Preschool education as a result of merger. The educational complex combines a school and a kindergarten

From September 1, 2014, all kindergartens in Moscow became part of. Perhaps a similar reorganization will await regional preschool organizations in the future, especially small-staffed organizations. Director of Education Center No. 345 in Moscow, Natalya Tverskaya, talks about the problems that arise in the process of merging kindergartens and schools.

Is it worth creatingeducational complexes?

Natalya Viktorovna, tell us about the procedure for merging kindergartens and education center No. 345.

N.T.: For more than 15 years, our education center has included a preschool department located in a separate building. And now, when educational complexes are being created in Moscow, which include several gardens, schools and organizations additional education, we have already accumulated extensive experience working with preschool departments. Currently, the process of reorganization of the educational complex is being completed. It will include two schools, including our education center with a preschool department, and two kindergartens, which, in turn, were created two years ago through reorganization on the basis of four kindergartens.

Thus, the complex will have five buildings for preschool groups. It should be noted that we are adding compensatory kindergartens, which have all the conditions for children with speech defects and disabled children, including those with cerebral palsy. All kindergartens are united into a structural unit of the “Preschool Department” complex. Besides this, everyone kindergarten will have its own given name: “Lukomorye”, “Solnyshko” and others.

In your opinion, is merging kindergartens and schools the right decision?

N.T.: Yes. Firstly, all financial issues should be dealt with by qualified specialists: accountants, economists, lawyers, office staff. They work in the interests of the entire complex, including kindergartens: purchases in kindergartens within the framework of the 44th Federal Law are carried out centrally, the accounting service draws up a general plan for financial and economic activities, etc. Of course, not every kindergarten, especially small ones, can afford all this. So I had to train a senior teacher or educational psychologist in organizing procurement or maintaining office work. And special centralized services are being created in the educational complex.

Therefore, preschool workers can safely do their favorite thing - raising children. Secondly, a general educational environment, getting into it, preschoolers become part of it. For example, pupils of our preschool department always take part in the activities of the education center together with schoolchildren. This greatly facilitates the adaptation of not only preschool graduates to school, but also their parents, who sometimes worry more than their children. A single parent community is being formed in the educational complex. For parents of preschoolers, the challenges facing the school are obvious. When they bring a three-year-old child to kindergarten, they immediately get to know the school and teachers primary classes, get an idea of ​​what awaits their child in the future.

A single parent community is being formed in the educational complex. For parents of preschoolers, the challenges facing the school are obvious. When they bring a three-year-old child to kindergarten, they immediately get to know the school, primary school teachers, and get an idea of ​​what awaits their child in the future.

What type should educational complexes have?

What is the management structure of preschool departments as part of the educational complex?

N.T.: The educational complex is headed by a director. Kindergartens are supervised by the deputy director for preschool and primary education, thereby ensuring continuity between these levels of education.

Senior teachers work in kindergartens, some of them are former heads. They are directly involved in organizing educational process and for all questions contact the Deputy for Preschool and Primary Education.

Once a week there is an administrative meeting in which all deputies participate. We discuss what was done, what failed and for what reason, what difficulties arose, and set tasks for the next week. If an urgent meeting is required, we gather unscheduled.

In addition, after the merger of a kindergarten and a school, an internal website was created in our education center. Each teacher and educator can access it via a computer or their mobile devices anywhere in the school or kindergarten, since the Internet is available everywhere

I issued an order, according to which all employees of the education center must go onto the local network every day at 8 a.m., 3 p.m., and 5 p.m. to view announcements in the chat. Head teachers, educators, teachers write in the chat about everything that happens in the education center: open classes, holidays, submission of reports, release of new documents (which can be found there, in local network) etc. In this way, constant communication is maintained, and all employees of the education center are aware of events. This innovation has been introduced so far only in our center, but after the reorganization we plan to extend it to the entire educational complex

How did you manage to build relationships with the heads of kindergartens? After all, they were actually demoted...

