Theories on educational leadership
The first article is by Howard Stevenson (2007) who focused on concerns of school principals amid continuing changes and innovations in the age of globalization. Principals feel the pressure and the changes which contrast their “professional educational values,” and they gain no support or aid from institutions they are serving.
This situation creates a dearth in principal supply, as many of them seek early retirement while the number of those who want to replace them has been reduced considerably. Despite the challenges and demands, principals have to update their educational leadership knowledge and must have a clear understanding of leadership values in education and morality, with a sure focus on leadership guided by beliefs.
Moral purpose does not just produce effective leadership but sustainable, effective leadership. Most parents and teachers expect much from their principals, for example, in expressing their plans and vision for the learning institution they were heading (Dempster & Logan as cited in Bush, 2011, p. 7).
Values-enhanced leadership questions school leaders’ knowledge to develop policies and programs in their schools that provide knowledge on social justice that also challenges social injustice. Stevenson (2007) addresses two issues: 1) how principals or school leaders provide importance and “operationalize” social justice in their institutions, and 2) how leaders promote social justice.
The second aim seeks to touch on aspects of national policy agendas and how these help school leaders in their dealings with a multi-ethnic population in schools.
In simple terms, the paper aimed to address the issue that when school leaders have the opportunity to promote social justice, do they also have the space to do it? The paper touches on important factors of race and ethnicity in English schools, issues which have been regarded as “difficult and problematic within English schools” (Swann, 1985, as cited in Stevenson, 2007, p. 770).
Traditionally, the academic community has long recognized the significance of moral purpose in educational leadership. Yet, the significant milestone is that there is a new thrust, or “re-assertion”, of the moral purpose of leadership at a time when new policies, which have been described as neo-liberal, seemed to have divested the school leader’s key role in education and reduced him/her to being a “crude” manager (Thrupp & Willmott, 2003, as cited in Stevenson, 2007, p. 770).
In the study by Day et al. (2000, as cited in Stevenson, 2007), those kinds of leaders were expert at taking hold of opportunities and aligning these with the objectives of the school.
This finding is supported by other researchers (Gold et al., 2003; Moore et al., 2002, as cited in Stevenson, 2007) who asserted that effective school leaders knew how to provide a level playing field in which personal and professional values could be maintained at the same time. But the pessimists in this theory argued that State power had been strengthened where school leaders do not anymore have space to exercise autonomy.
A second article is by Esther Sui-chu Ho (2009), which touches on the role of parents in the education of their children. In many parts of Europe and the United States, parents have been participating in the education of their children. This is true in many parts of the world, but in Asia, parents only want to get involved in children’s education at home (Ho, 2009, p. 102).
There were studies, however showing that school administrators and teachers were not amenable to having parents actively involved in children’s education. Parental involvement has several meanings, for it is not clear to what extent parents can get involved in the education of their children.
Most parents in Hong Kong would like to have active involvement and devote much of their time to school activities for their children. The extent of parents’ involvement would depend on school practices; meaning, principals, can motivate parents to actively participate in their children’s schooling.
Ho (2009) used Bourdieu’s theory of the social world which was described as a space with many dimensions and with crisscrossing factors composed of social institutions, and institutional forms are created like the family, hospital, school, etc. It is in this arena of overlapping concepts that people interact and stress themselves as a social animal.
How people interact is determined by what Bourdieu called habitus, which refers to the individual capital each human has, and the talent to deal with others on a particular field. Habitus is a system of moods or inclinations acquired through experience with social institutions and the environment around (Bourdieu, 1977 as cited in Ho, 2007, p. 103). It also refers to a principle influencing practices as defined by the situation or the environment.
It has often been said that education begins at home, and the home environment has a great influence on the child’s upbringing. Before a child is brought to the social world to acquire more experience, the child must first be strengthened by the social and moral values at home.
The home, with the presence of parents, siblings, and other people living in that home, is the first social influence the child acquires. In school, the principal and the teachers bring more influence. The school leaders influence what the child learned at home. Therefore the school environment and the home environment should be collaborative in bringing the child to that educational pedestal.
The third article by Bellmore, Nishina, You, and Ma (2011) talked about cultural diversity in schools. Cultural diversity provides distinct ethnic experience for youth but also presents problems about ethnic discrimination. In this article, the authors described how a sample of 1,072 high school students of different ethnic groups was affected by discrimination. The study involved a mix of ethnic groups, such as Latino, African American, Asian, and a minority of white students.
The study provided a detailed literature review of ethnic diversity across the United States. Youth experience “peer ethnic discrimination” when, as members of an ethnic group, they receive verbal or physical harassment from peers resulting in a negative experience that affects psychological health and academic performance of adolescents. This negative experience also results in lower self-esteem and depression among youth (Brody et al., as cited in Bellmore et al., 2011, p. 98).
Peer ethnic discrimination may result when there is strong hierarchical grouping in the school, and the youth feel a low peer status. As individuals strive for ethnic identities, negative connotations, or messages can become harmful.
