Khaparde, M S. (2009). CASE STUDIES OF SCHOOL MANAGEMENT OF SOME LOW PERFORMING NAVODAYA VIDYALAYAS. Unpublished. ERIC, Education
Objectives of the study:
To study the role and functions of the principals, teachers and other actors in planning and implementation of various activities (curricular and co-curricular, administrative and financial, etc.) in selected low performing Navodaya Vidyalayas
To examine the management of specific relationships between and among various actors in these schools.
To study the management of teaching learning processes in these schools.
To examine the management of support condition, such as support received from the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, materials and resources support and linkage with the parents in selected low performing Navodaya Vidyalayas.
Research Questions:
How do the Principals of these schools plan and implement financial, infra- structural, academic (teaching-learning and students evaluation), and human resources? How do they communicate with teachers, students, parents, management and others? What role do teachers play in the management of these schools? What is the extent of flexibility and autonomy granted to various actors in the functioning of these schools? Is there compatibility between time spent in formal and informal setting by students and teachers within the school?
How do teachers, parents, students and others feel about various managements practices in these schools? What is the nature of the interpersonal relationship among the teachers, the students and other functionaries? What kind of relationship does the head teacher have with the learners? What is the system of reward and punishment in the school? How discipline is maintained in the school?
What are the innovations in classroom management in these schools? What are the patterns of interaction between JNVs and other schools in the district? In what way these schools help promoting curricular and co-curricular activities in other schools?
How and what extent does the management of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalays (JNVs) contribute to their success? How is the requirement of support materials (reading, classrooms and teaching aids, hostel and food, recreational facilities, etc) management in these schools? To what extent these schools are able to establish relationship with the parents and the community?
What are the reasons/factors responsible for poor academic performance of these selected schools?
Sample:
School Profile
Profile of the principal
Profile of the teachers
Interview schedule for principal
Interview schedule for teachers
Questionnaire for Alumni
Classroom Observation Schedule
Students perception scale of school managements
Method: The investigators adopted triangulation techniques for the present case study to get a holistic view of the management specific relations exist among the various actors in the low performing schools, teaching learning process and the management support conditions in the low performing schools. Triangulation techniques was used to compare the many sources of evidence in order to determine the accuracy of the information and to map out or explain fully the reasons for the low performance of the schools from more than one stand point. The technique also helps to cross check the information collected through different sources. The study employed multiple strategies and sources of data collection. The information was collected from varied sources including office records observation of various events and persons that were recorded in the field diary by different researchers separately, and interviews of different categories of actors such as principal, teachers, students, parents, village head, and chairman of the VMC.
Statistical Techniques: Mean and Standard Deviation
Case 1: Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Jalgoan
The study reveals that the Navodaya school principal plays a pivotal role in the system. He is the connecting link between the Samiti and teachers , students and parents. The principal is vested with all powers and has to carryout all the instructions or the orders from the head quarters and the regional office. He is accountable for every activity of the school.
The principal, Jalgoan was working with devotion, punctuality, commitment and dedication. The principal and the teachers carry out their duties as per the norms set out by the NVS. He was totally with the routine of the school. He arranged extra classes for the weak students. The principals efforts to address the English language and physics learning problems of the children and to raise the standard of the school especially in the curricular activities seemed failure that leads to the low performance of the school. Absence of proactive role, initiative and taking risk whenever necessary for improving the school environment and quality of teaching- learning process was visible in the school which caused the low performance of the school.
The relationship between the principal and the teachers were conducive and cordial. Teachers were giving full support to the principal and emotional support to the children. But they were not innovative in classroom teaching and following a routine life without dynamism and experiments in the various curricular and co-curricular activities of the school. They complained that they were not getting time for academic enrichment and professional development. There was no team effort in teaching.
The principal was unable to exploit the good relationship with the teachers for the innovations and experiments in classroom learning activities to ensure the quality learning experiences to the students.
Thinking about the career prospects is essential part of ones professional life and growth. However, the teachers of the school did not have clear cut vision about the school and their academic life. These factors also lead to the low performance of the school. Most of the teachers particularly seniors only purpose is to become the principal of the school.
Teachers had faith in their children and also respect the students. They were friendly and supportive. But the girls students felt that they were getting inferior treatment from the teachers. Students also said that they were overburdened and not getting proper leisure time to balance the academic activities
the risk taking behavior was not seen in the teachers. They followed the instructions given by the principal and carry out their duties as prescribed. There was a burnout tendency among the teacher. One major reasons for this is the tight routine of the schools.