N.T.: If people still have an interesting job, prospects for professional growth, respect from children, their parents and colleagues, and all this is ensured by decent wages, then people will work with pleasure, no matter what their position is called. In addition, we should not forget that in last years the heads of kindergartens were entrusted with a heavy burden of financial and economic activity in the conditions of a sharp increase in the independence of educational organizations. And within the framework of the educational complex, this task will be solved by its services.

Staff of educational complexes

What is the level ratio wages teachers at school and in preschool?

N.T.: Last year, in our education center, teachers’ salaries were approximately 60 thousand rubles. In kindergarten, the salary of teachers was no more than 30 thousand rubles. - on average 22-28 thousand rubles. Today, the salary in kindergarten has increased and averages 40 thousand rubles. The possibility of increasing it arose, among other things, through extrabudgetary funds. Upon completion of the reorganization process, additional funds will appear due to savings, in particular, reduction in utility costs, as a result of optimization of the complex’s staffing and (or) increase in the volume of paid educational services. For example, to clear the roof of snow, the school will pay 100 thousand rubles, each kindergarten - 50 thousand rubles. For us as a single organization, the same service will cost less - not 250 thousand, but 200 thousand rubles. The savings can be used to increase your salary. The financial independence of an organization has its advantages - we see how much money we have, we decide where and how it can be distributed.

During the reorganization, did you have to reduce the staff of kindergartens?

N.T.: The fact is that for a year and a half the service personnel - nurses and cooks - have not been full-time employees of our center. This has always been the case at school - a third-party organization with which the education department entered into a service contract was responsible for feeding the children. Medical workers were employees of medical institutions.

In kindergartens it is now the same: the Department of Education enters into a three-year contract with the organization that provides meals for pupils. At the same time, we managed to keep our cooks in their place. For example, the cook and his assistant, who worked in our preschool department for 30 years, were transferred to the staff of an organization providing food without loss of salary.

It’s more difficult with medical workers: after they were transferred to the staff of a medical institution, their wage rates turned out to be lower than in a kindergarten. I hope this problem will also be resolved over time. In kindergarten, a medical worker cannot be a visitor. The nurse must receive children in the morning and stay in the institution all day, monitor the sanitary and hygienic condition of the premises, the health of the students, and carry out preventive measures.

In my opinion, the gradual transfer of all non-core functions to outsourcing is the right decision. Having concluded security agreements, medical service and catering, we reserve the control function.

Prospects and development of educational complexes

What are the prospects for the development of kindergartens in your educational complex?

N.T.: Now young families have a great need for nursery groups for children from one and a half years old. Our kindergarten is ready to accept children of this age. We have teachers who can work with them, and material resources. The preschool department occupies a new building, which seven years ago was built according to a project that provided for the placement of nursery groups.

In addition, we plan to open weekend and short-term groups for children. Weekend group services are in great demand by parents who have the opportunity to leave their child in kindergarten for a few hours on Saturday and Sunday.

Another idea has generated increased demand. We offered young parents a service to teach how to raise a child. Our teachers provide methodological assistance, advisory support, explain to parents how to teach their child to draw, dress, and be obedient.

What would you wish to the heads of kindergartens who are about to join the school?

N.T.: First of all, there is no need to be afraid of joining. Kindergarten and school should be one team! The union will definitely give a good result. The longer we work with preschoolers, the more convinced I am that this is true.

At a briefing held on April 16, 2015 by the Deputy Head of Administration Nizhny Novgorod Maria Kholkina, journalists were told in detail how kindergartens are being optimized, what will happen to schools in Nizhny Novgorod, as well as to institutions of additional education.

First of all, Maria Mikhailovna introduced everyone to the following figures:

There are 561 educational institutions in the education system of Nizhny Novgorod. Of these, there are 186 schools, 339 kindergartens, the rest are additional education institutions: music schools, art schools, sports schools, etc. 111 thousand children study in schools, and 63 thousand attend kindergartens. In total - 174 thousand children.

Which schools and kindergartens are subject to merger?

