Characteristics of an effective head teacher

THERE are three important elements that contribute to school effectiveness namely leadership through the head teacher, teacher quality and parental support.

Of the three, the role of the head teacher serves as the glue between the teachers, quality and parental involvement or support.

Before we appreciate the characteristics of an effective school head teacher, we need to understand the nature and role of leadership.

According to James Kouzes (2005), leadership is the art of mobilising others to want to struggle for shared aspirations.

To “lead” means having a sense of direction. John Maxwell says leadership is influence. A leader is a guide, visionary, facilitator, motivator or inspirer.

Leader

A leader should possess five practices: Firstly, a leader should model the way, secondly, a leader inspires a shared vision, thirdly, a leader should challenge the process, fourthly, a leader should enable others to act and fifthly, a leader should motivate others or encourage the heart.

Why is school leadership important? A highly effective school leader can have a dramatic influence on the overall academic achievement of students (Michael Fullan, 2005). Effective leaders know and understand their context.

According to Geoff Southworth almost all school leaders draw on the same repertoire of leadership practices.

It is the ways leaders apply these leadership practices, and not the practices themselves, which demonstrate responsiveness to rather than dictation by the context in which they work.

As stated earlier, three things matter to children and young people’s educational growth: parental engagement with learning, quality of teaching and leadership. Only leadership can bring the three together.

Since effective leadership is synonymous with an effective school, we need to define what an effective school is before we look at the characteristics of an effective head teacher.

Effective schools are those that successfully progress the learning and development of all their learners. Effective schools are those where 95 percent of the leaners achieve minimum competencies and learners are able to progress to the next grade. Effective schools are those where there are no significant differences in the proportion of students demonstrating minimum academic mastery as a function of socio-economic class and those that give their students good resources and let them achieve their full potential.

Effective school

An Effective School is a school that can, in measured student achievement terms, demonstrate the joint presence of quality and equity. Said another way, an Effective School is a school that can, in measured student achievement terms and reflective of its “learning for all” mission, demonstrates high overall levels of achievement and no gaps in the distribution of that achievement across major subsets of the student population.

In an effective school, learners reach their potential; the learners are healthy and well supported, the environment is safe, protective and gender-sensitive; the curriculum content reflects relevant curriculum.

There are trained teachers using learner-centred approaches in well-managed classes where assessment is regularly used.

Effective schools strive to develop learners based on holistic outcomes such as knowledge, skills and attitudes linked to national goals.

Effective schools can also be described based on the Five Factor Theory of Effective Schools. Researchers say effective schools are able, through these five factors, to promote student achievement.

Factor 1: Strong Leadership, Factor 2: Clear Mission, Factor 3: Safe and Orderly Climate, Factor 4: Monitoring student progress and Factor 5: High Expectations.

What are the characteristics of an effective school leader? Experts at the Institute of Education (IOE) in London studied how the poorest schools turned around to be the best.

Researchers identified quality of leadership as one of the key factors driving the transformation similar to other school improvement studies. The IOE academics studied reports by school inspectors and came up with a set of characteristics shared by effective/successful schools.

There are eight characteristics of effective school head teachers. Effective head-teachers are consistent, have high expectations and are ambitious for the success of their pupils.

Effective head teachers constantly demonstrate that disadvantage need not be a barrier to achievement. They focus relentlessly on improving teaching and learning with very effective professional development of all staff. They are experts at assessment and the tracking of pupil progress. They are highly inclusive, have regard for progress and personal development of every pupil.

They develop individual students through promoting rich opportunities for learning both within and outside classroom.

Effective head teachers form partnerships with parents, business and community. They are robust and rigorous in terms of self-evaluation and data analysis with clear strategies for improvement.

Sir David Carter, England’s most respected school principal, brings out three features of Super-Heads: Super heads work relentlessly on behalf of pupils. They have clear and consistent vision and work closely with the community the school serves.

Effective head teachers have the ability to balance strategic and operational roles. They have the ability to manage change and understand how it works. They talent spot-right appointments and get people in their right roles.

Finally, effective head-teachers have a high level emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills.