Leadership
- Meaning
·
leadership is the art of motivating a group
of people to act towards achieving a common goal.
·
Leadership is a winning combination of
personal traits and the ability to think and act as a leader, a person who
directs the activities of others for the good of all.
Educational
Leadership
·
“An educational Leader is always trying to
get others to accept his decisions or his objectives, or encourages them to
join in some common purpose. His skill like that of any other leader. Rests on
his ability to make significant judgment and to encourage others to accept
these judgments” -
Barky
·
Barky has identified three types of
educational leaders
o
The educational statesman
o
The teacher
o
The administrator
Theories
of leadership
1.
“Great
Man” Theories:
·
Great Man theories assume that the capacity
for leadership is inherent – that great leaders are born, not made.
·
These theories often portray great leaders as
heroic, mythic, and destined to rise to leadership when needed. The term “Great
Man” was used because, at the time, leadership was thought of primarily as a
male quality, especially in terms of military leadership.
2.
Trait
Theories:
·
Trait theory assumes that people inherit
certain qualities and traits that make them better suited to leadership.
·
Trait theories often identify particular
personality or behavioral characteristics shared by leaders.
·
But if particular traits are key features of
leadership, how do we explain people who possess those qualities but are not
leaders? This question is one of the difficulties in using trait theories to
explain leadership.
3.
Contingency
Theories:
·
Contingency theories of leadership focus on
particular variables related to the environment that might determine which
particular style of leadership is best suited for the situation.
·
According to this theory, no leadership style
is best in all situations.
·
Success depends upon a number of variables,
including the leadership style, qualities of the followers, and aspects of the
situation.
4.
Situational
Theories:
·
Situational theories propose that leaders
choose the best course of action based upon situational variable.
·
Different styles of leadership may be more
appropriate for certain types of decision-making.
5.
Behavioral
Theories:
·
Behavioral theories of leadership are based
upon the belief that great leaders are made, not born.
·
Rooted in behaviorism, this leadership theory
focuses on the actions of leaders, not on mental qualities or internal states.
·
According to this theory, people can learn
to become leaders through teaching and observation.
6.
Participative
Theories:
·
Participative leadership theories suggest
that the ideal leadership style is one that takes the input of others into
account.
·
These leaders encourage participation and
contributions from group members and help group members feel more relevant and
committed to the decision-making process.
·
In participative theories, however, the
leader retains the right to allow the input of others.
7.
Management
Theories:
·
Management theories (also known as
“Transactional theories”) focus on the role of supervision, organization, and
group performance.
·
These theories base leadership on a system of
reward and punishment.
·
Managerial theories are often used in
business; when employees are successful, they are rewarded; when they fail,
they are reprimanded or punished.
8.
Relationship
Theories:
·
Relationship theories (also known as
“Transformational theories”) focus upon the connections formed between leaders
and followers.
·
These leaders motivate and inspire people by
helping group members see the importance and higher good of the task.
·
Transformational leaders are focused on the
performance of group members, but also want each person to fulfill his or her
potential.
·
These leaders often have high ethical and
moral standards.
Administration
·
Administration is a complex process which
involves planning, programming, organizing, staffing, training, controlling,
implementing, monitoring, evaluating etc.
Educational
Administration
·
“Educational administration is to enable the
right pupils to receive the right education from right teacher, at a cost
within the means of the state under conditions which will enable the pupils
best to profit by their training.” -Graham Balfour
Characteristics
of Educational Administration
·
Making
all efforts and agencies work together in unison.
·
Assisting
in the realization of the aims and objectives of education.
·
Rending
service to society in its progress and that of the individuals.
·
Concerned
with diverse human beings, the teachers, staff, students, parents and public,
and coordinating of their.
·
Concerned
with all those activities undertaken, and fullest utilization of resources, for
education.
·
Its
purpose through the procedure of organizing, ordering, facilitating and
improving the efforts of people in the realization of the goals of education.
Leadership
and administration in education
·
The
administration is concerned with administrating an organization
·
The
functioning of the organization is made dynamic by effective leadership.
·
The
administration is concerned with the process of providing leadership.