As the deputy head of the administration of Nizhny Novgorod explained, we have such a geographical and historical reality that some schools are empty. For example, if in the 40s, 50s, 60s. the residential area in the Stankozavod area was rapidly developing - many people worked at the plant, went to school a large number of children - then now, when production has decreased over the last 20 years, the microdistrict is dying out, there are not so many workers, schools are empty, kindergartens are empty, but the buildings stand. What to do about it? This is where optimization is needed. But how widespread is the phenomenon of emptying schools in Nizhny Novgorod?

Maria Kholkina gave the following figures: in Nizhny Novgorod, out of 186 schools, one has up to 100 students, 12 schools have 100 to 200 students, another 12 schools have 200 to 300 students, 29 schools have 300 to 500 people, in 39 schools there are from 500 to 700, in 45 there are from 700 to 900, and in only 31 schools in the city there are students from 900 and above.

The economic effect, according to experts, is achieved in schools where more than 600 children study. If schools have fewer than 600 students, they are not yet called small, but they are those schools that are not economically sound. Why? Because the school building is designed for 1000 students, it needs to be maintained, in addition to teachers, it is necessary to maintain technical support staff: caretaker, mechanic, electrician, etc. But money for schools is now allocated according to the number of students! And in the classes of such a school, instead of the normative 25 people, for example, 17 or even 14 people study. And for such a number of students there must be a full complement of teachers in all subjects, who must be paid salaries from the same money. It is clear that the shortage of students in schools becomes economically ineffective.

“When we analyzed all this,” said Maria Mikhailovna, “we had some kind of explosion in September 2014. The directors did not expect such an economic effect. And it turned out that 231 million rubles were not enough for salaries in the city. This is great! Now that quite a lot of time has passed, the directors have understood everything - this is how the new system works. Now the director cannot afford a part-time head teacher who also conducts life safety for 4 hours a week. It turned out that when we began to study staffing schedules, such amazing distortions opened up for us! If the standard calculates that in a school’s staffing table 30% of administrative, technical, support staff is acceptable, and 70% should be teachers, then we saw that there are schools where this ratio is 50 to 50 and even 60 to 40. That is, what happened?

In accordance with the May 2012 Presidential Decree on salary increases, we are fighting to ensure that teachers have salary increases, and every year we increase them. I can say that in 2011 our average teacher’s salary was 13 thousand rubles, and already in 2014 it was 27 thousand rubles. Some have less, some have more, but the increase in teachers' salaries is quite noticeable. They feel it themselves. And if teachers complain that there is no growth, we sort it out. And it turns out that, for example, a physical education teacher has a workload of 11 hours a week. What kind of growth can we talk about here?”

Exactly the same story, as Maria Kholkina noted, has been happening to kindergartens since 2015, when per capita funding began. The maintenance of one child costs 63-65 thousand rubles. It is more than at school, because... here the food is different, the care is different, etc. And the problem with kindergartens is somewhat different. “25% of kindergartens in Nizhny Novgorod are 4-group. Only 4 groups! – explains the deputy head of administration. - But, should there be a manager? Must. There should be a methodologist, a housekeeper to issue linen, a janitor, a mechanic, a cook... That is, staff is needed, but there are only four groups. What to do? We need optimization!”

So what is optimization?

As Maria Kholkina explained, this is a necessary association at the level of legal entities. Since small schools and kindergartens cannot survive on their own, it means that two legal entities - two schools or a kindergarten - must be made into one.

“That is, we do not touch buildings, children, or teaching staff,” Maria Mikhailovna clarified. - The buildings are the same, the teachers are the same, we only work with paperwork. For example, we have kindergartens, as they say, “fence within fence” - two legal entities, each with its own director and entire staff. And we combine them into one, and we get one entity not with 4 groups, but with 8, but with one director or manager, one methodologist, etc., and they survive. None of the buildings are being moved anywhere! We work only with legal entities and documents. That is, they took institutions that were located nearby, so that it would be clear to both parents, children, and the teaching staff, and united them into one legal entity. The kindergarten number will have the same number as the kindergarten to which it is legally affiliated.”

