An educational institute provides a safe learning space for students to learn knowledge and lifelong skills under the direct influence and supervision of teachers. Many countries have realized its significance and they have made primary education compulsory for everyone by setting up formal educational institutes or schools.
The design of the schooling system works in a series of steps and schools, and different people call those schools different names in various parts of the world. The focus of primary schools is to educate and teach growing children. However, teenagers go to secondary schools, high schools, universities, and colleges for higher studies after completing their primary education.
There is another category of schools for very young children aging 3-5 years before the primary schooling level, and it goes by the name of kindergarten or preschools. After finishing primary school, students go to elementary schools or middle schools.
For professional skill learning, students go to vocational institutes and colleges after finishing secondary schooling. They offer professional education and skill only in one category like medicine, economics, business, arts, music, dancing, plumbing, electrician, electronic, etc.
Some people aren’t satisfied with the government-provided compulsory education or its syllabus, and they send their children to non-government schools or private schools. The private schooling system could be secular, ethical, religious, or professional-oriented depending upon its target market and its required interests and demands. Some of those institutes for adults are corporate training, military education, business schools, etc.
Today, we’ll study the swot analysis of a school. It would focus on internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats for analyzing the performance of schools and educational institutes.
The swot analysis of a school is as follows;
Table of Contents
Strengths in a School
If you’re familiar with the benefits and strengths of your schools, then you should write them down on paper. It would help you to better understand your school if you know its current strengths, and then you can take the rectifying steps accordingly. While evaluating your school in question, you should keep in mind the following things;
- Creative and innovative developmental plans for students
- An open line of communication with children and their parents and relevant families
- Developing a healthy and fruitful relationship with the society and the other competitive schools
- The syllabus and school courses should have an excellent academic record
- Arranging events and programs for students throughout the year regularly
- The environment of the school should be open, moral, and ethical for students to participate and learn from it
- Parents and students have confidence and trust in the education system of the school
- School should have the infrastructure for the extracurricular activities like an indoor sports hall, sports ground, and gymnasium for the students to participate in it
- Professional and well-trained teachers’ staff
- Strong financial capabilities to maintain the smooth functioning of various programs both in the short/long term
- Total number of graduating students from the school every year
- Parents and families should have easy access to come and visit
Weaknesses of a School
When you like something, then you would ignore and overlook their mistake and problem and you won’t even find its flaws. You shouldn’t overlook mistakes and point them out whenever you see them. When you’re aware of the mistakes and flaws, then you can take the mandatory action toward growth and development. Some of the main weaknesses of a school are as follows;
- Decreasing the retention rate of students means the number of students leaving the school is higher
- The enrollment rate of students is lower
- Visiting the school through transport is either inaccessible or difficult
- Extracurricular activities have got no or limited involvement
- Limited funds to start extracurricular programs for students like gymnasium, sports ground, sports equipment, etc
- Some students are engaging in online bullying
- Limited teaching faculty and staff for the management and education of students
- Parents complain that the school administration isn’t coordinating and communicating with them
- Faculty and staff don’t have proper training
- School administration and management are dealing with more students than their capabilities
- Parents and students have got a poor line of communication with one another
- Students perform poor in their tests
- Feedback and reviews of students are negative
Opportunities for a School
Instead of focusing on the negative problems and weaknesses, the school could convert its flaws into opportunities by fixing them and working on them. Parents and families would appreciate the up-gradation of the school and the development of new programs, it would amplify the performance of students.
The school should perceive the opportunities with an open and positive attitude, and making improvements and getting better are the only options. Some of the main opportunities available to the school are as follows;
- Reducing the retention rate
- Improving the enrolment of new students
- Making the online education program possible if it doesn’t have this option
- Allowing a parent to study and analyze the curriculum of students
- Limiting the flaws and weaknesses of the school
- Asking for volunteers for the development of the new school committee
- Looking for investors to fund the latest programs
- Reallocation of funds by cutting out some programs
- Acting on the feedback and reviews of families and parents for improvement
- Focusing on the growth of new programs
Threats to a School
Threats are the external factors that are uncontrollable, and they’re there in every environment. You should know the prevailing threats in your environment and manage them accordingly. Some of the potential threats that a school has to face are as follows;
- Students and parents are making demands in terms of infrastructure and equipment
- Planning of extra-curricular activities and syllabus is poor
- Over-communication is creating problems
- Little or no communication between the student body/parents and the school administration
- Opening of a new school in the area
- Complaints of the unsatisfied parents and families
- Strikes of the staff and employees against the school administration
- Pulling out of investment and resources from the investors
- Lockdown and pandemic protocol
While planning things out, the school administration should keep these factors in mind, and address these challenges.
