COMMENDABILITY OF HEADTEACHER DESIGNER LEADERSHIP IN AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
A. Corral Granados1, G. Granados Gamez2, F. Kruse2
1 Monash University (AUSTRALIA)
2 University of AlmerÃa (SPAIN)
The goal to develop and implement profession wide standards for school leaders have been raised globally, however the initial outlining of their origins have been diverse in different countries and have been considered central in their future implications. This paper has analysed how through independent and certain manipulative manners Governments of the United Stated and United Kingdom following the New Public Management (NPD) have imposed compulsory standards that in turn has created a huge criticism from directly related sectors. It is plausible, in contrast other countries such as Australia and the Western Australian leadership centre in collaboration with Universities and Headmasters associations have developed a believable models based on non mandatory standardised system, pedagogically oriented and effective standardisation. Therefore this paper is based on the statements of different authors as Bush (1998), Louden and Wildy (1999), Igvarson, Anderson, Gronn and Jackson (2006), whose considering the possibility of developing effective standardised models that help the prospective headmasters to increase effectively the social and organisational function in the schools. This paper has specified through different dichotomies how the four different phases as the elaboration, content, formative process and implementation could be established. In the implementation process a set of statements need to be developed through essential collaboration and negotiation with affected stakeholders (Louden and Wildy, 1999). In regard to the content it is suggested to include effective leadership (mission, direction, values, belief, culture and communicative stratagems) together with formative and transformational models and managerial approaches (Boris- Schacter, 2007). This process promotes the creativity of the future Headmaster through a flexible and pedagogical application of the terms. The statements need to be built in a knowledge base (research theories and academic literature) that specify real needs, collective decisions making strategies, community and developmental competencies. The formative process need to distinguish the competencies in different areas for different positions with a relevant link between the theories and practices (simulation of real activities) through training assessors, mentoring and promotion of the distributed leadership (Bush, 1998; Anderson, 1998; Bush, 1998, Harris, 2002 et at.)
In conclusion, it is important to point out that it is possible to create a designer system for prospective Headteachers, but it is not without its challenges and to be implemented it needs to be adapted contextually into the different circumstances in each country.