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Leadership in Education at
School
As a general fact, strong leadership is the hallmark of
high-quality education. Leadership in education at school level
is becoming increasingly important for government, as well as
public, as the world becomes a global village. In countries
like America, a typical school now has a great variety of
children in terms of their ethnic background, socioeconomic
class, physical disabilities, mental disability and capacity of
learning, and other variations. Strong leadership skills are
thus accentuated in all programs of developing school
curriculum.
Role of Leadership in Education
The vital role that leadership plays in quality education is
not foisting its interests on educational institutions but
directing the latter towards the broader goal of
progress-academic, social, economic etc. Exploring better means
of polishing skills of students and refining their
personalities into a mould of productive responsibility lies at
the heart of every leadership scheme. Instructing to learn via
influencing by formal/informal authority is the crux of
leadership in education. In brief, leadership serves the
function of making learning more effective for students.
Leadership in School Education
Research studies focusing on the role of leadership in
education reveal that the direct effect of leadership in school
education is not big although it is educationally important.
Also, good leadership indirectly enhances the educational
performances of schools. Indirect influences of leadership
include laying out clearer vision and future goals for both
teachers and students, and overseeing processes of teaching and
managing student affairs.
Leaders in School
Leadership in education is primarily the role of principals and
teachers. This role is played either formally or informally in
imparting educational codes-academic, social, moral. Teachers
also play leaders for fellow teachers (and students for fellow
students) in improving teaching methods. Leadership comes from
the students’ families as well.
Qualities of Successful School Leaders
A good school leadership requires many qualities, some of them
listed below:
- A successful school leader is capable of creating an
environment of healthy competition in his/her school.
- He/she is able to energize others for participating in
healthy activities pertaining to academic and personal
growth.
- He/she can plan fruitfully for the development and
improvement of effective means of education.
- He/she owns the skill of bringing about cohesion among
students so as to create communities within the school.
This promotes a sense of trust among students coming from
different backgrounds.
- A successful school leader has the ability of promoting
trust and communication between the students’ families and
school staff.
- It is a desirable quality in any successful school
leader to focus on shared meanings among school staff and
particularly among leaders. This sharing of meaning leads
to better understanding of the aims and visions of the
school’s educational plans.
- Certainly, an exemplary school leader will be a great
source of motivation and encouragement.
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