School management: turning reactivity into proactivity

Three major school management problems face school principals in the local county: (1) the traditional top-down management style adopted by the education authorities which hinders teaching staff participation in school management decisions; (2) the enormous teaching staff turnover in border-town schools in view of the remoteness of the locations; and (3) serious student losses due to poverty among the local residents.

Targeting these problems, Mr Peter Tang introduced a participatory mode of management to local principals together with a series of real case examples. Based on the local situation, he led them into probing more deeply into the possibilities of turning reactivity into proactivity. Solutions suggested included measures such as adopting more flexible use of resources to spare budget for the hiring of outside talent; helping teachers to handle class subjects outside their specialisation, to relieve work pressure; and bringing up outstanding students in spite of the school's tight budget, to enable parents to see that knowledge can change life, thus encouraging them to send their children back to school. Alongside Mr Tang's illuminating talk, HKIEd students designed various interactive games for school principals, enabling them to experience the importance of team spirit in management and the various approaches in problem solving.