Leadership in education is a life-long process
As we gear to combat the coronavirus pandemic, there is a pressing need to instill a life-long process of focusing on distributed leadership and school improvement and a need for clear, effective and strong leadership and management in schools if teachers want to nurture successful pupils who are soon leaders in the future.
The quality and effectiveness of leadership and management within a school is being tested always especially now that we are battling the pandemic. In the past, some schools had poor leadership, and this was cited as the reason for the rise in failing schools and for dampening the spirits of bright young teachers.
By having a good leadership in education, teachers will be working with vim and vigor and put more effort in dealing with children. A famous adage says, “Unless we get leadership right then we will still continue to have problems.”
In a study co-authored by educational researcher Kenneth Leithwood, he encouraged teachers and school leaders to imbibe the virtues of leadership:
“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 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.”
These are very vital leadership styles to be successful. That is why schools are encouraged to develop dedicated and active leaders by focusing on quality and effectiveness.