Improving an Educational Institute - Report Example

Introduction

Businesses and educational institutions operate in an interconnected world, where globalization and technological development influence changes taking place. Many employers have embraced the concept of diversity and other changes affecting their operations (Fuller, 2017). Traditionally, diversity was about gender, ethnicity, and race. However, the concept has expanded and it includes various elements that define employees (Fuller, 2017). Additional factors to diversity include political beliefs, religious affiliations, sexual orientation, and levels of education, culture, and disabilities among employees (Eswaran, 2019). The management of learning institutions has the transformative power to implement changes that would improve the operations of their businesses. In this regard, change management is inevitable because of the dynamics influencing the success of learning institutions. The essay discusses how St Thomas High School should change and develop in three years with specific reference to mentoring and coaching, leading and managing diversity, enhancing teacher collaboration, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of teachers and professional development.

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Institutional Background

St Thomas High School, Houston operates under the Basilian Fathers since its foundation in 1900. It is a college preparatory school for boys and initially offered commercial subjects alongside the standard college curriculum. However, it discontinued the commercial program in 1940. By 1985, about 7,000 students had graduated from the institution. Although it is a religious-based institution, the management needs to consider changes in the education sector and implement changes that would sustain its operations and promote internationalization (TSHA, n.d). In this regard, the change the school requires is the re-introduction of the commercial program and embrace diversity. For example, globalization has opened new opportunities for entrepreneurs but they need to learn and acquire knowledge on how to identify and exploit opportunities. Therefore, a commercial program is essential in the college since it helps to enhance diversity in educational programs. Also, the school needs to embrace diversity among employees and should not discriminate against employees and students based on their religious affiliations. Implementing these changes require the administration to develop a change management plan to adopt the changes successfully.

Coaching and Mentoring

The first concept of managing organizational change and development is developing mentoring/coaching programs. The primary objective of coaching and mentoring is to develop the knowledge required to meet the changing needs in the education sector (Ali et al., 2018). Learning is a continuous and ever-evolving sector that requires teachers and school managers to develop their knowledge to meet the changes.

Embracing diversity in mentorship and diversity programs would improve the performance of the program. Gender diversity is the primary element to consider in this context (Fuller, 2017). Some female teachers may not be contented when attached to male mentors, while male teachers may not feel comfortable with female mentors. Therefore, the coaching program can be effective when embracing gender diversity. In 2014, female teachers in secondary school teaching comprised 63.2%, but only 37% attained the rank of headteachers (Fuller, 2017). However, it is challenging to ethnic diversity because it is not possible to hire mentors and coaches, who meet the ethnics and cultural needs of every teacher (Fuller, 2017). Fuller (2017) reckons that “Women still experience the difficulties and stress of sex discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace. They are less likely to hold leadership and management positions than men (Fuller, 2017, p. 3)”. The findings of the presentation are a reflection of diversity issues in the education sector. Therefore, the school administration must consider embracing diversity to improve performance by enhancing coaching and mentoring program.

The first type of coaching the administration will apply is peer coaching. The process involves the use of peer teachers to develop the knowledge and skills of other teachers (Clark & Byrnes, 2012). The technique is effective because it promotes teacher collaboration and helps to maintain organizational culture. The technique has proved to be effective in improving the delivery of educational services, and foster student teaching (Clark & Byrnes, 2012). It promotes accountability and commitment. The technique does not only improve the skills of teachers but the mentors too and this improves school performance (Clark & Byrnes, 2012). Coaches gain new skills and knowledge because of the challenges they encounter while coaching others.

The second type of coaching the administration should consider is executive coaching (Ginkel et al., 2015). It is the type of coaching that focuses on developing the skills and knowledge of school headteachers, teachers, and principals (Manning & Hobson, 2017). It supports the transition to managerial and leadership roles and professional development (Ali et al., 2018). In this context, executive coaching is the first level required to develop knowledge of the institutional leadership and support teachers to undergo the same program.

Additionally, management can use behavioral coaching to solve specific problems. It is an action-oriented strategy that helps to solve a specific problem in an educational setting (Manning & Hobson, 2017). For example, the management can use the behavioral coaching to change behavioral attitudes of teachers toward individuals of different cultures (Lofthouse et al., 2010). It helps to manage disintegration among teachers and create an environment that creates equal opportunities for all (Lord et al., 2008). Therefore, it helps to manage potential cross-cultural issues that would affect institutional performance.

