School leadership in recent times has involved more and more time and consideration as schools are being made held responsible for significant changes in the outcomes of students learning (Leithwood & Riehl, 2005, p. 12). With pressures coming from all levels of government, Principals are not the only ones being held accountable to the outcomes of students (Leithwood & Riehl, 2003). Davis (2012) identifies strongly with this as middle executive roles and teachers within a school are being required to work collaboratively to achieve objectives and to transform cultural change into reality. This paper will discuss the traditional social construction of leadership and how the use of transformational leadership has planned, developed and established an alternative learning within a rural New South Wales high school. This paper will also discuss and analyse effectiveness of the leadership that has taken place This programme was designed and is being run to address poor attendance and retention of targeted students from 14 to 17. This programme ran in partnership with local employment providers, Aboriginal Training Groups as well as the local tertiary training centre. School X is an isolated high school within a town with a populace of 3000 people (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2011). The student population currently resides at 210 with 50% of the students recognising themselves as Indigenous (McDonald & Levinston, 2011). A large percentage of the town’s vocation consists of unskilled labour, with a best part of these also being small business owners (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2011). These include earthmoving companies, primary industries service companies and only a small percentage of the town has a post-sec... ... middle of paper ... ...about leadership? Leadership for the disillusioned: Moving beyond myths and heroes to leading that liberates (pp. 17-34). Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin. Stogdill, R. M. (1948). Personal factors associated with leadership: A survey of the literature. The Journal of Psychology, 25(1), 35-71. Tobin, T., & Sprague, J. (1999). Alternative Education Programs for At-Risk Youth: Issues, Best Practice, and Recommendations. Oregon school study council bulletin, 42, 20. Watkins, P. (1986). A Critical Review of Leadership Concepts and Research: The Implications for Educational Administration: Publication Sales, Deakin University Press, Deakin University, Victoria 3217, Australia ($12.50 Australian; quantity discounts). Williams, B. P. (2011). An analysis of participation in servant leadership as self reported by elementary school principals in southwest Georgia.
Leadership training programs allow for teachers to use their professional experience as an educator and combine it with the academic and hands on experience of being a leader by providing a comprehensive program. Leadership “…is learnable by providing real world leadership training” (Ramsey, 2006, p.xx). The training program prepares educators to be leaders and equips them with the tools necessary to be an effective leader. There is a need for an “,,,infusion ...
The article gave a great account of two Ohio school districts; one, Olmstead Falls Intermediate School, classified as a “High Performing” school that wanted continued growth and the other, Start High School, classified as needing “Continued Improvement” both embarked on the Framework for Improving Leadership set forth by the state of Ohio. The Framework set for an emphasis for adult learning focused on effective leadership, shifting from traditional leadership, positive leadership as the means for improvement, and including standards, training and supportive conditions for leaders.
In Change Leadership, Keagan and Wagner (2006) discuss the many factors of change and the systematic approach to change. Change affects people in different ways. Leaders need to be able to respond to the individual throughout the change process. School Leadership that Works In School Leadership that Works, Marzano introduces twenty-one responsibilities of a school leader (see Appendix A). These leadership responsibilities are used in the two change orders discussed by Marzano, McNulty and Waters (2005).
Lord, R. (2000). Leadership. In A. E. Kazdin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of psychology, vol. 4. (pp. 499-505). Doi:10.1037/10519-216
Northouse, P. (2010). Leadership: Theory and practice (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
School administrators are important in setting the path for a successful school (Glickman, et al., 2014). The principals could play a dynamic leadership depending on how they exercise their beliefs of the organizational and social environment (McNair, 2011). The principals are the primary facilitators for developing the foundations in learning that will last, to manage the student’s performance at schools, and seeking the improvement at school that will cause great impacts in school‘s education (Gordon,1989). In the recent years in the U.S., education has change in a more cultural diversity population, it is imperative that school supervisors, are trained to encounter this cultural issues, but also assisting others with the opportunities to develop appropriate abilities to deal with different cultures (Glickman, et al., 2014).
Wilkes, C. G. Jesus on Leadership: Timeless Wisdom on Servant Leadership. Carol Stream, Illnois: Tyndale House, 1998.
Transformational leadership is one of the most popular leadership styles. According to Kendrick (2011), “Transformational leadership involves four factors: 1. idealized influence, 2. inspirational motivation, 3. intellectual stimulation, and 4. individual consideration.” These four factors make transformational leadership have an impact on followers. The goal of transformational leadership is to cause a positive change in individuals, help motivate them, and develop a leader within each individual.
With the passage of NCLB, many school reform efforts have been initiated using top-down model in which each school leaders have been charged with initiating bold administrative changes to address the legislation. With the number of leadership theories and models, researchers have become interested in studying those to determine which might bring forth the most significant results for leading such change. Due to the lack of highly qualified administrators and the increasing demands for administrators, Bush, O’Brien & Spangler (2005) studied a program, the Southern Tier Leadership Academy, a collaborative of the New York Education Department. The study included three separate cohorts who completed an eight month program. Whereas, Somech (2005) chose to investigate directive and participative leadership approaches, and which would more significantly impact school effectiveness. Perhaps Somech’s reflect Scherer’s (2009, p.7) understandings as described in Educational Leadership, ‘broom-wielding leadership can indeed be beneficial’ as is putting advocates into positions of power and influence and building teams, both of which are seemingly contrasting opposites.
Komives, S., Lucas, N., & McMahon, T. (2007). Exploring Leadership (2nd ed.). Sans Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
In building leadership capacity it is important to ensure that there is broad-based skillful participation. We want the students, parents, community, and staff to be participants. This is important because it allows for staff to take responsibility for the growth and development for not only themselves but for their peers in doing the work of leadership. It is helpful to have the community working together towards the common goal as opposed to ...
Thomas Sergiovanni (2015) describes three essential dimensions of leadership as “the heart, head, and hand of leadership.” The heart describes those characteristics within the school leader that reflect personal “beliefs, values, and dreams.” The head of leadership refers to the practice of teaching and educating. The hand of leadership reflects actions taken by school leaders with respect to management behaviors. (p. 5) Within these elements, there is room for personal choice in how leadership is practiced and it is incumbent on new principals to find an individual leadership style that responds to the uniqueness of each school.
In the future, I propose examining the structure of the school system to find ways which would allow principals more time to be leaders. In addition, principals should take ongoing direct professional leadership development to further improve necessary skill sets. Once leadership techniques are properly implemented, I am confidant there will be a marked improvement of Aboriginal high school student achievement.
Lussier, R.N. & Achua, C.F. (2010). Leadership: Theory, application, skill development (5th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western.
The role of teacher leader has been defined as “teachers who aspire to stretch beyond their classrooms to engage in leadership roles that take many shapes and forms, both “informal and formal”. (ECS, 2010). Teacher leadership has also been described as “the process by which teachers, individually and collectively, influence their colleagues, principals, and other members of the school community to improve learning practices with the aim of increased student learning and achievement.” (ECS, 2010). In years past, a majority of teacher leadership roles took the form of department chair, committee chair, grade level chair, etc. It was more of a representative role versus a leadership role. Their responsibility primarily involved dispersing information from administration to their counterparts and taking information back to administration from the group. Their position lacked decision-making power and true leadership that brings about “real” change. These tasks are still viewed as opportunities for teacher leadership; however, recently, the