School As Comunity- Lecture No

EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION

FR. ALAN SCERRI M.Ed. (Educational Leadership) University of Malta

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The sources of authority for leadership Sources

Assumptions when use of this source is primary

Leadership/Sup ervisory strategy

Consequen ces

Bureaucrat ic authority: Hierarchy Rules and regulations (teachers comply or face consequenc es)

Teachers are subordinates in a hierarchically arranged system. Supervisors are trustworthy, but subordinates are not. Goals and interests of teachers and supervisors are not the same, and supervisors must be watchful. Hierarchy equals expertise, and so supervisors know

“Expect and inspect” is the overarching rule. Rely on predetermined standards, to which teachers must measure up. Identify their needs and “inservice” them. Directly supervise and closely monitor the work of teachers, to ensure compliance.

With proper monitoring teachers respond as technicians, executing predetermin ed scripts, and their performance is narrowed.

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Personal authority Motivational technology Interpersonal skills Human relations leadership (teachers will want to comply because of the congenial climate and the rewards.)

The goals and interests of teachers and supervisors are not the same but can be bartered so that each side gets what it wants. Teachers have needs, and if they are met at work, the work gets done as required. Congenial relationships and a harmonious interpersonal climate make teachers content, easier to work with,

Develop a school climate characterized by high congeniality among teachers and between teachers and supervisors. “Expect and reward.”

Teachers respond as required when rewards are available, but not otherwise; their involvement is calculated and performance is narrowed.

“what gets rewarded gets done.” Use psychological authority in combination with bureaucratic and technicalrelational authority.

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Professional authority Informed craft knowledge and personal expertise (teachers respond in light of common socialization, professional values, accepted

Supervisors must be experts in reading needs and in other peoplehandling skills, to barter successfully for compliance and increases in performance. Situation of practice are idiosyncratic, and no one best way exists Scientific knowledge and professional knowledge are different, with professional knowledge created in use

Promote a dialogue among teachers that explicitly states professional values and accepted tenets of practice. Translate them into professional standards. Give teachers as

Teachers respond to professional norms; their practice becomes collective, they require little monitoring, and their performance is expansive.

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The purpose of scientific knowledge is to inform, not prescribe practice. Authority cannot be external but comes from the context itself and from within the teacher. Authority from context comes from training and experience. Authority from within comes from socialization and internalized values

Require teachers to hold one another accountable for meeting practice standards Make assistance, support and professional development opportunities available.

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Moral authority Felt obligation and duties derived from widely shared community values, ideas, and ideals. (teachers respond to shared commitments and felt interdependence. )

Schools are professional learning communities. Communities are defined by their centres of shared values, beliefs and commitments. In communities, what is considered right and good is as important as what works and what is effective; people are motivated as much by emotion and beliefs as by self-interests;

Identify and make explicit the values and beliefs that define the centre of the school as a community. Translate them into informal norms that govern behaviour. Promote collegiality as internally felt and morally driven interdependence. Rely on the ability of community members to respond to duties and obligations. Rely on the

Teachers respond to community values for moral reasons; their practice becomes collective, and their performance is expansive and sustained.

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• Follow me leadership: • it cannot work without some external force that pushes or pulls people in a desired direction • It requires follow up in the form of monitoring, to ensure that the desired movement continue. • Skilfully practised it gets people to cooperate, but it cannot inspire the kind of commitment that will make schools work well as it tends to induce some sense of subordination. • Moral leadership: • Leadership is based on moral authority. Teachers are expected to respond to shared commitments and felt interdependence. • Instead of asking the “why?” or “who to follow?” question in doing things, the members start asking “what to follow?” – the shared values and beliefs that define us as community and the ideals that define us as professionals. • Than we will ask “why?”, because it is morally right to do so. It is our duty and obligation. 7

