Development of Points - Essay Example

? EDLE 640 - Assignment 2 Introduction Education is considered as one of the vital constituents in the modern day context to drive a nation towards prosperity. It can be stated that schooling is universal around the world which acts as a pathway for rendering and garnering invaluable education. The structure of educational system comprises various hierarchies of people including administrators, staffs, students as well as parents who are also indirectly related with the educational system. The educational system also comprises classroom, layout of the school as well as various curriculum organised by the administration of the school (Ballantine & Spade, 2008). Educational leadership is considered as the skills, vision and capabilities that are to be possessed by principals and superintendents for maintaining and building the activities performed in school premises. The purpose and mission of the culture of the administration body are to motivate the teachers for teaching and the leaders of the school for leading the activities performed in school (Grace, 2010). The teachers are provided the responsibility to facilitate proper teaching amenities to students. The leadership qualities in educational sector are utilised in order to attract talented teachers and make formulation of programs in terms of education that could assist in rendering an excellent academic environment to students (Money-Zine.com, 2013). It can be stated that institutional leadership emphasises on learning and teaching as well as on the behavioural aspects of teachers performing activities collectively with students for the betterment of school administration. Principals and superintendents are emphasising on instructional leadership in order to develop the quality of learning and teaching environments in schools along with providing energy and time to students needed to learn the academic concepts. The responsibility of school authority as well as the teachers is to build the morale of students by getting involved with them as well as assisting them in the process of learning and teaching. It also helps in building the relationship with the people in the society along with assisting in attaining the objectives of schools. It also facilitates in maintaining effective communication with one another in the society (Sage Publications, 2010). Based on the above description, the paper intends to discuss the educational setting of a school as well as the role of Principal in maintaining the effectiveness of the school. Moreover, the discussion will be focused on comprehending the critical perspectives and links with leadership of the educational setting based on an understanding of the role played by teachers, other staff members along with the involvement of parents as well as the community. Situational Analysis of Education Setting- Development of Points The considered situation in educational setting of a school can be described based on the critical issues that have been illuminated. The issue stated in educational setting illustrates that with the inadequacy of Principal, who is the official head of a school, effective functioning of a school has been hampered as the activities performed by the Principal have let down the work process of school. This has resulted in creating enormous effects on maintaining different activities performed by teachers, staffs as well as other non-teaching staffs in school premises. The Principal was appointed in the school for maintaining the quality functions in the school premises. However, after a certain point of time, the activities performed by the Principal became a bane for the entire administration as it disappointed all the teachers, students, parents and other staffs simultaneously (New England Complex Systems Institute, 2013). The effects entailed significant malfunctioning of the curriculum in school. In this context, it can be stated that the staff members, teachers and students demanded for changing the Principal in order to maintain the proper functioning of activities of schools along with maintaining the survival of the administration of school. The effects of the demands resulted in stepping down of Principal and a new Principal had been placed instead of the previous one. The new Principal possesses the responsibility of bringing back the work efficiency in the school as well as maintaining proper functioning by developing the morale of the students along with the staffs. Moreover, the new Principal is also entrusted with the task of making an improvement of the communication process amid students and staffs as well as ensuring greater involvement of the critical components of the educational setting i.e. Principal, staffs and students. Literature Review The issue that has been depicted in the provided educational setting is related to the problems created in a school by the activities performed by a Principal which at times lead to creating major disappointments amid the students, staffs and other non-staff members. In order to comprehend the educational setting more lucidly certain crucial viewpoints of other authors are required to be assessed. In view of the crisis faced by the school, it can be apparently stated that it needs to implement certain important functions such as building of community involvement for students and making the creation of new educational practices. Another crucial factor that is entwined within the prevailing context is the aspect of change management. This is owing to the fact that a critical change has occurred in the educational institution premises with the introduction of a new Principal who needs to address to crisis with the aid the garnering invaluable support from the entire concerned entities. The effects of change management would impact on the morale of the employees in the organisation as well as on the overall functioning