- Leadership
1.1.Definition of Leadership
Scholars
have always been trying to define what leadership and effective leadership is
(and subsequently - how to achieve effective leadership). Already in 600BC, the
Chinese Tao Te King defined leadership:
"Most leaders are
despised, some leaders are feared, few leaders are praised, and the rare leader
is never noticed" (cited in Andriessen & Drenth 1984).
In
fact, his definition relates or may even distinguish between leaders and
appointed managers. The phenomenon of leadership was described in many
historical manuscripts. Actually, aside
from the Bible, the Iliad and Odyssey also presented some colorful definitions
of leadership and differentiate leaders in different cases.
Many works have been written since, in
which scholars suggested what is leadership and how it can be defined (Bass,
1990). Rigorous exploration of these works reveals severe difficulty in finding
agreement among them. This emerges in part from the difficulty in defining the
term leadership. There are several related frameworks in the literature, some
of which are partially overlapping and thus one can identify many types of
definitions, not necessarily similar.
It appears from these definitions that
leadership is associated with the relationship between a person and other
people - a group. Cattell (1953) defined a leader as a person who produces
group scintilla which is different from that which would have been if that
person had not been presented. Kotter (1988) defines leadership as a process of
motivating group(s) in certain direction through noncoercive process. Stogdill
(1974, p. 81) provides a more comprehensive definition:
"The leader is
characteriszed by a strong drive for responsibility and task completion, vigor
and persistence in pursuit of goals, venturesomeness and originality in problem solving, drive to
exercise initiative in social situation,
self-confidence and a sense of personal identity, willingness to accept consequences of decision and action,
readiness to absorb interpersonal
stress, willingness to tolerate frustration and delay, ability to influence other persons' behavior,
and capacity to structure social
interaction systems to purpose at hand"
This long and comprehensive definition
includes mainly skills and traits which characterize leaders, but does not
recognise the importance of the role of goal direction and exerting influences
on the group and its members. A more operative definition is that of Hersey &
Blanchard (1972):
“Leadership is a
process of interpersonal influence from a person unto other(s) in the direction
of a goal, where the other(s) subsequently act of own will in the direction
sought for by the leader.”
Looking at the above and many other
definitions, one can realise that here is no common agreement in the literature
for a definition of leadership (Yukl, 1994). Bryman (1986) provide various
samples, and the disparity among them is striking. Some of the disparity
relates to the component `having a goal
or target' which appears in only in part of them (e.g. Ruach & Behling
1984) but not in others (e.g. Hollander, 1978). Bryman (1986) also identified
the difference between the study of leadership in organizations and study of
leadership by itself.
Apparently, Yukl (1994) also explored some
of the definitions. In the study of Yukl (1994), the term `leader' and
emphasises the disparity among the scholars who try to define it. The common idea
that Yukl suggests is "A person who
influence group members". This definition seems to be too wide and is
lacking in focus. An additional growth in leadership study emerged with Bass's
ideas of transactional versus transformational leadership (Bass & Avolio,
1994). From this, it is very apparent that there are various different
definitions of leadership, but there is common understanding of its nature.
While there are many definitions for
leadership, a true leader is one that does not cause his or her constituents to
become dependent upon them, but rather independent enough to function in the
absence of the leader. True enough,
leadership is art. People and
individuals are influence by the goals of aspirations of the appointed
leader. Remember too, that the goals and
aspirations must be real and attainable in order for the people who are being
led to buy into them and strive towards them as well. Special emphasis is placed on the factor of
importance. Again, if individuals do not
see where they fit into the equation, they may question the authority of the
leader and abandon his or her ideas of beliefs.
Bear in mind also, that individuals or masses may be led by a leader,
however, when dealing with groups, the work is much more demanding as the
program must be sold to various personalities within the group.
