SCHOOL GOVERNMENT: CHARACTERISTICS, FUNCTIONS AND WHAT THEY ARE FOR - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The Colombian school government refers to a set of obligations, practices, policies and procedures that an educational institution carries out to guarantee its effective management, the fulfillment of its objectives and the adequate use of available resources.

The functions of the school government can be summarized in the good management of the institutions to generate a quality education. Schools are especially important centers, because in them the future of a nation is educated and shaped.

characteristics

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.

Multiple actors

In the 1990s, the concept of "government" was introduced in the educational field, to refer to the positive changes that were taking place in the educational systems of countries such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland, in terms of school reforms.

This conception proposed in 1990 highlighted an important aspect of school governments: the presence not of one, but of multiple actors capable of changing and innovating the educational system.

Professors, members of boards of directors and students as main actors

Teachers and members of the boards of directors are responsible for proposing ideas that will then be translated into concrete actions. For their part, students must accept these new proposals and include them in their behavior pattern; In this assimilation process, students can be supported by their parents.

Other organizations can cooperate

In the same way, other organizations associated with the educational institution, such as publishing houses and government entities, could cooperate with the fulfillment of the objectives of this. Thus, it is observed that there are many actors who can intervene in a school government.

Coordination is necessary

It should be noted that, for the construction of a school government, the intervention of the actors is not enough, it is also necessary that their actions be coordinated; This means that the school government, like any other government, requires the existence of a leader who regulates the behavior of the parties involved in the system.

The composition of the government matters

Since the success of a school depends on how it is run, it is necessary the existence of a government composed of proactive, educated members, who are capable of recognizing the failures in the educational systems and of challenging each other and They are willing to cooperate with each other.

Functions of the school government

The functions of the school government can be divided into:

1. Strategic planning.
2. Creation of participatory organizations.
3. Promotion of meetings to discuss relevant issues for the institution.
4. Resource management and accounting.
5. Development of school policies.

Strategic planning

One of the most fundamental elements of any institution is the development of a strategic plan, which will allow the institution to be successful.

For this, the government must have a strategic thinking that allows it to know the needs of the institution, as well as what it wants to achieve. Once these two points are known, we proceed to strategic planning, which consists of the development of schedules that allow meeting the needs and achieving the desired goals.

Strategic planning is not an event that occurs once every so often, but must be an ongoing process.

Creation of participatory organizations

A primary function of school governments is to ensure the creation of organizations that allow the integration of all members of the educational community: teachers, professors, students and representatives.

In addition to this, these organizations distribute the responsibilities of the school government among all participating parties.

Some of these organizations are:

1. Boards of directors.
2. Educational council committees.
3. Secretary.
4. Parents and representatives associations.
5. Clubs for students, such as book, chess, or singing clubs.

Promotion of meetings to discuss relevant issues for the institution

It is the duty of the school government to promote meetings with entities that support economic benefits to the educational institution, such as investors, representatives of the competent authorities, such as the Ministry of Education.

Similarly, the school government must ensure that meetings are held between teachers and representatives, to inform the latter of the performance of students.

Resource management and accounting

Resource management involves:

1. Obtain resources for the educational institution through government support and the participation of partners, investors or other interested parties in benefiting the institution financially. In addition, it is the task of the school government to carry out activities that could generate income for the institution.
2. Keep the accounts of the resources generated (separating them into resources obtained through donations and resources provided by the government). Include in this accounting record how much of these resources is used for educational purposes.
3. Use these resources to maintain educational facilities, as well as to provide the institution with basic services.
4. Make inventories of the institution's furniture.

School policy development

1. Create a code of conduct that regulates the behavior of all members of the educational community.
2. Ensure that this set of rules is complied with.
3. Properly penalize members who break these rules.
4. The fulfillment of these functions will make the school government efficient. In this regard, Ranson, Farrell, Penn, and Smith (2005, cited by Cathy Wylie), point out that good school governance includes:

• The assessment of the figure of the government leader (s) (who could be represented by a board of directors).
• Representation of all parties involved, including students and parents.
• Mutual support from members of the government.
• Organizations in charge of supervising the fulfillment of the functions of the parties involved in the government.
• Figures that represent the ethical and moral values ​​of the institution.
• Active participation of government leaders in school activities.
• Stable relationships between the educational institution and the community to which it belongs.

Similarly, school governance must be based on ethical and moral values. To begin, this should be the first responsible.

The school government is not only in charge of supporting the educational process of the institution and financing the resources it receives, but it is also responsible for the impact that said institution causes in the community to which it belongs.

Similarly, the school government must be based on the principle of control of the parties; Through this principle, a formal relationship is established between two or more members of the government, one of whom has authority over the others and may require a recount of the decisions taken to evaluate their performance.

However, for school governance to be effective, the control of the parties must be reciprocal, for example, teachers must answer to representatives, since they are educating their children.

In the same way, representatives must respond to teachers, ensuring that their representatives comply with assignments, arrive on time, among other aspects.