Optimization of schools is as follows. For example, two schools are located 800 meters apart. Both schools are not full. When they are united, it will be one legal entity, where in one building it will be located Primary School, and in the other - high school. Thus, in addition to the economic effect, there will be another very important point– all schoolchildren will be able to study only in the first shift.

What will happen to the employees of the merged institutions?

The deputy head of the Nizhny Novgorod administration answered this question: “In this case, only those rates that are duplicated are subject to reduction. The cooks, for example, will remain - the cook will not run from one building to another. But why two janitors when he cleaned the same area in 4 hours and left? Or, what is a social educator? There are those who work little by little, say, 4 hours, in different places. Here we will also look at whether one or two social teachers are needed in united kindergartens - depending on the size of the population and what their workload is. Or a speech pathologist? He doesn’t work with every child in kindergarten. In addition, children in kindergarten have a strict regime, i.e. a speech pathologist does not work with children when they are learning, eating or sleeping. There is such a concept - unloaded.

What will happen to the managers? It is clear that if 4 kindergartens are united, as, for example, in the Avtozavodsky district, where preschool educational institutions No. 103, 36, 42 and 99 are united, then out of 4 heads we choose one that is young, promising, proactive, and has there is every opportunity to develop this enterprise and then expand it with some interesting ideas: quotas, projects, etc. However, if we see that at 62 years old the manager will still give 40-year-olds a head start, then we say: stay, work and teach yourself a shift, pass on all your knowledge and skills. We are fighting to ensure that not a single valuable personnel leaves the education system. We do personal work.

Since September 2014, when it all began, 780 units have been excluded from the staffing table - these are those vacancies that were a dead burden, or some kind of part-time jobs. Not a single person was laid off, only positions were eliminated. This gave an economic effect of 78 million rubles.”

The resolution on the optimization of kindergartens was signed by the head of the administration of Nizhny Novgorod at the beginning of April, now informing everyone and legal work has begun: the charter must be rewritten, the newly formed institution must be registered, etc. The resolution on the optimization of schools is still being finalized.

In total, 29 Nizhny Novgorod schools, 69 kindergartens and 8 additional education organizations will be involved in optimization. Thus, out of 106 organizations involved in optimization, the output will be 54.

Reforms in the social sphere of our country also affected education. The main motive for the reform educational institutions became their consolidation, unification. Not only are several school organizations united into a single complex, but also preschool institutions are attached to the school. Thus, a single educational complex is obtained, which may consist of several preschool educational institutions and schools. What were the reasons for the emergence of a new format of educational organizations, what were the positive aspects and disadvantages of this association? We will talk about this in our article.

Reasons for merging schools and preschool organizations:

1. Understaffing of educational institutions. New law on education, changed the system of financing educational institutions, introduced the so-called “per capita” financing. This approach to financing educational organizations means that money from the budget “follows” the student. That is, the amount of funds for the preschool educational institution will depend on the number of its students. These funds from the budget of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation can be used to implement an educational program (for remuneration of teachers, for teaching aids, consumables, etc.). But the maintenance of buildings and utility costs are already falling on the shoulders of local authorities. The legislator assumed that such a financing scheme should guarantee every student the right to receive educational services of standard quality and volume, regardless of his place of residence, the capabilities of the local budget and other conditions.
2. Continuity between preschool education and school. According to the new Federal State Educational Standards preschool education one of the objectives of the standard is to ensure the continuity of the goals, objectives and content of education, which are implemented within the framework educational programs preschool and primary general education.
3. Saving money. Many experts still believe that the main reason for the merger of educational organizations is the desire of officials to save on education. The creation of unified educational complexes helps reduce costs for administrative personnel. And sometimes the number of buildings served is significantly reduced.

Advantages of creating educational complexes:

1. Ability to implement continuity of goals and objectives educational programs for preschool and primary education. Continuity can be realized by:

• mutual work of educators and teachers from the school (this will help teachers get to know their future students better and choose an individual approach to them);
• conducting classes for preschool pupils at school, during which they will be able to get acquainted with future teachers and the new form of education;
• interaction with parents (parents will be able to obtain the necessary information about preparing their children for school).

