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| Principal Centered Leadership |
School leaders’
roles are becoming more complex in the 21st century. A principal is
not just the person that leads a school anymore. As an elementary school
principal, I continuously play the role of counselor, nurse, social worker,
coach, tutor, mother, etc. Flockton (2001) contends:
The role of
principal can be liked in metaphor to that of the aircraft pilot. For much of
the time you are fastened "up front" where you navigate, often
unaided, times of turbulence and frustration; where you have to maintain a
close eye on performance data clocked on the instrumentation, where you come to
realise the importance of mission, vision and destinations, and where, on
occasions of great satisfaction, you are able to feel and experience the joys
and overwhelming sense purpose that derives from knowing that you are having a
beneficial impact and making a difference among those whose efforts and,
achievements you lead, guide, nurture and sustain. The sky offers boundless
opportunities. Or does it? Because in looking to the sky, the principal knows
all too well the realities of hard landings.
The role of the principal is a complex one, and not widely or
fully understood. There are all manner of experts on how schools should be run
(politicians, government administrators, academics, business leaders,
accountants, lawyers, media commentators. ..to name a few) eager to give
direction, advice, judgement, comment and counsel. Some of this is valid and
well intentioned, but much can fail to apprehend the day to day realities of
the job. Failure to apprehend, in my view, simply says that to know, one must
actually endure sustained tenure as a school principal. The job is too
frequently analysed, evaluated and advised by too many who have never had to do
it. The role of principal is arguably burdensome, it is complex, it is not well
understood. It can be, and should be, exceedingly satisfying - yet others can
make it unreasonably demanding and overly exhausting. Most important, you are
the people who, when exercising the great professional integrity of moral
purpose, have the potential to realise the most potent influence over what is
acceptable, and what is not acceptable, in teaching and learning. Teaching and
learning is the core business of the school. Teaching and learning is the
measure of the school. Teaching and learning demands highest priority in the
thinking and leadership of the school principal. It is the real key to opening
the way forward and making a difference in Tomorrow's Schools - if that
difference is to be about students and opportunity to learn.
As
a school principal, I have the moral obligation of providing my students, faculty,
staff, and all stakeholders the best of everything. Principal leadership is
synonymous with servant leadership, and collaborative leadership. A principal
should demonstrate strong moral character, unquestionable ethics and integrity,
and serve as a positive role model. The nucleus of principal leadership is the
students. I can proudly state that I love what I do. My students are the most
valuable and important aspect of my ministry, my calling. They are not a burden
or a bother. The satisfaction I experience when I see them excited about
learning makes every minute on campus worthwhile. As previously stated, principal
leadership is also collaborative leadership. It involves sharing the leadership
and power in order to move the organization forward. As a team, a vision and
mission can be created, communicated, and executed. A team can establish a safe
and orderly environment along with a positive culture and climate. The team can
recruit highly qualified individuals that will provide a high quality education
that focuses on the individual child. It can also monitor instruction to ensure
students are receiving differentiated instruction as well as rigorous and
relevant content. The team can also communicate high expectations and authentic
care. Although the principal is accountable for everything that occurs on a
school campus, the team plays a vital role in the success or failure of any
organization. 
Principal
leadership is also “principle” leadership. Merriam Webster defines “principle”
as “a moral rule or belief that helps you know what is right and wrong and that
influences your actions; a rule or code of conduct.” As educational leaders,
principals and teachers must lead with principles. Although the aforementioned
may seem obvious, many people have indeed forgotten the obvious in pursuit of
self-indulgence, perversion, and greed. Langvardt (2012) asserts,
To be effective teachers, leaders must be conscious of the
examples they set. They also have to be skilled learners, in order to know what lessons to impart through their
examples. They must learn not only from their own experiences but also from the
experiences of others.
