Critically examine the duties and responsibilities of the head of your own working organisation - Article Example

?Duties and Responsibilities of a School Principal Introduction A principal is all in all in a school. The duty to both lead and manage a school fundamentally rests with the principal. A principal assumes the task of decision making for the school. A principal’s decisions influence the ideology and motto of a school, and the whole culture of the school is shaped by these decisions. Being the head of an educational institution, a school principal has many obligations both to the students and the whole society because education imparted by schools lays the basis for the civilization of the whole nation. This paper assesses the duties and responsibilities of a school principal. The Primary Duties and Responsibilities of a Principal Leading the school It is the responsibility of a principal to set and encourage high standards for both the staff and the students in a school. This is essential for the improvement of their academic performance and for making them prudent in their behavior in school. The principal assumes the duty to make the principles and practices consistent with the strategies, goals, missions and objectives of the school. Nevertheless, all rules, regulations and laws need to be complied with while formulating the school rules. As a leader, the principal evaluates the yearly schedule for educational programs and formulates lesson plans. This is necessary in order to make the learning sequential, orderly and consistent for the students. Again, this has to be as per the school’s mission statement and philosophy (NAPCIS, n.d.). One of the core responsibilities of a school principal is to monitor the pedagogical strategies of the teachers. Quite often, a principal visits the class and overviews the teaching style of the mentors. This is often met with criticism as this may have negative impacts on the psychology of a teacher in the class. Nonetheless, this activity is very important to make sure that the style of teachers is consistent with the goals of the school. A principal observes the teacher and makes a critical analysis of his teaching style. Points that a principal particularly tries to judge in the pedagogy of a teacher include but are not limited to speed, effectiveness, clarity of expression, audibility and visibility to the students at the rear of the class, the educational environment, aeration, and the teacher’s ability to gain the attention of students and make them engaged throughout the lecture. Thus, the principal not only tends to observe the faults in the pedagogical style of the teachers, but also identifies their qualities. Moreover, the principle also critically analyzes the educational environment prevalent in the class and takes necessary measures to improve it in the best interest of the students. After having noticed all the weaknesses in the approach of the teachers, it is the principal’s responsibility to make the respective teachers aware of their individualistic faults without making them excessively conscious or emotionally depressed. This requires careful dealing, so the principal is ought to be very articulate in his/her mannerism in order to get the best out of the teachers. The best approach is to talk to the teachers on individual level when there is no third party involved. This way, a teacher finds it easy to communicate his/her problems with the principal. The exchange of words and discussion over sensitive issues between a principal and a teacher is conducive for the success of the school. A principal chooses between several options to select the procedure for deciding the course for teaching the students along with all the equipment involved in it. Managing the school One of the most important qualities that a principal should necessarily have is emotional intelligence to the extreme level. The nature of job of a principal is such that the individual is socially active. Being the head of the school, a principal has to deal with a lot of people on everyday basis. From the parents of students to interested candidates for mentorship, a principal has to daily interact with a vast population, discuss sensitive issues and make rational decisions that mean a lot to the concerned people. Therefore, in order to do complete justice with his/her duty, a principal needs to be very patient and prudent in his/her approach and manage his/her own behavior along with all matters concerned with the school. Emotional intelligence allows an individual to perceive the mind of the second person and adjust the speech in such a way that would make it convenient for both the parties. As a result, the two people can interact in a better way and draw the conclusions in the minimum time. A principal, being in the highest position in the hierarchy of the school management, is essentially a role model not only for the staff but also for the hundreds of students. Therefore, it is imperative that a principal is very decent in his/her mannerism as well as appearance. Through his/her behavior, a principal should demonstrate pride in the position he/she holds. This way, a principal can be more effective as a leader. As a manager, a school principal is exposed to innumerable challenges that need to be coped with utmost care and sensibility. Issues like consequences of co-education, school bullying, violence, rape, physical and verbal abuse are some of the rising problems in schools. In addition to these problems, various controversial issues need to be dealt with like sex education in schools and religious education in schools. Many stakeholders feel concerned and are affected by the policy adopted by the school. It is fundamentally the principal, who is criticized for the policies of a school. Therefore, it is very important for a principal to always maintain his/her capacity to deal with such issues. Key to improve as a principal: No one in this world is perfect. Every one commits mistakes. A school principle, no matter how experienced or skilled, is no different! As a human being, a principal takes several steps that should not have been taken or to which, better alternatives remained unidentified. What is more important is that a principal should reflect upon his/her everyday experiences, realize the mistakes, take necessary steps to fix the problems and be careful in the future. Honest self reflection is a key to success in the job of a principal (Lewis, 2011). With every new day, a principal formulates and implements new policies to addressing the changing requirements of the educational setup. Identification and implementation of rational policies requires review and analysis of the results obtained by the past policies. This process requires constant supervision, review, revision and re-implementation unless the system becomes appropriate to the optimum level. A school principal should be receptive towards criticism and take it as a feedback for modification of systems. A successful leader is necessarily patient and makes positive use of the criticism received. Whenever any leader, including a school principal starts to think that he/she has achieved a certain level of mastery and perfection, and tends to maintain it, he/she indulges into self obsession and it is the very point in time, from where his/her decline commences. The following figure shows how an individual’s behavior is related to and is influenced by such factors as personality traits and the environment. Relationship between behavior, personality and environment (Pajares, 2002). The figure essentially suggests that all three factors are inter-dependent. As environment changes and more experience is gained, personal factors change and so does an individual’s behavior. Therefore, in order to improve as a leader, a principal should always remain down-to-earth in his/her mannerism and should tend to improve his/her skill as a leader. In addition to self reflection, a principal should always take measures to improve his competence. Competency is a product of an individual’s skills, motivation and personality traits (Stern and Kemp, 2004). Of these three, the last two can be controlled and improved through self reflection while the first one requires constant reading, research and development. Knowledge is the base of skill. In order to improve as a principal, an individual needs to find sufficient time for reading. The sources for reading can range from journals to magazines. Besides, various competency development short courses are arranged every now and then that may be highly useful for a school principal. A principal should particularly engage in the courses of time management and knowledge management because these are the key areas of concern for a principal. Conclusion Educational leaders assume great capacity to improve their competence. In order to achieve this, it is imperative that an educational leader devote specific amount of time to self reflection on everyday basis. Self reflection is a key to identification of weaknesses and correction of mistakes. Principalship of schools is a constantly maturing phenomenon. Like an individual can never be perfect, likewise, traits of principalship can not be benchmarked because there is always one step ahead in the way of perfection, and the road is infinite. The goal of a principal should be to make right decisions at the right time to gain optimum benefit for the school, and make the educational environment conducive for maximum learning on the part of the students. References: Lewis, B. (2011). The Value of Self-Reflection - Any Time Of Year, It's Important To Self-Reflect. Retrieved from http://k6educators.about.com/od/professionaldevelopment/a/self_reflection.htm. National Association of Private Catholic and Independent Schools. (n.d.). Principal’s Job Description. Retrieved from http://www.napcis.org/PadrePioPrincipalJob.pdf. Pajares, F. (2002). Overview of Social Cognitive Theory and of Self-Efficacy. Retrieved from http://des.emory.edu/mfp/eff.html. Stern, D. J. K. and Kemp, L. K. (2004). Competency-based human resource management. USA, Davies-Black Publishing. Read More