The headmaster makes use of its power of direction, coordination and enhancement of human resources in order to ensure the unitary management of the school institutions. He/she is responsible for the quality of the school practices and their impact on the students’ results. The fundamental tool the current legislation makes available is the Policy Act.
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he document is essential because it starts the whole process of planning, organization and self-evaluation of the school institution. The Policy Act is at the basis of the working-out of the Three-year Program of Studies (TYPS) and represents first an expression of the will of the manager who underlines the way to achieve an improvement in the quality of the education and training services provided by the school.The School Board is responsible for the final decision-making phase of the Plan, by verifying the consistency between the headmaster’s Policy Act and the drafting of the Three-year Program of Studies by the Teaching Board. With the Policy Act, the headmaster boosts the development of the TYPS by pointing out the main aims, the most effective methods, the directions and the most useful strategies for achieving results.
The points of reference of the drafting of the Policy Act are the evidences of the SAR (Self-Assessment Report). It focuses on the strengths and the weaknesses of the school institution and the resources to refer to in order to improve the school service, by analysing the area training offer, the requirements expressed by the context, through the dialogue with the representatives of the area (institutions, bodies and associations, working world).Actually, the Policy Act has the task of linking innovation to the microcosm and context in which the school operates, tracing the lines to define the paths and processes to be activated. A headmaster who believes in the effectiveness of a “leadership for learning” will make sure the Policy Act is the result of a listening and a sharing strategy with the school community, especially for the aspects relating to cultural choices, to expertise and education.
It should be emphasized, however, that the criteria for planning the professional, organizational and financial resources of the school institution the headmaster takes full responsibility of, must be stated in the Policy Act. The law references are in article 25 of the Legislative Decree 165/2001 enriched by article 1 paragraph 78 of Law 107/2015.My personal Policy Act favours, as a priority a relational and learning atmosphere based on WELLBEING deriving from the teacher’s support to the student in his/her learning path. The Teachers’ Board has to plan a Three-year Program of Studies (TYPS) in line with the expected learning and skills goals set by the National Guidelines for the 2012 Curriculum, with the requirements of the local context and the particular needs of the school shareholders.
Moreover, the Teachers’ Board has to make the suitable educational, curricular, extra-curricular and planning choices in order to avoid early school leaving phenomena and any form of discrimination, to strengthening inclusion and the right to pupils’ learning success. It needs to focus on special education and academic care for pupils who experience difficulties in learning related to different causes (deficit, disorders, and disadvantages) and to the personalization of experiences for the enhancement of excellent pupils.The TYPS has to guide the academic courses to the development of active and democratic citizenship skills through the enhancement of responsible behaviours, inspired by respect for legality, environmental sustainability, to enhance competences in non-verbal languages (music, art, physical education, technology), to intercultural education and to peace, respect for differences and dialogue between cultures and religions (Goals of Agenda 2030).The Program of Studies has to provide paths and actions to enhance the school as an active community, open to the territory and able to develop interaction with families and local community. Moreover, it has to implement actions to fight bullying and cyberbullying.
The teachers guarantees the quality of learning and they will play the role of qualified “facilitators” of learning through the choice of suitable teaching methods; aware of their delicate role, teachers will evaluate learners in a proactive and not purely ascertaining way, discovering and giving value to the pupils’ talents and attitudes. Due to the complexity of the processes mentioned above, as well as, the necessary transparency and readability of the same, the School will adopt a self-assessment system measuring the effectiveness of the educational-academic offer, through the drafting of the SAR (Self-Assessment Report) and the consequent POI (Plan of Improvement) whose data will be made public and accessible to all shareholders.
Clara Peruzzi, laureata cum laude in Lingue e letterature straniere presso l’Università degli Studi di Bari, Dirigente Scolastico presso il Secondo Circolo Didattico San Giovanni Bosco di Terlizzi (BA) e ex-docente di lingua inglese di scuola superiore a tempo indeterminato da ventisei anni, con esperienza quadriennale di lavoro presso le Nazioni Unite a Vienna (IEAE), nonché traduttrice in lingua inglese, francese e tedesca presso il Tribunale di Trani, è docente formatrice delle insegnanti di scuola primaria di lingua inglese specializzata in didattica della lingua, formatrice per corsi per adulti e ragazzi con certificazioni CAMBRIDGE di vario livello e referente esami TRINITY. Negli anni ha curato vari volumi collettivi e ha pubblicato “The First English Book for Teachers and Headmasters 100%”, “The English Book for nursery and primary school teachers”, “L’inglese per i docent di scuola primaria e dell’infanzia” e il videocorso “Let’s start learning English together- from 0 to B1”.