7/31/2019 The Difficulty of School Management

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The Difficulty of Management without some Heartby James M. Dong-as

Principal II, Allaguia national High School

Leadership, in all its facets, requires the assumption of a steel-willed character.

This ensures a confident stance among those being led buoyed by the assurance thatthey are indeed being managed well and the organization is being steered into the rightdirection. This holds true for leaders and managers whatever field one may belong to.Education, of course, is not at all excused.

An iron-clad faade that is projected by administrators, supervisors, and heads ofdepartments will always hit its mark of putting subordinates at the area where they aresupposed to wield their expertise, and thus contribute to the attainment of the schoolstargeted goals.

All schools aim at that goal of producing students who shall leave the corridors of

the school with some steps ahead as to the acquisition of knowledge. No school willascribe to the idea of sending out graduates who may be evaluated to have learnednothing at all.

This scenario will then bring attention to the core group of people who are directlyinvolved in the educational upbringing of students: THE TEACHERS, who day in, dayout will remain under the observation of two kinds of eyes those of the students, andthose of the administrator, or the principal, or head of the school.

Teachers, as much as possible, would not appreciate being put under scrutiny,whether obtrusively or unobtrusively. That is understandable. Teachers, no matter what

level of professional upgrading they may later amass as they go up the academicladder, are still human with emotions, first and foremost. It then follows that as teacherswho may not have lost the ability to feel but may have neglected the ability to expresssuch feelings, they do deserve some level of understanding that should be thrown theirway, especially in times of personal turmoil and difficulties.

And this is where THE HEART should come in. A principal may be strict most ofthe times, specifically as to the meeting of deadlines and the attainment of expectedstandards but he cant be strict all the time. There are instances when a teacherneeds more than administrative reminders but human touch to convey that he or she isbeing understood. No matter what troubles may momentarily befall a teacher, he or she

can always be expected to bounce back thats how resilient teachers are. It just takesa while to wait for such revival of commitment and energy. Before long, everything getsback to normal. Competence revitalized, so-to-speak.

It is then necessary to stand at the helm of the organization and project thecapacity to sympathize and empathize; for when a leader or a boss is perceived to beheartless, then the subordinates will simply disintegrate from his management and endup losing sight of their mandate in the first place. And when that happens, suchinsensitivity may be transferred to the learners a horrifying possibility.