The Organizational Context of Margaret Beaufort School - Essay Example

ESSAY – EDUCATION Margaret Beaufort School Lecturer’s Part A of the organizational context of Margaret Beaufort School Margaret Beaufort School is a rural middle school in Riseley, a village in North Bedfordshire. The school is a mixed gender middle school with aspirations of improving on a poor Ofsted report. In 2010 the school joined the North Bedfordshire Federation (NBF), which is a union of four schools close to Bedford. At this time the focus of the school appears to be pastoral and there is reference in the transcript to strong community support and links and has less emphasis on academic excellence. The school has a poor leadership that lacked direction and had no progress forward as some describe it as loose leadership that failed the students because it had no suitable means of measuring success. After a demoralising Ofsted report Mike Lavelle who joined with a brief to raise standards replaced the school head. An external factor – a significant external factor is the requirement of meeting the standards that was set by Ofsted report this combined with reports from other schools in the consortium led the school to realize that they would be better off joining the consortium at all cost. However, it is questionable whether a better report would have meant that the school remained antonymous, as the benefits of joining the consortium were more apparent An internal factor – internal factors include the loose leadership as well as poor direction that were provided by the team. The staffs as well were opposed to any changes in the school during the change of leadership. These kind of staff contributed a significant factor to the school failing. 2) Asking questions to clarify the relationship seen between factors 1. Did the previous Head’s loose type of leadership allow the focus on pastoral care rather than academic success that resulted to the schools failure? 2. Did the new head joining the school raise and improve the academic standards of the school? 3. Was the school improvement of Ofsted report prove to be a major factor for the school improvement in academic excellence? 4. Did the budget cut of 7 percent pa that was based on the government spending have any impact on the schools progress? 5. Was the change in the leadership style in the school have any positive impacts in achievements of the academic standards that were set by the school? 3) The role leaders and team leaders have in mediating impact of factors Team leaders and other leaders play a major role in mediating the impact that factors set have in an organization or a school context. Thus, they play a very significant role in achievement of the set goals and standards. If the leaders meet the standards set with resistance, then they will oppose such standards as they will not be significant to them therefore adopting them will be met with a lot of resistance. It is important also for the leaders to have the appropriate leadership skills and cultures in order to attain success (Ghalambor 2011, 3). They should also have a good link between other leaders and the subordinates to enhance coordination in meeting the set goals and standards. This is evident in the case above as removing those resistant to change as well as bringing in a stronger more collaborative type of leadership team meant that new school systems could be put in place. This provided a renewed sense of ownership and shared leadership that was lacking in the school towards achievement of academic excellence. 4) Reading the posting of others and critiquing two other posting Dear student 3, I agree with your posting on the description of Margaret Beafort School as prior to 2010, the school had declared joining the federation (North Bedfordshire Federation) after it was established. Following a poor Ofsted and the departure, the Head teacher they joined the federation and a new management structure was put in place utilising the expertise of senior leaders from other schools. The previous school leadership styles were very focused around the pastoral care that impacted negatively on the school’s academic standards. Ofsted external factors as well as the resulting satisfactory inspection grading achievements that were established were important in attainment of the school’s goals. Among the primary internal factors was change in leadership mainly the new Head teacher and Assistant Head teacher who made significant changes very quickly. Thus, the changes were very important in changing the longstanding culture and ethos of the school in pursuit of academic achievement although they were met with resistance. This agrees with theme 1 reading session two reading that implies that “a change in staffing particularly the head or principal of a school is important in impacting the culture of a school” (Theme 1 and theme 2, pg. 2) Dear student 1, I am very positive about your description of Margaret Beaufort School therefore I agree with it. Previously the school had denied joining the North Bedfordshire Federation and the schools main focus was pastoral with less academic emphasis. The adoption of the Ofsted report as well as the change of leadership in the school has a significant impact on the school success towards meeting its academic standards. The changes, probably as a direct result of the Ofsted inspection and report, meant that staff faced a changing context as the new Head brought in new strategies, which led to staff having to change what they did. However, the change was met with resistance, as many preferred the former approach and never felt the changes to be necessary, as the staff had to work harder. Thus, change in the school was a significant factor towards the school’s achievement of its academic pursuit. Part B Part 1 Description of external and internal factors that impact on the culture and context of the organizational context. My chosen organizational content is a primary school teacher of a state school in the United Kingdom. I am a state primary teacher in an educational organization in the United Kingdom teaching primary school children. The activity in my work