Who makes up the school government?

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.

These members can be organized 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.

Volunteers in charge

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 and blue-collar staff.
• Volunteer community representatives.
• 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 achieving these proposed objectives.
• Plan activities that allow the objectives to be achieved 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 school councils are intended to advise the principal and the board of directors. All educational institutions must have a school council, since this is a space for the discussion of issues that concern the institution.

Most school councils around the world are made up of parents and representatives, the director of the institution, a teacher, a student, a member of the institution's staff (other than a teacher), and a representative of the community in the school. that the school unfolds.

A parent or representative usually chairs the council; the director, although he participates in the council, cannot vote in the decisions that this takes.

These partnerships involve the active participation of representatives to improve student performance.

Parents, representatives, students, teachers, and senior staff interact in the school councils. They play an important role within the school government since they advise the directors of the institution.

Board of Directors

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.

What is the school government for? Main benefits

Various authors have theorized about the benefits of school governments. Earley and Creese (quoted by Cathy Wylie) point out that it is possible for a school to be successful despite having inefficient school governance, but this makes us wonder “how would the success of this school be increased if it had an organized and effective government? productive?".

Some of these benefits could be:

1-The improvement of the figure of the government leader and, in this way, the quality of the government's strategic vision could also be increased.

2-The implementation of efficient mechanisms to monitor the progress of the objectives proposed by the government and anticipate possible risks.

3-A study carried out by Cathy Wylie (2006), in New Zealand, showed that an efficient school government translated into countless benefits for the educational institution, highlighting:

• The creation of qualified committees that allow the establishment of relationships between the members of the educational community, at the same time that they ensure teamwork and the correct fulfillment of the functions of each of the members.
• Stability in the educational system. Members of institutions with efficient educational systems tend to be more committed and less likely to leave their current positions.

This same study showed that the reasons why some school governments fail are:

• Presence of managerial personnel unfit for work.
• Lack of commitment of the members to the educational institution.
• Unstable relations with the competent governmental entities.

Furthermore, research conducted by Bath University in 2008 noted that school governments are inefficient because:

1-They are overloaded. Some governments fail to meet goals because they do not delegate responsibilities; this means that they lack organizations and committees.

2-They get too complicated. The work of a school government becomes more complex when there is no strategic planning that offers directives for the execution of activities in the educational institution.

3-They are not appreciated. On some occasions, the failure of the school government is due to the lack of cooperation on the part of the competent governmental entities and, in some cases, on the part of the members of the educational community themselves.

Influence of school government on student performance

So far, no studies have been conducted that provide conclusive results on the influence of school government on the performance of students in an educational institution.

Rentoul and Rosanowski (2000, cited by Cathy Wylie) conducted a study to determine the effects of different school governments on the quality of the results obtained by schools; The authors concluded that there was not enough evidence to talk about a direct relationship between governments and the performance of educational institutions.

Subsequently, Leithwood, Day, Sammons, Harris, and Hopkins (2006, cited by Cathy Wylie) conducted a study that sought to establish the impact of the presence of leaders on student performance.

This study showed that the figure of the leader positively affected the quality of the students' learning process, thus improving the quality of the school.

Robinson, Hohepay and Lloyd, in their study titled Best Evidence Synthesis on educational leadership - schooling (cited by Cathy Wylie), focus on the quality of leaders and school performance.

The authors concluded that school government leaders should be competent in the following aspects: creation of goals and objectives, strategic research, planning, coordination and improvement of the educational curriculum, active participation in the teachers' learning process, control over progress of students and promotion of an organized environment that favors the communication process.

However, these three studies presented do not demonstrate that there is a direct relationship between school governance and student performance.

In any case, it only proves that the government can promote better conditions for the educational institution that, although they do not negatively affect the learning process, may not affect it at all; This is because teaching-learning also depends on other aspects, such as the commitment capacity of the students.

Despite this, it can be said that the school government contributes directly to the proper development of the school and indirectly affects all members of the educational community (since it provides for their active participation).

References

1. SCHOOL GOOD GOVERNANCE Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved on March 4, 2017, from siteresources.worldbank.org.
2. Theory and Evidence on Governance: conceptual and empirical strategies of research on governance in education (2009). Retrieved on March 4, 2017, from springer.com.
3. Public School Governance. Retrieved on March 4, 2017, from essentialblog.org.
4. Governance in Public Schools A GUIDE TO THE APPLICATION OF THE KING PRINCIPLES IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS © (2015). Retrieved on March 4, 2017, from c.ymcdn.com.
5. Cathy Wylie (2007). School governance in New Zealand - how is it working? Retrieved on March 4, 2017, from nzcer.org.nz.
6. The School Governance Study (2014). Retrieved on March 4, 2017, from fed.cuhk.edu.
7. Hoffman, Hoffman and Guldemond (2002) School governance, culture, and student achievement. Retrieved on March 4, 2017, from tandfonline.com.