledge of different styles of management that
may help you to achieve the school objectives will certainly be useful.

Activity 2.1
Read the following list, and use a few words to describe
1) your dominant leadership style
2) the dominant leadership style of your line manager (e.g. the District Education
Officer).
Here are a few words to help you:-
(a) Problem solving
(b) Controlling
(c) Hands on / hands off

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 (d) Participatory
(e) Considerate of organizational and staff concerns.

Comments
No two leaders have exactly the same way of doing things; life would become too
predictable and dull if they did. If a manager is regarded as successful by those whom
he or she is managing as well as by society at large, then perhaps we might excuse
almost any form of leadership style. Although management textbooks may argue for
particular styles, in fact if you study famous leaders from Guyana, you may well find that
they display characteristics of less favoured styles. As you read the following
descriptions, see if you can name people known to you, perhaps through the media, who
fit each description. Note that we have included arguments both for and against each
style.
Autocratic style
An autocratic style involves very little sense of the leader being accountable to anyone. He
or she may do very much what he/she likes. The headteacher who subscribes to this style of
leadership determines school policy alone and assigns duties to staff without consulting
them. Directives are issued and must be carried out without question and in the prescribed
manner.

Where people are coerced, controlled, directed and threatened, individual initiative may be
stifled and self-motivation may be discouraged. In schools, it may lead to low morale
amongst both staff and learners. Low morale may, in turn, become the root cause of strikes,
riots and staff turnover.

On the other hand, an autocratic style may

provide a degree of certainty for those
beneath the leader. They may feel safe
because they do not have to be involved in
solving problems. The autocratic leader
usually has great self-confidence, a clear
vision of what needs to be done, and the
political skills to get things done. Many
great figures in world history have been
autocrats.

Laissez-faire style (literally let-do)

In theory, the headteacher who uses this style of leadership believes that there should be
no rules and regulations since everyone has an ‘inborn sense of responsibility’. Such a
situation may well exist amongst mature, experienced teachers, but how would it work with
new, young teachers fresh from the 'freedom years' of university or college? This style of
management (or maybe mismanagement), where the headteacher sits back and allows
everyone to do as he/she pleases, might lead to anarchy and chaos, which would hardly be
conducive to the provision of quality education.

But as the laissez-faire style is opposite to the autocratic style, many of the criticisms of the
latter become arguments in favour of the [Link], individuals have to think for themselves

15
and individual initiative and hard work may be well rewarded. A laissez-faire environment
may be more creative and fulfilling for those involved.
Democratic style
In this style, the headteacher believes that the staff should be involved in decision-making
processes. Decisions are arrived at after consultation with the staff, and even with the
learners. A democratic style allows freedom of thought and action within the framework of the
mission and objectives of the school.

Available skills and talents can be used optimally through delegation and the promotion of
creativity, a sense of belonging and a higher degree of staff morale.

This style is based on the belief that:

• where people are committed to the service of ideas which they have helped to
frame, they will exercise self control, self direction and be motivated;
• ideas will promote job interest and encourage both staff and learners to set their
own targets and find the best way of achieving them.

But democracy may not always work very well, when, for example, there is a lack of clarity as
to how binding decisions will be reached. For example, in multi-party states where there are
too many parties (or one-party states where there are too many factions), it may be extremely
difficult to reach a consensus. You might also like to consider how a democratic style differs
from a laissez-faire style, and why clear leadership is still essential.

Transactional style
It has been argued that the transactional style may be the most effective style since it seeks a
compromise between stressing organizational demands or goals and individual needs.

The headteacher who subscribes to this style appreciates the need to achieve organizational
goals while at the same time ensuring that the individual needs of staff members are not
ignored. Although the headteacher sticks to the rules and procedures, he/she also aims at
achieving school objectives without upsetting people too much in terms of their needs.

It may sound as though achieving this balance between the needs of the organization and
those of the individual is quite simple. Headteachers have to make decisions like this many
times every day. For example, should Teacher A be allowed time off in order to follow-up on a
personal matter with The Teaching Service Commission (TSC)? Should the money raised by the PTA
be used to purchase more textbooks or to renovate the snackete? Only by analysing many decisions
like this will one be able to see whether one is inclined more towards the needs of the organisaion or
the individuals, or one has achieved a tue balance between them.

Contingency style
The headteacher needs to realise that effectiveness in management depends on being
able to diagnose and adapt to the dynamics of ever-changing situations. A contingency
leadership style is where the headteacher 'rides the waves', or deals with each problem as
it arises.

16
One important function of the headteacher is to communicate effectively to the staff the
philosophy and objectives of the school and thus to gain their commitment to them. As a
result, a useful contingency approach is that of the Path-Goal Model. It states that an
effective manager clarifies the means or paths by which subordinates can achieve both
high performance and job satisfaction. The motivation may be an appropriate reward and a
focusing on paths or behaviours which can lead to successful job completion. This suggests
that if some of the hurdles and barriers to motivation can be removed, a better performance
by subordinates will result. Whatever approach is adopted will depend on individual
employee characteristics (for example, ability, self-confidence and needs) and the task
characteristics (for example, the objectives and targets required).

In more simple terms, this style suggests that because we know that headteachers and
teachers will be faced with problems and issues every day, what we need to plan is how
best to equip them to be able to handle these issues confidently and with a minimum of
stress.

Instructional Style
The key function of a school is learning
and with this style, the headteacher
focuses on the learners and
improving the effectiveness of teachers
in the classroom. It will inevitably involve
a considerable number of lessons
observations and analyses of the work
practices of colleagaes. The headteacher
will monitor the work of the school staff,
evaluate it and, alongside the teachers,
help them to become better at
their work.

Transformational Style
Although similar in some respects to
some of the styles above, the user of this way of working is concerned with capacity building
in the organisation and ensuring that whatever is achieved can be sustained because the
processes have been set up to allow continuous improvement to take place.

Moral Style
Although fairly self explanatory, the user of this style will ensure that there are
strong, shared and disseminated values within the [Link] will almost
certainly have similarities to the democratic style in that the importance of the
individual is paramount.

Managerial Style
Some might describe this style as one used by a headteacher whose purpose is the
efficient achievement of goals. He / she is concerned with the smooth running of the
institution to create an atmosphere where effective development can take place.

17
 Activity 2.2
Consider a representative teacher in your school. You are trying to
improve his or her performance.
1) List some of the hurdles and barriers faced by this teacher.
2) Suggest three (3) actions you could realistically take to enable the teacher to
become more effective in the school.
3) Now consider your answer. Which styles of leadership did you use and why?

