Leadership is not the exercise of power, but instead the empowerment of others...Effective leaders lead by pulling not pushing, inspiring not ordering, and enabling rather than containing others” (Burdenuk, 1992, p.21).
As the importance of school leadership grows its accompanying underlying theory is being continually developed with established approaches being refined and new models emerging. Labels that have been used to define the field of school leadership have changed over time from ‘educational administration’ to ‘educational management’ and to the current term ‘educational leadership’ (Gunter, 2004). Bush (2008) discusses whether these changes are simply semantic or actually reflect genuine changes in the nature of the field. Yukl (2002) argues that “the definition of leadership is arbitrary and very subjective”, while Bush and Glover (2003) state “Leadership is a process of influence leading to the achievement of desired purposes. Successful leaders develop a vision for their schools based on their personal and professional values. They articulate this vision at every opportunity and influence their staff and other stakeholders to share the vision. The …show more content…
One notable area of debate has been whether educational leadership is a distinct field or simply a branch of the wider study of management. While education can learn from other settings, educational leadership has to be centrally concerned with the purpose of education.” When considering the leadership style to implement the opinions are as equally conflicted. Does a school leader need to only display just one leadership style or can they display a number of qualities that reflect effective leadership? Two styles that have been found to be compatible and work well within an education setting are Transformational and Instructional leadership
As the importance of school leadership grows its accompanying underlying theory is being continually developed with established approaches being refined and new models emerging. Labels that have been used to define the field of school leadership have changed over time from ‘educational administration’ to ‘educational management’ and to the current term ‘educational leadership’ (Gunter, 2004). Bush (2008) discusses whether these changes are simply semantic or actually reflect genuine changes in the nature of the field. Yukl (2002) argues that “the definition of leadership is arbitrary and very subjective”, while Bush and Glover (2003) state “Leadership is a process of influence leading to the achievement of desired purposes. Successful leaders develop a vision for their schools based on their personal and professional values. They articulate this vision at every opportunity and influence their staff and other stakeholders to share the vision. The …show more content…
One notable area of debate has been whether educational leadership is a distinct field or simply a branch of the wider study of management. While education can learn from other settings, educational leadership has to be centrally concerned with the purpose of education.” When considering the leadership style to implement the opinions are as equally conflicted. Does a school leader need to only display just one leadership style or can they display a number of qualities that reflect effective leadership? Two styles that have been found to be compatible and work well within an education setting are Transformational and Instructional leadership