Unfortunately, it is not possible in every case to implement the entire range of measures to implement the principle of continuity. For example, when combined schools and kindergartens are located in different buildings. In this case, attending preschool children to school lessons and holidays no longer seems such a simple task, compared to educational complexes that are united not only on paper, but are also located in the same building.

2. Budget resources in larger quantities. As mentioned above, financing of educational institutions currently involves a “per capita” factor. Accordingly, the larger the educational institution, the more children it teaches, the more large quantity it can count on funds. In major cities this problem is not as severe as in rural areas. Unfortunately, in the outback, preschool institutions and schools are also understaffed. At new system funding for such preschool educational institutions would be threatened with closure due to lack of funds for further work. By teaming up with other educational organizations, the preschool educational institution receives new opportunities:

• obtain the services of the necessary specialists (accountant, lawyer, speech therapist, public procurement specialist, etc.);
• use the resources and facilities of the school (swimming pool, library, gym, etc.).

3. Less responsibility for preschool leaders. When a school and a preschool organization are merged, there is actually only one leader left - the school director. The head of the preschool educational institution moves to a new position - deputy director. On the one hand, a demotion may also threaten a reduction in wages. But, on the other hand, such changes imply both a decrease in responsibility and job responsibilities for the head of the preschool educational institution. For example, issues of government procurement for preschool educational institutions may fall within the competence of the school director.

Disadvantages of consolidation of educational organizations:

1. Loss of individuality of an educational organization. Merging a school and a preschool organization indiscriminately, only on the principle - the more children, the more money, threatens that some educational institutions, which have their own individual characteristics, will lose them. There are risks of merging educational organizations where children have deviant behavior or the development of children in the united educational organizations will vary significantly.
2. The preschool organization will become an appendage of the school. Many people fear this: the heads of preschool educational institutions, teachers, and parents. After all, a single educational complex involves several educational institutions (at least one preschool educational institution and a school, and sometimes several schools and kindergartens). The school director will have to manage such a complex; again, he makes strategic decisions. And it is natural that, first of all, he will be concerned about the problems of the school, and not the kindergarten. In addition, it takes a lot of time for the head of the educational complex to understand and delve into the intricacies of preschool education. Parents are concerned that kindergarten may turn into a so-called school preparation stage for their children, and will not become an independent stage in their lives.
3. Reduction of preschool staff. The desire of officials to reduce education costs may lead to a reduction in the staff of preschool educational institutions. The merger of a kindergarten and a school involves a change in staffing. Managing such large educational complexes is also a challenge. It is possible that, for optimization purposes, staff reductions and the closure of individual divisions will be carried out. In addition, they may suffer correctional groups V preschool organizations. After all, the costs of specialists in such groups exceed the costs in ordinary groups. Accordingly, there is a risk of reduction of specialists in this area.

There will be practically no moving, everyone will remain in their buildings, but legally it will be one kindergarten. The administrative part is being reduced. This was stated by the Department of Education of the Dobryansky District. However, the editorial office of our newspaper e-mail a letter was received on behalf of the “parents of kindergarten No. 10”:

“We are concerned that there are plans to merge two kindergartens. Thus, our manager, accountant and other specialists will be laid off.

We believe that it is thanks to the perseverance, dedication, and excellent organizational skills of Galina Nikolaevna Koskova that the preschool institution has become a promising institution in the city and region. (...) Corrective work with children in the direction speech development, sound pronunciation, mental development and diagnostics are carried out by narrow specialists - a teacher-speech therapist and an educational psychologist.

We believe that there is no need to merge kindergartens. We, as parents, like our head, our accounting department, our methodological and teaching staff. In the event of a merger, we are deprived of the opportunity to comfortably and quickly regulate issues related to resolving various nuances in educational and organizational processes.

When merging, the following risks arise:

Mass layoffs of personnel;

When joining a new team, teachers will not be able to pay due attention to children, show up and develop creatively;

There will be no individual approach to the problems of parents, children and staff;

Personnel changes are possible (hiring of new employees; dismissal of narrow specialists, because there is an educational psychologist and speech therapist in kindergarten No. 20), etc.

