5 School Management Problems faced by Primary and Secondary Schools (K-12)
What is K-12 ?
K-12 refers to the first twelve years of schooling (mandatory in many parts of the world) before tertiary education (like college or university) .This covers school grades from 1st grade to 12th grade which is divided into primary and secondary level education in some many parts of the world including Nigeria and the UK. It also accommodates categories like kindergarten or nursery which fall into the pre-school or pre-primary section.
Challenges of managing K-12 schools
It takes a lot to manage a school and do it properly. First of all, school management involves making sure that every unit is functioning at its best and is able to collaborate with other units to achieve set-out goals.
For a school with other campuses (like a group of schools), it’s always an extra challenge to make sure that, not only do the departments within function and collaborate properly but also campuses represent the vision and mission of the school to standard. This throws up the need for effective measuring tools.
Every principal, school administrator or manager is tasked with the responsibility of continuously improving student achievement. To do this, they must tackle issues like recruitment and management of teachers and other staff, monitoring and managing student behaviour, improving learning experience and teacher effectiveness among other things.
Here are five top problems that schools managers often face
1. Admission and Enrolment
With all educational institutions, admitting and enrolling students is one job that is unlikely to ever go away. The challenge is making the process as seamless as possible while also meeting their admission and enrolment target.
Schools are constantly looking for ways to make sure that the processes are friendly and as simple as possible. All the information that is gathered in the processes of inquiry, application, admission and enrolment must be managed properly. For instance, they need to stay up-to-date on the numbers of enrolments for proper planning such that school managers are able to get accurate data on the total number of students as it is needed
2. Registration
Apart from admission and enrolment, another aspect of school processes that could become cumbersome and messy is registration of students.
While a lot of educational institutions have enjoyed some success with avoiding major inconveniences like having to be physically present for registration and fees collection, there are still a few who are in that war-zone.
However, even with online and automated registration systems, schools are tasked with the responsibility of providing the simplest and user-friendly tools. For example, mobile-friendly applications
3. Paperwork
Almost every aspect of dealing with an educational institution involves some kind of paperwork. Piles of records on admission, fees, attendance, feeding, academic performance, staff records and other tasks are almost endless.
The school administrative staff has to find a way to manage this data in a way that is easy to track so that when information is needed, it can be easily called up.
Unfortunately, many schools are still burdened with manual processes that as against using a technology-based school management software that is automated and user-friendly. This saves a lot of time and makes the job easier for the staff.
4. Communication
School management involves a lot of communication and collaboration. Administrators, staff, students and parents need to be able to talk within their groups and also to one another. Where there are communication gaps, there will certainly be unmet expectations and dissatisfaction. One of the ways such gaps manifest is in avoidable student discipline cases.
School management needs to find a communication system that makes it easy to communicate on every step towards the task of improving the education experience for students and everyone involved.
5. Revenue Management
Many schools have challenges with managing their finances, particularly as it relates to tracking revenues that comes in through fees and contributions.
Finding the best way to keep up with revenue as it comes in and making sure that financial records are up-to-date go a long way in making school administration easier.
Solving the Problems
In the modern school, the job of managing administrative and academic processes is being rapidly transformed with the aid of technology. Technology-enabled automation tools now make so many everyday tasks much easier. Fees payment, course registration, employee forms, teacher reports, parents’ feedback, and other important processes can now be conducted and completed with just a few clicks.
More than ever, it is now a necessity for schools to upgrade the institutional processes with mobile, digital as well as cloud technologies that make school management more efficient and education goals easier to achieve.
SchoolMo School Management Software is the perfect example of a school management tool that tackles these issues with latest and constantly improving technology for easy access to data, performance measurement and evaluation of service delivery. It functions as a monitoring, measuring, communications, management and financial tool for proper planning and upgrade of any K-12 school system. You can check it out and try out the free demo here.