Comments
Everyone is faced with hurdles and barriers every day. Perhaps the best thing we
can do is to develop in ourselves and our staff (and the learners) skills to be able to
handle many different types of situations. Thus, developing oral, writing and
interpersonal skills (relating and working with other people) should give us more
confidence to handle difficulties and to be more effective. Of course, you will also
need to help both individual teachers, and the staff as a whole, with personal welfare
and employment matters and in their professional development.

Activity 2.3
Consider yourself and each of the nine leadership styles considered above.
1) For each style give an example of a recent occasion when you have behaved in a
style similar to the description.
2) Place the nine styles in a rank order which reflects your own preferred approach to
leadership. You might compare your answer with those of someone else who has done this
exercise and ask him/her to rate your styles.
3) Get a colleague to tell you what style or styles he/she thinks you display.

Comments
You will probably find that you display elements of each style. It would be wrong to
suggest that any one style is right and another wrong, since each may work in a
particular situation. You might be surprised by the difference between how you
perceive yourself and how others perceive you!

Case Study

Carefully read the case study below:

Jamoon Grove Secondary School

Jamoon Grove Secondary is a Grade A, senior secondary school located in a residential
area of Georgetown. The grounds cover 5 acres in which there are playing fields and a large
three-storeyed L-shaped building.

In the building there are twenty-six (26) classrooms, three (3) science laboratories, three
(3) technical/vocational rooms, a library, a computer room and an administration block which
comprises a general office, the headteacher’s office, staff room and assembly hall.

18
There are forty-seven (47) members on the teaching staff including the headteacher, her
deputy and three (3) Senior Masters/Mistresses (SMs). Sixty per cent (60%) of the staff
are graduates. The remaining staff are trained teachers.

The support staff comprises an administrative officer, two (2) typist clerks, one (1) office
assistant, and five (5) general workers, including a handyman.

The enrolment is seven hundred and fifty (750) and is drawn from the top
performers at the Grade 6 Examination. While the majority of the learners are
from middle- to high-income families, some are from lower-income homes.
Among this latter group are some learners who require assistance to acquire
daily hot meals and basic items of school clothing.

There is a prefect system to assist in the smooth running of the school. They are led by a
Head Boy and Girl and are entrusted with certain duties delegated by the school
management.

The academic week is five (5) days of seven 35-minute periods. The number of periods to be
taught per week for each subject/year group is stipulated by the Ministry of Education.

Every student does a core programme of English Language, Spanish, English Literature,
History, Geography, Mathematics, Integrated Science and Information Technology as well
as one subject from Art, Technical Drawing, Food and Nutrition and Music . There are
substantive Heads of Department for Languages, Mathematics and Science, Social
Studies, Information Technology and Technical Vocational Subjects.

The headteacher expects every staff member and student to participate in the co-curricular
programme by enrolling for one sport and one club option. Sport options include Cricket,
Football, Volleyball, Basketball, Badminton, Table Tennis, Athletics and Netball. Club
options include Music, Chess, Debate, Drama, Art, Science, Bible and Gymnastics. Sports
practices are held on two afternoons each week while clubs meet once per week. Inter-
school fixtures for athletics occur once per year but inter-school competitions in other sports
vary in regularity.

Assembly for the whole school is held daily in the hall and conducted by the headteacher or
Deputy headteacher, both of whom enter the hall after the staff and learners are
assembled. Attendance is compulsory for all.

19
 Activity 2.4
Many management decisions are needed to ensure that Jamoon Grove
Secondary School runs smoothly and effectively:
1) Which style of leadership would you use to arrive at decisions on the following
components of decision-making in the school?
• the timetable;
• the co-curricular programmes;
• a fire in one of the laboratories;
• homework policies;
• the prefects’ duties;
• transport problems.
2) Why would you use the particular style you have selected in each case?

Comments
We are not going to suggest a particular answer here, since the answers will vary
with the initiative and the personality of the individual. In all of these areas clear policies
are needed. The way in which you decide to form them will depend on such factors
as:
• your own expertise in each area;
• the extent to which other people (whether individuals or groups) have a vested
interest in the policy;
• the level of expertise of these people and their ability to communicate effectively;
• the degree of urgency of the task.

Summary
From the above discussion and activities on Leadership Styles, you should now be able to
see that no single style can solve or be a cure for all problems arising in management
situations. Problems do not arise so much from a 'bad' style of leadership but rather from
the wrong choice of style for that occasion. Success in the leadership of a school by a
headteacher will be more certainly assured if the appropriate style of leadership for a
particular situation is used.

20
Needs Analysis Unit 3
Introduction
In your central role as Headteacher of your school you need to be clear in your mind about
which factors will most likely result in the greatest success for the institution. One of the key
factors will be the clarity of your understanding of the various needs and requirements of the
different sections or groups that make up the school. This clarity will depend on your under-
standing of your position in the school community.

The aim of this unit is to assist you, as the Headteacher, in the difficult task of identifying the
needs of the school. To enable you to do this, you first should be able to identify the needs
of the various components which, together, make up the sum total of the school's needs.
Individual study time: 6 hours
Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit you should be able to:
• explain the meaning of term “Needs Analysis”;
• identify the various sections or groups whose needs constitute the needs of the school
overall;
• identify the needs of each of these groups and relate them to the school's overall needs;
• suggest strategies that you could utilise to identify the needs of these groups;
• attempt to work out evaluation strategies that can be used to check whether the various
needs have been adequately identified and satisfied.

Terminology
Consider the meaning of the title of this unit ‘needs analysis’ and briefly explain
what you understand by it and the implications of carrying it out.

Comments
In considering the above activity you may have looked up in a dictionary where
various meanings of the root words 'need' and 'analysis' and their derivatives are
given. The remarks made in the introduction to this unit may also have helped.

Thus, you should have deduced that 'needs analysis' refers to determination of the
information and resources you require to enable you to do your work more effectively.

But to say this is easier than doing it, for various reasons. Firstly, your own needs as
an individual are forever changing as you grow more experienced and you take on
greater responsibility. Secondly, the nature of your job, whether as teacher or
Headteacher, continues to evolve, partly because of the results of the development
of Guyana as a whole, but also because of new inventions and the changing
relationship of the human race to the planet we live on. Thus, to identify and satisfy both
our personal and professional needs is a complex business.

