Workplace Challenges

An Educational Workplace Ch all last(predicate)engeIntroduction It is our deep faith that God is sympathize with and merciful , and mercy is what he bestows upon His subjects . He is generous and elegant , and beauty is what he gives . That is how we should see the world , beautiful , with all its elections and contents , k at one timen to us or unknown . Qatar , our qualification discern , is also rich in natural spates . Be it gracious buds or wild flowers . t turn up ensemble be blossoms , all atomic twist 18 natural , all ar beautiful bearing Qatar s put up . Let us all work to substantiateher , fondness for br our little buds . Lets us plant them deep in the consciousness of our land . Let us nurture them with love and c atomic number 18 to help them blossom into flowers filled with beautiful scents and weft their surroundings with beauty Her Highness Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser Bin Abdullah Al-Missned (Shafallah 2007 A image says to a greater extent than a thousand words For an educational refuge , the romance statement shows the picture of what the domesticate testament be at its best . On the wizard turn over , the batch is the very stern for everything that the nurture , the concern , the instructors , the students their pargonnts and the fede balancen , all work for . On the former(a) hand , the military commission is the mingys to strain this vision . The mission determines the strategies that testament be gremlinlemented by the coach counsel to achieve its goals and vision . leadinghip takes a significant role in the acquirement of this missionThis discusses and the cast of stellar(a)hip in the achievement of roaring crop repairs . The Shafallah shopping mall for Children with special(a) Needs and its efforts to solve its study(ip) problems and meliorate the death penalty of its educational syllabuss go forth be discussed using the excogitations on leading Specifically , the ordain pore on the archetype of parallel leading and the roles of the taketime anxiety and teaching professionals as leaders in influencing the inculcate s bespeaked reformsThe WorkplaceThe naturaliseThe Shafallah Center for Children with Special Needs is a non-profit private educate located in Doha City , Qatar , providing comprehensive operate and cargon to respective(prenominal)(a)s with incisional learning challenges their families and the commwholey of interests . It was established in 1998 through with(predicate) the efforts of friendship leaders who believe in the resilientity and importance of the family and the tyke s role in the society particularly those children with special postulate . They want to pass on the children with the best c atomic number 18 , run and educational facilities that pull up stakesing enable them to adapt to the surrounding environment in to live among others in the conjunction , and eventually secure their succeeding(a) . The decoct provides diagnosis , evaluation , groom programs , training and increment services for all children with all forms of disabilities from ages three to twenty-one eld oldThe goals and objectives of the domesticate are1 . To provide comprehensive educational , instructional , renewal social , vocational and re worldal services for children with special needs2 . To provide stick out and family counseling services to families of children with special needs , including individualistic and group therapy3 . To provide community awareness on relations with children with special needs , as well as encourage sufferance and understanding of the nature of disabilities4 . To provide training opportunities through Shafallah Center and establishing an external entity specializing in this field5 . To serve as an incite for public policy and legislative relief of appropriate educational and vocational programs for children with special needs (Shafallah 2007School funds are generated from local anesthetic and international grants and from regular tuition and matriculation of the students . The indoctrinate offers quint (5 ) programs align for students depending on age and learning concentration . These are thePre- discipline and kindergarten which enrolls students ages 3-5The aim unit 2 is for students aging 6-21 with mild and reticent challenges , its coursework are in pre-academic , academic and pre-vocational and emphasizes on social and occasional life skillsUnit 3 caters to students with mild and severe intellectual and developmental disabilities from ages 6-21 its programs are aimed to increase independence and activities are focus on on daily living , self care and basic conversation including socialization and leisure educationUnit 4 is designed for those diagnosed with autism spectrum diss ages ranging from 6-21 . The program uses the model TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic Related Communication handicap Children ) and other models tailored for these childrenUnit 5 serves students ages 14-21 . The program matches suitable jobs for every adolescent through evaluation of their interests and development skills for future jobs (Shafallah 2007Aside from these major programs , the teach also offers clinical and therapeutic services as well as give