Jossey-Bass Reader on Educational Leadership
This text is a collection of papers written on educational leadership. It first defines leadership as the process of persuasion or example by which an individual (or leadership team) induces a group to pursue objectives held by the leader or shared by the leader and the followers of that leader. It is also indicated that communication and influence flow in both directions and in the process leaders shape AND are shaped.
Several aspects of leadership are mentioned including the difference between leaders and managers, leaders in history, and a focus on human needs. The author also sites five new component technologies are converging to innovate learning organizations. They are systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building a shared vision, and team learning.
Next, the text discusses the unheroic side of leadership indicating that the leader must do things that may not be popular within and institution. Also discussed is the context for dependency in which dependency is created by two interrelated conditions. These conditions are overload and vulnerability to packaged solutions.
It is explained that one necessary component of leadership is the ability and role of the leader is to shape the school culture. It is indicated that it is not only the formal leadership of the principal that sustains and continuously reshapes culture but the leadership of everyone within the institution. Finally, servant leadership is discussed in which the great leader is one who is a servant to those in the institution first. The idea of servant leadership supports the practice of partnership over patriarchy.
An extensive section of notes on this text can be accessed by clicking on the "Coursework" button and selecting the appropriate course - Doctoral Seminar: Educational Leadership Practices I. There you will find a detailed account of the brief description above.