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

97Proceedings of the 27 th MATE Annual ConferenceSustainable Leadership in Education :Whose responsibility is it?Said ElmouhtarimEnnour High School, Beni-MellalIntroductionLeadership is not a new concept. It took its way in the field of education yearsago, especially in Anglo-Saxon countries with the movement of schooleffectiveness. So, what is leadership? What are the components involved inschool leadership? What is sustainable leadership and what are its principles?And whose responsibility is successful sustainable leadership? These are the mainissues I will deal with in my paper.What is leadership?Hundreds of definitions have been given to this concept. Malcolm. J. Richmonand Derek .J. Alisson, for instance, explain that leadership has been thought of“as a process of exercising influence, a way of inducing compliance, a measureof personality, a form of persuasion, an effect of interaction, an instrument ofgoal achievement, a means of initiating structure.” Another definition ofleadership was suggested by George. R. Terry, who successfully described it asan activity geared towards influencing people to strive willingly for group goals.”The key term in both definitions above is that leadership is a process ofexercising influence which involves recognition of a purpose, for example theneed to change or create something. It also involves communication, interaction,willingness to participate and many other joint and synergy-based actions. Schoolleadership, on the other hand, is the “activity of mobilizing and empoweringothers to serve the academic and related needs of students with utmost skill andintegrity.” (Stuart .G. Smith & Philip, K. Picle). The main focus of schoolleadership, by implication, is the improvement of teaching, learning andconsequently students’ achievement.Components involved in school leadershipManaging school change is a critical issue and its improvement is a very complextask to undertake by school leadership. In fact, for school improvement efforts tobe successful, teachers, parents, community and business partners, administratorsand students must share the various leadership functions. It is clear that there are