21
 Identifying needs
In a learning society, such as the one we are creating,
the purpose of the school is to equip learners with the
knowledge and skills necessary to develop themselves,
their communities and the nation. All other functions
and needs within the school will centre on realizing this
purpose. Thus, we will begin our discussion by
considering the needs of the learners.

The needs of the learners

Activity 3.1
Using one of your classes (at any level), ask the learners to list what they want
from their school and what they feel it needs to improve. They could perhaps do it
in pairs and report back to you.

Briefly analyze the results of their discussions.

Comments
If the above activity was clearly understood by the learners, it should have generated
a useful basis for identifying the learners' needs.

Did your learners identify any of the following?

• a relaxation of discipline by either the staff or prefects or both
• good exam results, which will enable them to go for further training or get a
job
• more funds for extra curricular activities
• the removal of some teachers and/or the demotion of some prefects
• more learning-support materials and equipment
• longer or shorter school holidays.

It may be that the learners' answers may be incomplete, or perhaps focus too much
on their immediate needs, rather than on larger, longer-term needs. Perhaps, then,
you could add to the items they have identified. Among possible additions will be
an enriched learning experience and improved performance in Mathematics and
English.

The needs of the school authority

In Guyana, the majority of schools are owned and run by the state. There are also a
number of privately-funded schools, most of which are recognised by the Ministry of
Education and some which are not. Guyana is well on the way to achieving the
Millennium Goals at each level of education. However, the system still has considerable
needs.

Each school was set up with a purpose when it was founded. As a Headteacher, you
must understand and identify with the needs of the authority which established and owns

22
your school. In most cases, this will be the Government of Guyana, possibly a religious
body or some other educational institution .

Activity 3.2
The needs of the authority which owns your school may be very specific to it.
Identify at least three (3)of these needs. If your school is one of the state-owned
schools, consider the specific needs of Guyana as a nation which will be reflected
in the education provided.

Comments
Where a school is privately owned, the majority will have the intention of providing
excellent educational opportunities for children. Owners will wish their schools to
produce well-qualified and responsible graduates who achieve, according to their
capabilities, in their chosen field, and in society at large, thus bringing credit
and benefits to the school. Some schools may have more specific needs. Religious
bodies are clearly concerned with the moral and spiritual qualities of the learners and
how these feed back to the community as a whole.
National needs
The purpose of the school also hinges on the satisfaction of national needs. Therefore, you
will need to base your school's mission and objectives on a sound understanding of national
policy statements made by central government which affect education at school level. Apart
from such documents as Education Acts, there are such statements of intent as:
• levels of basic literacy and numeracy;
• inclusive education for children with Special Educational Needs;
• education for self-reliance;
• education for the development of the nation;
• education to address disadvantaged groups;
• commitment to policies for providing a specific philosophy of educational provision to
meet national needs.

It is absolutely necessary that you fully understand, after debate where necessary, and
implement national policies in education as spelt out by the Ministry of Education and the
Government of Guyana. Thus you will need to ensure that your own school mission
statement is in line with central government policy statements. No headteacher should
consider operating against the grain of a government's policies.

Activity 3.3
Identify and list the main needs in education as spelt out in Guyana’s education
policies.

Comments
The earlier discussion would have given you some ideas on the types of needs you
may identify in Guyana' policy statements. As headteacher you will need to
discuss your list with your deputy and senior teachers to verify your understanding of
the key needs.

23
The needs of the community and parents
The school serves the local community and this, for the most part, is represented by the
parents. These parents will have aspirations for their children and the school must
make every effort to meet them. Where these aspirations cannot be articulated by the
parent body, perhaps through lack of education on their part, the school must assist
them in identifying what it is they want from a quality education.

Activity 3.4
Next time you organize or attend a meeting of the Parent-Teacher Association, or
have a meeting with leading community members, ask them to identify for you some of
the things which they seek or need from the school of which you are the headteacher.

Comments
There are likely to be differences in the types of responses you get from both parents
and communities according to their own levels of education. Where these are
relatively low where, maybe, a significant proportion of the parents are illiterate, the
parents may be surprised to be asked such a question. They may feel this is
something the headteacher should know; indeed it would be reason he/
she was employed. Their lack of experience in articulating their needs should not be
used by you as an excuse for not pursuing this question further.

More literate parents and communities are likely to be more demanding, as, of course,
is their right. By involving parents and community members more, the school staff and
learners will be made much more aware of the fact that they are accountable for the
content and the processes of the curriculum, and for the standards of achievement
reached by the learners.

Staff needs
Staff are employed to meet the needs of the school
community in which they work. However, they have
their own needs too, whether they be professional
or personal. The headteacher must take account
of these and ensure that, where possible, they are
met, so that skills may be used to improve the
quality of education and the lack of skill will not
hinder the progress of the children.

Activity 3.5
Consider a relatively new and inexperienced member of staff. What would you identify as
his /her main needs? It might be helpful to discuss this with such a member of staff.

24
 Comments
Clearly, as headteacher, you must fully appreciate that you can only accomplish the
educational goals and mission of your school by working with, and through, others,
especially your staff. Thus, you must understand your staff’s needs, both as individuals
and as a group. For practical reasons much of the time their needs will be looked at from
your point of view, rather than their own. However, from time to time, it is necessary for
you to ask them what they see as their needs. Some of their needs may include:
• a clear job description in writing;
• provision for professional development and growth for all staff;
• adequate supervision of their teaching;
• sound deployment of both teaching and non-teaching staff;
• a clear statement of the school’s mission and objectives, and agreed targets;
• adequate support materials and infrastructure;
• a positive, supportive school climate.

The needs of the headteacher and the school

You no doubt noted that there is a lot of common ground between the headteacher’s needs
and those of the school. However, it must be made clear that the headteacher has needs
of his/her own which are over and above those that are purely the needs of the school.

25
Activity 3.6
1) Look at the requirements of a headteacher below. Assess your own needs against
this person’s specification:

• adequate academic and professional qualifications

• a full knowledge of the methods and techniques of educational practice
• an ability to provide professional leadership to all sections of the school
community
• an understanding of the interdependence of the various sections of the
school community
• sound knowledge of school finance, including accounting procedures
• an ability to understand each part of the school curriculum and how each
part relates to the learning programme as a whole
• an ability to plan ahead and to bring such plans to full fruition
• an ability to communicate with, motivate, and harmonise, the various
sections of the school community to work in the interests of the school
• a capacity for sound public relations with those sections of the public
with an interest in the school
• a capacity to work effectively and efficiently with, and through, other
people, singly and in groups
• a full understanding of both the national goals in education as well as
the mission of the school.

