Researching Educational Leadership - Assignment Example

? Q1 Leadership in education is a collaborative process. It is often necessary to explore this interconnection by training teachers to themselves become leaders. In fact teaching in and of itself does to an extent necessitate a leadership role simply by definition. Leadership in general, including the classic role of the classroom teacher requires the exploration of the interconnectedness between emotional, moral, and social domains in the educational process. The teacher/leader must cultivate supportive relationships with other qualified professionals, and seek a corporate culture of constructive dialogue within the department, with other teaching professionals, as well as strengthening supportive ties with the community at large. The Falk article draws data from a dozen vocational education programs and training sites throughout Australia. The facilities are known as vocational education and training sites. (VET) the accumulated data is derived from a series of 44 written surveys including interview responses. Five focus groups were also included from the various facilities around Australia, resulting in a total of 64 respondents to the questionnaires. In essence the data paints a picture of a four stage cyclical process, a process of leadership interventions which is characteristic of greater effectiveness. The cyclical process culminates with a leadership style that is enabling for the teacher leader and of the achievements of professional associates. Every individual, including teaching professionals possess their own unique traits, strengths, and personal aptitudes. Among these personal abilities natural leadership qualities can and will emerge in virtually any professional setting. The Falk study identifies the necessary role of these individual capabilities, and their contribution to the classroom setting. But it also illustrates a higher-level process of leadership that exists within the organization and which is defined by the cyclical process of the leadership intervention cycle. The key issues involved in this particular study hinge upon a question of whether or not the organization will have better overall direction with many individuals that display leadership qualities, or whether a single over all leader/administrator has more of an influence upon the success of the organization. The collective skills of individual teachers according to the study, are not sufficient to explain the overall culture of enabling leadership. A healthy organization, in which leadership principles are nurtured and developed will accrue a form of social capital, this can be instrumental in easing management burdens as well as facilitating diplomacy within the organization. Within a school district, as with other hierarchies often there can be tensions between the demands for efficient leadership as it pertains to risk management, as well as the necessary drive towards innovation, as it pertains to superior efficiency, and the vigorous fulfillment of the organization's mission statement. Thus, an over arching mediator becomes the crucial link in the chain that connects the resources of leadership as they exist on the individual level, amongst teachers themselves. Within the healthy organization this is required to achieve a synergistic effect that provides leadership, and improves the quality of lower – tiered leadership for the institution. This of course, raises questions about the potential of leadership training. Additional professional development to facilitate training of the institution as a whole in some cases can provide more effective leadership for the organization from a top-down perspective, as well as strengthening leadership potential amongst individuals within the organization. The benchmark establishment of professional goals for the school or institution can assist in this process. Q2 Many researchers in this field will cite a community of inquiry model, as core to their theoretical framework (COI). This model comes in many shapes and sizes, with a considerable breadth of information therein. The methodology commonly employed in the exploration of educational leadership programs, is primarily a data-based one. The conceptual framework depends upon surveys, and questionnaire responses. The Beattie study also emphasizes the online factor towards the development of a comprehensive, and cohesive educational community. The data derived isn't collated into a theoretical architecture demonstrating for cycle's, in which leadership capabilities and efficiencies within the organization progress. The framework explores whether or not the individual contributions of educators are the most critical determining factor in the organization's success, as it pertains to the effectiveness, and efficiency of leadership. In addition, how much and to what extent the head of the organization is responsible for the success of that organization, and the value of leadership skills with in that organization, both in terms of operational efficiency and group cohesion amongst the professionals. Teacher leadership pertains to more than just the classroom, but its presence and implementation are also important amongst other teachers, within the organization as a whole. Any school district as well as any other professional organization must deal with additional factors above and beyond the most direct implementation of their stated purpose. There are exist interpersonal issues, questions of funding and budget, relationships with management as well as with other teachers. Beattie's