School Leadership and Management
School leadership is a model that may be used towards improvement of student performance in schools. School leadership involves processes that are aimed at directing and guiding both students and parents with the objective of achieving the improved performance of the students in the academic aspect. Leadership in academic sector will help to develop a sense of common goals between school administrations, the parents and the students. Various models have been used in school leadership to attain impressive results in turning around the performance of schools that would otherwise not perform well. School leadership entails several courses and practicum that help student to focus on the central objectives of the education system. Good leadership is instrumental to levering performance in schools. In the education leadership process, good performance is the ultimate objective. This means that leadership has to be analyzed and undertaken effectively to enhance school performance.
Although most people tend to confuse school leadership with management, there is a clear distinction between the two. Leadership entails performance drive while management entails activities that lead to improvement of performance (Cuban, 1988). Both leadership and management are essential in the field of education. Leaders motivate and guide others towards the achievement of objectives while managers have the role of providing resources and achieving optimum use of those resources. In education, management cannot be effective without traits of leadership. Good managers must possess the traits of effective leaders in the school set up. Similarly, educators have to be both sustainable leadership skills and the management characteristics. As such, the leadership and management are dependent on one another. School boards therefore have the responsibility of upholding both leadership and management principles in achievement of school goals (Bush, 1998).
The roles of educators can be directly linked to leadership and management. When educators engage in their teaching roles, they take the functions of both managers and leaders. Leadership is one of the most challenging roles to be played by the educators. As leaders, they are expected to motivate others towards the achievement of educational objectives. This may be difficult especially when leaders need to diagnose problems and come up with solutions to those problems. On the other hand, management in the educational context is also significantly challenging as managers have to be led but do not need to be motivated. This implies that the motivation aspect should be intrinsic in managers. For school success principles to be considered effective, the school has to blend the characteristics of leadership with those of management. The leadership role is characterized with the need to manage complex situations that are characterized with unpredictable demands (Muse and Abrams, 2011).
The role of teachers in the school set up is diverse. Besides facilitating the learning process, the teachers also have to fulfill the students’ and teachers’ demands, and also to complete tasks on a daily basis. The teachers therefore have to multi task in order to achieve their responsibilities effectively. The management on the other hand, in this case the principal, is only tasked with directing the school towards a particular objective. This implies that the level of motivation that the principal has towards the students and teachers should be sufficient to help achieve the desirable results. Through efforts made towards helping students to achieve greater performance, principles can combine both leadership and management skills for better development.
References
Bush, T. (1998). The National Professional Qualification for Headship: the key to effective
school leadership? School Leadership and Management , 18, 321-334.
Cuban, L. (1988). The Managerial Imperative and the Practice of Leadership in Schools. New
York, Albany: State University of New York Press.
Muse, M. D., & Abrams, L. M. (2011). An Investigation of School Leadership Priorities. Delta
Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 49-58.
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