Principles and Ethics for Educational Leaders
EDUC 740
Dr. Araceli Montoya
Liberty University
Jorge Osorio Rodriguez
R : PRINCIPLES AND ETHICS FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERS
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Abstract
Leadership, effective leadership, comes down to one principle; do what is right, and
morally correct. The Bible says in Matthew 7:12(New International Version):”So in everything,
do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums the Law and the Prophets.” In
Educational Leadership, the role of the educational leader is to represent, guide, and demonstrate
the standard expected from all the role players in an institution. The educational leader must be
held accountable to highest standards of conduct so he could represent the ethical foundation of
the organization lead. However, it is not difficult to learn about day to day ethical failures in
educational institutions. The news constantly shows students not having equal access to
education, not receiving the educational services needed, or that are even victims of
discrimination. Today’s society has an enormous need to instill the educational values of
equality, dignity, quality, and fair education for all. This paper compiles essential values studied
during the course of this class. The headings included are: The Educational Leader Seeks God’s
Wisdom, Educational Leaders Serve, Leaders Practice Equality, and Educational Leaders
Recognize Career Pitfalls. The goal was not only to capture essential practices for educational
leaders, but to provide also an instrument to guide futures leaders.
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The Educational Leader Seeks God’s Wisdom
As mentioned in the class presentation from Proverbs 1-3; Christian leaders understand
the importance to put God first in every aspect of their personal life. As shown in the
presentation, educational leaders need to be connected to God at all times. God has always been
there before, and He has a plan already lined up. Even though there might be uncertain times,
that is part of the process to strengthen the leader’s faith. According to Blackaby and Blackaby
(2011), spiritual leadership is moving people is God’s agenda. The educational leader is an
instrument of God to lead and mentor other people into His will. For that, educational leader
must be capable to influence, and motivate people. The only reason for people to follow a leader,
is when that person captures their attention because of his virtues, and he or she represent a role
model to follow.
During the entire class, the importance of wisdom for educational leaders is covered.
Throughout week one, the two presentations assigned about Proverbs 1-3, and 4-6 discussed
Biblical principles related to ethics and leadership. Particularly, the information presented
provides wisdom principles from the human nature stand point. The readings selected were
mainly from the book of Proverbs wrote by Solomon. Those readings provide a realistic view of
wisdom related to the actual human experience.
As far as the application of leadership principles, it is crucial to understand that hard
work is unavoidable when trying to be a leader. The slide seven found in the Proverbs 4-6
presentation form the first says; “Christian leaders are not lazy.” There is no secret ingredient, for
educational leaders to be effective is it essential to be the first in the line, the one that goes
through first, and the one that leads from the front. In order to have the wisdom, the strength,
and the motivation to lead, educational leaders must be connected to God. The Christian
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educational leader has to seek strength from God, and to pray for his blessing throughout his
career in education. As discussed during the second week, Jesus said in Matthew 22: 37-40
(NIV): “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor
as yourself. All the Las and the Prophets hand on these two commandments.” Essentially, that is
hard work, is a constant initiative to help others, and to serve. For that, educational leaders must
be prepared to spend efforts, time, and even experience frustrations. Further, Salomon says in
Proverbs 10:10 (NIV); “If an iron axhead is blunt and a workman does not sharpen its edge, he
must exert a great deal of effort; so wisdom has the advantage of giving success.” The
educational leader has to constantly sharpen his skills through God’s wisdom, and be conscious
that hard work will be business as usual.
During week three, the course taught that the Bible is the foundation for the Christian.
According to the presentation “What is Christian Ethics?” the foundation of the Christian leader
is the Bible, therefore God’s word. For that reason, the educational leader must adhere to beliefs
that are founded in the scriptures. During day to day duties, the educational leader has to stay in
connection with God’s principles, and find ways to apply God’s doctrine. As the Bible says in
Genesis 1:27; “God created man in His own image of God He created him: male and female He
created them.” The Bible provides the essential principles for the educational to apply with the
school staff, parents, students, and the overall personnel. However, it is important to
communicate with God. When discussing Spiritual Leadership, Blackaby and Blackaby (2011)
mentions that leaders must pray. The author of Spiritual Leadership explains that is “suicidal” to
try to be a leader without faith. God’s faith is vital to be effective as educational leaders. God has
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the ability to see the future, He knows everything. Even though praying can be exhausting, it can
be the most rewarding thing leaders do, says Blackaby & Blackaby.
