It has been a roller coaster ride for the educational industry to adjust to remote operations. Although the lifestyle of digital demand is intriguing, to be honest, it does come with some hidden challenges, especially for organizations and employees who are used to function in a traditional setup.
The challenges of working remotely from home to maintain the quality of administrative leadership and management did stem multiple confusion and difficulty. Not only the teachers needed to make adjustments to provide quality education to the students, administrative staff and other members too needed to navigate this time carefully.
However, we like to believe whenever there are challenges, there are solutions for the problems too, and here are some of the prime challenges and their solutions for school staff who are riding the boat of working from home:
Built Up Feeling Of Isolation
The factor of motivation has a greater impact on our lives than we think of. One of the challenges of working remotely from home is the feeling of separation from the rest of the team. Though Videoconferencing does help, face-to-face interaction with colleagues and sharing stories can never be replaced by those zoom calls. Plus, it is difficult to keep up with productivity and rhythm of work when staffs are unmotivated.
Solutions:
- Host zoom meeting at least once a month with the team for checking up, or/and celebrate birthdays and important days - teachers day and other related national celebratory days.
- Create a routine in daily life and maintain a dress code – keep it homely but avoid pajamas.
Disruption In Coordination &Communication
The functioning of a school is majorly dependent on the administrative staff. It is an entire system that is run by teachers, principal, and other essential staff members. Staying connected with the team on a regularly basis to maintain the flow of communication and to keep up with the chain of coordination did get affected by people working from home. Easy access to each other can has greatly impacted team communication.
Solutions:
- Using a centralized medium of communication (management software) can help to maintain team coordination and connection.
- Arranging meetings whenever needed.
Concerns Of Quality & Consistent School Performance
Although many schools are familiar with hybrid learning and the use of technology in the classroom, a total withdrawer from physical access has been another major issue. Supporting students’ learning process, going online, keeping it all in place has definitely troubled overall school performance. The administrative leadership and management approach indeed needed to take a 360-degree turn to adjust to the new normal. Not only school administrators are dealing with a lot to continue with classes, but students’ academic progress, keeping their parents on track, conducting important meetings, all of these togetherhave been a huge challenge.
Solutions:
- Utilize virtual mediums including social media to be communicative to parents.
- Use learning management platforms to maintain digital classrooms.
- Teachers can take advantage of project-based learning during this time and evaluate students through assignments.
- Give multiple scope and options for both students and their parents to communicate with the teachers and administrative staff.
Interruption In Work-Life Balance
Home is essentially a place for tethering personal life. By moving work to our home many school staff members are finding it difficult to either staff are having to overwork or ending up with confusion to draw healthy boundaries. office hour can easily get blurred with this, it may even seem like there are no specific working works.
Solutions:
- The physical working space can be separated, essentially outside the bedroom.
- Keep working hours as working hours and work during daytime.
- Include the usual office break hours like tea breaks, lunch breaks, etc.
- Ask family members to respect working hours and space.
- In case of shared workspace, keep a clear division between each other.
Surely, with the advancement of technology working from anywhere has been so much easier. Essential it is in fact very much doable. However, we also need to create a mindset of authenticity and an attitude of responsibility. If school staff members can create such an outlook towards their job role, the swelled up challenges of working remotely from home can be navigated with the right approach. And Diploma in Educational Administration and Management can set the tone of 21st century’s educational professionals.
Written By : Aditi Radhakrishnan
