Introduction
Pakistan is a developing country faced with numerous challenges in improving its education field. Although diverse, the local school education systems may be primarily categorised under government, private, and community based school systems. A successful school in any system may be defined as one having low student and staff turnover; consistently good or better student results in standardized examinations; placement of students into quality colleges; adequate facilities; positive parent teacher student engagement; overall morale of all involved parties; and above all, good leadership. There are sporadic examples of individual successful schools throughout Pakistan who are trying to replicate their methodologies to change and improve the standards of other schools in their system. Such successful schools behave like a successful organisation; and like any such organisation, they have at their heart good leadership. In this conference, formulated as a case study, I would like to present one such example of a successful Pakistani school and its leadership.
Location
Mountain School (fictitious name) is located in a rural town in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. Mountain School is a private girls school. Substantial improvement has occurred in the physical conditions of the school over the past two to three years. A boundary wall has been constructed, grounds have been planted with grass (previously bare and dusty earth) and interiors have been painted and cleaned up. The principal’s office has been extended and improved, the staffroom has been relocated and refurnished and the examination hall has been made into a multi-purpose facility. Classrooms have been cleaned and moveable furniture has been installed to allow for group work. Classrooms are also nicely decorated with charts and students’ work (also displayed in the principal’s office).
Profile and role of the principal
The principal is a 34-year-old male who has been head of this school for about three years. He is a local person, having been a teacher at this school some years ago before doing his Masters in Teacher Education at a private university in Karachi. Before that, he did a BSC from Islamabad Central College, high school from Karachi and matriculation in Gilgit, Northern Areas. His other professional qualifications include a Visiting Teacher Program at a good private university in 1996 and a Certificate in Educational Management Course. He has also attended different short-term training programs including one arranged and conducted by American Academy, USA.
The principal is highly motivated and satisfied with his job. A lot of his job satisfaction comes from helping students and teachers to learn and change. He worked very hard to build his credibility through what he could offer the teachers by way of professional development in the school. He conducted many workshops himself and brought other facilitators into the school to conduct workshops for teachers. In order to be able to do that, he needed the educational background he had sought so hard to achieve before becoming principal. There is clearly a link there between his knowledge of teaching and learning drawn from his own education and his ability to build his credibility as a principal in the school.
Why is this school successful?
The principal identified teamwork and cohesion amongst the staff, building trust and quality relationships, shared decision-making, empowerment and positive community involvement in the school as the major factors that makes the school a successful school. He emphasised the school has adopted a slogan of ‘We sink or swim together’ as part of the school vision statement. This means there is a shared sense of responsibility and accountability for the school and that everyone is expected to be a part of the team.
Previously, School Management Committee (SMC) members would go directly to classrooms to observe lessons and this was upsetting for the teachers. Shortly after he arrived, the present principal requested them not to go straight to the classes but to come to him first for a discussion and a talk with the teacher before going to the class. The teachers felt much more comfortable with that arrangement. He also requested some of the SMC members to conduct sessions for the teachers, so they did that and they also taught in the classrooms. For example, the Local Education Board Chairman who has a Masters degree in Geography, conducted a three-hour workshop for grade 10 students and teachers. From that activity, trust was built and now, when that Chairman comes to the school, every teacher tries to ask something and tries to learn something from him.
The principal tries to involve some of the teachers in SMC meetings, so that they know that the community people don’t talk against them but they are working for their benefit. Community involvement is very important, especially with the mothers of the students. When he first came to the school, he found that the parents were invited only to be told of their children weaknesses. The parents didn’t feel comfortable and they were often victimised. In front of a school gathering, they would be told that their child is not doing very well. He also arranged a workshop for 60 mothers and everybody was involved. The workshop was for three hours and included group activities, discussions and presentations that were quite helpful and the mother involvement was high.
To summarise this, the principal said:
‘To make this a good school, first we focused on change in teacher’s attitude. Their attitude must be optimistic towards students and towards teaching and learning. Now they are looking at teaching and learning in a broader prospective; they are not confined or limited to that industrial approach that we should get good results but they are trying to develop students holistically. And another thing is that teachers are also concerned about their own professional development and their academic enhancement and they are striving, struggling to better themselves. And another thing is that now parents are quite encouraged . . . compared to our previous state we are now in quite a good position with parents now taking an interest, they are coming to school, they are not afraid to visit the school, they come and they sit in my office and they talk to me, they share their problems. And the students have developed confidence . . . They are joining good institutions. And now there were different competitions where we got highest positions on international level, local level, so that’s why I think that this can be considered as a remarkable school’.
