Understanding the environments in which schools operate (Part 1)

Managers of schools (Principals) have to make every effort to develop an understanding of the local environments in which the schools that they manage are located. In addition, they need to understand the macro environments, that is, the socio-cultural, the economic and the political environments in which the school system operates. Also, they need to have a sound understanding of the technological environment. School managers need to have a profound understanding of all these environments if they want to be truly effective in their jobs. And their understanding of all these environments must happen simultaneously. The school managers have to “hit the ground running” as the saying goes after they are appointed. And they must take the entire staff along on this journey. Let’s now pick apart all these environments that will impact the school manager’s performance on the job.

First, the school managers need to develop an understanding of the local environments in which their schools are located. That is, they need to have a complete understanding of the nature of these communities. For example, is it a farming community? Is it an inner city community? Is it an industrial community? What are the distinct challenges that these communities face? What are the advantages? Basically, what is the way of life of the members of these communities and how can the schools assist in enriching the lives of members of these communities?

 To understand the nature of these communities, the school managers must be willing to interact with the members of the communities in which they find themselves. Their knowledge of the communities in which they work must not be based on hearsay. Interacting with members of these communities will give the school managers a sense of the communities’ hopes for their children and their views of the school and its work in the community.

Some of these members of the communities have definite ideas about what they believe the role of the school in the community ought to be. Therefore, the school managers need to listen to the views expressed by these members and agree or disagree with these views by providing evidence based on concrete sources to support their position. They must also be willing to share their vision for the school with members of the communities and try to incorporate workable ideas suggested by members of these communities into their strategic plans for their schools. The school managers will be building goodwill if the members of the communities in which they work perceive that they have an interest in their communities.

School managers in developing an understanding of the nature of the communities in which their schools are located will derive much benefit from the time that they invest in this exercise. They will get an understanding of the attendance patterns of students to school thus they will be able to devise appropriate interventions if necessary to address this issue. School managers in developing an understanding of the nature of the communities in which their schools are located will get a sense of the expectations the communities have of their schools. School managers in developing an understanding of the nature of the communities in which their schools are located will get an idea as to the lengths to which the members of the communities are willing to go to protect their schools. School managers in developing an understanding of the nature of the communities in which their schools are located will get an idea of the types of activities that they can introduce to the community and the extent to which the community members will be willing to participate in these activities. School managers in developing an understanding of the nature of the communities in which their schools are located will, hopefully, be able to empathise with their communities as they go about devising plans to develop the academic and other needs of the students and the wider community.

Thus the first assignment for new school managers (principals), whether they are totally new to the community, whether they are from the community or whether they had been working in the community for years, is to develop an understanding of the nature of the community in which the school is located. This understanding will help to build rapport with the members of the wider community  and this rapport will reduce some of the conflicts among school managers and communities which negatively impact the effectiveness of school managers who find themselves in these situations.

You may read the whole series of articles about the environments in which schools operate at the following links: the socio-cultural environment, the economic environment, the political environment, the technological environment and the spatial environment.