instruction health and nutrition oversightsThe StudentsThe universe of students in Shafallah is 426 who are among ages three to twenty-one days . The students are with mild , moderate , and severe learning challenges . These are children , adolescents , and young adults with Down Syndrome , cerebral palsy accompanied by intellectual or developmental disabilities , and autism spectrum diss and they achieve up the majority of our student population . Class size ratio of instructors to students is 1 :3 in all school programs turf out the Autism Unit , where the ratio is 1 :2The TeachersThere are receivedly cxxv employed by the school . These are all professionals with alter expertness . Due to the limited professionals who leave specific expertise in the fields essential by the school , more about(predicate) 25 of the teaching throw are alien nationals from the United States , Canada and other European countries , to serve for at least(prenominal) two (2 ) years in the school . The remaining 75 are from the different provinces in QatarAll teachers in the academic unit are degree holders , mostly with masters and doctorate sheepskin with corresponding licenses in the fields of education , medicine and psychological science . The age range is wide , from 25 years to 60 . This includes teachers who are at the same time in the solicitude levelThe ManagementPolicies and legislations in the school are made by the school board headed by Her Highness Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser Bin Abdullah Al-Missned the president of the Supreme Council of Family personal business . The executive functions are performed by the charge police squad composed of 20 experienced professionals organized in the form of a Management mission . The head is the Managing film director who is from the United States , followed by an Assistant Managing Director who is from Qatar 75 or majority of the members of the ManCom are foreign nationals while 25 are from Qatar . The academic and service units are fully manned with leaders but it is noniceable though that in the backhouse , the school has non installed a department that will handle the concerns of homo resource or a human resource department . In its absence , the public relations department handles the subprograming of teachers and other admin staff recruitmentThe Workplace ChallengeOn the surface , observing the transactions in the offices and the other facilities , the movements in the school campus , the school was seemingly run normally . But as we dig deeper , we would find several(prenominal) areas of major concerns which should be cause for immediate and decisive actions by the schoolThe school has been experiencing high up turnover of teachers for the past two years . Because patiences were frequent , recruitment which is done regularly by the customary Relations plane section . The massive tasks in recruitment put on eaten up a lot of the time of the PR staff , so that major functions of the department are de-prioritizedThe ManCom with its American Managing Director material on sourcing funds to augment to the schools facilities . The proceeds from the students tuition were not sufficient to finance the expansion programs and the upgrading of facilities of the school . The ManCom had to source for international funding agencies for additional support including the schools benefactor and pie-eyed aid , Her Highness Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser Bin Abdullah Al-Missned , the Chairperson of the Supreme Council of Family Af bazaars , who is also the Chairperson of the school boardIn the first base quarter of 2007 , the ManCom s attention was called by the school board to solve complaints by the parents and the community about the declining property of services provided by the school . This resulted to the ManCom s creation of an adhoc commissioning to investigate the facts study the causes of the problems and recommend ascendents to the findings . The adhoc committee account the major findings of their investigation . The complaints of the parents and the community were overdue to overcrowding of students in classes , where alternatively of 1 :3 ratio thither were 10 students already being handled by each teacher . This was due to the need of teachers handling specific subjectsFurther investigation revealed that the lack of teachers not due to limited workforce but due to the prompt turn-over of teachers or high resignation rate that most of the time , the classes are unmanned because of vacated posts . The adhoc committee was able to gather teachers concerns . Many teachers show dissatisfaction on the way perplexity handled their affairs . Specifically , teachers complained that management handle their complaints and needs that management played favorites amongst foreign nationals and locals , at that place was unfair allocation of wages , benefits and other incentives and there was no transparency in the handling of employees affairs . The adhoc committee also found existing rifts between factions of teachers particularly between locals and foreign nationalsThe investigation report can be summarized as followsThe choice of service of the school is fall because of lack of teachersTeachers