As I lay on my couch, I could not help but to ponder on the quotation written by Bennis and Goldsmith which says “ Effective leaders continually ask questions, probing all levels of the organization for information, testing their own perceptions and rechecking the facts”.
As I reflect on it, I have thought of the fundamental leadership tools: knowledge, skills and attitudes which are vital in the exercise of principal’s role…to provide quality education. With this the school head is required to exert laborious efforts to improve instruction in order to raise the achievement level of the students and to meet this big responsibility , an administrator should conduct close monitoring and evaluation of teachers’ performance.In this case, the principal serves as instructional supervisor who observes classes, checks and evaluates lesson plans, gets feedbacks from teachers and parents and analyzes students’ performance.
I believe this big responsibility could not be done by the principal himself/herself. He/She needs to collaborate with the teachers by sharing with them the leadership responsibilities and promoting professional growth and learning. The principal could tap the teachers’ potentials in order to improve teaching and learning. These teachers should in turn share responsibilities for staff development , curriculum development , and instructional supervision with the principal as the captain of the ship or conductor of an orchestra. In addition, the principal encourages teachers to share leadership function and build capacity for school improvement while simultaneously collaborating with the teachers to ameliorate curriculum, instruction and assessment. There is also a need to collaborate with parents and other stakeholders to realize the school’s vision.
This means that we could intensify the effectiveness of instructional practice through the individual efforts of the principal to transform the school as well as the joint efforts of the principal and teachers to raise student’ achievements.
Furthermore, to be an effective leader, the principal needs to be a resource provider. He / She should not be contented with what the MOOE could only provide but seek help from the PTA or from the government to send teachers to seminars and trainings.
Schools heads also needs the leadership AURA so he/she control his/her temper and at the same time maintain support with the teachers and build trusting relationship between them. Teachers need to fuel that the school head is there and ready to help them to become more effective teachers.
As I reflect on these things, I have realized how challenging is the work of the principal particularly as instructional leader. I find them very helpful for me though my power and authority are limited: nevertheless, the knowledge, skills and attitude I learned which will help me a lot to improve my performance as a Department Head.
By: Virginia D. Enriquez | Head Teacher VI-English | Bataan National High School | Balanga City, Bataan