Far
too many educational leaders have violated principles, oaths, and codes of
ethics, which is a great disgrace. Although there has been a rise in criminal
cases against school personnel, people do not seem to understand the
implications of their actions on the entire school community. People have been
caught having improper relationships with students, mishandling funds,
tampering with exams, and so much more. We are supposed to be the positive role
models our students can count on yet so many of us live like we were never
taught the difference between right and wrong.
Stefkovich
& Begley (2007, p. 210) argue that,
Because ethics are often interpreted in culturally exclusive
ways, and do not require empirical evidence to justify their adoption, they can
be a very troublesome category of values to employ as guides to action in our
increasingly culturally diverse schools and communities where administrators
increasingly sense the need to be accountable for their decisions. As a
practical consequence school administrators naturally gravitate towards values
grounded in rational consequence and consensus as guides to action and decision
making whenever that is possible.
In
addition, Stefkovich & Begley (2007, p. 220) “proposed a model that may
serve as guide for making ethical decisions in the best interests of the
student. The model consists of three elements: rights, responsibility, and respect.”
“Principle”
leadership is all about “rights, responsibility, and respect.” Educational
leaders must protect the rights of students and all stakeholders. They have a
moral responsibility to follow all policies, rules, and laws, and must also respect
themselves, the people they work with, and the profession.
Principal
Leadership + Principle Leadership
= Student Centered Leadership
Student
Centered Leadership is all about the students. Their academic achievement is
what drives campus improvement, planning, and budgeting. It is about catering
to each individual child and catering to each need. Student centered leadership
is about educating the whole child and preparing the student to be a
successful, productive citizen. Starratt (2007, pp. 166-167) states,
Sometimes, perhaps most of the time, teachers forget that the
youngsters in their classrooms have a rich, if complicated, life of their own.
Neither the school, nor the teacher ‘owns’ them. They are not cardboard people,
zombies patiently waiting to be programmed with the official ‘right answers’ by
their teacher. What a school must do, and I pose this as an obligation if the
moral character of learning is to be sustained, is to connect the learning
agenda of the school to the central moral agenda of the learners during their
13 or more years in school, namely the agenda of finding and choosing and
fashioning themselves as individuals and as a human community. As human beings
they are searching, and must search for the truth of who they are. Teachers may
suggest a connection between the school curriculum and the learners’ interests
and experience, but that is often simply a ploy to motivate learners to absorb
the academic curriculum so they can produce the prepackaged right answers to
the academic assessments already pre-constructed. Tests are rarely ask for
personal connections or commentaries; they want the curriculum rendered back in
its pure academic form, as it was ‘delivered’ by the textbook and the teacher,
untainted by personal associations.
Starratt
makes a very important point. He stresses that we often educate students with
the goal of them passing some type of assessment. With new state and federal
mandates playing the role of school police, many schools leaders have shifted
instruction from discovery learning and application to focusing on test taking
skills and strategies. A school leader’s nightmare is having their school labeled
“underperforming, unacceptable, or not meeting state standards.” Hence, learning
is not fun for students anymore. Many of them do not want to go to school. It
is imperative that we remember the reason we are doing what we are doing.
Students first. Always. We need to afford students with the opportunity to
experience learning in a way they can identify with. Learning must be
meaningful, rigorous, relevant, and relationships play a critical role in the
development of the child’s sociological needs. Student centered leadership
involves doing everything in our power to ensure students do not leave our
schools unprepared for what lies ahead. It is doing beyond the call of duty to
make sure every student is successful in all areas of life and making sure they always have a smile on their face!
Resources
Langvardt, A. W. (2014). Ethical Leadership and the Dual Roles of
Examples. Business
Ethics , 31.
merriam webster. (n.d.). Retrieved October 9, 2013, from merriam webster
online:
www.merriam-webster.com
Starratt, R. J. (2007). Leading a Community of Learners:
Learning to be Moral by
Engaging the Morality of Learning. Educational
Management Administration &
Leadership , 166-167.
Stefkovich, J., & Begley, P. (2007). Ethical School
Leadership Defining the Best
Interests of Students. Educational Management
Administration & Leadership ,
210.
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