Guest posting to voced-coord list

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Date: Tue, 22 Jul 1997 10:29:43 +1000
To: voced-coord@owl.qut.edu.au
From: Mike Frost
Subject: VocEd: Mike Frost (guest) - Effective Schools delivering Quality Programs

Managing VETNETwork has provided me with the opportunity to observe directly and talk to a range of people involved with the management and development of some top notch vocational education programs. In considering the question of what makes some schools and their programs successful there are some consistent qualities that seem to be common and I'd like to share them with you. Let me stress that these are my observations although they are frequently acknowledged in the literature and research. By successful I mean programs that once established become self-sustaining, involve extensive workplace time, and exhibit all of the qualities of best-practice commonly identified.

Effective schools with successful programs show:

- An all-embracing capacity to create a climate open to change, not just as a reaction to change factors, but in a way that actively uses change. Such schools actively analyse policy, adapt it in ways appropriate to plans, seek strategic support from agencies and develop innovative approaches for implementation. They often breech protocols in the process, adopting the view that "..it is better to ask forgiveness than to seek permission."

- A strong team-based approach where program development, implementation and management is a shared responsibility and is jointly owned. This is especially noticeable in schools with more than two or three programs, where teams work across the curriculum, sharing workloads particularly where common or generic tasks are involved.

- Display flat management structures where decision-making is a shared responsibility and where the consequences of such decision-making are also shared. There is genuine empowerment of teachers involved, typified by inclusion in internal and external aspects of program decision-making and management, particularly where crucial decision-making involving resource allocation, for example, is undertaken. Power is more likely to be determined by expertise than by bureaucratically vested authority, and is highly influenced by situational and often transitory determinants.

- Reveal hands-on leadership, where school leaders are actively involved in all aspects of programs, but particularly in the marketing and promotion. Principals reveal true leadership rather than simple management skills, reflected in risk-taking, strong advocacy of programs, coherent project planning, genuine collaborative effort and a capacity to enlist extensive support. This is frequently associated with the winning of system and agency support and often involves creative initiatives in the garnering of resources from a diversity of sources.

- A strong publicity arm where program successes are publicised widely using a range of media and a diversity of creative strategies. Such schools rapidly acquire a reputation for innovation and success that seems to snowball. Often they market their programs well beyond their immediate boundaries and secure interest and enrollments outside their feeder district.

- A tendency to constantly scan for opportunities, particularly through new policy initiatives, and to become adept at successful submission writing. Again collaborative and shared task undertaking is a noticeable feature.

- Extensive networking capacity across stakeholders and clients, frequently extending beyond immediate district boundaries. Strategic alliances are formed as needs arise often developing as partnerships over time. A high level of information is sustained in respect of policy and practice - schools and their leaders are informed on all current initiatives. Often they influence decision-making beyond their immediate territory and provide input into, and influence , policy development.

- A capacity to establish productive, reciprocal partnerships with industry where the advantages of support for programs are transparent. Industries and enterprises see intrinsic value in programs through their capacity to meet recruitment and industry training needs. School-based programs reflect the genuine training needs of the local region and match employment profiles. Industries providing workplacements are not left with the impression that they are simply doing schools a favour.

- Extensive and functional links with others in the training market including TAFE, Skillshares, Group Training Companies and universities are established, where clear pathways beginning in the middle years of high school extend beyond post-compulsory into a range of education, training and employment outcomes.

- Enterprising cultures where opportunities to develop creative and imaginative capabilities within students and teachers are constantly generated. Often enterprise activities parallel other forms of vocational education and training. E Teams, Young Aussie and similar programs enrich the range of initiatives.

- Centrality of students in the organisation and operation of the school, where student learning is given primacy, where learning is intrinsically valued and where learning is acknowledged as occurring in places beyond the school, like workplaces.

- A strong community focus and a willingness to act as a community resource, where the school provides opportunities for adult learning, training and development, professional development and training services to local business.

Schools that are running extensive VET programs tend to display many of these qualities. They are also found in schools that have strongly developed and successful general education programs. Many of the same qualities are commonly identified in successful business enterprises as well.

Mike Frost
Executive Officer
VETNETwork - Vocational Education and Training Network
Mailing Address: VETNETwork PO Box 424 Rosny Park TAS 7018
Ph 0362 449254
Fax 0362 449299
Mobile 0412 053738
Email mfrost@info.rosny.tased.edu.au