CHANGE is inevitable in life. And managing change is not as simple as acknowledging the need for it. Especially in schools, the reality is that a leader faces challenges every day in managing his/her own school community and also trying to realise ambitious vision of providing quality education and improving performance.
The changes may come as externally imposed, as well as those that come from within the school community themselves.
When it comes to change in schools, Michael Fullan, author of “Leading in a Culture of Change”, believes that leadership can take on many different forms in school turnarounds.
The word for the day is often to opt for transformational leadership which means turning good organisations into great ones.
Nonetheless, we still see those who believe in the sharing of responsibility among a few people, such as a deputy principal or outstanding teacher – a form of leadership known as distributive leadership.
With the national target in PSR set for primary as well as BC GCE ‘O’ Levels and IGCSE secondary schools in Brunei this year, a number of exercises on leadership have been identified.
Redeployment of school leaders started in January last year, where school leaders were appointed to carry forth their respective schools strategies and initiatives towards achieving the national target.
A National Education Forum on school leadership to carry teaching and learning to greater heights. – PHO-TOS COURTESY OF MOE
Leaders must try to develop team approaches instead of a one-way approach of giving orders to imple-ment change more effectively
To ensure school leaders are up to the set standard, a ‘Leadership Competency Framework for School Leaders’ was developed as a guideline for measure.
In the Brunei education landscape, successful school leaders are usually the ones who take up responsibility to improve their school whilst working together with the Head of Cluster (HOC), school community, fellow school leaders and other relevant stakeholders.
All this means addressing changes. The set national target means that there is a need for school leaders to change how his/her school teamwork. This would mean changing the attitude from being complacent with their current achievement.
For this, leaders must try to develop team approaches instead of a one-way approach of giving orders and endeavour to make them understand the case for change and how to implement change more effectively.
In helping school leaders adapt to the changing panorama, there is a need for them to leverage on programmes developed to cater to the current situation and needs.
In a number of these programmes, selected school leaders with strong leadership qualities have been trained and engaged to become coaches to their peers, which will undoubtedly enhance learning experiences of those who are being coached from the sharing of common situations and best practices in particular.
Workshops and programmes are also conducted, especially through the Institute for Leadership, Innovation and Advancement (ilia), Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD).
Taking charge of a school and making changes for improvement, at times, also mean the need to take bold decisions especially in areas of curriculum hours and redeployment within a school. Such autonomy was given by the Ministry of Education (MoE) to school leaders since early 2015.
In support of this, the HOCs from the MoE’s Department of Schools closely monitor their respective leaders in making sure that school leaders across the country are guided in exercising the autonomy given to them, so as to ensure changes are made towards raising the quality of teaching and learning in schools.
In recognising the importance of school leaders as agents for change, it is equally important to nurture, cultivate and appoint successive leaders for a continual improvement at all levels.
Hence, authorities like the Brunei Darussalam Teachers Academy continuously conduct programmes that not only meant for teachers and school leaders but also tailor to helping nurture aspiring school leaders.
Such move will undoubtedly be a welcoming effort to ensure the transfer of the leadership baton is a less bumpy start for the new leader.
As the nation continues to strive for the betterment of its people, the education landscape will need to be dynamic and run in tandem with national aspirations.
Going forward with our country’s education agenda, it is unforeseeable that we can achieve our set targets and vision without the support of a reliable school leader to drive the necessary change and improvement. (Courtesy of MoE)
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