Seminar for Principals and Deputy Principals

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Seminar for Principals and Deputy Principals
On Time
4th November 2004 Education House, NUI Maynooth.
2
Leader and Boldt, 1994
One can never anticipate what might happen before
the day is completed..............................
... 91 agree
Frequent interruptions underlines the bitty
nature of a lot of the principals
work....................91 agree
Mornings are totally fragmented.......61 agree
In a typical day, a principal does not get any
length of time at anything.......................
.............61 agree
Principals and Principalship, A Study of
Principals in Voluntary Secondary Schools by
Donal Leader and Scott Boldt, Marino Institute of
Education, Dublin, 1994
3
Leader and Boldt, 1994 continued
...the unmistakable evidence from the diaries,
the interviews and the case studies, (is) that
principals generally involve themselves directly
with low value tasks. Many of these tasks are
maintenance and janitorial in character.(p.95)
...many principals were quite surprised to
discover how many of their activities were
low-value or trivial. This suggests that some
principals may be unconsciously living out a
model of principalship inappropriate to the
challenges and responsibilities of principalship
today.
Principals and Principalship, A Study of
Principals in Voluntary Secondary Schools by
Donal Leader and Scott Boldt, Marino Institute of
Education, Dublin, 1994
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Leader and Boldt, 1994 continued
..only 2 of respondents said that they spend
most time on curriculum development and planning.
Yet, instructional leadership and planning were
seen by the principals as functions to which they
ought tp devote the most time. (p.96)
77 of them say they should spend most of their
time staff development and encouragement 55 say
they most time should be devoted to curriculum
development only 30 feel that administration
should receive most attention
Principals and Principalship, A Study of
Principals in Voluntary Secondary Schools by
Donal Leader and Scott Boldt, Marino Institute of
Education, Dublin, 1994
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National Education Convention Report, 1994
Instructional leadership is ......the most
neglected aspect of the principals work in the
school. Pressure of time, with the urgent taking
precedence over the important, and insufficient
back-up support services, were cited as the main
reason for this neglect.
Report on the National Education Convention,
edited by John Coolahan, 1994
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School Development Planning Initiative National
Progress Report 2002 www.sdpi.ie

• ISSUES
• Focus on the quality of Teaching and Learning
  The overriding consideration is the need to
  ensure an appropriate focus on the quality of
  teaching and learning in all development planning
  activities. .. This focus is essential if SDP is
  to achieve its core purpose school improvement.
  To date, although issues relating to teaching and
  learning have been prioritised by a significant
  proportion of Post-Primary schools, they have
  tended to be overshadowed in the SDP process by
  legal and organisational concerns. There is a
  need to find ways of redressing the balance,
  through cooperation among support providers in
  the development of strategies, where appropriate.
  Section 6.2.2

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A Novelty Quiz on Time for School Leaders
Beliefs and Feelings about Time
TRUE or FALSE?

1. Most people know exactly what their time
   management problems are.
2. School leaders use their time in repetitive
   patterns that can be effectively analysed.
3. Good time management and being busy during the
   entire day are synonomous.
4. Normally the greatest time savings come from
   preventing interruptions.
5. Frequent interruptions make setting priorities a
   rather fruitless exercise.
6. Hard work is an effective substitute for good
   time management.
7. In the short run, delegation will invariably
   result in time savings for you.

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A Novelty Quiz on Time for School Leaders
TRUE or FALSE?
8. Time management techniques will turn you into
a machine with no freedom to do the things you
want to do. 9. For routine, day-to-day decision
making, it is best to wait until you have
acquired all relevant information and data before
making a decision. 10. How you manage your time
will directly influence your effectiveness in
supervising, communicating with and motivating
your colleagues
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A Novelty Quiz on Time for School Leaders
Beliefs and Feelings about Time
TRUE or FALSE?

1. Most people know exactly what their time
   management problems are.
2. School leaders use their time in repetitive
   patterns that can be effectively analysed.
3. Good time management and being busy during the
   entire day are synonomous.
4. Normally the greatest time savings come from
   preventing interruptions.
5. Frequent interruptions make setting priorities a
   rather fruitless exercise.
6. Hard work is an effective substitute for good
   time management.
7. In the short run, delegation will invariably
   result in time savings for you.

FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
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A Novelty Quiz on Time for School Leaders
TRUE or FALSE?
8. Time management techniques will turn you into
a machine with no freedom to do the things you
want to do. 9. For routine, day-to-day decision
making, it is best to wait until you have
acquired all relevant information and data before
making a decision. 10. How you manage your time
will directly influence your effectiveness in
supervising, communicating with and motivating
your colleagues.
FALSE FALSE TRUE
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A Priority Matrix
Low Importance
High Importance
NEEDS ACTION NOW!
TYPICAL INTERRUPTIONS
High Urgency
2
1
3
4
REFLECTION and PLANNING for the future
TRIVIA
Low Urgency
This matrix can be used to analyse a days/weeks
work. In which quadrant do the key issues re
Teaching and Learning occur?
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TIPS ON DIARY KEEPING

• Keep it in a visible place.
• A week in view gives a clearer perspective.
• Make entries yourself.
• Use the diary in association with a school year
  wall planner.
• Make lists of tasks and tick them off as you do
  them.
• Cluster similar entries appointments, phone
  calls, etc
• Enter follow-up intentions 2,3,4 weeks
  afterwards.
• When starting a new day, check for previous tasks
  that were not completed.

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TIPS ON TIME
Write must do later on a notepad to save energy
and free up headspace. Delegate. Manage your
diary Dont act on impulse check your actions
with your goals Dehydration lessens concentration
and brings distractions drink water! Re-focus
after interruptions. Deal with the unpleasant
tasks first see the easier tasks as a reward
a form of delayed gratification! Regularly check
priorities especially re Teaching and
Learning. Divide overwhelming tasks into chunks
and do one at a time. Learn from experience
How will I do it better next time? School work
can expand to fill all the available space, so
.... Exercise! Plan SMART Small, Manageable,
Achievable, Realistic Targets