are dissatisfied with the ways management treat their concernsThe two (2 ) major presented pose a significant threat to the school . It was central that the ManCom act on these problems speedily and decisively to avoid provided damage . It is expected that major changes will give up to be implemented in the school system Part of these would be the installation of reforms on leadIntroducing School ReformsThe school has proudly published its mission : The Shafallah is a Center of Excellence that provides comprehensive services and care to individuals with developmental learning challenges , their families , and the community . We nurture the attainment and application of unique skills and talents through the commitment of a utilize team of professionals (Shafallah 2007 ) The school has apparently missed to declare a vision that is jointly prepared by every heavens of the school community , from the beneficiaries , the employees , the teachers , the ManCom and the school board . Shared beliefs , lighten vision , military unitive processes of professional learning , external support systems restructured work environment (including variables such as time , space and technologies ) and an emphasis on pedagogical principles (Newman Welhage 1995 Caldwell 1998 as cited in Crowther 2003 ) frankincense the term dual-lane vision and shared education , the responsibilities and the benefits are shared by all those who confound a office in the schoolThough researches are not clearly proving direct alliance between effective leading and school s quality of services or the school-wide learning and as critics like Hargreaves 1994 as cited in Crowther 2000 noted , there give been little substantive reform at all , with schools today looking as practically as they did a century ago Leadership in itself is not a stand alone to solve the effective problems the school is facing But series of researches were optimistic that and thenly , the supremacy stories on innovations and strategies implemented by schools were evidences that it is the schools innovations through strong leaders that caused the marked alterments the quality of teaching particularly in the achievements of the students leadership in schools do in fact make a difference (Stringfield and Herman 1996 as cited in Crowther 2000Evidences on leadership and management problems surfaced from the complaints of the community and the investigations conducted by the adhoc committee . The root causes were t hied on the relationship of the leaders : the ManCom as the strategical leaders and the teachers as the pedagogical leadersholistic Approach to ReformsThe school , not just the management , cannot just ignore the challenges they face today , consequences of problems that shake been ignored for years . The school will bedevil to implement major reforms that will significantly if not school s actions will have to be holistic , well planned and fully back up by each and every member of the community . Holistic in the sense , it has to encompass not only educational but also cultural and social faces of the schools existenceCase studies of three schools mentioned by Newman and Welhage proved holistic approaches were really valuable . The absence of more or less aspects may affect the expected success of the innovations introduced . Like in West Town Secondary School where the culture aspect of the reforms were not well developed and made significant effect on the over-all results of the program (Newman Welhage 1995 Caldwell 1998 as cited in Crowther 2003 . For Shafallah , it is also important to consider the involvement of all that has a stake in the success of the school , not just the ManCom and the teachers , but more importantly the students their parents and the community that the school servesParallel LeadershipLiterature review on confused researches on institutional reforms asserted that the effectiveness of educational leadership leads to prosperous school innovations . There are different approaches that may be utilized depending on the outline and applicability to the schools Transformational leadership that emphasized on the importance of the leader and his /her personality traits , strategic leadership focuses on the roles and the external forces , educative leadership centered on positional authority in the educative consideration . Some schools use the servant leadership concept (Greenleaf , 1997 as cited in Crowther 2000 More inclined on the industry and management aspect of the school reforms is the balance scorecard system . Dorothy Andrews and Marian Lewis made thorough discussions on successful reforms in a number of Australian schools that implemented Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievement in Schools (IDEAS (Vol 7 . 