The declining performance of Philippine schools to continues to be a pressing issue. Elementary and high school students are doing poorly in standardized tests, English proficiency is dwindling.

Some sectors point to brain drain. The good teachers are all going abroad, in search for higher-paying jobs. Education courses receive low priority in the academe compared with nursing, engineering, and technology programs. Education graduates can no longer be found in schools, they are in call centers which pay more.

Mrs. Lilia Vengco, the pioneering principal of La Salle Canlubang and PAASCU chairperson identifies leadership as a key issue that should be examined in addressing the problem of declining school performance.

“Effective school leaders are the key to successful schools. A high-performing school has school leaders who can lead it to success,” Vengco says.

Unfortunately, good school leaders are also very hard to find. Vengco says there are those who have master’s degrees in administration but who do not have adequate managerial experience or who lack leadership qualities to be an effective school administrator. There are many excellent teachers who turn out to be poor school managers.

On the other hand, there are excellent principals but they fail to train successors. These administrators leave the school without what Vengco defines as a “reliable leadership development system that continuously develops people who have proven records of raising student performance, establishing high faculty and staff morale and attaining excellent academic achievements.”

AHEAD Professional Network (AHEADPro), a new training division of AHEAD Learning Systems, recognizes the need for principals – from both public and private schools, to undergo training and re-training. Last July, AHEADPro held the leadership Strategies for School Managers (LESSM) seminar-workshop at La Salle Green Hills in Mandaluyong City. The seminar was attended by over 90 principals and representatives from the Department of Education. Also a speaker was Dr. Cornelia Soto, Ph. D. of the Ateneo Graduate School.

The leadership seminar gave participants specific tools for leading and managing schools. It helped them enhance leadership skills by making them aware of their leadership behaviors.

To continue what they have started, AHEADPro mounts another round of LESSM in Baguio (Sept. 29 and 30); Cebu (Oct. 20 and 21); and Davao (Nov. 24 and 25). For more information about training for teachers and principals, call 486-0034 to 36.