There will be practically no moving, everyone will remain in their buildings, but legally it will be one kindergarten. The administrative part is being reduced. This was stated by the Department of Education of the Dobryansky District. However, the editors of our newspaper received a letter by e-mail on behalf of “parents of kindergarten No. 10”:

“We are concerned that there are plans to merge two kindergartens. Thus, our manager, accountant and other specialists will be laid off.

We believe that it is thanks to the perseverance, dedication, and excellent organizational skills of Galina Nikolaevna Koskova that the preschool institution has become a promising institution in the city and region. (...) Correctional work with children in the areas of speech development, sound pronunciation, mental development and diagnostics is carried out by specialized specialists - a speech therapist and an educational psychologist.

We believe that there is no need to merge kindergartens. We, as parents, like our head, our accounting department, our methodological and teaching staff. In the event of a merger, we are deprived of the opportunity to comfortably and quickly regulate issues related to resolving various nuances in educational and organizational processes.

When merging, the following risks arise:

Mass layoffs of personnel;

When joining a new team, teachers will not be able to pay due attention to children, show up and develop creatively;

There will be no individual approach to the problems of parents, children and staff;

Personnel changes are possible (hiring of new employees; dismissal of narrow specialists, since there is an educational psychologist and speech therapist in kindergarten No. 20), etc.

From the head of education N.M. Semerikova heard that there was an opportunity to visit the pool. I wonder what it will look like? Will they take the children for a swim in the cold?!

We ask you to leave our kindergarten as an independent unit.”

The head of the Department of Education of the Dobryansky district commented on the parents’ appeal Natalia Semerikova:

We discussed the issue of reorganizing kindergarten No. 10 with the parents of the children who attend it, the teaching staff, and the governing council of the kindergarten. The main goal of the association is to increase wages for teaching staff. All conditions for children to stay in a preschool institution remain the same. Children will go to the same groups, teachers will be the same.

As for the swimming pool, which is in kindergarten No. 20, the proposal for the children of kindergarten No. 10 to also use it came from the parents themselves. And this question is being studied: at what time will they be able to accept children, where will they undress. Of course, they will only be able to go to the pool in the warm season.

At a meeting with kindergarten staff, none of the teachers expressed a desire to resign. Subspecialty specialists - psychologist, speech therapist - will also remain working in the merged institution. The head of kindergarten No. 10, Galina Nikolaevna Koskova, is an excellent methodologist; she has been offered the position of senior teacher. The head of the merged institution will be the head of kindergarten No. 20, Tatyana Nikolaevna Tarasenko. The issue of the accountant and clerk of kindergarten No. 10 has not yet been resolved. But, given the shortage of such specialists, the problem of their employment will definitely be resolved.

The process of merging the two institutions is quite long, we plan that it will be completed by May next year.

An expert commission has been created at the level of the Education Department; all questions, problems, and risks are discussed. But the decision to merge has been made, and it is economically justified. The kindergarten is small, it receives small subventions from the regional budget, and today the institution has tax arrears. By merging with kindergarten No. 20, administrative expenses will decrease and teachers' salaries will increase.

As Natalya Semerikova noted, for some other preschool educational institutions there is no question of merging; schools in the district will not merge with each other either.

Reforms in the social sphere of our country also affected education. The main motive for the reform of educational institutions was their consolidation and unification. Not only are several school organizations united into a single complex, but also preschool institutions are attached to the school. Thus, a single educational complex is obtained, which may consist of several preschool educational institutions and schools. What were the reasons for the emergence of a new format of educational organizations, what were the positive aspects and disadvantages of this association? We will talk about this in our article.

Reasons for merging schools and preschool organizations:

1. Understaffing of educational institutions. The new law on education changed the system of financing educational institutions and introduced so-called “per capita” financing. This approach to financing educational organizations means that money from the budget “follows” the student. That is, the amount of funds for the preschool educational institution will depend on the number of its students. These funds from the budget of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation can be used to implement an educational program (to pay teachers, for teaching aids, consumables, etc.). But the maintenance of buildings and utility costs are already falling on the shoulders of local authorities. The legislator assumed that such a financing scheme should guarantee every student the right to receive educational services of standard quality and volume, regardless of his place of residence, the capabilities of the local budget and other conditions.
2. Continuity between preschool education and school. According to the new Federal State Educational Standards for preschool education, one of the objectives of the standard is to ensure the continuity of the goals, objectives and content of education, which are implemented within the framework of educational programs for preschool and primary general education.
3. Saving money. Many experts still believe that the main reason for the merger of educational organizations is the desire of officials to save on education. The creation of unified educational complexes helps reduce costs for administrative personnel. And sometimes the number of buildings served is significantly reduced.

