Unit 06 – Schools as Organisations

RESEARCH TASK 7
Unit 06 – Schools as Organisations
Explain the strategic purpose of (2.1 & 2.2):
a) School governors – The role of the governors within the school is usually a team of ten to twelve people who are responsible for the running of the school. Governors can be made up of parents, staff, local authority figures and people of the community. This can differ from what type of school you go to. Governors set aims and objectives for schools, to ensure that every school excels each and every child’s learning who attends there school. They will hire and dismiss members of staff at the school and also monitor the school performance. They are responsible to set targets so that the school is constantly improving, continuing bettering it’s processed and learning. Governors are also responsible in laying out new policies and making sure that schools are abiding my policies such as the child act 2004 and the health and safety act.
b) Senior management team – The senior management team are run by the governors but they are in charge of all the teachers within the school. There is the Head teacher who has the overall responsibility of the school, its staff, its pupils, the building and they education that is given and received. There is the deputy head teacher they play a major role in managing the schools, particularly in absence of the head teacher, they usually have specific areas of the school management they are responsible for. There can also be head of years and early years teachers also.
c) SENCO – SENCO stands for Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator, all schools will have an appointed SENCO teacher within their school. They will be supported by the head teacher and other teachers to try and develop effective ways of overcoming barriers to a child’s learning, and ensuring they received effective teaching through assessing the children’s needs and setting targets for improvements. SENCO specialise in children who have special educational needs, these are children who find their learning curriculum for their age significantly harder than children their age. SENCO work with not just the children or young person but also the parents, teachers and other professionals who work in the school.
d) Teachers – The role of teachers in schools is too take charge of the classroom, they play the most vital role in the classroom environment. A teacher’s role is to plan and prepare lessons for their students; they have to follow the national and ey curriculum which is set out to ensure that all children are being taught the same things. A teacher’s role is to asses there students, to monitor and observe how well their students are performing; teachers should then record their observations and findings. Assessing children can identify excellence and also identify students who are struggling, they could potentially have learning difficulties or just need extra support. Once the teacher has assessed the students and recorded their findings they should then look to report all their findings for instance if a child is struggling then the teacher can report their findings and get extra support from outside agencies. Teachers should teach according to student’s needs, by doing assessments they can do this. It is a teacher’s responsibility to look after their students, to take an interest in their welfare and learning achievements. It is a teachers role to communicate with the children’s parents and to consult them with any concerns or when they done well. They also consult with other agencies out of the school also like senior management, governors, police, nurse and social workers.
e) Support staff – The main reason teaching assistants are in classrooms is to support the children and young people with their learning. Within a classroom environment there will be a teacher and on average 10-15 children per class, having a teaching assistant present gives the teacher support also. Teaching assistants will help plan lessons with the teacher, preparing work sheets, props and activities before class with the teacher. With a teaching assistant present, children who have learning difficulties or are struggling can have extra support from the teaching assistant. When the teacher is presenting the lesson the teaching assistant can overlook the class to ensure every one understand what they being taught. A teaching assistant will be able to give feedback on the teachers lessons on what went well and what potentially could be changed to improve the lesson. ‘Teaching assistants are also close to the children and children may confide any problems they are having or queries they have, for instance if they are struggling with work, being bullied or want more help with a subject. With the teachers permission you can also present your own lesson, under the teacher’s guidance. You may also asses children’s work to see their progression and identify any children or young people that need support. Teaching assistant can also take part in playground and lunch time duty, overlooking the children playing and eating there lunch making sure they are all safe.
f) External professionals (named e.g. educational psychologist) – These agencies work with school to help support the children and young people and excel there learning as much as they possibly can. One of these agencies is a speech and language therapist; there role is to asses and treat speech, language and communication problems with people of all ages to help them communicate better. They can also work with people who have eating and swallowing problems. In schools there may be specialist teachers, they will specialise in children’s behaviour, if children have behaviour problems or are going through things that may affect their behaviour. There could be communication needs such as autism and learning difficulties, these teachers will work with the children and help them learn and support the teachers to excel the children’s learning also. There may also be teachers who will support children who speak English as an additional their parents may be from a different country or they may be from a different country these teachers will work with the children to help them become fluent in English and help translate and teach the children. Other external professionals are teacher such as education welfare officers; they monitor children attendance, explain the importance in children’s education until sixteen years to parents and take court action if necessary to parents who do not make their children go to school. They can involve social workers and other agencies into children’s home and also look after children who have been excluded from school. There may also be educational psychologists that work within the school with the children and young people; their aim is to help children who are struggling with their education. These challenges may be social or emotional problems or learning difficulties. They will work with the children or young person and also worked with the teachers, parents, social workers and other professionals. They work with the child by assessing them through tests, interviews and observations.