From the head of education N.M. Semerikova heard that there was an opportunity to visit the pool. I wonder what it will look like? Will they take the children for a swim in the cold?!

We ask you to leave our kindergarten as an independent unit.”

The head of the Department of Education of the Dobryansky district commented on the parents’ appeal Natalia Semerikova:

We discussed the issue of reorganizing kindergarten No. 10 with the parents of the children who attend it, the teaching staff, and the governing council of the kindergarten. The main goal of the association is to increase wages for teaching staff. All conditions for children to stay in a preschool institution remain the same. Children will go to the same groups, teachers will be the same.

As for the swimming pool, which is in kindergarten No. 20, the proposal for the children of kindergarten No. 10 to also use it came from the parents themselves. And this question is being studied: at what time will they be able to accept children, where will they undress. Of course, they will only be able to go to the pool in the warm season.

At a meeting with kindergarten staff, none of the teachers expressed a desire to resign. Subspecialty specialists - psychologist, speech therapist - will also remain working in the merged institution. The head of kindergarten No. 10, Galina Nikolaevna Koskova, is an excellent methodologist; she has been offered the position of senior teacher. The head of the merged institution will be the head of kindergarten No. 20, Tatyana Nikolaevna Tarasenko. The issue of the accountant and clerk of kindergarten No. 10 has not yet been resolved. But, given the shortage of such specialists, the problem of their employment will definitely be resolved.

The process of merging the two institutions is quite long, we plan that it will be completed by May next year.

An expert commission has been created at the level of the Education Department; all questions, problems, and risks are discussed. But the decision to merge has been made, and it is economically justified. The kindergarten is small, it receives small subventions from the regional budget, and today the institution has tax arrears. By merging with kindergarten No. 20, administrative expenses will decrease and teachers' salaries will increase.

As Natalya Semerikova noted, for some other preschool educational institutions there is no question of merging; schools in the district will not merge with each other either.

