6003 Information Technology and Educational Leadership

Members: Chan Wai Man

Kwok Yuet Sang

Sung Kam Man

Outline of presentation Integrated summary of

1. Organizational learning: building the future of a school

2. Educational leadership for twenty-first century Malta: breaking the bonds of dependency

Case Study Discussion

Case study and Discussion

Mission and vision from Education DepartmentMission and vision from Education Department

To build a future perspective

Strategic intents Operational targets

• New roles, • New relationships, • New values new behaviours, • New approaches to have to be forged

Human FactorsManagement

Factors

School should engage in three types of planning activity, which occur concurrently and which interact and reinforce each other:

Three types of planning:1. To build an understanding of their significance and a future perspective for the school.

2. - series of strategic intents, which are created for the areas of medium-term panning where the organization’s performance has to be “leveraged up” - target-setting and measuring the outcomes achieved.

3. A one or two-year operational target-setting process, in which the school sets measurable and inter-connected targets for the whole school, sub-areas, staff and pupils.

How to make the planning model in practice ?

Leadership capacity of “looking outside”? Principal and colleagues analyzing broad

global and national trend, even in the coming 5-10 years.

1. Using futures thinking to build a futures perspective:

Is it a little bit hard to have a “looking outside” leader?

Who know about our future? What is “good” in the future?.

In actual practice, most leader(principal) of the schools may not have the capacity to cooperate the trends outside into school real practice.

Also, it is almost impossible to have one who can stand back from operational business in school in order to analysis about the impact of global trend on school.

How to encourage this change in perspective?

REENGINEERING Organization of the school year and school day Technology and its impact on learning and school

s The nature of the curriculum The facilitation by teachers of a learning day Staffing patterns, skills and competencies Different types of school and the development of

a learning community rather than a school Resourcing education

If we must have reengineering, there would be a number of things we have to consider:

Time Budget Culture Workload

2. Strategic intent:

the learning organization sets a target that deserves personal effort and commitment towards building capability “to reach seemingly unattainable goals”

How to achieve?

It is the process of concentrating on different areas which involve major changes in performance

It often require fundamental cultural change within the organization

Principals offers a positive opportunity to look at development needs for the future without having to be certain of exactly how the activities will materialize.

An example: Strategic intent in one school

Create a high expectation and success culture Design and implement accurate performance

indicators and hold everyone accountable for them

Establish technology-based individual learning for all pupils

Build “leadership in-depth” throughout the staff Link home and school through the development

of a learning community

Does “Strategic intents” helpful?

Yes ! It forces the organization to be imaginative

and inventive in seeking new ways to create capability and to move forward .

Even it is unclear exactly what the learning technology of the future will look like but the school is working towards being effective in this area through understanding and developing capability.

3. The operational targets

The role of “responsible person” should be a more senior member of staff nominated to monitor progress towards the target at appropriate stages.?

“responsible person” should be only be a senior staff

Senior staff does not mean he/she can monitor the progress

Operational target-setting is going to reflect how schools are responding or need to respond to changes in the wider educational system.

Schools required to deliver nationally determined output targets within national curricular guidelines, but are given delegated financial control, allowing them to adjust the resource mix to achieve the targets.

Setting the model within a wider conceptualization

1. Professional leadership as exemplified by: Firm and purposeful being A participative approach The leading professional

2. Shared vision and goals as exemplified by: Consistency of practice Collegiality and collaboration

3. A learning organization with an emphasis on:

school-based staff development

The above characteristics make us clear that the leader must work with the staff to develop a shared view of the school’s purpose and of the appropriate ways of operating to achieve this purpose.

The context A move by central authorities to give more powers of

responsibility and authority to the schools Encourage school to develop draft school development

plans Seeing the school as the major unit of change in the

education system. However, teachers constantly find themselves sandwiched

between a belief in democracy and participation on the one hand, and the daily experiencing of a lack of structures to function as decision makers.

The context Worst Conditions

Isolation of educators(both teachers and school administrators) from one another

The fragmentation of the school day into separate subjects matters

The apportionment of specific time per subject The untenable ratio of students to teachers The lack of time for genuine reflection, sharing and

critical inquiry amongst teachers

The context This comprehensive study highlighted that

school administrators still have to follow the dictates of the Education Division, thus ignoring the unique position of the school as an agent of reform.

A dependency culture Schools and the members mainly on the receiving

end The move towards decentralization has been

sporadic, fragmented, incoherent and without necessary visionary framework to keep them going

Decentralization practices are creating more demands on schools which are now of a more intrusive quality

Educational reform lacks a conceptual framework which defines the way forward

A dependency culture 4 Difficulties in moving away from a purely

authoritative style of administration to a more collaborative style of management Those having executive powers need to break a long-

standing behaviour pattern of their own. == collective intelligence

New roles, new relationships, new values new behaviours and new approaches to have to be forged. == required patience, practice and perseverance

A dependency culture Question of competence The willingness to take on responsibilities for

determining the vision and way forward for their institutions

Three phases of activity to achieve the planning model

1. Define – core purpose and values 2. Articulate – the strategic direction of the

school 3. Express / schedule – the planning

framework

1. Define – core purpose and values

Core purpose becomes the “what” of the school Most people think that schooling is the preparation

for the later stages of education, for employment, for society and for lifelong learning.

With increasing demands being made on schools by politicians and society at large to include more and more in the curriculum and to use schools as a means of solving multiple problems of society

the schools themselves can be under intense pressure to take on increased responsibilities.

Values will guide the development of the “how” The principles and standards that guide the

practices of the people in the institution. Care, consideration, respect, equity, fairness,

cultural recognition, spiritual, religious and humanitarian values would be the values.

