MICO University College is to position itself as the institution to train Jamaica's school principals, even as the education ministry solidifies plans to enhance the management of the island's schools.

Frank Weeple, executive director of the Education Transformation Unit, said that already a concept paper had been prepared on the proposed leadership training programme.

"The main determinant of the quality of a school is its leadership and management," Weeple told the Observer.
"We want to broaden the training to develop leadership teams, to have succession planning by identifying aspiring leaders of schools to make sure they are equipped (for the job)," he said.

His sentiments on leadership in schools echoed those of Mico's principal, Dr Claude Packer.

"It is a concept of mine that schools are failing in Jamaica, many of them because of leadership. We need to also run schools as businesses such that principals need to be able to manage money (and) human resources to make the school a much more efficient place," Packer said.

It is against this background, he said, that Mico was preparing to roll out a slate of courses tailored to suit the needs of the 21st-century principal.

"We are preparing so we can produce the ideal principal. It is more than management; it is leadership and we hope we can create that centre of excellence and couple that with how you manage money because money is becoming a scarce commodity," Packer told the Observer. "Gradually funds are drying up from government and so we will have to find money to run schools."
As such, he said Mico's offerings will address:

. the management of subvention funds;
. information, communication and technology;
. speech and proposal writing;
. governance and estate management; as well as
. health and wellness.

The programme, Packer said, will complement the existing Diploma in School Administration, which was recently upgraded to a degree programme.

"So we have started in a sense. We are now extending that (degree programme) into an Executive Master's in Education Management," he said.

At the same time, Packer said courses would be so structured to allow current principals to study at Mico and earn their qualifications over time.

"Principals don't have time to spend a year or two years (at a time). They can come for a day or a week. And after a number of credits, that will matriculate into a degree," he said.

Weeple, in the meantime, said that while existing efforts to train principals had made an impact, the leadership college would prepare prospective school heads before they were appointed.

"The leap from being a vice-principal to being a principal is actually huge. You need a whole new basket of skills to do the job and so we want to be more proactive in that respect," he said.

Weeple, recruited from the United Kingdom to head the education transformation programme under the previous administration, said several countries had similar leadership institutions in which all aspiring principals had to be accredited.

"We're moving towards a pre-principal qualification, as it's done in other countries where you cannot become principal unless you have this qualification," he said.

The focus of the leadership college would likely be less about academics but rather looking at the development of individuals and qualities needed to become leaders.
"What we are wanting to do is to really have a national qualification that would be a requirement for principals and what we are looking at is different models of facilitating that," Weeple said. "It would draw on the generic skills of other successful leaders, such as those in the private sector, as well as successful principals to ensure their expertise and experience is shared."

He did not rule out the idea of Mico assuming at least some of the leadership training, once the details have been ironed out.

"We have been talking to a number of institutions, including Mico," he said. "What we are wanting to do is to really have a national qualification that would be a requirement for principals and what we are looking at is different models of facilitating that."

Weeple added that while the team was looking at successful systems in other countries, the model for the leadership college would have to be customised for Jamaica.
"We're not inventing wheels here, but it's not about imposing something that works somewhere else", he said.

The project would likely be funded by one of multilateral lending agencies, as more than one had shown interest in the plan, Weeple said.

- Additional reporting by Luke Douglas

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