The role of the school Principal in an effective public educational system in the Global environment is most crucial. The school Principal is considered the main catalyst in managing educational excellence. The quality of educational programs, teaching processes and the degree of students' development (cognitive, emotional, social and physical) depends to a great extent, on the Principal. If the degree and quality of a school is dependent on the level of initiative, creativity, efforts and cohesiveness of a well-orchestrated staff/a new model for an effective public educational system in Antigua and Barbuda must include the retraining of school Principals. This retraining must prepare them to promote educational excellence by promoting and maintaining teacher/student initiative, creativity and personal growth. In this atmosphere, teachers and students will experience a sense of accomplishment, a feeling of power, a desire to become involved in activities, and a feeling of high self-esteem. The product of these feelings are job satisfaction, enthusiasm, good morale, progress and ultimately, excellence. Furthermore, this new model must train the Principals to develop a philosophy, goals and objectives for their schools within the guidelines of the centralised policies of national, regional and global competencies, realities and expectation. The Principal must be "expertized" to guide and manage staff, parents, students, resources reality and civil community into a dynamic team for the most effective outcome.

It is in that spirit that the Quebec Plan of Action charters the crucial role and expectation for Principals to visualize and manage their input to the management of Education in the following positive terms:

• Recognizing that education is the key to strengthening democratic institutions, promoting the development of human potential, equality and understanding among our peoples, as well as sustaining economic growth and reducing poverty; further recognizing that to achieve these ends, it is essential that quality education be available to all, including girls and women, rural inhabitants, persons with disabilities, indigenous, and/or belonging to minorities; reaffirming the commitments made at previous Summits to promote the principles of equality, relevance and efficiency at all levels of the education system, ensuring, by 2010, universal access to and completion of quality primary education for all children and quality secondary education for at least 75 percent of young people, with increasing graduation rates and lifelong learning opportunities for the general population; and re-committing to eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005.

• Institute, in light of the fundamental importance of mobilizing resources to support sustained investment in education at all levels, a cooperative mechanism to promote the development of productive partnership among governments, regional and international organizations;

• Promote the participation of, and dialogue with, relevant civil society organizations to strengthen partnership between the public sector and other sectors of our societies in implementing this Plan of action;

• Formulate and implement policies, within the framework of a strategy for resolving social inequalities, to promote access to quality basic education for all, including early childhood and adult education, particularly to promote literacy, while providing for alternative methods that meet the needs of disadvantaged segments of the population or of those excluded from formal education systems, in particular girls, minorities, indigenous persons and children with special education needs; share information and successful experiences in encouraging educational participation and addressing students retention within certain groups, especially boys - in particular in the Caribbean countries - whose drop-out rate at the secondary level is high in certain regions.

Support and promote lifelong learning by:

offering varied curricula based on the development of skills, knowledge, civic and democratic values;

providing flexible service delivery mechanisms, including the use of information and communication technology, to foster employability, personal growth and social commitment; and

certifying skills acquired on the job.

Very simply put, an effective Principal gets the job done. One who manages to successfully accomplish all of the expectations of his/her mission. Effectiveness cannot be measured in a vacuum; it has to be measured in relation to purpose, context and outcome. As a first step therefore on the road to becoming an effective Principal it is incumbent upon each and every Principal to have a very clear understanding of the demands and expectations of the mission, the philosophy, the vision, the principles, the legal framework that establish the parameters of educational management. Hence, knowledge and skill are paramount in empowering the Principal to strengthen education systems by:

encouraging the participation of all sectors of society in order to obtain a consensus on policies that are viable and that guarantee the appropriate and continuous distribution of resources;

• decentralizing their decision-making and encouraging the participation of civil society, especially parents; and

• promoting transparent school management in the interest of securing an adequate and stable allocation of resources so that educational institutions can play a leading role as agents for change.

Principals must become aware of, and participate in efforts to reform or improve education in Antigua and Barbuda undertaken in conjunction with the OECS neighbours and Caricom who to the achievement of education for all goals and targets for every citizen and for every society. Referred in the literature as the Dakar Framework, this commitment to action places an obligation on governments to ensure that Education for All goals and targets are reached and sustained. By this commitment, governments have reaffirmed the vision that all children, young people and adults have the human right to benefit from an education that will meet their basic learning needs in the best and fullest sense of the term.