Bringing both core purpose and values together would start to establish a view of what the organization is and what it is attempting to achieve.

2. Articulate – the strategic direction of the school Once core purpose and values have been

defined, than the form of the articulation should be one that aids acceptance and implementation and helps to build the strategic direction.

It is based on a clear and shared set of core purposes and values

There may not be logical relationship between right form of articulation and well defined purpose and values.

3. Express / schedule – the planning framework Schools do not have separate “planning” an

d “production” departments Schools should consider “the senior manag

ement” and the rest of the stakeholders in which they are involved in the process of planning.

Building a vision Education reform needs a set of core values and a

core purpose which steers it forward Crucial issues that need to be addressed and

answered Sharing of power Type of school they want in the future Believe in a collaborative and collegial style of

management Administering to leading and managing(education

authorities) Members’ willingness

Core ideology Defines the character of an organization Two distinct parts

Core values – a system of guiding principles and tenets and core purpose – the organization’s most fundamental reason for existence

Envisioned future – clear aims and strategies used to achieve the aims/goals

Core values Essential and enduring tenets

Honesty, trust, integrity; Hardwork, self/collective improvement Empowerment and creativity Service; Holism

Aims Translated from the Mission Statement of the

school Mission/aims-driven individuals required a

deeper knowledge about self and a deeper connection with our purpose for living

Need to be clearly stated, free from vague statements and should be precise that members know when they have been achieved.

Strategies Each identified aim can have a number of

strategies that will be tackled in order to achieve stated aims.

Translated into actions by staff

Facing up to the challenge Require changes in values, practices and relationships Managing an organisation is not merely a series of

mechanical tasks but a set of human interactions(Bell and Harrison, 1998)

Leaders of tomorrow need to focus on developing the following areas1. Learner2. Imagination3. Promoting values4. Empowerment5. Collegial leadership6. Heroic

1. Learner

The leader needs to promote an environment where active learning can be made, and lessons learnt.

2. Imagination Capabilty of inventing new and original

ways of seeing reality, creating new energy and life into the organization

Become an agent of change, especially transformational (Lashway,1996)

Setting the example, of communicatiing one’s beliefs and ideas through one’s own behaviour.

3. Promoting values Covey (1992) proposed that leaders should

Create a culture or a value system centred round a specific set of prioritised values based on personal integrity, credibility and trusting relationships(Kouzez and Posner, 1991), and a commitment to ethical and moral values such as compassion, humility and service(Manz,1998)

4. Empowerment Delegate their authority Make subordinates feel powerful and

capable Feel empowered by their subordinates

5. Collegial leadership Need to be trained to master the art of

forming teams, to collaborate through teams rather than directing through edicts.

6. Heroic Deals with challenges no excuse for

failure and no escape from responsibility Facing the harsh criticism Standing firm to the values uphold Idealistic and noble Ability to create climate and culture

Further exploration:

If people do not have the quality, what should the educational organization do?

If the teachers and principal do not have the quality, what would happen?

Case study (Sang’s college): nobody change how to change?

Case Study

Sang’s School

A “Skills Opportunity” school

Vision/Mission from Ed Our Vision

We provide quality school education forour students, to develop their potential tothe full and to prepare them for the challenges in life.

Our Mission We deliver professional services and ensure effective

use of resources. We forge partnerships to promote excellence in school education.

Devolving more authority with accountability to schools Providing greater funding and administrative

flexibility to schools

Assisting schools to implement the key elements of school-based management.

Enhancing the professional development of principals and teachers.

Developing the school-based management framework

Future thinking to build a future perspective

To provide appropriate curriculum and activities to students with learning difficulties in an fun-filled environment

To help students to attain comprehensive practical skills

*To be stopped running at the end of 2003 and be transformed as a senior secondary school

Vision/Mission from Ed Our Vision

We provide quality school education forour students, to develop their potential tothe full and to prepare them for the challenges in life.

Our Mission We deliver professional services and ensure effective

use of resources. We forge partnerships to promote excellence in

school education.

Devolving more authority with accountability to schools Providing greater funding and administrative

flexibility to schools

Assisting schools to implement the key elements of school-based management.

Enhancing the professional development of principals and teachers.

Developing the school-based management framework

Future thinking to build a future perspective

To provide appropriate curriculum and activities to students with learning difficulties in an fun-filled environment

To help students to attain comprehensive practical skills

*To be stopped running at the end of 2003 and be transformed as a senior secondary school

Strategic intent To develop school based curriculum so as

to fit students’ individual supplement with individual educational program

Simplifying the administrative structure

Operational Targets No senior teaching staff (e.g. SGM, AM…) Monitor those targets by the principal

School Administrative Structure

The Principal

Administrative Committee

Different Working Teams/Committee

School Management Committee

Difficulties/Weakness:Teachers Teachers do not have shared mission/vision Most teachers do not equipped with special educational

skills (only one teacher is trained but with little practically experience)

Most teachers are not competence with administrative work

Some of them are not willing to take on responsibilities Grouping dynamics are very tensed, some of them even

cannot work together even though they are very young ( average teaching experience is 3 years )

Difficulties/Weakness:Principal The principal is new with no special

education training Targets oriented without concerning

feelings and satisfaction among colleagues.

Suggestions:Management Factors Ensuring the prospect by educational

organization Re-develop the core purpose and value by

the principal and all the teaching staffs so as to build the shared goals

Provide special educational training Empowerment and collegiality

Suggestions? Human Factors The present principal is going to leave the

school after August 2002. You are the new principal who have all the said characters we’ve mentioned (Learner, Imagination, Promoting

values, Empowerment, Collegial leadership, Heroic), what will you do to enhance the human resources of the school?