International Educational Leadership Trainer. Provides consultation on Lean and leads Kaizen, TPM, Cellular system & Moonshine set up.

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Timothy Wooi 20C,Taman Bahagia, 06000, Jitra, Kedahtimothywooi2@gmail.com

Trainer’s Profi leTrainer’s Profi leCertified HRDF Trainer & Principal Consultant for Lean Management and a Kaizen Specialist with 30 over years working experience.

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April 20-24 2015

Details: call / text 09175147952

Introduction Resource Management, School Resource Management School System School System School Based Management (SBM)School Based Management (SBM) Managing School ResourcesManaging School Resources Inputs, Process, OutputInputs, Process, Output Understanding School Employment, Property, Finance, Attendance

Course OutlineCourse Outline

Starting the year off (Global Management Methodologies) Making changes, Getting to know staff, Information on school

performance, Building partnerships and networks, Professional advice, Being a teaching principal, Short-term goals, Relationships, Being a new principal

To be the School of Choice, renown internationally To be the School of Choice, renown internationally for excellence in Sfor excellence in School Management for Performance and Students Achievements

SSchool Performance (quality of instruction ) Students Achievements (equity in areas of student participation including the poorest sector society)

"Every school need to have systems that help create the conditions for staff and students to work effectively together.

School systems provide simple, clear goals and effective processes to effectively communicate the ground rules for everyone. They ensure a measure of consistency in approach and action across the school".

These practical guide is for first-time and recently appointed principals to have an insight of global school management system methodologies,

aligned to Department of Education in the Philippines to adopt and apply it in school leadership across school systems on a day-to-day basis.

School Management School management refers to the administration of a school to provide the condition for staff, teachers and students to work in the most efficient way possible , maximizing the utilization of available resources.

Education in the Philippines is managed and regulated by the Department of Education, referred to as the DepEd. The DepEd uses a School Based Management system that governs the Philippine education system, including the curriculum used and the allocation of funds.

Resource Management The efficient and effective deployment of an organization's

resources in the most efficient way possible , maximizing the utilization of available resources to achieve organization goals.

Such resources may include tangible resources such as

Information Technology(IT)

Facilities

Financial

resources

Ideas…..

Equipment

It can also include ideas assigned to task that adds value. These include…

Functional

Non Functional

Labor (Human Resource)

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

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

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

EFFECTIVE

Student performance improves when compared

to the entry pointADDED VALUES IN ADDED VALUES IN

STUDENT OUTCOMESSTUDENT OUTCOMES

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

Value added in Education

School Based Management- a strategy to decentralize decision-making authority to the individual school site of which devolution of authority is the fundamental concept.

In the past, schools system were managed by the state and the districts. Now the trend is for individual schools to make their own decisions and policies within the boundary of the Department of Education.

-the decentralization of decision-making authority from state and district (central, regional, division) levels down to the school level. Responsibility and school operations is transferred to principals, teachers, parents, sometimes students, and other school community members with the intent to unite.

School-based management (SBM)

The school, however, have to conform to, or operate, within a set of centrally determined Policies.

4.Integrate School management and

instructional reformation for the

school effectiveness

1.Empower school heads to lead their teachers and students through reforms

that leads to higher learning outcomes

3.Strengthens partnership with communities as well as

local government units to invest time, money and effort in making the school a better

place to learn

2.Bring resources including funds, down to the control of schools to

spur change in line with decentralization

SBM

OBJECTIVES

WHILE THE OBJECTIVES ARE TO

A need in paradigm shift in education governance, from being school-centered to community- and child- (learner) centered and towards enhancing the principle of shared governance to support the stewardship of children’s learning outcomes.

It is also imperative in the review and refinement of SBM to account for the evidence of successful practices. Conclusive findings suggest that the reforms in education governance systems must be linked tightly with the changes in curriculum and instruction. Thus, the inception of K to 12 must be integrated in the organizational change.

SBM reform for successful practice

Finance Physical PropertyStudent readiness

Teacher abil i tyParental Support

Finance Physical PropertyStudent readiness

Teacher abil i tyParental Support

School cultureMotivation level

Instruction Learning Time

Leadership

School cultureMotivation level

Instruction Learning Time

Leadership

OUTPUTOUTPUT

Student AchievementStudent Achievement

INPUTINPUT PROCESSPROCESS(What comes into the system?) (What is done with the inputs?)