2) Now consider the needs of your school overall? Look at the list below and identify
some of the needs that your school may have.
• adequate infrastructure and equipment
• adequate funding to meet capital and running costs
• a caring, helpful and involved community and parent body
• central government's support, funding and assistance in line with what
other similar schools receive
• a committed Headteacher to manage the school effectively
• a suitably qualified, experienced and devoted staff, capable of
delivering the curriculum
• a learner population that is committed to making full use of the
educational facilities provided, and obtaining an education that enables
them to realise their fullest potential
• a sound, acceptable purpose or mission to guide the school towards
worthwhile objectives and targets.

Comments
As the headteacher, you need to identify and satisfy both your own needs and those of the
school. Fig. 2 helps to illustrate this point.

26
Fig. 2 A SCHOOL’S NEEDS

Staff Learners’
Needs Needs

Needs of the Needs Head teacher’s

Community of the Needs
School

Parents’
Needs

As the headteacher you will have to identify the school's needs, your own needs, as
well as the needs of all the other sections and groups involved in the school.

How this should be done will become clearer as you proceed with this unit.

Strategies for identifying needs

What do you understnd by the meaning of the word ‘strategies’?

Comments
The meaning of 'strategy' hinges on plans or approaches towards accomplishing
desired goals. There is the implication here that the school mission and objectives
are not easy to accomplish because many alternative paths are available, each of
which requires careful consideration before a choice is made.

The discussion on needs analysis so far has concentrated on identifying what the
needs are likely to be rather than on the strategies required to be able to find out
what these needs are.

27
Strategies for the learners
As headteacher you should involve yourself in all teaching / learning programmes in and
out of the classroom to enable you to gain insights into the needs of your learners on a
first-hand basis. The following are strategies that you might use to make contact with your
learners.
• Use your contact periods with various classes to learn about learners' needs.
• Use the prefect and monitor systems to channel information about learners' needs to
both yourself as the headteacher and to your staff.
• Invite your staff individually and in groups to discuss and report on learners' needs to
you regularly.
• Utilise a suggestions /needs box to collect information, confidentially, from the learners.
• Undertake audits and physical checks on all school supplies: this may indicate areas
of deficiency.
• You and your staff - particularly your senior staff - must regularly audit and check the
curriculum for relevance and balance, and for the effectiveness of delivery.

Strategies for the school authority

What strategies might you use to identify the
needs of your school authority (private schools) or
the Ministry of Education (public schools)?

Appropriate strategies might include:

• Holding regular meetings and consultations
with the school authority to ensure that you
fully identify with their needs for the school,
involving yourself in formal and informal
get-togethers with representatives of the
authority
• Requesting information directly from the authority
• Involving the more articulate of the authority's representatives to directly identify their
needs to the staff and learners.
• Reading Ministry of Education documentation, strategy documents and policy
positions.
• Discussions with the Regional Education Officer.

Strategies for the Nation

What strategies might you use to identify the national needs in education?

You may have come up with the following strategies:

• the thorough study and understanding of the Education Acts, policy statements,
and central government's position papers on education – it is likely that
these will also be described and debated fully in the press and
the broadcasting media;

• wherever and whenever possible, direct consultation with national policy makers
and senior staff in the Ministry of Education and Regional Departments of
Education.

Having identified the needs at national level, you will need to blend these into the

28
 mission statement, objectives and targets of your school.
Strategies for the community and parents

Activity 3.7
We have already suggested in Activity 3.5 that you might be able to identify the
needs of the community and of parents by asking them directly. What other
strategies might be used?

Comments
Appropriate strategies might include:

• You could seek to develop and maintain sound communication and good public
relations with both the community and, more especially, the parents. This will assist
you in identifying their needs and expectations for the school.
• You could involve parents more directly in relevant school programmes, for
example, special school functions, sporting competitions, etc. Such involvement
should enable a less formal relationship to develop.
• Parent -Teacher meetings involving representatives of the community should be
used to identify needs.
• Pay close attention to school-related information and ideas in the local and
national press and other media, for example, letters to the editor and editorials,
as well as anonymous letters or telephone calls received by the school.

Strategies for the headteacher and the school

Look at some of the strategies below that might be used to enable you as the headteacher
to identify your own needs and those of your school.

Which of the following do you think might be most useful for you?

• Study management, organizational, behavioural and educational theories.

• Attend staff development courses, seminars and workshops for headteachers in
particular and managers in general.
• Through informal discussion, draw from the professional experience and advice of
your fellow headteachers.
• Join and fully participate in professional associations, unions or organizations for
headteachers (and managers).
• Visit an industrial or commercial organization to learn about how they set about
identifying needs.
• Analyse the responses given by individual teachers during their annual appraisal or
evaluation interviews.
• Utilise inputs from your staff obtained during staff meetings, and informal discussions
with individuals or groups.
• Note the needs identified by parents during Parent-Teacher Association Meetings, as
well as those obtained in informal discussions with individuals or groups of parents.

29
 • Draw from, and directly request, inputs from your deputy, senior teachers, Heads of
Departments, and other promoted
staff.
• Your learners can contribute through
channeling information through the
prefects and directly during contact
sessions with form teachers and the
Headteacher.
• Study current educational and
professional journals and
magazines to gather ideas about
your needs.
• Obtain documents on national
policy and statements by the
school authority on its mission and
current targets.

Strategies for the staff

Activity 3.8
What strategies might you use to identify the needs of your staff?

Comments
Of particular importance in this regard is the crucial role of the staff in the delivery of
the curriculum. For them to perform this function effectively they, in turn, need your
professional guidance. You can only give meaningful support in this regard, if you first
establish strategies to identify, as far as possible, the needs of each and every one
of your teachers. In particular, both you and your staff will wish to identify the
performance gaps of each of them.

The strategies you may have identified include:

• You appraise each teacher, through a formal cycle of contact, once a term, to
establish their strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. Guyana has an
appraisal (or evaluation) system which is applied to all teachers and senior
leaders. This is the “Annual Appraisal Report on Teachers”. A fuller discussion
about appraisal procedures is covered in Module 3, Personnel Management.
• You supervise all your staff every day, as well as meeting with them on both
formal and informal occasions.
• You study the subject evaluation reports compiled by Inspectors.
• You require your staff to carefully complete designed questionnaires that
identify staff, learner and school needs.
• You check schemes-of-work, lesson plans and other school records at regular
intervals. The learners' exercise books should be regularly monitored in every
subject and at every level.

