Trends and Issues Educational Leaders

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Trends and Issues: Roles of School Heads as Instructional Leader, Administrator

and Manager

By: Gilbert M. Forbes

As the Philippine Public Educational System draws near 2015 which is the deadline of meetingEducation for All goals (EFA), it is also marching towards the most demanding ages of the 21st

century- behooving all educational leaders to reflect, analyze, plan and take action in order to

cope with multifaceted changes in the border-less marketplace (Delagoza 1996). This isregardless of the challenges, threats and internal problems and issues that the educational system

is experiencing, and the common orientation that school managers position currently implies.

For this matter, effective school managers are expected to be academically goal oriented and

supervise instructional and co-curricular practices accordingly. They motivate and support the

teachers, encourage the community and other school stakeholders to be involved in theeducational program, and encourage participatory decision making. They are also faced with the

complex task of creating a school wide vision, being an instructional leader- planning foreffective professional development, guiding teachers, handling discipline, attending importantevents and needs, and all the other minute details that come with supervising and managing a

school (Richard 2000). The job of a school principal if not more demanding and difficult than an

ordinary teacher, is expected to be equal, hence the quality of school principals as school

managers is a factor in improving the quality of education (EDCOM 1992).

Various studies support the idea that it is the leadership of the school that makes a difference

between mediocrity and excellence (Hugghes 1991). One can always point to the principalsleadership as the key to success of a school that is vibrant and has a reputation of excellence in

teaching. Indeed, the school manager is the keystone in the building of effective schools.

(Licuanan 1994) found that the nine positive outliner schools or outstandingly effective schoolsin the country do have similarly effective principals. There is a positively significant correlation

between effective principals and effective schools.

(Clemente 1996) emphasized the need to identify and develop education managers fit to pilotschools into the 21st Century. In this light he gives the characteristics that school managers

should possess. The first characteristic is the capacity to contribute to the academic performance,

second the capacity to promote culture in a given academic year, third, the capacity to promotesports, fourth, the capacity to manage limited resources and the last, the capacity for innovation

in academics, culture, sports and resource management.

Leaders as Learners

Even when schools are not actively in reform projects, principals and district administratorsfind themselves confronting issues for which they have not been trained. This may include

demographic shifts, more rigorous academic standards, various teachers behaviors, integration

of special-needs students into regular classrooms, gang and fraternal trouble, and even sexualharassment and molestation of students.


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But no area better illustrates the challenges of unfamiliar ground than technology. They find

themselves being called to decide complex human and technical issues (Andrew Trotter 1997).For this matter, they are increasingly defining themselves as learners, not just doers, constantly

scanning the environment for new ideas, tools, and solutions. To do so, they must overcome

numerous barriers: lack of time, insufficient rewards, fear that visibly engaging in learning is anadmission of imperfection, and negative attitudes from previously poorly conceived professional

development activities (Roland Barth 1977). School systems can help overcome these obstacles

by creating learning opportunities that are reflective, collegial, unconventional, and principalcentered.

At the same time, the complexities of change require learning that is more than a solo activity

aimed at individual mastery. Instead, leaders must work to create learning communities inwhich the entire school works together to solve the problems confronting it (Shirley Hord 1997).

Leaders create and sustain learning by sharing decisions, nurturing a common vision, and

providing support for staff learning. They operate colegially, leading from the center, placing

themselves physically and psychologically among the teachers, stimulating discussion ofteaching and learning at every opportunity.

Manager as a Moral Leader

Leaders require followers, and some observers see signs that school leadership is slowly losing

its following. Administrators seem to get less respect than before. Due possibly to certain

factors as political intervention, leadership styles and practice, level of intelligence and

communication abilities, and the rumors on how and where he is able to finish his graduatedegree. In this way, lesser respect and at the outset no more respect plus political attacks are

becoming more common. Moreover, some thoughtful critics argue that traditional public support

is eroding, and that the public is halfway out the schoolhouse door (David Mathews 1996).Whereas school leaders of long ago inherited moral authority, today they have to earn it.

In part, moral authority comes from adherence to basic ethical principles such as honesty,fairness, hard- work and compassion. For example, periodic reports or rumors of irregularities

in conducting district and division assessment tests or even national tests such as NEAT and

NSAT, corruption and even elicit affairs have raised questions about administrative ethics (Bess

Keller 1998); even when unproved, the allegations undermine public faith in education. Whilethere is no evidence that school leaders are less ethical than other professionals, there is also no

reason for complacency. In a survey of superintendents in the U.S., William Fenstermaker

(1996) found that when given an ethical dilemma with a number of proposed solutions, over halfchose a response that would be considered unethical by their code of ethics. Fenstermaker

concluded that many administrators were either unaware of the ethical issues involved or did not

care. The same could also be true in the Philipppine setting although theres no available data orresearch yet that may disclose this possibility.