Furthermore, the management can apply instructional/directive coaching technique to implement the change successfully (Lofthouse et al., 2010). The technique focuses on directing teachers to follow ethical and organizational principles that focus on improve their commitment and organizational performance (Ginkel et al., 2015).

Finally, the mentors can use balanced, observed, objective, specific, and timely (BOOST) model to assess feedback from the teachers. First, the mentors assess areas of development the program sought to improve and strengths of the teachers (Success Factory, n.d). For example, they can use interviews and observations methods to balance skills gained in the process. Through observation, the mentors can identify behavioral changes among teachers and the observation can take place at the end of the program (Success Factory, n.d). The objective element helps to relate if the program met the initial goals and objectives. Based on the feedback, mentors have the duty of backing up the response with specific illustrations regarding the observed behavior (Success Factory, n.d). Finally, the feedback should be timely. For example, peer mentors should provide feedback every week to ensure the program is on the right track.

Leading and Managing Diversity

Elements of diversity the school should consider include diversity were about gender, ethnicity, race, political beliefs, religious affiliations, sexual orientation, and levels of education, culture, and disabilities among employees. Showers (2016) reckon that organizations that embrace diversity perform 35% better than homogenous organizations (Polat et al., 2017). Consequently, organizations should practice workplace diversity. The first benefit of employee diversity is that it enables the institution to have varied opinions that would improve its performance (Polat et al., 2017). Leaders might be qualified but they will benefit significantly from alternative ideas that would offer solutions to organizational challenges. Additionally, teachers and the non-teaching staff will benefit since they will learn new skills and approaches from other people and this promotes job satisfaction (Polat et al., 2017). Also, diversity protects the attributes of teachers by involving them in the decision-making process, enhancing job satisfaction and professional development (Polat et al., 2017). Therefore, diversity improves organizational performance and enhances employee motivation.

Diversity promotes equity in the institution that eventually improves its performance. However, it seems that educational institutions across the globe fail to successfully implement policies that enhance equality through diversity (Fuller, 2017). The promotion of female teachers in England increased from 25% to 38% from 2001 to 2015 in the United Kingdom, recording an increase of 13 % (Fuller, 2017). Although the promotion of women headteachers in London Boroughs has not made any significant changes, a study shows that 12 former ILEA London recorded a 6% decrease from 2001 to 2015 (Fuller, 2017). The information shows that inequality in schools is high and this hinders the successful implementation of various changes, such as coaching (Fuller, 2017). The administration of the school should develop an equality policy to create equal opportunities for men and women teachers, including promotions.

Through effective communication, the implementers will embrace change and support the administration in implementing it (Lofthouse et al., 2010). During the meetings, the school administration will focus on creating awareness of diversity and compelling reasons why the institution needs to implement the diversity policy. Factors to discuss during the meetings include the need for integrating the differences (Manning & Hobson, 2017). Additionally, the administration should delegate duties and responsibilities to the teaching and non-teaching staff to foster commitment towards implementing the change (Ginkel et al., 2015). For example, the policy development and implementation team should include teachers and non-teaching staff and student leaders.

The second change that should be implemented in the organization is enhancing equity. The school administration should evaluate all aspects of management and identify areas that require improvement about equity (Clark & Byrnes, 2012). Currently, the school prefers catholic employees and students compared with other people from differential backgrounds. Besides developing a diversity policy, the administration should embrace equity when hiring employees (Ginkel et al., 2015). From the academic point of view, the school administration should introduce diverse programs that reflect different academic needs of students (Manning & Hobson, 2017). Through equity, all stakeholders have equal opportunities to give their ideas that would improve the quality of decisions.

Conclusion

Additionally, the education department has the duty of creating a workplace environment that promotes the rights of all teachers regardless of their gender. South-East England has the largest representation of women teachers in headship with 44.5% than anywhere (Fuller, 2017). Northern England has a representation of 33.6% of women in headship (Fuller, 2017). It shows that the department of education has not put in place adequate measures to ensure equality in women’s headship. However, institutions should have internal policies, creating equal opportunities for women (Fuller, 2017). The best way to achieve this is by developing and implementing a recruitment policy to ensure the recruitment and promotion of women to various managerial roles and prepare them to take leadership positions.