The Role of the School Administrator

The principal of a school is its administrator. The role has two main functions (administration and supervision), four specific roles (community leader, instructional improvement, curriculum development, and plant management), and a history that has shifted over the past century from authoritarian command toward democratic leadership.

Two main functions

The administrator’s role has two main functions:

1. Administration of the school.
2. Supervision of the personnel involved in teaching and learning, which covers everything in the school: the plant, staff, curriculum, methods, and co-curricular work.

Two functions. Administration is the broader management work. Supervision is the close attention to the people who do the educational work.

A school administrator who only administers (handles operations, budgets, policies) and does not supervise (engage with teaching directly) runs the school’s machinery but neglects its purpose. A school administrator who only supervises (focuses on teachers and classrooms) and neglects administration runs out of resources and structure.

Both functions must be performed.

The shift in authority

Authority in schools has shifted over the past century.

In old authoritarian schools, the school administrator acted as a dictator. The role only required the ability to inspire awe and fear in students and staff, and all went well from her point of view.

The old model. The administrator commanded; staff and students obeyed. Authority came from position. Fear maintained order.

This model still exists in some schools. It is fading but not extinct.

The modern emphasis is on freedom of participation and reciprocal cooperation.

The modern model. Staff have voice. Students have voice. Parents have voice. The administrator leads through influence, not just command.

A striking phrase captures the modern view:

Leadership in democracy is known by the personalities it enriches, not by those it dominates or captivates.

A democratic leader is recognised by the growth of those around her, not by the obedience or admiration she extracts. A school administrator who leaves her staff stronger and more capable than when she found them is a democratic leader. One who leaves them dependent or worn down is something else.

What the modern SA must do

The administrator has to earn the leadership.

Position is not enough. The administrator earns trust and authority through her work.

She must also come into close contact with teachers, students, and parents.

Distance does not work. The administrator must be present, accessible, engaged.

She must earn trust.

The currency of leadership. Trust is built slowly, lost quickly. The administrator’s work over time produces (or fails to produce) the trust that makes everything else possible.

The specific roles

Four specific roles describe the school administrator’s work.

1. Community leader

The administrator studies the community thoroughly, learns the resources it can offer, and deploys those resources well. She runs a continuous long-term improvement programme and takes initiative to meet new needs as they arise.

The school does not exist in isolation. It is part of a community. The administrator’s role includes being a leader within that community.

In practice this might include:

1. Knowing the community. Who lives here? What do they need from a school? What resources can they offer?
2. Connecting the school to community resources. Local businesses, alumni, parents with relevant expertise, civic leaders.
3. Anticipating community needs. Changes in demographics, economic shifts, new requirements from the community.
4. Long-term community improvement. The school’s contribution to the community’s long-term wellbeing.

A school administrator who treats her school as separate from its community misses opportunities and risks irrelevance.

2. Improvement of instruction

Improvement of instruction is the most important role. It calls for deliberate, long-range planning, creative and cooperative supervision, classroom visitation, and patient work with teachers over time.

This is the role most often called the most important. Improving the teaching that happens in the school’s classrooms.

This is not glamorous work. It does not produce immediate visible results. It requires:

1. Long-range planning. Improvement over years, not weeks.
2. Creative supervision. Not just inspection; coaching, modelling, supporting.
3. Cooperative work. With teachers as partners, not subjects.
4. Constructive feedback. That helps teachers grow.
5. Classroom visitation. Being in classrooms, watching real teaching.
6. Patience. Teacher growth takes time.

Many administrators avoid this work. It requires time in classrooms that they would rather spend in their offices. It requires honest conversations that they would rather avoid. It requires sustained attention that they would rather give to immediate operational issues.

The administrator who avoids the work of instructional improvement is failing at her most important role.

3. Curriculum development

The administrator constantly adapts learning at the school to emerging needs and changes. She accepts experiments, is open to new ideas, encourages inquiry, follows up on dropouts and slow learners, and protects time and space for curriculum work.

The third role. Beyond improving existing teaching, the administrator works on what is being taught.

Curriculum work includes:

1. Adapting to new needs. The world changes; what students need to learn changes.
2. Accepting experiments. Trying new approaches, accepting some will fail.
3. Encouraging inquiry. Both in the curriculum (inquiry-based learning) and in the administrator’s own engagement (inquiry into what is working).
4. Following dropouts and slow learners. Understanding why some students do not succeed.
5. Providing time and space. Curriculum development needs dedicated time; the administrator protects it.

A school that does not develop its curriculum becomes stale. The administrator’s role includes ensuring this work happens.

4. School plant management

School plant management covers all permanent and semi-permanent structures and educational facilities used to achieve the school’s objectives: the site, buildings, physical equipment, recreational spaces, and textbooks.

The physical environment.

Desirable levels of student academic performance are unlikely where instructional spaces such as classrooms, libraries, technical workshops, and laboratories are lacking or poorly planned.

The point is sharp. Physical inadequacy limits academic outcomes. A school with no library cannot teach reading at the level a school with a strong library can. A school with broken equipment cannot teach science properly.

Three components of plant management:

1. Planning plant facilities.
2. Equipping the facilities.
3. Utilising and maintaining them.

Plant management is not glamorous but is essential. An administrator who neglects it produces a school where teaching is constrained by the building.

A practical balance

A recognition warm-up first.

A school administrator’s week typically includes work across all four roles plus the two main functions. A useful self-check at the end of each week:

1. Community leader work. Time spent on community connection, alumni, local partnerships.
2. Improvement of instruction. Time in classrooms; coaching teachers.
3. Curriculum development. Time engaging with what is being taught.
4. Plant management. Time on facilities, equipment, environment.
5. Administration generally. Budget, policies, operations.
6. Supervision generally. People management.

Many administrators find on honest review that they spend most of their time on administration and very little on instructional improvement. The balance is wrong. The work that matters most for educational outcomes is the work being most neglected.

Adjusting the balance takes deliberate effort. The administrative work is urgent; the instructional work is important. The administrator must protect time for the important against the pressure of the urgent.

Flashcard

What are the two main functions of a school administrator?

Tap to reveal

Answer

Administration of the school, and Supervision of personnel involved in teaching and learning.

Administration covers operations and resources. Supervision focuses on teaching and learning.

The four roles together define where the administrator’s time should go.

Flashcard

What are the four specific roles of a school administrator?

Tap to reveal

Answer

Community Leader, Improvement of Instruction, Curriculum Development, School Plant Management.

Improvement of instruction is the most important. Many administrators neglect it for immediate administrative work; the urgent crowds out the important.