1.2.Definition of School Leadership
From the previous issues about defining
leadership, it shows that leadership is not an easy concept to define. Actually, Leithwood, Jantzi, & Steinbach
(1999) stressed that the concept of leadership has no agreed definition. It was
also supported by Yukl (2002, pp.4–5) as he argued that
“the definition of
leadership is arbitrary and very subjective. Some definitions are more useful
than others, but there is no ‘correct’ definition.”
Aside from this, Cuban (1988, p.190) also
raised the issue as he says
“there are more than
350 definitions of leadership but no clear and unequivocal understanding as to
what distinguishes leaders from non-leaders”.
But despite of this lacking definition
pertaining to what leadership is, a lot of people and experts (e.g. Halawah,
2005; Sammons, Hillman, & Mortimore, 1995; and Lacina & Hannibal, 2008)
argued that leadership is significant to school effectiveness and improvement
(Stoll & Fink 1996, Hallinger and Heck 1999). For this reason, the need for the establishment
of at least a working definition of school leadership is necessary. Thus,
Chance & Chance (2002) define school leadership as
“as the process of
enlisting and guiding the talents and energies of teachers, pupils, and parents
toward achieving common educational aims.”
An educator has a responsibility to
provide guidance and share the knowledge to the students. And to become a head
of all the faculty members is such a great responsibility, what more if an
ordinary teacher became the leader of the entire school, such a burden. The
introduction of the clear standards of school leadership promotes the core
values and maturity on their role and responsibility. It is true that it’s hard
to find a perfect leader and guide everyone, including teachers and students.
With proper consulting, mentoring, training and measuring all the
responsibilities, a leader cannot be perfect but an effective person who can
lead the entire educational institution in better future.
The approach on school leadership is
accepted as an effective tool for managing in environments of overload and
fragmentation especially in school systems. The key aspects of leadership
should revolve in four categories. There should be a moral purpose when there
is a recognized leadership; the leadership should be part of an adaptive work;
the leadership should establish the unique roles and responsibilities; and the
leadership should know their domain or the centralization of their action
(Huber, 2007).
Aside from the proper school system, the
call for the effective school leadership has also captured the ethics of the
schools and approach to teach students well. For instance, the moral leadership
approach in schools is an effective approach that is used as a key of the
leaders whenever they are trying to influence the entire school organizations.
Apparently, the transformational leadership promises the focus on morality
which is good for the education. This provides the social systems, management
and improvement of education with the criteria that passed through the social
and personal morals such as honesty, courage, respect and broad mindedness
(Rudell, 2008).
1.3.School Leadership Patterns
Leadership is a process whereby an
individual influences a group of individuals toward a common goal. Aside from
that leadership is also a process which implies that a leader must continuously
grow and develop both in character and competence. In the same way, an
educational leader or reformer must possess such qualities as a leader.
Traditionally, the task of schooling has
been to transform children into full functioning adults capable of succeeding
in the culture of the time. Educational reformers from antiquity to the present
have attempted to prod educational institutions to modify and change
fundamental tasks and processes. Changing a subject matter can be difficult,
however, reforming the infrastructure of schooling and the dynamics of those
human interactions is monumental. This is the challenge and focus of the
contemporary educational leader. Thus, school leadership is more than a
position or role. School leadership at its core is fundamentally a dynamic,
chaotic, human relational process. The leader, follower and context are the
three structural dimensions involved in this process. How each individual
engages in that process; perceives or defines each of the dimensions of the
process can significantly shape the personal and collective metaphors that
guide individual and collective action (Richford, 2001). Hence, movement is
essential in school leadership in order to bring about educational changes.
Aligning the people in school is one of
the basic attribute of an effective school leadership. Along with that is the
proper management of the people in school in moving toward their objectives.
School leadership can be described as the trait of a person to set strategies
made especially for school improvements. The changes that an individual may
produce are another beneficial factor of his leadership to cope the changing
environment. On the other hand, the management is the process of the duties of
the leaders. Through the appropriate management, the problems and areas need
for development or improvement can be determined.
