2974 CIN Seminar Macau
austraLasia #2974
 

School Middle Management Seminar, Macau
MACAU: 21 December 2011 -- A half-day workshop on school middle management was held in Macau on 19 December. The topic was how school middle management can use the Preventive System in function of leadership and a whole school approach for school development. More than 50 teachers joined the meeting. Most of them expressed the view that this seminar was beneficial to the management of the school. Mr. Chan Tak Hang, retired school principal and Fr. Simon Lam, Provincial of China Province were the speakers for the occasion.

Fr. Lam highlighted four core values of the Preventive System as the principle for school middle management. The first is internalization. For educators, if the values of the Preventive System are not recognized and internalized, they will not be effective. The second is prevention. Prevention does not refer to prohibition but the spirit of prevention. Only planting positive seeds in the hearts of the young, nurturing them with encouragement, support and companionship, can we achieve good results. The third is the building of family atmosphere. Building family atmosphere means that even if there are different opinions, we can still support each other at critical moments. The fourth is the most important core value - religion. This is the energy of Don Bosco to continue his educational mission. Moreover, this is the most important element for developing the whole person.

Mr. Chan shared his real-life experience and re-defined middle management in its different educational aspects. Firstly, it is not appropriate to apply industrial management principles to education as this is a matter of the heart which cannot be quantified. When we handle crisis at school and in individuals, alertness is crucial and preventive measures should be taken before it is too late. Being a middle manager, we should have a sense of self-evaluation to assess the effectiveness of our work. Mr. Chan said that he loves the phrase “Professional Retreat”. It implies stepping back, broadening the horizon and evaluating the situation, as well as external factors and influences.

After the seminar, participants obtained a better picture on how they could re-adjust their position in school middle management for the benefit of school development.