Roles of a secondary school headteacher

  

Date Posted: 11/29/2012 4:59:16 AM

Posted By: vann  Membership Level: Gold  Total Points: 1015

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The secondary school head teacher is the major administrator in the school. The head teacher performs various functions or roles as an administrator, these include
The chain of command role.
The professional role.
The accountability role.
A. The chain of command role.
The head teacher is the centre of both the teaching and administration processes. This means that he or she is the middle man between staff members and the school board. He or she plays a bureaucratic role in the following ways:
i. Organizes all school tasks to be accomplished.
ii. Upkeep of cleanliness of the buildings and all classrooms in the school.
iii. The provision and maintenance of equipment such as desks and writing materials.
iv. The distribution of duties among the teachers such as who are the subject teachers and heads of departments.
v. The appointment of counselors to advice students with their problems.
vi. Transmitting relevant information and policies to different persons.
vii. Transmission of orders from the school board to the teachers and the community.
viii. Delegates decision making and responsibility to members of both the teaching and non-teaching staff.
B. The professional role.
i. The head teacher of the secondary school is a consultant for his staff members.
ii. He or she gives legal and professional advice to the teaching and non-teaching staff.
iii. He or she provides a democratic atmosphere where his staff, students and community feel at ease to compose and discuss their problems.
iv. His or her responsibility is to pay attention to problems affecting teachers who must be given attention as students. School operates within certain policy lines so there must be consultation.
v. He or she is to be a facilitator who listens to staff members during staff conferences and encourages them to do most of the talking in resolving issues and in discussing how to implement decisions.
vi. The head teacher will have to go along with his or her teachers when a communal decision is made.
vii. The head teacher orients new teachers

who join the school.
viii. The head teacher is the teacher of both teachers and the students.
ix. He or she functions as an official who prepares report to take to the ministry of education on how the school is running.
C. The accountability role.
The head teachers are also responsible for accountability of everything in the school. He or she performs general and specific duties.
i. He or she supervises teachers and the school at large.
ii. He or she is responsible for the management and development of the school.
iii. He or she attends meeting both local and national levels to the benefit of the school.
iv. The head teacher plans for the running of the school. He or she makes sure that there are enough personnel, equipment and enough physical facilities before the school opens.
v. He or she meets the staff to make them ready before the school starts.
vi. During the session, the head teacher makes sure that the school is operating as planned. He monitors teaching and activities to ensure that the school runs smoothly and according to the rules set by the minister of education and the teachers service commission.

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