30
 Once you have established the needs of individual teachers and groups, or categories of
teachers or departments, then your duty becomes one of finding ways of closing the
performance gaps. These might include:

• purposeful programmes of school-based and school-managed staff development;

• staff meetings which are centered on professional topics;
• closer positive supervision of those members of staff whose performance gaps
require it;
• finding ways of ensuring teachers’ welfare;
• looking at ways of managing stress;
• more direct assistance by you, the headteacher, to individual teachers and groups
who require any assistance. You should also utilize those of your staff whose good
performance is such that they may give assistance to their colleagues, since peer
support amongst teachers is always to be encouraged.

Summary

The purpose of this unit has been to help you recognise the importance of finding out from
others what they want from your school. Different persons need different things, and the
nature and balance of these will vary with time. Knowing how to find out what people want is
one key to enable you, as the headteacher, to provide effective leadership.

However, it is important, as we will remind you, from time to time, to remember what is
the prime function of the school, i.e. the provision of quality learning and teaching in an
environment that is focused on maintaining high standards. Any need which does not
directly or indirectly have an impact on these principle aims should be questioned.

31
The sum of the needs analysis of all of the various groups and individuals in the school,

Unit 4
including yourself, will be the Needs Profile of the school. It is up to you, as headteacher, to
make sense of this and provide appropriate strategies to meet those needs.

Job Analysis

Introduction
The headteacher, as a leader, needs to understand what headship entails. Understanding
what constitutes the job of a headteacher should enable you to discharge your duties and
responsibilities more effectively and efficiently. A clear perception of your duties should
provide you with a framework for self-appraisal. It should make it easier for you to delegate
duties. The purpose of this unit is to explain the concepts
of job analysis, job description and person specification in
order to enable you to better appreciate the complexities
of your role in school improvement.

Individual study time: 4 hours

Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit you should be able to:

• distinguish between job analysis, job description and person specification;

• indicate the range and nature of the factors that affect your job operation;
• identify aspects of your job description;

32
 • describe the attributes of an effective headteacher.

Job analysis
A job analysis involves dividing a job into its component parts. It consists of two elements:
the job description, which covers the tasks to be done, and the person specification, which
tells us about the sort of person who is most likely to be able to do the job.

Job description
A job description indicates the tasks and responsibilities to be undertaken. It is also
essential for the appraisal of staff performance. Therefore, each member of your staff
should be aware of his/her job description. As headteacher, you should be aware not
only of your own job description but also of the job descriptions of your staff.

Drafting a job description for a headteacher can be a difficult task. There is an argument
that headteachers should not carry out routine tasks related to the administration of their
schools. Their role, as the lead professional, is to ensure quality learning and teaching in a
disciplined atmosphere and to challenge the staff to achieve this. However, this concept is
probably impractical in the majority of Guyanese schools at present due to shortage of staff
and various resource issues. However, we should not stray from the primary role of the
headteacher and this must be strongly reflected in his / her job description – that is the

promotion of a quality learning institution in a closely-controlled environment of work, study

and play at appropriate times.

As a headteacher, you will also appreciate that each school situation demands that
particular tasks be performed. Your own perceptions of the job of a headteacher will
determine how you decide each task should be undertaken and the importance you give to
it.

If you were to list all of the things that you do as headteacher of a school, it would run into
hundreds of items. This would be the process which is referred to as 'job analysis', that is,
the identification of the component parts of your job. The process of job analysis should
help to provide you with a checklist of tasks which you need to perform.

The following breakdown of the role of the headteacher, which is intended to be indicative
rather than prescriptive, will help you to consider some of the issues:

• ensuring that the mission, objectives and targets for the school are set and achieved;
• promoting a learning community;
• managing curriculum design, implementation and evaluation;
• mobilising and managing resources;
• setting up an effective organizational structure within the school;
• deploying staff;
• supervising staff;
• supervising learners;
• organising in-school staff development programmes;
• promoting and maintaining good discipline;
• ensuring the maintenance of the school plant;

33
 • ensuring clear communications within the school among yourself, and the staff, and
the learners;
• maintaining good public relations with parents, and the Ministry of Education;
• keeping complete and up-to-date records and information about the school.

The main elements of a job description should be:

• a title - this follows the nationally agreed system

• the job description should be divided into two main parts – role and responsibility.
The former refers to the requirement of the headteacher to set the tone for the
school as well as creating its vision and ethos. The latter is a statement of the main
tasks - it is necessary to separate them before placing them in logical groups
• an indication of the person or group to whom the individual is accountable - for a
headteacher this is likely to be the District Education Officer and / or the
Board of Governors
• an indication of the authority the individual has over other staff
• an indication of the nature of such relationships should be included, as we are
stressing how the headteacher (and the staff) should relate to other people
involved with the school.

One of the problems with creating your own list, based on the realities of your normal day, is
that it is probably quite long. Questions which arise from an analysis like this include:
• Am I doing what I should be doing?
• Am I trying to do too many things?
• Might some of these tasks be as well done by other teachers?
• Is there a balance in the tasks I do, between, for example, dealing with:
- short-term, crisis matters, for example, an absent teacher; medium-
term matters, for example, the timetable for next term; and long-term
matters, for example, a review of practices and setting of targets
- resource issues, such as repairs and books, and people issues, such as
communicating with staff
- personnel matters, such as the payment of staff, and matters such as
oganising the examinations
- learners, and teachers, and parents?

When you have identified your overall role and your responsibilities, the latter needs to be
placed in clear categories and should not be presented as an undifferentiated mass.

Below is an example of a Job Description for a headteacher. Notice that it is divided

into sections of Roles and Responsibilities.

Roles of headteacher
• To help and maintain, through his /
her commitment, the ethos of the
school so that staff and learners may
actively develop fully in personal,
professional and educational terms.
• To be a member of the Senior

34
 Leadership Team (SLT), initiating
procedures and policies and carrying
out those agreed by the SLT.
• To take a prominent role in the day-to-
day running of the school.
• To monitor the work of the staff and
learners of the school in all possible aspects.
• To evaluate the work of the staff and learners of the school and, in the light of this
evaluation, take a leading role in the school’s future development.
• To ensure the maintenance of good order and discipline amongst learners at all
times.
• To promote good relationships with parents, governors, the local community and
Department of Education.
• To promote the aims and objectives of the school.