2004Parallel Leadership is one of these popular concepts that a number of sources were convinced to be effective strategy for successful school reforms . Crowther et .al . defined parallel leadership as a strategy which engages teacher leaders and administrator leaders in cooperative action , while at the same time boost fulfillment of their individual capabilities , aspirations and responsibilitiesleads to strengthened alignment between the school s vision and the school s teaching and learning practicesfacilitates the development of a professional learning community culture edifice and school wide approaches to teaching and learningmakes possible the enhancement of school personal identity , teachers professional esteem , community support and students achievements (2000Crowther , F , Hann , L McMaster , J (2000 ) presented a plotmatic conceptualization of leadership for school reform introducing the strategy of parallel leadership Figure 1Diagrammatic formulation of Leadership for Successful School ReformWhat and how could parallel leadership educate in to the schools proposed reforms , particularly on its ability to retain its teachers and thus improve the quality of its educational and clinical services . This strategy proposes and individual managers as strategic leaders , and the teachers as the pedagogical leaders . The defining characteristics of parallel leadership will clearly dumbfound the tone for the actions for Shafallah reformsThe aspect of parallelism involves the aspect of alignment of directions to the over-all school vision , that which is multidimensional , encompassing the processes of school-wide learning culture building and creation of school-wide pedagogy , and guidance on the correlativeistic relationships of asterisk leaders and teacher leaders in these processes . The educational leadership literature includes policy manuals of most educational systems and leadership development centers (Crowther 2000MutualismAccording to Crowther (2000 , mutual go for and respect essential be present in the relationship between the management and the teachers . There must be full understanding and acceptance of the roles of each party . All actions and decisions made by leaders must be unacquainted(p) of discrimination of nationality , race or religion . Especially considering that this institution caters to the less privileged , special children , both management and teachers must possess the true commitment to make better lives for the disabledDetails of the Adhoc Committee reports revealed that the causes of the parents problems were mainly on the poor services of the school . The school s pledged quality of service was not achieved because of the problems on high turn-over of teachers . The erring complaints of the teachers were valid considering the high turn-over or high resignation rates consistently for the past two yearsThough management cannot be charged with intentionally ignoring the concerns of the teacher , it is noted that teachers concerns were really not given priority , in particular that there is no homophile Resource Department installed that was supposed to handle these concerns . This department could have looked into the problems erred by the teachers and could have recommended to ManCom to perform its function as referee to the existing rift between the foreign nationals and the local teachers or as parallel leadership literature would use - mavin leadership and teacher leadership (Crowther 2000The achievement of mutualism is quite a too far at this point . Series of activities have to be conducted to emphasize the importance of common understanding and acceptance of the roles of each partyShared PurposeWith a clear understanding of their responsibilities , the team of principal- leaders and teacher-leaders have to have a shared commitment to both their purpose and the values (Crowther 2000 ) On the process though there may be some deviations , misconceptions , misunderstandings the team strength constantly align its directions . There must be an atmosphere of trust before any reform can be instituted . ManCom has to enlighten the move to prove sincerity and transparency in the implementation of its decisions to assure the teacher leaders that their concerns and welfare are vital and being considered by the principal leaders . The condition that leading the school is a shared responsibility and the success is also a shared success . Again , it is worth mentioning that the absence of a proclaimed vision must have contributed to the current problems . If the vision is shared by all sectors , the principal leaders could have been guided by the vision and the concerns of the teachers could have been prioritizedAllowance for exclusive ExpressionParallel leadership encourages individual expressions . On the contrary this does not mean individualism , but the ability of the leaders to assert their strong convictions about their values and their ability as well to stick the values of others (Andrews 2004 ) The Shafallah s teachers group factions and their dissatisfaction and what they considered unfair management practiced by their heads , has brought more damages , not only to the teachers , but to the replete(p) school , most especially to the students who suffer the consequences of poor quality education provided by the schoolInnovative Designs for Enhancing Achievement in Schools (IDEASInnovative Designs for Enhancing Achievement in Schools (IDEAS . This is a project that aims to revitalize schools which had the potentials to produce successful outcomes . It originated in Queensland in 1997 . This project makes use of parallel leadership in the implementation of its school reforms .

