By: Maribeth M. Cabiscuelas, Principal II
SDO Laguna, Magdalena Sub Office
Ananias Laico Memorial Elementary School
“We don’t get harmony when everybody sings the same note. Only notes that are different can harmonize. The same is true with people.” -Steve Goodier.
Delivering quality education is not a one-man team. It is the collaborative work of all people involved in the teaching-learning process – school heads, teachers, and stakeholders. These stakeholders are persons or groups who have an interest or concern for the school. They include parents, school administrators, local government officials, alumni, and non-government organizations who contribute to the development of the school community.
Working together entails attaining harmonious relationships to work and achieve a common goal. To be able to achieve this kind of relationship between these people who each play an important role in fostering and developing knowledge in our learners, good communication is one of the key factors. School administrators – as one of the key players — need to develop their communication skills from a position of kindness, respect, honesty, and compassion. Teachers and stakeholders must feel that their opinions, suggestions, and input are valuable. This method for creating balance at school would be by conveying one’s needs and desires in a non-confrontational way where everyone’s feedback is valid and heard.
Another is building trust and confidence with each other. School heads must build trust and confidence in their teachers and their stakeholders by becoming acquainted with them and their needs and responding to their concerns in a manner that responds to them are aspects of managing your partnerships with them. It is beneficial to identify these as this could determine the success and failure of specific programs, projects, and activities of the school. We always need the support that we can get to embody shared leadership and governance in our schools.
The primary reason for building harmonious partnerships with the school head, teachers, and stakeholders is to plan for unanticipated events. Every undertaking, every project, will have things occur that aren’t anticipated. Once unforeseen problems happen — without a harmonious relationship — it would be like a house that would collapse on its own due to weak foundations. Each must show their support to achieve a goal. Every project, every initiative, will have something occur that is not expected. When this happens and there is no harmonious relationship, things could lead to failure and may affect the education system itself.
It is important to note that each of these people’s input and relationship with each other is important in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of programs, projects, and activities in our schools. Their perceptions and understanding can help motivate and improve our learners in the school environment. This has several significant effects, including empowering students to take control of their education and increasing involvement with parents, families, and the larger school community through promoting a sense of closeness and belonging and improving educational and teaching outcomes inside a school.
We could not overstate how crucial it is to develop effective education systems and effective learning environments. It is a must that everyone – from school heads, teachers, and stakeholders — work together in a significant way, through collaboration and therefore connection. Additionally, effective collaboration requires harmony, active doing, and attentive listening from all parties involved for us to deliver a solid education program that fosters a stronger community by preparing students to be successful community members.
Each of us has a different role to play in providing quality education to our learners which is equally significant in its value. Thus, a strong and harmonious relationship between the school head, instructors, and stakeholders is crucial, as this will enable everybody to work together, which in turn will have a positive impact on our learners.
