Lola Ortega, Paola García, María Lizán, Andrea Martínez

1. School leadership concept.

For understanding school leadership we have to keep in touch with a definition of leadership.

Any kind of leadership implies a social influence process where other people or groups exert

intentional influence by other people or groups to plan activities and relationships in a group or in

an organization, according with Yukl. The term ‘intentional’ is important because the leadership is

based on goals where it is hope to a process of influence to guide.

Depending on the country, the concept of leadership is used exchangeable with “school

administration” and “school management”.

“Managers do things well, while leaders do the right thing”. (Bennis y Nanus, 1997).

Leadership implies: mould the attitudes, motivations and behaviour of other people.

Management is related with the maintenance of actual operations. (Bush y Glover, 2003).

Also, Dimmock (1999) presents a distinction between school leadership, management, and

administration, and usually the responsibility of a school leader involves the three.

Successful centres need an effective leadership, a management and an administration. For reach

the success is too important to have this three aspect, because they’re intertwine.

It is emphasized the school leaders, including, but not limiting to school headmasters. That is

because the headmaster concept is based on industrial model of education, where only one

person carries with all the responsibility. In fact, leadership is a larger concept where guide

authority is not in one person, it is distributed between different people inside and out centre.

2. ¿What do we understand as school leadership?

Nowadays leadership in education is a controversial issue. It is associated with the world of

companies, and it isn’t well considered in educative atmosphere.

From this view, it is associated leadership with an individualist and elitist sight in relation with

team work, of educative institutions (Longo, 2008).

Directive leadership it’s been getting more complex because it is attributed with more

responsibilities and must be the responsible for the improvements of the results in the centre.

According with (2008) this situation is really similar in every countries and is a consequence of the

globalization and the necessity of having a competitive educative systems, and assumption that

headmasters have a key role in the success of the educative reforms.

But not all pressures are external, also exist internal changes that are related with conflicts, with

the school crew, parents, and student’s discipline.

Leadership in school is meant principally as motivate and orient. Also, a good leadership must be

followed with authentic authority- authority that comes from the people with you work and who

recognise it without obligation. For that, it is need to remind that leader is not the same as direct.

However, in education it is understood leadership as centre’s direction. Centre’s direction could

practise leadership, but leadership can be practise by someone without a directive function.

Leadership is more efficient if it doesn’t fall back only into the headmaster. A headmaster must

has the quality of recognise the better development with teamwork of the whole school crew and

the community, making the centre a whole system.

3. Educative leadership kinds.

Robinson (2010) stablish three competences request for an effective pedagogical leadership that

have a high grade of interdependence between them:

1. Have a large pedagogical knowledge about the process of teaching-learning. It links the

curricular and pedagogical knowledge with the administrative and management

dimensions.

2. Know how to solve the problems of the centre.

3. Encourage the trust with the crew, families and students.

3.1. Pedagogical leadership.

It’s focused in the innovation process of methodologies (Leithwood, Harris y Hopkins, 2008).

A pedagogical leadership implies that the competences of direction must to be oriented to create

conditions and promote contexts that improve the process of teaching-learning.

Although direction must perform many task, its main mission is the teaching, for that reason must

focus on the improvement of the education offered by the centre.

Pedagogical leadership is sawn as the second factor most important in the student’s learning,

after the work in the classroom.

We remind about school leadership has more influence in the school and in the students when it’s

distributed.

The distributed leadership focuses on professionally empowering teachers to perform multiple

functions of leadership, which configures the Education Centre as a professional community of

learning, i.e., a community of leaders.

Teachers, families and students also should be exercised, in its own way and in its context, the

leadership of distributed mode. Who directs such organizations shouldn’t aspire to expand his

base of power influenced by the number of followers. What he need is to promote people ready

to take responsibility, ready to exercise micro-leaderships that guide, motivate and induce

changes on projects and innovations.

3.3. Moral leadership: Community Centre

The potential for transferring of leadership produces best its effects when there is a climate of

active trust in which the different members feel that they are part of a community at the Center.

In particular we refer to the teachers and staff who work in it, but also to students and parents

and mothers. One of the main functions of all educational center is to foster optimal conditions so

that their students achieve quality learning. Another function is that the Center is a space for

coexistence and introduction to community life in which democratic values are present. To

perform these two functions well, the center needs a set of values shared by all and the

educational continuity that ensures consistency in the way of dealing with conflicts and tensions.

So one of the tasks of the leadership is to generate a sense of belonging, participation in a shared

project. This moral leadership can generate the necessary welfare in the center and in teachers in

order to exercise its task with satisfaction and promote a good school climate for a good learning.

WHO PARTICIPATE IN SCHOOL LEADERSHIP?

Director: Is the person is responsible for the operation of the school, which depends on

the structures of Government in the country. It is the person that encourages teachers

and students, also oversees all the details for the proper functioning of the Centre.

The head of studies is the person who is in charge of directing everything concerning

students (if there are problems between them), school schedules, coordinates the

improvement of faculty, coordinates and organizes the tutors, etc.

The Secretary is the one who leads the administration of the Centre, the economy of the

Centre, etc.