In school, effective leaders are also
community builders and can influence others to be a leader in their own way (Victor,
2009). There should be a moral purpose when there is a recognized leadership;
the leadership should be part of an adaptive work; the leadership should
establish the unique roles and responsibilities; and the leadership should know
their domain or the centralization of their action (Huber, 2007). Most of the
private schools received the lack of funding and the proper management of the
educators (Day, 2007). Based on the different challenges in the education, a
leader should promote the effectiveness in the education in delivering most of
the quality attributes. Through the roots of the personality of the leaders,
the effective approach in managing the schools will come out in them naturally
(Mai, 2004).
In addition to being concerned with the
school leadership, Sergiovanni (1992) also questioned whether schools should be
thought of as formal or informal organizations.
If formal, then formal leadership roles would be designated to
particular people by virtue of their rank in the organization. With this style, superintendents would be
expected to know more and lead more. If
informal, then working together to discuss goals, purposes and teaching
methodologies (collegiality) would take precedence over formal leadership.
Sergiovanni favored the informal position and felt that it led to a sense of
the school as a community (p. 43).
Barth (1988) proposed the idea of the
school as a community, encompassing all school staff, students and parents. His
community of leaders is explained:
“Teachers harbor extraordinary
capabilities and their leadership is a major untapped resource for improving
our nation’s schools . . . my vision for a school is a place whose very mission
is to ensure that students, parents, teachers and principals all become school
leaders in some ways and at some times (p. 131).”
The concept of the school as a community
of leaders is further developed by Barth (1990), as he suggests that principals
engage in activities such as articulating goals, empowering and entrusting
individuals, involving people in decision-making, taking risks, sharing
responsibility for failure, and sharing as well the joy of success. Barth believes that such “leadership would promote professional conversation among adults, peer
coaching among students, and staff cooperation on projects such as planning and
designing curricula (p. 31).”
Some believe, however, that it is
inappropriate to develop community leaders within an educational
institution. Zhao (2010) argues that one is unlikely to be
successful in
“collaboratively
defining the essential purpose of teaching and learning and then empowering the
entire school community to become organized and focused” (p. 13).
Indeed, current research concerning
site-based management confirms the importance of leadership from the top.
Still, Gardner & Laskin, (1995) believes that the
function of leadership is to alter the minds of the members of a
community. His cognitive approach claims
that leadership activity occurs in the mind of the leader, in the minds of the
followers, and in the interactions and transactions between and among those
minds.
Barth (1997) believes “contagious energy” is created through
collegiality. He further states,
“the nature and quality
of adult relationships within a school or a school system have more to do with
the school’s quality and accomplishments than any other factor” (p. 42).
1.4.New Trends in School Leadership
Leadership is the more
relationship-based, values-laden, developmental aspect of the work we do inn
organization. Bennis & Nanus (1985)
tritely suggest that management is doing things right and leadership is doing
the right things.
By the late 1970’s theories were
beginning to emphasize leadership that placed instruction and learning at the
core of effective education. Goodlad (1978)
refers to instructional leadership as the beginning of the third era in
leadership theory. He embraces this
concept as a return to “first principles” (p.324) and states that the work of
those who lead in the formulation of educational policy “is to maintain,
justify and articulate sound, comprehensible programs of instruction for
children and for youth” (p.326).
Research based upon Goodlad’s ideas
confirm that in more effective schools, principals led in the establishment of
atmosphere conducive to learning, and they were perceived to have more impact
on educational decision-making than principals in less effective schools. Hallinger, Beckman & Davis (1989) report
that effective principals “influence student learning by developing a clear
mission that provides an instructional focus for teachers throughout the
school.it creates a school environment that focuses on and facilitates student
learning”(p.9).
With regards to the new trends of school
leadership, understanding of the principalship has become even more aligned
with our concept of teacher leadership.
