The Theory of Pedagogical Leadership: Enhancing High-Quality Education (original) (raw)
Related papers
Possibility to Engage in Pedagogical Leadership as Experienced by Finnish Newly Appointed Principals
American Journal of Educational Research, 2015
This qualitative research was based on the construct of broad based pedagogical leadership, which comprises not only technical, human and educational (pedagogical) but also symbolic leadership, the meanings interpreted from the principal's ordinary activity by the school community, the web of which is understood as the cultural leadership of the school. The research purpose was to find out newly appointed principals' views on what the most common situations of technical, human and educational (pedagogical) leadership were in their ordinary work and how they could enhance the realization of the pedagogical perspective. The data consisted of the written descriptions of the eighteen participants beginning an in-service training. The responses were analyzed with thematic analysis. The dominance of the technical leadership tasks with routine administration as the most common was the biggest obstacle to advancing the pedagogical perspective. The most common human leadership task was interaction and that of pedagogical leadership was strategic leadership. Human and pedagogical leadership tasks were perceived to be partly overlapping. In contrast to studied international research, the respondents made no mention of leading quality teaching, a quality learning environment or strategic resourcing. The informants did not identify symbolic and cultural leadership components. The findings imply that school based management without an increase in managerial human resource in schools efficiently prevents enhancing pedagogical leadership, perceived as the core task of a principal's ordinary work, that in studying leadership the context always needs to be considered, and that principals' in-service training ought to comprise broad based pedagogical leadership to inculcate the holistic and integrative character of principalship. These issues merit further and comparative research.
Dimensions of pedagogical leadership in early childhood education and care
2013
The purpose of the research was to clarify the phenomena of pedagogical leadership and to investigate the implementation of pedagogical leadership by childcare centre directors. The research was connected with the University of Tampere's Development Project on pedagogical leadership carried out in seven municipalities in Finland. The project reflected an inclusive and participatory action research study. The ontological premise of the research is narrative where knowledge is seen as a socially constructed process. The study was based on the contextual leadership theory by Nivala (1998) which emphasises the importance of the core task of early childhood organisations. The data collection methods comprised questionnaires, development plans drawn up by the childcare centre directors and teachers, and narratives written by the directors. The main story reflected a shared understanding about the phenomena of pedagogical leadership. It can be seen that in Finnish childcare centres, pedagogical leadership is understood as a contextual and a cultural phenomenon.
Principal Leadership in the Development of Teacher Pedagogical Competence
Journal of Social Work and Science Education, 2021
This study described the principal's leadership in guiding teacher pedagogic competence at SMP Negeri 1 Ogan Komering Ulu. This study used a qualitative method where observation, interviews, and documentation used as instruments. The research subjects were principals, teachers and staff. The results of this study indicate that the principal has two leadership styles in empowering and mobilizing teachers and staff. The two styles are charismatic and democratic leadership style. The principal used four models of pedagogical competency development for teachers were supervision, workshops, regular meetings, and the principal directs teachers to participate in educational trainings and seminars. The obstacles were the lack of teacher preparation in making learning tools such as lesson plans and syllabus, the schedule of the principal's activities impromptu so that the implementation of supervision, meetings, or workshops is delayed. There are some teachers who cannot attend meeti...
Increasing leadership capacity and implementing pedagogical leadership in Finland
2019
This paper discusses recent developments in school leadership practices in Finland. The focus is on what effects the major changes of education paradigms had in educational leadership. The theoretical discussion is based on several research findings. A meta analysis of 30 PhD studies was done by Alava, Halttunen & Risku (2012) in a research commissioned by the Finnish National Board of Education. Some of the key findings in this study were the need for stronger future orientation, the importance of broad pedagogical leadership, and understanding leadership as a resource with emphasis on shared leadership, change leadership and values leadership. The empirical examples in this paper are from two municipalities, Åland and Mäntsälä, where extensive development efforts were carried out in 2005-2018. The development in Åland was instigated by the rather poor results the students got in mathematics in the PISA 2003 assessment (Uljens, Sundqvist & Smeds-Nylund, 2016). In Mäntsälä the devel...
Pedagogic Leadership: Refocusing on Learning and Teaching
2005
This paper critiques instructional leadership and the notion of pedagogic leadership is proposed as an alternative, broader conception of the principalship. Pedagogy concerns enabling the learning and intellectual growth of students in contrast to instruction that treats students as the object of curriculum implementation. Successful classroom pedagogy requires that teachers understand how students learn and have the autonomy to design, implement and assess educational activities that meet the needs of individual and all students. Pedagogic leadership is predicated on informed teacher practice and reflection. Teachers are empowered to exercise professional responsibility and supportive judgements by principals who are pedagogic leaders. The pedagogic leader demonstrates credible knowledge of learning and teaching in conjunction with knowledge of the processes for improving school-wide learning. van Manen, M. (1999). The language of pedagogy and the primacy of student experience. In J. Loughran (Ed.), Researching teaching: Methodologies and practices for understanding pedagogy (pp.13-27). London: Falmer.
