Duties of a Principal

Contents

Duties of a Principal (Interview)3

Introduction3

Interview3

References10

Duties of a Principal (Interview)

Introduction

Principal is considered as the custodian of the executive, administrative and academic matters of the educational institution (Horng et. Al, 2010). It is the principal who directly or indirectly monitors every aspect like faculty, students, programs, inventory, extracurricular activities, support staff and finances. Principal should be a role model for students in educational, managerial and leadership roles. In order to understand the goals, responsibilities and challenges of a principal, I interviewed Ms. K. Still. The transcript and analysis of the interview has been discussed in the discussion.

Interview

I: Please tell me about the duties of a principal and the why are those duties very essential to perform? P: Principals have to perform countless tasks and duties. However, I will discuss some of the most important chores of a principal. The most significant responsibility is to prepare a master schedule for a specified tenure. It is indeed the most comprehensive and hectic task to be performed before the beginning of new academic term. We have to plan it carefully so that teachers can be available for their respective classes, students get proper time classes and other activities, library and sports facility gets occupied by one class at a time, and the numbers of classes are enough to complete all the courses. It is also necessary for a principal to ensure the regulations and instructions of Federal and State Authorities are properly followed. In case of any negligence, there is a probability that the reputation of the institution gets affected. Principals are also required to act like managers and prioritize every issue and resource according to the requirement of all the stakeholders. A very simple example of prioritizing is about the decision of allocating finances for a number of possible events, charities and student council. The decisions taken by principal reflect the policy of the school. It is mandatory for a principal to interact with all the major stakeholder of the institution. The stakeholders in an educational institution are teachers, parents and students as discussed by George Odhiambo in one of his paper (Odhiambo & Hii, 2012). Conference with teachers, students and parents is a matter of significance importance. By continuously interacting with them, principal can convey the policies and expectations directly to the concerned people. This also helps in getting insight and concerns of teachers, students and parents which can assist in mentoring the disciples and making future decisions. Research has shown that a positive impact on student performance comes if the principal meets with teachers, students and parents to discuss the student needs and result regularly (Shatzer et al, 2013). Examination is a key part of the entire academic term because it highlights students' performance based on which teachers' evaluation can also be performed. Principal always prefer the option of regular tests and evaluation since this helps in identifying problems at an early stage. Principal also take the attendance issues and deadlines into consideration. Some events and external examination or ...