All schools have to continue to reinvent themselves to contemporary and relevant to their community of students, parents, staff and the society in general. In case the Promoters/Management feel that their school has not been able to do this and therefore experienced stagnation and deterioration, we make a comprehensive study covering any and all aspects of the set-up and functioning of the school to suggest a positive way forward.
Preamble
Schools are peculiar organizations!
Very distinct and different from any other enterprise, viz.,
- They need all the physical, and now digital, infrastructure
- But these are not of any great importance
- They are only about people – students, staff, management, parents, community – all interested parties
- Schools are people business – both as input and output and in the processing
Schools are similar to other organizations - in many other ways!
Schools, like other organizations, often falter in their attempt to grow and develop at the same time, even after having begun very well with the proverbial BANG!
This is often because –
- The idea of scale management is alien to everyone in the School, other than the owners
- The concept of transformational growth, and the idea of scale must pervade every level of the School and include every aspect and practice of its routine and strategic functioning
- This is often not the case
Nevertheless, in tomorrow’s world, growth is inherent to survival; and therefore, it is important that Schools learn the methods of transformational growth.
Planning for Scale Success
Schools that have successfully achieved transformational growth and achieved both, a scale in quantity and sustained quality education are known to address the above issues where, some are unique to the individual School and others common to the Schools in general.
Generally, the plan to scale successfully is built around the given Six Pillars; where anything and everything that the School shall do must rest on one of these pillars, with the specific tasks under each pillar being listed and prioritised on a bespoke basis for each School -
1. Infrastructure – Physical and Digital
a) Must be designed/modified to deliver the curriculum of the School
b) Lend itself to make the School a learning organisation
c) Evolve to merge seamlessly with the growing needs of the School
d) Robust and functional; contemporary and local with a universal outlook
2. Identity – Branding and Communication
a) Vision, Mission and Value System
b) Logo must convey the true meaning of the School Vision
c) Communicate to both internal and external environment
d) Nurtured regularly to avoid stagnation and decay
3. Strategy – Building capacity Vs Fire-fighting
a) All aspects, viz., men, material and money, must evolve together to embrace the growth in scale
b) Work today with an eye to the future; where the future timelines are defined and definite
c) Robust and virtuous practices that can be owned by everyone
d) Invest in Areas of Strength as well as Work on the Areas for Improvement
4. Human Resource – Attract, nurture, develop and retain
a) The Organisation Chart is dynamic; to seamlessly embrace the new levels of scale
b) School of first choice for prospective staff
c) Staff Appraisal that mimics the Formative Assessment
d) Functional independence to create the ‘My School’ connect in every member of the Team
5. Curriculum Development
a) Academic and Co-curricular syllabus and implementation
b) Learning Takeaways for every activity
c) Students Assessment – design, implementation, progressive, structured
d) Reporting – Learner’s Comprehensive Profile; an Aspiration Card in lieu of the Report Card
6. Ideation – Experimentation Vs Fear of failure
a) Education is neither a product nor a service; it is a process of development
b) Incubate new ideas and encourage their implementation
c) Eliminate the fear of failure
d) Ideation to transcend all levels viz., equal partnership of students, faculty, staff, parents and management
It is important to note that these Six Pillars are generally true in all cases at the present times; it is understood that given the achievement of scale in both quantity and quality as we go along, these Pillars shall be open to modification, both in criterion and descriptors.