Principal Candidates’ Reflective Learning During a Full-Time Internship

In this case study, we explore how principal candidates made sense of their internship by analyzing their weekly reflections during a school year. We found that candidates’ views of leadership developed from viewing leadership solely through the lens of making decisions and providing direction, to recognizing that much of the work of a school leader came from building relationships and delegating leadership responsibilities. Candidates’ experiences managing student discipline, conducting classroom walkthroughs and teacher evaluations, and leading professional development and professional learning communities (PLCs) were especially developmental. We conclude with implications for preservice training programs and future research.

The Professional Development of Primary School Teachers with Leadership Responsibilities in a New Zealand Context

<p>Middle and senior leaders in primary schools have an important role with significant accountability and responsibility. They are teaching practitioners who have a large influence on the quality of learning that takes place within a school. Middle and senior leaders carry out the majority of the significant conversations about teaching and learning within a school with the teachers they lead. In 2012 the New Zealand Ministry of Education produced a publication reiterating the importance of middle and senior leaders within schools. As part of that publication they identified the need for ongoing professional development and learning for middle and senior leaders to strengthen their effectiveness as leaders. However no suggestions were made in this document as to what this may look like. The purposes of this multiple case study were to explore what professional development and learning were provided to senior and middle leaders primary schools within the greater Wellington area, how effective the principals and senior middle leaders considered the professional development and learning to be, and to identify which factors enabled effective professional development and learning within a school. To answer the research questions data was collected through an online survey, focus groups and individual interviews. The findings indicated that there were two categories of organisation of professional development and learning provided within different schools; unsystematic and systematic. The more effective systematic system involved the identification of the learning needs of the middle and senior leaders through discussion or co-construction of their job descriptions, leading to a mixture of professional development and learning structures that combined sharing, collaboration and reflection to enhance leadership capabilities. In addition regular mentoring allowed for more effective leadership learning. An important factor determining the success of the professional development and learning was the deliberate actions that were carried out by the principal.</p>

The Professional Development of Primary School Teachers with Leadership Responsibilities in a New Zealand Context

<p>Middle and senior leaders in primary schools have an important role with significant accountability and responsibility. They are teaching practitioners who have a large influence on the quality of learning that takes place within a school. Middle and senior leaders carry out the majority of the significant conversations about teaching and learning within a school with the teachers they lead. In 2012 the New Zealand Ministry of Education produced a publication reiterating the importance of middle and senior leaders within schools. As part of that publication they identified the need for ongoing professional development and learning for middle and senior leaders to strengthen their effectiveness as leaders. However no suggestions were made in this document as to what this may look like. The purposes of this multiple case study were to explore what professional development and learning were provided to senior and middle leaders primary schools within the greater Wellington area, how effective the principals and senior middle leaders considered the professional development and learning to be, and to identify which factors enabled effective professional development and learning within a school. To answer the research questions data was collected through an online survey, focus groups and individual interviews. The findings indicated that there were two categories of organisation of professional development and learning provided within different schools; unsystematic and systematic. The more effective systematic system involved the identification of the learning needs of the middle and senior leaders through discussion or co-construction of their job descriptions, leading to a mixture of professional development and learning structures that combined sharing, collaboration and reflection to enhance leadership capabilities. In addition regular mentoring allowed for more effective leadership learning. An important factor determining the success of the professional development and learning was the deliberate actions that were carried out by the principal.</p>

Exploring QU health students’ behavioral determinants, perspectives, and experiences toward student leadership: A quantitative study

Objective: Leadership is an essential part of student’s learning experience in the college. The main aim of this study is to determine and explore QU health student’s perspectives and experiences toward leadership. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during the academic year 2021. A web-based questionnaire was circulated to 1352 QU health students. Participants were asked to complete a 5-point Likert scale developed using theoretical domains framework (TDF) to identify their perception and behavioral determinants about leadership. They were also asked to rank the importance of personal, interpersonal capabilities, and markers of success of leadership. Participants were asked to answer open- ended questions to determine the training and support needed for leadership. Results: In total, 179 complete responses were collected. About (43.6%) of students strongly agreed that it is crucial for healthcare students to be involved in leadership. Most students agreed that they are capable of carrying leadership responsibilities. Around 71.4% of leaders in QU health perceived that teaching quality improvement as very important to extremely important marker of leader’s success. Students identified that negotiation and communication are important skills for leadership. Conclusion: Our study suggests that QU health students perceive leadership as positive and important experience of college life and show high interest for training programs and workshops for student leaders.