Management of pedagogical processes
Pedagogical management; that is, managing the quality of the teaching and learning, is an important concern of the principal. Prior to becoming principal, he had completed some courses at a good private university, where pedagogical leadership issue had been raised. He now believes that it is important for both students and teachers to have an environment conducive to learning and professional development.
The principal introduced the concept of one teacher per class, which he learnt at a good private university. Currently, for the junior and nursery classes there is only one teacher who teaches all the subjects, because one teacher can easily handle the children and it also save the time of the students rather than a separate teacher coming for each class period. That has been a successful change made in the school. For senior classes the teachers change each period.
If a student is having a lot of difficulty in a class, the teachers try to solve the problem; but if it is too difficult, they take the matter to the principal who will offer some suggestions and tips to that student. If required, the parents will be asked to visit the school to discuss the problem.
The teachers and their training
In this school all of the teachers had undergone some form of teacher education, including a significant amount of in-service professional development. Also this school was quite different in that cooperative learning was the predominant approach used by teachers with students sitting in groups and able to interact with each other. This clearly shows the impact of the professional development courses that the principal had undergone at the private university, where cooperative learning is stressed, and the subsequent workshops that he had conducted for teachers in the school.
Further, he has confidence that teachers are working well in the classroom and not wasting time. For support, he is always available to discuss any problems teachers might be having. Academic results are linked with the teachers’ performance as an indicator of the quality of their teaching and this is directly related to annual appraisal of teachers.
Relations with students
The principal also informed us that he had learnt a lot about management and how teachers relate with the students in various training programs at various institutions. He clearly wants the school to emphasize a friendly and non-threatening attitude and environment in the classroom and in the culture of the school as a whole.
Relations with parents/community
Perhaps the most significant feature of this school is the very extensive and positive relations with parents and the community in general. Besides the formal committees such as SMC, there are various other ways in which relationships are built with the parents. For example:
‘When we announce our results we invite all the parents and we request them to visit school because the school doors are open for you, you can come, you can ask about your children and even visit our classes, you can sit in a class and you can see what is happening. Another way is class-wise where we invite the parents and we conduct sessions for them’
(Principal).
Leadership and school improvement
An explanation of the success of this school, particularly over the past three years, must take into account the leadership of the present principal and his focus on school improvement. On a notice board in the principal’s office was a statement about leadership which is reproduced here:
Five essential components for educational leaders
(‘The Change Leadership’, Michael Fullan. In Educational Leadership, May 2002)
What this indicates is that the principal was aware of literature on leadership and this, most likely, came from the various courses he had completed at the private university. Fullan (2002) says ‘School leaders with moral purpose seek to make a difference in the lives of students’ (p.17). It is clear that this was high on the principal’s agenda and one of the ways that he expressed that agenda was through a statement of the school vision which was also prominently displayed on a notice board in his office. The notion of ‘vision’ is strongly featured in literature on leadership and this vision, too, indicates that he has a grounding in that literature from the courses he has done. The school vision was:
‘This alma mater is a learning organisation where every individual is furnished with highly commendable opportunities and facilities to attain the optimal standards of academic results, social skills, moral and spiritual qualities and physical well being. A unique team spirit with a slogan “Sink or swim together” and a sense of strong collaboration among students, faculty and parents unifies this organization. Centre of excellence is its identity. Our slogan is “Committed to quality and merit".’
Characteristics and strategies of successful school leader
a. Shared responsibility and accountability for the management of the school is evident in successful school. In the Mountain School case, we found that the principal delegated significant responsibility to others in the school, for example, head of department, coordinator, and so on, and ensured that accountability accompanied the delegation of responsibility. This produced a sense of shared responsibility for the outcomes of the school by empowering others to make decisions and take appropriate actions, though always within a framework or a set of guidelines provided by the principal. The principal did not abdicate his responsibility but he shared it and then ensured that those given delegated responsibility would be accountable for his decisions and actions.
