Holistic School Leadership: Development of Systems Thinking in School Leaders

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Haim Shared ◽  
Chen Schechter
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Leadership Development ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Systems Thinking ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Maturity Stage ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Prospective Principals

Background Systems thinking is a holistic approach that puts the study of wholes before that of parts. It does not try to break systems down into parts in order to understand them; instead, it focuses attention on how the parts act together in networks of interactions. Purpose This study explored the development of holistic school leadership— an approach where principals lead schools through the systems thinking concept and procedures— over principals’ different career stages, a topic that has received little research attention. Research Design Qualitative data were collected via 82 semistructured interviews, six focus groups, and 27 observations of three groups of principals: (a) prospective principals— 24 students attending three principal preparation programs; (b) novice principals— follow-up on 11 prospective principals during their first year after appointment; and (c) experienced principals— eight principals holding that position for 5+ years. Data analysis was conducted by generating themes through an inductive process of condensing, coding, categorizing, and theorizing. Findings Data analysis indicated that the development of systems thinking in school leaders consists of five stages: (a) preservice stage, typified by an expansion of view; (b) survival stage, typified by a slowdown in the development of systems thinking; (c) consolidation stage, typified by a gradual development of systems thinking; (d) role maturity stage, typified by a systemic view; and (e) possible decline stage, typified by some degree of difficulty to think systemically. Conclusions Systems thinking is not equally applicable to aspiring, novice, midcareer, and veteran school principals. This study's findings may help identify ways to enhance and accelerate the development of systems thinking in prospective and currently performing principals in a way that is compatible with the unique features and context of their specific stage.

Social Justice Leadership, Equity, and the Digital Divide

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony H. Normore ◽  
Antonia Issa Lahera
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Leadership Development ◽  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Social Justice Leadership ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Democratic Principles

To commit to Brown v. Board of Education’s legacy of advancing social justice and democracy, it is necessary to look at practices (i.e., the types of discourse, experiences, processes, and structures) that promote the development and support of school leaders committed to social justice, equity, access, and diversity. Leadership preparation programs need to provide the knowledge base for aspiring school leaders to understand how they ought to respond to the changing political, moral, and social landscapes in which they live and work. Of equal importance is the curricular focus on interrelating social justice, democracy, equity, and diversity so that aspiring school leaders can identify practices that explicitly and implicitly deter social progress. Furthermore, these school leaders ought to be able to develop a knowledge base on how to respond to these injustices in their school leadership practices. As leadership development and preparation program personnel prepare new leaders, the discourse of social justice and marginalization is an important objective in the curriculum of preparation programs. Personnel in leadership programs have an opportunity to take part in discourse about how to shape the quality of leaders they produce for the good of society. To this end, researchers offer critical insights into the types of discourse, experiences, processes, and structures that promote the development and support of contemporary principals committed to social justice and democratic principles. Included in the research discussion are the tenets of social justice leadership, democracy, diversity and the digital divide, digital access, and digital equity.

Preparation Programs for School Leaders

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce G. Barnett ◽  
Nathern S.A. Okilwa
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Leadership Development ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Leadership Preparation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Norms And Values

For over 50 years, school leadership preparation and development has been a priority in the United States; however, since the turn of the century, school systems, universities, and professional associations around the world have become more interested in developing programs to prepare aspiring school leaders and support newly appointed and experienced principals. This increased global attention to leadership development has arisen because public or government school leaders are being held accountable for improving student learning outcomes for an increasingly diverse set of learners. Because school leadership studies have been dominated by American researchers, global program providers tend to rely on Western perspectives, concepts, and theories, which may not accurately reflect local and national cultural norms and values. As such, calls for expanding research studies in non-Western societies are increasing. Despite relying on Western-based leadership concepts, leadership preparation programs outside the United States differ substantially. Cultural norms and values, infrastructure support, and social and economic conditions influence the availability and types of programs afforded to aspiring and practicing school leaders. As a result, there is a continuum of leadership development systems that range from: (a) mandatory, highly regulated, and well-resourced comprehensive programs for preservice qualification, induction for newly appointed principals, and in-service for practicing school leaders to (b) non-mandatory, minimally regulated, and moderately resourced programs to determine eligibility for positions and induction to the role to (c) non-mandatory, poorly regulated, and under-resourced programs, which are offered infrequently, require long distance travel, and participants costs are not covered.