Advantages of creating educational complexes:

1. Ability to implement continuity of goals and objectives educational programs for preschool and primary education. Continuity can be realized by:

• mutual work of educators and teachers from the school (this will help teachers get to know their future students better and choose an individual approach to them);
• conducting classes for preschool pupils at school, during which they will be able to get acquainted with future teachers and the new form of education;
• interaction with parents (parents will be able to obtain the necessary information about preparing their children for school).

Unfortunately, it is not possible in every case to implement the entire range of measures to implement the principle of continuity. So, for example, when united schools and kindergartens are located in different buildings. In this case, attending preschool children to school lessons and holidays no longer seems such a simple task, compared to educational complexes that are united not only on paper, but are also located in the same building.

2. More budgetary funds. As mentioned above, financing of educational institutions currently involves a “per capita” factor. Accordingly, the larger the educational institution, the more children it educates, the more funds it can count on. In large cities this problem is not as acute as in rural areas. Unfortunately, in the outback, preschool institutions and schools are also understaffed. Under the new financing system, such preschool educational institutions would be threatened with closure due to lack of funds for further work. By teaming up with other educational organizations, the preschool educational institution receives new opportunities:

• obtain the services of the necessary specialists (accountant, lawyer, speech therapist, government procurement specialist, etc.);
• use the resources and facilities of the school (swimming pool, library, gym, etc.).

3. Less responsibility for preschool leaders. When a school and a preschool organization are merged, there is actually only one leader left - the school director. The head of the preschool educational institution moves to a new position - deputy director. On the one hand, a demotion may also result in a reduction in wages. But, on the other hand, such changes imply a reduction in responsibility and job responsibilities for the head of the preschool educational institution. For example, issues of government procurement for preschool educational institutions may fall within the competence of the school director.

Disadvantages of consolidation of educational organizations:

1. Loss of individuality of an educational organization. Merging a school and a preschool organization indiscriminately, only on the principle - the more children, the more money, threatens that some educational institutions, which have their own individual characteristics, will lose them. There are risks of merging educational organizations where children have deviant behavior or the development of children in the merging educational organizations will differ significantly.
2. The preschool organization will become an appendage of the school. Many people fear this: the heads of preschool educational institutions, teachers, and parents. After all, a single educational complex involves several educational institutions (at least one preschool educational institution and a school, and sometimes several schools and kindergartens). The school director will have to manage such a complex; again, he makes strategic decisions. And it is natural that, first of all, he will be concerned about the problems of the school, and not the kindergarten. In addition, it takes a lot of time for the head of the educational complex to understand and delve into the intricacies of preschool education. Parents are concerned that kindergarten may turn into a so-called school preparation stage for their children, and will not become an independent stage in their lives.
3. Reduction of preschool staff. The desire of officials to reduce education costs may lead to a reduction in the staff of preschool educational institutions. The merger of a kindergarten and a school involves a change in staffing. Managing such large educational complexes is also a challenge. It is possible that, for optimization purposes, staff reductions and the closure of individual divisions will be carried out. In addition, correctional groups in preschool organizations may be affected. After all, the costs of specialists in such groups exceed the costs in ordinary groups. Accordingly, there is a risk of reduction of specialists in this area.

Pros and cons of optimization

The information contained in the letter from the teacher of MDOU No. 11 “Solnyshko” Anastasia Klementyeva (“SR” dated May 31) was reviewed and verified. I believe that such an emotional appeal from the author of the letter was prompted by respect for the head of this preschool institution and admiration for her organizational skills.

I fully share these feelings. Indeed, Lyudmila Vasilievna Zinovieva is a talented leader. This is evidenced not only by her awards and titles, but also by the reviews of her subordinates and their reluctance to part with their manager. However, I do not agree with the calls of Anastasia Klementyeva, and, moreover, probably in a fit of emotion, the author of the appeal passed off her assumptions and conjectures as real facts. Therefore, I think that it is necessary to objectively, without emotions, consider the situation regarding the restructuring of preschool institutions, calculate its pros and cons. I am sure that this will allow both the readers of Severny Rabochiy and the employees of kindergartens to draw a conclusion for themselves whether restructuring is necessary and how it will affect children, kindergarten staff and preschool leaders.

