How Leadership Affects Students Performance - Term Paper Example

Schools around the world have been tasked with the responsibility of preparing students to take over the future. They should ensure that learners get the best knowledge that will give them a competitive edge over the rest of the world. They are also expected to develop people of strong minds and character, who can be able to face any challenge with boldness and overcome it. The topic of how leadership affects students is one of the most widely discussed in the area of leadership, in relation to education. In the past, many people came out to say that leadership does not have any effect on the performance of students. However, as more research was done, it was discovered that there is a great link between leadership and the general performance of students. This paper sought to find out whether it was true that leadership had an impact on the actual performance of students. The research was conducted, by studying several secondary sources of information. This literature review hence takes an argumentative form, as it seeks to answer the question of how leadership affects the performance of students. It will go deep to discuss various forms of leadership like transformational leadership, distributed leadership, situational leadership, and even civil leadership. It will then relate these types of leadership with the situation that faces students in their leadership. It will also apply these leadership techniques in a school situation, in an attempt to explain how they can affect the performance of a student.

Literature Review
This section will conduct a deep literature review into the area of leadership and the actual performance of students. Several secondary sources will be analyzed and reviewed, before making a conclusion based on the same. Varied forms of leadership styles will be discussed in relation to how they can affect a class.

• Transformational Leadership

Have you ever been under the influence of a person who has a clear vision of what he wants to be done? This is someone who has very good knowledge of whatever is happening and wants to see it done in a specific way. He will tell you how he wants it done and will take a lot of control of the situation until the target goals are achieved. He inspires other members of the group and helps them get charged for the task ahead. This is a transformational leader.

Transformational leadership is a technique of leading through inspiring your followers and making them develop a great passion for the tasks facing them. The leader understands what he wants, and makes the rest of the members get the same vision. He also prepares them psychologically. He will help each member of the group understand the set goals, and push them to achieve them. He will be involved in every activity of the group until the desired goals are achieved. In a school, a transformational class leader will prepare a vision for students. He will let the whole class understand the mission and vision that he has and will inspire all of them to take up the challenge of meeting these goals. He will want to ensure that the class is fully involved in the process that will lead them to success. The leader will create a spirit of togetherness and teamwork. He will not allow any student to be left behind, but will always work towards moving to the next step with everyone. He will remember to motivate the class after every challenge so that they can be psyched up for the next step.