Ethical School Leadership: Problems of an Elusive Role

1997 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Campbell
Keyword(s):  
School Leadership ◽  
Ethical Leadership ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Theoretical Context ◽  
Educational Literature ◽  
Professional Responsibilities ◽  
Experience Teaching ◽  
Future School

Educational literature increasingly emphasizes the importance of ethics in school leadership and the need to recognize professional responsibilities as basic ethical imperatives. It further notes that future administrators must be engaged in preparation programs which highlight this neglected area and the prominence of their role as ethical practitioners. Within this theoretical context, and from the perspective of my personal experience teaching future school leaders, this paper addresses complexities involved in translating philosophical principles into practice within a prevailing climate of value relativism; it ponders the irony of asserting goals of ethical leadership while continuing to accept ethics as subjectively-defined values of opinion and preference.

Principal Licensure Exams and Future Job Performance: Evidence From the School Leaders Licensure Assessment

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason A. Grissom ◽  
Hajime Mitani ◽  
Richard S. L. Blissett
Keyword(s):  
Job Performance ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Principal Licensure ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
School Leaders Licensure Assessment ◽  
Administrative Licensure ◽  
White Test ◽  
Licensure Exams ◽  
Prospective Principals

Many states require prospective principals to pass a licensure exam to obtain an administrative license, but we know little about the potential effects of principal licensure exams on the pool of available principals or whether scores predict later job performance. We investigate the most commonly used exam, the School Leaders Licensure Assessment (SLLA), using 10 years of data on Tennessee test takers. We uncover substantial differences in passage rates by test-taker characteristics. In particular, non-Whites are 12 percentage points less likely than otherwise similar White test takers to attain the required licensure score. Although candidates with higher scores are more likely to be hired as principals, we find little evidence that SLLA scores predict measures of principal job performance, including supervisors’ evaluation ratings or teachers’ assessments of school leadership from a statewide survey. Our results raise questions about whether conditioning administrative licensure on SLLA passage is consistent with principal workforce diversity goals.

Creating successful and unique schools: leadership, context and systems thinking perspectives

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Gurr ◽  
Fiona Longmuir ◽  
Christopher Reed
Keyword(s):  
School Leadership ◽  
Systems Thinking ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
System Thinking ◽  
Leadership Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Community Factors ◽  
Community Needs ◽  
Systems Model ◽  
Successful School

PurposeThrough discussion of research about the leadership of two schools, this paper explores the complexity of school leadership and how various contextual elements interact with the work of principals in schools that are attempting to create inclusive, rich, worthwhile and unique schools. A systems thinking leadership and context model is developed to frame the exploration of the two cases, which, in turn, helps inform the veracity and development of the model.Design/methodology/approachThe research reported is broadly based on multiple-perspective case studies that have included individual and/or group interviews with school leaders, teachers, students, parents and/or school council members, observation and document analysis. The focus for this paper is on evidence from the cases that elucidate the model.FindingsA leadership and context view of schools helps to understand how school leaders work with, within and influence various contextual factors to develop schools that are both successful and unique. The cases demonstrated how individual leadership factors including career histories, personalities and values coalesced with school and broader community factors in reciprocal ways that resulted in school-specific improvements.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is limited by the nature of bounded, small number, qualitative case research. Nevertheless, the authors suggest that the school leadership and context systems model the authors presented captures much of the complexity of the successful leadership of these schools. The authors further suggest that this model provides a conceptual contribution to the study of successful school leadership that moves beyond more linear leadership views. Implications of this research and the conceptual contributions that the authors advance are that leadership and context should be considered in reciprocal and nuanced ways across a complex variety of contextual levels.Practical implicationsThese cases explore the growth and development of new school communities and capture the dynamic interactions between leadership and context within the complex arrangements of policy, system, history and community. The cases demonstrated how individual leadership factors, including career histories, personalities and values, coalesced with school and broader community factors in reciprocal ways that resulted in school-specific improvements. These findings and the system thinking leadership model help school leaders to consider their own work in developing successful and unique schools.Social implicationsSchool leadership is important for school success, and schools that meet student and community needs are important for society. The authors’ system thinking leadership model helps school leaders improve their practice in creating more interesting and successful schools that meet student and community needs.Originality/valueAt a time when international sharing of information and international testing of schools is pushing towards a uniformity of thinking about what good schools should be, the reality of leading schools is far different. This paper contributes to the knowledge about how school leaders navigate contextual complexities to create successful and unique schools that meet local needs.

scholarly journals Commentary: Grow Tomorrow’s School Leaders? Plant Some Seeds Today!

