Topic: Educational Leadership

Leaders, Born or made?Good leaders are made not born. Effective leader- desire and will power through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience.    

To inspire your workers into higher levels of teamwork, you must:-        be, know and, do.

These do not come naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. Good leaders continually improve their leadership skills; they are NOT resting on their achievements.

Educational Leadership

• Is a term to applied to school administration that strive to

create positive change in educational policy and

processes.

Educational leaders are trained to advance and improve educational systems or institutions. Educational leaders usually are employed as school principals or administrators but take on additional roles, such as department chair or academic dean.

Widely used Instructional Leadership modelInstructional Leadership

Defining School Mission

Managing Instructional Program

Promoting School Climate

Commu-nicating school goals

Framing school goals

Supervising & evaluating instruction

Coordinating curriculum

Monitoring student progress

Protecting instructional time

Promoting professional development

Maintaining high visibility

Providing incentives for learning

Providing incentives for teachers

Principles of Leadership

1. Know yourself and seek self improvement.

2. Be technically proficient.3. Seek responsibility and

take responsibility for your actions.

4. Make sound and timely decisions.5. Set the example.6. Know your people and look out

for their well-being.7. Keep your people informed.8. Develop a sense of

accountability, ownership and responsibility in your people.

9. Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished.

10. Train your people as a team.

Functions of Leadership

• Educational leaders work to improve educational programming. They hire and manage teachers and staff, prepare budgets, set curriculum standards and set school-wide policy. They might work on team building efforts or restructure the organization to affect necessary change.

The leader as executive

→ top co-ordinator of the group activities and overseer of the execution of policies.

The leader as planner

→ deciding the ways and menas by which the group achieves its ends. This may involve both short-term and long-term planning.

The leader as policy maker

• → the establishment of group goals and policies.

The leader as expert

→ a source of readily available information and skills, although there will be some reliance on technical expertise and advice from other members of the group.

The leader as external group representitive• → the official spokesperson

for the group, the representative of the group and the channel for both outgoing and incoming communication.

The leader as controller of internal relations→ determines specific aspects of the group structure.

The leader as purveyor of rewards and punishment→ control over group members by the power to provide rewards and apply punishments.

The leader as arbitrator and meditator

→ controls interpersonal conflict within the group.

The leader as exemplar

→ a model of behavior for members of the group, setting an example of what is expected.

The leader as ideologist

→ serving as the source of beliefs, values and standards of behavior for individual members of the group.

The leader as father figure

→ serving as the focus for the positive emotional feelings of individual members and the object for identification and transference.

The leader as scapegoat

→ serving as a target for aggression and hostility of the group, accepting blame in the case of failure.

Types of Leadership Styles in EducationLeadership styles were introduced to address the needs of students from diverse backgrounds. Three different  types of styles commonly practiced are.

1.Hierarchical 2.Transformational 3.Facilitative

1.Hierarchical Style Based on the traditional method of education, emphasis in a top-down approach with formal authority and little scope for participatory analysis.

Administrative head, the principal, carries out all duties of a:-

 planner, supervisor, analyst, resource allocator, etc. 

A very straightforward, with major emphasis on efficiency, control and routines. 

2. Transformational style Based on working together to put in

place a mechanism that will win immediate benefits and future ones.

This leadership style opens the door wide for intellectual excitement, motivation through values and a shared vision by participation in leadership activities.

(Although, most decisions are taken individually or by a small group of people)

3. Facilitative styleSimilar strategies used in

transformational styles, but more democratic as well as interactive in practice.

Works with the entire management, offering partnership in preparing for the future, promoting collective ideas by being a part of the crowd, rather than being at the center.

Empowering the entire education system is the primary goal.

The new “3 C’s” of Educational Leadership

Communicate  Collaborate Create Success

Educational leadership  examines functions of leadership and management of the School System and foundation. 

Explores organizational theories,  models of theories, models of leadership & management, and personal & organizational change.

 Bridges the theories to practical applications in education settings.