Sergiovanni (1999) put forth the concept of moral leadership based on
the assumption of schools as professional learning communities and that
communities are defined by their efforts toward making shared values explicit
and these shared values become sources for informal norms that govern
behavior. Teachers, as community
members, respond to their duties and obligations in keeping with the school
community informal norm system. These
connections allow principals to rely less on external control. The result is that teachers become
increasingly self–managed.
Unlike the leaders of the past, many of
today’s principals are “not lone rangers who depend on charisma and individual
genius to transform schools” (Lieberman & Miller, 1999; p. 40). The principals who are engaged in real school
change recognize that every teacher can be leader in partnership with the
principal and the roles of teaching, learning, and leading can be played by
everyone in an organization that is described by Lieberman & Miller (1999)
as “leadership dense” (p.46). Successful
principals recall the hopes, dreams, frustrations and aspirations they had when
they were teacher leaders and capitalize on the teacher leadership in their
schools to accomplish their goals.
Although progress has been made in
recognizing that the principal’s job is about creating a culture in which
principals and teachers lead together, our experience is that this perspective
is not widespread. As we work with principals
in the 2000s, the leadership conversations have changed but potential
principals still expect the graduate school or professional development
providers to prepare them in the technical responsibilities. Often, these future leaders believe their success
rests only in managing the facility, building the budget or creating the master
schedule. Our approach to their
development, however, is focused on a more complex form of leadership that
emphasizes values and beliefs, shared vision, school culture, teacher
leadership, professional learning communities, and transforming schools to
focus on teaching and learning. As
important as mastery of the technical and managerial skills may be, principals
must reconsider how to use the technical tasks of the work of schooling to
their advantage in partnering with the school’s teachers leaders in
transforming the teaching and learning that occurs.
New standard for school leaders support
those new relationships between principals and teacher leaders. Focus is placed on both student learning and
shared leadership in the recently developed multi-state performance assessment
designed for licensure of school principals.
Organized by the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Interstate
School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) was formed for the purpose of
raising quality in educational leadership and influencing certification through
principal candidate assessment (Stolp, S. & Smith, 1994). The first two of the six standards support
the importance of the school administrator’s work is in building a school
culture that promotes teacher leaders (Stolp, S. & Smith, 1994).
Standard 1: A school administrator is school leader who promotes the success
of all students by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation,
and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the
school community.
Standard 2: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the
success of all students by advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school
culture and instructional program conductive to student learning and staff
professional growth. (Stolp, S. & Smith, 1994)
The proliferation of professional
development schools has also impacted the expectations for principals. Direct collaboration of teachers with
university personnel in action research that informs teacher practice requires
new roles and shifts in power. Bolman
& Heller, (1995), suggests that changes in principal
leadership are necessarily linked to changes in teacher leadership in the professional
development school settings.
Another role for the principal is to
serve as a buffer for obstacles from outside the school. These may come from district staff, parents,
community members or other external forces like special interest groups. The principals of successful schools
negotiate with the larger system (Sowa & De La Vega, 2008) and develop
liaisons with powerful individuals to diminish these barriers for the
school. Teachers may not even be aware
of the efforts principals make to shield them from unpleasant information that
could lessen the teachers’ enthusiasm to lead.
Finally, a recent study (Mooij &
Smeets, 2001) suggests that the actions of principals to provide supportive
conditions is a key factor in encouraging shared leadership and nurturing
teacher leadership roles within professional communities. The principal supports teacher leadership by
actively listening to teachers, assuming a responsibility for knowing about
teaching and learning in the school and being consistent in the follow-through
on shared decisions made in the school.
1.5.School Leadership in the UAE
In UAE, the interest to spend on
education or schools has reduced in this past decades (ILO, 2002). This has
been made evident by the low educational spending obtained within UAE. Compared
to the industrialized nations, UAE had demonstrated a significant drop in
individual spending for education; the enrolment rate in the region is then
directly affected seeking for effective school leadership (Sowa & De La
Vega, 2008). However, in the case of the UAE, enrolment rate for higher
education has also been dropping continuously. In turn, this makes the need for
effective school leadership even more severe.
