5.50
Further consideration has been given to whether there should be a single Head for both sessions of a bisessional school, whatever the size, or one Head for each session of a large school. The former is preferred as it gives direct responsibility for the two sessions to one person and facilitates the most effective use of the premises and equipment. However it is accepted that in a very large school with up to 80 or more teachers it would be difficult for one person to take full responsibility in particular for the management of staff. Furthermore replacing two Heads by one would result in reducing the status of some to Deputy Heads. The present position of two Heads for larger schools is therefore accepted provided that one of them is made responsible for co-ordination and becomes the Senior Head of the partnership.
5.51
It must be emphasized that having a Head for each session in large schools in no way implies that the two sessions are to be considered as two separate schools. It is recommended that a bisessional school under a single management should be regarded as, and registered as, one school. It should have a uniform policy, for example, on such matters as the introduction of the 'learning-by-doing' approach, and staff should be shared between the two sessions of the school wherever necessary or appropriate. Accordingly, it is felt that staff numbers should be calculated on the basis of the whole school of two sessions even if an odd number of teachers results.
Teaching Duties of Heads
5.52
The Government considers that all Heads should in general teach about 10 periods per week except in very small schools where they may have to teach more periods than this. When the total number of periods taught by the Head and Deputy Head are added together they should approximate to a normal teaching load.
Salaries of Heads
5.53
It has been suggested that the present remuneration of primary school Heads does not adequately reflect the responsibilities they carry. In the standard 24-classroom school, the grade of the Head is Senior Assistant Master, who in addition to his salary receives a $200 monthly allowance. recommend for further consideration the question of whether this allowance reflects adequately the differences between his duties, which include responsibility for over 1,000 pupils, and those of an SAM in a secondary school.
We
5.54
The training courses provided by the Colleges of Education are not intended to train teachers to be Heads of schools, since they are unlikely to become Heads until a long time after they have finished the course. In-service training is provided by seminars organised by the Schools Division of the Education Department but this training is not conducted on a regular basis. It is considered that intensive in-service courses should be organised for primary school Heads. Contents of the courses should cover school administra- tion, leadership, and staff relationships, accounting, curriculum planning and development, extra-curricular activities, remedial teaching, visits to other primary schools and other relevant topics and activities. To be effective, the course should involve all Government and aided primary school Heads and should be conducted in small groups wherever possible. Completion of the course should in future be made a condition of promotion from Deputy Head to Head. Existing Heads should receive the proposed additional allowances on condition they attend the training course when required to do so.
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