DIMENSIONS FOR A COMPETENT LEADERSHIP

Authentic leadership must possess certain dimensions to be competent, which are

as follows:

Charismatic dimension. Means that the leader (either an individual or a team of

people) is appealing, so it facilitates other people to feel comfortable being with

him or her or them. . This dimension causes such other persons are in your

environment try to be at your side and comfortable feel when they are not.

Emotional dimension. You must show a positive attitude with those with which it

relates. If we are at an educational institution, you must treat everyone with

respect, kindness, consideration and must recognize its merits and qualities. At

the same time, the leading owner of such dimension defends and promotes the

dignity of every person.

Anticipatory dimension. See advance so that could be the most appropriate

strategies and activities more effective, as well as predict the consequences or

effects thereof.

Professional dimension. Educational leaders must promote the institution towards

the achievement of goals and educational objectives and will try to facilitate the

availability of the necessary resources and the use of precise strategies to this

institution and its members to achieve the highest quality of education.

Participatory dimension. The leader shows that the best way of encouraging

individuals and groups towards a smart and collaborative work is to encourage

them to offer their efforts along with others on projects in which they are

committed for having participated with their intervention in the decisions taken in

each of the stages of such projects.

Cultural dimension. Leaders of this dimension promote the consolidation of the

particular culture or specific profile of the institution in which they operate.

The formative dimension. The leader cares about its own education and training

and try to promote the continuing education of persons on which exercises its

leadership. Continuous the highest qualification and professional preparation

necessary to carry out tasks that will allow progress in the quality of education and

that of the institution

The administrative dimension: has to do with the purely administrative routines

and the fulfillment of bureaucratic activities.

TRAINING TO LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT.

The Educational Leadership in the school context is not a personal issue but is something

about equipment and community, at School it´s understood as a system. This situation is

going from a unipersonal focus to another different based on a systematic and complex

approach leadership.

Principal Competences are broad pedagogical knowledge about the process of teaching

and learning, problem solving and relational trust.

Its main function should be to seek cohesion of all elements of the educational

organization to occur in a common form.

Leadership must be based on models of distributed, persuasive, transformational,

situational, ecosystem-based, moral and pedagogical leadership.

For this kind of leadership is essential to establish both internal and external network

shares, and boost the development of the leader rather than their training. They use

training methods based on educational principles of guidance, mentoring and support.

Its technical development include:

BENCHMARKING.

Benchmarking or good practices. It is a tool aimed at the action or change that involves learning,

knowledge management and adaptation of excellent practices.

The steps in a Benchmarking process would be:

- Planning.

- Analysis of current performance and future of our organization.

- Integration of the data obtained in the context.

- Action.

- Maturation.

MENTORING.

Mentoring, where the mentor is someone with more knowledge, skills and experience that comes

into contact with another who needs them for growth. It is responsible for guiding and orienting

the development of skills, competencies and attitudes of another, more in line with its potential.

You must have communication skills (empathy and assertiveness) and encourage learning,

creating a relationship of trust.

A process mentoring of these characteristics is developed as follows:

- Identification, assessment and guidance to the person

- Analysis of the perception of the mentee;

- Establishment of review meetings progress

- Impact assessment.

COACHING.

Coaching, which is conceived as a formative experience underpinned by mutual trust between

mentor and mentee. It is a way of exercising guidance, which involves using emotional leadership

and techniques based on deep trust. It is the function in which the relationship between coach

and "coachee" (so called the oriented) is such at the first generating total confidence in the

second, and the second to get through this trust discover their personal potential, social and

professional.

Must follow these steps:

- Establish a relationship with the other.

- Listen to their proposals.

- Accept and appreciate the other.

- Learn and share information with others.

- Watch your value system.

- Seek convergence between learning and life known.

- Prioritize important.

- Act for the development of personal and professional project leader.

Finally, Learning leadership must also take into account the gender variable, only looking to

achieve effective leadership is one that is contextualized, depends on the role to play and the

identity of who is and who is to include both features more rational and transactional leadership

male as the female emotional and transformers.

TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS:

1. Leadership is mainly a headmaster’s competence. TRUE

2. The potential for transferring of leadership produces best its effects when there is a

climate of active trust TRUE

3. If we are at an educational institution, you must treat everyone with respect, kindness,

consideration and must recognize its merits and qualities. TRUE

4. The Educational Leadership in the school context is a personal issue. TRUE

5. Leadership must be based on models of distributed, persuasive, transformational,

situational, ecosystem-based, moral and pedagogical leadership. TRUE

OPTION QUESTIONS:

1. School leadership must:

a) Orient

b) Motivate

c) Both are correct

2. In the leadership, the participation is mainly made by:

a) The Director, the Deputy Director and the Secretary

b) The Director, the Head of Studies and the Secretary

c) The Director, the Head of Studies and the Deputy Director

3. The administrative dimension handle:

a) Routines

b) Activities

c) Both

4. In Educational Leadership, they use methods based on:

a) Educational principles of guidance, mentoring and support.

b) Planning, analysis and integration.

c) Identification, Establishment of review meetings progress, impact assessment.

5. What is coaching?

a) It is a tool aimed at the action or change that involves learning, knowledge management

and adaptation of excellent practices.

b) Coaching, which is conceived as a formative experience underpinned by mutual trust

between mentor and mentee.

c) Mentoring, where the mentor is someone with more knowledge, skills and experience

that comes into contact with another who needs them for growth.