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- Title
PROGIMNAZIJOS VADOVO LYDERYSTĖMO KYKLOS VEIKLOS VALDYME.
- Authors
ŽUKAUSKIENĖ, LILIA; MACIJAUSKIENĖ, AURELIJA
- Abstract
Leadership has become a priority area in education policy; therefore, since Lithuania entered a new stage of development in order to establish itself in the international area and learn to cooperate and compete in a global world, discussions of necessary improvements and the reorganisation of the education system have been taking place increasingly frequently. One of the changes in the 21st-century Lithuanian education system was the implementation of a new school network structure, and the introduction of a new type of school, the progymnasium, of which the main purpose was to implement a basic curriculum (or part of one) and prepare students (forms 1 to 8) for further education (Law on Education of the Republic of Lithuania, 2011, Article 41, Paragraph 2. The legislation entered into force on 01-01-2020). A progymnasium without leadership in shaping a new culture of educational management is currently hard to imagine. The aim of the research was to show the essential traits of the leadership activities of progymnasium heads. The research was based on a strategy of qualitative research, i.e. phenomenology, according to which the nature and ways of human experience are revealed by studying phenomena. In phenomenology, philosophical assumptions are based on the study of living experience, the view that these experiences are conscious, and descriptions of these experiences were not created solely through explanations or analysis (Moustakas, 1994). Phenomenology made sense whenever a researcher expected to understand a phenomenon in order to develop best practice (Creswell, 2012). The participants in the survey were five heads of progymnasiums in the western region of Lithuania (Klaipėda, Šilutė, Kretinga and Tauragė). They were selected for participation in the research through target criterion-based selection. Research results. Interviews with the heads of progymnasiums revealed an essential trait of the head’s leadership in activity management: the leader was the first to assume responsibility for the management of school activities, and simultaneously he brought together other members of the community, representatives of the administration, teacher and student councils, parents and social stakeholders. The heads of the progymnasiums expressed leadership by involving community members in activity management in various forms. Meetings of teacher and student councils, discussions of initiatives proposed by community members (parents or educators), the analysis of data from anonymous surveys carried out by teachers, discussions and forums, and the mobilisation of working groups, promoted an atmosphere of mutual trust and activated students and teachers. The interviews helped to reveal another characteristic, the involvement of community members in the management of progymnasium activities. In order to achieve the common goals of the progymnasium, together with other members of the community, the heads organised various events at the school and outside it, coordinated educational and action plans, participated in the process of change of educational quality, and engaged in management rallies and project activities.By creating the conditions for teacher participation in the management of progymnasium activities and continuous professional development, supporting teacher initiatives, sharing leadership experience with them, and motivating teachers for activity by word of mouth, support and material incentives, the heads strove for coherence in relations between the administration and the teachers. The head’s leadership in activity management was manifested when the search for effective activity management solutions in a progymnasium involved the continuous monitoring of students’ learning progress, the formal and informal assessment of progress and achievements, the promotion of a clearly defined achievement assessment system, internal checking of the evaluation of activity management, and the analysis and reflection of the goals and results of activities. The data from the interviews highlighted another feature of the head’s leadership in activity management, the desire to continuously improve activity management. The heads identified the development of sustainable relationships between members of the progymnasium community as a significant component of leadership at school. The cooperation between students, parents and teachers, coherent actions, and the micro-climate of the progymnasium, contributed to making the management of activities more effective, and to forming the public image of the progymnasium. The head’s leadership in activity management was shown by measures making the management of progymnasium activities more effective, such as: the regular organisation of institutional self-assessment and opinion surveys of participants in the educational process, participation in project activities, the development of education and action plans and the monitoring of their implementation, the improvement of work and educational conditions, attracting funding for new ideas and innovations, development in the area of the quality of activity management, and encouraging teachers to pursue self-education and leadership. The heads of the respondent progymnasiums understood leadership in activity management not as an individual phenomenon, but as focusing the members of the school community on leadership and the quality of activity management.
- Subjects
LITHUANIA; LEADERSHIP; COMMUNITY leadership; TEACHER leadership; INCENTIVE (Psychology); GOAL (Psychology); HUMAN behavior; EDUCATIONAL leadership
- Publication
Regional Formation & Development Studies, 2020, Vol 32, Issue 3, p138
- ISSN
2029-9370
- Publication type
Article