HOW IS THE SCHOOL GOVERNMENT MADE UP? - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2024

The school government is made up of members of the educational community. In this sense, the principals, teachers, administrative and worker personnel, students and sponsors stand out. To a large extent, those who make up a school government will be the basis for the proper functioning of a school, since multiple obligations fall on it.

School government is understood to be the set of responsibilities, practices, policies and procedures carried out by an educational institution, so that it ensures and guarantees the fulfillment of the objectives that are proposed, as well as the responsible use of the resources with which count the organization.

Members of the school government can organize themselves into associations that allow interaction between them. For example, boards of directors provide for cooperation between the principal, faculty, and administrative staff. On the other hand, the school councils integrate parents, teachers, principals and students.

It is important to highlight the figure of the volunteers in charge, members of the educational community who decide to establish a higher level of commitment to the school.

Members that make up the school government

Any person related to the institution can be a volunteer in charge; These people do not have to have a career in education to volunteer. These volunteers are organized into various groups according to their relationship with the school:

-Parents and volunteer representatives.

-Volunteer staff: teachers or members of the administrative staff and workers.

-Volunteer representatives of the community.

-Voluntary sponsors: individuals or representatives of organizations that financially support the institution.

Directors

The director of an educational institution is the person in charge of the internal organization, management and control of the school. Similarly, it is the duty of the principal to ensure the implementation of the strategies proposed by the school councils.

Other functions of the director of an educational institution are:

-Formulate objectives that the institution must meet to improve its operation.

-Formulate policies that allow to achieve these proposed objectives.

-Planning activities that allow to achieve the objectives gradually.

The principal must report to the school council, at least once a year, to show the progress made in terms of the proposed objectives.

The students

Students also participate passively and actively in school governance. Passively, students can collaborate in the functioning of the school government by adapting their conduct to the policies of the institution. They can actively join school councils and propose reforms.

School councils

The boards of directors are made up of the director, the administrative staff and the professors, which is why they constitute the directive and administrative body of an institution.

These boards have the function:

• Hire and fire staff.
• Offer training to staff, if necessary.
• Obtain the necessary resources for the operation of the institution.
• Establish budgets that allow managing these resources in the best possible way.
• Keeping the accounts of the income and expenses of the institution.
• Develop a code of conduct for the institution, based on ethical and moral values.
• Ensure compliance with this code.

It should be noted that school governance should be based on the principle of party control, according to which each member can request a recount of the actions of other members.

For the control of the parties to be effective, it must be reciprocal. For example, principals must be accountable to the school council, and the school council, in turn, must be accountable to the principal.

Functions of the school government

Some of the functions of the school government are:

-The development of projects that meet the needs of the institution, the creation and promotion of participatory organizations, such as parents and representatives associations and clubs for students.

-The administration of available resources; which only involves the management of these resources, but also the obtaining of them).

-The development of school policies that regulate the behavior of members of the educational community are some of the functions of a school government.

To comply with them efficiently, school governance must be based on a series of ethical and moral values, such as responsibility, fairness and transparency. These principles will guide members of the school government and allow them to make the best decisions for the educational community.

School governance involves the interaction of various "actors" in order to function properly.

In this sense, school governments are not only made up of the directive and administrative boards, as could be assumed by their definition, but also involve teachers, students, representatives, competent government entities, among others..

References

1. Theory and Evidence on Governance: conceptual and empirical strategies of research on governance in education (2009). Retrieved on March 18, 2017, from springer.com.
2. What is a school council. Retrieved on March 18, 2017, from peopleforeducation.ca.
3. SCHOOL GOOD GOVERNANCE Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved on March 18, 2017, from siteresources.worldbank.org.
4. Who Does What in Public School Governance (2014). Retrieved on March 18, 2017, from nsjba.org.
5. Balarin, Maria; Brammer, Steve; James, Chris; and McCormack, Mark (2008). The School Governance Study (2014). Retrieved on March 18, 2017, from fed.cuhk.edu.
6. School Executive Committee. Retrieved on March 18, 2017, from tcd.ie.
7. Governance in Public Schools A GUIDE TO THE APPLICATION OF THE KING PRINCIPLES IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS © (2015). Retrieved on March 18, 2017, from c.ymcdn.com.