Chapter 9: The School Head in School-Based Management (SBM)

What is school-based management?

 It is a decentralized management initiative by developing power or authority to school

heads, teachers, parents, and students.

 (SBM) is a strategy to improve education by transferring significant decision-making

authority from DepEd Central Office, regional offices, division offices to individual
schools

 SBM provides principals, teachers, students, and parents greater control over the
education process by giving them responsibility for decisions about the budget,
personnel, and the curriculum.

 Through the involvement of teachers, parents, and other community members in these
key decisions, SBM can create more effective learning environment for children.

SBM and the Principle of Subsidiarity

 SBM is in keeping with the principle of subsidiarity which states that it is the people at
the lowest level who will know best their problems and so are in the best position to
address the same.

 This tenet holds that “nothing should be done by a larger and more complex organization
which can be done as well by a smaller and simpler organization.”

 “In other words, any activity which can be performed by a more decentralized entity
should be done by that more decentralized entity.”

 Those in the higher echelon are far removed from the scene and are therefore not as
involved and as informed as those from those below.

Advantages of SBM

The following are strengths of SBM:

 Allow competent individuals in the schools to make decision that will improve
learning;
 Give the entire school community a voice in key decisions;
 Focus accountability for decisions;
 Lead to greater creativity in the design of programs;
  Redirect resources to support the goals developed in each school;
 Lead to realistic budgeting as parents and teachers become more aware of the
school’s financial status, spending limitations, and the cost of its programs; and
 Improve morale of teachers and nurture new leadership at all levels

 Through SBM, decision making authority is devolved to school heads, parents and students.
This is school empowerment. This reduce bureaucratic controls on schools and encourage
school heads, teachers and parents to use greater initiative in meeting the needs of students
and community. This result in a sense of community school ownership which makes the
school realize its vision and mission.

 Involving stakeholders—parents, teachers, students and other member of the community—is

also helpful in mobilization of local resources to complement public resources. Concrete
proof of this is the number of classrooms built as a result of the strong partnership between
schools and communities and successful school community program like those described in
the Chapter on The School and the Community.

 Through SBM, problems and needs at the school level get solved faster and specific
personalities and cultures are taken into consideration. These personalities and cultures are
usually ignored in multi-layered in hierarchical organization like DepEd. In hierarchical
organization, straight jacket rules, procedures and allocation norms are given and apply to all.
It takes time to solve problems if schools have to wait for answers from above. As a result,
teachers, parents and students are frustrated due to delays.

 In SBM, schools take responsibility to plan and implement their School Improvement Plans
(SIP). It is the schools themselves, not DepEd higher offices that know best their problems
and the solutions to these problems. It is the schools that determine the number and kind of
teachers they need, the kind of learning materials and resources they need.

 Since school are given more power to direct themselves, they are made accountable for
results. SBM makes schools accountable to stakeholders.

Legal Basis of SBM

 The Philippine Constitution provides that Congress shall enact a local government code that
will institutionalize a system of decentralization (Article 10, Sec. 3) whereby local
government units shall be extended more power, authority....The Local Government Code
in 1991 is a fulfillment of this Constitutional provision.
 This means that long before the Department of Education (DepEd) legally introduced
decentralization in schools through School-Based Management (SBM) in 2001 through the
enactment of RA 9155, local government units were already empowered for local
governance. RA 9155, Basic Governance Act transfers the power and authority as well as the
resources to the school level.

Conditions for the Success of SBM

1. Teachers, school head must be given the opportunity to make choices. They must actively
participate in school improvement planning.
2. The involvement of parents and teachers must be strongly encouraged and highly welcomed.
3. Stakeholders must participate in the development of a School Improvement Plan. They must
have a say on resource allocation to meet specific needs.
4. Higher authorities must actively encourage thoughtful experimentation and innovation in an
atmosphere where mistakes are viewed as learning experiences. They must be willing to
share their authority with the academic and the larger community.
5. Teachers must develop reflection, problem solving.

