Headmaster’s role in school organization
Diego Maggio
A school Headmaster is the primary leader in a school building. A good leader always leads by example. He should be positive, enthusiastic, have his hand in the day to day activities of the school, and listen to what his constituents are saying. An effective leader is available to teachers, staff members, parents, students and community members. A good leader stays calm in difficult situations, thinks before he acts, and puts the needs of the school before himself. An effective leader steps up to fill in holes as needed, even if it isn’t a part of his daily routine.
A large part of any school headmaster’s job is to handle student discipline and daily activities. The first step of having effective student discipline is to make sure that his teachers know what he is expecting when it comes to student discipline. Once they understand how he wants them to handle it, then his job becomes easier. The discipline issues he deals will mostly come from teacher referrals. There are times that this can take a large part of the day. A good headmaster will listen to all sides of an issue without jumping to conclusions collecting as much evidence as you can. His role in student discipline is much like that of a judge and a jury. He decides whether the student is guilty of a disciplinary infraction and what penalty should be enforced. An effective headmaster always documents discipline issues, makes fair decisions, and informs parents when necessary.
In Italy a headmaster is not responsible for evaluating his teachers’ performance, but if an effective school has to have good teachers, therefore he has to make sure that the teachers in his building are effective. He gathers information each time he visits a classroom, even if it is just for a few minutes. Doing this allows him to have a larger collection of evidence of what actually goes on in a classroom, than a headmaster who has had minimal visits to a classroom. A good headmaster always lets his teachers know what his expectations are and then offers suggestions for improvement if those expectations are not being met.
Developing, implementing, and evaluating the programs within his school is another large part of a school headmaster’s role. A headmaster should always be looking for ways to improve the student experience at school. Developing effective programs that cover a variety of areas is one way to ensure this. It is acceptable to look at other schools in his area and to implement those programs within his own school that have proved to be effective elsewhere. Programs within his school should be evaluated every year and tweaked as necessary. If his reading program has become stale and his students are not showing much growth, then it may be necessary to review the program and make some changes to improve the quality of that program.
Having good relations with parents and community members can benefit a headmaster in a variety of areas. If he has built correct and clear relationships with a parent whose child has a particular problem, then it makes it easier to deal with the situation if the parent supports the school and the headmaster’s decision. The same holds true with the community. Building relationships with individuals and businesses in the community can help his school out tremendously. Benefits include donations, personal time, and overall positive support for his school. His duty is to create a good relationship between parents and community members. Many leaders by nature have a hard time putting things in others hands without their direct stamp on it. A headmaster has to delegate some duties as necessary. He must rely on other people to assist him with getting things done and trust that they are going to do the job well. One of the priorities of heads of school is to monitor the teaching learning process in their schools. Monitoraggio prevede azioni previste per la testa per assicurare che le cose stanno andando secondo gli obiettivi fissati a diversi livelli e in diversi punti nel tempo e anche per fare in modo che le cose ruotano secondo i piani e in linea con l'obiettivo fissato. Monitoring involves actions envisaged by the head to ensure that things are going according to the objectives set at different levels and at different points in time and also to see to it that things are revolving according to plan and in line with the target set. Lo scopo del monitoraggio è, come tale, di aumentare l'efficienza e migliorare l'efficacia del sistema in posizione. The purpose of monitoring is, as such, to increase efficiency and improve effectiveness of the system in place. Dal momento che gli insegnanti e le teste sono variabili di input in una scuola, la testa, come un leader istruzione deve supportare e agevolare ogni iniziativa ideata da insegnanti. Since teachers and heads are input variables in a school, the head, as an instructional leader must support and facilitate any initiative conceived by teachers.
Gli insegnanti devono inoltre essere assicurato dal dirigente scolastico che non ci saranno barriere e saranno tutti godono degli stessi diritti e pensare che non è l'iniziatore del proiettore, ma piuttosto un progetto scolastico. Teachers must also be assured by the head teacher that there will be no barriers and they will all enjoy the same rights and think that it is not the initiator's projector but rather a school project. Ogni insegnante deve essere incoraggiato a venire preparato con idee, critiche (positivo), i problemi e le possibili soluzioni per la condivisione. Every teacher must be encouraged to come prepared with ideas, criticism (positive), problems and possible solutions for sharing. Tutti gli insegnanti che partecipano alle sessioni di lavoro devono essere incoraggiati ad essere aperti alle critiche. All teachers participating in the working sessions must be encouraged to be open to criticism.