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

INPUT in Managing School Resources are

(What comes into the system?)

Finance Physical PropertyStudent readiness

Teacher abil i tyParental Support

Finance Physical PropertyStudent readiness

Teacher abil i tyParental Support

INPUTINPUT

It covers: Annual School Budget aligned with the Annual Improvement Plan Attainment of school targets and desired learning outcomes Manages and controls funds with minimal fiscal authority/ autonomy

Dimension 5 SCHOOL BASED RESOURCES provides information about school finances and resourcing.

Funds allocation with utilization and disbursement Recording, reporting and accountability

Sourcing general financial informationAvailable in Dimension of School-Based Management (BESRA) under Dimension 5 SCHOOL BASED RESOURCES

This sets out the way schools are resourced and includes associated regulations and processes.

Have a ‘hard copy’ of this but do check that copy matches what is online and update accordingly.

This guide contains useful information on understanding school property.

It covers:Property plansSchool property policies and proceduresDepartments’s guideline to property and health and safetyProperty managementProperty and its relationship to achievement strategies.

Student Readiness is a student's current understanding and knowledge towards a unit or topic of study.

The potential to learn is influenced by our prior knowledge and connection to the new material.

Student Readiness The K to 12 Program

Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education comprising 6 years Primary Education, 4 years Junior High School and 2 years Senior High School (SHS)

Aims to provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship.

Dimension 2 on INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS requires that Teachers are trained, aware of their rights and responsibilities and apply their knowledge acquired from attending trainings.

Teachers are trained on curriculum content and pedagogy Are aware of their rights and responsibilities as primary stakeholdersTeachers Apply knowledge, process skills and instructional innovations acquired from participation in trainings

Dimension 2 on INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS mentioned that that

Parents assume responsibilities as partners in the learning process

‘PROCESS’ in Managing School Resources are

(What is done with the INPUTS?)

PROCESSPROCESS

School cultureMotivation level

Instruction Learning Time

Leadership

School cultureMotivation level

Instruction Learning Time

Leadership

"Principals who focus on the school culture on enhancing learning and teaching:

-build distributed leadership networks that secure commitment and responsibility for continued improvement through all levels of the school -challenge and modify values and traditions which are not in students’ best interests.”

Engagement and attendance:

Promotion of the school as a supportive and caring place is commonly at the core of strategies to strengthen engagement. The nature of teaching and learning is being included in strategies to reduce absence levels.

Such strategies can be viewed as 'pull factors', working to retain or increase engagement in learning.

Non-attendance does not go away. Students may leave, but the issue remains visible in school attendance records.

Engagement and attendance: beyond data collection

'In-school' or 'school-based' factors offer the best starting points for principals and teachers to apply strategies to reduce non-attendance.

Instruction

Instruction

•Transformation – takes place when school culture permits •Create a culture to sustain Change.• Framework – well defined process for culture of excellence and continuous Improvement

How to do it?1.Plan- gather and analyze data to determine priorities,-explore possible solutionsand assess readiness for Change.2.Do-Implement plan, create and communicate Improvement.3.Check-monitor and adjust.4. Act-realign and correct outcome back to Plan

4 PDCA stages:

Introduced in Japan around the 1870s. -case analysis on practice of lessons, to aid development of teachers to learn from each other on real practices at classroom.-three parts: Plan, Observe and Reflect

Lesson study

Plan, one or group of teachers plan a lesson; Observe, one teacher conducts a lesson based on the plan and colleagues observe the lesson; Reflect , teachers reflect on the observed lesson together

Presence and absence: -the administrative requirements

A good attendance system needs to be in place to support quality learning. Good attendance systems help create conditions for staff and students to work together effectively.

In such a system, simple, clear goals and effective procedures are known and expected by all.Directions, regulations, and practices for managing student attendance are well-defined and available online.

Learning Time

use evidence to monitor progress, plan, and manage changedelegate the running of systems to appropriate staffestablish contingency strategies for when unseen circumstances ariseanalyse the attendance data to understand school patterns.