In the diagrammatic conceptualization of leadership for successful school reforms , the project IDEAS will process the strategies that will be implemented for the reforms . The project starts with the review of the vision , and the visioning process will make the participants put into heart the picture of the school at the state of its success (Crowther 2003For Shafallah , the vision ought to be hypothecate , understood and shared by all the sectors of the school community . This will be the basis for instituting reforms . With the vision , management will realize the need to value human resource , thus open up the installation of a Human Resource Department that will handle all the concerns , not only of the teacher leaders , but also other employees of the school . The human resource department may start by developing the following strategiesdevelop standardized recruitment policiesestablish communication link between the principal leaders and the teacher leadersset up transparent and fair employee wage , benefits and incentives schemesdevelop other activities that will improve teamwork and working relationships in the schoolThe move to install the new department will take over ManCom of the tedious and meticulous handling of the problems which a specialized department could efficiently handle . Thus ManCom can thus focus on the external concerns , which is a more ideal set up for the school and as presented in the diagram for successful school reform (Figure 1 principal leaders focusing on the strategic concerns toward school-wide capacity buildingThe ManCom as Facilitator of ReformsThe school depends much on the political will of the Management Committee as the implementer and facilitator of reforms in the school Parallel leadership is an ideal concept and through Project IDEAS with the integration of other strategies , the reforms will be successfulThe ManCom is provided the authority to make policy decisions . It has to create from within its committee , a team that will plan , implement and pass judgment the activities of the project IDEAS to effect the reforms needed , to finally solve the fall quality standards of education provided by the school . Shafallah will need multiple strategies that will be implemented simultaneously - many an(prenominal) things happening at the same time , and implemented by a team that will seriously and honestly pass on their time and skills without bias to achieve successful school reformsThe team may be headed by the Managing Director and with the human resource department as the secretariat . The program will have to involve not only the teachers and the ManCom but also the parents and the leaders in the community who are affected by the diminishing quality of education provided by the school . The program will have to create school-wide awareness that the school is serious about bringing change and a new environment in the schoolSupporting activities must accompany the change such as removal of the aspect of nationality , race and religion as a basis for any management decision , and focus on qualification building of teachers developing multi-skilling among existing teachers , leveling benefits through a standardized wage and salary scheme and improved school facilities . The noise created by the advocacy program is in itself leadership on process . The entire school community will notice that the management is bent on improving the school . The teachers will regain hopes that they will be provided support in terms of exposure and more importantly , the much needed moral support from the managementThe future of Shafallah lies in the performance of ManCom in achieving the leadership reforms for the school . Its most important function first and foremost is to establish the school vision and assure that it the picture of what the whole school community would want its school to be Management with its traditional positional authority will have to step down and collaborateAnother important function is to transform itself (ManCom ) and each as administrators , to act as transformational leaders from purely the positional authority , to leaders who are not only accommodative to change but also willing to collaborate to influence change (Avolio 1998Another function is to transform the demoralized teaching force into teacher-leaders . ManCom will develop strategies to process the re-imaging of the teaching force . From the individual classroom practitioner to one who is a life-long learner , a self knowing professional who works together with others to achieve a shared purpose (Limerick et .al . 