Abstract
M.Ed.
External relations is a product of the twentieth century and at school it should also be regarded as a worthy management concern, apart from other management functions.
The term external relations (public relations) needs to be closely defined.
It refers to relations between an organisation (a school, in this instance) and all persons and institutions outside the organisation. The organisation's attitude towards instances outside itself, is of the utmost importance. In this respect the school's task is important as it has to establish and maintain relations with the community.
The community's image of a school is either positive or negative depending on its experiences with the school. The contribution of participants to the external relations programme, i.e. principal, teacher, pupil and the community (especially the parent), is of cardinal importance.
The principal is the key communicator and through effective management activities he has to establish the necessary communications network, to ensure community trust in the school. It is of utmost importance to inform all those concerned of school activities which concern them.
Dialogue strengthens public trust and promotes public participation. Due to this the school has to identify its most important relations (both internal and external), as it is necessary to maintain positive relations with certain persons and institutions. Oral and written communications procedures should be thoroughly utilised by the school
to convey information concerning the school to parents and the community.
A few guidelines for effective feed back, without which the school's external relations programme certainly won't succeed, are introduced. Effective management is any organisation's key to success. The principal's influence in the inisiation, planning, implementing and execution of the external relations programme is of cardinal importance. An open climate should be created and the school should be characterised as being healthy. Therefore moving out, pupil participation in community projects and, above all, the principal's contact with community leaders are important. The principal should continuously remind teachers and pupils of the importance of external relations. The relationships between principal and teacher and teacher and pupil cannot be disregarded as they definitely influence the image portrayed by the school and the promotion of external
relations. Basic guidelines for successful communication with the
community have to be set and each principal should evaluate these
according to his school's specific situation.
Suggestions on how to promote awareness of the importance of external relations at school and in the community, are submitted. The principal and teacher must be equipped with the necessary knowledge of communication with the external community. The principal should realise the importance of external relations. It is a time consuming process which has to be maintained