School Principal: A Management Professional on Steroids!

In many ways, the role of a school principal is unique and challenging. They are literally responsible for the future of hundreds of their students while also managing the twin roles of a Chairman and CEO! As you may know, a chairman of a company is responsible to his shareholders and sets out the long term vision of a company. The CEO on the other hand is responsible for the day-to-day functioning of the company and has to look into the best interests of not only his clients but also his employees and other stake holders like the local community. This in many ways summarises the cornucopia of roles the school principal needs to accomplish.

Let’s examine some of their main roles from a managerial perspective:

Chief Liaising Officer and Trouble-shooter

At any point of time a school principal is busy liaising with the following groups, interests or responsibilities-

• Students
• Teachers
• Recruitment
• Parents
• Management, Board or Trustees
• PTA (Parent-Teacher Association)
• Organising School Events (Event Management) & Study Tours
• Non-Teaching Staff and/or Support Staff
• Press publicity and Public Relations
• Vendors - for upgrading school infrastructure, supplying stationery, technology etc

Essentially the buck stops with the principal on all these matters. All unresolved grievances and issues related to all the interested parties stated above are expected to be dealt with firmly yet wisely by the school principal. Their decisive role in these matters shapes the future direction of the school!

In-house Teacher Trainer

I believe that the school principal is the ultimate teaching resource for that school. Not just as a subject matter expert their own academic discipline but as an all purpose philosophical guide and coach for all the teachers of that school. It’s better to agree on a set of broad guidelines and allow the teachers to figure out the best techniques. For e.g. it could be as simple yet profound as- ‘Playing the role of a facilitator instead of an instructor/lecturer helps nurture independent learners’. Instead of the students depending on the teacher for every answer, the teacher could be motivated to inspire and guide the students to find answers on their own or try to solve their own problems and issues. This not only would increase the student’s self- esteem but give them the confidence to face the future better, thereby creating better citizens and bringing laurels and recognition to their alma mater.

However, the school principal needs to be careful not to impose the training techniques on the teacher. Else, they would be in the danger of being branded authoritarian. Lack of freedom to experiment, too much micromanagement and the inability to delegate responsibility can backfire badly depending on how serious the situation is and could lead to unintended outcomes like teachers quitting schools midway. This is a serious problem in many private schools in India today. In such a case, it would be better if the managements or trustees hire experienced teacher trainers from outside.

Chief Visionary Architect

Image via Wikipedia

School heads are responsible for outlining the long-term goals of the school. Not only are they supposed to incorporate international best practices academically and in the running of the school but in addition are required to create a unique brand identity for the school. This helps the school to carve a niche for itself and creates an USP which bodes well for future student admissions. Having a unique brand positioning based on progressive values, academic rigour and a focus on developing the extracurricular abilities of the students always helps when every school more or less follows the same school system (like the SSC, ICSE, CBSE or IB)

Transforming ordinary students not just into independent learners but helping them fulfil their aspirations can be a vision that can be set out by a good principal. This means, if the students want to pursue an undergraduate course at an Ivy League institution, the school should have the ability to train them for their SAT. Similarly, if he or she wants to pursue law or engineering or be a sportsman or a graphic designer or an actor, the school should be in a position to at least support these aspirations. This is what separates a good school from the others and I know it’s not very easy to replicate this in every school. But then, how many school principals and managements even share this vision for their school as they would for their own children? I feel, once the bar is set high enough, things will begin to fall in place. Whoever thought a 100% results in the final exams or topping at the state or national level was the only aim. Unfortunately that is precisely the case in most schools!

Chief Research Head

This is where the research part comes in. Since the school principals generally have the maximum amount of exposure and experience in the teaching-learning process, they are in the best position to read up, understand and implement best practices in teaching and learning styles, suggest changes and modify existing ones so that the teachers and the students are in sync with the school’s broader vision.

Motivational Guru

Instead of looking at a student from just an academic perspective the school principal could encourage teachers to look at him or her performance from a multiple intelligences perspective. And suddenly, the same academically weak student will seem like a very gifted student! Once the school principals realise that in the long run academic performance is not the only measure of success, they can encourage students to pursue their special talents. Once academically weak students realise that they aren’t good for nothing, that there’s something about them to be proud of, we can in most cases expect at least an average academic performance from these students simply on the basis of their new found motivation!

Although these days, many managements and trustees recognise that a good school principal needs to be compensated well in order to perform their myriad roles, they also put undue pressure on the principals to attract more students in order to increase profits. There is added pressure on private school principals to pay less and extract more work from the teachers. As a result quite often school principals fall prey to ‘cost-cutting for personal gain’ practice and try prove their efficiency to their bosses instead of acting in the students’ or the teachers’ best interest. This attitude ought to change if the school principal has to fulfil the expectations discussed above. Teachers are not like machines that can be tweaked for efficiency. Quality comes at a cost. If quality needs to be retained and sustained, the only prudent thing to do is hire a good school principal who understands the fundamentals of school management and let them run the show based on the principles laid out here. Compromising on quality and values always benefits the competitor in the long run. I hope the managements and trustees are listening?

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