Educational Planning and Management

M.EdRozina Rukanuddin Sewani

Introduction• the terms ‘leadership’ and ‘management’ are used interchangeably.

This is perhaps because in many organisations, including schools and colleges, both activities are often carried out by the same people.

• Leadership is concerned with the vision and values of an organisation while management relates to the coordination of organizational tasks and structures.

• it is important to point out that for overall school improvement both management and leadership skills are required.

Understanding Leadership

• The purpose of a school is essentially what the school is trying to achieve (the vision) and what the people believe to be important (the values). Leadership may be seen as a process of initiating the dialogue about these issues amongst the stakeholders, clarifying the points made in the dialogue, reaching agreement or consensus about the purpose of the school, and then communicating it to all concerned.

• When this process is undertaken, each school develops its own unique purpose. This purpose generates commitment and ownership amongst the stakeholders. For example, one school we are aware of in Karachi has a statement of its purpose prominently displayed on a wall near the entrance—this is a good method of communicating it to all stakeholders. The statement proclaims that the school aims to produce leaders in society (the vision) and that it believes in academic excellence (the values).

A summary of important points about vision in relation to leadership:

1. A vision is leader-initiated—it is the role of the leader to build the vision for the future of the school.2. The vision must be shared and supported—there must be agreement amongst all school stakeholders that the vision is worth pursuing.3. The vision should be comprehensive and detailed—it should say how, when, where, and what so that each person knows how they can contribute.4. The vision must be positive and inspiring—everyone in the school must feel that it is worth the effort.

Types of Leadership

• There are a number of theories about the types of educational leadership. However, it is important to note that the context of the school and the particular situation you face would determine the type of leadership you use. This is known as the contingency theory. As head teachers or teacher, you might need to be transactional leaders on one occasion, and, on other occasions, you might need to be bureaucrats; however, research—and our experience—indicates that if you focus on Pedagogical Leadership, your school improvement efforts are more likely to be successful.

• Instructional leadershipInstructional leadership focuses on the role of the head teacher in coordinating, controlling, supervising and developing curriculum and instruction in the school (Hallinger, 2003).• Bureaucratic leadershipBureaucratic leadership focuses on the role of the head teacher in mandating tasks and outcomes. Management systems that emphasise supervision, evaluation and incentives support this type of leadership (Sergiovanni, 1998).

• Visionary leadership• Visionary leadership focuses on the role of the head teacher in

providing a vision for the school. The visionary leader does this by motivating and inspiring schools to change (Sergiovanni, 1998).

• Entrepreneurial leadership• Entrepreneurial leadership focuses on the role of the head teacher in

encouraging competition, providing incentives for winning and disincentives for losing. (Sergiovanni, 1998)

• Transactional leadership• Transactional leadership focuses on the role of the head teacher in providing

rewards (e.g. salary and other extrinsic rewards that the head teacher controls to a certain degree) in exchange for services (e.g. from a teacher).

• Transformational leadership• Transformational leadership focuses on developing leadership capacity within the

organisation rather than limiting leadership to the head teacher. It focuses on capacity development of school community members in order to bring about improvement in teaching and learning. This is in contrast to instructional leadership, where the head teacher focuses on directly improving classroom teaching and learning. Transformational leadership stresses on the head teacher’s moral role.

Distinction between transactional and transformational • The head teacher who practices transactional leadership expects services

(e.g. from a teacher) for various kind of rewards (e.g. salary and other extrinsic rewards that the head teacher controls to a certain degree). Leadership in this sense is a kind of transaction or making a deal—something like ‘if you do this for me I will do that for you’. Much school leadership is of this kind: for example, when the head says to a teacher “if you look after the timetable, I will give you two free periods per week”. You can see that here, a transaction is taking place. The teacher might respond, “Yes, I will look after the timetable but I need three free periods to do that”. If the two reach and agreement, then a ‘deal’ has been made. This kind of leadership is often necessary to keep the school running from day to day.

• On the other hand, the head teacher who practices transformational leadership seeks to empower staff and share leadership so that the staff members view school improvement as a reward in itself. The teacher in the example above feels empowered when she looks after the timetable and treats the better organisation of the school as a reward in itself. Transformational leadership is linked with change and improvement and it is seen when leaders:

• Stimulate interest among colleagues to view their work from new perspectives• Generate awareness of the mission and vision of the team and organisation• Develop colleagues to higher levels of ability and potential• Motivate colleagues and followers to look beyond their own interests towards

those that will benefit the group (Bass and Avolio, 1994, p. 2).

