School leadership

School leadership, or educational leadership, is the process of enlisting the talents and energies of teachers, pupils, and parents toward achieving common educational aims. This term supplanted "educational administration" in the United States and "educational management" in the United Kingdom.

The Term

The term "school leadership" came into currency in the late 20th century for several reasons. Demands were made on schools for higher levels of pupil achievement, and schools were expected to improve and reform. These expectations were accompanied by calls for accountability at the school level. Maintenance of the "status quo" was no longer considered acceptable. "Administration" and "management" are terms that connote stability through the exercise of control and supervision. The concept of leadership was favored because it conveys dynamism and proactivity. The principal or school head is commonly thought to be the school leader; however, school leadership may include other persons, such as members of a formal leadership team and other persons who contribute toward the aims of the school.

While "school leadership" or "educational leadership" have become popular as replacements for "educational administration" in recent years, "leadership" arguably presents only a partial picture of the work of school, division/district, and ministerial personnel, not to mention the areas of research explored by university faculty in departments concerned with the operations of schools and educational institutions. For this reason, there may be grounds to question the merits of its employment as a catch-all term for the field. Rather, the etiology of its use may be found in more generally and contemporarily experienced neo-liberal social and economic governance models, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom. On this view, the term is understood as having been borrowed from business.

In the United States, the superintendency, or role of the chief school administrator, has undergone many changes since the creation of the position which is often attributed to the Buffalo Common Council that approved a superintendent on June 9, 1837. If history serves us correctly, the superintendency is about 170 years old with four major role changes from the early 1800's through the first half of the twentieth century and into the early years of the twenty-first century. Initially, the superintendent's main function was clerical in nature and focused on assisting the board of education with day-to-day details of running the school. At the turn of the century, states began to develop common curriculum for public schools with superintendents fulfilling the role of teacher-scholar or master educator whose focus was on curricular and instructional matters. In the early 1900's, the Industrial Revolution impacted the superintendent's role changing it to expert manager with efficiency in handling non-instructional tasks such as budget, facility,and transportation. The release of "A Nation at Risk "in 1983 directly impacted public school accountability and, ultimately, the superintendency. The early 1980's initiated the change that has continued through today with the superintendent viewed as chief executive officer, including the roles of professional advisor to the board, leader of reforms, manager of resources, and communicator to the public."

References

Carter, G.R. & Cunningham, W.G.(1997) "The American school superintendent: Leading in an age of pressure."San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Waters, J.T. & Marzano, R.J. (2006) School district leadership that works. Denver, CO: Mid-continental Research for Education and Learning.

Literature, Research and Policy

Educational leadership draws upon interdisciplinary literature, generally, but ideally distinguishes itself through its focus on pedagogy, epistemology and human development. In contemporary practice it borrows from political science and business. Debate within the field relates to this tension.

A number of publications and foundations are devoted to studying the particular requirements of leadership in these settings, and educational leadership is taught as an academic discipline at a number of universities.

Several countries now have explicit policies on school leadership, including policies and budgets for the training and development of school leaders.

In the USA formal "Curriculum Audits" are becoming common, which allow recognized educational leaders and trained auditors to evaluate school leadership and the alignment of the curriculum with the goals and objectives of the school district. Curriculum audits and curriculum mapping were developed by Fenwick W. English in the late 1970s. The Educational leaders and auditors who conduct the audits are certified by Phi Delta Kappa.

Further reading

Chance, P.L. & Chance, E.W. (2002). "Introduction to Educational Leadership & Organizational Behavior: Theory Into Practice". New York: Eye on Education.

[http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/menuitem.beab42d78ce93287572011d3e3108a0c/template.ascdexpressarticle?articleMgmtId=d61fe1af10ac9110VgnVCM1000003d01a8c0RCRD Infusing Management Tasks with Instructional Leadership by Dr. Angie McQuaig]