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A Book Review – Educational Leadership in Pakistan: Ideals and Realities

All about the Book

This is the first ever book on educational leadership, published in Pakistan. Dr. Jan-e-Alam Khaki and Dr. Qamar Safdar are the editors of this book. The book consists of a series of empirical studies undertaken by qualified educational researchers in Pakistan, associated directly or indirectly with AKU-IED. There are various thought provoking and insightful topics in this book; each complements our learning experiences. The book is divided into four sections and fourteen chapters; each section and chapter is intertwined with each other and illuminates issues and its remedial measures. Section one describes the development of education leadership in Pakistan. The second sections deals with the Diversity of Leadership: perceptions and practices of leadership in Pakistan. The third session looks at the role of the educational change agents, and the fourth sections explores the future prospects of educational leadership in Pakistan. In order to get in-depth insights from the book, we decided to focus on first two sections and reviewed initial six chapters.

In first chapter, Dr. Sajid Ali and Muhammad Babur highlight the issues and nature of governance during pre and post independence. Structure of education during British and after independence is analytically compared. Chapter indicates that involvement of educational leadership is missing in both periods, causing various issues in education system, ineffective management and indistinct teaching methodologies, etc. In the second chapter, Zubaida Bana reflects upon the understanding of effective leadership. Using the Katha (storytelling) approach, she starts the discussion pints of a headteacher who imaginatively discovers the meanings in allegories and metaphors in order to understand the roles and responsibilities of an effective education leader in his/her school. Katha of leadership described in this chapter stimulates our minds that every person has the capacity to lead. Some may lead in wider space; others may lead in smaller landscape.

The third chapter is all about of a female pedagogical leader’s journey in a traditional context in Pakistan. The writer reflects upon the critical incidents, she came across in her personal to professional life, which helped or impede her way to become a pedagogical leader. The notion of ‘leader as a bridge between management and stakeholders’ and ‘leader as a life-long learner’ is evident from her story. In the fourth chapter, Qamar Safdar explores the roles of two effective headteachers of early years in two private schools. The writer reflects on the capacity and ability for the overall development of children. The chapter 5, deals with an ethnographic study conducted by Mola Dad Shafa in a rural context of northern areas of Pakistan. The author discusses the challenges the headteachers faced and the way addressed them. The chapter six, ‘Effective School Leadership Practices’ is a doctorial research of Dr. Jan-e-Alam Khaki. In this case study, Khaki explores the roles and beliefs of three effective secondary school headteachers and their influences on the teaching and learning practices in schools.

Key Learning from the Book

Being a student of Teacher Education, I was very unfamiliar with different kinds of leadership and its characteristics. The very first time, in our PL course, I heard the terms instructional, moral, transformational, participative, managerial, contingent and pedagogical leadership. But these terms were not much clear to me; I mostly thought them as just theories with no connection with practical life of a leader. This book review provided me with access not only to understand and differentiate in different kinds of leadership, but also relate it with real-life situations.

I have learnt many new things about effective leadership from this book, but due toe limited word limit I will describe some crux of it. While analyzing the first chapter of the book, I feel the same that governance and planning has the role in deteriorated education system in Pakistan. It takes a lot of time in planning and framing the policy, then sending it to the national assembly and senate for debate and translating it into the law. Then piloting of the policy takes long time and when it comes to be implementation, the government gets changed and so the policy. It creates the environment of despair, but when I go through the second chapter (Katha of Leadership), it gives a hope. Here, I learnt that nothing is unachievable in this world. Every person is capable to contribute in the process of change and everyone has capacity to lead. We should not stay waiting for any cosmos power to come to help us; it is high time for everyone to come forward and lead.

The third chapter of the book was the most inspiring and learning factor for me. Here, I learned that how a person (particularly a woman), with her/his strong will, sincerity and zeal breaks the chains of traditional rules. While reading that article, I was deeply thinking that someone has to initiate and take the first step toward the collective development. This article took me in my own context, where female is still considered as the property of the man and only the reproductive machine. Education, even the good food is the sole right of male child. Here, my elder sister (who could not get education herself) by sending her daughter into school, proved herself as traditional rule breaker. Some of other females start following her foot-steps by sending their daughters to the schools. Ten years back, there was no single literate girl in my village, but due to that small step, more than forty to fifty girls have completed their primary education so far. Besides it, I also learnt that leader is life-long learner. He/she learns through self-reflection and negotiating and discussing the issues with others and seeking guidance from them.

Overall, this book serves as a pioneer of exploring our thinking about our own role as a leader and proves to be a best resource for the policy makers to develop alternative approaches to deal with school and teaching and learning practices.

Conclusion

This book very obviously describes the role of leadership and management in an educational organization. A leader being a role model should motivate and encourage the staff because performance and commitment of people employed in any organization makes it effective. Through critical analysis of the book, I came to know that this book possesses stories and cases from Pakistani context so many of the ideas suit my own. So, it would be easier for my future role as a teacher educator to deal with the school management and leadership related issues in an effective manner.