However, moral authority requires more than individual ethical excellence. Leaders must

create a consensus on purpose and practice that serves as the moral standard for everyone in the


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school (Thomas Sergiovanni 1996) aside from the code of ethics being implemented to all. By

continually raising questions and purpose, institutionalizing shared values, and motivating others

by example, school leader establish a moral voice that infuses the school community.Sergiovanni argues that principals go astray when they treat their schools as formal organizations

rather than as living communities. Research by Susan Moore Johnson (1998) similarly suggests

that educational leadership be built on virtues such as honesty and respect. She found that newsuperintendents established their credibility by initially listening and learning before making

judgments or imposing solutions.

Responding to Challenges and other Issues

So far, school leaders in the first world and in the newly industrialized countries seem to be

responding to the new challenges by simply working harder. Principals in these countriesbecome enslaved to the jobs daily demands, responding to each crisis as it occurs, kept off

balance by the constant bombardment of new tasks and the continual interruptions (Michael

Fullan 1998). As a result, there was a big turnover. A study of elementary and middle school

principals conducted by the National Association of School Principals in the U.S. in 1998 foundthat 42 percent turnover that has existed during the last ten years is likely to continue into the

next decade (Doud and Keller 1998). They point to many factors that make the principalshiphighly stressful: long hours of work- for most, a 60 to 80- hour work a week, workload and

complexity of job, supervision of evening activities unending, minimal pay difference between

the top teacher and administrator, feeling overwhelmed with very high expectations, state anddistrict mandates that require mountains of paperwork, and increasingly complex society and

social problems. The increasing demands of the position can cause many principals to feel the

stress is not worth it.

The situation in the Philippines is quite different. While it is expected that majority of the

school principals at present are about to leave their positions, it isnt because of the stress as a

result of increasing demands in their positions as instructional leader and manager but becausethey are retiring. At present being a school administrator is still seen as the easiest way out for

teachers especially the master teachers to escape the demands and stress of being a classroom

teacher even when it will mean a decrease on their monthly pay. Not to include here is the honorand prestige that goes with being a school leader as well as the unstressful nature of the job as

they might think it to be. This is thereby seen as the motivating factor of the relatively higher

number of graduate students taking up graduate education in school management and

administration. The 1994- 95 data on graduate enrollment shows that 43.8% of the totalenrollment was in teacher education. The doctoral level is far higher having a share of 62.6%

(Garcia 1996). Thus, it is predicted to increase further encouraging the proliferation of diploma

mill type of institutions and unqualified graduates. From this vantage, it appears that theirability to respond to new challenges is questionable; hence, it is preposterous to think of a

bureaucracy manned by full-fledged MAs and Ph.Ds who know little about their

disciplines(Angel Alcala 1996). Given the fact that the kind of school management beingemployed by our school managers is far beyond compare with those in progressive countries, it

is not surprising that there is still much to be desired when it comes to quality.

In so doing, DepEd has implemented the merit system for those who will be moving to the


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administrative and leadership ladder. However, still quiet a big weight is given to graduate

educational qualifications. But at least, it has equalized the opportunity particularly for those

performing school managers viz their not so much performing counterparts who have alreadycompleted their graduate studies.

Along the way there are many efficient leaders who seem to be searching for the right balancebetween managing and leading. Cascadden found that, these principals recognized and accepted

both functions as essential but reported that the reform movement was squeezing them between

contradictory demands. On the one hand, restructuring has pushed more management decisionsto the school site; on the other hand, the current management theories emphasized the

importance of empowering leadership. This creates an obvious time crunch, as well as the

challenge of being both efficient and collaborative- in a system that retains a top-down

orientation. In the country however, the situations mentioned already support the reason whytop-down orientation still remains and quite slow to transform itself on the new principles of

leadership and management through empowerment. But then, it is also good to review and

reform the management functions of the present and future breed of school managers to make

them more productive, dynamic and efficient like their counterparts in various part of the world.They should be made ready to meet the challenges of this constantly changing world particularly

now in the face of the effective implementation of School Based Management (SBM).

Resources:

Barsaga, Eligio B., Assessment of the Multigrade Program in the Philippine Education (MPPE),

The Philippine Journal of Education, Vol. LXXIVIII, No., 1998

Clemente, Alejandro W., Philippine Education into the 21st Century, Joer Printing Services,Quezon City 1996

Delagoza, Rolando S., Educational Leadership in Times of Change and Transition, ThePhilippine Journal of Education, Vol. LXXIVIII

Forbes, Gilbert M., The School Management/Administration, An Unpublished Reaction Paperfor the Course Educational Environment at the Graduate College, Philippine Normal University,

Manila 1999

Garcia, Ester A., General Directions for Graduate Education: The CHED Viewpoint, SangguniVol.IX No. 1, Philippine Normal University, Manila 1997

Hertling Elisabeth, Retaining Principals, College of Education, University of Oregon U.S.A.,Eric Digest 2001

Modernizing Philippine Education, Master Plan for Basic Education (1996-2005), Departmentof Education Culture and Sports, Manila, Philippines

Trends and Issues: Role of the School Leader, Clearinghouse on Educational Management,

College of Education, University of Oregon, ERIC/CEM 2001


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Trends and Issues Educational Leaders