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Foster, Paul R.

College of Education and Social Services

2006

Ed. D.

Research findings from diverse countries and different school contexts have revealed the powerful impact of leadership on processes related to school effectiveness and improvement (Day, Harris, Hadfield, Tolley, & Beresford, 2000). "Whatever else is disputed about this complex area of activity, the centrality of leadership in the achievement of school effectiveness and school improvement remains unequivocal" (Day et al., p. 160). In America today, the standards movement is strong. The government is calling for greater accountability, results-based leadership and data -driven methods. Concurrently in England, educational leaders in public schools are encouraged to adopt entrepreneurial leadership and are subjected to a rigid national curriculum and bureaucratic centrality. Both governments hold considerable power over the direction of education in their respective countries, yet there is a growing body of research (Glatter, 1996; Day et al., 2000; Glasser, 2000; Goleman, 2002; Ferrero, 2005) that is challenging the current orthodoxy and suggesting there are alternative models to the current bureaucratic, rational, and entrepreneurial forms of leadership. These alternative models place high emphasis on post-transformational, people-centered skills. This dissertation, which builds on the work of Day et al. (2000) asks stakeholders (parents, teachers, students, school leaders, and school board members) in one school of comparative size and composition in England and America what they perceive are the traits, characteristics, and behaviors of an effective school leader. The study uses a qualitative methodology.
The data in this research yielded similar results to those of the study by Day and his colleagues (2000). The stakeholders identified five broad clusters of behaviors, traits, and characteristics they felt were essential for effective school leadership: i) moral values and judgment; ii) inter- and intra- personal skills (communication and people skills); iii) emotional intelligence (self-regulation, mood stability, ability to read and reflect on emotions); iv) distributed and pedagogical leadership (ability to create a collaborative learning community, a positive school climate and culture, and delegate power appropriately; and v) social, community and political skills (collaboration, networking, political skills, and mediation slulls). Collectively I refer to these traits as "interactional fluid leadership." Clearly no generalizations can be drawn from this small study. Larger research projects will test the validity and sustainability of these findings and hopefully add to the growing body of research that is challenging the existing orthodoxy espoused by the Bush and Blair administrations. Educational reform tends to be cyclical. With enough new research data, the tide may eventually turn and new opportunities will arise to train and support post-transformational, people-centered school leaders who will transform schools in a positive way in the years to come. In today's global world, we could also learn from more research about how stakeholders in countries around the world perceive effective school leadership. Are their countries where a more people-centered educational leadership style is already in existence and could we in the United States and England learn from these styles?