b. A successful school has a high degree of autonomy. While the degree of autonomy varied across the school and in specific areas e.g. in financial management in particular, it was evident that the principal was involved in school-based management and had power devolved to them. The school was clearly in charge of most of its own affairs. The finding here is that the successful school is part of decentralized systems of education and have a high degree autonomy. This finding is consistent with world-wide trends towards decentralization, flattening of bureaucratic structures in education systems and increased focus on school-based management.
c. Effective management of physical resources has a high priority in this successful school. In this case, we found that the management of physical resources is an important role for the principal – it could be said that ‘a good school looks good’. Whether it is the proper maintenance of buildings and grounds, adequate classroom space, the provision of libraries and laboratories or simply cleans washrooms it seems that a successful school gives high priority to these matters. What is important here is that this aspect of a school is highly visible to all concerned; building a boundary wall sends a strong, visible message both inside and outside the school that this school is successful.
d. Teacher management and the management of pedagogy is an important focus in successful schools. There is a clear and sustained focus on teaching and learning in this school and the principal was very much involved in it. The principal was very much ‘hands-on’ in conducting workshops for teachers, In fact, this focus on teaching and learning goes beyond management into the realm of ‘pedagogical leadership’ (Memon and Bana,) which is becoming increasingly recognized as a feature of successful schools around the world.
e. In this successful school the principal is in touch with everything happening through very effective communication. In this case, the structure of communication was hierarchical but the nature of the communication was decidedly non-hierarchical and personal. The principal did not ‘give orders’ to be carried out, as is possible in a hierarchy, but he discussed matters with his staff, students and parents in ways that allowed diverse views to emerge and be taken into account in decision making. This form of symmetrical communication results in clearer understanding of meaning than does a ‘top-down’, hierarchical approach to communication which often results in distortion of meaning through the exercise of power (Habermas, 1984).
f. Parents have open access to the principal in successful school but they do not exert control over the school. It was evident in this case that the school viewed parents as important stakeholders and they were given opportunities for regular meetings with the principal and through the principal they had access to the teachers, but there was no evidence that parents were given significant roles in the management of the schools. There was a range of approaches to parental interaction with the school from where the school management committee provided a great deal of cooperative assistance to the school. Particularly when it came to student examination results, the school provided formal mechanisms to enable parents to discuss issues with the teachers.
g. The principal of the successful school is a dynamic and well educated individual with a strong commitment to the school and the profession of education. The findings here are that the principal definitely ‘makes a difference’ in the school. In this case the principal was found to be an outstandingly dedicated person who had gone to great lengths to get a sound education himself before becoming a principal. Perhaps the matter of commitment is related to the background knowledge of the principal; if a person is not sure of their own knowledge then they may not be able to generate the level of commitment required to be an effective principal. Commitment was demonstrated in various ways but most clearly in the amount of hours per week that the principal devoted to working for the school, the community or the profession. He worked long hours and was involved in a range of diverse activities both inside and outside the school. For example, the principal puts in many hours as a community educational leader outside the school.
h. The successful school has a broader view of the curriculum than textbooks and classroom learning. In this case, we found that serious efforts were made to relate the in-school learning of students to the reality of their lives outside of school. This was done in various ways such as educational trips to visit other schools and communities.
i. The successful school engages in some form of school development or improvement planning. In this school it was quite pronounced and called the ‘School Action Plan’ with a focus on school improvement on an annual basis. Successful schools plan for their future; they do it in different ways and with different emphases but it is clear that they are not satisfied only with success in the present; they are searching for success in the future as well and they have a vision of what that might look like.
Conclusion
Personal qualities such as commitment, interpersonal communication skills, a caring attitude and leadership ability should be considered important in selection of principal in successful school. Principals should be carefully selected on merit rather than simply rising to the position through age and seniority in the system. Given the importance of the principal for creating successful schools, serious effort should be made to recruit appropriately qualified people.
At the heart of all successful schools is a clear and sustained focus on student learning and the learning community idea emphasises that point. What it adds to other approaches, however, is the focus on ‘community’; the idea that a good school is a community of learners. All of the participants; be they students, teachers, administrators and even parents are positioned as learners with a strong sense of belonging and care for others which is the essence of community.
Discuss presentationABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ms Rozina Sewani, M.A., Education & International Development; M.A., International Relations, is an instructor at the Institute of Educational Development at The Aga Khan University, in Karachi, Pakistan.