of schools. However, the benefits of change management can be identified in terms of improvement in the morale as well as productivity along with work quality. It would help in maintaining cooperation and collaboration amid management and staffs as along with ensuring effective communication process. It can be stated that change management facilitates in reducing disruptive aspects and providing opportunities through the process of change for the organisation. It also aids the management to plan efficient strategies (Bennett, Crawford, & Riches, 1992). In response to these benefits that could be obtained by a school, it can be stated that with the introduction or appointment of a new Principal in school premises, there could be enhanced commitments from students and teachers as they were certainly recognised to be disgruntled with the acts of the previous employees which in turn affected their morale. Another factor that can be identified is openness and receptivity towards the involvement of the community along with the engagement of the schools in two way communication with potential partners in the community and the level of involvement. It can be observed that a strategy of community partnership can be identified to beneficial for the improvement of schools. According to Sanders and Harvey (2002), schools in the United States are partnering with communities and families for improvement of school efforts as well as success of students. They also stated that schools are connected with different variety of partners in the community, of which, ten major categories of community partners are business corporations, educational institutions or universities, organisations for national service and volunteer, organisation for senior citizens, faith organisations, recreational and cultural institutions and organisation for healthcare among others. Moreover, the authors also illustrated various strategies related to activities concerning school partnership for development of schools as well as community (Sanders & Harvey, 2002). From the above descriptions, it can be argued with reference to the prevailing scenario that the development of school can be processed through the assistance of different organisations as well as with the collaboration of society which include the support or involvement of parents. These can help in proper implementation of the schools activities along with fostering enhanced financial prospects related to school improvement. Support of these variables can be quite important and would further help in the development of students as better involvement of families or parents can provide enhanced guidance to students in maintaining their success through learning. The teachers would also be facilitated with proper moral support from various above mentioned communities and partnerships. Moreover, in relation to leadership that needs to be depicted by the Principal of a school, it can be stated that for proper functioning of schools can be addressed through the development and learning of students in a collaborative educational setting. For the development of schools, it can be stated that Principals as leaders of the school require contextualising in terms of thinking of leadership through proper understanding of national, local and international development in disciplines. Furthermore, in accordance with the assertion of Cranston, Ehrich, & Morton, (2013), for effective implementation of various activities in schools, Principals of various schools are required to take support from diverse communities in schools such as teachers, parents and other staff members for the development of students towards teaching and learning process. As the head of the institution, it is also required for the new Principal to possess the qualities of leaders which are vital in ascertaining effectiveness in schools and maximising the utilisation of accessible resources for maintaining the efficiency in schools. The principals of a school acting as a leader of schools can provide and contribute their capabilities towards positive learning of communities and environments (Cranston, Ehrich, & Morton, 2013). The leaders of schools are responsible for constructing organisational capacity and managing change as well as implementation of technological advancements for developing the effectiveness of schools. According to Dempster, Lovett & Fluckiger (2011), principals as leaders in school are also responsible for maintaining and providing better learning facilities for the development of children for their successful orientation. This can be attained through proper management of schools by capable leadership of principals as the head of the school authority who should aim at demarcating successful growth oriented plans for the schools to obtain desired support from concerned members (Dempster, Lovett, & Fluckiger, 2011). In this context, it can be argued that with the development of process of learning, successful orientation of the students can be possible. Moreover, with greater involvement of communities and parents, it can assist in the development of children towards maintaining effective execution of process of learning along with making enhancement of knowledge of students with the engagement of talented leaders in schools. Additionally, it can also be argued that that through the depiction of leadership of teachers in developing students overall development of schools can be attained with the aid of qualitative classrooms, better educational facilities as well as teaching skills of teachers and allied faculty members in schools. It can also be stated that with collective ideas in action, adequate development of schools can be ascertained through the maintenance of learning, collaboration, participation, cooperation and activism. These factors acting together can enable to accomplish the objectives of proper functioning of schools and moreover the involvement of different communities can also assist in maintaining the effectiveness of the school (Margaret J. Wheatley, 2012). Therefore, it can be argued that with proper collaboration, participation and activism of teachers as well as other staff members along with the Principal, it would be possible to obtain greater development of the culture of the school. By providing better and adequate facilities, students would be facilitated in terms of gaining proper knowledge regarding different topics taught in schools (Crowther, Kaggan, Ferguson, & Haan, 2002). Moreover, with greater teamwork and cooperation with one another, it would be possible to maintain effective functions of schools. It can be cited that through effective governance, cooperation and accountability it would help in maintaining effective functioning of schools. