Importance Of Policies In School Education Ecosystem
Policy refers to a set of rules and principles, which are formulated and implemented for the ease of governance within an organization. Policies are considered to be important for the organizations primarily because it forms a linking thread between the school management, teachers, students, parents, and the law. Truly, an organization without policy is usually without control.
Without formal policies in place, organization staff at any level would have left without any guidance on how to make the right consistent decisions. In short, an organization without well-formulated policies will find it difficult to make decisions. The amount of direct supervision by the management is significantly reduced due to strong policies in place, which at the same time helps to increase the efficiency of the work. Professionals with a school and education leadership program are aware of the know-how of managing the educational institutes efficiently.
Internal Controls
Organizational policies effectively serve as an important form of internal control. It acts as a control mechanism that will help to limit the behaviour of teaching and non-teaching staff. For assessments, there are policies involving two teachers, one to correct the answer script, and another to audit the sheet.
Minimize Costs
Cost reduction involves examining the real amount of resources required for what the school needs, such as finding the cheapest suppliers without sacrificing quality. It can also involve reducing the financial losses by curbing shortages, wastages, errors, etc. that oftentimes hamper school operations. Employees become aware of the potential risks when the policies address the potential sources and take necessary steps for risk management.
Build a Learning Culture
As academics is the primary service of a school, therefore its policies must have rulesthat create a learning culture by encouraging its staff to continue with their knowledge acquiring. This includes identifying the capabilities for each staff to acquire and create a process for updating it throughout the year. For instance, there must be a policy to have a staff competency matrix and training need analysis that must be completed before becoming eligible for the appraisal.
Safe Learning Environments
It is the right of every teacher and staff member and students to feel physically and psychologically secure in the school environment, hence it must be made safe. Strong policies influence how safe individuals are in school. Creating a safe and secure environment requires proper guidelines that establish safety standards for the physical environment and mental state of students and staff. If you have pursued School Leadership and Management Courses, you will know the exact policies to include for maintaining safety in the school environment.
Setting Goals and Establishing Productivity
Management should establish standard rules to guide acceptable behaviour, and help create an environment conducive to learning so that the students receive a quality education. Policies and procedures must be created to follow the school management goals to encourage higher learning among learners. The policies help in making the staff accountable through the use of goal-oriented policies, which in turn helps to save time, prevent confusion and unify the school.
Suspension and Expulsion
Although it is strictly against the law, yet schools should be very careful in determining cases on suspension/expulsion because it can impact a child's future. It may become a necessity to suspend/expel a student for excessive violations of school rules; however, the school must find other ways to look for the right solution for such behavioral problems. Hence, it is important to have policies that incorporate other solutions before resorting to suspension and expulsion.
Equality
Equality in the schools is also determined by its policies. Proper guidelines must be in place so that any discrimination can be reported to their administrators and remedies can be found. Policies for children with disabilities, or slow-learners, are also made so that they have the same access to educationas other students so that everyone gets the opportunity to contribute to society and thrive economically.
Teacher Engagement
Policies must also include rules that focus on teacher training and engagement, i.e., on the overall continuous professional development of the teachers. Through teacher engagement and training, retention becomes easier. A well-formulated workplace policy will also show the way to teaching and non-teaching staff the right way to act on various prohibited issues, such as – harassment, internet use, health and safety, and social media, and many more.
