Aspects of educational leadership

Educational Leadership

Leaders in the field of education are visible at every level of academic participation. Though it is a trait more typically recognized in such natural points of leaderships as principalship and administration, leadership is also necessary and commonly occurring amongst teachers and educators. Generally the first line of contact for students, parents and principals with respect to the concrete achievement of educational and institutional goals, leaders will emerge to spearhead important projects, to lead faculty teams and to serve as department heads. Therefore, I would consider the problems of enrollment and matters impacting the quality of student experiences to be a function of the leadership exhibited by the teachers themselves. Therefore, my ambition within the Webster school district would be to improve leadership training at every level such that teachers feel they have the flexibility and wherewithal to address the individual needs of students and their families.

The article by Donaldson (2008) describes the manner in which educators come to function in these capacities, revealing formal education to be a professional setting in which leadership traits both naturally emerge and are subject to great refinement. Donaldson suggests that the experiential value of teaching will help to push to the surface those leadership qualities already present in many teachers with greater effectiveness even than curricular training in leadership. The article indicates that "in a reversal of the paradigm, these teachers grow into leadership practice and then learn leadership in more formal ways." (Donaldson, 15) This is to note that in many ways, the role of the teacher inherently guides those individuals best suited for leadership to adopt responsibilities, take on initiatives and assume the lead point in project actions that will ultimately elevate them to this role. The article by Donaldson indicates that by approaching the work of an educator with a flexibility, a willingness to extend the extra effort for students and inherent tendency to function as a positive example to other educators, a teacher can generate the respect and loyalty in fellow staff members that effectively creates a leader within the school community.

My personal role as a broader educational community leader would be to ensure that teachers are given all opportunities to learn to lead and to apply this within their departments and within their classrooms. There is a clear imperative here to help teachers realize their fullest potential by establishing an educational context in which educators feel that they have the support of their schools and faculty when taking on leadership challenges. Therefore, I would consider ongoing training and workshop activities as effective strategies for helping to instill leadership boldness and values in teachers. This will include a supplemental education on communicating effectively with parents of all types with the hope that parents and teachers can be brought into collaboration over the improvement of the Webster district.

2.

The role of superintendent is highly politicized. The administrative leader of the school district is a figure with significant interest vested in him by the community. Likewise, the superintendent will possess some unique qualifications as an educational professional that will enable him to make hard decisions in the face of that pressure. This is the key to survival as a superintendent. Balance between acknowledging this responsibility to the community and between being a strong and decisive leader will be the prime determinant in how well the superintendent is able to protect the interests of an educational community.

It is therefore incumbent upon the effective superintendent to outwardly pursue a role that is politically savvy while remaining steadfast in the philosophical approach taken to maintaining and improving the school district or state system. This means that a superintendent must accept the politicization of the position and work hard to engage in open dialogue the various parties with which he must be interactive in order to craft pedagogic, budgetary and curricular standards that might best reflect the desires of the greatest diversity of interested parties. Sometimes, it falls upon this individual to make a meaningful decision to one end or the other. This might either mean suffering the political consequences of making a correct but unpopular decision or sacrificing one's value system in order to reflect in the schools that which is seen as culturally desirable to the publics thereby served.