Academic literature on the topic 'Principles of School Management'

In contemporary world the effect of globalisation and information technologies cause transformational processes of states` public management that promote the application of new managament approaches and principles in public institution management.The changes in the public managament have effected and still effects processes of management also in education. The increase of school autonomy, a stronger focus on the process of education and its results created the need to expand the application of contemporary public management principles also in the managament of education institutions. The main goal of the report is to analyze the principles of public management and their implementation in the management of comprehensive schools of Latvia in the context of public management of Latvia and the world, and education reforms.

Henri Fayol is popularly known as the founder of administrative management for his contribution to the field of management. Although his principles of management are termed as classical management theory, the principles are still applicable in the field of management. In this paper I explore the issues of management and ownership in two private schools in Nepal using Fayol’s principles of management. The data were collected from two private schools using a case study approach. I conducted semi- structured interviews with teachers, administrators and principals of two private schools. In the case study schools, the owners were also working in the capacity of principal of the school and hence the term owner/principal has been used in this paper. The owners/principals were taken as the participants to represent the voice of the employers while the teachers were taken to represent the voice of the employees. Similarly, the administrators in this study represent the voices of both the employer and the employees of the school.This study suggests that when management and ownership are not separated, there is a concentration of power. The power concentration in individual or group of owners gives rise to a number of management related issues such as unequal distribution of authority and responsibility, role ambiguity, negative motivation and conflict of interest. Fayol’s principles of authority and responsibility, initiative, subordination of individual interest to group interest, stability of tenure of personnel and spirit of cooperation have been used in this paper to explain several issues of management and ownership that emerged from the case study.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jer.v3i0.7849Journal of Education and Research March 2013, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 6-23

Purpose – Total quality management (TQM) is a management approach that was established to seek sources of continuous motion of improvement to provide quality products and services to customers or clients. TQM promotes organizational effectiveness through promoting stakeholder satisfaction, pursuing continuous improvement and fostering proactive leadership. The purpose of this paper is to explore TQM practices in secondary schools. The researchers set objectives which were to identify the TQM principles being practiced in secondary schools, the extent to which these principles are practiced and finally to determine the factors that affect the practice of these principles. The paper includes findings from an exploratory study of TQM practices in Zambian secondary schools. Design/methodology/approach – The research employed a purposive and simple random sampling in order to collect data from 120 secondary school teachers from a total of 1,740 secondary school teachers in Lusaka district drawn from ten secondary schools which were stratified into five zones, namely, Lusaka Central, Chilenje, Mumuni, Chibolya and Chunga zones. Questionnaires and structured scheduled interviews were used to collect data for the research. The research was also anchored on the theoretical and conceptual framework where hypotheses were formed and tested. Findings – The research formed hypotheses based on the seven principles of TQM and this was also verified through the analysis of questionnaires and structured interviews conducted. From the analysis and interpretation of the results, the following was found. Teamwork principle was found to be practiced although most respondents did not know the extent to which it was been practiced. Continuous improvement and training are also principles which were explored and found to be practiced. For continuous improvement, most of the respondents indicated this to have been achieved through carrying out monthly tests and end of term examinations to measure the excellence in-service delivery, as for the training principle; this has been interwoven with the policy of the ministry in programmes aimed at training in-service teachers and anticipated teachers. For the commitment principle, there was commitment from management with a view to working together for pupil satisfaction. For the quality principle, it was found that, at 95 per cent confidence level the mission statement, the motto and the vision of the school depicted quality-related activities. The research also established that at 95 per cent confidence level, teachers were empowered to take direct action whenever action is likely to affect quality. Practical implications – First, the value of this research was to inform management on the need to employ strategies aimed at sensitization programmes before, during and after the programme has come to an end. Second, to promote work attitudes that should promote quality management in education for continuous improvement in pupil performance. Third, for TQM to create a platform among head teachers, teachers, pupils, parents and other stakeholders to work to everyone’s ultimate advantage. Originality/value – This research is original work as it has never been done before in Lusaka district.