In the study, both boys and girls reported peer discrimination, and Asian students had the highest level of peer discrimination. Peer discrimination was associated with psychological and academic problems of students, but students’ perceptions could change depending on their school experiences. Extra-curricular activities can help in ethnic-climate perceptions. School factors and community factors could also help in changing students’ perceptions.
Ethnic diversity in schools could provide opportunities for students to develop their relationships with other people but could also negatively affect them when they were subjected to peer discrimination.
Peer ethnic discrimination was more prevalent when there were only a few ethnic groups, or when one ethnic group was more powerful than the others in terms of number. It was also emphasized in this study that school context, with the guidance of principals and teachers, can modify the negative effect of peer discrimination and that this can also change over time.
The fourth peer-reviewed article was authored by William Place and Jane Clark Lindle (2006) who drew several theories about educational leadership’s key role in society and the educational institution. The authors differentiate the norms between scholars and practitioners in educational leadership. Professors now value the role of ideas and knowledge. Educational leadership studies should take an active critical perspective role. This article differentiates theory and practice.
Practitioners of educational leadership battle the daily challenges from their constituents and other stakeholders or non-stakeholders of their profession, for example, parents, politicians, students, teachers, and so on. Educational leadership provides a level playing field for scholars and practitioners to unite and help each other in knowledge creation.
In the university setting, professors were more concerned of salary and working conditions rather than the “pressure to publish,” or that the pressure for work was only related with the professor’s intent to remain in his/her job. The authors noted the conflict between administrators and professors but also recommended that education can bridge the gap between practitioners and scholars.
There should be a balance between theory and practice of administration. Practice, in this sense, includes administration and theory is for professors. Professors are in charge of research that can be included in the program for administration. In short, theory and practice should go together and must not part from each other. Educational leadership needs these two for its effective implementation.
Daniel McCollum and Lawrence Kajs’ (2007) article examine the importance of goal orientation in the field of educational leadership. The authors focused on graduate students who were candidates for “principalship” and were taking up courses to earn a certification for their qualification. These graduate students needed the motivation to be able to effectively practice educational leadership.
Goal orientation refers to student beliefs specific to their aims as principals, making goals very important to their practice. Goal orientations answer the question “why” in the activities of students, and this particular case, the graduate students.
Ames (1992, as cited in McCollum & Kajs, 2007, p. 46) provides a background of mastery goal orientation as the aspiration of a student to acquire the capability and enhance education using arduous learning. Mastery goal orientation can also be interchanged with the term “learning goal orientation.”
Students who want to master their field of knowledge put more innate importance of learning and are more inclined to develop techniques of learning with the use of a lot of information, for example using many examples of ideas. Considered mastery-oriented are those who accept challenging activities and devote more time to such activities.
On the other hand, considered performance-oriented are students who want to outperform others, and this creates a negative effect on them because they do not appreciate much the importance of learning (Butler, 1987, as cited in McCollum & Kajs, 2007, p. 47).
McCollum and Kajs (2007) found that motivational theory becomes a necessity of those studying and aspiring to be principals. Graduate students who are preparing to become leaders take efforts in mastering knowledge.
Conflict theories of leadership
Theory on realistic groups
Conflict theory is about two groups of individuals who fight for a certain goal or motive. One of these theories was formulated by Carolyn and Musafir Sherif (Goldstein, 1994) who experimented on two groups of boys. The participants were not informed about the purpose and goal of the experiment. Later, the two groups competed against each other and displayed a certain behavior that increased tension and rivalry.
The question of how this theory guides practice can be answered by the way it guided the experiment. The experimenters hypothesized that the boys, who were separated from each other but shared the same facilities, would later on compete and the situation resulted in a fight with insults and hostilities committed each other.
The two groups were cohesive toward their group but hostile against the other group even if the members of the opposite group were their former friends. The experimenters were guided by their theory and predicted what would happen as they practiced their theory through the participants.
The social conflict
Relationship between labor and capitalist is guided by this theory. Conflicts can be avoided using this theory. The conflict arises between two different individuals with different motives, the worker and the owner of production or capitalist. The worker exists because of the meager salary he receives from the capitalist who is only after profit.
The capitalist is the moneyed class (the bourgeoisie) while the worker is the member of what Karl Marx termed as the proletariat. Conflict is always a part of these two types of people. Until now, harmony in labor is impossible to achieve, though there might be a temporary period of peace. There will always come a time that they are opposed to each other. (Sociology guide: conflict theories, 2010)
Human needs theory
One of the most common causes of conflict is a human need. Wars and smaller conflicts are caused by human needs that are not provided. Quest for human needs influence people’s behaviors and actions. If basic needs are met, people avoid conflict and pursue other needs in the pyramid theory of needs.
Conflict theories applicable to educational leadership
The theory of social conflict applies to the theory of the principal and the administrator. While the principal is concerned with the values as part of education, the administrator is concerned with management. The social conflict is about the worker and the capitalist here likened to the administrator and the principal.
Application of relevant theory
The study of Day et al. (2000, as cited in Stevenson, 2007) of schools with a diverse cultural population of students supported some previous works on the key feature of leadership in which the school principal is “clearly a pivotal individual in shaping the organizational culture” (Stevenson, p. 774).
