Roles of HR in education 

According to Kazi Hoque, there is evidence that shows principles’ and teachers’ performance has more effect on student achievement, showing that it is imperative to act on that knowledge and strengthen the education workforce to better serve students by administering the role of human resources (HR). 

The goals of human resource management in education are to develop the workers and contribute to goal achievement. Human resource management has two major specific roles to play, including the strategic role and operational role. 

• Strategic role 

In the strategic role, Prof. Onah Fab mentioned that human resources are critical for effective educational functioning and its importance has grown dramatically in the last two decades. HR professionals should be committed to the job, remain dedicated and productive in the education system. HR also represents a significant investment in educational efforts. When managed well, HR can be a source of competitive strength for education. Strategically, HR must be a viewer in the same context as financial, technological, and other resources that are managed in any organisations. 

• Operational role

Operational activities are both tactical and administrative in nature. Human resources management, in this role, would be of interest in compliance with equal employment opportunities and observation of labour laws, such as applicants must be oriented to organisations, supervisors must be trained, or wages and salaries must be administered. At the same time, a wide range of activities typically associated with the day-to-day management of people as provided by laws and regulations must be performed efficiently. 

See also: HR Audit Checklist

Functions of HR in education 

Apart from the strategic and operational roles, HR also has a set of functions of practices and methods to integrate and maintain the teaching staff in a school or university. These functions must be practised to ensure maximum output and achieve the goals of education optimally. HR functions in education sector describe as follows: 

• Staff maintenance – making the work environment conducive for workers. Pertinent practices include promotion and transfer, motivation, staff safety, security and health services. 
• Staff relations – HR must help build a good communication network in school or university to enable workers to be constantly informed on the progress being made. This encouragement should be done by considering the feelings, interest, needs and emotions of workers and treating them as such with fairness and respect. 
• Staff development – there is a constant need to change through training and to improve and grow competence, following the ever-changing world. HR must diligently provide or give access to in-service training, conference, workshop and seminars. 
• Procurement of staff – this function deals with obtaining people with appropriate and necessary skills, abilities, knowledge and experience to fill the vacant teaching posts in schools or universities.
• Job performance reward – in the educational sector HR would be responsible to design and administer rewards for jobs performed by employees. 

Read also: Why HR in Health & Social Care Sector is Different (And How to Manage It)