SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENT

Signature Assignment: Leadership in Education

Abstract

In this signature assignment, we try to explore the concept of “Organizational Leadership in Education” in a holistic context. The main focus of the assignment is to demonstrate an adequate level of knowledge on the involvement of Organizational Leadership in Education, and its relation with the real-world applications of pedagogical practices. The assignment also analyzes many aspects of teaching evolution and tries to gauge its effect on “learning”. Finally, it describes various factors and types of leadership which are responsible for practices in leadership, in the educational domain, and aims to describe the overall effect of specific leadership styles in learning and education.

Table of Contents

Abstractii

Introduction1

Problem Statement2

Literature Review2

Great Man Theories3

Trait Theories3

Contingency theories3

Theory of Features4

Theories based on behavior4

Situational Theories5

The Theory of Roles5

Participative Theories5

Emerging theories5

Evidence of Critical Reflection on the Theories5

Evidence of Application of the Theories into Educational practice6

Conclusion and Recommendations7

References8

Introduction

In the decade of the 1780s, public schools in the United States adopted the teacher/manager model with the teacher as the primary manager of instruction and assessment in a classroom. Many effective strategies introduced during the years; however, this model has continued to be prevalent in schools to this day. The modern organizational environment is a subject of constant change cycles; the thought of having only one successful leadership style is obsolete. Active education environment means that the educational leader must be much more practical than ever before. Since educational organizations are organic workplaces operating in an environment of flux and change, leadership styles also need to be adaptive to changing circumstance and new opportunities. Each organization has objectives and goals, and the various methods by which these objectives achieved (or not achieved) are often a direct result of leadership styles and attributes of the people in charge. Many, if not most of the distinguished leadership theories applied to public and business organizations can be applied as well to educational organizations (Derick, Brinkerhoff, Crosby, 2002).

Crosby (2002) also studied 21st century skills by looking at how students learn, how they solve problems and what gives them a sense of meaning and self. He called it “demand-pull” learning and stated that in a slow-changing world this approach was effective. He characterized 21st century learning as “supply push” with a focus on learning through enculturation and on collateral learning (David, Richards, 2001). Collateral learning broadens learning for students by engaging them with other students in focused learning. As they work together, they also learn about communication, collaboration, and how others view the world. In 2011, the need is to acquire 21st Century Skills which help students learn to collaborate, think critically, problem-solve and communicate. These elements will naturally be supported by information and technology skills acquired as students use the tools within their classrooms and as faculty model the use of technology and tools in their own teaching. The challenge for higher education is to prepare tomorrow's teachers and leaders not only to survive in a world of fast-changing technology, but to be able to pass those skills along (Goleman, Boyatzis, ...