• Pedagogical • The term ‘pedagogue’ derives from the Greek language where it referred to

a watchful guardian whose responsibility it was to lead (agogos) the young boy (paides) to school. The adult had the task of accompanying the child, of being with the child, and of caring for the child. This was a kind of ‘leading’ where one often walked behind the one who was led. The pedagogue was there in loco parentis—in place of the parent (Van Manen, 1991).

• The term pedagogy was relatively uncommon in the language of educators a decade ago. Now, publications and teachers’ discourses use the term more frequently. We use the term as a synonym to teaching and learning.

• School leadership is complex and demanding. In an increasingly decentralized context, schools are expected to make many of their own decisions and manage their resources in ways that satisfy the very high expectations of students, their parents, employers and the wider community. Effective school leadership requires enormous energy, sensitivity, a love of people and the capacity to tolerate ambiguity. The ability to articulate personal values and strong interpersonal skills are also necessary.

• based on a set of beliefs about what constitutes effective schooling and appropriate student achievement. Leadership in schools focuses on making these beliefs explicit in the school environment so that there is a shared understanding that the focus of the school is student learning. This incorporates curriculum planning, policy development and the delivery of learning and teaching programmes that enable students to develop their capacities as fully functioning and responsible future citizens.

Beliefs and Values of Leaders

• Beliefs and values are the moral imperatives and ethical behaviours that set the expectations and responsibilities of an educational leader. We expect that an educational leader:

• • recognises promoting growth the intellect, well-being and character of students in the school as a primary responsibility.• • accepts that all students have the capacity and right to learn.• • has a key professional task as an educational leader, with final responsibility in the school for the quality of its total curriculum, its aims, its

assessment and reporting, its teaching and learning processes.• • has a key responsibility in the development of a shared vision and mission for the school.• • sees the school as a learning community, committed to the personal growth of all its members, both students and staff.• • has a shared but ultimate responsibility for building staff team-work and collegiality for the mission of the school.• • takes a responsible role in the professional growth and career development of staff in the school.• • continues to develop professional knowledge, skills and attitudes and seeks to share these with colleagues.• • accepts and respects the obligations of the school to the broader society, whose values influence school culture and on whom the school

depends for moral and material support.• • will work jointly with staff to develop a constructive relationship with parents, as the students’ first teachers, and with the broader community.• • develops and maintains consistency between stated values and practices and processes within the school.• • is committed to integrity, honesty and respect for individuals.• • exhibits loyalty to the employer, consistent with the moral and educational commitment to service to clients.• • is committed to the support of the profession through networks concerned with the improvement of education.

• Some recent research findings (Waters, Marzano & McNulty, 2003) show a strong relationship between leadership and student achievement. This means that as a school leader’s ability increases so too does student-learning achievement. This is a very important finding! However, there is another equally important finding. Just as school leaders can have a positive impact on achievement, they can also have a marginal, or worse, a negative impact on achievement. When leaders concentrate on the wrong school or classroom practices, they can reduce student-learning achievement. It is therefore very important to focus on practices that will improve student learning in your school.

• Let us now look at the broad school and classroom practices that are associated with increased student achievement. Table 1 lists these practices. For school leaders and leadership teams wanting to know where they should focus their improvement efforts, these areas suggest places to start. Whilst you may not be able to do much about external factors such as the home environment or background knowledge, you could influence the other factors to bring about an improvement in student achievement.

Table 1: School & teacher practices & student factors influencing student achievement

School 1. Guaranteed and viable curriculum

2. Challenging goals and effective feedback

3. Parent and community involvement

4. Safe and orderly environment

5. Collegiality and professionalism

Teacher 6. Instructional strategies

7. Classroom management

8. Classroom curriculum design

Student 1. Home environment

2. Learned intelligence / background knowledge

3. Motivation

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• Below Table 2, you will find an activity (Activity 2 5) that will assist you to think this through in terms of the following:

• • Where are you now? Which of the responsibilities listed in Table 2 are you currently doing?

• • Where do you want to be? Which of the responsibilities would you like to include in your current work?

• • How do you get there? What changes do you need to make to include those responsibilities in your work?

Table 2: The extent to which principal leadership responsibilities impact on student achievement

Responsibilities The extent to which the principal…Culture fosters shared beliefs & a sense of community &

cooperationOrder establishes a set of standard operating procedures &

routinesDiscipline protects teachers from issues and influences that would detract

from their teaching time or focusResources provides teachers with materials & professional development

necessary for the successful execution of their jobs

Focus establishes clear goals & keeps those goals in the forefront of the school’s attention