The Need for Educational Leaders

By Dr. Edwin C. Weaver

www.we-develop-leaders.com

www.uniqueleaders.org

The world in which we live is changing rapidly. Agriculture, as a way of life, is fading. Industry and technology are the number one employers and education is a must. We have more people entering schools than ever before in the history of mankind (Institution for Educational Leadership 2000). There is a teacher shortage, but more importantly, there is a shortage of leaders for the educational institutes (e.g., Jordan, 1994; Moore, 1999; Adams, 1999; ERS, 2000; O'Connell, 2001; Lord M. 2000).

Ten years ago, leaders (principals or directors) were not even on the list of 'needs' for urban schools. By 2005 leaders were number 7 on the needs list. Why are we seeing this shortage? The reason is simple, it takes a special type of person to lead a school to success and keep it there. It takes an extraordinary person to lead a school into success, keep it there and have it stay that way after he/she leaves (Effective School 2001). That, my friends, is exactly what we are running short of, extraordinary people; leaders.

You may say that the shortage of principals or directors is not that severe, but an estimated 40% of our current educational leaders will be retiring within the next 5 to 7 years. In 2005 school leaders were number 7 on the needs list for school. When 40% of our existing principal and directors leave, what will be left? What will that do to the market?

Remember, I am not talking about the paper shuffling manager type, which will not work in this new educational world. Just sending people through the university does not produce a leader. We live in time that demands true leaders and true leadership.

The advances in technology, the increase in knowledge and spread of information has created a new educational world. The students need to learn more than ever before and there is no more hours to add in the day to teach them. This demands changes in our educational system creating a new educational world.

The new educational world demands higher academic standards, the new educational world demands that everyone entering school leaves school competent. The new educational world is ever changing and full of challenges. The leader must know education in side and out. He or she must be charismatic to win over the team. The leader must have a vision for the future and a plan to get there. The new educational world demands great leadership.

These changes can not be made without a leader. These challenges can not be met without true leadership (Albritten 2004). The leader (principal or director) holds a very important position in the school (Drake 1992). If we are to educate and make students competent for the challenges of this rapidly changing world, we need special men and women guiding those efforts (Gimbel 2003).

We know what we need, so why do we have a shortage? Are there not enough men and women entering the universities to supply the needs? If the current leadership were to stay on board for another 10 or 20 years, yes we might have enough. However, as stated 40% are getting ready to retire and others are leaving the profession due to the immense stress involved. That will produce a huge shortage. There are two main reasons for the shortage; low pay (e.g., Whitaker, 1998; Moore, 1999; Fennell, 1999; Adams, 1999; ERS, 2000; Lankford, O'Connell, & Wyckoff, 2003) and lack of training.

The pay has to be equivalent to the amount of work involved. Remember the work involved is not just shuffling paper and sitting in meetings. The principal is responsible for the school, the teachers, the staff, the students and preparing those students to meet the challenges of the future. That is a lot of work and a lot of stress. 

The stress involved in running a school is tremendous. Students must achieve the grades on standardized tests. The government is ever increasing the challenge to raise the academic standards. Every year there is something new to learn. And most importantly, for our futures, every student needs to be completely competent in all skills and knowledge. For that to happen, you need a leader, a guiding force.

The principal is the guiding force (Gene Bottoms and Kathy O'Neill 2001). Often, he or she is the reason that students are able to achieve the high standards (Bossert, Dwyer, Rowan, & Lee, 1982; Hallinger & Murphy, 1986; Andrews & Sober, 1987; Zigarelli, 1996). The interaction with teachers and even students, professional development of teachers, a vision for the future needs, analyzing data, planning ways to get there, reviewing the progress and making changes when needed, allocating  recourses,  managing curriculum, monitoring lesson plans and the general guidance can take a low performing school and transform it to a high performing school (Deborah King 2002). These are the abilities which the principal needs to bring to the job.

These abilities do not come with your Bachelor's degree, not even with your Master's. These abilities come through time, with guidance, experience, mentoring and coaching. This is where the training comes in.

Universities are attempting to prepare potential candidates for school leadership positions (National Policy Board for Educational Administration 2002), but more reading and case studies can not compete with experience and mentoring. Our leaders need more than book knowledge (Parkay and Rhodes 1992) or sitting around talking about how they would handle a situation and that is the key word; situation.

I have been training people for 25 years in education and in businesses. Yes, we use case studies, but only to measure the person's abilities and disposition. Case studies are a great tool for weeding out the one who won't make it. After the weeding out process, we get to work training.

We need to have potential educational leaders in the field training (Bottoms, Gene; O'Niel, Kathy; Fry, Betty; Hill, David 2003), before all our experienced leaders have retired. They need help to understand how to handle different situations. Talking about a situation and living through it are entirely different. The potential leader needs to be working hand in hand with a pro, a great leader until he or she is able to run the show on their own.

Even after the leader is place in a position by himself or herself, the mentor continues to meet with them and advise and mold them (also read "Principal Mentoring - An Update by Robert J. Malone. Research Roundup; V18, N2 WIN 2001 - 2002). The mentor helps the potential leader become a leader (Guiney 2001). When he or she is going through a tough time the mentor lends a helping hand. When the troubles come, the mentor gives ideas or verifies the ideas of the potential leader. The potential leader is molded into a true leader.

As you can see, we are at a perilous point in time. If we do not act soon, we will have a shortage of educational leaders and the ones who are in place will lack the experience and guidance to confront all the challenges which face them.

Take a look around. Can this world afford to make more errors? Can we afford to produce one or two generations of people who are not fully prepared to function in this world? We must get more people into the training mode and then pay them what they are worth. After all, how much is a good future worth to you?

Unique Leaders Educational Leadership Development works with schools around the world. We partner with schools to help them train teachers and develop future educational leaders.

Contact Unique Leaders for more information www.we-develop-leaders.com

References:

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