Effective leadership in school management also depends on the qualities of school leaders. In this section, some of the qualities of a good school leader are highlighted as follows:
1. He/She must be intelligent and knowledgeable 2. He/She must be disciplined and hardworking
3. He/She must be professionally trained and competent.
4. He/She must be honest, straight forward, consistent, approachable and fair in dealing with others.
5. He/She must have good human relations.
6. He/She must be interested in students and staff welfare.
7. He/She must be innovative, dynamic, resourceful and courageous.
8. He/She must be firm but not proud in making judgments and decisions and must be willing to take blames for his/her own mistakes.
9. He/She must be willing to learn, improve himself and encourage others to learn.
The qualities listed above suggested that a school leader should be a perfect person.
Even though this is not possible, yet a successful school leader is likely to possess some degree of these qualities than the unsuccessful one. It must be pointed out that good leadership qualities can be developed, learned or acquired by training and education.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 7
List any five attributes of good leader in the school system.
4.0 CONCLUSION
The importance of effective leadership in school administration cannot be overemphasized. Given good educational plans, good school programmes, adequate facilities and adequate qualified staff. What is required is good administrative leadership to harness these for the success of the school.
A bad administrative leader may render ineffective the best school programmes, the most adequate resources and most motivated staff and students.
Solutions to the series of problems confronting the school system in Nigeria can only be guaranteed through effective leadership.
5.0 SUMMARY
In this unit you have learnt leadership in school administration. The concept of leadership was explained. You also studied leadership theories and their implications for school administration. The leadership theories you studied are the trait theory, behavioural theories, situational theory, contingency theory and the path-goal theory.
Moreover, you were taught various leadership styles such as democratic style, autocratic style, laissez-faire style, transactional style and pseudo-democratic style as well as their implications for school administration. The unit also explained the functions of school leaders and leadership qualities in schools. In the next unit in module 2, you will study power and authority in school administration.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT 1a. What is leadership?
b. Explain five qualities of a good school leader.
2. Examine five leadership theories and their implications for school administration.
3. Explain the implications of various leadership styles for school administration.
4. Discuss the leadership functions of school heads in terms of professional or administrative duties.
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS
Adesina, S. (1981): Some Aspects of School Management Ibadan: Board Publications.
Ajayi, I.A. and Ayodele, J. (2002): Fundamentals of Educational Management. Ado-Ekiti: Greenline Publishers.
Blake, R. and J. Mouton (1964): The Managerial Grid Houston: Gulf Pub. Company.
Halpin, A.W. (1966): Theory and Research in Education. Vollier-Macmillian.
Halpin, A.W. and B.J. Winer (1957): “A factorial study of the leader behaviour descriptions in Stogdill, R.M. and A.E. Coons (eds) Leader Behaviour: Its Description and Management. Bureau of Business Research, Ohio State University.
House, B.J. (1971): A Path-Goal Theory Leadership Effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly 16 (3): 321-338.
Ibukun, W.O. (1997): Educational Management. Theory and Practice Ado-Ekiti.
Bamigboye and Co. Press (Nig.) Ltd.
Newell, C.A. (1978): Human Behaviour in Educational Administration. New Jersey.
Prentice Hall Inc.
Nwankwo, J.I. (1981): Educational Administration: Theory and Practice. India: Vikas Publishing House PVT Ltd.
ANSWERS TO SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE (SAEs) SAE 1
Ø There must be a group to be led.
Ø The group must have a set of laid down objectives.
Ø There must be conscious attempts to influence the behaviour of others within the group.
Ø There must be willingness of subordinates to carry out the action.
SAE 2
a. Leaders were born and the only thing that has to be done is to identify and analyze the qualities they possess and train them in the art of leadership.
b. What a leader dies is the determinant of his/her effectiveness.
c. It is the situation that produces its own kind of leadership.
d. The leadership behaviour that will yield the best results in a specific situation.
e. The role of the leader in motivating subordinates to act in desired direction that would facilitate the accomplishment of organizational goals.
SAE 3
On trait theory the school leader should his effectiveness will not be judged by personality traits but by the job commitment of staff and students’ academic performance while on behavioural theories, the school leader should not sacrifice the concern for job and the concern for the people for one another but maintain a reasonable balance between them.
SAE 4
a. It is a participative style that encourages full participation of subordinates in the affairs of organization.
b. All policies and procedures in the organization is dictated by the leader with little or no group participation
c. There is complete freedom of the group and its members to do what they wish.
d. The leader has concern for both the organizational and personal needs.
e. The leader claims to use democratic style but displays autocratic style.
SAE 5
1. There is no single best leadership style.
2. School leaders should study their environment properly before adopting the most appropriate leadership style.
3. Environmental/situational factors are determinants of leadership effectiveness.
4. School leaders should not be rigid but flexible in their leadership styles in relation to existing situation (any other points listed in 3.5).
SAE 6
Professional duties performed to accomplish the goals and objectives of the school while administrative duties performed for the purpose of maintaining the school.
Professional duties
Ø Inspection of school records.
Ø Curriculum planning and development.
Ø Programme planning for the new session.
Ø Examination functions Ø Budgeting functions
Administrative duties
Ø Students’ welfare Ø Staff welfare
Ø Regular meetings with staff and other bodies Ø Public relations functions
Ø Maintenance of school facilities Ø Staff and students’ discipline SAE 7
1. He must be intelligent and knowledgeable.
2. He must be disciplined and hardworking.
3. He must be professionally trained and competent.
4. He must be honest, straight forward, consistent, approachable and fair in dealings with others.
5. He must have good human relations (any other points listed in 3.7).
MODULE 1