A report on a visit to Daventry William Parker School in Northamptonshire, U.K. : 3rd November – 14th November 1997

Abstract

“Educational Administration may be defined as the organization and leadership of all community personnel concerned with public education in such a manner as will effectively make for sound education within the framework of policy set by a Board of Education” (Stoops & Rafferty, 1961, p. 7). “Educational Management is the particular process of relating resources to objectives required in organisations which explicitly exist to provide education” (Paisey, 1981, p. 3). The Diploma in Education (Administration & Management) course, offered by the University of Malta, which we are currently following, has not only enabled us to merge Theory and Practice in Educational Administration and Management, but has also given us the unique opportunity to observe and report on an Educational System which is different from our local setting. This was accomplished by a two-week visit to Daventry William Parker School – a Comprehensive Secondary School in the UK. Following a discussion with some of our lecturers about the opportunity of a visit to a foreign school, we took the initiative to search for schools on the Internet. After browsing through a list of OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education) reports on British Schools, we selected DWPS in Ashby Road, Daventry, Northamptonshire NN11 5QE. Our visit to DWPS offered a variety of activities and experiences amongst which were: 1. Daily lectures by the Headteacher, Mr. D. Johnson on the UK educational system ; headship in the UK ; various aspects of school management with special emphasis on DWPS 2. Visits organised for us by the Headteacher to Falconer’s Hill Infant School (5-7 years) ; Abbey Junior Primary School (8-10 years) ; Danetre Secondary Comprehensive School ; Daventry Tertiary College 3. Meeting with Senior Area Education Officer (Mr. A.L. Wilkinson) ; Chief Local Education Authority (LEA) Inspector for Northamptonshire, Mr. T. Richardson ; Careers Advisor for ‘Careerpath’ Northampton (Fram Bartlett) 4. Attendance in meetings including School Governors’ Meeting ; Head of Departments Meetings ; Head and Deputy Heads’ Scheduled Meetings ; Weekly Staff Briefing held every Friday ; Curriculum Development Meeting ; Pastoral Committee Meeting ; Meeting between Head and Deputy Heads of DWPS with Head and Senior Staff Member of Danetre School and Senior Area Education Officer ; Special Needs Monitoring Group Meeting 5. Participation in other activities : Open Evening ; Careers Presentation Meeting (Year 11) This unique first-hand opportunity gave us a wider perspective of school decentralisation and how a school can be effectively and independently managed and administered.