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-53
Author(s):  
Julian Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Succession Planning ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
National Standards ◽  
School Leadership Development ◽  
The Uk

School leadership development has received significant investment in the UK in recent years. Programmes to support leaders at all levels have focussed on national standards, leadership behaviours and capacity building. England is now facing an increasing shortage of headteachers. This article provides a perspective on this situation and offers some practical ideas to school leaders for building approaches to succession planning in their own schools.

scholarly journals Current Trends In Educational Leadership For Student Success Plus Facilities Planning And Designing

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Hilliard ◽  
Barbara Talbert Jackson
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Leadership Development ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Safety ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
School Leader ◽  
Leadership Standards ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Special Programs

Many school leaders today are experiencing many challenges to ensure that their schools are successful.  Since the passage of No Child Left Behind Act, school leaders have been faced with making sure that all students, regardless of language and/or background, are successful on the state assessment test.  If students do not make AYP Annual Yearly Progress based on set standards, the school leader is viewed as not being effective.  The school leader/administrator is at the front-line for their school’s progress on a daily basis and just to name a few items, school safety, appropriate curriculum and accommodations for students, high quality instruction service to all students and utilizing technology to enhance instruction and management tasks (Lashway, 2003).  This research paper will discuss aspects and trends in leadership in the following areas:  leadership standards, leadership development, shared leadership, support for school leadership, change in mission, facility planning and designing, classroom configuration, use of school time, early programs, special programs, school transfer, use of technology and virtual schools.

Toward a theory of Engaged School Leadership

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 742-771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Stansberry Beard
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Positive Psychology ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Program Effectiveness ◽  
Goal Achievement ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Achievement Data ◽  
Psychology Literature ◽  
And Coping

This study explored principle licensure students’ sense of engagement, program effectiveness, and preparedness to lead engagement focused on academic achievement. Data analysis using attributes of effective preparation programs, and positive psychology constructs (e.g., flow) found Goal Achievement, Commitment, and Accomplishment significantly related to flow. Flow was significantly related to Engagement, while Care was significantly related to Commitment and Coping. Perhaps more significantly, the findings yielded seven characteristics of Engaged School Leadership Theory (ESTL) development. Adding to both principal preparation and positive psychology literature, this study offers conceptual understandings toward an emerging theory of Engaged School Leadership.

Learning to Transform Through Interplay Between the Confucian and Western Cultural Heritages: A Case Study of School Leadership Development in Beijing, China

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haijun Kang ◽  
Qi Sun ◽  
Lei Lyu
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Local School ◽  
School Leadership Development ◽  
School Leadership Practices ◽  
Beijing China

Taking a case study approach and utilizing Hoggan’s transformative learning (TL) typology and criteria as a framework, we examined the self-reported TL experiences of 12 local school leaders in Beijing, China. These local school leaders gained cross-cultural learning from a school leadership development program that was designed to prepare school leaders for education internationalization. Our data analysis indicated that these 12 local school leaders had experienced significant changes in their educational epistemology, self-identity, and school leadership practices. Further examining these changes at the intersection of the Confucian and Western cultural heritages, we discovered that these school leaders had developed an integrated approach to education, started to consciously reflect on what their social- and self-identities entail, and began the process of transitioning from conservative to appreciative school leadership practices.

Coaching: an approach for leadership development in the Singapore education system

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe Suan Loy Boon
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Education System ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
The Body ◽  
Beginning Principals ◽  
Content Type

PurposeThis paper aims to explore coaching as an approach to developing school leaders in the Singapore education system. It takes a close look at the nature of coaching experiences of beginning principals and principal-trainers, as well as the related benefits and challenges.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative inquiry approach was adopted, and four beginning principals and three principal-trainers were interviewed. An emergent coding method was deployed in data analysis.FindingsBeginning principals described a positive, helpful and empowering coaching experience when coached by principal-trainers. The latter skillfully asked questions in a safe, non-threatening space for deeper self-reflection. In the process, beginning principals gained greater self-awareness and self-empowerment, and appreciated the shared context of school leadership. While coaching is a useful leadership development approach, inherent implementation challenges were identified.Research limitations/implicationsCoaching as a system-wide strategy to support school leaders in Singapore has only recently been implemented. Further research using a larger sample is recommended as coaching becomes more pervasive.Practical implicationsThe findings revealed a compelling case for a more pervasive adoption of coaching as an approach to support leadership development. Coaching facilitates effective school leadership, and there is scope for self-coaching, peer coaching and coach supervision of principals, middle leaders and classroom teachers.Originality/valueThis paper highlights the nature and positive impact of principalship coaching within a specific policy and cultural context of the Singapore education system. It adds to the body of literature on principal preparation, development and support.

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