In UAE, there are several important
aspects raised in relation to the interest of students to education, dropout
rate and graduate population (Sowa & De La Vega, 2008). Enhancement of the role played by school
leaders is also weak which is also contributing to the declining interest of
student in education. The basic education in the country extends for 9 years
with three years of secondary education. Institutes that offer higher education
include Bahrain Training Institute, Gulf Hospitality and Tourism College,
Bahrain University, College of Health Sciences, Arab Gulf University and other
special institutions like the Bahrain Institute for Banking & Finance.
Statistic reports showed that enrolment rate (50%) and the number of graduates
(38%) in the country actually increased (ILO 2002).
However, certain problems had been identified
in the country’s secondary education level. In particular, a high level of
dropout rate has been observed; statistic reports identified a significant
difference between the number of enrollees in the primary, secondary and
intermediate schools (Henson & Chambers, 2003). As the students progress in
educational level, the number of enrollees lessens. Results also indicated that
for every ten students who enroll for their first year in primary education,
less than four pupils will enroll for secondary education. This observed trend
led school administrations to question the ability of the schools to retain the
students (ILO Interdisciplinary Mission 2002).
The interest of the students to
education is not only about leadership in schools; the population of the
enrollees in terms of gender also aggravates the issue. Local census showed
that more females are more motivated to study as compared to males. For
example, in the science courses, male students only make up 36% of the total
population while 64% are females. In the literary division, only 33.5% are
males . Females are only slightly higher than the male population in the
primary education level; however, female population doubles in the secondary
level and becomes 30% more than the male students in the intermediate level.
There is also a distinct discrimination in the courses offered for both
genders; for example, industrial education is only open to male students while
advertising and textile are only offered to female students (ILO, 2002).
Two-thirds of the secondary and
post-secondary education enrollees are made up of female students; however, the
females only make up 25.78% of the total labor force in UAE. These results
clearly showed that while there are more female graduates than males, their
skills are not utilized for local employment. The limited education courses
accessible to male and female students also make it difficult for employers to
find the needed employees for their operation (ILO, 2002). From the gathered
findings, UAE’s educational setting is comprised of abnormally high dropout
rate especially in the secondary level; eventually, the out of school
population contributes to the country’s unemployment rate. There is also an
apparent school leadership problem among male students in UAE. Moreover,
although the female population displayed a high performance level, the local
labor markets do not offer matching job opportunities.
The quality and promotion of education,
specifically the form of teaching and encouragement in the UAE has something to
do about school leadership. According to Al Sulayti (1999), students studying
in the Gulf region are more accustomed to the traditional methods of teaching
and memorization. For instance, in taking up English courses, students are
trained in preparation for taking up the Preliminary English Test, a
standardized English competency test for students at the intermediate level.
During the duration of the semester, the students must be able to achieve the
fourth level of English proficiency before the exams. This clearly illustrates
that the Arabian method of teaching is patterned after the traditional
high-stakes testing (Syed, 2003). This then deprive the students of the modern
techniques for teaching like collaborative learning. This educational practice
makes it even more difficult for student in UAE to obtain good local jobs and
compete with foreign workers.
Usually, classroom instruction is
conducted with a teacher facilitating the discussion; during the class,
teachers may ask questions or give examinations to assess the level of
comprehension of the students. In the traditional setting, the teachers are the
only source of information; students on the other would just have to take note
and memorize all these information. Skill level at this set up is greatly
affected due to the students’ lack of involvement in the learning process. With
the traditional learning process, students are not able to effectively apply
what they have learned from real work situations. Traditional teaching process
then lessens the potential of the students to be innovative, creative and
analytical.
