Options
Practice of school management learned through mentoring
Loading...
Type
Thesis
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore the practice of school management learned, as perceived by secondary school principals who had the opportunity to learn through mentoring. There is international interest in the use of mentoring as a learning strategy for the preparation of school principals. A random sample of 70 percent of the available population was invited to participate in this study. This constraint on sample size was imposed by the Ministry of Education at that point in time. Altogether a high 85 percent (or 41 participants) of sample responded. The participants were interviewed by the researcher after they had completed a self-administered questionnaire. The interview data were transcribed for content analysis. The findings are given below.
The aspects of school management that they learned through mentoring and which they put into practice are : leading, monitoring, training and developing staff, planning and organising administrative tasks, and relating to the external environment. The aspects of school management that they learned through mentoring but which they did not put into practice are: abusing authority, organising for meeting specific needs and leading by the use of religion to provide direction. The other sources of learning ( and the respective aspects of school management that are put into practice) are : fellow principals (seeking information or advice, and planning); past experiences ) leading, planning and organising administrative tasks, relating to external environment and monitoring); on-the-job experiences (leading, monitoring, developing staff and appraising performance); courses (networking, planning, managing change, developing continually); professional literature (developing continually) and supervisors (solving exceptional problems. The aspects of school management that they learned outside mentoring but which they did not put into practice are ; (from fellow principals) organising context-specific administrative procedure and implementing extra programme; (from past experiences) abusing authority and imposing religion on others; (from courses) adopting overseas models, developing staff through classroom research, adopting novel pupil disciplinary procedure, and changing vision and mission statements; (from professional literature) setting low expectations and recruiting staff. These principals exercised discretion in practising what they had learned. The findings highlighted that the practice of leading can be learned through mentoring by most principals and can be used by them at work. Further research could examine the principals' perception of practice in the context of what they do and could also explore cross-cultural comparisons of management practice learned through mentoring.
The aspects of school management that they learned through mentoring and which they put into practice are : leading, monitoring, training and developing staff, planning and organising administrative tasks, and relating to the external environment. The aspects of school management that they learned through mentoring but which they did not put into practice are: abusing authority, organising for meeting specific needs and leading by the use of religion to provide direction. The other sources of learning ( and the respective aspects of school management that are put into practice) are : fellow principals (seeking information or advice, and planning); past experiences ) leading, planning and organising administrative tasks, relating to external environment and monitoring); on-the-job experiences (leading, monitoring, developing staff and appraising performance); courses (networking, planning, managing change, developing continually); professional literature (developing continually) and supervisors (solving exceptional problems. The aspects of school management that they learned outside mentoring but which they did not put into practice are ; (from fellow principals) organising context-specific administrative procedure and implementing extra programme; (from past experiences) abusing authority and imposing religion on others; (from courses) adopting overseas models, developing staff through classroom research, adopting novel pupil disciplinary procedure, and changing vision and mission statements; (from professional literature) setting low expectations and recruiting staff. These principals exercised discretion in practising what they had learned. The findings highlighted that the practice of leading can be learned through mentoring by most principals and can be used by them at work. Further research could examine the principals' perception of practice in the context of what they do and could also explore cross-cultural comparisons of management practice learned through mentoring.
Date Issued
2001
Call Number
LB2806 Lim
Date Submitted
2001