The role of the school manager as an agent of change in education

Abstract

Transformation has brought a plethora of school management and leadership activities than were there before. Schools have become complex social organizations. The kind of consolidation by the Department of Education is intended to improve operational effectiveness and efficiency. School managers and colleagues are responsible to take charge of change management and leadership. Roles, duties and responsibilities of school managers have been revised. School managers by themselves have to undergo a shift in their thinking with regard to their roles in the new millennium. This paradigm shift would enable school managers to avail themselves to undergo skills training in leadership and management. It would also expedite the capacity to implement policies and procedures in education. School managers have got to grapple with these challenges forthwith. Thus, the problem of this study focuses on how can the school manager play a changing role in education? Hence, the aims of the research are: 1. To optimize effective leadership and management in schools. 2. To determine the role of the school manager in the new system of education. 3. To know and understand the effects of change on the role of the school manager. To support these aims, provision has been made to describe and explain situations and influences throughout the entire research. Nevertheless, change is inevitable and can be unsettling and it can be invigorating. School managers have to work for the better than to continue with the status quo. Underpinning the push for change and restructuring is the desire to provide quality education based on the principles of equity, effectiveness, participation, responsiveness and public accountability. In this context therefore, school managers will have to be imaginative in formulating a vision and mission statement in their schools. The school manager is a strategic leader.