Importance of Leadership in Schools

Critically analyse research paper in relation to School improvement or school effectiveness.

It has been seen over the years that leadership is one of the key factors which define the organisational effectiveness. As the paper suggests, educational leadership has gained strong traction over the last few years. There are many reasons and many of them are mostly related to the changing dynamics in the education system. One of the major changes in education system is the emergence of school based management system in some major countries over the period of last two decades (Huber, 2010). The power delegation has shifted from government and local bodies to the schools and that is why more autonomy is seen in the schools. This autonomy which is now delegated in the education system has led to emergence of leadership management.

The delegation of authority in the school system has led to growth in importance of school based leaders who can work on his/her individual role and help in development of the leadership culture in the organisation. The kind of leadership attributes that the school adopts will decide whether the school become more effective or not. The paper has focussed on how schools are seeing changes in leadership dynamics and how knowledge management in this field can provide a perfect understanding of the current ways and means in which it operates.

The first gauge of the paper evaluates the effectiveness in school management and how private sector is contributing towards it. The literature review part of the paper focusses on the school leadership pattern and what is happening in this space. The paper also uses three different models to measure are direct effect models, reciprocal-effect model and mediated-effects models to evaluate the effectiveness. These set of studies help in proper understanding of the administration effect and its impact (Huber, 2010).

In the final part of the paper the lessons learned are reviewed and then each one of them is discussed. The main example of effective leadership is viewed from the factor on how it is providing enablers in the field and improving the abilities of teacher who impart education. If the teacher are effective than the same would be visible in the performance of the pupil. Hence the study explores how the proper leadership and its effectiveness in education, helps in ultimate performance of the pupil. Hence the paper concludes with the fact that one should not question which principal actually made the difference in school, it should what routes should one take to achieve desired results.

Theoretical Concepts of Delegation and Responsibility in School Leadership

The paper in its literature review talks of many references which talks about how leadership in school effectiveness actually helps in determination of the proper method in school leadership. It has been seen historically that in North America extensive research has been done in this field. This kind of research has also been carried out at United Kingdom, Australia and some other European countries (Huber, 2010). The paper highlights some studies conducted by researchers in these countries which talks about how leadership effectiveness in schools is one of the primary determinant factor for the success of the pupil in the school. It is then clearly established that central importance of the school effectiveness is dependent on how leadership at school functions.

Leadership is one of the key components in any organisation. The organisation draws cultural making values, responsibility dependent on the fact that how leadership functions. However the same become more important in case of education system as young bright minded pupils learn a lot from the kind of behaviour which is on display in front of them. Hence display of strong leadership taking responsibility for its actions can ultimately go a long way in shaping up the performance of the pupil from the institution. Some of the key factors which are discussed in paper about effective leadership are goal oriented decision making, decisive discussions and participation of all verticals to make the discussion more fruitful. It also talks about how leadership is also a factor of how the leader shares responsibilities and also helps in preparation of other leaders. If one is a real leader, he would be able to inspire other people to become leaders, take responsibilities, collaborate and deliver results. The paper has quoted many authors and there works whereby it has been established that one of the key character of leadership is its effectiveness. One of the authors reports that principals of highly effective schools are actually very strong leaders. This opens up another set of responsibilities; leaders from such strong and effective schools have also got a lot to offer to society by providing decisive leadership from time to time. There are other researchers too who have found strong correlation between effectiveness and its hand in leadership.

There are another angles explored to in the paper whereby the author analyses various highly effective schools and what was different in such schools. One of the prominent reasons which came forward was the fact that leadership in such schools was highly resulting oriented and responsible. It has also been seen that many countries have learned from such examples and focussed on strong leadership in education institutes of the country. The author has also presented on views on how in many schools, improvement programs have failed and has not been effective because the leadership of the school was not standing behind it. If an educational institute like school wants to inculcate the culture of innovation, then that also can only happen when the focus and effort for the same is flown from leadership. It can be seen that leadership in the schools again works only when it follows a top down approach. So if the goal is to create learning organisations then the thought behind the whole process need to follow through the help of leaders of such organisations.

Critical Analysis of the Paper

The core purpose for the existence of the school is to impart good education to the people and making them prepared for all aspect of life. The schools which will have higher effective set of such students will also have some very strong teachers and leaders who were running such institutions. In the whole school development process the school leadership is considered to be single most decisive factor. The leadership is the one single unit which determines the culture of the institute and how it will shape up for the future. One of the major changes in education system is the emergence of school based management system in some major countries over the period of last two decades. The power delegation has shifted from government and local bodies to the schools and that is why more autonomy is seen in the schools.

It has also been seen that in last few years the focus has dramatically increased in improving the leadership of various schools. This fact augments from the situation that research has shown how leaders who are effective can dramatically change the success rate of pupils in the school. In the year 2001, National College for School Leadership in England, ran a very coordinated program to actually bring a cultural shift in the primary school education of the country. The objective of the exercise was to focus on leadership and then see various parameters over the years. These set of leaders have proven their capabilities in different spheres of life and hence were capable enough to provide strong backgrounds to these set of schools. The parameters which were evaluated over a period of time showed dramatic changes. Strong leadership with able decision making turned these schools into very strong effective organisations. If the results were evaluated for a longer period of time it was clearly visible that performance of pupils also improved which overall was a very good sign and also establishes the facts which we have discussed in this paper.

The author also talks about three models under which he tested the subject. In the direct effect model he says that’s leader’s practices can directly affect the school outcomes and all of these can be easily measured. He then goes on to use Mediated-effects model which relies on basic assumption that leaders achieve success by means of indirect measure and direct measure has no visible relevance in the whole process. The author then goes on to talk about Reciprocal-effects model under which it explored whether the leadership attributes are also impacted by how school perceives the leaders to be. This in turn explores a reciprocal relationship, for example if a school is effective and the changes brought in by the new leaders are accepted, the leader will reciprocate with more meaningful insight and will be involved more with the school. This is where it explores about how leader goes on to focus on relationship building which in turn shape up the coordination in the whole institution.

To conclude on this paper the author has talked about how indirect impacts are the ones which define the effectiveness in the long run for the leader. Direct visible impacts are the one which only affect a certain level of population while the indirect effect of the leadership policies in the school is the ones which actually define the effectiveness of the leadership. This can be somewhat surprising as it is expected that the direct impact should be higher compared to indirect impact and hence one should measure more the direct set of impacts which the leader delivered. However research papers have suggested that in the long run it is in the indirect set of impacts which the leader makes in the school which actually shapes up the future of the school.

Conclusion

The bedrock for any country is the serious pillars on which it is basing its pupil. If the education system of the country is strong it will shape up the future of the country in the right direction. In this regard this research papers become important, they highlight how the education system in schools can be improved upon. It also talks about the various development factors for the school and how a coordinated effort to improve upon the leadership will go a long way in shaping up the future of the education system in the country. In the direct effect model he says that’s leader’s practices can directly affect the school outcomes and all of these can be easily measured. He then goes on to use Mediated-effects model which relies on basic assumption that leaders achieve success by means of indirect measure and direct measure has no visible relevance in the whole process. The author then goes on to talk about Reciprocal-effects model under which it explored whether the leadership attributes are also impacted by how school perceives the leaders to be.

Reference

Huber, S. G., 2010. School Leadership – International Perspectives, London: Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York.