model in particular, is an alternative model of school leadership that functions in accordance with a distributed leadership model. This framework recognizes that, by virtue of being a teacher leadership functions are inevitable and that teachers will exhibit these qualities and will exercise it leadership functions, not only in the classroom but in a variety of other professional venues. Because many employees with in the school, and the district at large will perform leadership functions, there is a valid assumption within the studies that these are leadership resources must be harnessed. Leadership skills must be directed, focused, and efficiently tasked in other ways that will benefit the operational efficiency of the larger district, as it pertains to the present objectives of the administration. It then stands to reason that by making the most of these resources possessed by teachers themselves the administration will have greater operational smoothness as it conducts all of its business, not simply the most direct fulfillment of its mission to provide for the educational fulfillment of the students. Investigators seeking to improve upon school efficiency both amongst teachers, and for the purpose of student education, should study the implementation of support structures as an aid for the utilization of the necessary skill sets in terms of managerial potential exhibited by the teachers themselves, or were ever such skill sets occur within the adult professionals of the school district. There is interest amongst investigators in leadership skill-sets amongst teachers; as it is rightfully assumed that this leadership potential can serve to establish policy for the practice of education as a trade on into the future. It is in the interest of districts and scholars of the practice of education to develop further theoretical frameworks to elucidate the process by which educators form communal bonds within the school itself and the district at large. Beattie also remarks that an important hallmark of the educational community, is the feeling of interconnectedness between individuals in that community the extent to which they feel invested therein. Also vital to the framework employed to improve upon educational practice as a profession, it is important to include educational action research. This might be thought of almost as a sort of professional development, not for the individual teacher but for the actual teaching profession in a global sense. The theoretical goals of this practice revolve around reflection and inquiry, and to improve actual operational performance; to streamline the working environment of the school setting. Studies of this sort are also invaluable for the purpose of addressing social problems, as they may occur amongst and between teaching professionals. Beattie's framework also explores the dynamics and challenges of the teacher-student interrelationship. This relationship can be described as a holistic experience. This relationship is always relevant, by definition to the educational experience, but in an age of increasing class sizes, in addition to additional performance pressures, models of this sort become especially noteworthy to the modern educator. By necessity, leadership in this capacity - that of the classroom itself is core to the motivation that leads researchers to study, and to develop models for educational leadership. The Falk to study itself has a clear methodology. It is statistic dependent, and dependent on the questionnaire data. This allows a theoretical clarity, and more deterministic results, lacking the ambiguity that sometimes accompanies research into the social sciences. It incorporates the profiles and the attributes of different leaders, as they pertain to the overall issue of educational leadership. The profiles are then examined in the light of the cyclical process of the leadership interventions cycle. This is the manner by which the efficiency of educational leadership is analyzed for the purposes of this study. The four stages of the leadership interventions cycle are as follows: the trigger stage, the initiating stage, development stage, and the sustainability/management stage. Where leadership is at its most efficient, there is found to be an interrelationship between the internal machinations of the institution, as it pertains to the means by which professional employees relate to one another, and how this connects with the operational practice of student education. An important dimension of the process is of course, how the institution relates to the community as a whole, the extent to which the professionals are able to ensconce themselves within a niche of the community. The Falk article also provides us with a snapshot of the current status of the educational trade, and certain of the frustrations experienced and elucidated by long-term educators. Describing the challenges encountered by professionals as they attempt to adapt to the needs of continuous professional development, in addition to changing standards within the industry as a whole. Q3 On the whole the Falk article has the benefits of additional statistical rigor, as a result of its comprehensive survey program incorporating the aforementioned 44 written surveys including the responses of the 64 respondents, throughout Australia. While the Beattie article grapples with more of a holistic, inclusive approach that relies less upon hard numbers and factual exactitude. Both articles do provide a valid insights that are helpful in the workplace as an educator. There will always be times in which