Specific Responsibilities

• Creating an environment which is conducive to learning and which

meets the physical, emotional and educational needs of learners.
• Maintaining a partnership including the school, parents and governors and
ensuring that the school is a meaningful part of the local community.

• Defining the educational goals of the school and setting these out in the
development plan in consultation with the staff, parents and the
Department of Education so that the plan meets the national statutory
requirements.
• Developing a curriculum which meets the requirements of the latest Education
Act and successive Education Acts and which responds to the needs of all
learners.
• Reviewing the curriculum so that the quality of learning can be improved
and educational disadvantages minimised.
• Ensuring that an effective system for assessing and recording the progress of
each child exists in accordance with statutory national responsibilities and local
policies and ensuring that the aims related to each child’s learning are achieved.
• Ensuring a supportive system of pastoral care for all learners which contributes to
their learning, and developing coherent recording and reporting procedures.
• Developing a coherent and accountable management, administrative and
organisational structure within the school which ensures that the curricular and
developmental needs of learners are met.
• Establishing an effective professional development programme for teachers
which includes whole-staff development and school-focused training in line with
Ministry of Education’s policies
• Monitoring and evaluating all aspects of the work of the school in collaboration
with staff, governors and the Department of Education.
• Working in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Department of
Education and with Officers and Inspectors on relevant matters.
• Establishing an effective communications system within the school, with parents,
governors and the community and with the Department of Education .

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Assessing the Quality of Learning and Teaching
This aspect of the role of the headteacher is so important that it deserves a separate
[Link] prime function of a school is to enable its learners to learn. This can
often be forgotten with the mass of administrative tasks and day-to-day managerial issues
with which the headteacher has to deal with. However, despite all of this it is still the school’s
main function.

A headteacher, along with senior staff who will have duties delegated to them, needs to
continuously promote quality learning and teaching at every level. This not only involves,
coaching, nurturing and training but also monitoring and evaluating that quality of learning.

This is all of little use, unless it is accompanied by a process of staff development which will
ensure quality at every level. If you like, this is inspection and self evaluation at the level of
the school and the departments within it but done in a supportive, encouraging and helpful
way. It needs to be a non-threatening environment where professional discussion can take
place without being overcome by personal considerations.

In assessing your teachers’ skills, you and your senior staff would need to:

• observe their lessons on a regular basis;

• provide feedback;
• discuss the lesson plans with the teachers;

• study the teacher's Schemes-of-Work;

• discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each lesson observed with the teacher;
• write a report to identify further development and set appropriate targets.

In making this analysis of just one task, you may clearly see that there are many elements.
The same is true for all the other tasks in which you might be involved, such as organising
examinations, ensuring staff are paid, or reviewing practices and setting targets. Thus, when
the job description of a headteacher is written, or you write job descriptions for members of
your staff, then account must be taken of these elements, to ensure that the person will not be
over- or under-loaded.

Person specification
A person specification refers to the type of individual you want in terms of his/her qualities,
qualifications, background and experience. If these attributes are to be assessed
accurately, a comprehensive job description which outlines the role and responsibilities of
the post must be prepared first of all.

Activity 4.3
Consider your own job as headteacher. Write a list of the qualities you
would include in a person specification for your own post using the following
headings: background; abilities and skills; motivation and interest; attitudes.

36
 Comments
Below are examples of the types of items that might be found in a person
specification
• professional and academic qualifications required
• a diplomatic and skilful negotiator
• an enthusiastic and energetic person whose approach to work is businesslike
• a resourceful individual full of initiative
• a successful teacher
• a good personnel manager who can handle sensitive issues and also motivate
learners, teachers and parents to give of their best at all times.

Below is an example of a Person Specification for a Deputy headteacher

1. Qualifications
• Qualified Teacher (Essential)
• First Degree (Desirable)
• Recent and relevant In-Service training

2. Experience
• Relevant teaching experience and a proven record of high quality teaching
• Currently employed in a senior leadership post in a secondary school

• Ability to handle a range of management tasks

• A proven record of managing staff
• A proven record of meeting the needs of the professional development of staff
• Ability to demonstrate the ability to lead initiatives leading to success which can be
measured
• Ability to meet the needs of a school with a high proportion of SEN provision.
• A proven record of excellent classroom management
3. Skills
• Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the requirements needed to carry out the
main responsibilities
• Demonstrate a thorough understanding of whole-school issues
• Demonstrate an understanding of the needs of children of all abilities
• Demonstrate an understanding of monitoring progress
• Demonstrate an understanding of school development planning
• Demonstrate an understanding of budgetary control
• Demonstrate an understanding of the issues in promoting schools
• The ability to lead and be part of a team

4. Personal qualities
• Good communication skills, both verbal and written, for a variety of audiences.
• High expectations of staff and learners.
• Expectation of high standards of learner behaviour.
• The ability to be able to work well under pressure and to respond quickly and
appropriately to situations which may arise in a school.

37
 • Confident, positive and a sense of
direction
• Approachable by all members of the
school community
• A real commitment to raising the
achievement of all learners
• A desire to consult
• Ability to motivate staff and learners.

Activity 4.4
Using the guidelines from this unit, revise the job description for either your
Deputy Headteacher, Senior Masters/Mistresses, Heads of Departments or
Level Heads

If a job description does not exist, write one.

Comments
You should share the results of this activity with other headteachers, and with
your Distrct Education Officer or line-manager, to see how they can help.

Summary
After going through this unit, you should now be able to explain each of the following
concepts:

• job analysis (breaking a job into its components);

• job description (what the job entails);
• person specification (the qualities of the person you require for the job).

In this unit we have emphasised the job analysis of the headteacher, but you must be able
to prepare analyses for every member of your staff. You also need to be sure that all
members of your staff are aware of their job descriptions.

A job description is essential, if later on you are to carry out an appraisal of the work of any
member of staff or the performance of a staff member falls short of expectations and
capability procedures need to be initiated.

In considering all of these issues, you should refer to the Ministry of Education Desk
Manual for School Administrators.

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 Unit 5

Time Management
Introduction
As a headteacher, you will find that your time as a resource is very scarce. It is
impossible to store, or stretch, or restore, once it has passed. You will appreciate how
important it is for you to manage your time, if you wish to achieve your objectives. Consequently,
you and your staff will need to reflect regularly on how you use your time to ensure that you
are making the best use of it. Making the best use of the available time is a key element of good
management. It is the aim of this unit to help you become a better time manager as part of your
own self-development.

