Educational leadership incorporates anyone in the educational system that has a decision-making function. These individuals are held accountable for the success and failures within their educational system. An educational leader is someone who is approachable, visible, and will listen to what others are saying. The student is the main focus of educational leaders. In addition to the qualities that are acquired by educational leaders, there are specific approaches that provide effective educational leadership: (Bass, Bass, & Bass, 2008, p. 3).
Participative Leadership The participative leadership, is also known as democratic leadership. This type of leadership is one of the most effective leadership styles. These leaders provide direction
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This type of leadership style is adopted by leaders that are hands-off (Straker, 2004). The OC principal used this style of leadership. This individual delegates the decision making processes to members of the group. However, the Laissez-faire leadership style is not successful in situations where individuals of the group lack the knowledge or experience that is needed to successfully complete tasks and make decisions (Straker, 2004). This might explain why there were three new teachers at her school. The OC principal did not choose the reading program for her school, it was chosen for the school by other administrators (Mackey, Pitcher, & Decman, 2006, p. 44). She depended on the master teacher 's direction for making program decisions. Laissez-faire leadership is characterized by not giving guidance, allowing followers the freedom, to make decisions (Straker, 2004). The OC principal could not remember or did not know the name of some of the Open Court materials and she relied on the master teacher to answer the ethnographic interviewers ' questions. These Leaders provide the tools and resources needed, the OC principal allowed the literacy program to provide the tools and resources (Mackey, Pitcher, & Decman, 2006, p. 44). Group members are expected to solve problems on their own. While the responsibilities are given to followers, the leader will take responsibility for the group’s decisions
This form of leadership doesn’t form because someone is appointed a leader, but instead happens when a member of the group simply emerges and takes the position as leader. This often happens to the member who is the most competent and possess talent or interest in the task assigned to the group. This can also happen based on what is known as the emergent leader approach to leadership which happens through the communication and decision to eliminate individuals who do not fit the profile of a leader and do not demonstrate leadership qualities. The group then turns their focus to members who do display these qualities and then elect a person the leader based on the traits which they exhibit. The final way which a leader made arise is through the counteractive influence approach to leadership in which a member arise when the group encounters an issue or obstacle and they become the person to resolve said
Leading organizations of school administrators offer educators various opportunities to encourage educators to become leaders. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) has mandated that leaders be better prepared for the task of providing quality education to all. NCLB “… is forcing all educational stakeholders to face the weakness of contemporary school leadership and is making it impossible to ignore the need for higher quality principals” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.1). It is believed that all educators can be and are leaders in their own right. A leader is a visionary and has the ability to inspire others to aspire to greatness. Of the numerous opportunities that are offered, those that are most beneficial include but are not limited to leadership training programs, professional development, and creating shared leadership opportunities for teachers to become leaders. The systems “…that produce our nation’s principals are complex and interrelated – and governed by the states. Each state establishes licensing, certification and re-certification” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.1). States use the ISLLC standards “…as the framework for preparation programs and in service professional development of school superintendents, principals, and other leaders” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.3).
Educational leadership is an ever-changing fast-paced profession where decisions are made continuously in the best interest of children. “In this era of accountability, final decisions are expected to reside with the person who is the top of the hierarchy” (Shapiro & Gross, 2013, p. 4). It is with these decisions that educational leaders affect the lives of hundreds of young people and their families’ every day. Ethically, educators are faced with daily dilemmas to balance personal beliefs and professional standards. Educational law is sometimes at fault for unjust or irrational rules that negatively affect some students. However, educational leadership provides strong direction in attempt to provide all students with a caring,
As a public school superintendent and educational leader, one is routinely required to wear many hats and take on numerous responsibilities. These responsibilities can be separated into the two categories of management and educational leadership. Educational leader responsibilities range from curriculum development, staff evaluations and professional development. Managing a school system include budgeting, facility referendum implementation and communicating to all of the stakeholders of the school district.
A leader can be described as a person who gives direction, inspiration and cause to a group of people who are striving to achieve a common or similar goal (Eacott, 2011; Siraj-Blatchford & Manni, 2013). As there are many types of leaders within an early childhood education setting, such as director, room leader and educational leader, it is important to define and dissect what each role requires (Siraj-Blatchford & Manni, 2013). An educational leader is defined in the National Quality Framework (NQF), where they have support from other documentation and literature to identify what an educational leader is (Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, 2014). This essay will examine the key factors that influence the education leader with links to the theories of leadership, such as contingency and transformational theories, and what being an educational leader entails.