Pedagogical leadership and children’s well-being in Finnish early education
Educational Management Administration & Leadership
In this paper, we present research that focuses on pedagogical leadership that is evaluated by the staff in the early education unit. The evaluations relate to the observed indicators of the well-being of children and leadership evaluations conducted by the early education centre directors. The methods include systematic observation of children, educators’ evaluation of leadership and directors’ evaluation of their leadership. The measurements are independent of each other. The data were collected between 2017 and 2019 in Finnish early education units. The results indicate the connection between the pedagogical leadership of director and observed activities of children, including involved learning, positive emotion, physical activity and participation. The connection between pedagogical leadership evaluated by the staff was also connected with leadership evaluated by the director, highlighting the need for the director to focus on pedagogical leadership and staff involvement. The re...
Pedagogic Leadership: Refocusing on Learning and Teaching, 9(2)
Iejll International Electronic Journal For Leadership in Learning, 2005
This paper critiques instructional leadership and the notion of pedagogic leadership is proposed as an alternative, broader conception of the principalship. Pedagogy concerns enabling the learning and intellectual growth of students in contrast to instruction that treats students as the object of curriculum implementation. Successful classroom pedagogy requires that teachers understand how students learn and have the autonomy to design, implement and assess educational activities that meet the needs of individual and all students. Pedagogic leadership is predicated on informed teacher practice and reflection. Teachers are empowered to exercise professional responsibility and supportive judgements by principals who are pedagogic leaders. The pedagogic leader demonstrates credible knowledge of learning and teaching in conjunction with knowledge of the processes for improving school-wide learning.
Australasian Journal of Early Childhood
Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC) experienced system-wide changes in legislation, curriculum, and teachers’ and centre leaders’ qualification requirements between 2013 and 2018. Through these changes, the Finnish ECEC follows the global trends shifting the focus of ECEC from care towards education. The data are leaders’ ( N = 41) written responses to three open-ended questions in a survey completed in 2018. The analytical framework draws on the models of educational change and human capital of pedagogical leadership. The framework directs focus on leaders’ understanding about and realisation of these new policies in their ECEC centres. Results indicate that leaders have the capacity to interpret and lead the curriculum process. However, to secure the coherence in and quality of ECEC, guidance that is more systematic and instruments (e.g. for development of pedagogy) that support the implementation of the curriculum and its assessment are needed.
Pedagogical leadership in the 21st century
Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 2013
Literature examining effective leadership in education describe a number of models such as Transformational, Learner-Centred, Distributed and Situational. A similar example is ‘pedagogical leadership’, a phrase that frequently appears in literature and one referring to forms of practice that shape and form teaching and learning to be integrated in leadership. In this paper, however, we will argue that the term pedagogy is an ambiguous one when it is attached to the concept of leadership and requires further explanation, particularly in the 21st century. Our conclusions are informed by findings from research undertaken by us with headteachers and leaders of early years settings in England during 2012. One of the key findings is that we should shift from using models of leadership and instead to view leadership as a praxis that is not merely concerned with the dichotomy of teaching, learning and outcomes, but is also concerned with an integrated conceptualisation of the relations betw...
Pedagogical leadership in the 21st century: evidence from the field
Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 2013
Literature examining effective leadership in education describe a number of models such as Transformational, Learner-Centred, Distributed and Situational. A similar example is 'pedagogical leadership', a phrase that frequently appears in literature and one referring to forms of practice that shape and form teaching and learning to be integrated in leadership. In this paper, however, we will argue that the term pedagogy is an ambiguous one when it is attached to the concept of leadership and requires further explanation, particularly in the 21st century. Our conclusions are informed by findings from research undertaken by us with headteachers and leaders of early years settings in England during 2012. One of the key findings is that we should shift from using models of leadership and instead to view leadership as a praxis that is not merely concerned with the dichotomy of teaching, learning and outcomes, but is also concerned with an integrated conceptualisation of the relations between teaching, the learning ecology of the community and the social set of axes in which the educational organisation is set. This understanding of pedagogical leadership is thus concerned with the links between desired educational outcomes and the set of social realities that surround the educational setting.