Leadership and Values in Language Education - Al Akhawayn ...

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70Proceedings of the 27 th MATE Annual ConferenceLeadership is not an end-project but an on-going process that leaves teachers tocontribute to the curriculum development. Without effective leadership, the roleof the teacher may be deprofessionalized and reduced to that of a humblepractitioner. Moreover, the institution should have clearly defined objectives,aims and goals that need to be developed within its limited resources. Effectiveeducational teachers should intensely be involved in curricular and instructionalissues that directly affect student achievement (Cotton, 2003).6. Challenges of implementing educational leadership for change anddevelopmentIt can be safely argued here that people involved in leadership believe that thereis no one best way to lead, arguing instead that appropriate leadership styles varydepending on situations. Fred Fiedler (1967), retrieved inhttp://www.answers.com/topic/leadership, for instance, believes that a taskorientedleadership style is appropriate when the situation is either extremelyfavorable or extremely unfavorable to the leader. A favorable situation existswhen the relationship between the leader and ‘followers’/participants/members/ isgood, their tasks are well-defined, and the leader has strong power; when theopposite is true, an unfavorable situation exists. When the situation is moderatelyfavorable, a people-oriented leadership style is appropriate. Some theoristssuggest that situational factors—the type of task, nature of work groups, formalauthority system, personality and maturity level of ‘followers’, experience, andability of followers—are critical in determining the most effective leadershipstyle. For instance, when followers are inexperienced and lack maturity andresponsibility, the directive leadership is ineffective.It is worth mentioning that research findings in contemporary politics mightprove successful in the educational field/ context; however, claiming that theycan be implemented in the educational context where we deal with learners andteachers whose behaviours/ variables may not be that different from those ofpoliticians. In addition to this, one cannot claim that effective leadership in onecontext can be generalised and implemented in another different and aliencontext. Just as leading in a small town or the country side would be differentfrom leading in a big city, so would leading in British and Moroccan contexts. Ifwe try to implement a leader’s styles and methods in handling things in his/hercontext, assuming that it will work for other similar contexts, it may create what Imay call ‘leadership shock’, at least for the simple reason is that her/his leadingin primary or junior high school is not leading in senior or higher education.“You cannot lick a problem until you realise you have one”. In a similar vein,
71Proceedings of the 27 th MATE Annual Conferenceimplementing leadership findings of a context in a different one may affect theprocess rather than enhance it.In this respect, one could assert that the context plays a very salient role in anydecision making and therefore will make general findings difficult to beimplemented in another context which may not share similar the institutionfeatures. What is true for one teacher may not necessarily be true for another andthe opposite may hold true. Any attempt at implementing ideas and findings thathave been worked elsewhere, with a hope that they will work in other contexts, islikely to yield undesired results and may lead to serious problems that mayhamper the effectiveness of the total teaching operation. Moreover, claiming thateducational leadership research findings are generalisable and therefore beimplemented may constitute ‘the denial of the individual practitioner’s everydayexperience’. Any attempt to generalise teachers’ findings will contradict andthreaten their own experience as sources of expert knowledge. In short,leadership is context-specific which means that its findings and results arespecific to that context where it has taken place.Bringing an everlasting change in our schools and educational institutions is adifficult and challenging enterprise as Robert et al (2002:15) state “it has beenobserved that changing higher education is like changing religion in whichtradition abounds, the status quo is honoured, and any innovation is met bothresistance and higher emotion”. People who are involved in education shouldunderstand that we are, in the present the time, living in an era of non-stopinstitutional change and development. We need to adopt and adapt our educationto the needs of the job market and after all, to the changes that happen fromdecade to another, from year to another. Our education system needs leaders whoare able to take appropriate decisions in tough situations and who are able tobring about change. It should be recognized that change happens slowly andteachers as leaders should be ready to tackle the challenges that come withleading change.Another impediment to bringing about change in our educational institutions isthat the Academic institution is usually described as “a complex system withmany diverse, moving parts” (Diamond, 2002:22). The leaders have to take intoconsideration the needs of the institution, the students’ needs and the fact thatthose needs might change over time and therefore new changes mightautomatically be required. Moreover, the ‘changing of the personnel’ (Lick,2002:23) may constitute another problem. No one can deny the fact that ourinstitutions suffer from resources and logistics. Therefore, it is essential to take
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