While the main priority of teachers is to continuously provide basic quality education to prepare them to become good citizens and abled contributors to the development of our country, these cannot be completely fulfilled without the assistance of the stakeholders in the schools. As such, equal efforts between the teachers, administrators, and stakeholders are expected since the school alone cannot completely instill the desired learning outcomes and social, moral, and ethical values in the learners without the support of the stakeholders.
But what exactly are stakeholders and why the need to strengthen partnerships between them and the school? Stakeholders are the support system to the goals of the Department of Education in providing quality, equitable, culture-based, and complete basic education and at the same time inculcating in them the love of the country. These include families, school administrators, and communities that bring about the seeds of morality, cultural values, social responsibilities, human affections, resources, and opportunities, for our learners. They are the springboards of expertise in skills and professions, and hobbies, among others. They are the sources of encouragement, optimism, and resilience.
Consequently, strengthening the bond between the school community and the stakeholders could create confident and competent learners in fulfilling their dreams. Several studies revealed that schools that developed a strong bond with stakeholders have the following:
1. higher number of performing students on grade level,
2. higher rate of parents’ involvement,
3. better support school reforms,
4. improved student assessment results,
5. higher rate of students attendance,
6. more learning opportunities outside of school.
The second question that comes to mind is how to build a strong partnership between the school and the stakeholders. With this, a recent study has found factors that promote strong partnerships with stakeholders. First, strong school leadership is required in a school head, for this plays a pivotal role in the formation of partnerships with the stakeholders. One must be a visionary with respect to the school and the role of the stakeholders in supporting such partnerships. Furthermore, the school head must also have the capacity to motivate his or her subordinates and be one with the stakeholders, having that talent for nurturing relationships with parents, teachers, government officials, religious organizations, and the community. Second, a welcoming school environment is advantageous to strengthening stakeholder partnerships. This means that stakeholders have always a choice to help the school in any way they want for the betterment of the learners and the school as a whole.
Third, the dedication of teachers to the success of the learners. Stakeholders become more involved and more willing to supply the needs of the school and the learners when they see the commitment of teachers to going the extra mile. Finally, interaction and teamwork. These two are found to also foster a strong partnership with stakeholders. Activities of the school that are communicated well are valued by stakeholders and the community and thus, working together, as a team, could easier way of doing those activities, projects, or programs of the school.
Having presented all these, for a school to strengthen its partnership with stakeholders, it must have those qualities and factors mentioned above. When these are met, then learners can have a better quality of life and become essential contributors to the economic progress and stability of the country.
Guru Press Cordillera would like to apologize for erroneously indicating Ms. Leah T. Alicog as the author of “Strengthening Partnerships with Stakeholders in the School” published in our previous weekly issue. The said article is authored by Ms. Lea Viteño Gayawet.
Our goal is to always ensure that articles contributed for publication are consistently tagged with their respective authors.
Again, we apologize for this error.
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