Individual study time: 4 hours

Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit you should be able to:

• list your main tasks which take up your time;

• identify your main time wasters and time savers;
• budget your time accordingly;
• design and implement your own action programme on time management;

39
 Comments
We hope you have identified a number of broad types of tasks you are expected to
perform, namely:
• setting the standards of the school;
• monitoring the quality of learning and teaching;
• coaching and developing staff;
• personnel duties: management of personnel issues;
• thinking: allocating time to creative tasks designed to improve the operations
of your school;
• problem-solving: allocating time to solving unexpected and routine
problems;
• routine tasks: duties repeated at specific periods (daily, weekly or monthly).

In an ideal world, a headteacher who is a leader would not be carrying out routine tasks
as this is not the best use of his / her time. Such tasks should be delegated. However, it
is understood that limited human resources may mean that there is no-one to whom tasks
could be delegated.

Having a clear understanding of how you spend your days will help you to identify the
main ways you spend your time. Having a clear understanding of what your duties are
will assist you to rank the users of your time in order of their importance. It may surprise
you to discover that the operations of your school would not be adversely affected, if you
did not attend to some of your time users or if someone else attended to them on your
behalf!

• build up more disposable time;

• rank tasks in order of their importance;
• delegate effectively.

Understanding the role of the headteacher

Before you can manage your time efficiently, you should first know and thoroughly
understand the tasks you are expected to perform. It is worth your while to refer to Unit 4 on
'Job Analysis' before proceeding. Once you have mastered the tasks you are expected to
perform, you will be in a better position to determine which ones you have to do as a
headteacher and which ones you can delegate. This will further assist you in allocating time
to each task.

Activity 5.1
1) List what you believe are the major types of task a headteacher is expected to
perform.
2) Divide the types into those important ones you must undertake yourself and
those you can delegate.
3) Allocate time to each task you perform. This may be done by using percentages.
Thus in a 40 hour week, 4 hours = 10 per cent.
4) Ensure that you describe the role as a leader and not just an administrator.
5) Ensure that you include monitoring and evaluation (clinical supervision) as a
significant proportion of your work.

Fig. 3 Claimants on a headteacher's time

40
 Teachers Community Parents

District Office Headteacher Office

A Headteacher’s
limited
time claimants

Activity 5.2
Fig. 3 above shows some of the parties / issues that claim the use of your time. In the
light of your own experience, fill in the rest of the boxes. (The boxes are drawn in
different sizes to help suggest differences in the amount of time each party / issue
may claim. If you need more boxes then add them.

Comments
Arising from this activity, you should now realize that all of the parties / issues listed in
figure 3 are not only time users but potential time wasters. You will need to plan and
budget your time and determine criteria for deciding which parties / issues you have to
attend to as a headteacher. In particular, it is important for you to make time available
just for yourself, for preparation, reading, training and planning.

Activity 5.3
Fig. 4 shows potential time wasters in Column 1. Indicate the causes of these time
wasters in Column 2. Leave Column 3 for the moment.

Fig. 4 Potential time wasters

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 TIME WASTERS POSSIBLE CAUSES SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS
1) Lack of planning

2) Lack of priorities

3) Over-commitment

4) Management by crisis

5) Paperwork & reading

6) Meetings

7) Indecision

8) Unclear objectives

9) Postponed decisions

10) Procrastination

11) Lack of delegation

TIME WASTERS POSSIBLE CAUSES SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

12) Lack of self-discipline

13) Unnecessary meetings

14) Lack of managerial skills

15) Incompetent subordinates

16) Inconsistent actions

17) Socialising & interrupting

others

18) Cannot say ‘No”

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 Comments
From this activity we hope you will now appreciate that some of the time wasters may be
caused by yourself! It is essential that you always bear in mind the central purpose of your
being in the school as follows:-

The Role of the Headteacher is to insist upon, to monitor

and to maintain standards in the school.
Once you have identified these time wasters,
you need to take steps to eliminate them,
delegate them or minimise them. That is,
anything that stands in the way of this central
purpose. The process of eliminating time
wasters is not an easy one. It involves tight
budgeting of your time and developing
efficient work habits. Efficient time
management is a process that takes time
and, like everything else the manager does,
should be continuously reviewed and
refined.

We hope you now have a clear picture of what constitutes time wasters. In the next section
we will explore ways through which you can prune off time wasters, thus managing your time
more efficiently.

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Strategies for saving time

Activity 5.4
Now complete Column 3 'Suggested Solutions' in Fig. 4.

Comments
Here is a checklist of some solutions to the time wasters listed in Column 1. See
how many you got and whether you have any additional suggestions:
• recognizing the importance of planning
• completing a well structured School Improvement Plan (Strategic Plan)
• formulating a clear vision for the school with selected objectives and targets
which have been discussed and agreed with your staff
• learning to say 'No'
• tackling the most difficult issue first to clear it from your mind
• putting first things first
• encouraging rapid communication
• taking time to do a task well to avoid having to do it again
• differentiating between urgent and important tasks
• attempting less and delegating more
• reading selectively
• taking time to plan
• setting goals and sticking to them
• screening visitors
• screening and grouping telephone calls
• staying uninvolved with all but the essentials
• not planning or attending unnecessary meetings
• getting facts, setting targets and investigating alternatives
• training subordinates well and allowing for mistakes
• giving credit to your subordinates.

The activity above has clearly demonstrated to

you how you can eliminate time wasters. Let us
have a look at some time savers in more detail in
order to enhance further your understanding of
how to manage time effectively.

Delegation
As a headteacher, you will appreciate that one
way of creating more time for yourself is to ask
some of your staff members to perform some of
your duties on your behalf. This is what delegation
is all about. It may also have an added advantage
of helping to create a team spirit amongst staff. But before you delegate you must take
steps to ensure that it won't lead to confusion.

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 Activity 5.5
What steps should you take before you delegate some of your duties and
responsibilities to your staff?

Comments
You may have identified some of the following:

• identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your staff

• recognizing the existing skills and competencies of your staff
• clarifying your own attitude towards those with whom you work
• ensuring you have the necessary authority to delegate
• preparing a clear statement of the task to be delegated
• getting acceptance and commitment from the delegates
• establishing control or checking mechanisms
• having a “no blame” “risk taking” culture.