• Instead of relying on rules and interpersonal skills, leaders will be able to rely on standards of practice and professional norms as reasons for doing things. Leadership itself will become less direct and intense as standards and norms take hold (Sergiovanni, 1992) • The norms and values associated with professionalism as well as the norms and values that define the school as a learning community, will

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The Head, Heart and Hand of Leadership

• The heart hand

(what I value decisions, and believe) actions and behaviour)

the head

(my mindscape

the

(my

of how the world works)

• The head of leadership has to do with the mindscapes, or theories of practice, that leaders develop over time, and with their ability in light of these theories to reflect on the situation they face. • Reflection combined with personal vision and an 9

Moral authority or covenant of shared values • From Moral or Sacred authority are derived values as purposing, or building a covenant of shared values, one that bonds people in a common cause and transforms a school from an organization into a community. • Schools based on a value system:  They all focus on a particular group of people, ‘a chosen people’. Membership automatically provides emotional security.  They all promote a particular way of organizing society, a belief that provides an emotional identity.  They all require an emotional stimulus, such as a mission, a sense of purpose or a10

EmileDurkheim: “The Division of Labour in society” • “When we are without values, goals and norms we become alienated from ourselves, from others and ultimately from society, with all the imaginable negative consequences”. • Involvement in community has three elements:  Duty; implying a sense of self-constraint through duty to collectivity  Attachment, involving a sense of membership, commitment and identity with the collectivity.  Self-determination, involving knowledge, and a rational sense of awareness regarding the reasons for duty and attachment to the collectivity • When the collective conscience is lost, we are deprived of opportunities to respond to duty, to become attached, to express self-determination. 11 This leads to a sense of normlessness and

• In communities it is the authority of virtue not the power of position that licenses one to lead. Virtue is embedded in what a community shares and in its collective wisdom. • Plato – ‘Utopia’:  “Until…political greatness (leadership) and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils – no nor the human race.”

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The notion of “Covenant” in schools

• Purposing involves both the vision of school leaders and the covenant that the school shares….A covenant provides the added dimension of values and moral authority to make purposing count. • The school’s covenant; it is not enough for schools to be successful to have worked out what people stands for and what is to be accomplished. A binding and solemn agreement must emerge, one that represents a value system for living together and forms the basis for decisions and actions. 13 • A covenantal relationship rests on a

• “covenants are solemn and binding agreements between tow or more parties that provide reciprocal rights, duties, and obligations on the one hand, and guidelines for action, on the other. They define how one should live as an individual and one’s collective life as a member of the community” (Sergiovanni, 1992) • Covenant must be built from the bottom up, as the school strives to complete the transformation from organization to community.

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Leader as servant • One dimension of the professional virtue is the caring ethic. Caring places teachers and administrators in the service to others. • As servant, the school fully accepts its responsibility to do everything it can to care for the full range of needs of its students, teachers and parents. • Students are served in many ways. One way to respect and serve them is to share time with them. Since 15

The Leader: the one who serves • The caring ethic. Caring places teachers and administrators in service to others. As servant, the school fully accepts its responsibility to do everything it can to care for the full range of needs of its students, teachers and parents. • One way to respect and serve students is to share time with them. Since time is a scarce resource, how it is used communicates powerful messages. • Invites participation from all members of the school community in shaping decisions that concerns the school, therefore their 16

• The leader understands that serving others is important but that the most important thing is to serve the values and ideas that help shape the school as a covenantal community. In this sense all the members of a community share the burden of servant leadership. • The effectiveness of a leader lies in his ability to make activity meaningful for those in his role set – not to change behavior but to give others a sense of understanding what they are doing and especially to

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• Principals have special stewardship obligations 2. They must plant the seeds of community 3. Nurture budding community and protect the community once it emerges. To do this:  They lead by following  They lead by serving  They lead by inviting others to share in the burdens of leadership  They lead by knowing

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• What do principles do in schools that are becoming communities of leaders? • Many things. They preach and teach, they encourage, they help, and sometimes they even yell and tell. But mostly they serve.

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