HOW DO WE MANAGE HOW DO WE MANAGE OUR SCHOOLS ?OUR SCHOOLS ?

Mara BonittaMara Bonitta

Circolo Didattico Maniago ( PN)Circolo Didattico Maniago ( PN)

ITALYITALY

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MIUR:Ministry of Education, University and Research

• Central authority, responsible for supervising and coordinating scholastic institutions throughout the country.

The Ministry of Education, University and Research lays down :

• the general goals and learning outcomes of the school process;

• specific learning objectives related to student competence levels;

• the subjects and activities which make up the national curriculum quota and annual teaching hours for these;

• general indications for student evaluation and assessment.

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21 Regional Education Offices

Regional Education Authorities: • are autonomous centres with administrative responsibility; • have residual state functions which have been transferred neither

to the Regions nor to the schools (for example: the determination of the number of the schools’ staff

• have functions related to the relationships with the Regions, local authorities, universities and formative agencies;

• are present also at provincial level through the centres for administrative support to schools, called Provincial Education Office.

• At peripheral level, the U.S.R. or Regional Education Offices were instituted in the late ’90s;

• Led by General Manager for Education;

• Appointed by the MIUR;

• Duration of appointment varies.

Who does what Ministry:

sets the national curriculum appoints teachers to the schools through its regional

offices (and pays directly for them) regulates the educational system in most of its aspects funds schools for the ordinary running costs acts for most matters through regional offices

Local authorities ( Municipalities or Provinces): provide for buildings, maintenance, and general

supplies (telephone, electricity, heating, transport) have no competence in the curriculum or management

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Education Reform in Progress

• THE OLD SYSTEM • Old education system was

centralised, characterised by national curricula established by the Ministry of Education.

• From four school types or levels: pre-school education, primary education, lower secondary education, upper secondary education

• Ministry provided detailed curriculum for all school levels and subject areas (fixed)

• THE REFORMED SYSTEM

• New system is characterised by an increasing level of autonomy granted to individual schools

• to a three-phase structure: Pre-school education, primary cycle, secondary cycle.

• Ministry now defines general framework, guidelines and principles, for all levels, types and branches of study. (flexible). Schools make any needed adjustments

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Individual Schools

Led by Head Teacher / School Manager

responsible for: • the overall management of the institution, of which he has

legal responsibility; • the management of financial and material resources and for

the quality of the service provided; • the promotion of the necessary interventions aimed at

guaranteeing quality in the educational processes; • s/he can resort to teachers, of his choosing, to whom

specific tasks can be delegated; • his/her salary is made up of a fixed part and a variable part,

this one related to the ‘complexity’ of the school and attained results

• (e.g. number of pupils, student success and/or dropout figures, additional school projects)

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School Autonomy (all must be worked into a ministerial outline and framework, to ensure uniformity throughout the country)

• School autonomy

• Education Offer Plan ( P.O.F.)

• Teaching autonomy

• Organisation autonomy

• Autonomy in research, experimentation and development

• 1997 - Law 59: the old centralised school system was dismantled and School Autonomy granted (teaching, administration, research activities, experimentation and development).

• Schools determine and implement the educational offer: each school prepares the Education Offer Plan yearly.

• Flexibility in organising school time and teaching time in the way which is better suited to the study and learning rhythms

• Overall timetable can be adopted to the Education Plan’s requirements;

• Teaching staff and other personnel plan training activities, set up ‘network agreements’ with other schools, education institutions, businesses, etc.

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School Collective Bodies

• School Council (Consiglio di istituto)

• The Executive Board (Giunta Esecutiva)

• Teachers’ Assembly (Collegio dei Docenti)

• Class Council

• is made up of elected representatives of teaching and non-teaching staff, parents and, in upper secondary schools, students. It is chaired by a parent. • is elected by the School Council; chaired by the School Manager. It draws up the preliminary budget and the final accounts and ensures that resolutions of the School Council are implemented. • is made up of the permanent and temporary teachers and chaired by the School Manager. It formulates the ‘School education plan’, taking into account proposals and opinions expressed by parents' associations and organisations. it is consulted by the Headmaster as regards class formation, lesson timetables and the performance of school activities, taking account of the general criteria laid down by the School Council • comprises school manager (chair), teachers of all subject areas (usually 8), special needs teacher(s)

What schools are entitled to do

The schools are supposed to follow the national curriculum

Since 2000 on, they have a limited possibility to modify it (for a part not exceeding 20% of the annual teaching time for each subject)

moreover they take advantage out of the opportunity to cooperate with “experts” directly appointed by the school for some particular subjects ( sports, music, arts, minority languages, italian as a second language...)