1998 as cited in Andrews , 2004The residential district s Role in the School ReformsThe IDEAS was another process introduced by Crowther and his group which has the mechanism to possibly solve the problems of the school ane of the Australian schools that adopted innovations using the Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievement in Schools (IDEAS conducted learning programs addressing the capability of the teaching force and the other professionals in the school community . Seaside State School is one of those success stories using IDEAS . The school applied integrated and holistic strategies to accomplish what the school envisioned , through the development of a shared school-wide pedagogy What is worth replicating in this sample success story is the involvement of the students , the parents and the community . The school implemented major campaigns to influence the entire school community on the vision of the school . Activities such as vision week celebrations strongly attended by the parents , students and the other residents of the community were held (Andrews 2004The community support and the support of students and their parents are a strong force to initiate the needed reforms of the school . They are the direct beneficiaries of the standards of the school and have a big stake on whatever decisions the school management will make . The sorrow of the school is the failure of the students and the community they belong . Although parallel leadership has clearly shown the aligned directions of the teacher-leader and the principal-leader as presented in the diagrammatic conceptualization of leadership for successful reforms , and the integrated approaches of school-wide learning , culture building and school-wide pedagogy , the diagram seemed to have failed to identify the contributions of the students , the parents and the community to the success of the school innovations These contributions are as significant as the contributions of the principal leaders and the teacher leadersInnovative Designs for Enhancing Achievement in Schools (IDEAS ) is the strategy that will link the efforts of the principal leaders and the teacher leaders in establishing reforms in the school . Clearly in the diagram , there is no community because the directions leaders are aligned towards the vision . The IDEAS project will involve the other stakeholders of the school in support the management and the teachers The IDEAS project is the complement of parallel leadership completing and making a holistic approach towards the needed school reformsConclusionThe Shafallah Center for Children with Special Needs was built as a center of excellence . It must operate beyond differences in race nationality , culture or religion , and beyond roles , position or authority . It has to be guided by a shared vision , shared purpose mutual cooperation and collaboration especially between its leaders , the principal leaders who are the managers and administrators , and the teacher leaders . The vision would send clear signals to the teachers and the management that Shafallah is out to compete and be relevant in today s fast changing world . The vision will assure this school of its sustained future and will continue to provide quality education to the less privileged children of the worldThe school is in risk of exposure because of the diminishing quality of its services . But its management is now aware that something has to be done fast . Management points to leadership to influence the change and achieve the much needed solution . It calls for management leaders and teacher leaders to align its efforts towards the schools vision . It calls for the students , the parents and the community to support the leadership so that the vision , the pedagogy and the value system will be shared by all who have a stake in the school and all who will benefit from its successReferences1 . Andrews , Dorothy and Marian Lewis (2004 ) Building sustainable Futures : rising Understandings of the Significant Contribution of the Professional Learning biotic community . University of Queensland . Improving Schools : Sage Publications . Retrieved 5 September 2007 from HYPERLINK hypertext transfer protocol /imp .sagepub .com http /imp .sagepub .com2 . Avolio , B . and Bass , B (1988 ) Transformational leadership charisma and beyond J Hunt et al (eds , Emerging leadership vistas Lexington Books , Lexington pp . 29-493 . Bennis , W . and Nanus , V (1985 ) Leading others , managing yourself Leaders : the strategies for taking charge . Harper Row , New York , pp . 19-864 . Caldwell , J and Spinks , J (1992 ) Strategic leadership : taking charge of the agendum Leading the self-managing school . The Falmer Press , London , pp 91-1145 . Crowther , F , Andrews , D , Dawson , M . and Lewis (2003 ) Facilitating IDEAS . IDEAS Manual , Section B , pp . 1-17 (adapted6 . Crowther , F , Hann , L . and McMaster , J (2000 ) Leadership for Successful School insertion Lessons from the insane asylum and Best Practice Project (IBPP . A Report from the Innovation and Best Practice Projeject (IBPP ) to DETYA7 . Grace , G (1995 ) Critical emplacement on school leadership School leadership : beyond education management : an essay in policy cognition . The Falmer Press , London , pp . 50-688 . Kaplan , R . and Norton D (1996 ) The Balanced card : Translating Strategy into Action . Boston , MA : Harvard Business School Press9 . Senge ,.M (1990 ) The leader s new work : building learning agreement Sloan Management Review , pp .7-2310 . Shafallah (2007 . Retrieved 2 October 2007 from HYPERLINK http /www .shafallah .org .qa http /www .shafallah .org .qaPAGE 16PAGE 18An Educational Workplace Challenge ...If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com

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