Reforming school in Brunei

Reforming school in Brunei


Extreme caution: A file picture showing students setting up the robot at Robotech Olympiad competition at the PAP Hjh Masna Secondary School, Lambak Kanan. School reform should be carried out with extreme caution. No one is certain about the results of the intended and incidental actions brought about during the change.Picture: BT / Zamri Zainal
DR YONG CHEE TUAN
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Monday, January 5, 2009

STRATEGIC execution is an important component of strategic management in an organisation. Whether it is a for-profit or non-profit organisation, the change or the reform generally refers to the processes that support the strategic plan with defined objectives, indicators and targets. This plan must have considered all possible existing strengths and weaknesses of the internal environment including the board interaction with the school. The most commonly focussed areas are about structure, policies, systems, products, processes, finance, facilities, human resources and communications.

In assessing the internal environment, one must also identify the gaps between the existing conditions and the desired outcomes. These outcomes are about dealing with the external environment- tapping into the foreseeable opportunities or averting from the imminent threats. These external parameters are often related to the national and regional socio-economic development coupled with technological, environmental and political (STEP) changes.

During the process of strategic plan development, a number of iterative exercises on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, gaps, alignment, and desirable achievements of an organisation will need to be carried out. Some may conclude that the outputs would produce the most fitting strategic plan. Not quite, many consultants argue that these findings will vary according to the facilitator, leaders of the organisations, and any prevalent conditions. More interestingly, different set of prioritised issues being considered in the workshops will yield a different plan. Some sceptics dislike strategic study mainly because of this inconsistency and subjective arrangement for crafting a plan to suit a certain set of conditions.

From a commercial organisation perspective, this approach of creating change is necessary to garner confidence-employees, suppliers, customers and investors. New products, services or process improvements leading to cost reduction, efficiency, focus, and innovation are likely products of change. Total confidence is needed during turbulent times to effectively outperform the competitors.

But the limitation of this approach becomes noticeable when it is applied to non-profit organisations. The issues of bottom-line, growth, expansion and competitiveness are no longer the priorities. Customers are less likely to be influenced by cost leadership or differentiation strategies, and neither are quick fixes. Branding, consistency of purposes, improvement in the delivery of services and management stability are more critical in an NGO.

In the case of a school, reform should be carried out with extreme caution. No one is certain about the results of the intended and incidental actions brought about during the change. Effects in education improvement can only become visible over a number of cohorts of students. Meanwhile, providing any remedial intervention in between is made more difficult because of the lack of proper indicators.

Here, the author provides a glimpse of the major components of a school reform that is currently being implemented. The process begins at the board level- the fundamentals of decision-making are being examined and applied.

While consensual view is preferred, the board should adopt majority views of the members who should have equal access to information and adequate opportunities to hear and voice opinions.

At the end of the day, if a consensus cannot be reached, then the members shall respect the decision of the majority members, and adopt appropriate actions to support the decision. Naturally, the board needs to identify and embrace a set of shared values, priorities, and objectives of reform. Roles and responsibilities of subcommittees are defined and given adequate empowerment and resources.

The views of the subcommittees shall not be disregarded without proper deliberation.

More significantly, the strategic plan covers seven major initiatives:

1. Physical infrastructure development: It looks into the buildings, classrooms, labs, furniture, and information communication technology resources. For examples, use of projectors and multimedia systems are encouraged.

2. Academic reform: This examines the styles, pedagogies, psychologies and interactions of teaching and learning. The key concepts like "teach less, learn more", "immersive learning", and "be excited, have fun" are explored and introduced where appropriate.

3. Governance and management system: This provides clear guidelines on the administrative activities, communications, reporting mechanisms and authorisation. The basis of management system is continual improvement while maintaining consistency of purposes that are "balanced and objective".

4. Core and extra curricular activities: These areas are complementary to academic performance of students. Leadership, communication, presentation, analytical, artistic, and athletic capabilities are nurtured and promoted in the school.

5. Financial matters: Although these matters are directly related to governance and management system, they are separately classified because of the importance in the overall performance of a school. A school that is starved with finance is unlikely to provide meaningful incentives for change.

6. Interagency interactions: This component acts as a public affair or international office that deals with various levels of communications and involvement between the school and other national and international organisations. Teachers and students are now being encouraged to spend time in overseas institutions to acquire new skills and knowledge.

7. Human resource development: A component that focuses on the recognition of performance, motivation and training for teachers and staff. This is an area that requires the maximum support because the teachers are the front line change agents.

Strategically, the board shall attempt to reap low hanging fruits first and leverage on resources to gain benefits-for the students, teachers, parents and the society. This is not the time for complacency and leisure. Work hard and play well.

The author teaches Operations Management in the MBA Programme at UBD. He can be contacted at ctyong@fbeps.ubd.edu.bn

The Brunei Times