Bridge the great divide between distanced administrative duties and daily classroom impact. This book introduces a top-down power mechanism called defined autonomy, a concept that focuses on district-defined, nonnegotiable, common goals and a system of accountability supported by assessment tools. Defined autonomy creates an effective balance of centralized direction and individualized empowerment that allows building-level staff the stylistic freedom to respond quickly and effectively to student failure.
This volume provides an overview of key contemporary themes in educational leadership. It focuses on developing professional capacity, organisation improvement and the implementation of change, looking at theoretical frameworks and concepts, recent research studies and case examples of effective practice. The book covers: - leading learning and learner leadership - change processes and distributed leadership - leading professional development for educational contexts. Designed to encourage critical analysis and debate, this volume will be a useful resource for postgraduate and professional development courses in educational leadership and for practitioners. It is a companion to Educational Leadership: Context, Strategy and Collaboration, also published by Sage.
`Keith Grint′s persuasive essay on the art of leadership in Effective Educational Leadership is uncannily accurate′ - Tim Brighouse, Times Educational Supplement `its unique contribution is the exploration of links between leadership discourses and the themes that have emerged from the school effectiveness movements since the 1980s. Riley and MacBeath provide one of the most valuable contributions to the volume by arguing that there are no generic recipes for educational leadership but ingredients which need to be carefully selected with a knowledge of specific contexts and needs. I would use this book with graduate students and practitioners seeking to develop a perspective about contemporary educational leadership. Its greatest contribution is its exploration of the links between effective leadership and effective education. The book also provides optimism in that many of the authors have not capitulated to the reductionist visions of the past two decades. There is still hope that educational theorists and practitioners view the life world as the true source of educational inspiration′ - Journal of Educational Administration `Leadership is the theme of this decade. This series provides an enormously valuable overview of all the critical issues involved in designing leadership as the main strategy for educational reform.... A great and timely collection′- Michael Fullan, Dean, OISE/University of Toronto `This book makes an excellent contribution to the current debate on Educational Leadership. It blends theory with practice and as such provides an important resource for many aspects of leadership development programmes at a variety of levels. Its ability to draw upon international perspectives along with examples beyond conventional educational parameters enhances its quality. The book contains a well documented account of how leadership has been studied which will appeal both to the academic reader, and to the professional provider of CPD in leadership, offering a wealth of information that can be practically adopted and adapted for a range of courses′ - Stephen Merrill, Journal of Inservice Education Educational management and administration studies focus on leadership as a key determinant of effective educational institutions; and currently, much leadership preparation is characterized by a rational skills-focused approach. Placing current thinking in leadership studies in its organizational and historical context, this book explores its implications for leadership preparation, leadership theory in action and examines some of the dilemmas and tensions facing educational leaders in practice. It draws on literature and research from both the private and public sectors. It is deliberately international in its content and focus, and examines a range of practice both within and outside education. Each chapter has a short introduction by the editors setting it in context. This book is for providers and students in higher educational institutions; for postgraduate level courses in educational management; and for leadership development provision for Headteachers induction programmes, NPQH and LPSH. It is also suitable for short courses and for practitioners occupying or aspiring to leadership roles in schools, colleges and other educational organizations.
Educational administrators know that leadership requires hundreds of judgments each day that require a sensitivity and understanding of various leadership strategies. Bridging the gap between the academic and practical world, A Guide to Effective School Leadership Theories provides an exploration of ten dominant leadership strategies to give school leaders a solid basis in theory and practical application. Demonstrating the advantages and drawbacks of each theory, readers are encouraged to discover the most appropriate strategy, or combination of strategies, that will best enable their school to achieve positive results. Each Chapter Includes: Introductory vignettes grounding the leadership theory in practice Discussion of the history, development, and utility of the strategy Research findings for further exploration of the theory End-of-chapter questions and activities designed to connect theory to practice This book is essential reading for aspiring and practicing school leaders who wish to have a better understanding of their leadership role. Providing a focused, up-to-date introduction to the current themes and dimensions of educational leadership, A Guide to Effective School Leadership Theories presents all the tools necessary to analyze and implement effective leadership in readers’ own settings.
In Positive Academic Leadership, Jeffrey Buller offers new insights and practical tools, as well as language and tactics, for fostering a more effective approach to leadership. With acumen and a dash of humor, he shows leaders how they can take the focus off the negative and change what they say, their perspectives, and their strategies. This more constructive leadership style plays to the strengths of leaders rather than to the weaknesses of their institutions. Offering time-tested and fresh ideas for becoming the type of leader who acts as a coach, counselor, and conductor for faculty, staff, and students, Buller demonstrates how positive leadership can become a day-to-day practice. With its down-to-earth style, the book draws on the most current research on positive leadership in neuroscience, psychology, management, organizational behavior, and other disciplines and translates their lessons into readable and accessible recommendations. It then makes these recommendations come to life by providing real-world examples that illustrate how to implement positive leadership strategies in all spheres of the leader’s activities and institution. Positive Academic Leadership is a wise guide for transforming any leader’s attitude about inevitable daily crises into manageable challenges that are based on a philosophy of accepting the environment and situation but working to make things better.
This book analyzes what happens when schools are put on probation for failing to meet their accountability improvement targets. The author examines accountability design issues, organizational development, teacher motivation, and curriculum changes in 11 schools on probation and offers empirical evidence of how effective probationary sanctions and penalties are guiding school change and what their limitations are.
Master's Thesis from the year 2023 in the subject Pedagogy - The Teacher, Educational Leadership, , language: English, abstract: The Leadership styles adopt by school principal plays an important role in raising the students' academic achievement in Nigeria. This study investigates whether the principal’s leadership styles influence student achievement in rural secondary schools in Nigeria. Firstly, the study determines the overall type of leadership style adopted by upper and lower rural secondary schools in Nigeria. Secondly, it establishes the principal leadership style behavior in both upper and lower secondary schools. Finally, the study intends to investigate the influence of the Nigerian principal leadership style on student achievement in upper and rural secondary schools. The research design used is a quantitative descriptive sectional survey research design. The theoretical or educational gap, locational gap, and the approach gap were identified. In the research process, the researcher utilized two survey questionnaires, "Leadership Orientation Survey" from Bolman and Terrence E. Deal which has three sections, leadership styles, leaders' behavior, and overall rating respectively. The second survey contains one section “principal leadership survey”. Forty-six teachers in upper and forty in lower rural secondary schools were asked, but only 20 in upper and 20 in lower responded during the research. Frequency, percentage, and mean were used.