Leaders have a responsibility to ensure that the organization is running effectively. In addition, the decisions that are made should be in the best interest of the organization, therefore, the leader should ensure that the decisions are moving the organization closer to its vision. According to Manning and Curtis (2015), there are 10 qualities that influence the leadership process: Vision, Ability, Enthusiasm, Stability, Concern for others, Self-confidence, Persistence, Vitality, Charisma, and Integrity. Leaders have to consider these 10 qualities when making effective decisions about the organization. Conversely, when these qualities do not influence the decision-making process for leaders, the organizational leader is not possessing
The objective that I have for this paper is to present the integration and synthesis of at least three grounded theories and conceptual principles of the educational leadership field. Then, according with guidelines, I will compare and contrast those theories by using different authors’ perspectives, to critically analyze the body of knowledge achieved by those principles and explain how those theories in educational leadership add knowledge through the implementation of their premises and the interaction among them in the area of education. Subsequently, I will be selecting one of the theories examined previously and provide details on how the theory may or may not contribute to the understanding of the educational leadership. As part of this process I will include a discussion with disagreements or unanswered questions of the selected postulation.
An educational leader promotes the success of every student by advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conductive to student learning and staff professional growth.
This paper will describe two studies, one quantitative and the other a mixed method, which dealt with aspects of educational leadership. The studies chosen for review were conducted by Bush, et al. (2005), a study that reported participant results in a Leadership Academy, and another by Somech (2005) in which the results of an investigational study of leadership styles, participative and directive, with regard to their impact upon managing school effectiveness. To offer a deeper understanding of the respective studies, a discussion follows that details the design rationa...
In developing my own educational leadership model (MELM) I began with establishing what I believe the goal of education should be, since leaders by definition are leading people towards something. The goal of education is to effectively teach students the essential skills and knowledge they will need to establish a productive, positive, self-sufficient life where they can be active members of their communities. An effective leader, while working towards this goal will need to consider the present conditions and demands of the environment they are a part of. In the field of education, both internal and external factors are of crucial importance when developing a plan to lead for success. However, one must note the variables in education are different than those the business sector face, for example; student performance, ability and cultural differences; availability/condition of supplies and materials; goal; educator’s capability, views and attitudes; conditionality of economic support; openness/hostility of influencing communities; state or government performance mandates. A leader who knows where they (students, school, district, community) are now, can approach goals more clearly and develop more effective strategies to arrive at them.
York-Barr, J. & K. Duke (2004) what do we know about teacher leadership? Findings from two decades of scholarship. Review of educational research 74(3), 255-316.
Leadership is one of the most important facets in organizations. In most cases, leaders act with respect to organizational culture as well as the codes of conduct that determine the manner in which leaders relate with subordinates. Leadership entails the use of effective communication skills to get activities done in the workplace and to ensure that employees shelve their individual interests for the sake of their organizations’ shared targets. It is the role of leaders to ensure that consumers attain high quality products and services by making certain that members of their firms’ workforce are fully motivated to work effectively and utilize resources in an efficient manner (Bass, 22). With the increasingly sophisticated nature of the corporate world, leadership should not be based solely on the desire to control and coordinate affairs within the workplace, but leaders should also exhibit positive examples and continually monitor the changing trends in corporate governance to initiate the most relevant guidelines. Competitiveness can only be attained when leaders are in a position to set the right standards in their firms and coordinate affairs appropriately by understanding consumer and employee needs.
According to Shockley and Zalabak (2009) "Leadership is a process of guiding individuals, groups, and entire organization in establishing goals and sustaining action to support goals.Leadership is like mapping out where you need to go to win". A Leader is a person who has a strong personality and who has an ability to manage people and work. He is also the person who is able to direct people .Usually a leaders has a lot of attributes that
There are as many interpretations of Instructional leadership as there are people who have written on the subject, since Hallinger and Murphy (1988) coined the phrase in the 1980’s. Blase and Blase (1998) are oft quoted in literature as being at the forefront of what exactly instructional leadership has meant over the years. Their definition can be cited as ‘the teaching and learning processes in schools, including teacher professional development, curriculum development, and teacher supervision’. Of course academics are always looking for new ways of describing what instructional leadership is, or moulding it to fit the current educational environments that are developing in education systems across the globe. DuFour (2002) talks about the
Education is a very important aspect in the life of a child. The level of success a student has in the classroom is greatly influenced by their teachers. Students, as well as their parents, depend on the teachers to guide them through their education. But who guides a teacher to perform successfully in the classroom? Principals and teachers play an important role in schools. A good relationship among school leaders and teachers is necessary and play an important role in making improvements in the school. Leadership refers to the “process in which one person successfully exerts influence over others to reach desired objectives”. (Okoji, 2015) Good leadership involves honesty, vision, confidence and commitment. It is the ability to inspire a