pgedleadership: Educational Leadership | University of Edinburgh Moodle

Educational Leadership

Studies of educational leadership represent a significant subset of the wider leadership field. The focus, in policy and in research on school improvement has led to an increasing emphasis on the importance of leadership in general and the school/institutional leader in particular, in improving outcomes for students. English school inspection reports, for example, make frequent reference to the role of effective leadership in school success:

Inside every successful school you will find successful leaders. School effectiveness and school improvement researchers have consistently emphasised the importance of leadership. For example, a summary of findings from school effectiveness research concluded that: “Almost every single study of school effectiveness has shown both primary and secondary leadership to be a key factor,” (Sammons 1995) p.8). Ofsted has also stated that the importance of good leadership pervades virtually every report it has prepared (Ofsted 2003).

Leithwood and his associates (1999) undertook a detailed review of educational leadership literature, from which they identified six essential leadership categories, based on the source of leadership influence in each case:

Instructional, based on technical expertise;
Transformational, motivating individuals to have raised aspirations and expectations
Moral, based on moral values
Participative, creating structured opportunities for mutual influence and interaction
Managerial, based on formal structures and ‘positional’ power
Contingent, based on a problem-solving approach, responding to needs.

Leithwood and his colleagues paint a powerful, inspirational, picture of the heroic transformational leader as the agent of school improvement (to be added). However Gunter (2001) gives a sceptical counterblast to such approaches. For her, such leadership models can become manipulative, using persuasion and influence to bring teachers into line behind ‘top down’ initiatives (p68ff).

Christopher Day and his colleagues in their recent short, yet powerful research report aimed at those leading schools in England, while aware of this critical approach, they argue that there are some simple and direct messages about leadership in schools and similar educational institutions which are not in doubt.

Table 4 10 Strong Claims about Successful School Leadership ((Day, Sammons et al. 2010) p3)

1.Headteachers are the main source of leadership in their schools.
2 There are eight key dimensions of successful leadership.
3 Headteachers’ values are key components in their success.
4 Successful heads use the same basic leadership practices, but there is no single model for achieving success.
5 Differences in context affect the nature, direction and pace of leadership actions.
6 Heads contribute to student learning and achievement through a combination and accumulation of strategies and actions.
7 There are three broad phases of leadership success.
8 Heads grow and secure success by layering leadership strategies and actions.
9 Successful heads distribute leadership progressively.
10 The successful distribution of leadership depends on the establishment of trust.

Critical analysis might query the motives of Inspectors (operating from a power base that gives privileged authority to their view of effective schooling) and researchers (dependent on research grants and peer-reviewed research reports for status and position). However these researchers are making an argument that the importance of effective schooling trumps any critical analysis. Michael Fullan (Fullan 2003) argues that there is strong moralimperative to effective school leadership. This takes discussion out of the realm of analysis of ‘what is’ and into the realm of ‘what ought to be’.

Moral purpose of the highest order is having a system where all students learn and the gap between high and low performance becomes greatly reduced, and what people learn enables them to be successful citizens and workers in a morally based knowledge society. (p29)

This is a world of action. In this world, it is clear what needs to be done and those in leadership positions in education (from classroom to Ministry) should get on and do it! This will certainly require leadership, but may also require good management.