What kind of beast is restructuring?
Each kindergarten-legal entity, regardless of the number of groups, has a head, supply manager, methodologists or senior educators, as well as educators, assistant educators, cooks, and support workers. And in the very near future, EVERY kindergarten-legal entity will have its own accounting department. This right is given to preschool institutions by the Education Law.
Agree that for small kindergartens of four to five groups, maintaining the entire administrative and economic superstructure is an expensive pleasure. More likely, even an unaffordable luxury. However, for the budget of a large kindergarten this is also quite sensitive. And it is impossible not to contain the add-on.
If there is a legal entity, there must be at least a manager and a chief accountant. Money for their maintenance does not fall from the sky, but is spent from the wage fund of this very kindergarten. Consequently, there is less and less money left to increase the salaries of assistant teachers and cooks - the most scarce and lowest paid workers. As, indeed, for other needs.
To rectify the situation, since 2010, the Education Department (ED) of the Severodvinsk administration has been optimizing (restructuring) the network of subordinate educational institutions. The restructuring schedule was approved by order of the head of the administrative authority dated November 30, 2009 No. 605. Simply put, from two or three kindergartens - legal entities, one legal entity is created with one manager, accounting department and methodologist for several kindergartens. Combining the income of several kindergartens within one legal entity allows for more efficient use of finances: increasing the volume of repair work, updating the institution’s fixed assets, and ultimately increasing the incentive bonus fund. So, for example, the number of staff units of the administrative and managerial apparatus at the present period in preschool educational institutions No. 11 and No. 69 is four units each. After the reorganization, three units are released in the staffing table, including one unit for the manager, one for the head of the household, and one for the senior teacher. However, no one is reducing the wage fund in these kindergartens. Consider for yourself, is this beneficial to the main staff?

Everything is autonomous
During the year, such a reorganization was carried out in 25 kindergartens. On their basis, 11 enlarged pre-school educational institutions were created. Each of them has its own accounting service (the next step in the transition to an autonomous institution). I would like to emphasize that practically nothing has changed for children attending these enlarged kindergartens, although the personnel service noted that there are fewer unfilled vacancies in the reorganized kindergartens. Therefore, we can assume that there is more attention to children in such institutions.
By the way, the reorganization will take place not only in small-group kindergartens. It will affect all preschool institutions without exception, including those located in new neighborhoods in the Zaozerny district. In general, in the field of preschool education, out of 56 legal entities, it is planned to create no more than 30.
Now about autonomy. In addition to the 11 consolidated kindergartens - legal entities, another 14 kindergartens switched to independent accounting, that is, they became closer to autonomous ones. Among the first are preschool educational institutions No. 86, 89, 3, 91, 44 and 8. These institutions have the status of a child development center and worthily represent our preschool education system at all levels, including the All-Russian one. However, the reorganization will affect them too.
And in our city (and in the Arkhangelsk region) there is only one autonomous institution so far - preschool educational institution No. 86 “Zhemchuzhinka”. It operates in pilot mode, identifying all the difficult moments of transition and operation in autonomous status. This is done to make it easier for those who follow.

What does the reorganization give?
In the summer, when the number of children attending kindergartens decreases, the work of institutions becomes economically unprofitable. Agree, keeping a staff of cooks and an administrative and economic complex for two or three groups is wasteful. But if this is one legal entity - an enlarged kindergarten, then solving the problem is much easier. The expected savings in utility costs due to the conservation of one building for the summer period amounts to an average of 70 thousand rubles. The saved funds can be used for energy saving and energy efficiency measures, and other needs, including increasing the fund of incentive payments to key personnel. The savings received throughout the year are also spent for the same purposes.
Now about the unification of “Sunny” and “Thumbelina”. In accordance with the resolution of the administration of Severodvinsk, the municipal preschool educational institution "Kindergarten No. 11 "Sun" of a combined type" was reorganized in the form of annexation to the municipal preschool educational institution "Kindergarten No. 69 "Thumbelina" of a combined type."
The decision on the appointment of the head of MDOU No. 69 “Thumbelina” will be made after completion of the reorganization procedure. But I can already say that our experienced managers are worth their weight in gold.
In the past academic year, five heads of kindergartens retired upon reaching retirement age, and Lyudmila Vasilievna Zinovieva, her leadership talent is greatly needed by the education system. By inviting her to head the united kindergartens, we are confident that she will be able to set the right tone there, create a friendly team and, most importantly, safe and comfortable conditions for children.

