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School Administrators: Job Description, Education, Skills and Duties, Earnings and Outlook

Submitted by: paula

Job Overview School administrators are considered leaders in every school. They are responsible in planning and goal setting about matters related to educational, administrative as well as those counseling programs of the school. In addition, they also coordinate and evaluate activities of the different personnel in school, to include the teachers, counselors, and the school health personnel.They make sure that they strictly follow the guidelines and the activity plans, as well as the respective deadlines for each of the planned tasks, and work within the goals and objectives set collaboratively with the administrators. The number of school administrators employed in the Unites States is approximately around 442,000 atpresent. They are further classified into school district superintendetns, assistant superintendents, school principals, as well as the assistant prinicipals. Collectively, they are often called the school directors, or the headmasters.

Education, Knowledge and Trainings Required

As high level employees in the school system, the school administrators also have a high level of education and professional work experience. College praparatory courses that can be taken are as follows: English, Mathematics, Science, History. Computer science and Businesses courses may also help. As for the principals and the assistant principals, they are required to have a master's degree in educational administration. As for the superintendent and assistant superintendent positions, they are more often that not, required to have a doctoral level of education, and a considerable number of years of experience in educational administration. Lastly, for all levels of the school administrator position, it is mandatory that possess a license by passing a qualifying examination, possession of a graduate training and experience, as well as a good moral character certification.

Skills and Abilities

As administrators, the most important skills are those related to leadership and management. Skills in conflict management and personnel counseling are also needed. As they deal with different types of people, communication skills and interpersonal skills are highly regarded. Last and most importantly, they should possess a good analytical/critical thinking skills so as to be able to set goals and objectives and provide suggestions for tha plans and implementation.

Duties

The duties of school administrators in general, either in a public scool or a private school set up are to ensure that the entire school system is running efficiently and smoothly, and that the personnel are adhering to the goals and objectives set by the school administrators themselves. Their daily activities include creating plans, setting goals, supervising personnel and activities of the students, teachers,and other people assgined to carry out the plans within the set framework and moneray allowance.

As members of the school system with the most authority in running the school, they are in charge of monitoring the progress of the activites of the subordinates and instituting disciplinary actions as applicable.  Conflict management is also one of their functions, whenever conflict arises with the student, parents and other school personnel. In addition, they also participate in directing and coordinating educational, counseling, and administrative activities according to the standards set by the board of education, as well as the supervising superintendents. Others may be involved in hiring and assigning teachers, and ensuring continuous education and skills update.

Job Outlook and Earnings

The average earnings for a school administrator is around 74,000 U.S. dollars, on a rough estimate. The range of salary starts off from 33,000 to 100,000 U.S. dollars. There is also a very good job outlook for school administrators, as government has a continuous regard for its citizens' education and intellectual development.

Paula Hiz is a researcher and a human resource specialist who helps newly graduates, job applicants and post graduate professionals be aware of their job opportunities and available trainings for skills and practice upgrading.

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Word Count: 623 Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2010 Time: 7:06 AM


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