New Principals of the School Leadership

Introduction

New principals and their leadership role require extreme assistance during the early stage of their professions to get use to the challenges of the position and to come out as successful principals for their schools. This literature review accounts on the management instructional program presented to assist new principals as they transits to new school headship positions. The Program for New Principals signifies that the most challenges faced by new principals are mostly of leadership and the successful implementation of modern strategies in the provision of a more conducive teaching and learning environment. In line with this, the new principals felt that instructional and motivation program was an optimistic accumulation to the orientation skill for new proprietors. New principals carefully analysed constructive motivational education leadership and stressed that it is both an important and distinctive structure of expertise progress.

However, the new principals made reference to modified assistance as one of the teaching form’s most important qualities. They further felt that the outcomes should update the improvement of a hypothetical description of management training for new principals.

School leadership is the solution to school enhancement, moreover, new principals are the leading edge organizers, the motivator of an educational institution through stimulating and showing the way by conducting or leading; imposing direction on their team towards achieving an innovative point of success.

In this new age of answerability where school leaders are expected to demonstrate bottom-line results and use data to drive decisions, the skill and knowledge of principals matter more than ever (Hess and Kelly 2005).

The importance of good leadership and management for the successful operation of schools and colleges has over the time been appreciated and accepted of late. The development towards self-management in many parts of the world has led to an improved positive reception of the importance of educational sector managerial know how for educational leaders.

More recently, there has been growing appreciation of the distinctions between leadership and management and an understanding that school principals and senior staff need to be good leaders as well as effective managers. The leadership element embraces notions of vision, values and transformational leadership.

In addition to this, managing capably is an important necessity but in some countries educational leadership is recognized to be even more significant. This paper will focus on the new principal educational leadership position in the society and tertiary institution. In line with this, the review will also deal with the role of a new principal since they are extraordinary leaders in the educational sector, who motivate and influence people, arouse excitement and increase or strengthen the best in individuals. No matter what leaders will set up orderly or logically to do- whether it’s creating plans or summoning teams to carry out an action, their success will depend upon on how they do it. Even if they get everything else correct, and fail in this first undertaking of motivating emotions in the right direction, nothing they will do will work (Cranston, 2007).

The educational method is intended to build up the knowledge, skills, and abilities in the accountability based governance’s setting. The most important outcome of an educational program is for participants to be able to share and communicate their new leadership skills in helping every organization in developing its accommodative ability.

Schools in particular can be tied to traditions in which they operate; thus, it can be easily swayed by its past origins. However, a strong intellectual challenges or adversity continuing education program that is integrated into all departments and service lines through the organization can present the mechanism for continuous learning and performance improvement.

Consequently, the general ideas of the school structure and behavior that compare to an earlier developed era are still employed in schools. It is necessary or obligatory for educational leaders or new principals to know these historical basis and also organizational structures that are more closely linked with the cultural demands and expectations of a post industrial society. New principals or Educational leaders in the present day should know that the schools they are leading are marked by constant change or efficient organizations action.

The roles of leadership in the educational sector are usually described as including planning and setting goals; overseeing and controlling operations; and regulating and assessment of organizational and interpersonal abilities. Good leaders also identify important themes, or a vision for the organization, that others can identify with and rally round. They (leaders or new principals) are able to balance the responsibility of their own decision making with the participation of others in decision making at all levels in an organization.

Several current books on literature on school leadership stresses other functions, roles, and characteristics of effective leaders, many of which are result of current changes in the political and social environment of education in general. Consequently, some of the most important changes which are affecting our schools and school leaders or new principals are the increased diversity in students and families and the current changes in the economy. When the new principal or leaders are able to understand a school structure they are able to scrutinize the essential structural components of a school district when it comes to their roles, specializations, and interrelations. Moreover they are able to coordinate the goals purpose, and functions of school organizations with the larger cultural and societal goals, norms and values.

Problem statement

One of most encountered problems of new principal in the educational structure is not the entry of the student only but whether the student will achieve their goals. However by examining and stressing on the key and important roles of effective educational leadership it provides a basis for understanding the basics of running a smooth and effective administrative system and how to nurture and solve student behavior problems. Consequently a global leader should be generally approved.

Meaning of educational management

Educational management is a field of studies and practice that has to do with the running of an educational organization. There are diverse and different interpretations of educational management. Educational management was defined as ‘the administrator for carrying out agreed plan of action’. He sets apart management from educational leadership which has ‘at its most vital the task of forming a plan of action and, where fitting, organizational changes’. Bolam further stated that ‘management is a set of activities directed towards being able to accomplish a task and capable of producing the intended result using organizations available source of aid or support in order to achieve what the organization wants to achieve’.

Management studies are involved with ‘what occurs inside the educational institutions, and also in connection with their surroundings. For example, the communities in which they are set and the administration bodies to which they are formally responsible’. In other words, managers in schools and colleges must encourage the participation of both internal and external participants in leading their institutions. The functions and goals intended for the management of schools and colleges is common when trying to understand different fundamentals to the subject. Some of the aspects of goal setting are;

1. the value of initial anticipated outcome;
2. whether the goals are those of the organization or an individual
3. how the institution’s goals are made.