Associations between Traditional and Digital Leadership in Academic Environment: During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objectives: Notably, as a result of the unique circumstances that the global population is facing (Covid-19), there has been an increase in interest in educational leadership science, particularly in academic environment, with the aim of enhancing an ecosystem that is inclusive, open to change, monitoring, and often unforeseen challenges. Of the various types of educational leadership, transformational leadership is recognized as the most suitable for use in academic environment. It focuses on the division of leadership responsibilities among academics with varying skills in order to handle collectively the spectrum of leadership responsibilities needed in a variety of contexts. Methods/Analysis: This perspective is embodied in this study paper, which examined the degree to which members of the Senate of three Universities of Greece, engaged in three distinct types of leadership (transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and leadership to be avoided) via digital leadership. The findings were interpreted using descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive data analysis algorithms. Findings: The findings indicate that participants demonstrate a high level of Transformational and Transactional Leadership. They demonstrated a high level of Digital Leadership while avoiding Passive - To Avoid Leadership. The study demonstrates that Digital Leadership has a relatively favorable association with the leadership outcome, which is translated as a high level of performance and satisfaction coexisting with a high level of digital leadership execution. Novelty /Improvement: The research project indicates that a good leader who practices transformational leadership and is prepared with the necessary digital skills would be more effective in carrying out administrative responsibilities in an academic environment. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-01286 Full Text: PDF

Multisectoral Leadership Responsibilities in Addressing the Teenage Pregnancy Crisis in Kenya: A Study of Systematic Reviews

This paper, therefore, proposes ways through which leaders can innovatively address teenage pregnancy concerns in society. The report comparatively assesses data on the prevalence of adolescent pregnancy in Kenya and other countries in the region of East Africa and global interventions and their impact on the lives of teenagers and communities. It further examines data from empirical studies, especially from systematic reviews, to identify critical themes on teenage pregnancy and recommend intervention models based on the available data. The study conclude that teenage pregnancy has been a perennial issue in Kenyan society, leading to drop-out rates and denying teenagers, primarily girls, opportunities for university education or meaningful academic achievement to thrive. The study recommended that the government and other stakeholders should address the menace by providing students with opportunities to enhance possibilities of completing primary education (high school). Multidimensional and multi-sectoral, including multi-agency interventions, can create programs with the potential to reduce teenage pregnancies by lowering school dropout rates, improving academic performance, training on reproductive health, identifying and deploying talent, equipping for wealth creation and addressing retrogressive cultural practices.

Shared Leadership and Team Performance: The Joint Effect of Team Dispositional Composition and Collective Identification

This study explores how team core self-evaluations (CSE) influence the emergence and effectiveness of shared leadership. Drawing on adaptive leadership theory, we propose that decisions to share leadership responsibilities rather than allocating the role to a single team member are influenced by homogeneity in members’ CSE. In addition, we identify team collective identification as an emergent team state that interacts with CSE homogeneity to promote the emergence of shared leadership. We then argue that not all shared leadership teams are equally effective; applying group social capital theory, we propose that team mean CSE strengthens the impact of shared leadership on team performance. Results based on multisource and time-lagged data from 85 project teams provide support for our proposed moderated mediation model. We discuss how our theoretical model extends research on the role of team dispositional composition on the antecedents and consequents of shared leadership and highlight practical implications related to the design, recruitment, and socialization of autonomous work teams.

Relationship between Heads' Team Leadership Style and Teachers' Motivation

The purpose of the study is to explore the relationship of the team leadership style of headteachers with the motivation of teachers in Government high schools of Punjab. Distributed leadership is a style in which the leadership responsibilities are shared with those who have related skills and expertise. The sequential explanatory mixed methods design was used in this study. The team leadership style of heads and motivation level of teachers was identified by a questionnaire. Five hundred and thirty-eight male teachers were selected from Government boy's high schools of four districts of Punjab through a multi-stage proportionate sampling technique. The interview guide was developed to collect qualitative data from headteachers of the respective selected schools for a deep understanding of the situation. Both the questionnaire and interview guide were validated by the experts and pilot tested. Findings of the study displayed that the head was using team leadership style, the teachers especially those who are newly inducted, had a high level of motivation.

Correlates of South African subject leaders’ perspectives and their perceived competence on instructional leadership

Too often, instructional leadership is perceived as an area of competence for principals with less focus on teachers, especially those with subject leadership responsibilities. In the study reported on here we investigated the perspectives of subject leaders and their perceived competence in instructional leadership as a basis for its correlation. Two hundred and five subject leaders from a purposive sample of 100 primary schools across 5 education districts of the Free State province in South Africa were surveyed on their knowledge, beliefs and perceptions of instructional leadership, in relation to their perceived competence. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients and regression. The results show that beliefs about instructional leadership tend to correlate negatively with perceived competencies and make no impact on such competencies. On the other hand, knowledge and perceptions showed significant correlation and are thus considered to be the better predictors of subject leaders’ perceived competencies on instructional leadership. Further examination using regression analysis shows that perceptions may have a high impact on perceived competence. Consequently, we recommend interventions to deliberately target subject leaders’ perceptions of instructional leadership to promote a more distributed practice of subject leadership in schools.

Voices From the Field

The chapter will center on exploring the perspectives of higher education faculty around the challenges and opportunities that develop while navigating a successful career transition from PK12 to higher education. The authors will survey and conduct focus groups with colleagues from universities across the United States to capture their voices and authentic experiences. Emphasis will be placed on unpacking the personal, professional journeys of faculty in the areas of teaching, service, and scholarship. Potential lenses and themes that may emerge from the data collected include teaching (andragogy, managing the workload and time, academic freedom, course schedule, accountability, accreditation, evaluation), service (leadership responsibilities, defining service [campus and community, committees, partnerships, professional organizations]), scholarship (publishing, presenting, time for your own research, grant writing, guiding student research).