How should we ''close'' our schools?
Switch off and go to the beach or .... invest in the next day?
Welcome to Point of Input!
A Weekly Blog by Input on Education on EFL Teaching and Foreign Language School Management
by Maria-Araxi Sachpazian
Owner and Managing Director Input on Education
Summer is here! Most exams are over and barring a few oral exams, belated report cards or some summer groups, the 2021-22 School Year can be considered done and dusted. The temptation to simply switch off and go to the beach for an indefinite length of time is so overwhelming that it is hard to resist. The following blog post hopes to give some small tips and make certain suggestions regarding actions that need to be taken now, not in September.
Have a short break
To avoid feeling the need to lock the school and simply vanish, take a day or two to rest and breathe again. What should you do during these days? Switch off your phone (if you can afford to do so. In a future blog we will discuss why it makes sense to have a professional mobile phone, so that you can have school-free and hassle-free days) and devote some time to yourself and your loved ones. Do something you've long wanted to do on your own or with friends, such as go on an excursion, go out for drinks, or check out that new gym that has opened in the neighbourhood. At any rate, keep yourself away from work or school related affairs.
Set priorities
Once back from your break, get your pen and pencil out and set priorities. Some important actions to be taken involve cleaning, throwing things out and holding personal meetings with your staff so that you can get the next school year running on solid foundations. One thing you should put at the top of your list is a way to express your gratitude to your staff. You do not need expensive gifts or treats to do that, so please do not let your mind be overburdened with the cost of this kind gesture. Keep it small and kind.
Cleaning the school
A lot of schools are not deep cleaned and by that I do not mean scrubbing floors or having the school refurbished. The main issue that creates clutter in schools is old books, old projects, old toys, or activity prompts that used to be the 'it' thing a few years ago but have now been discarded in such a way that they have become part of our school 'furniture'. It's important to ensure that at least every two years all this is thrown out, especially when major exams have changed and therefore a lot of books are no longer needed. Cleaning the school in summer is not fun but once you tackle it you will be rewarded with the space that will now be available and by how beautiful your school will look.
Part of the throwing out process may involve clearing out old projects. Before you chunk them out, do not neglect to take photos of all the projects. If they are in good condition and the teacher or the student/s who made them are still in the school, ask them if they want to keep them. As you look at those projects, take an inventory of the kinds of projects that your teachers and students did this year and ask some well-targeted questions to yourself (to ask your associates):
-Was there variety in the topics and kinds of projects?
-How were these projects marketed?
-If they were not properly publicized, what can you do now with the photos of these projects?
Clearing out the clutter of the school is not a job that can be done in one day. It involves some considerable physical and mental labour. A case in point is how we discard old tests. It is worth stressing that tests should not be given to parents. The tests remain at school as our intellectual property since they may be partly recycled in future tests or reused as a whole. If parents want to take a better look at the test, they can do so at school, not at home. Therefore, each student should have their folder in which those tests are placed and kept for one school year, so now you should be recycling the 2020-21 tests if that year had printed tests.
Before you throw out any tests, do not forget to revisit them. Some of the things you need to do is to photocopy samples of writing (or keep the writing pages as they are) so that you can have 'free' samples of material that future students can correct or grade. Needless to say, when you do this, the teachers will have to retype the authentic samples and the names of the students who wrote these compositions will not be revealed.
As you are looking at the work produced by all your teachers, notice how they grade students and now that you are holding the corrected versions of the tests you inspected as samples, take a look at how aligned the marking schemes of different teachers who marked the same test for different groups are. If they are not aligned, you will need to invest some time in fixing this.
Teacher appraisal sessions
The end of the school year is the perfect time to meet personally with each one of your teachers and discuss the previous school year. The aim of this session is to appraise each teacher's work and set aims for the following year. It is also the time to commit to a future schedule for each teacher, in terms of the number of hours each teacher will have. A word of caution is necessary here: underpromise and overdeliver. If you are unsure about your future registration, either allow the teachers to seek additional/alternative employment or simply promise them a safe number of hours.
During the meeting with each teacher, certain topics need to be discussed, such as:
-Appraisal of the working conditions from both sides.
-Evaluation of the material / Coursebook used. (This will also need to be discussed in the staff meeting for the end of the year).
-Presentation of the original work of the teacher during the school year. (This may have happened throughout the school year, but it is good to get the teachers to pick their favourite original work and discuss it.)
-Evaluation of the quality of communication with staff and parents.
-Setting aims for the following year. This part boarders with mentoring, which will be explored in a future blog)
A point needs to be made here: it is important to dare to talk about the elephant in the room. By that I mean discussing problems and grievances (from either side that cropped up during the year). Clearing the air will help both sides see the future in an optimistic and creative way or decide that their differences are such that they cannot continue working together.
Finally, do not forget to discuss with each teacher the levels s/he will be teaching next year and give them a heads-up regarding changes in books.
It is important not to forget to hold the same meeting with your secretary (we will discuss this in a future blog) and use these questions for self-reflection on your own teaching.
After these meetings are over you will know for sure who will be working with you next year and what levels they will be working on. This will also allow you to advertise teaching positions that may have been created.
Closing thoughts
I have left out the coursebook selection process and the interviews of new staff as well as the school's marketing campaign as these are major projects, which will be discussed in future blogs.
As an educator and consultant, I find that running schools is an endeavor that requires reflection, commitment and continuous regrouping. Simply locking the school or putting it on auto-pilot, may pose threats and lead us to suffer from additional exhaustion at a time when our minds should be solely focused only on promotion.
A happy summer to all and stay tuned to Point of Input for more blogs!
A new blog every Friday!
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