Awareness of the Benefits of Strategic Planning For Educational Institutions

This article aims to determine the benefits of strategic planning for Islamic educational institutions. The method used is a literature review, by collecting various supporting article references from national journals. The results of this study explain, if strategic planning can be made and implemented correctly and supported by leadership commitment, then strategic planning can provide benefits for Islamic educational institutions, including: (1) Strategic planning can strengthen the "critical mass" into a team that compact, because it is directed to adhere to basic values, main systems and common goals, (2) Strategic planning can help to optimize the performance of Islamic educational institutions, (3) Strategic planning can help leaders to always focus attention and adhere to a framework for overall improvement efforts continuous, (4) Strategic planning provides guidelines for daily decision making, and (5) Strategic planning always makes it easy to measure the organization's progress in achieving its goals of improving quality and productivity. The benefits of educational strategic planning are things that need to be considered to create quality Islamic educationh

A Study of Head Teachers Role in Managing Financial Resources

Financial resources play a significant role in meeting school needs, however, headteachers cannot manage these resources without adequate autonomy. Literature on school financial management reveals that delegation of responsibility and authority of managing financial resources to headteachers helps them to manage financial resources effectively in order to meet the school needs. The study aimed to explore and understand the existing practices of managing financial resources in the context of a private school in Pakistan with a particular focus on headteacher's role. Since the nature of study determines the research design and methodology, case study was used as the main method within the qualitative design. Different research techniques including interview, observation, videography, writing memos and reflective journal were used in order to gather relevant information for developing understanding about the headteacher's role in managing financial resources. The research findings reveal that the responsibility of allocating, utilizing and monitoring financial resources was delegated to the headteacher, which empowered her to match the financial resources with the educational needs of the school. However, headteacher's role in generating financial resources was not found to be significant, as it was the responsibility of the senior managers. The study also suggests that the headteacher faced challenges in maintaining balance between her academic and financial management roles. Accordingly, the study further proposes recommendations such as further devolution of authority and power to the headteacher, professional development of the stakeholders, involvement of the headteacher in generating financial resources and greater involvement of teachers and parents in managing the financial resources in order to manage the school effectively.