Seminar for Principals and Deputy Principals

On Time

4th November 2004Education House,NUI Maynooth.

Leader and Boldt, 1994

Principals and Principalship, A Study of Principals in Voluntary Secondary Schools by Donal Leader and Scott Boldt, Marino Institute of Education, Dublin, 1994

One can never anticipate what might happen before the day is completed................................. 91% agree

Frequent interruptions underlines the ‘bitty’ nature of a lot of the principal’s work....................91% agree

Mornings are ‘totally fragmented’.......61% agree

In a typical day, a principal does not get ‘any length of time at anything’....................................61% agree

Leader and Boldt, 1994 continued

Principals and Principalship, A Study of Principals in Voluntary Secondary Schools by Donal Leader and Scott Boldt, Marino Institute of Education, Dublin, 1994

...the unmistakable evidence from the diaries, the interviews and the case studies, (is) that principals generally involve themselves directly with low value tasks. Many of these tasks are maintenance and janitorial in character.(p.95)

...many principals were quite surprised to discover how many of their activities were ‘low-value’ or ‘trivial’. This suggests that some principals may be unconsciously living out a model of principalship inappropriate to the challenges and responsibilities of principalship today.

Leader and Boldt, 1994 continued

Principals and Principalship, A Study of Principals in Voluntary Secondary Schools by Donal Leader and Scott Boldt, Marino Institute of Education, Dublin, 1994

..only 2% of respondents said that they spend most time on curriculum development and planning. Yet, instructional leadership and planning were seen by the principals as functions to which they ought tp devote the most time. (p.96)

77% of them say they should spend most of their time staff development and encouragement; 55% say they most time should be devoted to curriculum development; only 30% feel that administration should receive most attention

National Education Convention Report, 1994

Report on the National Education Convention, edited by John Coolahan, 1994

Instructional leadership is ......the most neglected aspect of the principal’s work in the school.

Pressure of time, with the urgent taking precedence over the important, and insufficient back-up support services, were cited as the main reason for this neglect.

School Development Planning InitiativeNational Progress Report 2002 www.sdpi.ie

ISSUES•Focus on the quality of Teaching and Learning: The overriding consideration is the need to ensure an appropriate focus on the quality of teaching and learning in all development planning activities. .. This focus is essential if SDP is to achieve its core purpose: school improvement. To date, although issues relating to teaching and learning have been prioritised by a significant proportion of Post-Primary schools, they have tended to be overshadowed in the SDP process by legal and organisational concerns. There is a need to find ways of redressing the balance, through cooperation among support providers in the development of strategies, where appropriate. Section 6.2.2

A Novelty Quiz on Time for School Leaders

TRUE or FALSE?

1. Most people know exactly what their time management problems are.

2. School leaders use their time in repetitive patterns that can be effectively analysed.

3. Good time management and being busy during the entire day are synonomous.

4. Normally the greatest time savings come from preventing interruptions.

5. Frequent interruptions make setting priorities a rather fruitless exercise.

6. Hard work is an effective substitute for good time management.

7. In the short run, delegation will invariably result in time savings for you.

Beliefs and Feelings about Time

A Novelty Quiz on Time for School Leaders

TRUE or FALSE?

8. Time management techniques will turn you into a machine with no freedom to do the things you want to do.

9. For routine, day-to-day decision making, it is best to wait until you have acquired all relevant information and data before making a decision.

10. How you manage your time will directly influence your effectiveness in supervising, communicating with and motivating your colleagues

A Novelty Quiz on Time for School Leaders

TRUE or FALSE?

1. Most people know exactly what their time management problems are.

2. School leaders use their time in repetitive patterns that can be effectively analysed.

3. Good time management and being busy during the entire day are synonomous.

4. Normally the greatest time savings come from preventing interruptions.

5. Frequent interruptions make setting priorities a rather fruitless exercise.

6. Hard work is an effective substitute for good time management.

7. In the short run, delegation will invariably result in time savings for you.

Beliefs and Feelings about Time

FALSE

FALSE

FALSE

FALSE

FALSE

FALSE

FALSE

A Novelty Quiz on Time for School Leaders

TRUE or FALSE?

8. Time management techniques will turn you into a machine with no freedom to do the things you want to do.

9. For routine, day-to-day decision making, it is best to wait until you have acquired all relevant information and data before making a decision.

10. How you manage your time will directly influence your effectiveness in supervising, communicating with and motivating your colleagues.

FALSE

FALSE

TRUE

High Importance

High Urgency

LowImportance

Low Urgency

4321

NEEDS ACTIONNOW!

TYPICAL INTERRUPTIONS

REFLECTION and

PLANNINGfor the future

TRIVIA

A Priority Matrix

This matrix can be used to analyse a day’s/week’s work.In which quadrant do the key issues re Teaching and Learning occur?

TIPS ON DIARY

KEEPING•Keep it in a visible place.•A week in view gives a clearer perspective.•Make entries yourself.•Use the diary in association with a school year

wall planner.•Make lists of tasks and tick them off as you do them.•Cluster similar entries – appointments, phone calls, etc• Enter follow-up intentions – 2,3,4 weeks afterwards.•When starting a new day, check for previous tasks

that were not completed.

TIPS ON TIMEWrite ‘must do later’ on a notepad to save energy and free up headspace.Delegate.Manage your diaryDon’t act on impulse – check your actions with your goalsDehydration lessens concentration and brings distractions –

drink water!Re-focus after interruptions.Deal with the unpleasant tasks first; see the easier tasks as a

reward – a form of delayed gratification!Regularly check priorities – especially re Teaching and Learning.Divide overwhelming tasks into chunks and do one at a time.Learn from experience –– How will I do it better next time?School work can expand to fill all the available space, so ....Exercise!Plan SMART: Small, Manageable, Achievable, Realistic Targets