The ManCom as Facilitator of Reforms

The school depends much on the political will of the Management Committee as the implementer and facilitator of reforms in the school. Parallel leadership is an ideal concept and through Project IDEAS with the integration of other strategies, the reforms will be successful. The ManCom is provided the authority to make policy decisions. It has to create from within its committee, a team that will plan, implement and evaluate the activities of the project IDEAS to effect the reforms needed, to finally solve the diminishing quality standards of education provided by the school.

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Shafallah will need multiple strategies that will be implemented simultaneously – “many things happening at the same time”, and implemented by a team that will seriously and honestly devote their time and skills without bias to achieve successful school reforms. The team may be headed by the Managing Director and with the human resource department as the secretariat. The program will have to involve not only the teachers and the ManCom but also the parents and the leaders in the community who are affected by the diminishing quality of education provided by the school.

The program will have to create school-wide awareness that the school is serious about bringing change and a new environment in the school. Supporting activities must accompany the change such as removal of the aspect of “nationality, race and religion” as a basis for any management decision, and focus on capability building of teachers, developing multi-skilling among existing teachers, leveling benefits through a standardized wage and salary scheme and improved school facilities.

The noise created by the advocacy program is in itself, leadership on process.

The entire school community will notice that the management is bent on improving the school. The teachers will regain hopes that they will be provided support in terms of exposure and more importantly, the much needed moral support from the management. The future of Shafallah lies in the performance of ManCom in achieving the leadership reforms for the school. Its most important function first and foremost is to establish the school vision and assure that it the picture of what the whole school community would want its school to be. Management with its traditional positional authority will have to step down and collaborate.

Another important function is to transform itself (ManCom) and individually as administrators, to act as transformational leaders from purely the positional authority, to leaders who are not only adaptive to change but also willing to collaborate to influence change. (Avolio 1998) Another function is to transform the demoralized teaching force into teacher-leaders. ManCom will develop strategies to process the re-imaging of the teaching force. From the individual classroom practitioner to one who is a “life-long learner, a self knowing professional who works together with others to achieve a shared purpose.” (Limerick et. al. 1998 as cited in Andrews, 2004)

The Community’s Role in the School Reforms

The IDEAS was another process introduced by Crowther and his group which has the mechanism to possibly solve the problems of the school. One of the Australian schools that adopted innovations using the Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievement in Schools (IDEAS) conducted learning programs addressing the capability of the teaching force and the other professionals in the school community. Seaside State School is one of those success stories using IDEAS.

The school applied integrated and holistic strategies to accomplish what the school envisioned, through the development of a shared school-wide pedagogy. What is worth replicating in this sample success story is the involvement of the students, the parents and the community. The school implemented major campaigns to influence the entire school community on the vision of the school. Activities such as “vision week” celebrations strongly attended by the parents, students and the other residents of the community were held. (Andrews 2004)