Empowering Stakeholders for Educational Excellence at Camberwell High School

Brief description of Camberwell High School

Camberwell high school is a district with a total population of 1200 students. The school has a reputation for a diverse and rich curriculum and co-curriculum programs. The school is located near Canterbury on 3.2 hectares of land with an accessible public transport. In a plan to strategically place the school in the fore front in leadership and educational provision, it will open up a new innovative centre. Metaphorically, Camberwell high school is a giant on its own because of its establishments and achievements (Hughes, 2012).
Transformation efforts in education involve critical stakeholders to achieve the change desired as asserted by Hughes (2012). To better understand the stakeholder’s role in the education, the paper will attempt to give an explanation to the six distinct stakeholders of education who are involved closely in the Camberwell high school operations overly. Furthermore, the paper will give a description to the influential factors to very role of the stakeholder to better understand their current roles to their roles in learning organizations.

Students

In the education process they play the leading role and therefore should participate in the education process. Their primary role is that of recipient, but should be encouraged to exercise their role of decision making in education process, hence making them an integral part. Empowering them increases their responsibilities and choices for their learning.
O’Brien et al (2009) suggests that in some education aspects students should be used as determinants. They determine the offers of educational services like especial education. Moreover, they possess the both extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors.

Parents

They play a key role as stakeholders. Their primary objective is an assurance of quality education to their children (Hughes, 2012). They bring valuable quality to the children’s educational experience because of better understanding of their children and can influence the student’s behavior significantly such as study habits and time management, personal safety, eating habits and general welfare. Gross (2010) suggest they should provide resources to the school to assist the students and enhance community commitment and pride. For instance, they should get involved in their children education process by attending school functions, encouraging students, participating in decision making process, modeling desirable values and behaviors.

Teachers

Along with the students, the teachers play an interactive role in the process of education because of their dependency on each other. Empowerment of teachers takes the form of giving teachers significant roles in making decisions, control over their work conditions and environment, and opportunities to serve in different professional roles (O’Brien et al, 2009). Furthermore, teachers are mentors, counselors, supervisors and community leaders.
The motivating factors to teachers are related to the impact of their role in producing a person who is a community asset. The education ends have to be associated with things such as provision of culturally literate citizenry to the society, thinking and reasoning people, and a world class work force (Hughes, 2012).

Central office staff and principle

He or she represents the most influential single school stakeholder in the setting of the Camberwell high school. The central office staff is expected to set the tone of academic for students, staff, parents and members of the community through participatory leadership that is effective. Effective principle develops team approach that is collaborative to problem solving and decision making, while consistently and simultaneously maintain and develop policies and guidelines district wide (Gross, 2010).
O’Brien et al (2009) asserts that a successful central office staff should apply the distributive approach to routine operations of the Camberwell high school to ensure total involvement of other external and internal stakeholders. Finally, because the central office staff is subject to major influences by the cultures- implicit and explicit interactions among the Camberwell high school staff, this can act as determinant to his or her leadership effectiveness.

Superintendent

The school board in most cases selects the superintendent of the school district schools. The school district superintendent, with the help of the school board has the responsibility that of ensuring selection of personnel meet the state standard and impacts positively to the district with their experience in education. Hughes (2012) pointed out that the district superintendent makes important decisions for instance construction of new schools, districts finance, and significant part of teaching and curriculum going on in the schools of the district. Moreover, other responsibilities include creation of long term plans for educational delivery, technology and growth of districts.
Gross (2010) suggests a superintendent of the school district need to be committed to playing a leading role in the capacity building of the governing board and conducting business of the school. The selection committee should ask for the candidate’s educational initiatives the candidate will undertake in future and philosophy in terms of strategic planning, budgeting, performance monitoring of the employees and the district.

Camberwell high school board members

Board members are elected by the school district residents or the mayor. They have the power to to fire or hire administrators and teachers. According to Gross (2010), they are the guardians of the change policies that support the district or the district superintendent who has the responsibility of maintaining and implementing the policies lay by the board. Moreover, they take legal considerations when deciding on governing policies.

Five best practices for effective leadership

1. Model the way

Leaders create principles on ways of treating people and manner goals should be pursued. They establish standards of excellence and set examples for others. Sometimes prospect of complex change can stifle action and overwhelm people; interim goals are set for people to achieve small wins as they aim for larger objectives (O’Brien et al, 2009).

2. Inspire a vision shared

Leaders believe passionately they can make a change. They envision future, create unique and ideal image of what the organization is capable. Through their quite persuasion and magnetism, leaders put others in their dreams. Moreover, they make their visions lively and make people see future exciting possibilities.

3. Challenge the process

Leaders look for chances to change the status quo by being innovative to improve the organization. By doing so, they risk as they experiment. Moreover, because they know taking of risks involve failures and mistakes, they accept the inevitable disappointments as opportunities for learning.

4. Enable other people to act

Leaders build spirited teams and foster collaboration. They involve others actively. Furthermore, they know that mutual respect sustains exemplary efforts. Therefore, they strive to establish an atmosphere of human dignity and trust. They make others feel powerful and capable, strengthen them.

5. Encourage the heart

Hard work is the way to do things in organization, to keep determination and hope alive, individual contributions are recognized by leaders (Hughes, 2012).

References

Hughes, L. W. (2012). Current issues in school leadership. Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Gross, S. J. (2010). Promises kept: Sustaining school and district leadership in a turbulent era. Alexandria, Va: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
O’Brien, J., Draper, J., & Murphy, D. (2009). School leadership. Edinburgh: Dunedin.