Let's separate the flies from the cutlets
The author of the letter published in Severny Rabochiy claims that by cutting heads, the education department is opening new rates. This is her opinion. And the facts are as follows. In the education department of the Severodvinsk administration, three specialist positions were reduced during 2009, in 2010 - 19.5. The number of educational institutions specialists will be reduced in the future due to the reorganization of educational institutions and their transition to financial independence.
In 2010, the education department created the municipal institution “Construction, repair and maintenance service of Severodvinsk”. Savings based on the results of the implementation of municipal assignments by this institution in 2010 amounted to more than 3.5 million rubles. The money was used to develop the institution and carry out additional repair work. Since January 2011, the functions of preventive technical and emergency dispatch services of subordinate institutions have been transferred to MAU "SRESS", the staffing level of the institution is no more than 63 units. It should be emphasized that at the same time, 182.15 staff positions for workers (plumbers, carpenters, etc.) were removed from the staffing lists of educational institutions.
I have also spoken more than once about how we are solving the problem of staff shortages in kindergartens. Let me remind you: there are currently a shortage of 35 teachers, 42 assistant teachers (the figures correspond to last year’s level), and the number of vacancies for cooks has doubled. It should be noted that a shortage of personnel in kindergartens is typical for many cities in the Arkhangelsk region and throughout Russia.
Currently, a working group has been created in Severodvinsk under the deputy head of the administration for social issues to develop mechanisms for increasing wage funds for employees of preschool institutions. Issues related to the provision of pre-school education services and improvement of working conditions for kindergarten workers are under constant control of the Severodvinsk administration.
Sergey POPA, head of the education department of the Severodvinsk administration

The merger of kindergartens and schools is a current topic, but not a new one. Back in the early 90s, an experiment was carried out in the capital to create educational complexes, but the experiment failed miserably. The failure can be explained by the legal inconsistency of the system at that time: educational complexes were not formalized in any way and it came to the point that teachers were not counted for work experience in such combined institutions. The merger of kindergartens and schools, in addition, took place under the auspices of continuity of education, but in reality nothing changed and words about continuity remained only on paper.

Now officials have returned to the idea of ​​reviving the experiment. It must be said that such integrated centers have been operating successfully abroad for a long time. Therefore, if we are talking about the USA, Europe, then a child there begins to go to school at the age of 4 - not to a classical school in our understanding, but to the preschool department of an educational center.

Teachers and parents treat the “second wind” with caution, and some even with prejudice. What are their concerns and why are not all institutions happy to support the idea of ​​unity?

Merging kindergartens and schools: what actually happens

The educational complex includes several kindergartens and schools, legally united. At the head of the complex is the school director. Heads of kindergartens become heads of departments. It is quite natural that duplicate positions (for example, accountant or methodologist) are eliminated.

The goals of the associations also include “the opportunity for more children to receive a much better education.” The situation before the experiment was such that in each district there were prestigious schools and kindergartens, which, of course, everyone wanted to get into, and less popular institutions, which remained half empty due to shortages. By combining strong institutions with weak ones, officials hope to “bring up” the latter and make all kindergartens and schools in the districts attractive to citizens.

However, in fact, prestigious schools merge with other prestigious schools and kindergartens. Not a single, let’s call “elite” educational institution will agree to merge with an institution that is not rated among the population. Therefore, one of the stated goals of the association is not being realized.

At the same time, those educational institutions (as a rule, they can be considered popular among the population) that oppose the merger risk actually remaining out of business: all “strong” schools and kindergartens will already be reorganized into educational complexes, for which a new division - a burden.

Merging kindergartens and schools: advantages

One of the significant and most important advantages of the merger is cost savings. In the capital, as we know, per capita financing has been introduced, that is, money is allocated not for the entire institution, but for one student or pupil. The more children included in the educational complex, the “richer” it is. In light of staff reductions, free funds appear that can be spent on improving equipment, purchasing teaching materials, and bonus payments to teachers.

Small educational institutions with few people could not afford qualified specialists: speech therapist, swimming instructor. This becomes possible in the educational complex.

In addition, it intensifies continuity of preschool and primary school education. The emphasis is on introducing the child to school even before he enters first grade. The child has time to adapt to the school walls before officially entering school.

What is important is that the resources available to one institution of the complex become available to other departments: library, swimming pool, gym, sensory room, and so on.