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the new Principal to look for healthy competition amid students which would assist in maintaining greater effectiveness in school functioning (Dempster, Lovett, & Fluckiger, 2011). However, it can be pointed out that community partnerships that are implemented in schools at times can face certain obstacles that can be commonly considered as significant aspects in the improvement of schools. The factors that can be considered as obstacles include inadequacy of participation of teachers as well as insufficiency of time. Moreover, the other factors creating obstacles in school improvement entail insufficiency of partners in the community, territorialism, issues that are unresolved such as sharing of information, mingling of resources as well as insufficiency of focus (Sanders & Harvey, 2002). It can be stated that Principal is the person, who is most likely to take the responsibility of shaping the organisational structure that is required for alterations in order to maintain successful implementation of school’s effective functioning. Furthermore, it is also the responsibility of a Principal to provide successful orientation of schools by maintaining cooperation and active participation of teachers and other staff members in the school along with the assistance of the administrative body. With better cooperation from the other stakeholders in the school, effective functioning can be maintained. Furthermore, capable leadership qualities of the Principal can ensure positive outcomes in terms of ascertaining organisational effectiveness (Sims & Sims, 2004). In this regard, it is worth mentioning that Principal is the changing agent and acts according to the situation of the environment. Hence, it can be considered that environment plays a significant role in providing a positive notion for activities performed in schools. The Principal of a school is required to understand the activities performed in the school and how the various elements or components of the school environment can be intermingled in order to maintain success in school functioning (Sims & Sims, 2004). Critical Perspectives and Links with Leadership Adoring leadership qualities of a Principal assists in ensuring organisational effectiveness and enriching the reputation of a school by a considerable level. It can be carried out with qualitative management of the activities performed in schools as well as facilitating students with renowned teachers helping them to gather effective information and knowledge. This results in gaining popularity as well as maintaining its sustainability of the school. It can be observed that leaders in authentic and lucid educational system pay more attention on the impact and quality of learning along with teaching of children in schools. The authentic educational leadership helps in formulating the environment for effective teaching and learning of students. This aspect facilitates in emphasising on morality and actions along with assisting in promoting the core values in schools (Duignan, 2006). With reference to the discussed educational setting, the new Principal, by emphasising upon authentic education, can maintain effective learning of students by focusing on the moral values and allied execution. This would help in rejuvenating the lost reputation of the school as well as maintaining collaboration amid teachers and students along with garnering the cooperation of parents and society at large. The quality of teaching could be improved with the above mentioned approach. The approach also would help in providing innovativeness in learning and teaching aspects for students in the school. Authentic education helps in increasing the morale of the students as well as providing quality education to students though innovative teaching and learning skills (Duignan, 2006). In the context of education, it can be stated that a Principal is expected to collaborate with other imperative concerned members along with leading the school in an effective manner. Hence, the Principal apparently becomes the representative of the school administration, therefore requires ensuring proper orientation of school related functions (Taylor, 2007). Collaborative working can be considered as a determinant for the conduction of teamwork within the schools. The dimension of multi-agency approach facilitates in proper assessment of effective functioning of schools. This also in turn helps in providing opportunities with regard to training, inter-professional learning as well as development of school staffs and moreover multi-agency practitioners are in direct involvement with students in schools for improving the learning and teaching aspects. Furthermore, collaboration working also assists in the establishment of decision making process along with ensuring enhanced accountability as well as communication. It can also be stated that collaborative working assists teachers as well as other staff members in schools in understanding the activities related