Head crucial to school effectiveness

A good head is a crucial requirement for school effectiveness, according to the results of a survey carried out among teachers and administrators in 13 secondary schools from the state, Church and independent sectors.

The most effective schools were found to be those which the teachers viewed as being led by dedicated and professional heads. "A good head makes a good school," said Joan Micallef, the head of a girls' Junior Lyceum who conducted the survey for her M.A. dissertation.

The teachers were asked a series of questions designed to gauge their school's effectiveness along established criteria.

Church schools fared far better than state schools in the resulting table. Among the 13 schools, three Church institutions, one state-run area secondary and the only independent school involved in the study were in the top five places.

The three middle-ranked places were taken up by two state Junior Lyceums and one state area secondary.

One "prestigious Church school", two state-run schools for Junior Lyceum and non-Junior Lyceum students, and two area secondary schools occupied the bottom five places.

Ms Micallef presented a summary of her findings at a recent dissertation showcase held to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the University of Malta's Faculty of Education.

The schools that scored highest in effectiveness were run by heads whom the teachers described as providing a sense of direction, who were directly involved with students and staff, who were good communicators open to dialogue, and who promoted staff development.

On the other hand, the teachers who saw their schools as being least effective had a negative view of their heads. These tended to have a dictatorial management style, failed to communicate well with both teachers and staff, and lacked openness to dialogue.

Significantly, in the Church school which figured among the least effective schools, the head emerged as a major stumbling block. There was a similar situation in the state-run schools which registered low scores, while the area secondary which placed in the first five obtained good ratings for its principal and senior management team leadership.

"Thus it emerged that the head's contribution is a determining force in the effectiveness or otherwise of particular schools," wrote Ms Micallef in her dissertation.

Teachers at one highly rated school remarked: "I think the school (meaning the head) has clear ideas in mind, based on respect, responsibility and reason," and "There is a clear vision where we want to arrive..." These comments were echoed in other schools that ranked high in the effectiveness table.

Staff at lower ranked schools did not generally feel that the head gave them a clear sense of direction, or made comments such as: "Management is definitely management by crisis, not management by objectives."

A high percentage of teachers from highly ranked schools agreed on several other qualities demonstrated by their respective heads: they were regularly seen around the school; they got directly involved with pupils; were easily accessible; and worked well with other members of the management team.

Besides the head's leadership qualities, another factor contributing to school effectiveness was the school's ethos, or the elements that characterise school life.

For example, the majority of teachers from the more effective schools felt their pupils enjoyed a sense of achievement and were provided with good pastoral support.

Discipline, especially in the girls' schools, was not perceived as a major problem, vandalism did not exist, schools were well maintained, students felt safe and secure, and their attendance was consistently high.

Furthermore, in these schools teacher expectations of pupils' achievement and behaviour tended to be high.

School aims and policies are considered another major factor in school effectiveness.

In Ms Micallef's survey, the tendency was for teachers from the high-scoring schools to agree that the main aim was to achieve good academic results, whereas, partly due to the lower academic stream of their students, the precentages in area secondary schools who agreed with this statement were quite poor.

On the question of policies, it emerged that some church schools, despite their high effectiveness ranking, had not yet begun school development planning, while several state schools scored highly on policy effectiveness, possibly because development planning is now mandatory.

Asked for her personal opinion on how state schools could improve their effectiveness, Ms Micallef pinpointed the strengthening of school development planning as being one of the most important factors. This, she said, would go a long way towards identifying the school's weaknesses and remedying them.

She spoke in favour of being granted more autonomy, such as in staff recruitment.

She also remarked that schooling needed to go beyond academic achievement, by organising extra-curricular activities that were fun and educational at the same time, such as outings, drama, public speaking, sports and so on. Without an officially scheduled time for such activities, this was being done by teachers on a voluntary basis.

"The happier a child, the more he or she will collaborate, and absenteeism will be reduced," she said.

"A child has to be able to wake up in the morning and look forward to a pleasant experience at school - even a friendly teacher or an interesting lesson is sometimes enough, but integrating extra-curricular activites into the school day would contribute a lot."