RUNNING HEAD: PERSONAL LEADERHIP PHILOSOPHY
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Personal Leadership Philosophy
Amber Ritter
Liberty University
EDUC 741-D07
Dr. McGann
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Abstract
Educational leadership is one of the most researched topics in education. School leaders
can make or break a school. Under great leadership schools can flourish and see great
improvement. Under not so great leadership we see schools falter. Teachers and students and all
other stakeholders are happier under great leadership we often see less turnover and more
effective teaching under a good leader (Southworth, 2017). Developing your own philosophy on
great leadership is important learning and a taking in what to do and what not to do from
experiences. Focusing on the six areas; instructional, transformational, moral, participative,
contingency (Southworth, 2017) and creating a delicate balance is the easiest way to have a
successful school.
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Personal Leadership Philosophy
Leadership can make or break a school. Leaders are at the head of the ship and often get
the blowback if something goes wrong and they often get the praise when things go right. In a
school there are what is called formal leaders which include your principals and assistant
principals and then the grade level chairs (Southworth, 2017). Then there are informal leaders in
a school. People whose influence comes from their knowledge or skills that they have
(Southworth, 2017). Most research focuses on the formal leaders in a school most importantly
the principal (Southworth, 2017). Leadership should not be attached to a role and should be
viewed as progression of ideas (Southworth, 2017). When a school comes together as the
forward progression of ideas under one leader the school flourishes. Leadership of a school
involves six areas; instructional, transformational, moral, participative, contingency (Southworth,
2017). Leadership in nutshell is how a leader combines these six areas and balances them
accordingly (Southworth, 2017). Leadership in any organization especially education is a
delicate balance and when one area slips the school could falter.
Philosophy of Educational Leadership
Leadership is the number one factor in improving school effectiveness (Southworth,
2017). Leaders make that difference and effective leaders improve schools in the long run
(Southworth, 2017). Under a good leader a school flourishes and the students flourish. Teachers
often also flourish under good leadership. Classroom teaching begins to improve under good
leadership (Southworth, 2017). When all other aspects of school begin to improve the students,
their parents, the school board members all become affected in a good way. Transformational
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leadership theory was originally developed and focused on political leaders and business leaders
(Berkovich, 2016). Transformational leaders tend to focus on getting their workers to commit to
a shared vision and work together to get that shared vision to come together (Berkovich, 2016).
Having teachers and students and all other stakeholders buy into the shared vision of the school
only allows the school to improve if the shared vision is one that is focused on the right things. A
shared vision focused on school improvement and the students is one that will end up leading the
school in the right direction. Creating a shared vision that is well balanced and focused on the six
areas mentioned above leads to a happier staff which in turn leads to improved school
performance which should be the main goal for any school leaders (Southworth, 2017).
Leadership Practice
A good leader at the head of the table has their values and examples trickle down and
then the other formal leaders of a school follow suite. Leading by example is the easiest way to
ensure that a school is on the right track. Kouzes and Posner (2017), mention in order to lead by
example a leader must live the shared values of the organization and a leader must not only
model the values themselves but must teach other to model the values.
A good leader combines the six areas mentioned above; instructional leadership which
focuses on the school and the school’s main purpose which is teaching, learning, and student
achievement (Southworth, 2017), transformational which focuses on improving performance and
leading the change (Southworth, 2017), moral which focuses on the values and vision of
organization (Southworth, 2017), managerial which focuses on making sure tasks and behaviors
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are designated (Southworth, 2017), contingency which focuses on how leaders respond to
challenges that are presented to the organization (Southworth, 2017).
Relationships
The role of an administrator in a school is simple, lead by example and focus on the
values mentioned in the shared vision of school. As stated, earlier school performance increases
under effective leadership (Southworth, 2017). The easiest way to tell if a school has effective
leadership is to look the school has a whole and look at improvement (Southworth, 2017). The
role of faculty members is to follow the administrators lead and focus on the shared vision of the
school. These two cross because a leader must set the example to be followed, a leader must also
be seen and heard in the school. Teachers flourish in an environment where they can see their
leader everyday when they feel that their leader supports them and works with them (James,
Crawford, & Oplatka, 2018). The other relationships that impact school leadership are the
relationships with the parents, school board members, and the superintendent. As along as all the
relationships flow and work together the school will flourish.
Diversity
All factors of diversity impact leadership. Schools are most of the time very diverse and a
leader needs to be able to handle all the things that come with working in a diverse environment.
Diversity can shape the decisions that are made day to day. In order to be a good leader, you
must know your environment and the factors that affect your environment. Schools succeed
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when school leaders work with their environment and the other stakeholders involved.
(Southworth, 2017).
Conclusion
Leadership of a school involves the six areas mentioned above; instructional,
transformational, moral, participative, contingency (Southworth, 2017). When a leader of a
school focuses on every aspect and uses these areas to create a shared vision schools improve.
School leadership as mentioned above is the leading factor in improving school performance
(Southworth, 2017). Each aspect carries its own weight and when the delicate balance is created
between the six a philosophy of educational leadership is born.
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References
Berkovich, I. (2016). School leaders and transformational leadership theory: Time to part ways?
Journal of Educational Administration, 54(5), 609-622. doi:10.1108/jea-11-2015-0100
James, C., Crawford, M., & Oplatka, I. (2018). An affective paradigm for educational leadership
theory and practice: Connecting affect, actions, power and influence. International
Journal of Leadership in Education, 1-12. doi:10.1080/13603124.2018.1481536
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The Leadership challenge. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Southworth, G. (Ed.). (2017). Educational leadership. Retrieved November 25, 2018, from
https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/Images/271192-educational-leadership.pdf