Description of educational leadership

There is no one meaning given to leadership and Ellison, & Hayes, 2006 argues that ‘the understanding of leadership can be modified by individual bias. Dimensions of leadership may be described as a basis for developing a working definition. The property of leadership refers to common traits or characteristics shared by effective leaders. Characterized leadership as a way of thinking, a sense of spirit founded in overlapping environments-our own, that of the profession, and of the educational process itself. They further defined leadership as an interactive relationship between leaders and followers. Its cultural, gender, class, or ethnic components aside, leadership is best characterized by influence and identification.

Moreover, educational leaders have a challenge of educating a growing and diverse student population; they should be responsive to the needs of students and their families and to implement teaching and learning strategies that will prove effective for both students and parents.

Leadership as an influence

A central element in many definitions of educational leadership is that there is a process of influence. Most descriptions of leadership in the educational sector reveal the hypothesis that it entails a social authority procedure whereby intentional leadership is used by an individual (or group) over the other to organize the actions and relationships in an organization workforce. (Ellison, & Hayes, 2006). The use of ‘person’ or ‘group’ serves to emphasize that leadership may be exercised by teams as well as individuals. Their definition shows that the influence process is purposeful in that it is intended to lead to specific outcomes: ‘leadership then refers to people who bend the motivations and actions of others to achieving certain goals; it implies taking initiatives and risks’ see this influence as an organizational quality flowing through the differing internal network of organizations.

Leadership as value

Educational Leadership may be understood as ‘influence’ but this notion is not biased in that it does not explain or recommend what goals or actions should be sought through this process. However, certain optional concepts of the new principal leadership role focus on the need for leadership to be based on strong personal and professional values. ‘The main task of any new principal or leader is to bring people together around important issues’. It is also noted that leadership starts with the personality of the new principal or leaders, expressed in terms of his state of mind that is emotional, self-awareness and his sense of right and wrong (Hess, and Kelly. 2005).

Leadership and vision

Vision is becoming more considered as an important attribute of the new principal in relationship to the function of good leadership and to draw on work expressing clarity of ideas and having general application about leadership role of the new principal, which in turn directly relates to the four to vision of the new principal;

1. Outstanding leaders have a vision for their organizations.
2. Vision must be communicated in a way which secures commitment among members of the organization.
3. Communication of vision requires communication of meaning.
4. Attention should be given to institutionalizing vision if leadership is to be successful.

Structural Constructs of Organizations Organizational Components

Another approach to having the idea for organizational structure is to represent accurately or precisely the fundamental components of an organization. In relation to this, Ellison, & Hayes. 2006 identified three basic elements of the educational sector of any organization. These are (a) the operating core, (b) the administrative component, and (c) support staff.

• The operating core: The operating core is comprised of those people who carry out the basic tasks of the organization.
• The administrative component: The administrative component contains three parts-the strategic apex, the middle line, and the techno-structure. The strategic apex represents or expresses the top administrators who make sure that the organization operates in a systematic or consistent manner with its mission. In relation to this, the techno structure is composed of administrators whose most important responsibilities are planning and training.
• Support staffs: Support staffs are specialists who provide support services for the organization but operate outside the organization’s operating progress (or rate of progress) in work being done.

The table below illustrates the Structural Constructs of educational or organizations organizational Components.

Leadership, culture and globalization

Leadership is a culturally and contextually enclosed process that means it cannot be disentangled with its larger environment – at levels ranging from organizational, to local community through to greater society. The cultural authority on leadership is marked by several dimensions or aspects, repeatedly complicated to distinguish, delicate and simple to ignore, – though underplayed by several people, and ignored by others.

The aim is to highlight the importance of the concept of societal culture to developing theory, policy and practice in educational leadership within an increasingly globalizing educational context. Recognizing the link between in relation to cultural and contextual motivation can contribute to improvement in its practice. (Darling-Hammond, and Orphanos 2007) leadership For example, given the multi-ethnic nature of schools around the world, leaders nowadays shoulder responsibility for shaping their organizations in ways that value and integrate heterogeneous groups into successful learning communities for all. The successful leadership of such communities calls for very specific knowledge and skills attuned to ethnicity and multiculturalism.

Culture is evidently a hard and complex theory to describe. For example, it is different from, but very closely linked to, society. Whereas society is simply the system of interrelationships connecting individuals, culture is the bond that joins people together through a common understanding of an accepted way of life that is distinguishable from other groups. A number of key concepts related to the notion of culture can now be examined in more detail (Hess, and Kelly, 2005).

Multi-ethnic and multicultural

This term multi-ethnic is used to describe a school whose student/staff profile is made up of more than one race. The word multicultural school shows a school that is accomplishing some measure of intended purpose in creating a learning environment that conforms to the ultimate standard of multiculturalism. This may include a school community structure that accommodates culturally diverse students, a curriculum that adequately addresses issues of cultural diversity, and learning outcomes that indicate success for students of different cultures.