requires me to demonstrate good leadership skills to the children since they are young and vulnerable and as an adult, I should act as their role model. I also teach ESOL to adult parents of the school. Internal and external factors are very significant in impacting on the culture and context of my organizational context and they have a very strong interrelationship towards the achievement of the organizational goals and success as well as providing motivation to organizational members (Bresman & Zellmer-Bruhn 2012, 13). Internal factors include assessment, efficacy management and independent mastery of content. Efficacy management entails goal setting, monitoring, evaluating and purposeful controlling activities. It is very important in the organizational context as it ensures that teachers and the school’s administration activities are always regulated and are conducted as expected. This includes evaluating of teaching, setting of objectives as well as monitoring and controlling teaching. Another internal factor in my organizational context is assessment that is important in determining success achievement and it is an internal criterion for evaluating success. Independent mastery of content i.e. ESOL is also an internal factor in my organizational context and it ensures that academic goals are met as expected in the organization.it is important for the teachers to have the right knowledge to ensure that the students benefit from their relationship maximumly. External factors impacting on the culture and context of the organizational context includes funding of the school. Funding is very important in ensuring of smooth running of the school activities that comes from fees paid by students as well as government and nongovernmental support. The national curriculum is another external factor in the organization as it stipulates on the context that is need to be covered for the students to achieve their academic goals. In order to ensure togetherness in academic pursuit, the national curriculum is used in all school therefore all students achieve the same academic goals. The last external factor is the educational reform (1988) act that stipulates the external criterion of success in my organization. Part 2 The role of leaders in mediating the impact of the factors According to student, 1 posting a team leader plays a central role in determining the performance of the group that was evident in Margaret Beaufort school where loose leadership allowed focus on pastoral care rather than academic success. School leadership is very essential in ensuring that the institutional objectives that were set are achieved as stipulated in the curriculum (Matsumoto 2007, 1293). The school principle and his assistant such as the deputy principle and heads of departments have the formal powers in the school of leading others to attaining the set goals and objectives in my organization. Good school leadership is very essential as it gives the teachers more self-esteem as well as work satisfaction in conducting the school activities and bettering the institution (Margaret, Nigel & Christine, 2012, 27). Efficacy management and assessment are important in ensuring school learning and achievements are met successfully. This is through setting objectives and goals for the learning process, monitoring learning activities evaluating as well as purposeful controlling of learning. It is the responsibility of the school head teacher to ensure that efficacy management is maintained in the school, thus acts as a leader to innate the process together with other team leaders such as the head of departments who are involved in evaluating the learning process. This agrees with students 3 posting that outlines the introduction of Ofsted reports and organization joining of NBF to be major factors that changed the performance of the school. The primary purpose of assessment process is providing the teachers with information regarding their performance. Performance appraisals are important in determining areas of improvement for the teachers that is conducted in the organization. Assessment is also important in providing the institution with a verification that the teachers have the competence and knowledge in the specified fields. A good leader is involved in monitoring and evaluating processes and outcomes to ensure success (Margaret, Nigel & Christine, 2012, 30). The leadership also provides training methods to enhance self-efficacy and assessment in areas of self-management. This is crucial as the principal’s self-efficacy is positively related to effective teaching and learning environments (Hallinger & Heck 2010, 645). This is achieved through verbal persuasion that is conveyed in the evaluative feedback and support, help and encouragement of improving the learning process. In case of any problems in the school, the head teacher is involved planning and organizing actions to be taken and communicates them to others and at times seeks helps. Good leaders have the ability of listening and communicating openly to address their concerns (Margaret, Nigel & Christine, 2012, 28). It is also important to prevent resistance of employees to adopt change as outlined from student’s 1 posting that acknowledged the emergence of resistance with change of leadership in Margaret Beaufort school. The head teacher is also involved in setting policies for the school. In doing so, he works hard in hard with other leaders and teachers in the school. This agrees with the context of theme 1 that implies that “national policy is mediated through the locality and within the organization” for organizational success. (Theme 1 and theme 2, pg.8) The head teacher and other head of department leaders also play a great role in assessment process that aims to benefit the quality of the student in learning as well as the professional development of the teachers. Therefore, the school provides developmental opportunities for the teachers especially in their areas of weakness to enhance their knowledge in an effort of making the learning process a success. It is important for the teachers to understand the subject matter in their scope of practice