Leadership approaches for elementary school curriculum change

¶ … educational change in regard to the need for curriculum change aimed at addressing curriculum inadequacy that affects our elementary schools. In this paper, the concept of transformational, situational and distributive leadership are discussed in line with instilling positive change to the curriculum development process.

The concept of educational change is one which is often misunderstood by many people (Fullan,2007,p.29).Educational change is either imposed involuntarily or voluntarily accepted by the relevant person or authority. Its meaning too is accepted with a lot of ambivalence as indicated by Fullan.In this paper, we discuss how the concept of educational change is enacted in order to improve student learning through the development of an updated curriculum that is aligned with the state standards for an elementary school. Students often state assessment outcomes as (not met) on the school report card for years. It would therefore require good leadership to instill the necessary change to the curriculum in order to align it to the student needs as well as that of the industry. The process of undertaking such a major change to the educational system may greatly challenge educators at various levels of their lives, both personal and professional. Hargreaves (1998) noted that most of the educational change that is associated with the implementation of educational change has a deep focus on the organizational rational- structural elements and therefore conspicuously ignores the human side or rather the cultural element of the change process as pointed out by Evans (1996).

The role of good leadership in curriculum change

A large number of literatures have been dedicated to the theory of leadership but no consensus has been reached on the true definition of effective leadership in schools. Most of the literatures have failed to accurately present the leadership practices in schools since they have heavily relied on principals' accounts in the definition of effective school leadership in practice (Morrison, 2002).The concept of 'transformational leadership' has been the dominant model in most cases. The model of transformational leadership originated from settings that are evidently non-educational (Burns,1978). The concept of transformational leadership found its way to the educational leadership theory through the work of Sergiovanni (2000), Leithwood et al. (1999) and others.

The work of Leithwood et al. (1999) identified a total of 6 dimensions to the concept of transformational leadership. These include; building of vision and goals for the school, intellectual stimulation, symbolizing the professional; values and practices, individualized support, demonstration of a high level of performance expectation as well as the development of structures necessary for fostering participation in the school decisions. The work of Leithwood and Jantzi (2000) on the other hand proceeded to add an additional four dimensions to the concept of transformational leadership. These included; establishing of an effective staffing practices, provision of instructional support, monitoring of all school activities as well as provision of community focus.

Charisma is noted to be central to the concept of transformational leadership. This notion is what has seen several principles engage in a careful articulation of their school's vision in a manner that is inspiring to their followers and thereby creating a high level of performance and commitment (Bryman, 1992). Since transformational leadership has come under a lot of criticism with the notion that it is a partial leadership theory gaining much ground, other leadership theories like situational leadership and distributive leadership must be engaged in the educational setting.

Successful management of curriculum change for better results in elementary schools

Conclusion

Curriculum change is one of the best methods of addressing curriculum inadequacy which is rampant in our Elementary schools. The process of curriculum change and innovation must however be guided by positive leadership which at its core should be transformational in style. Situational as well as distributive leadership styles must also be integrated in the process of curriculum change.