Your school: attendance as it is nowPrincipals who use management systems to support and enhance student learning: know effective management practice and systems, use them, prioritize and select targeted areas for improvement,:-

Learning Time

Directions, regulations, and practices for managing student attendance.

Use the Student Attendance collection as the source for regulations and guidelines for in-school actions. (Within the Student Attendance collection, refer to the Guidelines in DepEd for Schools to give you a clear picture of the legal requirements and expectations.)Keep up to date about attendance regulations. (electronic registers provides useful policies and protocols, reports on its use and tips about attendance practice. )

Learning Time

Leadership

(Hallinger, 2003)

Commu-nicating school goals

Supervising & evaluating instruction

Providing incentives for teachers

Leadership model

Framing school goals

Coordinating curriculum

Monitoring student progress

Protecting instructional time

Promoting professional development

Maintaining high visibility

Providing incentives for learning

Successful schools have a clear sense of direction through Vision Statement. –shared sense of direction derived through a visioning process involving all members of the school.Once affirmed, it needs to be able to be articulated by all.-when achieved everyone can then align their efforts behind the vision and by a process of self-reference and professional development the school will reach.

Translation into reality by means of a Teaching framework or belief system.

LeadershipSBM collaboration with Community Participation

OUTPUT in Managing School Resources are

( What is the effect? and how much? )

OUTPUTOUTPUT

Student AchievementStudent Achievement

The intended Output of the systems-oriented Revised SBM framework is at the Center, a functionally-literate citizen who is self-reliant, patriotic, productive and service-oriented.

Coleman et.al (1966) Brophy & Good, (1986), Sanders et. al. (1994)

1960 &1970 1980’s

Students Performance

50 %

0 %

100 %

Age 11 Age 8 Students’ age

Student with high performing’ te

acher

Student with low performing’ teacher

90 %

53 %

37 %

HOW THE WORLD’S BEST PERFORMING SCHOOL SYSTEMS COMES OUT ON TOPOP

McKinsey & Company Sept 2007 UK

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

This guide contains useful information about school & its systems as practiced.

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

Employment agreements: collective and individual

Employment agreements are used to confirm the conditions of staff employment. Check the links to all school collective and individual agreements

This guide contains useful information about school employment.

It looks at:legislation and regulationspayrollappointing staffconcurrenceindividual and team performance.

Legislation and Regulations

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

Details can be found on the Department of Education legislation and regulation Act for requirements pertaining to education practice, including employment.

SBM DIMENSION

1. SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

2. INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS

3. EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDER

4. SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PROCESS

5. SCHOOL-BASED RESOURCES

6. SCHOOL PERFORMANCE ACCOUNTABILITY

RESPONSDENTSSchool HeadAssistant to school head / head Teachers / Teachers / Grade chair / Dept head

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

Parent association representative / Teacher association chair LGU Barangay chair/representative / SGC chair/representativeChair of any other active groups involved in the school (eg. NGO’s, Alumni association)

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

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

School Head Parent association representative Teacher association chair / Head of student council SGC chair/representative / LGU Barangay chair/representative

PayrollCheck that your school is using all the staffing it is entitled to. This list will help you to overview payroll elements.

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

Even a few dollars missed off a payment or, even worse, having to wait a fortnight for pay can result in financial difficulties for people.

Confirm:- the staffing levels determined and paid for by the Department of Education. who is paid directly by the DepEd for Teachers Salaries (TS).other staffing determined and paid for by the board of trustees.who is paid from the Board Grant (BG).

Payroll

that the full cost of wages and salaries to be paid for from BG for the year match with budget expectations. that your schools banking staffing processes follow the pattern you expect.

Check:- the SUE (Staff Usage and Expenditure) reports to see all your staff have been paid correctly. Their level of pay must fit the conditions of their employment agreement. This includes special allowances, responsibility payments, and any adjustments from a previous pay period.

Payroll

pay adjustments for the next pay period are made before the 'cut-off' time laid down by your pay authority.

Appointing Staff

As an educational leader, you will seek the best appointees for your school.

Use processes that ensure new staff members are able and ready to help advance school development.

Plan the steps in advance that you need to work through around staff appointments.

Appointing StaffIdentify what sort of appointment, if any, is possible or should be made. Use curriculum needs, DepEd regulations, confirmed staffing levels, and board of trustees budget limitations to help.