The Bible says in Mathew 7:7 (NIV); “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will
find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” The educational leader has to be conscious
about how much better is to make Him part of the day to day duties. It is through faith, and
believing in God’s power that effective educational leadership takes place. In addition, the
educational leader wouldn’t ever be able to understand how many resources God has. It is only
through constant communication with God where amazing things can happen, and where the
educational leader can be surprised about how much more he or she can accomplish by allowing
God to be part of his life. As shown in Proverbs 17-19 presentation (week three), the Christian
leader need to have strong roots in the things of God. For the Christian Educational Leader, God
is the foundation and the strength.
Educational Leaders Serve
The educational leader, even though he or she is a role model, needs an example to
follow. The overall goal of a leader is to influence others so they follow the same conduct
demonstrated. However, a leader also needs to learn from someone, and as Christian educational
leaders, Jesus has to be the role model to follow. In John 13:34 (NIV) says: “A new command I
give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” A leader has to
be conscious about the aspirations, goals, and needs of the others; we all want the same things.
As people, we all want the best for our families, we all want to attain goals, we all want
recognition, acceptance, progress, and to do perform well. As mentioned by Blackaby &
Blackaby (2011), one of the legitimate sources of influence is what leaders do. Serving is doing,
Educational Leaders need to practice serving as vital tool to influence others.
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In addition, the readings assigned during week two from the book of Spiritual Leadership
(Blackaby & Blackaby, 2011) says leaders serve. According to the author, serving is a legitimate
source of influence. The educational leader has to be willing to put himself in the position of the
employee, and to be capable to do the same task; that’s being humble. According to John 13:15-
17 (NIV), Jesus said: I assure you: A slave is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not
greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” A
good educational leader has to be a doer, has to serve, has to be capable of rolling the sleeves and
join the task assigned. For that, it is crucial for the leader to be genuinely concerned about the
human nature of all the employees. As mentioned before, we all have aspirations, needs,
concerns, and desires. The educational leader has to keep that concept in mind when require
others to do anything, or when demanding any labor. That would be is to practice servant
leadership, and fairness. As it is shown during week four in the Proverbs 20-22 presentation:
“Christian leaders are expected by the Lord to be just fair.”
In addition, Blackaby and Blackaby (2011) suggest that educational leaders are required
to know themselves. Rebore (2014), on the other hand, explains that a person’s attitudes,
dispositions, and powers are expressed in every action. In order to serve effectively, leaders need
to know what are they really concerned about, and what they truly care about. The authors
further explains that people are able to perceive if the instructions provided by the leader are
either genuine, or if he or she is just trying to manipulate. As educational leaders, it is important
to practice self-assessment, and identify those organizational objectives that really matters to us.
Nevertheless, in order to serve appropriately, the educational leader has to practice introspection
to analyze those objectives that may be are not fully understood, or don’t really find their
applicability. In Proverbs 14:8 (ESV) states; “The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his ways,
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but the folly of fool is deceiving.” The educational leader need to have a good sense of self-
knowledge, and to look inside himself to better understand his own, before trying to lead others.
The Proverbs 26-28 presentation from week four puts this principle together; “Christian leaders
look at themselves and are able to discern personal weaknesses.” To serve affectively, a good
educational leader will have the ability to look inside himself and find ways to better serve, and
to better understand. That, in essence, would be a vital habit for the educational leader.
Leaders Practice Equality
As explained by Dr. Beth Ackerman during the presentation about Equity and
Educational Leadership (week six), today’s curriculum can no longer takes in consideration one
single culture, it has to be diverse. Dr. Ackerman support the concept of “Differentiated
Instruction,” which essentially aims to consider different backgrounds when planning education
for students. The educational leader has to support an environment of equal learning opportunity
for all. This means, to understand that the contemporary classroom is no longer homogeneous,
today’s classroom is more diverse than it has ever been. In order to practice equality, the
curriculum has to foster open dialog, acceptance for the contributions of all students, and to
provide the same quality of learning experiences across the board.
To enforce, promote, and instill equal education, the educational leader has to stablish a
school vision, and mission that goes along with that principle. The effectiveness of a school
vision and mission that promotes educational equality, will depend on the involvement of the
school staff and key personnel. The educational leader needs to have the capability to influence,
and to encourage the school staff to foster an institutional climate of equality and respect. The
educators requires to ability to accept different student’s talents regardless of their ethnicity,
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gender, age, or background. The educational leader, has the responsibility to promote, and
nurture a school environment where all staff members become part of the learning goals.