for them to be able to teach all students according to the institutional standards (Margaret, Nigel & Christine, 2012, 227). This will help them create cognitive maps on the student’s minds by relating one idea to another with ease to address student’s misconceptions. Career developmental opportunities are provided in the institution and the head teacher acts as a spiritual leader of providing motivation for the teachers to seek new challenges by enhancing their careers thus enhancing their mastery of the subject matter. Therefore, he is a very inspirational leader who considers the future and believes on the importance of creating able leaders who will take after him. He also leads others in following educational policies set forward such as educational reform acts. The curriculum and instructional departmental leaders play a crucial role of providing the resources that are necessary for the teachers to be able to offer learning opportunities for all the students supporting the learning goals as set by the institution (Bush 2007, 398). Thus, head of department leaders play a great role in support and guidance. Teachers also get professional development to enhance their instructional techniques. This is essential as strong leadership is focused on curriculum and instruction from the principal that is an important characteristic for an effective school leader (Margaret, Nigel & Christine, 2012, 26). The institutional finance strives in accounting for the school funds and ensuring accountability in utilization of the funds. The school accountability program ensures that the funds are utilized appropriately for smooth running of school operations therefore holds the school to specific standards of academic performance. It is built with trust and ensures that each school department is given a fair share for accomplishing their tasks appropriately. The school principal ensures that the funds are used appropriately with accountability and seeks funds for school projects and activities ensuring that the school operations run accordingly. Thus, the school head teacher and other organizational leader’s play an essential role of shaping the school. “Leaders have the capacity and opportunity of shaping the way an organization works” that is very evident in my organization (Theme 1 and theme 2, pg. 10) Part 3 The leadership discourses presented by Simon Western The embodiment of the leadership discourse of a leader character brings a concept of discourse in the workplace. It is important in providing a tangible and observable practise of leadership in practice as well as in influencing organizations, employees and managers for organizational success. Simon Western discussed leadership discourses that are applied in organizations. These entails leaders as controller discourse that was epitomized by Taylors scientific management theory. The leader manipulates the employees to achieve efficiency in the organization and regards the workers to be a cog machine for manipulation with the organization (Margaret, Nigel & Christine, 2012, 12). The leaders locate leadership within the organization by an overt system of coercion, deprivation, using extrinsic rewards and utilitarian control. This type of leadership is very demotivating to the employees as it kills their morale and is best used in political leadership situation. The second discourse is leaders as therapist that is important for highlighting the tension between individualism, personal growth, alienation and workplace efficiency. This type of leadership provides more satisfaction to the workers as it reflects a sense of self-concern between the manager and the employee’s (Margaret, Nigel & Christine, 2012, 12). It emerged from the human relation movements that focused on employee’s personal growth and self-actualization as ways of motivating employing to produce cohesion at the workplace as happy workers are better producers than coerced workers are and leaders will drive their authority in that. The third discourse is a leader as a messiah that provides charismatic leadership and vision when an organization is faced with an uncertain positions. This type of leadership signifies the tension between hope and despair and brands the leader as the hope of the organization by promising salvation and he derives his powers from his social influence on others therefore, the workers and followers work hard because of the internalized belief system that is aligned to the leader’s vision and values. From the above leadership discourse’s, only therapist discourse is evident in my organization. The head teacher and other departmental leaders provide support and opportunities for growth and career advancement to the workers i.e. teachers. In times of problems, the leaders work hand in hand with organizational members in solving problems and determining visible solutions to the organization to enhance success. This type of leadership provides more satisfaction to the employees as it reflects a sense of self-concern between the manager and the employee’s. There is team s and individual focus in my organization that is a characteristic of therapist leader discourse where the leader empowers others to be better leaders in the future. References Bresman, H. & Zellmer-Bruhn, M., 2012. The Structural Context of Team Learning: Effects of Organizational and Team Structure on Internal and External Learning. Organization Science. Bush, T., 2007. Educational leadership and management: theory, policy, and practice. South African Journal of Education, 27, pp.391–406. Ghalambor, K., 2011. “Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time” by Margaret Wheatley. Evans School Review, 1. Hallinger, P. & Heck, R.H., 2010. Leadership for Learning: Does Collaborative Leadership Make a Difference in School Improvement? Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 38, pp.654–678. Margaret preedy, Nigel Bennett & Christine Wise., 2012. Educational leadership. Context strategy and collaboration, pp.1–295. ISBN 978-1-4462-0163-3 Matsumoto, D., 2007. Culture, context, and behavior. Journal of Personality, 75, pp.1285–1320. Theme1 and them2 doc, pp.1–11 Read More