The quality of education among students
is also affected by the inadequate IT knowledge and skill enhancement in the
Arab region. Although computer systems are readily available, there is also a
distinct lack of internet utilization in the students’ education process; this
also makes the nationals less appealing as employees compared to other foreign
workers. The inadequate exposure of most locals to internet use is largely
attributable to some inefficient Arab policies (UNDAP, 2002).
For instance, online Arabic publications
that could have been popularized through the internet are often controlled with
certain decrees. This then limits Arab information from being accessible to the
public. Another important is the cost of internet access in the region. As
online services are provided in the UAE at considerably high prices, most
people are not able to access this major development. This also prevents the
use of information and communication technology (ICT) for knowledge expansion
and better education (UNDAP, 2002).
- Student Achievement
2.1. Definition of Student Achievement
In the current era, student achievement
is one of the crucial factors in school development. According to Henson & Chambers, (2003), a
school achievement refers to something that a student do achieved at school
whether it is in class, in a laboratory, library or fieldwork which are
normally defined as academic achievement. It also does include sports and music
which are categorized as non-academic achievements. In addition, achievements upon
extra-curricular activities at school can be also considered as school
achievement.
In discussing student achievements, the
context of student learning and performance are also tackled. Learning is very vital to individual development
particularly to student’s achievement.
It needs special consideration to different variables to make the
learning experience become successful. Issues pertaining to individual
differences should be considered.
Intellectual capacity, expertise and knowledge pertaining to the
profession of the learners must be given an attention. Thus, teachers need to be careful not only to
approach in teaching but also to the overall learning outcome that will details
the achievements of the students. Actually, the importance of school leadership
takes form in the notion that learning is essential in order to obtain an
entry-level qualification for paid work, and learning whilst in a job; while
the importance of non-formal education can be stressed by the social common
senses that it teaches to students. Lacina, &
Hannibal, (2008) appears
to support this notion, who said that the three major purposes of education are
that it prepares a person for work, for citizenship and it enables him to have
significant school achievement that reflects on intellectual growth and independence.
Accordingly
the importance of education in assessing school achievements such as literacy
and certain procedural skills, uncovering the content of various knowledge
domains, inculcating certain values, perspectives, attitudes, and beliefs as
well as developing the ability to independently learn and think effectively are
emphasised (Ruddell,
2008). Although of
course, this does not imply that all of these needs are often done effectively
or are even proffered the attention they deserve.
The love
for learning is so great that it should be associated with a way of life. With
significant school achievements, it helps people to be more objective in their
approach to life’s problems, more analytical in trying to understand them and
more aware of the consequences that can arise when handling them (Thompson
& Serra, 2005).
School achievements and learning can help lead a fuller and richer life and to
be more conscious of the economic and social environment.
Like the suggestion of Thompson &
Serra (2005) that focused student achievement present a set of challenges.
Through ratings for an individual course compared to the composite raring for
all courses in the department, the minority range can be determined. The
monitoring process is depends in the class standard of the educators assumption
on how the students perform.
The work of the school is assessing
student achievement and assessing the capabilities of each student. By
monitoring process, the educators can clearly tell who met the requirement and
the students that belonged to the minority range who did not met the expected
proficiency will go for another series of practice. The students belonged in
this group needs attention and support (Gleeson & Husbands, 2001).
The guidance coming from the educators must prevail, and perhaps educators can
introduce an easy way in writing by shifting into other process which the skill
of a student suits to it.
The educators should orient their
students in a simple approach that they will surely understand. Encourage the
students to develop their skills into their own effort and find the right style
to enhance their learning abilities. The educators should always lend their
time to check the works of the students and give suggestions. The educator
should respect the choice of the students and help them perform well with a
group discussion. The teaching should not always goes in one direction,
meaning, the social time of the students with their friends and classmates can
endow the writing skill of the student.
2.2 Factors
Affecting Student Achievement
Teaching different individuals is
related to student achievement, thus the teaching methods of an instructor
should consider various factors affecting learning and student achievements. It
also should conform to the type or race of the student (Ovando & Collier,
1998). Meaning, the instructor should be
flexible in teaching depending on what the student are aiming to learn in order
to have a meaningful achievement.