The merger of kindergartens and schools is promising in terms of building dialogue in the professional sphere. Teachers exchange experiences, choose the most optimal system of relationships, payment of salaries, for example.

For parents, the educational complex is a great advantage, since they will not have to fight for a “place in the sun” for their children. Children attending a kindergarten as part of an educational complex automatically enter a school from the same complex. They can, of course, go to another school if there are places there.

Merging kindergartens and schools: disadvantages

One of the main disadvantages is personnel reduction. Many teachers are losing their jobs, and finding new ones is becoming difficult.

Wherein, the workload on remaining employees increases. Not all directors are ready for expanded powers. As you know, managing a large country (in this case, an educational complex) is much more difficult than managing a small state (a school).

The directors of kindergartens have other concerns: from their point of view, the experiment should have been carried out in a different direction. Instead of combining two different levels of education, it would be logical to consolidate preschool institutions of the same order. In addition, charitable funds, which previously went to the account of the preschool institution and could be spent freely at the discretion of the head of the kindergarten and the governing council, will now be controlled by the school director, which will significantly limit freedom of action with finances.

Many believe that integration, which is experimental in nature and not fully developed, will lead to school dictatorship over kindergarten. In fact, this will be expressed in the fact that the school will try to include more material in the kindergarten program to prepare for first grade. Instead of the priority play area in the preschool program, which, by the way, is prescribed in the new Federal State Educational Standards, the emphasis will be placed specifically on preparing the child for the first grade - that is, education.

It is not yet clear how the experiment will end, just as the clear scheme of operation of the educational complex is not entirely clear to all participants in the process: teachers, administrators and parents. However, the experiment continues to gain momentum, and the Department of Education is filled with applications to merge kindergartens and schools.

Opinions:

Maria Yasnova:

- Nonsense. A kindergarten is a kindergarten, a school is a school. Two different institutions. They study at school, relax in kindergarten before school. What's the point of combining them?

Veronica 65:

“It feels like we’ve been through all this before.” My daughter is already an adult. In the early nineties it was like this: a kindergarten was attached to a school, and there was a preparatory group in the garden, taught by teachers from the school.

Anna Aleksandrovna:

“It seems to me that this is a great idea, very humane for the child.” After several years of being in the kindergarten, the child will get used to children and go to school with the same children, and will experience less stress. At the same time, the program in kindergarten and school will most likely be the same. For example, now many schools teach “School 2100”. It is very difficult for children. If you start with it in the garden, then everything will go like clockwork.

Zhenya Alakina:

— I live in the north of Moscow. We are also in the process of merging schools and kindergartens. True, no one understands what it is and why it is done. Teachers don’t seem to mind - they are promised an increase in their salaries, but kindergartens, on the contrary, are not eager.

