Manifestations of leadership in diverse educational settings
chapter
posted on 2023-05-22, 22:01authored byKim Beswick
Leadership is fundamentally about influence. In the context of organisations it concerns influencing a group of people towards a shared goal (Northouse, 2010). Categorisations and characterisations of leadership are myriad with each offering particular insights and directing attention differentially to aspects of the contexts in which leadership is described, as well as to characteristics, including behaviours, of leaders and followers in that context. In this chapter attention is necessarily confined to those concepts from the leadership literature that are either explicitly mentioned or implicitly evident in the chapters of this section. Some of the six chapters that comprise this section deal directly with leadership in educational settings ranging from family day care to secondary schools. Others do not explicitly consider leadership but, nevertheless, refer to concepts that are inherently related to or dependent upon leadership. These include, school culture and policies, teamwork and organisational hierarchies, abuse of power, and strength based approaches. The settings are diverse and include primary and secondary schools as well as the maritime environment. Ways in which leadership impacts upon and intersects with school cultures, creativity, and quality teaching—major foci of the chapters—are discussed in light of the chapters themselves and the broader literature.