The headmaster is the educational leader. He is essentially a teacher. So he must never get out of touch with day-to-day classroom situations. His duty is to guide education and educators in new methods, new techniques of education, new approaches, new outlooks and new ways of doing the old job. From him flow a continuous stream of new ideas to deal with the rapidly changing educational scene.
The educational methods of yesterday are already hopelessly out of place and out of date. Therefore, the headmaster should give primary importance to his class-teaching work. He must be an expert in at least one or two subjects and take at least two or three periods a day. It will be academically suicidal if he tries to be a pale copy of a general administrative officer, rather than to be the all-important leaders of education.”
He must not go on in the old routine way. He must have a daily increasing fund of new knowledge and fresh techniques, he must change his ”mental hand bag his angle and attitude to men and things. He should resolve to do old things in a new way and deliver them to his students in the classroom.”
Other Business Management of the School
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The headmaster, being an educational administrator has to discharge various management duties, besides his supervisory, administrative and teaching work. First of all, he is to look to the management of the school plant. He is to look to the physical facilities of the school, its utilization, maintenance and operation.
The headmaster should also see that the school has all the equipments needed. He must assure himself that all the equipments are being used. He should make ways for the use of available equipment in the school. Teachers should be encouraged to use the equipments. He should invite opinions of the teachers regarding the ways in which the plant and equipment are helping or hindering the school programme.
The headmaster should form a committee for the purchase and maintenance of equipment. This purchasing committee should prepare a list of the articles to be- purchased. The headmaster should prepare a budget accordingly.
Organization of Office Work
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The office work includes routine work, registration, correspondence, recording and maintaining of accounts. He must have very large reserves of patience, love and hope. In human affairs, “two and two do not always make four, they may make zero of they may make a hundred.” Routine is a crime against education today. Therefore, the headmaster should depend on the office superintendent for the management of office work.
The headmaster should be aware of the office work necessary for the smooth management of the school affairs. He should try to remove the irregularities and inefficiencies in the office work. He should check the important office activities like admission, classification, class register, cash book, acquaintance roll, attendance registers, registers of various fees, fines and funds etc. Then he can supervise the office management efficiently without affecting his teaching work.
The headmaster, for the effective management and improvement of the school should recognize the place and contribution of teachers to the improvement of the educational programme of the school through democratic supervision. He should provide wise counsel and advice, exercising his educational administrative leadership in relation with each officer involved in the system, for effective administration.
He should work us an artist in human affairs through his classroom teaching skill for the improvement of school instruction and he should proceed with wisdom and vision in organizing other important affairs like office management etc., for effective school organization. Then he can work as an effective force for the all round improvement of the school through his four point programme i.e., supervision, administration, teaching and organization.