In addition, based on international experience, the following must be present for SBM to
succeed in schools:

• have basic resources;

• have developed an effective school support system;
• are provided with regular information on their performance;
• are given advice on how they may improve; and
• emphasize the motivational element in the management work of the principal

The success of SBM very much depends on the school head. Here are his/her functions:

Functions Knowledge/Skills,
Roles
Attitude Required
Visionary principal, motivator, Lead in setting the vision, Change and future orientation
advocate and planner mission and goals of the school

Builder of networks and Organize/expand school, Networking, organizing, social

support system community and local mobilization, advocacy
government networks and
groups that will actively
participate in school
improvements

Lead in developing the School Development of teamwork,

 Improvement Plan with the building consensus and skills
participation of the staff and in negotiation and conflict
the community resolution

Lead in developing and Participatory planning and

maintaining the School administrative management
Management Information
System

Generation and use of data

and information as basis for
planning and management

Curriculum developer Create a physical and Development of collective

psychological climate accountability for school and
conducive to teaching and student performance
learning

Localize and implement school Designing of the curriculum to

curriculum address both national goals,
local needs and aspirations

Encourage development and Creation of an open learning

use of innovative instructional system based on several
methods focused on improving resource materials rather than
learning outcomes, increasing on single textbooks
access to basic education,
improving the holding power Participatory and peer-based
of schools and addressing instructional supervision
specific local problems

Fiscal Resource Manager Administer and manage all Fund management

personnel, physical and fiscal
resources of the school

Encourage and accept Serving as model for

donations, gifts, bequests and transparency and
grants for educational purposes accountability especially in
and report all such donations to financial management
the appropriate offices
Factors of School Effectiveness Based on Research

 Effective practices need to be institutionalized for them to become part of the school culture.
To build professional capacity and establish mechanism that supports the continuing quality
improvement of schools is an assurance that effective schools even become more effective.
 School-Based Management (SBM) is the mechanism introduced by the Department of
Education in the Philippines to continuously work on effective schools. As the term implies,
in SBM, schools are given greater autonomy to make decisions regarding education of
children.
 The research finding of OECD confirms "that school autonomy has a positive relationship
with student performance when account ability measures are in place and/or when school
principals and teachers, collaborate in school management" (OECD, 2012). China and
Singapore have been "devolving more responsibility to the school level" (Stewart, 2008). In
Finland, accountability rests on the trust placed by families and government in the
professional competence of teachers (Stewart, 2008).
 In the Philippines, the devolving of more responsibility to the schools was done through the
School-Based Management (SBM). SBM was introduced during the implementation of the
Third Elementary Education Project (TEEP), 1999-2005. In 2005, TEEP conducted a study
to determine the effect of school-based management on student performance in the -
Philippines using the administrative dataset of all public schools in 23 school districts over a
3-year period, 2003-2005.
 The results showed that the introduction of SBM had a statistically significant, although
small, overall positive effect on average school-level test scores in 23 school districts in the
Philippines.
 With SBM, significant decision-making authority was transferred from state and district
offices to individual schools. SBM provided principals, teachers, students, and parents
greater control over the, education process by giving them for decisions about the budget,
personnel, and the curriculum.
 Through the involvement of teachers, parents, and other community members in these key
decisions, SBM can create more effective learning environments for children.
 To further strengthen the School-Based Management (SBM) practice and re-emphasize the
centrality of the learners and the involvement of relevant community in basic education
service delivery, the Department of Education (DepEd) embarked on revisiting the SBM
framework, assessment process and tool to improve on already recognized successful SBM
practices across the regions (DO 83, s. 2012).
Philippine Accreditation System for Basic Education (PASBE)