Moreover, one of the factors that the instructor should understand is to
learn the different methods and strategies in teaching considering that it is
crucial to one’s achievement.
For example in a case study presented by
Fuchs, Fuchs, Mathes & Simmons, (1997), a school is typically made of
individuals of multiple linguistic, ethnic and economic backgrounds. Fuchs, et.
al. (1997) identified that the class consists of five Arabic students with low
socio-Economic Status, two non Arabic students with low socio-Economic Status,
four middle class Arabic students, two middle class non Arabic students, two
high socio-Economic Status Arabic students and two high socio-Economic Status
non Arabic students. With all of these elements, the question arises as to how
a teacher can reach each of these students individually while teaching the
entire class on a daily basis? While this scenario may sound excessive, in
reality, this is often case in some classrooms in Sydney. The problem then lies
in the teacher's hands to focus attention on each student with their plethora
of learning levels and styles.
The question arises as to what would
happen to student achievement if teachers ignore the need to conform to
Multiculturalism. This statement, while sounding contradictory within itself,
is a condition that occurs throughout our educational system, and has
detrimental impact on students of all backgrounds (Fuchs, et. al. 1997). For
example, research shows that teachers who do not acknowledge learning
differences tend to classify students as "teachable" or
"difficult to teach". This mental schema has several negative
outcomes (Alster, 1997).
Apart from Multiculturalism as affecting
factors of students’ achievements, teachers who also fail in the attempt to
build a classroom community will in turn classify students by their ability and
will often negatively influence the achievement of those students. Considering this,
many students fail to make adequate, if any, progress throughout school (Fuchs,
Fuchs, Mathes & Simmons, 1997) and will develop a very low self-esteem with
many dropping out of school during secondary education (Ovando & Collier,
1998).
Aside from this factor, factors such as
student’s learning capacity, vices, time spent sleeping, stress, school
teaching approach and leadership have a great effect students’ academic
achievements (Lacina, & Hannibal, 2008). The school environment is the
broader context of the school that allows for classroom instruction and student
learning (Tunney, 1996). A transformation to a community should take place
throughout the school wide environment by maximizing the number of positive
interactions with students and parents. Teachers are capable of producing
profound and positive changes in student behaviors and learning by effectively
modeling the positive processes, skills, and attitudes that parents teach
(Hindle, 1996).
Bringing members of a class together for
certain activities engenders the feeling of belonging to a group and in turn
establishes class spirit (Bergin, 1999). With this, students who feel that they
belong to a group have power in decision-making and have freedom of choices
(Tunney, 1996). The classroom community can be developed by a number of means.
Students should develop a process of understanding, sharing, compassion and
empathy. The classroom should be referred to by the teacher as "our
classroom" rather than "my classroom". The development of a
community is moving from doing things to students to doing things for students
(Tunney, 1996).
2.3 School Leadership and Student Achievement
Ensuring the
effectiveness of the teaching-learning process can be cumbersome if one of the
important things have not done and evaluated properly. The educational trend
nowadays, composed of concept of evaluation which aims on identifying which
part of the education system should be enhanced and which part needs changes. School
leadership and management is twice as
important as the evaluation and assessment of the students. It has been part of the tradition that
evaluation of school leadership has been accounted to be a critical element of
the teaching and learning process (Mentkowski, 2004) method.
To be able to make sure that the teaching-learning approach is able to
attain the educational objective, it is essential that the school leadership
and management has been properly assessed and evaluated.
In the case study presented by Theall,
(2002), he shows that evaluation of different educational activities,
programmes and other educationally relevant operations involving school
leadership has something to do with the manner of familiarizing the purpose of
the education is and how this can be attained. Theall, (2002) justifies that school
leadership includes the judgment regarding the effectiveness of the current
practices in school. Further, it includes gathering information which is done
in the assessment stage and making judgments or decisions based on the data collated
(evaluation stage), to identify how well school actions involving school
leadership is performing. It can be said that the principal purpose of school
leadership is to plan enhancement to the current practices that will enhance
the achievement of the students and other people in school. Such enhancements
might involve changes to the document of school curriculum and or the provision
of resources for the teaching-learning process (Theall, 2002).