Know and use the school’s advertising and appointment procedures, and ensure your procedures meet the requirements of the Collective Employment Agreements. Use guidelines to assist.

Appointing Staff

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

During the selection and appointment process, carefully check the background and performance of applicants.

Be very methodical in building a picture of applicants on your short list.

Appointing StaffKnow and use the school induction processes to help the new staff member adapt to the changes involved in a new place of employment.

Details of appointment processes and a range of templates are available from the Department of Education on School Employment.

Here, you can understand the annual staffing cycles and whether you are in a position to offer a teaching position.

How staff changes link to leading learningIt is 29 June. A permanent teacher resigned yesterday, taking effect from end of the month.(if you are in a primary school) ,she is a composite year 3–4 class, or ( if you are in a secondary school), she is a teacher of health and physical education

You are lobbied by some staff and your board chair to immediately advertise the position in the Gazette that closes at 5.00pm tomorrow.

What are you, as the educational leader, going to do about this by noon tomorrow?

What are you going to do?

ConcurrenceThe State Services Commissioner, under the State Sector Act 1988 has delegated the authority to the Education Secretary to agree (grant “concurrence”) to a board of trustees wishing to provide additional remuneration and other benefits in addition to those specified in the Individual Employment Agreement (IEA).

Check with your DepEd on the employment agreement for this additional remuneration or benefits, if applicable.

It is not legal or binding without the Education Department concurrence.

Additional remuneration or benefit are for the limited purpose of recognizing and compensating the principal for the performance of the additional duties or responsibilities.

The additional duties or responsibilities performed must be for the benefit of their school. Reasons usually considered an acceptable basis for the payment of additional remuneration include (but are not restricted to) management of, and responsibility for:

Concurrence for additional Remuneration

Individual and Team performanceTeacher registration, performance management, and appraisal are parts of many school scene. They are confirmed as law in the Education Act and its amendments, and the legal requirements of the Employment Relations Act.

You must follow their requirements.

You must be aware of how collective or individual employment agreements regulate some aspects of appraisal and performance according to the legislation of DepEd regulations and requirements.

Individual and Team performanceIncreased emphasis on whole staff development has expanded the importance of finding out how teachers are performing, sharing teaching practice, and providing and responding to meaningful teacher development.

A robust staff appraisal system will help you to review how you approach individual and team performance at your school.

understand the qualities of your staff. know and be satisfied with staff development processes at our school.know from regular reviews how staff development is progressing and how to formulate teacher development goals and strategies for the future.know and understand the processes related to dealing with teacher competency issues.prepare to apply those processes to deal with competency issues.

Staff appraisal systemA robust Appraisal system should be able to:

These sources of information focus on quality teachers, quality teaching, and staff development:

A complaint about teacher performanceDuring the first month of being a principal, you have fielded three expressions of concern about Mr Tim, a permanent teacher, failing to provide his students with quality teaching.

Two of the concerns came from other staff and one is from a parent you listened to at the latest school get-together.

The word 'concerns' is used because no-one has specifically used the words 'complaint' or 'competency',

or committed their views to paper.

What are you going to do?

What are you going to do?

School Head initiates and organize stakeholders, installing appropriate SBM system

example school improvement planning, budgeting and resource management, staffing, performance monitoring and reporting

School Head performs fund management duties example accounting/book keeping functions

As principal you are responsible for ensuring the school’s present and future achievement goals are served by your school property.

Leadership related to property involves:ensuring compliance with Dept. of Education property regulations and requirementsresourcing strategicallyensuring a safe, orderly and supportive environmentusing the criteria provided by the DepEd to efficiently manage and enhance school property.

The Education Property Policies formally require all 10 Year Property Plans to to be based on the standardized Building Condition Assessment methodology and the Modern Learning Environments (MLE) assessment tool.

With support from their contracted project manager, this process will enable schools to rank planned projects into three priority areas:Priority 1: Health and safetyPriority 2: Essential infrastructurePriority 3: Modernizing learning environments to the core standard

Check with your DepEd Property Policies

Check to ensure you have the core principles of school property management, use and development sorted.

School property policy and procedures

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

Reflect on your property knowledge and skills that it meet the expectations confirmed by the demands of your 10 years plan Property Strategy and your school’s achievement goals.