As mentioned by Rebore (2014), the school staff has to understand that diversity and
pluralism requires people to engage in dialogue to seek understanding. Equality, he further
explains, does not requires compromising beliefs and commitments; it means to hold values in
relationship with the values of other cultures and not in isolation from them. Thus, in order to
achieve educational equality and an inclusive curriculum, the school vision has to set high
expectations that challenges all the student the same way. Blackaby and Blackaby (2011)
mentions that leaders need to encourage others to lead, and to work in collaboration. As a result,
the educational leader has to be mindful that acceptance, equality, and pluralism begins with the
school staff. The example has to start from the house, the educational leader need to have the
ability to create a climate of equality, dignity, and respect within the staff, so it expands to the
classroom.
Educational Leaders Recognize Career Pitfalls
It is so common to observe good leaders fall into self-destructive attitudes. The
educational leader must be mindful about the different paths leading to a failure. As presented
during week six in the discussion board about leader’s pitfalls, it is crucial for educational
leaders to stay focused about reflecting work ethics that are in line with Christian values, and that
also represent the organization’s code of conduct. As mentioned by various colleagues in forum
six (Module three), cynicism, and pride seemed to be the most common pitfalls noticed out there
in the field. According to Blackaby and Blackaby (2011), cynical leaders cultivate clones of
themselves. As a result, a cynical leader prevents others to reach their full potential only because
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that other person might me proposing a different concept, or another approach to manage the
same situation. The limitation most probably is, that leader does not believes he or she is cynic.
For that reason, educational leaders must be capable to recognize when leaning into
leadership pitfalls. Thus, Blackaby and Blackaby (2011) indicates that, in addition to cynicism,
there are many other pitfalls; pride, sexual sin, greed, mental laziness, oversensitivity, spiritual
lethargy, and domestic neglect among others. It is important for educational leaders to be capable
to identify career pitfalls. According to the Blackaby and Blackaby, a good practice from
educational leader is to cultivate open dialog with advisors, and supervisors. The intent is to have
open channels of communication so other people can make the approach and ask the “hard”
questions if they notice unethical behaviors.
Another pitfall mentioned during the class discussions, and that is well elaborated by
Blackaby and Blackaby (2011) is sexual sin. Sexual sin is the one pitfall capable to destroy not
only a professional career, but also a family, economical situation, reputation, friendships, and
much more. In every environment, regardless of the type of leader, a supervisor might have to
deal with that kind of situation. There are so many known stories about leaders destroyed
because a sexual harassment issue, an inappropriate relationship, or exposed misconduct. Today,
due to the wide range of access to the media, educational leaders are required to observe the
upmost ethical conduct. Any issue particularly involving a sexual sin is rapidly disseminated
throughout the media. For those reasons, today’s educational leaders need to enforce principles
of zero tolerance to sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, or gender discrimination. A strict
equal opportunity policy has the ability to deter inappropriate conducts among the staff, and the
school in general. For this or any other pitfall, educational leaders must always be conscious
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about the role model they are, and the devastating consequences that represents when a leader
falls into a leader’s pitfall.
Nevertheless, educational leaders are lifelong learners. The educational leader will have
a deep conviction and a constant hunger to learn and become better. The only constant variable in
education is change, educational leaders must never fall into the pitfall of mental laziness. As
mentioned by Blackaby and Blackaby (2011), good leaders never stop learning, and appreciate
the company of wise people to seek wisdom to expand their thinking. As mentioned in Proverbs
3:13-15 (ESV): “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for
the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more
precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.” Learning, and the search for wisdom is a lifelong process,
the educational leader need to be committed to continuously update their knowledge, and to stay
engaged into setting the example as a lifelong learner.
Finally, God is the upmost source of wisdom. Even though the education leader has to
recognize his ability to lead, is important not to fall into a stubborn mentality. As God is the
highest source of knowledge, educational leaders need to be capable to be humble and recognize
there is so much is unknown, and uncontrollable. When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but
with the humble is wisdom (Proverbs 11:2). God provides educational leaders the ability to learn,
understand, lead, and assess. However, day to day it is essential to acknowledge leadership is a
gift that comes with great responsibility. It is the educational leader’s responsibility to realize he
or she has a constant need to improve himself. The educational leader will always have a
common virtue; they are always improving themselves, and seeking for wisdom. Educational
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leaders work hand and hand with God, not doing so would be the biggest pitfall he or she would
fall into.
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References
Blackaby, H., & Blackaby, R. (2011). Spiritual leadership (Rev. ed.). Nashville, TN: Broadman
& Holman Pub.
Granello, D.H. (2000). Encouraging the Cognitive Development of Supervisees:
Using Bloom's Taxonomy in Supervision. Counselor Education & Supervision, 40(1), 31-
46.
Rebore, R. (2014). The ethics of educational leadership. (2 ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson, Inc.
Whitton, D. (2000). Revisions to Bloom’s Taxonomy. Primary Editors, 6(1), 16-26.
