Modern system of education is changing and these changes affect many participants of this process. Teachers and students are the participants of the educational process which are affected in the same way and this influence is interrelated. It is important to state that it is impossible to underestimate the role of a teacher as a leader, while the process of change.
Engagements teachers bear and motivation they apply no their students while the implementation of the change in school where teachers put students and their knowledge on the first place are crucial; teacher is a leader and this position makes him/her do all possible to encourage students for learning, explaining them how interesting and fascinating studying may be.
To begin with, it should be stated that to be a good leader and to be able to encourage students for further studying, a teacher should be able to be a role model for their students. Elaine Fink, being a Superintendent of the District once said, “If expect principals to do the very hard job for leading an industrial community, then I have to have the same expectation of myself.
I see myself as the leader of the principals, in just the same way as they are the leaders of their teachers” (Fink & Resnick, 2001, p. 5). The same happens with the student-teacher collaboration. Showing personal example, teachers are to show their self-regulation skills, decisiveness, and commitment. Only in this case students will trust a teacher will follow him/her (Fullan & Scott, 2009, p. 116).
If teachers want students to participate in the learning process with joy, if they are interested in students faster development, the change should be should be directed at improvement and should be carefully planned. A teacher should understand what students need and what should be made to achieve this result.
School environment, climate and culture should be considered before a goal-based plan creation (Lindahl, 2006). There are cases when students are set against different changes, especially in the sphere of school culture and environment. This problem can be easily solved as the main reason for change resistance is the lack of motivation.
Teacher is a person who should explain students the benefits of the change for them. General improvement in studying does not bother students too much, they are interested in their personal benefit. Teacher is a person who can affect students and motivate them properly for them to be able to face the changes with pleasure (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2004, p. 113).
When is good motivation possible? This question is crucial as having answered it teachers will b able to motivate their students without problems. Knowing students better is one of the main methods to understand students, the ways they can be motivated, the goals for their studying, etc (Leo, 2007).
The teachers of China have a good method for getting on with students, they have time for lessons and for out-of-class contacts (Fullan, Hill, & Crévola, 2006, p. 42). Such technique is a great decision, especially while the period of change.
Dwelling upon changes and the role of leadership, it is impossible to omit business. Different business and management strategies can be really useful in this content. John B. McGuire (2003) in his work states that to adapt change with the highest success, the company should become team-based, customer-focused, and agile.
Applying this model on school, teachers should create a friendly group, become oriented on each student separately, but at the same time to manage all students, and implement innovative and creative ideas. Teacher should use their imagination to achieve this result (Zepeda, 2007).
Thus, there was theoretical information devoted to the change and the role of teachers and students in this process. Having considered the main purpose of the change in the Ironside State School, it may be completed that the set goals were achieved.
Teachers managed to consolidate while working on one and the same project and this allowed them to show that students that consolidation is important in achieving one and the same goal.
Personal example was used to encourage students to accept the changes. The change of the teaching practices and the high results students still have managed to achieve is the best evidence of the fact that a teacher was capable to show students the priorities of the change and by means of leading qualities convinced them (External validation: Overview of centre activities, 2004).
We came to the conclusion which has already been expressed, leadership is an important part of teaching and to encourage students for doing something, leadership skills should be developed properly.
Fullan (2001) agrees that to get more knowledge, understand the change, build relationships and make coherence, a teacher/leader should be energy, enthusiastic, and full of hopes. Thus, good things will happen more frequent, while bad things will occur rarer. Thus, teacher leadership should be a central idea for the process of change.
Reference List
External validation: Overview of centre activities. (2004). Ironside State School – Centre of Excellence Projects 2001 – 2004.
Fink, E., & Resnick, L. B. (2001). Developing principals as instructional leaders. Phi Delta Kappan, 82(8), 598-606.
Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Fullan, M., & Scott, G. (2009). Turnaround leadership for higher education. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Fullan, M., Hill, P., & Crévola, C. (2006). Breakthrough. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. E., & McKee, A. (2004). Primal leadership: learning to lead with emotional intelligence. Harvard: Harvard Business Press.
Leo, E.L. (2007). Take me to your leader: Leadership and the future. Research Conference. Web.
Lindahl, R. (2006). The role of organizational climate and culture in the school improvement process: A review of the knowledge base. Web.
McGuire, J. B. (2003). Leadership Strategies for Culture Change: Developing Change Leadership as an Organizational Core Capability. The Center for Creative Leadership – Friends of the Center Leadership Conference. Web.
Zepeda, S.J. (2007). The principal as instructional leader: a handbook for supervisors. Winmalee: Eye on Education.