Instead of exploiting the residential nature of the school the teachers and students seemed exhausted with the tight routine of the school in which all of them preoccupied from morning to the night.
Students' perception about the school management revealed that they were satisfied with the emotional and academic support provided by the principal and teachers, hostel facilities, teacher monitoring, general discipline and communication with the parents. But they seemed dissatisfied/frustrated with the quality of food and toilet facilities of the hostel.
The medium of instruction was the main problem pointed out by the students. The students from regional languages were not getting motivation and quality teaching learning experiences in language learning. It affects their overall learning which caused the low performance.
Classroom observations revealed that the teachers put all their efforts in increasing the pass percentage of the student which is the important criteria set up by the samiti, rather than implementing quality teaching-learning experiences for the overall development of students. The observation of the classrooms revealed that students' participation and initiative in the classroom activities were not encouraging by the teachers and also giving too much attention to the bright students.
The parental support and involvement in the school activities was not up to the mark. The parent-teacher meetings were conducted as prescribed by the Samiti.
Case 2: Jawahar Navodaya Vidyala Bareilly:
The study reveals that the Navodaya school principal plays a pivotal role in the system. He is the connecting link between the Samiti and teachers, students and parents. The principal is vested with all powers and has to carryout all the instructions or the orders from the head quarters and the regional office. He is accountable for every activity of the school
The principal Jawahar Navodaya, Bariely, was showing accountability in all the activities of the school. He was a disciplinarian and working hard for the improvement the school. But his vision about the school and various decisions regarding the day to day functioning of the school was not coinciding with the vision of teachers. (For eg. Principal's vision about the school is to spread the fragrance of values by getting cooperation from teachers and society to make surrounding pleasant and peaceful. Whereas teachers' consider school as an institution for teaching-learning like ancient Gurukula system. They also require independent and atmosphere for teachers). It affects the smooth functioning of various curricular and co-curricular activities of the school.
The teachers of the Jawahar Navodaya, Bariely, were well qualified and attended various training programmes. But they seemed discouraged and exhausted with 14 hours work. They were not innovative in the classroom teaching. The teachers had low expectations regarding the academic performance of the students They pointed out that they did not get sufficient time for their professional development.
The school was recently shifted to its new campus where basic infra-structural facilities like electricity was not available at the time of the visit of the investigators to the school. Electricity for limited hours was provided through generators as the electricity had not reached the school, being at a distant place from the town. The fact findings of the study underlines that the discouraging condition of the teachers, their wrong perception about the students, reluctance to adopt innovative teaching methods, lack of professional attitudes all these coupled with the poor infra-structural facilities of the school lead to the low performance of the Jawahar Navodaya, Bariely.
The study proved that the students were dissatisfied with the management of the school activities. The students appreciated the efforts made by the principal for the improvement of the school. But they also pointed out his inability in ensuring the cooperation with the teachers. The relationship between teachers and the principal were not conducive and cordial.
The teachers were also dissatisfied with the various decisions of the principal in the day to day functioning of the school. The teachers were not feeling integrated with the school, their students and colleagues. The specific relationship between and amongst various actors in the JNV, Bariely, was not satisfactory which lead to the low performance of the school.
The principal and teachers did not set any greater goals to achieve better results. The teachers had low expectations regarding the academic performance of the students Most of the teachers were following traditional methods of teaching and reluctant to adopt innovative teaching methods for the better learning of the students. The residential nature of the school was not explored by the teachers for the better learning of the children The students were facing difficulty in learning through the medium of English. The teachers were not able to address the problem by adopting innovative teaching learning techniques. The students inability to understand the subjects through the medium of English is also a major cause for the low performance of the JNV, Bariely.
A well knit and highly centralized management structure as delineated in the constitution of the Samiti governs the JNV across the country. At the district and school level, the Vidyalaya Management Committee (VMC) with the district collector as chairman approves the annual plan of the school. The principal, in consultation with teachers and other members of the staff develops detailed annual plan. In spite of these the school has not been able to get desired support from the chairman and the members of the VMC, who are quite influential, for improving the school environment.
The study concluded that parental participation and support in the academic activities and also their contribution in improving the overall performance of the school was very poor. The lack of teachers care along with the parental neglect caused the major set back for the overall performance of the school.
Students perception about the school management revealed that the academic and emotional support from their teachers and principal much below the desired level. They were also dissatisfied with hostel facilities, teacher monitoring, general discipline in the school and communication with their parents.
The school does not report any pace setting activities as expected by the Samiti. The mobile library facilities extended to other schools are not reported as happening often.
Keyword(s): School Management, Navodaya Vidyalayas