Good guidance at school is the second most important factor, after teachers, in improving academic outcomes, recent UNESCO study finds. Leadership in Education: Leadership for Learning. Collective Environment: “When we have time, resources and autonomy, centers achieve better results, less absenteeism and a better climate.” But the reality is different. Managers feel overwhelmed — with a mountain of management — and frustrated — they know what they need to do, but don’t have the time and resources. “We are asked to do more and more things, but we do not have more hours. Bureaucracy is eating us up,” sums up Francisco Salmeron, director of the Salares y Pla de Sabadell school.
“Trends We feel very lonely, we have no advice, we are exposed and in the end we are teachers, even sometimes the unions are forgotten. We feel that they are throwing us to the lions, and nothing is saving us,” said the headmaster of a school in San Cugat del Valles. Directors regret that, on some occasions, they feel questioned by all parties: unions, families, management, or even sometimes by monastery teachers.
Although a long time has passed since then, the malaise of the trends began to appear after the pandemic and has seen signs of progress since the beginning of the cycle. Now it has been reborn, led by a group of directors from Barcelona’s Sant Andreu neighborhood, who sought a space to share concerns. “Every time we have more open fronts, a lot of bureaucracy and a lack of resources. You are like a mouse that extinguishes the fires of students and families, without thinking about improving the results,” says the group’s spokeswoman, Marta Rubio, director of the Listil school in Barcelona. The movement had its first strong demonstration last October 23, when about 130 parties in Barcelona celebrated a gathering to bring together common problems and solutions. From the meeting emerged a statement – which also succeeded in reaching the families – containing a list of questions and suggestions, grouped into three areas.
The first is the great subject of the inclusive school, a great theoretical project that does not endure day after day of study. “I can’t issue a perfect decree on paper, but I can put enough resources into it. If I put in andSchool support teacher for six students there vetlladora “One could attend, and five would be left unattended,” says Salmeron. Directors also regret that 130 inclusion specialists and social educators have been selected for this course, a key figure in reducing absenteeism or communicating with families in centers with more vulnerable students. In this context, managers complain of more personal support and a better overall experience.
The directives also require reducing bureaucracy, exploring his personality and including staff specialized in economic management, which the secretary is now in charge of. “We are teachers, not economists or administrators. We need a specialist in concluding employment contracts, service contracts, farm advertisements, making assumptions…” complains Burgess. “We need to reorganize our tasks, to know who we are, what we do and where we go,” Salmeron adds.
Another battleground is the controversial plan decree, which allows the administration to select teachers from a certain profile for the field, which unions reject and see as promoting friendliness. “When you touch a teacher who does not have the profile or experience in positions of maximum complexity, he makes mistakes and ends up cogiendo la baja,” says Sonia Borges, director of the La Pau school in Barcelona. “Any director wants the best teachers, I don’t think anyone wants to take the place of an incompetent friend.” This session, the scheme decree was suspended on the pretext of the need to make room for a large number of new employees. “We could only claim staff, but if no staff claimed the arena, they would send you a temporary slot, and you would lose the temporary slot you had, which was very good and you knew the centre. It didn’t make sense,” laments Burgess.
This change occurred in the controversial July rulings, which ended with the decision of Plantias’s deputy director, Enrique Terence, to repeat the whole process, after discovering that the rulings were still ongoing. Blueprints drawnIt is not a one-time agreement between management and unions. Specifically, the CES train generated a movement of rejection in Valles, its region of origin and where its directions were known. “We reached a dead end and there was a lot of discontent. We decided that we had to do something, but the trends were always afraid of being overcome by reprisals,” admits the director of Sant Cugat. Create a statement of support for Trens and create a conversation with up to 200 people.
But then came the movement that was building in Barcelona and I decided to copy it. The upcoming youth celebrate a meeting in Sant Cugat where 115 directions were confirmed. They think jointly about their problems and solutions – very similar to those in Barcelona – and claim to be part of the solution. “We want to improve results, but we don’t have to worry about the decision-making process; decisions are made by people who are not in the classes: the council, general managers or unions,” laments one of the managers behind the meeting.
One in four arenas had a manager vacant
With all this combination of difficulties, it is not surprising that it can be difficult to find teachers who want to become principals. “It’s hard to find candidates, being a manager is not a big deal, it’s too much responsibility, and it’s not well paid or well appreciated,” laments Salmeron. In this year’s call for 406 squares, only 312 candidates applied, with 23% remaining vacant (so looking for a focus teacher to fill it), according to decisions consulted by this newspaper.
“There are empty spaces and in the majority there is only one candidate. What is this selection process?” asks Anna Gollonche, director of the Educational Leadership Center LID Barcelona, who calls for the professionalization of the director. Jolonch considers it necessary to improve the management selection and training process, create a monitoring program during the early years, improve remuneration and create a professional career after the years spent in a management position. He concludes: “If there is to be an improvement in education, the professionalization of administration must be one of the priorities of the political agenda, and we are not going to get there.”
About The Author