Property managementEach board manages school property through applying systematic processes that meet the requirements and responsibilities defined in the Property Occupancy Document.

These are:The 10 Year Property Cycle.General maintenance from the bulk grant.Dept. of Education general support, advice and, in special cases, funding in times of emergency.Community support and funding where locally generated funds provide for district facilities on the school site.

Dept.’s guideline to property and health and safety

The Dept. of Education’s main focus is on state school property. Check out the details for Integrated Schools.

Check out its explanation of the regulations and requirements for state schools and descriptions of the processes involved for each stage of the property management process. It is essential ready reference for all new principals and board members.

Capture the view of the school facilities and their useFind out property needs, safety issues and wish lists:

Discuss classroom capacity to provide the setting for meeting achievement goals with the teachers and students. Do this in their space.

(If there is a worst classroom in the school go there first)

Property and its relationship to achievement strategies.

The school Has an Annual School Budget (ASB) aligned with the Annual Improvement Plan (AIP) The Annual School Budget (ASB) resulted in the attainment of school targets and desired learning outcomes The school manages and controls funds with minimal fiscal authority/ autonomy targets and desired learning outcomesThe allocation Optimally utilized and disbursement of funds is aligned to SIP/AIP/ASB and recorded, reported and accounted for

Dimension 5 SCHOOL BASED RESOURCES

Teachers’ salaries (TS)

The Principal is responsible for ensuring that the level of staffing for the school does not exceed the levels confirmed by the DepEd and that the specific payments to teachers are correct in terms of employment agreements.

Each teacher should have an employment file where pay increases etc. are located and noted through a bring-up system.

It is important all principals fully understand how this works.

School funding sourcesAside from funding school property, government money for state and integrated schools comes in two main 'parcels‘, paid through generated roll-based formulae. One is salaries of all teachers, the other is operational funding, commonly called BG or Bulk Grant. Property funding for capital

works and funding for special activities come from funds that are administered through the Department’s property division.

Community-generated funds collected from fundraising, donations and parental payments, trusts or fee-paying students are another source of income for schools.

It covers:-presence and absence in schools:-the administrative requirements-your school attendance as it is now-analyzing the data- engagement and attendance- getting beyond just data collection.

This guide focuses on the administration of attendance, attendance levels at your school, and getting beyond the collection of data.

Put in place a school-wide attendance focusPut in place a school-wide attendance focus as part of your school’s learning strategy to have a daily recording of attendance that provides accurate and timely summaries every week.

use the attendance data across a range of people (class or form teachers, deans, senior staff) as a basis for strengthening student engagement through personalized approaches and systems

Dealing with poor attendance

Reflect (at least every 6 months) the attendance issues of concern to teachers and provide action based on the day to day data analysis. work collaboratively with other schools and other agencies.

Put in place a school-wide attendance focusDealing with poor attendance

apply absence and truancy procedures fully and consistently. informed parents regularly about their children’s attendance weaknesses and ask to play a key role in rectifying them.

Emphasize teachers' responsibility for attendanceDealing with poor attendance

Reduce in-school variation in attendance: Teachers taking responsibility for the attendance at their class(es) will personalize messages to students about any lack of attendance.

Such action is likely to bring improvement when combined with active work on engagement processes to provide "dynamic class rooms led rather than ruled by teachers”

Target: Clearly identify those students who are not meeting school expectations and require teachers to provide a focus on them.

Dealing with poor attendanceEmphasize teachers' responsibility for attendance

Such an approach will bring attendance improvement with another 5–15 per cent of students as they respond to a more personalized education system.

Dealing with poor attendance

-put in place a school-wide attendance focus-emphasize teachers' responsibility for attendance and-to engage support agencies, counselors, and other services

Decisions and actions to deal with poor attendance has to be based on analysis of the school’s attendance data. A guide as your school’s engagement in learning strategy:

Analyzing the data

Look at the bottom 10 %. What is the impact of their poor attendance on both, their achievement and school? Compare this with the nationwide picture.Identify issues that need consideration – like in-school variations and truancy.Provide staff with regular snapshots of absence issues.What do students think 'poor attendance‘ is? Need for a change of perspective?Are you satisfied with your school’s absence record, collection, analysis, follow-up, and benefits gained from the processes involved?

