When learning more about leadership styles, what really stood out for me is that some styles facilitate the TL to lead, and others are styles that the TL should adopt when leading.
Leadership which facilitates the TL to lead:
Transformational leadership is an essential component of 21st century schools, as it provides an avenue to both respond to and drive change. This leadership style actively inspires and motivates staff, building positive, trusting relationships which leads to an increase in teachers’ motivation and desire to adapt their practice for the better (Yu, Leithwood & Jantzi, 2002). This style of leadership should be adopted by a Principal to assist in the creation of an ideal school environment as it fosters collaborative practices within the school community and can promote flexibility, innovation and risk-taking, ensuring schools are equipped for additional change in the future. Under a transformative Principal, employees are inspired and supported to take risks and try new things (Moir et al, 2014). This is particularly important for the TL as it promotes a culture of trust, allowing the TL the confidence to step up into leadership roles themselves. Furthermore, the focus on adaptability, innovation, collaboration and change promotes a culture which encourages the leadership of the TL who has expertise in the acquisition of these necessary 21st century skills.
A distributed leadership style allows leadership to become a collective responsibility, moving from an individual leadership style to one which empowers all staff, and this correlates with improved student learning (Kilicoglu, 2018). This style is important as it provides opportunities to build leadership capacity for the future, ensuring that schools will continue to grow and thrive. A distributed approach is important in the construction of an ideal school environment as it fosters a democratic culture, acknowledges expertise and provides staff beyond the Principal and senior executive the chance to lead, be recognised and inform change. This is particularly relevant to the role of the TL, as this allows an engaged TL to work in partnership with the school executive staff, as well as draw on their unique skill set in order to share expertise in literacy, information literacy, technology, inquiry and 21st century skills.
Leadership which should be adopted by the TL as they assume a leadership role:
Instructional leadership involves focusing on improving teaching and learning, and privileging this within the school environment. This is ideally situated within a distributed approach, which delegates the focus on improving teaching and learning to executive staff and other school staff with expertise, such as the TL. This presents an opportunity for TLs, who are in a unique position to support teaching practices in the school as they can offer insight and a ‘bird’s eye view’ of school curriculum and pedagogy and are able to work collaboratively and instructively with a broad range of staff (Lupton, 2014, p.22) Most notably, this leadership style allows TLs to demonstrate their expertise and lead the school in areas of pedagogy, evidence-based practices, inquiry skills and the General Capabilities, and provides opportunities to impart knowledge during planned professional development (such as leading workshops on staff development days or undertaking formal instructional rounds with colleagues) as well as during more informal learning opportunities, such as team-teaching inquiry units of work and modelling best pedagogical practice to colleagues. Instructional leadership is a vital component of an effective school, but pairing it with a distributed approach is important as it allows the school environment to be more democratic and draw on the valuable skill sets of practitioners such as the TL, empowering them to become instructional leaders, rather than situating the Principal as the sole, authoritative leader (Leithwood et al, 2006).
Servant leadership is also an essential part of a 21st century school environment and one that should be heavily utilised by the TL. An ideal workplace is one which privileges human relationships and focuses on empathy, relationship-building and ethics. Whilst schools have been increasingly invested in student wellbeing in recent years, it has often come at the expense of teacher wellbeing; however, an ideal school will recognise that collaboration, connectedness, engagement and empowerment directly correlate with improved student outcomes. Within a modern context, leadership needs to be supportive and nurturing, promoting teachers to gain a sense of stewardship and fostering a strong desire to achieve goals and perform at their best (Bier, 2021). Servant leadership promotes the desire for personal and professional growth (Greenleaf, 2003) and assists to achieve a sense of community. As it is naturally empowering, it provides an ideal climate for middle leaders, such as the TL, to lead, engage and mentor others (Bier, 2021).
References
Bier, M.C. (2021). Servant leadership for schools. Journal of Character Education, 17(2), 27-42.
Greenleaf, R.K. (2003). The servant leader within: A transformative path (H. Beazley, J. Beggs, & L. Spears, Eds.). Paulist Press.
Kilicoglu, D. (2018). Understanding democratic and distributed leadership: How democratic leadership of school principals related to distributed leadership in schools. Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research, 13(3), 1-18. DOI: 10.29329/epasr.2018.150.1
Leithwood, K., Day, C, Sammons, P., Harris, A., & Hopkins, D. (2006). Successful school leadership: What it is and how it influences pupil learning. DfES Publications.
Lupton, M. (2014). Inquiry skills in the Australian Curriculum v6: A bird’s-eye view. Access, 28(4), 8-29.
Moir, S., Hattie, J. & Jansen, C. (2014). Teacher perspectives of ‘effective’ leadership in schools. Australian Educational Leader, 36(4), 36-40.
Yu, H., Leithwood, K., & Jantzi, D. (2002). The effects of transformational leadership on teachers’ commitment to change in Hong Kong. Journal of Educational Administration, 40(4), 368-389.