If you delegate effectively, you will find yourself doing mostly those tasks which only you
have the necessary qualifications, authority and judgement to do. This will free you to
devote your time to creative thinking and reading. Thus, to delegate means to
manage time, and this means working better, not harder or quicker.

Building efficient work habits

Once you have identified old habits that lead to time wasting, you should take steps to
eliminate these by:

• beginning a deliberate campaign against the old habits

• not tolerating exceptions
• beginning straight away to change your behaviour and not waiting
• getting started
• avoiding decision-dodging by committees.

Persistence and determination can produce dramatic results that are well worth your effort.

Avoiding the dangers of working too hard

Activity 5.6
1) What do you think are the
physical, professional and
psychological dangers of
working too hard?

2) How do you think these

manifest themselves?

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 Comments
The job of a headteacher, when carried out properly with dedication, can be a very
challenging one. Apart from the feeling of isolation and the fact that the success or
failure of the school, and indeed of the children, lies in your hands, there are numerous
facets to the role. This is why it is essential that, as an individual, you look after your
own health and wellbeing as a first priority as no one else is likely to do it for you.

Sometimes, one who always puts the job first and works very long hours is referred to
as a “workaholic”. Such people often try to do too much, expect the same from others
and are in serious danger of damaging their own health and lifestyle. Sometimes it is
necessary to work like this for short periods of time but one must recognize what is
happening and take precautions. This is sometimes caused by a lack of planning and
poor budgeting of time, resulting in the workaholic having far too much to do.

The physical and psychological dangers of not “keeping everything in perspective” can
be numerous and must be avoided at all costs as they can be seriously injurious to
health and wellbeing. They are sometimes caused by some of the following:

• over-dedication to work
• compulsive belief in task completion
• pushing oneself to the limit
• having a disorderly work routine
• failure to delegate appropriately
• working long hours in the workplace and taking work home
• crisis management
• never taking a vacation
• setting too tight deadlines and failing to meet them.

If this profile fits you, you may need to look at your planning and take immediate action.
Prioritize your tasks and determine which need to be completed first, which can be
delegated and which can wait. You can only be on top of the situation if you manage
your time carefully.

Being aware of myths on time

Many people believe that working hard will, of necessity, lead to the attainment of the
desired goals. However, as a headteacher you will appreciate that you become less
efficient if you spend too much time on one task. The fact is that work tends to expand to fill
the available time. You are sure to have experienced it at your work place, where eight
hours of work can easily stretch into twelve hours.

You will find that the less time you assign to a task the more work you get done.

There is, in fact, no direct relationship between hard work and positive results. What is true
is that time spent on planning can save several hours' work. Furthermore, some people
believe that the most active person gets the best results. It is, however, true that many
active individuals have no objectives and plans and therefore do not get results. To become
an effective time manager, avoid these myths or misconceptions.

46
Remember the old adage:

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”

Time log or inventory
Before you can begin to manage your time effectively, you must know how you are using it
now. A time log will help you discover where you may be wasting your time and indicate to
you how you can become more efficient.

Activity 5.7
1) List all the activities or tasks that you perform in a day or a week.
2) Allocate time to each activity or task.
3) Objectively analyse whether you are using your time effectively.

Comments

After logging your activities for a day or a week, it is likely you will discover a few
surprises in the manner you have been using your time. It should have helped you
to:

• calculate the time you spend socialising, doing the work of others or simply
not being productive;
• discover the areas you are most effective in your use of time;
• identify the areas where you are least effective;
• determine the areas that need improvement;
• discover that perhaps far too much time is being spent on one task;
• realise the importance of prioritising your work;
• discover that some of your meetings could be cancelled or given to others to
attend to;
• realise that you cannot attend to all visitors just at their wish;
• delegate more frequently to others. After all, how will they learn to do your job
when you are no longer there to do it?

You should take the initiative to identify areas where you can save time and make
the best use of the time that you save.

Implementing a time management programme

Having read this unit, and undertaken the activities, we hope that you have not only realised
the advantages of a properly planned and budgeted use of time, but that you are going to
start a programme in your school that is aimed at a more efficient use of time. Initially, this
could perhaps start with the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) as their efficiency, or lack of it,
will have an impact on your own work.

47
In initiating such a programme you may need to consider the following:

• selling the idea to the SLT

• convincing all your staff of the benefits
• setting objectives in full consultation with the team
• setting strategies for implementation and evaluation
• instituting follow-up strategies to check implementation by everyone.

Evaluation
Once your time management programme is in place, you will need to monitor its
implementation and assess whether, in fact, time is being utilised in an effective and
efficient manner.

A warning
Occasionally you find managers who are the opposite of what is being described above;
they can be so expert at delegating that they are, in fact, quite idle. They may spend a lot of
time with casual visitors, will often not meet deadlines and will be part of a blame culture,
holding others responsible for issues they should have dealt with themselves . Such people
usually have an autocratic leadership style. As headteacher, this would be an inappropriate
way of behaving and it would be your role to ensure that others do not act in the same way.

Summary
We hope that through this unit you are now a strong believer in time management, and that
you are in a position to identify what constitutes time wasters and time savers in your job.
The extent to which you are an effective headteacher will depend on your ability to
make the best use of all your available time.

MODULE 1 – CONCEPT MAP

Self-Development for Educational Leaders

The following concept map shows the major topics covered in this module.

Styles of School Mission,

Leadership Values and
Objectives

Headteacher

Time
Management
Needs
Identification

Job Analysis

48
You have now completed Module One – Self Development for Educational Leaders. Please
take a little time to complete the self-assessment exercise below:-

Self-Assessment Exercise
Indicate whether, in your opinion, the following statements are true or false.
Write two short sentences for each to support your answer.

1. Effective use of time is a key element of good leadership.

2. Some of the main users of the headteacher’s time could be time wasters.

3. Understanding the headteacher’s tasks is not a pre-requisite of good time

management.

4. Your ability as a planner is likely to have a positive or negative effect on your

management of time.

5. Delegation could have positive benefits for you and your staff.

6. If your approach to delegation is inadequate, confusion could be the result.

7. A headteacher who fails to take account of good time management will have a
negative impact on the success of the school.

COMMENT

You will probably have decided that all of the above are true except for number three.
The headteacher must be very clear about the tasks that he/she is expected to undertake
and the impact they will have on the school, its staff and learners. It is worth
remembering that if a task does not have a direct or indirect effect on the quality of
learning and the standards in the school, it should be considered a very low priority or not
worth doing at all.

49