Transformational Leadership in Education

Transformational leadership is no longer used exclusively in corporations and companies all over the world. It is now being used in educational contexts, too. Teachers and school administrators are now looking for ways to use this type of leadership in their settings.

Transformational leaders in education are constantly looking for new ways of doing things toward accomplishing the vision of the school. The primary purpose of the school, of course, is to educate young people and turn them into productive members of the society. Leadership is needed to address the problems and challenges that learners, students and teachers encounter in the schools.

Leaders are also looking for ways to change how their context is viewed. One of the characteristics of good leaders is to turn things upside down and view them from different lenses. This will yield a new way of looking at their context. New insights will then turn into new ways of doing things, which is badly needed if education were to improve and serve the needs of the world in the twenty first century.

Teachers and school administrators also need to hold the schools accountable for the attainment of its vision and the pursuit of its mission. Without a vision and mission, a school merely exists without meaning. It is there but it becomes content with mediocrity. That is to be avoided at all costs.

They also need to make the organization unique, different and excellent. There are a lot of schools out there. But how do they differ from each other? Good administrators need to look for ways to differentiate from countless others. Competition is raging and without a differentiating quality, an organization fades into the background of other equally great organizations.

They also need to work toward making schools responsive to the problems and challenges of the contemporary world. The recent recession in the United States taught the world that changes can happen in a short period of time. Technology and change continue to be the buzzword of this new decade. As such, transformational leadership in education must be responsive to these challenges and look for ways to make schools prepare students and teachers for these trends.

How can teachers, administrators and leaders then address these contemporary trends and changes?

For one, they will need to look at their roles in developing the skills of young minds. Given the highly competitive nature of the world economy, students need to be prepared really well. True enough, the education sector does not pay well. But they perform an important function, which can never be undermined. This is why transformational leadership in education is very much needed.