Take your in-school attendance data for a period, (say the month of May) and analyze the patterns for girls, boys, different ethnic groups, year levels, and Mondays and Fridays

Who has excellent attendance?

•Take the data for those who have excellent attendance and analyze it.•Provide a report to the staff and board on those who attend well.•What is done about students with very high levels of attendance?•Do the characteristics of those students who have excellent attendance provide any understandings that will help raise the levels of attendance of others?•What do students think 'excellent attendance is'?

Your school attendance patterns•What are the correlations between attendance patterns and student achievement for specific groups?•What can you do about altering the present attendance situation?•Keep these results readily available to assist school decision making and action.

Analyzing the data

This guide offers some suggestions that will help you to: -make the first term a positive one, -avoid major issues and -develop good processes.

. It covers:Making changesGetting to know staffInformation on school performanceBuilding partnerships and networksProfessional adviceBeing a teaching principalShort-term goalsRelationshipsBeing a new principal Sharing challenges & rewards

Making the first term a positive one

Listen, ask, and observe before acting on any issues. Check out traditional school activities. Become familiar with the board and community's expectations of their principal.

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

Making changes

Every new principal will make some changes, and your staff will expect this. Before making a change, make sure everyone who will be affected knows why and remember that 'winning' your first challenge is important.

Be considerate in your decision-making around change. Some people may raise issues and want instant answers or solutions. Premature action could lead to the very relationship problem you want to avoid, so look at the issue carefully first.

Making changesLet staff know that you are going to work in this way, but avoid statements like, “I won’t change anything during my first term here.” You may miss a good opportunity.

Some issues 'hanging over' from the previous administration might have to be dealt with. Not making any changes may suggest your tacit acceptance of situations that could come back to bite you.

Getting to know staff

Gather information that will help you get to know staff and learn about the school at the same time.

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

Responses to the latter question may be shared as long as privacy is maintained.

Engage support agencies, counselors, and other servicesDealing with poor attendance

Participate in district truancy initiatives and support any local committee.Recognize that at intermediate and secondary school level, the complexity of working with truants is often beyond the resources of your school alone.

Ensure there are means to reintegrate students who have had lengthy absences so the ‘pull factors’ of school can get to work.

Getting to know staff

Showing a personal interest in staff members is important. In this way, they know you care about them as individuals, not just as teachers or support staff.

Be visible around the school. Attend school social functions, even initiate them if nothing is planned.

Information on school performanceKeep information on your school set out in graphs and tables, and compares your school’s it with collated information for schools like yours on a number of issues.

You can access from the appropriate site, with a user name and password. You can also access the last 15 years of property development in your school, including your current 5-year plan and maintenance grant.

Have a look at your school’s last annual report, charter, analysis of variance, and current goals. These will give you information about the recent priorities and the financial position.

Building partnerships and networksLocal community will see you as an important person, so work on developing your profile with them. Use any local events to make yourself known and demonstrate that you are interested in what's happening.

In rural areas, there are many opportunities for becoming involved in local events.

Building partnerships and networks

Principals’ meetings are places to make contact with colleagues in the schools that yours contributes to, or that contribute to yours; this includes early childhood if yours is a primary school.

However, it is your school that really counts. Your parent group, board of trustees, PTA, and any other school groups are your most important contacts.

Make the most of these contacts and listen to what they say. You will build a picture as you do.

Until you find your feet, you might need ongoing support for everyday management and organizational matters and for dealing with professional, personnel, or community issues.

Professional advice

Ask for help when you need it. Your principal colleagues will respond. Cultivate a relationship with a valued and trustworthy colleague who can provide support.

Everyone needs professional support and advice, especially in the early stages of principalship..If you do not have a personal contact who can help you, contact a local Leadership and Management adviser.

It is difficult to look too far ahead in a new job, so concentrate on short-term goals until you have the confidence to start thinking and planning for the longer-term future of the school.

Short-term goals

Research and experience make it clear that the vast majority of problems in schools occur as a result of a breakdown in relationships.

Relationships

As a new principal, one of your most important tasks is to build good relationships and help to ensure that those of staff, board, parents, and students are working well too.

Make sure you deliver on what you promise, and avoid statements like “at my last school …".

Being a new Principal

Sharing challenges & rewards