to multi-agency practitioners which in turn facilitates to incorporate those services in teaching activities and thereby increasing the morale of the students as well as teachers (SAGE Publications, 2008). The notion of leadership can be identified to be based on the involvement of classroom along with the leaders engaging in teaching and learning aspects. The aspects of interactive leadership can be considered as a significant facet in facilitating and mentoring activities which is observed to be more prominent in Canada and the United States. Interactive leadership aids teachers in developing their ability of influencing colleagues and maintaining productive relationship with the management. This would assist in increasing the morale of the staffs as well as the students in the school for gaining better knowledge and become skilful (Taylor, 2007). Recommendations From the above deciphered understanding derived from varied literatures, it can be stated that in order to maintain effective functioning in schools, it is required for the leaders to be much more selective in their approach. For the betterment of providing proper education facilities to students, it is necessary for the Principal and teachers to adopt best educational practices to rear children with proper education tools. The leaders in schools should focus on building interrelationship aspects, multi-agency leadership as well as collaborative working process. These practices are used in schools and are becoming very much apparent in modern day context for building proficiency in teaching aspects. These practices have enabled to transform and reengineer various practices as well as boundaries related to organisational, professional and cultural dimensions. It is recommended that with the adoption of authentic leadership dimension, it would be possible to maintain effective functioning of the school faced with certain critical crisis. Moreover, it would also facilitate the new Principal to achieve the desired change management objectives more lucidly and conveniently. Though authentic education, it would be possible for the Principal and teachers along with the administrative body to maintain quality improvement of teaching for children in the school. Authentic education can assist teachers in reflective teaching aspects as well as to maintain the quality and effectiveness of teaching. It also provides opportunities and strives for development of teamwork, which is essentially required in order to gather greater momentum and sustain quality education to students in school. For better efficiency regarding education in the school, collaborative framework is essentially required from every personnel in the administrative body of school along with Principal, who is officially the head of the institution and thus needs to control the activities effectively with the assistance of other staffs in the school. Principals and teachers are required to understand the idea and the situation and work accordingly (Hernaandez & Goodson, 2004). Moreover, it can be stated that it is the responsibility of the new Principal as the head of the institution, to recruit talented teachers in schools, who are capable enough to perform according to the environment by understanding the students. They should be capable enough to provide ample opportunities of teaching and learning through innovativeness, effective participation along with the involvement of parents for taking care of children towards their education. Effective participation and collaboration from every member would enhance the morale of the staffs as well as students and would help in building greater cooperation for maintaining sustainable development of the school (SEDL, 2013). Conclusion From the above observations, it can be comprehended that education is very much important in the modern day context. The system of education comprises classroom, layout of the school as well as various curriculum organised by the administration of the school. It can also be stated that leadership in education plays a significant role in maintaining the effective functioning of schools along with providing quality education to students. The leadership qualities in educational sector are utilised in order to attract talented teachers and make formulation of programs in education. Moreover, through the assessment of an educational setting it has been recognised that the Principal plays a crucial role in directing the activities of the school in the right path. However, certain misdemeanour of the Principal can hamper the entire collaborative activates of the school. Therefore, such critical scenarios need to be tactfully addressed by the new Principal through the incorporation of collaboration, cooperation and teamwork amid every member in the school authority (Australian Catholic University, 1999). The Principal needs to take the responsibility of the activities performed in school and provide quality education to students through effective teaching and learning process. Moreover, with authentic education it is possible to develop the system of education along with maintaining innovative teaching dimensions helping in sustaining in the environment. References Australian Catholic University. (1999). Shaping School Culture. Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers, pp. 23- 30. Ballantine, J. H. & Spade, J. Z. (2008). Schools and society: a sociological approach to education. United States: Pine Forge Press. Bennett, N. Crawford, M. & Riches, C. (1992). Managing change in education: individual and organizational perspectives. United States: Sage. Cranston, N. Ehrich, L. & Morton, L. (2013). Current Issues in educational leadership. Australian Catholic University, 29(2), pp. 10-13. Crowther, F, Kaggan, S.S. Ferguson, M. & Haan, L. (2002). Developing teacher’s leaders. 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