Principals can provide a policy framework that links values with the policy of the school. In the study, the researchers found that the principals in the respondent schools were able to form out of institutional policies personal and institutional values. This concept links with moral responsibility.
Vasillopulos and Denney’s (2013) article touches on the moral responsibility of educational leaders and links this with Barnard’s theory of executive leadership wherein the school leader, or the principal can be effective in dealing with the problems of the school. In the practice of educational leadership, the principal must have a deep understanding of leadership.
Gomba (2012, as cited in Vasillopulos and Denney, 2013) made mention the concept of servant leadership, which is referring to Jesus. If principals then have the sacrifice the way Jesus had for his people, then schools will have an effective leader, and there will be a great transformation in that institution.
In her many years of teaching, Waddock (2010) applied her understanding of wisdom by way of moral imagination, understanding, and aesthetic sensibility. By attaining wisdom, a principal can expertly “see” and can diagnose systems, and see moral and responsibility implications.
School leaders must be strong in formulating their policies and values because of the existence of the business side of the educational institution they are working with. The whole subject is about “morals” and “markets,” which can be contradictory most of the time. Principals have to distinguish their policies, whether these are for the promotion of values or the business side of the institution.
In finding aesthetic experience into her long years of practice, Harris (2008) taught administrative studies by adding music to her teaching. In teaching several disciplines, a teacher must also feel the soul and the imaginations of her students. Outside the classroom, students have multidimensional lives that need to be explored by the teacher.
Harris added aesthetic presentation in her teaching, and the result was a different kind of bonding with her students who came from different ethnic backgrounds. The values-driven leader knows how to deal with the challenges of an external policy environment and relate it with the values and vision of the school.
Racism is a major challenge in America, especially in the school context. For principals and school administrators, this is a headache. Young African Americans who experience discrimination exhibit deviant character traits, violence, and mental health problems. In a study of racial discrimination in schools, parents and administrators relate their experience, but they also see a bright side of the problem through collaboration and having a sure focus on the problem. (Berkel et al., 2009)
The school environment and context are significant in understanding peer ethnic discrimination, especially in knowing why youth from one group is targeted by members of other groups. Positive effects on peer experiences were noted in schools with greater ethnic diversity, and the groups were represented almost equally; meaning, no particular group holds the majority. In schools with greater ethnic diversity, students felt safer and were less victimized by other group members.
Baber (2012) presented a study on African Americans who were enrolled in predominantly white institutions (PWI), though the study focused on the students’ first-year college experiences. Research on student experience and the transition is influenced by various factors, and school administrators have to help these students in their adjustment period.
Stevenson says that professional values related to social justice have been threatened by an educational system that prefers market value over human need. Other authors relate this to the commercialization of education wherein the school leader is reduced to a business manager. However, many effective leaders have retained their responsibility and strong devotion to their careers by holding on to their educational and professional values. There are times that the leader’s trust and integrity are undermined.
References
Baber, L. (2012). A qualitative inquiry on the multidimensional racial development among first-year African American college students attending a predominately white institution. The Journal of Negro Education, 81(1), 67-81. Web.
Bellmore, A., Nishina, A., You, J., & Ma, T. (2011). School context protective factors against peer ethnic discrimination across the high school years. American Journal of Community Psychology 49(1), 98-111. doi: 10.1007/s10464-011-9443-0
Berkel, C., Murry, V., Hurt, T., Chen, Y., Brody, G., & Simons, R.,…Gibbons, F. (2009). It takes a village: Protecting rural African American youth in the context of racism. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38(1), 175-188. doi: 10.1007/s10964-008-9346-z
Bush, T. (2011). Theories of educational leadership and management (4th edition). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications Inc.
Goldstein, A. (1994). The ecology of aggression. New York: Plenum Press.
Harris, C. (2008). Exploring dimensions of critical awareness through aesthetic experience: Implications for the preparation of educational leaders. Journal of Educational Administration and Foundation, 19(1), 55-80. Web.
Ho, S. (2009). Educational leadership for parental involvement in an Asian context: Insights from Bourdieu’s theory of practice. The School Community Journal, 19(2), 101-122. Web.
McCollum, D. & Kajs, L. (2007). Applying goal orientation theory in an exploration of student motivations in the domain of educational leadership. Educational Research Quarterly, 31(1), 45-59. Web.
Place, A. & Lindle, J. (2006). Present company excepted or accepted? Recognizing each other’s faces in educational leadership’s scholarship and practice. International Journal of Educational Management, 20(3), 195-205. doi: 10.1108/09513540610654164
Sociology guide: conflict theories. (2010). Web.
Stevenson, H. (2007). A case study in leading schools for social justice: when morals and markets collide. Journal of Educational Administration, 45(6), 769-781. doi: 10.1108/09578230710829937
Vasillopulos, C. & Denney, M. (2013). Moral responsibility: The missing element in educational leadership. Higher Education Studies, 3(2), 74-85. doi: :10.5539/hes.v3n2p74
Waddock, S. (2010). Finding wisdom within – the role of seeing and reflective practice in developing moral imagination, aesthetic sensibility, and systems understanding. Journal of Business Ethics Education, 7(1), 177-196. Web.