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5 P’s of a Successful Home Based Business

Achieving a successful home based business stands out as the goal of any home business entrepreneur. One can find numerous tips, ebooks, and websites that provide advice regarding how to do it. But I believe that all this information, as important and as required as it is, can be grouped into five broader categories. You need a purpose, passion, a plan, persistence in carrying out that plan, and patience to wait for the plan to work.Purpose- The first step is easy. It’s the reason you went looking for a successful home based business to start with. Write down the reasons you want or need to work from home as well as what you will do with the extra income you make. Read these reasons aloud first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. You may even put pictures on a poster board to remind you of what you will do with the extra income and place it somewhere in the house where you will see it regularly. Think of them during the day. Doing this will lead naturally to the next step, which is passion.Passion- Napoleon Hill said, “Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.” When you develop a strong purpose or desire to work at home, it will lead to a deep, burning passion to succeed. That desire will carry you through failures, by people who tell you can’t do it, and it will help overcome your own doubt. One thing that is hardly ever mentioned to those who are starting their home based business is the need for personal development. A person needs to grow just like their business grows.Plan- Everyone knows the saying, “He who fails to plan, plans to fail.” That holds true for a successful home based business. I don’t know how many people, including myself, have started a home business opportunity without having any idea, or attempting to get an idea, of what to do to be a success. The way to develop a plan is beyond what I will attempt to say here but I will make 4 points. First, the plan needs to written down. A written plan holds a person accountable and gives you a track to run on. Secondly, utilize a mentor, if possible, that will help you come up with a written business plan. A mentor can be someone involved your home based business, someone who already has a successful home based business, or it may be someone that will do it for a fee. Thirdly, the plan should be goal oriented. Goals need to be specific and have a definite date for completion. And finally, be fairly flexible with your plan. You may need to make some modifications to it especially if something just isn’t working. But the main thing is to keep a written plan in place at all times.Persistence- My favorite way to describe persistence is sustained effort. Once a plan is in place, it must be carried out, continually. Create a schedule to carry out your plan and do your absolute best to stick with it. Treat your own home based business like a full time job and eventually you’ll harvest the rewards of a full time occupation. Get the mindset that just as you have to go to your regular occupation on certain days at certain times, you need to work at your home based business on certain days at certain times.Patience- Finally, after the plan is created, and the schedule is laid out and you become persistent in carrying out your plan, you must be patient. This is a world of instant gratification. We want and can get most everything quick. But a successful home based business is not going to happen overnight. It has been said time and again that creating a successful home based business is really a marathon, not a sprint. Too many people quit just before they’re about to see results. Be prepared to stick it out for the long haul.I don’t know of a magic way to make money online. But I definitely believe that one can achieve a successful home based business by having a stated purpose, developing a burning passion to succeed, setting up a firm plan, being persistent in carrying out that plan, and by having the patience to wait for it to achieve its potential. And although there are hundreds of more detailed tips on creating a successful home based business, these are five easy ones to keep in mind.

Five Considerations of Hiring Property Managers

1. Management Fee
The property owner needs to understand the purpose of the management fee (typically 10%). The percentage management fee pays for the property manager’s time. The 10% allows someone else to help shoulder the burden of owning the property. The owner is paying for someone else to field 2:00 am calls. It is important to remember that the property manager cannot take all of the responsibility and burden off the owner. In the end, it is the owner’s property and the owner’s responsibility.

2. Interview
When hiring any professional, an interview will be conducted to hire the correct candidate and then the professional is left to alone to do their job. Working with a property manager is no different. During the interview process ask good questions; require forthright answers, hire the right candidate, and then get out of their way. If an owner is a high micromanager then they should hire a certain type property manager (see Property Manager categories below).

3. Personality fit
The owner’s personality has to fit the property manager’s systems and procedures. Sometimes owners will have difficulty with a property managers systems and procedures. If a property management company sets office hours between 9-5 Monday through Friday and owner wants an update on their property @ 6:00pm on a Friday evening they will have to wait until 9:00 am Monday. This may drive some owners crazy who want to be very involved in the day-to-day management. If this is the case they probably should hire a manager who will be more responsive to the owner’s needs.

4. Communication
Communication is a two-way street. It is not only the property manager’s responsibility to communicate effectively. Owners should understand they have to lead the property manager in how they expect the manager to manage the property.

Here’s an example: My wife is a director of marketing for a company. She has to be the leader in guiding and directing the advertising agency as to what she wants for the project. She cannot expect the advertising agency to try to guess what she wants in the project.

If your property manager is slow in returning your phone calls explain to them the level of communication you expect. In return, ask them how much communication they expect from you.

Many property managers would rather only communicate with you on as needed basis. Much more than this level of communication from the owner is overkill.

5. Property Manager Categories
While Property managers fall into three categories, the size of the property management company is neither better nor worse than the others. Choosing the size of property manager has more to do with the level of owner pampering and paperwork provided rather than a property manager being good or bad.

Small 1-50 units
Property managers in the small category are usually unlicensed with no training in property management. These managers will have more time for the property owner. This type of property manager is usually not much more than a handyman who will show and rent apartments. If a property owner wants to be hands on and needs to be updated on every specific action of the property this is the manager they should hire.

Pros:
These property managers have the time to cuddle and coddle the owner. They will provide the owner with receipts for repairs and nothing else in documentation.

Cons:
These managers will have no systems in place to and will not be able to negotiate vendor discounts. No 1099s and no accounting documents prepared for your accountant.

Medium 50-150 units

Pros:
These managers have more of a professional approach with the use of some systems. They have the purchase power to negotiate some vendor discounts.

Cons:
The paperwork may be enough for the owner to understand the numbers, but may not be enough information to submit to an accountant or to the IRS.

Large 150+

Pros:
Large companies have invested a lot of money in their systems procedures. They will have an in-house maintenance staff. Their accounting reports can be submitted to an accountant or the IRS.

Cons:
No time with the owner. Communication is very professional, but impersonal, done mostly through email and voicemail. Large management companies offer very little owner pampering and handholding. The downside: even owners who have been in real estate for many years still need some positive reinforcement once in a while.

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