Qualities Needed to be an Effective Education Leader

Richard N. Laxamana

In this time of crisis, the most essential way to be an effective leader in the field of education is to emulate Jesus Christ Himself.

Jesus was an empowering teacher to His listeners who were mostly ignorant, subservient, or poor. In a relatively short period, Jesus transformed the common people into courageous citizens, committed to improve their small community. This perspective becomes clearer when we consider teaching as a vocation, not a career; as a calling to serve generously.

Such Jesus-like attributes are urgently needed in the present conditions of education in the Philippines.

A teacher-leader must be honest, from the very start.

Will he teach, even when his more-than-fifty students are the unruliest or the slowest to comprehend? Will he still teach passionately, even when his salary is just enough to supply his/ her basic needs?

If yes, then he is a leader.

Also related to honesty is integrity. Integrity is being whole; to be as one, not compartmentalized. As C.S. Lewis once said: “Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching.” Most students often ask among themselves: “Does our teacher practice what he teaches us?

Does he really know what he is talking about?” In such a case, the students will feel his lack of sincerity, or erosion of integrity, a lip-service to honesty.

Just like inspiration and hope, the other positively contagious attributes are commitment, passion, and courage. In a third-world country, the commitment and passion of the public-school teacher are easily eroded.

Thus, a teacher who lacks motivation is a teacher who is just dragging himself with the tasks of teaching.

Given the choice between being right and being kind, the teacher-leader must prefer to be kind. When he is right, he will begin to love to be always right or correct; then non-consciously he will gradually begin to isolate himself.

When he is kind, or makes more instances to be kind or generous, he will gain more teacher-followers who are cooperative and who will help make easier his responsibilities in school administration.

To be a teacher-leader is a temporary privilege, a passing yet-renewable chance to serve the fellow teachers, the students, and the support staff. May the teacher then acknowledge that his stint as a teacher-leader has transformed him to be more like our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Greatest Teacher of all time. *****

The author is Teacher III at Angeles City National Trade School

The duties of administrative assistants revolve around managing and distributing information within an office.

This generally includes answering phones, taking memos and maintaining files. Administrative assistants may also be in charge of sending and receiving correspondence, as well as greeting clients and customers.

To name some of the skills that Administrative Assistants must have are as follows, communication skills both in written and verbal ; prioritization and problem-solving.; organization and planning; research and analysis; processing of papers, and phone etiquette.

But more than the above-mentioned duties, administrative assistant serves as the backbone of an organization.

They know and perform everything about an executive work and it's not just administrative work.

They know what the executive needs, how they think, and they know without having to ask them what they need to do.

They also juggle a lot of tasks at any given time and keeping everything in order.

They are highly valuable to the smooth running of an organization and even think out-of-the-box in planning the day-to-day tasks that must be accomplished. Indeed their presence in the workplace cannot be underestimated.

They contribute a lot in any endeavour and for the success in accomplishing tasks in the workplace. *****

The author is Administrative Officer II at San Matias National High School