School Managers ( Principals )

Principals in Antigua and Barbuda must become knowledgeable of, and skilful in excelling the public educational system that they manage; its structure, processes and behaviours, inclusive of

• The Education Act 1973
• The OECS Model Education Bill
• The Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Pillars For Partnership and Progress (Outlining initiatives to be taken by all OECS countries to form the basis for education reform
• The Antigua and Barbuda Civil Service Act/Regulations
• The Teachers' Handbook
• Government's vision, mission and strategic plan for education in Antigua and Barbuda
• Collective Agreements (Government & A&BUT / AT&LU).
• Caricom Educational Programmes.
• Hemispheric Education Reforms.
• OERU Education Reform Initiatives / Best Practices.
• Leadership Styles / Management for Excellence.
• Virtual and Conventional Libraries.
• Information and Communication Technology.
• Decentralization and Organizational Empowerment.
• Sub - Regionalism, Regionalism, Hemispheric and Global Order.

The above in a training module will prepare Principals to manage a productive educational system with global comparative advantage as the State strives to ensure that secondary education is more responsive to evolving labour market requirements by promoting the diversification of programs and experimentation with new, more flexible teaching methods with emphasis on science and technology, including the use of new information and communication technology, supporting cooperation projects and the establishment of mechanisms for the recognition and certification of acquired skills;

• Promote the exchange of information and best practices by creating more effective dialogue between society and institutions of higher education; facilitate access to these institutions by balancing growing demand with higher quality standards and public funding with greater commitment from the private sector; support hemispheric cooperation for research in science and technology aimed at the solution of specific problems in the region and the transfer of knowledge,

• Foster the mobility, between countries of the Hemisphere, of students, teachers and administrators at institutions of higher education and of teachers and administrators at the elementary and secondary levels, in order to provide them with new opportunities to take part in the new knowledge-based society; increase knowledge of other cultures and languages, and enable access to information on post-secondary studies and learning opportunities offered across the Hemisphere, through new or existing hemispheric networks, such as the educational Web site set up after the Santiago Summit; fortify initiatives in this field such as those carried out by the IDB and the OAS;

• Promote access by teachers, students and administrators to new information and communication technology applied to education, through training geared toward modern teaching approaches, support for development of networks and sustained strengthening of information clearinghouses, in order to reduce the knowledge gap and the digital divide within and between societies in the Hemisphere;

• Promote the popularization of science and technology necessary to advance the establishment and consolidation of a scientific culture in the region; stimulate the development of science and technology for regional connectivity through information and communication technology essential for building knowledge-based societies;

• Assist in the development of high-level human capital for the extension of science and technology research, and innovation that would encourage the strengthening of the agricultural, industrial, commercial and business sectors as well as the sustainability of the environment;

High Quality public education is the engine of sustainability, growth and development in the globalize arena. Recognizing the reality of the world and our need for growth, a dynamic prescribed educational module is necessary for the Nation in the new millennium. In this context, the country will fine-tune its direction for human resource development, to include empowering Principals within the context of managing the following outputs:

• Teaching/learning resources.
• Qualification, standards and equivalencies
• School improvement programs
• Certification for global access
• Education to combat HIV/AIDS
• Information and communication technology in education
• Scholarship, fellowship and exchange schemes
• Values education
• Teacher training and professional development
• Accreditation, recognition and certification.
• Colleges/polytechnics of Excellence …
• Distance education

This training of principals should strengthen the public education management for the advancement of Antigua and Barbuda into the challenges of the world, and which will result in/produce a dynamic, proactive, informed, committed, energetic, visionary, professional, clinical, productive and educated democratic society, and which will see:

• A vibrant educational system, which will lift the spirit and self-esteem of Antiguans and Barbudans as access and achievements become common on a global field of competitive equivalency, unlimited opportunity and performance integrity.

• An effective primary and secondary education delivery system and structure, which satisfies the social, political and economic needs of its constituents in an active and stimulating learning environment.

A well - managed public educational system will lead to improved instructional strategy, which combines computer science with technology and learning while providing the opportunities to develop maximum potential, while fostering spiritual, cultural, moral, intellectual, physical, social and economic development of the society, and promoting transparent school management in the interest of securing adequate and stable allocation of resources which will allow educational institutions to play a leading role as agents for change.

Information Technology in Education