the raw numbers will fail to provide the entire story, it is crucial to cultivate a comprehensive analysis to put raw facts and raw data into the proper context in which they may prove useful. At the same time, wise sayings and pearls of wisdom can only take the professional so far; in a competitive world, and an environment where school districts are under ongoing pressure to improve raw statistics will always be essential as a means of providing supporting evidence, for the evaluation of these aforementioned 'pearls of wisdom'. Both lines of reasoning are essential to generate new ideas that lead to realistic innovation, and the ability to evaluate whether such innovations will prove worthwhile in the long run. The two articles overlap within these two dimensions in a way that strengthens them both. Falk nonetheless contains well-thought recommendations. Effective leadership in any professional organization, in addition to the school system - will depend upon the efficiency by which those who exhibit leadership potential operate across a wide range of functional requirements. This includes their understanding of and ability to operate as functionaries within the organization based on the demands and limitations of their position within the overall hierarchy. And of course, success is determined by the execution of those leadership responsibilities of which they are responsible, which being teachers will nonetheless prove daunting to the unprepared. The organization's position within the community has also been discussed, and on the level of the individual teacher the extent to which they reflect the values of the community also plays an important influence in their leadership potential, both in relating to the students themselves, in addition to colleagues among the faculty. Beattie also has a list of recommendations that summarize the challenges of educational leadership, a series of themes: The development of an authentic identity as a teacher. The facilitation of dialogue and shared responsibility. A culture of collaboration and ongoing learning from other professionals. In essence, Beattie's article is another endorsement of the need for professional development, and it has long been the policy of school districts around the world to mandate this sort of ongoing improvement. This study adds fuel to the fire by the insistence that the ongoing learning encompass not simply the practice of pedagogy, but interdepartmental dynamics between other teachers in the interest of leadership; and the improvement of, and further development of various facets of the teacher's relationships, both with the students and with other education colleagues. Towards the goal of easier implementation of managerial strategies from the upper hierarchy of the district; with an eye turned towards the goal of greater involvement in the community. While no one would doubt the importance of ongoing studies undertaken by teachers to improve their craft; continuous discussion of the need for teacher improvement is less likely to add substantive ideas to the body of knowledge without some sort of watershed finding. Teachers could always learn more become better, undertake more and additional training. Yet teachers are, and must remain educators. Thus a balance must be sought between taking teachers out of the classroom to improve their pedagogy and the actual instruction of students themselves. Further initiatives to add to a teacher's educational burden in some cases may create acrimony with the community, to the extent that it detracts from actual classroom instruction supported by the taxpayer's money. The word is already out concerning professional development, and the need for teachers to become leaders. Dramatic changes to the training of teachers are likely to produce diminishing returns without transformative shifts in knowledge. Beattie's article is a solid piece of scholarship, but it is not truly revolutionary. Overall, in terms of which article is the more useful, and which approach proves the most professionally relevant; the Falk article appears more advantageous. It is easy for anyone to make recommendations that sound good, and seem reasonable. But unambiguous verification or falsification of any theoretical models in a social science is a tenuous business at best. How can one definitively 'prove' Freud over Jung for instance? Rigorous statistical support – while not always useful without appropriate context, scientists should always seek to include numerical data wherever it is applicable; anyone can offer seemingly helpful advice; but hard facts backed by statistics are needed for a complete picture; and Falk does more than Beattie. Falk's article may not prove to be transformative either, but educators and investigators throughout the social sciences, should seek to make an extra effort towards experimental rigor and integrity. But Falk in addition, has reasoned explanations to support his statistics and provides an outline for the four phases of his cyclical leadership improvement/intervention process. Both these articles are relevant and valid, as a means to provide a higher order of improvement in the practice of pedagogy, and the implementation of administrative protocols, and this efficiency is valuable in the changing times with high competitiveness and uncertainty. But as Falk describes, a period of relative turmoil and uncertainty is equally likely to become an era of opportunity; an opportunity to progress towards a new plateau as educators, teacher/leaders, as well as members of the community at large. Read More