Cross-cultural

This term is used to show contrast across two or more societal cultures. Following developments in international business management and in cross-cultural psychology, we believe that culture offers a fruitful basis for undertaking relative study. For example, the leadership of educational institutions in one country compared with that of another institution by adopting a cultural perspective of leadership in the societies (Spiro et al. 2007).

Consequently, globalization is seen as a mental sequence of events driven, mainly, by a collection of political and economical influences’’. It touches all our lives, changing our social processes and institutions, even in the ways in which we relate to one another. It would seem that globalization, especially its secular and materialistic dimensions, is contributing to a more disengaged mode of existence for many people especially in the developed world.

While acknowledging that ‘’leadership can be determined by culture’’, we need to establish on whether there are leader conducts, qualities, and customary of way operation that are generally accepted and capable of producing intended results across cultures as adding to or subduing great leadership. The following findings indentifies six ‘’global leader behaviors that been supported without doubt through shared knowledge and values (Copland, & Knapp. 2006).

1. Charismatic/values-based leadership is one who thinks of the future, one who can impart divine influence on mind and soul, willing to give a lot for the organization, is honest, and is firm and can be able to achieve what they set out to do successfully. Principals with this approach might set tactical aims to develop student learning.
2. Team oriented leadership comprises a leader who can accomplish by bringing a team together, is one who can bring teachers and students of different races and ethnic groups together, is generous in providing help to others, and is capable of managing well. Principals with this style can be able to manage and bring teachers together to set goals or settle conflicts.
3. Participative leadership is not domineering and is more involved. Principals with these approach form groups of teachers and parents to resolve problems of student behavior and assign power to give orders or make decisions to an assistant principal or teacher leaders.
4. Humane-oriented this leader is not vain and but gentle and kind. Principals usually give credit for school’s achievements to teachers; they also can stand in for a teacher who falls sick in the middle of a school day.
5. Autonomous leadership is a leader who stands alone. Principals in this manner might make decisions without consulting others and avoids interacting with teachers.
6. Self protective leadership is leader who only cares about himself and his needs, is mindful of his/her status, always causing problems instead of solving. Principals with this style might blame teachers or students for school problems, fire assistant principals who are better than they are and lie rather than accept their mistakes.

Conclusion

From these findings we can safely say that people expect a new principal or leader who is team oriented, and a leadership characterized with more collectivist cultures. The role of the educational leadership expected of the new principal has changed significantly over the past decade. A contemporary and popular term for important and effective school leadership is collaborative leadership, which is characterized by more flexible, problem solving style, built upon personal relationship.

School leadership may come from a variety of individuals functioning in a variety of roles and situations throughout the educational sector.

Educational leadership may be provided at each and every level of educational sector and may also originate from a variety of positions and roles. Leadership may also be situated at the educational building level and often the building principal is called upon to take responsibilities and many important leadership functions (Weindling, 2004).

However for leadership to produce more benefits, others such as assistant principals, supervisors, social workers, teachers and parents may provide or contribute to the leadership which can prove to be valuable to leader.

The way a school succeeds on an educational level depends on a leader who is dynamic, strong or visionary. He/she should be able to see the big picture, take charge of the situation and get the job done. In order to put the students needs ahead of the department’s needs, educational leadership must seek goodness of fit between educational leadership and its surroundings.

The revival of learning and culture in Education/Organizational Leadership as required by the new principal is not likely to take place if leaders are not enthusiastic to significantly change the way they lead, design, and operate. The Educational Leadership objective of the new principal must incessantly seek goodness of fit between the organizational Leadership and its environment, as well as internal goodness of fit between the academic staff, non academic staff, and practitioners. For this to come about, decentralized power, authority, autonomy, and accountability for what happens at the point of every service must be accounted. Moreover, power, autonomy, authority, and accountability must be organized into a code or system in a workable participatory management structure. Care processes must be fixed or set securely or deeply with the best available valid and reliable evidence and put the students needs ahead of the department’s needs.

Reference List

Copland, M.A., & Knapp, M.S. (2006). Connecting leadership with learning: A framework for reflection, planning, and action. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Cranston, N.C. (2007). Through the eyes of potential aspirants: Another view of principal ship. School Leadership and Management 27, no. 2: 109/28.

Darling-Hammond, L. and S. Orphanos. (2007). Leadership development in California. Web.

Ellison, J., & Hayes, C. (2006). Effective school leadership: Developing principals through cognitive coaching. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.

Hess, F.M., and Kelly, A.P. (2005). Learning to lead: What gets taught in principal preparation programs. Web.

Spiro, J., Mattis, M.C., & Mitgang, L.D. (2007). Getting principal mentoring right: Lessons from the field. New York: The Wallace Foundation.

Weindling, D. (2004). Innovation in head teacher induction. London, National College for School Leadership.