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School leadership
SCHOOL LEADERSHIP
BSc, B. Issabekova
Nazarbayev Intellectual School of Chemistry and Biology, Pavlodar, Kazakhstan
Түйін
Бұл мақала қазіргі уақытта өзекті болып отырған мәселе мектептегі көсбасшылыққа арналады. Көсбасшылық адамның жаңалық бастаушысы, көсбасшы, жаңалық еңгізуші қабілетін болып табылады. Өкінішке орай, мектептегі көсбасшылық басқаша түсүніледі. Көбіне лидер, яғни мектеп лидері деп әкімшілікті, мысалы, директор және оның орынбасаларын түсінеді.
Резюме
Данная статья посвящена теме лидерства в школе, являющейся актуальной проблемой в наше время. Лидерство определяется как способность вести за собой, внедрять инновации, быть новатором. К сожалению, лидерство, а именно школьное лидерство, понимают по-другому. Принято считать, что лидерами могут быть только администрация школы, например, директор и его заместители.
There are many ideas of what leadership is. Leadership is defined as an ability to lead, the position or function of a leader, a person who guides or directs a group. Many people understand the word “leadership” as something related to administration, management, control or governorship. But, what school leadership is? People believe that only school administration can be leaders and they relate leadership to principals and vice-principals of schools. I have read various sources on school leadership. In my eyes school leadership is a combination of such teachers’ skills as collaboration, self-evaluation, lifelong learning, reflecting on practice, sharing and helping to each other. At present time, educators think that teachers are leaders too and can implement some reforms and changes at schools. School leadership means collaboration of school administration, teachers, students and their parents. Thus, school leadership makes impact on students and their achievements.
There have been conducted many researches on school leadership and its impact on students’ achievements. As Professor Viviane M. J. Robinson (2007) puts it, the search yielded 26 studies, published between 1978 and 2006, that provided evidence about the links between leadership and students’ outcomes. These studies examined leadership in school context [1]. I agree with Professor Robinson, that if leaders at schools work collaboratively, coordinate and evaluate teachers and teaching, they are more likely than their counterparts in lower performing schools to improve teaching programs that might be beneficial to students. According to Professor Robinson (2007), “the more leaders focus their relationships, their work, and their learning on the core business of teaching and learning, the greater their influence on students’ outcomes” [1].
From my teaching experience, I can say that collaboration and reflection are the most important skills in our profession. While working together as one team, both teachers and students can benefit more. I think that school leaders themselves should lead the way in developing school leadership. To develop world-class school leadership, we need the best school leaders to support the rest – both within and across schools – and develop collaboration between schools and with other agencies. Such collaboration between schools occurs at NIS in Pavlodar. My colleagues and I started action research last year. So in order to learn more about this project we started to work closely with NIS in Uralsk city. I can say that this collaboration with teachers from Uralsk helps us very much. According to School leadership today, “the ingredients are there to sustain school leadership into the 21st century, to rise to the challenges we face, learn from the best and build our capacity and capability. There has never been a better time to be a school leader” [2].
In the terms of successful school leadership Kenneth Leithwood, Alma Harris & David Hopkins (2008) present seven strong claims:
1. School leadership is second only to classroom teaching as an influence on pupil learning.
2. Almost all successful leaders draw on the same repertoire of basic leadership practices.
3. The ways in which leaders apply these basic leadership practices – not the practices themselves – demonstrate responsiveness to, rather than dictation by, the contexts in which they work.
4. School leaders improve teaching and learning indirectly and most powerfully through their influence on staff motivation, commitment and working conditions.
5. School leadership has a greater influence on schools and students when it is widely distributed.
6. Some patterns of distribution are more effective than others.
7. A small handful of personal traits explains a high proportion of the variation in leadership effectiveness [3].
I strongly agree with these claims on school leadership. I believe that school leadership has a great influence on students when it is widely distributed. If all teachers of a school are leaders then their students will be influenced in a positive way. When teachers are leaders and can share and distribute their leadership, both students and schools will benefit more.
Leadership begins with you. To become a true leader you must learn how to reflect on your practice. First and foremost, leadership means being reflective. School principals, teachers and their assistants are all leaders and play a critical role in supporting students. In the words of Steven Weber, “teachers are the backbone and the heartbeat of the American public school. The role of the professional teacher is more important than ever. A teacher does not need to wait until their twentieth year of teaching to become a leader. He or she should feel empowered to lead because of their teaching certification or graduate degree [4]. I totally agree with Steven Weber and I think that teachers should develop and use their leadership skills in a classroom to develop leadership skills beyond. In my opinion, as we are all teachers we must not be just teachers. We must be more than that. Teachers are leaders who can teach and inspire students to become leaders too.
Nowadays there is an issue in the field of leadership preparation. Berg, Carver & Margin (2014) claim in the Journal of research on leadership education that there is a lack of research to guide teacher leader preparation program [5]. There are such programs as three level courses from Cambridge in Kazakhstan to develop teachers’ leadership skills. Due to these courses, teachers go through three levels: basic, secondary and first level. So at basic level teachers learn about leadership and the need of its implementation in a classroom. There are many Kazakhstani teachers who passed these courses. However, very few of them use obtained skills on practice. Unfortunately, those teachers are not controlled and as a result, they have leadership skills only on a paper (certificates).
I have watched a video on school leadership and education. There are two school principals’ stories telling us the difficulties that they face during their work. They are Dr. Tresa Dunbar of Henry H. Nash Elementary School in Chicago (Pre-K-8) and Kerry Purcell of Harvard Park Elementary School in Springfield, IL. (Pre-K-5). The film shows how these leaders keep their focus on improving teaching and learning amid the competing demands of managing their staffs, as well as the social and emotional issues surrounding their students and communities. One of the principals, Tresa Dunbar, discusses instructional leadership, which means focus on instructions and good teaching. Kerry Purcell has been a principal for 6 years. She said that the reason of becoming a principal is that she wants to change the world and she believes that her leadership skills can help teachers to be better ones so that students can be more successful in a classroom [6]. I absolutely agree with Tresa Dunbar that teaching is not always about the academic and sometimes it’s more important to listen to students’ problems and take care of them.
In conclusion, leadership means not only being a good teacher. It is more than that. Leadership is being reflective, collaborative, caring about students and believing in their future success.
References:
1. V. Robinson. School leadership and student outcomes: Identifying what works and why. Winmalee, N.S.W.: Australian Council for Educational Leaders, 2007.
2. National College. School Leadership Today. National College for teaching & leadership. Retrieved on September 12 2014. From http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/252/1/download%3Fid%3D21843%26filename%3Dschool-leadership-today.pdf, 2009.
3. K. Leithwood, A. Harris & D. Hopkins. Seven strong claims about successful school leadership. School Leadership and Management: Formerly School Organization, 28:1, 27-42, DOI: 10.1080/13632430701800060, 2008.
4. S. Weber. Leadership matters. Retrieved on September 12 2014. From http://edge.ascd.org/blogpost/leadership-matters, 2012.
5. J. Berg, C. Carver & M. Mangin. Teacher Leader Model Standards: Implication for Preparation, Policy and Practice. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 9, 196-198, DOI: 10.1177/1942775113507714, 2014.
6. T. Lending (Producer) & D. (Director) Mrazek. The principal story. Documentary on school leadership & education [Video]. Chicago, USA: Nomadic Pictures’ film. 2009
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| Категория: Статьи | Добавил: botateacher (03.04.2015)
| Автор: Исабекова Ботагоз Мейрамовна E
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