A certain autonomy of budgeting (but 90% of grants are under some kind of restraints)

Some critical points

There is an increasing lack of financial resources for schools

• Too many pupils drop out of the system before completing their studies

• The system is not designed for certifying credits and skills at intermediate levels (only final diplomas)

• The system is not performing well in the field of vocational education (too much theory, not training enough)

Some strong points Our school system works quite well in solving

problems and creating opportunities by their own It is highly effective for a minority of gifted

students (whose levels are often above the average in international tests)

It’s inclusive towards the less favoured pupils (in that sense that they remain within the mainstream education, while getting at the same time special assistance)

And the school managers? They have many legal responsibilities, but they

lack corresponding powers of decision because of a great number of other actors ( teachers, trade unions, local authorities, administration, parents..)

The juridical framework make heavy their tasks and does not allow them to take real decisions about the curriculum and the most relevant educational issues such as integration and multicultural challenges

Who assesses the schools There is no systematic assessment of schools

From 2001 up to 2004 there has been a national system of tests for students’ achievements (only for schools that decided to make use of it)

many schools actually did (80% approx.) only for 2005-2006 this system has been compulsory from 2007 on, it will be operated only on a sample of schools

(approx. 5%)

There is no assessment for schools as a whole, nor for individual teachers

The UNI EN ISO 9001:2000 NormsThe UNI EN ISO 9001:2000 Norms

1)1) Quality as a means of management Quality as a means of management and improvementand improvement

2)2) Control of activitiesControl of activities

3)3) Measuring and monitoring dataMeasuring and monitoring data

ABOUT UNI EN ISO 9000:2000

ISO 9000 : 2000QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS -

Fundamentals and vocabulary

ISO 9000 : 2000QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS -

Fundamentals and vocabulary

ISO 9001: 2008QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS -

Requirements

ISO 9001: 2008QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS -

Requirements

ISO 9004 : 2000QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS -

Guidelines for improvement

ISO 9004 : 2000QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS -

Guidelines for improvement

Standard based on 8 quality management principles

1) customer focus2) leadership3) involvement of people4) process approach5) system approach to management6) continual improvement7) factual approach to decision making8) mutually beneficial supplier relationships

Keys about ISO 9000.2000

ISO 9001 REQUIREMENTS

4. QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

General requirementsidentify QMS processessequence & interaction of processescriteria & measures for effective operationinformation to support processesmeasure, monitor, analyse, action & improvement

General documentation requirementsproceduresother documents

Administrationresponsibility & authority

management representativeinternal communication

quality manualcontrol of documents

control of quality recordsManagement review

inputs outputs

Management commitmentCustomer focusQuality policyPlanningquality objectivesquality planning

5. MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY

6. RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Provision of resourcescustomer satisfaction

Human resourcescompetency

training

effectiveness of training

contribution to quality objectives

staff records

Work environmenthuman & physical factors

7. PRODUCT REALISATION

Planning of realisation processesCustomer related processesDesign & developmentplanninginputsoutputsreviewverificationvalidationchanges

Purchasingcontrolinformationverification

Production & service operationscontrolidentification & traceabilitycustomer propertypreservationmeasuring & monitoring

8. MEASUREMENT, ANALYSIS & IMPROVEMENT

PlanningMeasurement & monitoringcustomer satisfactioninternal auditprocessesproductcontrol of non comformityanalysis of data

ORGANIZATION CHART

AND NOW...MY SCHOOL !AND NOW...MY SCHOOL !

AND NOW...MY AND NOW...MY SCHOOL !SCHOOL !

http://www.circolomaniago.it/

Warning to navigatorsWarning to navigators

““It is necessary to learn to navigate It is necessary to learn to navigate in an ocean of doubts between in an ocean of doubts between

archipelagoes of certainties”archipelagoes of certainties” ( E. ( E. Morin)Morin)