PASSING the parcel was a favourite game among kids at birthday parties in the bygone days. These days, passing the buck seems to be a running trend among those who like to shy away from accountability. One school owner I met seemed to have a litany of complaints against the teachers employed at her school: excessive absences, lack of classroom management skills and an unprofessional attitude were cited as reasons that land a school into ill-repute.
Meanwhile, teachers point fingers at the school management’s inability to provide the necessary resources, training and development, reward and recognition. Whilst these may indeed affect the teachers’ motivation, they are not the drivers of performance or the lack thereof. Those who are experts in their subject and professionally astute don’t usually rely on external factors to motivate them.
There might be a missing link in this equation — a gap between how the teachers perform and the school management’s perception of them. When this gap grows, it becomes a gaping wound, leading to teacher absences, high turnover, lower student retention rates, mediocre academic results and complaints by parents — all resulting in disgruntled school leaders which, in turn, clouds the entire school........