Leadership and Management Development in Education (Education ...

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MODELS OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP19England and Wales shows that three strategies were particularly effective inimproving teaching and learning:• Modelling• Monitoring• Professional dialogue and discussion.Southworth’s third category confirms Blase and Blase’s (1998) first point but hisother strategies introduce new notions of which instructional leadership practicesare likely to be successful. He also concurs with Hill (2001) that ‘schoolleaders may lack sufficient knowledge of teaching and learning to provide adequate,let alone successful, instructional leadership’ (Southworth 2002: 87) andadvocates that this dimension should be included in leadership developmentprogrammes.In contrast, Leithwood (1994: 499) claims that ‘instructional leadershipimages are no longer adequate’ because they are ‘heavily classroom focused’and do not address ‘second order changes … [such as] organisation building’(p. 501). He adds that the instructional leadership image ‘is now showing all thesigns of a dying paradigm’ (p. 502).Despite these comments, instructional leadership is a very important dimensionbecause it targets the school’s central activities, teaching and learning. Itmay also be undergoing a renaissance in England, not least because of its specificendorsement by the NCSL (2001). However, this paradigm may be perceivedas narrow because it underestimates other aspects of school life, such associalisation, student welfare and self-esteem (Bush 2003: 16–17).Contingent leadershipThe models of leadership examined earlier in this chapter are all partial. Theyprovide valid and helpful insights into one particular aspect of leadership. Somefocus on the process by which influence is exerted while others emphasise oneor more dimensions of leadership. However, none of these models provide acomplete picture of school leadership. As Lambert (1995: 9) notes, there is ‘nosingle best type’.The contingent model provides an alternative approach, recognising thediverse nature of school contexts and the advantages of adapting leadershipstyles to the particular situation, rather than adopting a ‘one size fits all’ stance:This approach assumes that what is important is how leaders respond tothe unique organizational circumstances or problems … there are widevariations in the contexts for leadership and that, to be effective, these
20LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT IN EDUCATIONcontexts require different leadership responses … individuals providingleadership, typically those in formal positions of authority, are capable ofmastering a large repertoire of leadership practices. Their influence willdepend, in large measure, on such mastery. (Leithwood et al. 1999: 15)Yukl (2002: 234) adds that ‘the managerial job is too complex and unpredictableto rely on a set of standardised responses to events. Effective leaders arecontinuously reading the situation and evaluating how to adapt their behaviourto it’. Leadership requires effective diagnosis of problems, followed byadopting the most appropriate response to the issue or situation (Morgan1997). This reflexive approach is particularly important in periods of turbulencewhen leaders need to be able to assess the situation carefully and react as appropriaterather than relying on a standard leadership model.Linking the models to leadership developmentLeadership can be understood as a process of influence based on clear valuesand beliefs and leading to a ‘vision’ for the school. The vision is articulated byleaders who seek to gain the commitment of staff and stakeholders to the idealof a better future for the school, its students and stakeholders.Each of the leadership models discussed in this book is partial. They providedistinctive but unidimensional perspectives on school leadership. Sergiovanni(1984: 6) adds that much ‘leadership theory and practice provides a limitedview, dwelling excessively on some aspects of leadership to the virtual exclusionof others’.The nine models, adapted from Leithwood et al. (1999) and Bush and Glover(2003), collectively suggest that concepts of school leadership are complex anddiverse. They provide clear normative frameworks by which leadership can beunderstood but relatively weak empirical support for these constructs. They arealso artificial distinctions, or ‘ideal types’, in that most successful leaders arelikely to embody most or all of these approaches in their work (Bush 2003).This analysis provides a starting point for linking the models to leadershipdevelopment. Much depends on the nature of the leadership and managementrole in particular educational systems. If the principal’s role is primarily aboutthe implementation of policy determined outside the school, for example bynational, provincial or local government, then leadership development shouldbe primarily focused on developing ‘managerial leadership’. This is the expectationin many developing countries and those in Eastern Europe.Managerial leadership has been discredited and dismissed as limited andtechnicist but it is an essential component of successful leadership, ensuringthe implementation of the school’s vision and strategy. When vision and mis-
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