Roles of an Educational Leader (Coursework Sample)

Roles of an Educational Leader
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Roles of an Educational Leader
The current context of educational leadership involves global, technological, cultural, political, and economic forces for change. With such external pressures, loss of control of some of the educational responsibilities given to various educational leaders is inevitable. Therefore, it is imperative for educational leaders to know their responsibilities, in order to ensure effective coordination of activities in the school (Huber, 2009). This paper aims at exploring the various roles of educational leaders, while at the same time responding to some practical situations that occur in schools. Currently, the roles of educational leaders are complex and diverse. They entail provision of intellectual and social development, and ensuring appropriate student-discipline in the school and the community.
Educational leaders assume a number of roles to support students, and ensure teachers perform their roles effectively. They are responsible for educational programs, management and development of their staff, learning outcomes, and maintaining relationships between the school and its community. It is the duty of an educational officer to encourage teacher-parent relationship in order to ensure students problems are handled amicably. They should provide space and time for teachers to meet with parents at school to discuss how to improve their student's performance (Mulford, Leithwood & Silins, 2004). In addition, they should coordinate school safety workshops, which pave way for quality education and encourage public support of schools.
Students are usually involved in various crimes/misbehavior incidents in the school. Therefore, an educational officer should initiate programs that enhance student responsibility. This can be done by having student leaders, and encouraging peer-to-peer counseling, where students can share their problems freely, and help each other with prompt solutions. Moreover, educational leaders should ensure that there is effective communication between the students and teachers. In some instances, students do not feel free to express their problems to their teachers. Thus, an educational leader should ensure measures are in place to reduce the gap between students and teachers that may hinder problem-solving process.
Additionally, an educational leader should set a clear sense of direction. He/she should develop a shared understanding of the schools activities and goals, among the staff members. This understanding acts as a basis for a sense of purpose/vision. With a clear understanding of the school's goals, the school staff will be able to make sense of their work, and enhance their performance in order to achieve the set goals. Another prominent role of an educational leader is to assist teachers in planning and implementing learning activities, which will benefit student's intellectual needs. They should ensure teachers have the appropriate content and resources required in the teaching process (Ramaley & Holland, 2005).
It is the role of an educational officer to ensure a health relationship with community leaders in order to make the school safer. Some of the evil acts such as drug abuse and theft, which occur outside the school, are detrimental to the school's success. However, an educational leader can ensure such acts are eliminated in the community around the school, by working hand in hand with the community leaders (Reinhartz & Beach, 2004). He/she should hold series of meetings with the community residents to brief them on the problems that directly relate with the surrounding community. Community residents should also be invited to participate in various activities in the school.
Business leaders play an integral role ensuring success in schools. They have vested interest in quality education of their employees' children. They also have well-trained staff, which can be helpful in helping students to select their careers wisely. As a result, educational officers should arrange regular presentations by various business leaders to teachers, students, and parents. Practical advice is essential in explaining various career opportunities. With health school-business partnerships, it will be easy for the school administration to acquire, various resources needed in the school. This is because some of business leaders can supply these resources at a subsidized price or even donate them.
Problem solving process in schools is one of the outstanding challenges in ensuring achievement of the set goals. Many schools do not have a concrete plan of solving problems or punishing students involved in various crimes. It is the responsibility of an educational officer to ensure a problem-solving plan is in place, in order to ensure students concur to the set rules and regulations. Students should not only be punished, but also they should be explained why they should not repeat such an offense (Huber, 2009). In addition, a distinct way of punishing student will help teachers in knowing the appropriate methods of punishing students, which will not create a gap between the students and the teachers.
Lastly, it is the role of an educational leader to ensure that teachers execute their roles effectively. In some instances, teachers may be engaged too much in their personal matters forgetting the roles they are supposed to play in the school. To avoid such instances, educational leaders should ensure teachers are motivated to perform their duties, and disciplinary actions are taken on teachers who perform poorly. He/she should also ensure teachers meet the required standards set by the country's education ministry (Reinhartz & Beach, 2004).
Responses to practical situations in the school
In the case of Ms. Colora, a teacher of an eighth grade, where one of the student ‘Johnnie', has his head on the desk for most of the class, there are a number of disciplinary actions to take. The first thing is to have brief background information about the student. Mostly, students borrow such behavior from their parents. For instance, if one of the parents is disrespectful and mocks the other in front of the children, such behavior will be inculcated into the children. As a result, they will always mock everyone who comes their way. Therefore, if Johnnie comes from such a background, the parents should be involved in the problem-solving problem. As an educational officer, I will explain to the parents the roles they have to play in eliminating such a behavior in their child. I will also urge them not to solve their differences in front of their children. I will also explain to Johnnie how such behavior is detrimental to his future life, and punish him accordingly. I will also make some follow up, to know whether Johnnie has adjusted.
In handling the threat given in the boys' bathroom, I will first explain to police officer that any threat given by students should not be taken lightly, because its consequences can affect lives of many students. As a result, it was necessary to involve them in handling such a case. Then I will initiate official investigations on the issue. To avoid creating tension among the arriving students, I will have their teachers explain to them the situation at hand, and why it was necessary to take precautionary measures. As way of knowing the involved students, I will initiate a way, whereby students can submit names of the suspected students anonymously. This will ease up the process of knowing the involved students. After the cleanup process is complete, the school activities will be resumed as normal. However, I will advice the teachers to report any queer behavior they take note of among the student fraternity regarding the threats.
Since the problem at the Green Street High school occurs in the beginning of the seventh period, it is necessary to first, know the weird thing with the lesson. Presumabl...