• The institutionalization of SBM was strengthened with the introduction of the Philippine
Accreditation System for Basic Education (PASBE) which was launched through DepED
Order No. 64, s. 2012.
• To institutionalize decentralization' efforts at the school level and in line with Republic
Act No. 9155 also known as Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001, the Department
of Education (DepEd) provided School-Based Management (SBM) Grants as additional
funds to public elementary and secondary schools,.. to augment the school fund on
Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (DO 45, s. 2015).
• The institutionalization of SBM was strengthened with the introduction of the Philippine
Accreditation System for Basic Education (PASBE) which was launched through DepED
Order No. 64, s. 2012.
• Accreditation is a process of self-evaluation and peer review to ensure that quality
standards agreed upon by stakeholders are understood, implemented, maintained, and
enhanced for continuous improvement of learner outcomes (DepEd DO 20, s. 2013 -The
Philippine Accreditation System for Basic Education (PASBE) Supplemental Guidelines
to DepEd Order No. 83, S. 2012).

 The agreed upon standards of quality or effective schools are grounded on the four principles
of A Child-and -Community -Centered Education Systems (ACCESs), namely:

1. Principle of collective leadership

2. Principle of community-based learning
3. Principle of accountability for performance and results
4. Principle of convergence to harness resources for education

 The school's level of SBM practice can either be:

 Level I- Developing
 Level II - Maturing
 Level III – Advanced

A school that reaches the highest level of SBM practice qualifies for an accredited status.
  A school in Level I, developing, means that the school is developing structures and
mechanisms with acceptable level and extent of community participation and impact
on learning.
 A school in Level lI, described as Maturing, means that the school is introducing and
sustaining continuous improvement process that integrates wider community
participation and significantly improve performance and learning outcomes.
 Level III, Advanced (Accredited) means that the school is ensuring the production
of intended outputs/outcomes and meeting all standards of a system fully integrated in
the local community and is self-renewing and self-sustaining.

Factors that Contribute to School Effectiveness

Research findings point to the following factors that spell school effectiveness:

1. Human factors – These include a dynamic school head, highly selected competent and
committed teachers, highly motivated pupils with high expectations, and a supportive
community.
 2. Non- human factors, processes – These refer to clear and shared vision-mission (focus),
high expectations/ ambitious standards, emphasis on accountability, aligned curriculum,
instruction and assessment with state / DepEd standards, efficiency or optimal utilization
of resources and facilities, collaboration and communication, focused professional
development, and global and future orientation.

 In the Philippines, the practice of School-Based Management, gave greater autonomy to

schools to make decisions in collaboration with parents and community towards greater
school effectiveness. The SBM Assessment Tool is an instrument used to assess schools'
effectiveness and its use for accreditation of schools is an assurance that effective practices
get institutionalized to build the schools' culture of excellence. A copy of this SBM
Assessment Tool is in Appendix A.

 The heart of all these elements, both human and non-human is the school head, the school
leader. This means that all these factors that contribute to school effectiveness come forth
only with a dynamic and a transformational school leader.

Application-Let’s Apply

1. Form 4 groups. Each group will do a Powerpoint presentation to explain one of the ff 1)
meaning, 2) advantages, 3) disadvantages and 4) demands of SBM.

a. Meaning

• SBM means school-based management. It is the empowerment of schools to direct their

own affairs for high performance.
• It involves the school head leading his/her teachers, students, parents and other members
of the community to address problems and concerns with the ultimate goal of improving
school performance. It is based on the principle of subsidiarity which states that it is those
who are most involved at the lowest level of the organization who can best solve their
problems.

b. Advantages

 Allows competent individuals in the schools to make decisions that will improve
learning;
 Gives the entire school community a voice in key decisions;
 Practices focuses accountability for decisions;
 Demands greater creativity in the design of programs
 Redirects resources to support the goals developed in each school;
 Leads to realistic budgeting as parents and teachers become more aware of the school's
financial status, spending limitations, and the cost of its programs;
  Improves morale of teachers and nurtures new leadership at all levels.

c. Disadvantages

 Participatory decision-making needs time and may slow down process

d. Demands of SBM

 Active and intelligent participation of stakeholders

 Democratic and transformative leadership of school head
 Support and openness of higher authorities to schools

Prepared by:

Mark John L. Rodelas

Mary Rose Rejano