LENSKAYA: MERGER OF SCHOOLS SHOULD BE THOUGHT OUT AND SLOW

In many regions of Russia today, schools and kindergartens are being restructured, and large complexes are being formed in place of individual educational institutions. How do the tasks of a school principal change under these conditions? What needs to be done to ensure that the merger of schools takes place without harm to students? This will be discussed at the Twelfth annual conference“Trends in the development of education Leadership in school and preschool education: yesterday, today, tomorrow”, which will be held at the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences (MSHSEN) on February 19-20. On the eve of the forum, Elena Lenskaya, dean of the Faculty of Management in Education and head of the development department of the Moscow Higher School of Economics and Social Sciences, answered the questions of RIA Novosti correspondent Anna Kurskaya.
- Elena Anatolyevna, how have the functions and role of the school director changed in recent years, with the adoption of the Law on Education and new educational standards?
- Indeed, a lot has changed. The new law defines the opportunities and degrees of freedom of the school director, which our directors have not been very accustomed to using until now. Now they have much more space for negotiations and cooperation with parents and with everyone interested in the success of their schools. But in order for the new benefits to begin to bring benefits, it is necessary that all directors clearly understand what the new legislation is and what opportunities it contains.
Does this happen in practice?
Now in many regions, starting with Moscow, the school and educational networks in general are being restructured, and large educational complexes are being created. Unfortunately, this does not always happen thoughtfully. And directors do not always know what levers they can use to make transformations truly meaningful, or how to plan the development of their educational complex in such a way that the benefits for children are clear and transparent. And if the gain is not obvious, directors do not always know how to challenge the creation of a complex and resist economic pressure.
What are negative sides ongoing restructuring?
There are many pitfalls there. Teachers have concerns that the preschool education network may suffer from it, because when schools and kindergartens merge, very often kindergartens begin to serve the school, seat children at desks, and the intrinsic value of childhood, which the new standard of preschool education is aimed at, disappears.
The threat to additional education is that, having become part of the educational complex, clubs and studios can begin to serve only this complex, which was not the case before. The beauty of additional education organizations was precisely that they determined the circle of their clients themselves, and anyone could be among them. All these threats may or may not come true with good management and capable leadership. We will discuss this, in particular, at the conference.
Is it possible, when analyzing the changes taking place, to rely on Foreign experience?
Indeed, the processes that are happening in Russia are happening all over the world. Therefore, we invited specialists from those countries where similar transformations have already taken place to the conference. But it is important to note that abroad the pace of transformation, even if it was about optimizing the school network, is fundamentally different. Before schools come up with a meaningful plan for such a merger, it does not happen.
However, foreign experts say that even in their countries the rate of school mergers was too high. I'm afraid our pace is simply unprecedented. And other processes in our education system in practice are very different from both our plans and foreign experience.
Under what conditions could joining a kindergarten to a school benefit the preschool institution?
The most important thing is that the development plan for the complex precedes the merger, and does not arise as a consequence when the merger has already occurred, and we urgently need to figure out what to do with all this.
Still, the unification should be planned by people who take responsibility for the further success of the children who will study in this complex. Unfortunately, in Moscow, sometimes several schools were united, quite widely spaced across the territory, and grade schools arose in the new complex. In principle, this is not bad. But families with several children found themselves in difficult situation when one child goes to one building, another to another, and a third to a third.
It would be worth considering at least this point before making decisions about the merger. But in practice, these decisions were often made hastily, under administrative pressure. The school needs to learn to defend the interests of students.
How can I do that?
Schools have governing boards, and they could influence educational policy on more than just paper. Unfortunately, we like to create “manual” management boards that do what the director says. Very often, parents are simply afraid to raise their voice, because it seems to them that by doing so they are putting their child at risk. But in the current situation, their role should, in my opinion, increase significantly.
The merger of schools should occur only when representatives of all governing councils of the merging institutions agree to such a decision, sign and say: “Yes, we believe that this will be better for our children.” Of course, you should choose not convenient parents, but competent parents. They also have something to learn.
What is a competent parent?
For example, in England, members of the governing council, as a rule, are parents who have teaching or economic experience, that is, specialists, and not just people who have free time, as is often the case here. But participation in the governing council also implies a greater degree of social responsibility, and we have not yet fully learned this. In England, the governing council also bears financial responsibility for its actions.
Today it is often said that a school director needs the skills of a manager rather than a teacher. Are these skills specially taught to directors today?
This is one of the topics that we, representatives of universities that already train school principals in management competencies, are going to discuss at the conference. But there is one problem.
Indeed, to lead successfully educational complex maybe a person with good managerial training. But at the same time, research shows that the most successful managers are people with leadership qualities who, unlike “pure managers,” have a vision of the necessary future and roughly understand how to get there, that is, they set development goals for themselves and their team. A manager, as a rule, successfully implements tasks set by someone else.
What will happen to leadership competence, and how to develop it against the backdrop of all these wonderful management skills, so that the main thing is not lost - the ability to see the future? This is what you need to think about.
There is another reason for concern. The director of a large complex will not be able to keep track of what is happening in the classroom and how well certain teachers cope with their responsibilities. He hadn’t done much of this before, but he still had some time for it.
It is no coincidence that, for example, in Finland there are no schools with more than 900 students. There they give great importance to ensure that the director participates in pedagogical process. There is even such a term - “pedagogical leadership”, which is considered one of essential functions director. Will this pedagogical leadership be present in the new complexes? I'm not sure.
What new challenges will school principals have to face in the future?
First of all, they will have to learn to plan development, taking into account a very large range of diverse interests. If previously they worked with a fairly limited number of students of the same age category, now there are many more of them and their ages have become less homogeneous - these are both preschoolers and adults attending clubs and sections. Principals will have to learn to reconcile the interests of different groups of people in education.
The most important thing they will face and are already facing is the problem of personnel management. Preventing, at the first stage, at least serious conflicts, equitable distribution of resources, and so on, are new tasks that were not so pressing before.
It seems to me important that the director can maintain leadership qualities in a situation where he risks turning into a classic manager who only solves assigned tasks from the outside.