·
The
leader has to deal with the formal groups – teachers, students, parents,
management and departmental officials and also informal groups – cliques among
the teachers, gangs among the students, politically minded peoples among the
parents, groups with in the management
Teacher
as an Educational Leader
·
The
teacher should possess capacity for leadership.
·
The
leadership of teacher depends upon his character, energy, impressiveness and
his consideration for the good of others.
·
The
teacher should be able to create confidence in his pupils and members of the
community and lead them to productive actions.
The
role of the head of institution
·
As an Organizer
a.
The
head of the institution must systematically organize the routine work of the
institution.
b.
The
head of the institution has to organize various activities – both curricular
and co-curricular – in the institution.
c.
He
should pay special attention in the distribution of work, preparation of time
table, conduct of examinations, PTA meeting etc.
·
As a Supervisor
a.
Supervision
should be comprehensive.
b.
It
include supervision of the teaching work, moral development of the students, maintenance
of registers and accounts.
·
As a teacher
a.
The
head of the educational institution always should be a good teacher.
b.
He
should not confine his teaching to one particular class but distribute it among
several standards.
c.
The
intimate relationship established between the head of and the pupils through
direct teaching help him to have more sensitive communication with them.
d.
It
will help him to have a direct touch with existing syllabus and textbook.
·
As a leader
a.
To
be a successful head of an educational institution one should become a
effective leader.
b.
The
qualities of a good leadership include:
i. High intellectual
ability
ii. Sound mental and
physical health
iii. Ability to exercise
sound and mature judgment.
iv. A healthy personality.
v. A sound, workable
consistent philosophy of education.
vi. Ability for democratic
leadership and effective decision making.
vii. Ability to work well
with other in a group.
viii. Ability for effective
and written communication.
·
As an administrator
a.
Administration
is a complex process which involves planning, programming, organizing,
staffing, training, controlling, implementing, monitoring, evaluating etc.
b.
There
are two types of administrators:
i. Task-oriented
administrators:
they give instructions to maintain all the registers up-to-date and finish the
work as per rule. But they have no consideration for the well-being of their
co-workers.
ii. People-Oriented
Administrators:
they give stress only to the benefits at the expense of shirking
responsibilities. They attach more importance to popularity among subordinates
rather than accomplishment of task entrusted with him.
c.
A
fully task-oriented administrator cannot expect people’s support and a purely
People-oriented administrator cannot accomplish the task expected.
d.
To
achieve anticipated goals the administrator considers himself as one among the workers of the institution and
work with them instead of trying to extract work from them.
e.
He
should motivate the workers to work hard and maximize the output according to
the target anticipated.
·
As a Co-ordinator
a.
The
head of the institution should co-ordinate all the activities in the school.
b.
He
should provide positive support and encouragement to all teachers.
c.
The
head of the institution should
co-ordinate the abilities and work competencies of all the teachers for the
common good of the institution.
Staff
council
·
The staff council will consist of the
headmaster and representatives of teachers.
·
For staff council there will be a staff
secretary selected among the teachers.
·
It will help the headmaster to deal with the
problems confronted by the school, such as indiscipline, misbehavior and
disobedience.
Functions
of staff council
·
To discuss problems of discipline and advise
the headmaster on how to solve these.
·
To advise the headmaster regarding actions to
be taken against pupils for misbehavior.
·
To provide information regarding problems
relating to working conditions and advise the headmaster in that respect.
·
To advise the management on step to be taken
for the development of the school.
·
To assess the academic work periodically.
·
To plan important festivals and celebrations
and other co-curricular activities.
·
To support the teacher whenever he
experiences problems and difficulties.
Conduction
of staff meeting
·
The staff secretary should keep the records
of staff meeting.
·
The staff secretary should prepare agenda of
the staff meeting and it should circulate well in advance.
·
The headmaster should provide dynamic
leadership to the colleagues.
·
He should give complete freedom to express
their views.
·
Staff meeting should not be too long.
·
Unhealthy criticisms should be chocked.
·
Staff meeting should not be too frequent, the
best appears to be once in a month.
