A teacher teaches inside a classroom at a school after the Maharashtra government allowed schools to reopen for all classes, in Karad, January 24, 2022. Photo: PTI
- Administrative challenges are frequent in the lives of the 1.5 million school principals in India and the response to these challenges can build or break a school.
- Unfortunately, ‘administration’ is enveloped in myths of being labelled simple and dismissed as monotonous paperwork.
- Administration is not simply applying rules, just files and paperwork or even value-free.
Principal Minaz was checking her emails when a nervous school parent walked in. He explained that the pandemic job cuts had cost him his work as a restaurant cook and he could no longer pay the Rs 1,000 fee for his daughter who was in grade 5. Minaz realized that if the girl dropped out, she might not join another school soon.
Two buildings away, a midday meal vendor walked in to meet the government school headmaster Munawar to demand that his dues be cleared immediately. He threatened to stop delivering meals from tomorrow for the school’s 600 students. The food inspectors from the central office, whose quality report is crucial to release payments, had not visited the school even after three reminders. Munawar knew that if he withheld payment, he risked the health of his students and if he made the payment, he was sure to receive a caution memo from the central office.
Administrative challenges, such as those above, are frequent in the lives of the 1.5 million school principals in India and the response to these challenges can build or break a school. Under poor administration, for example, teachers feel anxious because classes don’t begin and end on time, students feel lost because disciplinary boundaries are ambiguous, and the parents feel isolated because their concerns remain unaddressed.
Unfortunately, ‘administration’ is enveloped in myths of being labelled simple and dismissed as monotonous paperwork. Plus, efforts to rebrand school principals only as “leaders” devalues the solidity and power of good administration. Hence, we must take a look under the administration hood to see how administrative tasks are implemented. Understanding administration is crucial because good administration might be the lifesaver that brings calm to the troubled waters caused by the pandemic.
Myth 1: Administration is simply applying rules
How do you estimate a student’s age in the absence of an age-proof document? How do you decide which grade to allocate her to? The principal I was observing asked the student to touch her left earlobe by taking her right hand over the head. She used this rule of thumb to get a rough estimate about which grade might be suitable for the student.
When I shadowed school principals during my PhD research, such administrative challenges were common. Administrative decisions were much more than a simple application of rules. Rules had to be creatively interpreted and applied because needed information was not always available. Real school life is unlike that in policy manuals which assume an ordered universe and everyone approaches the school armed with all the right data (documents) whether to get admission or secure a leaving certificate. Administrative decisions involve ambiguity and choices!
The choices that school principals made involved a messy process – a “muddling through”. Crafting a school discipline policy that would provide keep corridors quiet, teachers consistent in application, students satisfied, and minimal referrals to the principal office is often a continual school process based on limited and biased information. Parents tell their version of the story and so do the teachers about everything from the school bus schedule to bullying in the class. Even reporting vaccination data can involve cycles of data gathering, physical verification, and including or excluding certain grades.
Under pressure to perform well, administrative discretion may be used to massage the data to depict a story of good performance.
Myth 2: Administration is just files and paperwork
A popular image of an administrator is someone surrounded by stacks of files and simply noting down obvious information about school events. Unfortunately, information is not always obvious or readily available. Second, dismissing paperwork as mundane and insignificant is a risky presumption.
Take Akhil Gupta’s analytical treatise on red-tape, where he devotes almost a whole chapter to the power of writing to show that paperwork is often a powerful ‘violent’ action. Some readers might remember the popular television series Office-Office which delightfully captured how the proverbial common man has to run around in circles because he does not have the right paperwork. Paperwork is powerful because, in the words of a school principal, ‘no one takes notice unless it is in writing’.
Within the action of writing the minutes of a staff meeting or completing an inspection book are layers of hidden knowledge that elucidate the real story of education. Riles calls documents the artifacts of modern knowledge production. Writing up each lesson plan changes what and how teachers teach. Applying thought in ticking a check-box on the mid-day meal quality report combines the power of checklists with administrative action that ensures nutrition for our students.
Myth 3: Administration is value-free
Administration is called value-free because it is considered a ‘technical’ activity. Only when we acknowledge that administration is fundamentally about human interactions, do we see that it is immersed with notions of right and wrong. Take the two cases of Minaz and Munawar that I described earlier. Waiving off fees for one parent might set off an avalanche and balancing policy diktats with student health will always be value-ridden.
Administration is core to equity. At times, special treatment to a bully might be necessary. A few years ago, a school principal I was observing invited a parent to her office to discuss the frequent episodes of violence and indiscipline led by his son. A beleaguered father walked into the office and asked that the school send his son to a remand home to be disciplined. The class teacher standing in the principal office said she was weary of the constant interruptions. A technical application of administrative rules (and perhaps an easy way out) was an expulsion. But is that the right action to take in this case?
For me, wicked problems like this, and they were more common than one would imagine, struck home that equity lies not in speeches, talks about vision, or putting up the mission statement in the school hall. Equity was in the daily administrative actions.
So, what can we do to bring focus back towards administration?
First, acknowledge the complexity of administration and the time and attention it takes. Develop centres for school administration which conduct research into the complexity of daily decision-making. An excellently articulated policy is as good as it is administratively enacted. Conduct workshops on managing administrative dilemmas. Illuminate how ‘paperwork’ can be transformational. Accept the muddling through in administrative decision making. Challenge the charismatic leader discourse with solid administrator mindsets.
Second, point out the connection between administration and equity. Help principals and other educational leaders see the system-wide impact of administration. Acknowledge values and emotions in making administrative decisions. Have a dialogue around ‘good’ administrative practice. When school inspections are focused on values rather than rule-following can we give equity room to breathe.
Educational administration is a worthy endeavour. Instead of prescribing what principals must do- let us first study what they are doing right now. Administration might not be as glitzy as leadership, but it is a rich goldmine of practice that school principals already engage in. Only a few principals have the institutional freedom to become leaders, but every principal is an administrator from the day they occupy their role. So, let us make our schools great – one administrative decision at a time.
Gopal Midha holds a PhD in educational leadership from the University of Virginia. He is currently setting up a Center for Research on School Leadership in Goa.