Chapter (2)

What is the nexus between visioning and planning?

Principles have many responsibilities, whether they were leaders or managers,

visioning and planning are among these responsibilities. Since the vision and the
plan are two of the four cornerstones for school improvement, effective
educational leaders are described as visionaries that inspire others to reach for
ambitious goals, while planning helps them to get the most out of the vision.

Visioning is drawing a picture of what the school should look like at a

designated point in the future. A school's vision is a statement of one or two
papers that announce to parents and students where the administration is heading,
and why they should cooperate. In fact, the absence of this image drives the
school to be reactive (responsive) rather than proactive (initiate a change and not
just reacting to events). Without vision school lack direction and everyone is left
to his or her own thoughts to imagine one, and everyone will think that he or she
is doing right. An effective school vision mainly focuses on creating the ideal
school rather than correcting existing problems, that's why a powerful vision
begins with key ideas, values, beliefs, and goals to be reached.

Generally, a school's vision should be realistic, credible, attractive and clear.

Besides, it shouldn't be created in a rush by one person, or a small group of
individuals away from the stakeholders; as this will lead to stress, distrust, and
leads to a vision that will eventually be ignored, and shelved beside the
improvement plan. Consequently, it's more helpful to have an idea of the staff
members' thoughts and internal dialogues and let them cooperate in drawing the
vision; this helps them cope with the change instead of feeling afraid of the
change. All staff members should recognize the vision as a common direction of
growth. It provides a destination that's supported by all or most of the
stakeholders. This common understanding drives the staff to align their
improvement efforts.

Effective school's vision provides the basis for school improvement which is
developed to a strategic improvement plan. In other words, visioning sets a
destination while planning sets goals and strategies to reach this destination. To
be more precise, planning has two different but related dimensions, one of them
is "process" which gives details about the sequences of the stages, the other is
"technique" and this gives details about the approaches to be used at each stage
and methods for reaching the goals.
 Although planning is considered an essential responsibility for principals, still
some of them haven't been eager to hold this responsibility and wanted to
mandate this assignment to others. Furthermore, it's less probable to reach and
achieve the school's vision if the principal fails to plan, or if he plans in isolation.

Making the correct decision, getting support and cooperation are the conditions
for a good, successful vision, while consensus is important in planning; and both
are cornerstones of successful school reform.

Resources:
Developing a Vision and a Mission . 2018. Developing a Vision and a Mission .
[ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/107042/chapters/developing -a-vision-
and-a-mission.aspx

Gabriel, G., 2009. How to Help Your School Thrive Without Breaking the Bank.
Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.

Kowalski, T., 2010. The School Principal: Visionary Leadership and Competent
Management. Taylor & Francis, Inc.