LENSKAYA: MERGER OF SCHOOLS SHOULD BE THOUGHT OUT AND SLOW

In many regions of Russia today, schools and kindergartens are being restructured, and large complexes are being formed in place of individual educational institutions. How do the tasks of a school principal change under these conditions? What needs to be done to ensure that the merger of schools takes place without harm to students? This will be discussed at the Twelfth Annual Conference “Trends in Educational Development Leadership in School and Preschool Education: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow,” which will be held at the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences (MSHSEN) on February 19-20. On the eve of the forum, Elena Lenskaya, dean of the Faculty of Management in Education and head of the development department of the Moscow Higher School of Economics and Social Sciences, answered the questions of RIA Novosti correspondent Anna Kurskaya.
- Elena Anatolyevna, how have the functions and role of the school director changed in recent years, with the adoption of the Law on Education and new educational standards?
- Indeed, a lot has changed. The new law defines the opportunities and degrees of freedom of the school director, which our directors have not been very accustomed to using until now. Now they have much more space for negotiations and cooperation with parents and with everyone interested in the success of their schools. But in order for the new benefits to begin to bring benefits, it is necessary that all directors clearly understand what the new legislation is and what opportunities it contains.
Does this happen in practice?
Now in many regions, starting with Moscow, the school and educational networks in general are being restructured, and large educational complexes are being created. Unfortunately, this does not always happen thoughtfully. And directors do not always know what levers they can use to make transformations truly meaningful, or how to plan the development of their educational complex in such a way that the benefits for children are clear and transparent. And if the gain is not obvious, directors do not always know how to challenge the creation of a complex and resist economic pressure.
What are the negative aspects of the ongoing restructuring?
There are many pitfalls there. Teachers have concerns that the preschool education network may suffer from it, because when schools and kindergartens merge, very often kindergartens begin to serve the school, seat children at desks, and the intrinsic value of childhood, which the new standard of preschool education is aimed at, disappears.
The threat to additional education is that, having become part of the educational complex, clubs and studios can begin to serve only this complex, which was not the case before. The beauty of additional education organizations was precisely that they determined the circle of their clients themselves, and anyone could be among them. All these threats may or may not come true with good management and capable leadership. We will discuss this, in particular, at the conference.
Is it possible to rely on foreign experience when analyzing the changes that are taking place?
Indeed, the processes that are happening in Russia are happening all over the world. Therefore, we invited specialists from those countries where similar transformations have already taken place to the conference. But it is important to note that abroad the pace of transformation, even if it was about optimizing the school network, is fundamentally different. Before schools come up with a meaningful plan for such a merger, it does not happen.
However, foreign experts say that even in their countries the rate of school mergers was too high. I'm afraid our pace is simply unprecedented. And other processes in our education system in practice are very different from both our plans and foreign experience.
Under what conditions could joining a kindergarten to a school benefit the preschool institution?
The most important thing is that the development plan for the complex precedes the merger, and does not arise as a consequence when the merger has already occurred, and we urgently need to figure out what to do with all this.
Still, the unification should be planned by people who take responsibility for the further success of the children who will study in this complex. Unfortunately, in Moscow, sometimes several schools were united, quite widely spaced across the territory, and grade schools arose in the new complex. In principle, this is not bad. But families with several children found themselves in a difficult situation when one child went to one building, another to another, and a third to a third.
It would be worth considering at least this point before making decisions about the merger. But in practice, these decisions were often made hastily, under administrative pressure. The school needs to learn to defend the interests of students.
How can I do that?
Schools have governing boards, and they could influence educational policy on more than just paper. Unfortunately, we like to create “manual” management boards that do what the director says. Very often, parents are simply afraid to raise their voice, because it seems to them that by doing so they are putting their child at risk. But in the current situation, their role should, in my opinion, increase significantly.
The merger of schools should occur only when representatives of all governing councils of the merging institutions agree to such a decision, sign and say: “Yes, we believe that this will be better for our children.” Of course, you should choose not convenient parents, but competent parents. They also have something to learn.
What is a competent parent?
For example, in England, members of the governing council, as a rule, are parents who have teaching or economic experience, that is, specialists, and not just people who have free time, as is often the case here. But participation in the governing council also implies a greater degree of social responsibility, and we have not yet fully learned this. In England, the governing council also bears financial responsibility for its actions.
Today it is often said that a school director needs the skills of a manager rather than a teacher. Are these skills specially taught to directors today?
This is one of the topics that we, representatives of universities that already train school principals in management competencies, are going to discuss at the conference. But there is one problem.
Indeed, a person with good managerial training can successfully manage an educational complex. But at the same time, research shows that the most successful managers are people with leadership qualities who, unlike “pure managers,” have a vision of the necessary future and roughly understand how to get there, that is, they set development goals for themselves and their team. A manager, as a rule, successfully implements tasks set by someone else.
What will happen to leadership competence, and how to develop it against the backdrop of all these wonderful management skills, so that the main thing is not lost - the ability to see the future? This is what you need to think about.
There is another reason for concern. The director of a large complex will not be able to keep track of what is happening in the classroom and how well certain teachers cope with their responsibilities. He hadn’t done much of this before, but he still had some time for it.
It is no coincidence that, for example, in Finland there are no schools with more than 900 students. There they attach great importance to the director’s participation in the pedagogical process. There is even such a term - “pedagogical leadership”, which is considered one of the most important functions of the director. Will this pedagogical leadership be present in the new complexes? I'm not sure.
What new challenges will school principals have to face in the future?
First of all, they will have to learn to plan development, taking into account a very large range of diverse interests. If previously they worked with a fairly limited number of students of the same age category, now there are many more of them and their ages have become less homogeneous - these are both preschoolers and adults attending clubs and sections. Principals will have to learn to reconcile the interests of different groups of people in education.
The most important thing they will face and are already facing is the problem of personnel management. Preventing, at the first stage, at least serious conflicts, equitable distribution of resources, and so on, are new tasks that were not so pressing before.
It seems to me important that the director can maintain leadership qualities in a situation where he risks turning into a classic manager who only solves assigned tasks from the outside.