Education is one of the necessities and
the rights of each individual in the world. In school, teachers and school
administrators’ leadership have the responsibility of providing effective
education to students, as this serves as their development. Through knowledge
and education, students can become involved to different activities, which do
not only develop their mental abilities, but their personalities as well.
School leadership and their efforts towards promotion of education play
significant effect to the learning capabilities and student achievements. With efficient school leadership efforts, it
creates way and strategies to attain success in teaching-learning process.
According to Khan (2011), methods in teaching, capabilities of the learner and
the learning environment should be considered in order to attain success.
Khan (2011) reports that education is
the knowledge of putting a person’s potential to maximum use, and is important
for training the human mind, which makes man a right thinker and it tells one
to think and make decisions. Without education, man is as though a closed room,
but through education, he finds himself in a room with all its windows open
towards outside world (Khan 2011). With this importance, it is always better to
provide some changes and improvement to the system of education. School
improvement programs must be planned effectively and implemented efficiently to
help the development of the curriculum, for the enhancement of the learning
process of each student.
2.2.Student Achievement in the UAE
The government in UAE had done several steps
and procedures in order to improve their education by enhancing student
achievement.. So as to improve the skills of the students and prepare them for
the demands of the labor markets, major changes had been introduced and
enforced through new education policies.
For primary education, policies that
improves student achievement include the implementation of a generalized
class-teacher system, employment of ICT in the teaching process, early teaching
of the English language, provision of learning programs for gifted students and
creation of better home-school relations. For the out of school youth, the
local government had also enforced a policy where vocational programs will be
provided for these children to prepare them for the requirements of the labor
market (UNESCWA 2006 and Sowa & De La Vega, 2008). Society groups like
teachers and students now have access to various training courses for advance
learning that would improve their technical knowledge and skills. The structure
of UAE’s ministry of Education has also been modified in order to ensure that
the needs and requirements of the labor market are relayed to the education
institutions. This modification also enabled the ministry to develop programs,
visions and objectives that can help prepare future job applicants in securing
local work opportunities (Ministry of Education 2003).
The developments in UAE’s school setting
had also been subjected to a continuous and automated evaluation system, making
the preparation and analysis of education statistic report easier and more
accurate (Sowa & De La Vega, 2008). According to Sowa & De La Vega,
(2008) several developmental project had also been approved by the local
administration to improve the learning and educational background of the
Bahrainis. These projects include the utilization of a curriculum that teaches
personal, health and social life skills, the use of a commercial and industrial
curriculum and the employment of an English-guided reading program (Ministry of
Education 2003).
The development and implementation of
the curriculum for life skills aim to integrate the learning for life
perspective; this will help in achieving educational goals that are relevant
the students’ health, existence and relation with the society. This development
project aims to establish a balance between the knowledge students learn from
school and real life application (Sowa & De La Vega, 2008). This project
will then directly address the students’ need to be updated with the latest
economical, political, social and technological developments. The development
of the commercial and industrial curriculum also aims to enhance the skills of
the Bahraini students and prepare them for the labor market (Ministry of
Education 2003).
The commercial curriculum for instance
is directed on the development of vocational education so as to help students
overcome rapid knowledge and technological changes (Sowa & De La Vega,
2008). Moreover, the learning of the English language has been more emphasized
in this curriculum development. Some of the important features of this
curriculum include the establishment of simulation halls where students can
practice actual labor market work, the integration of the internet, development
and implementation of new improved training programs for teachers, modification
of the study plan for commercial education to coordinate with the demands of
the labor market and introduction of new courses that are in demand to the
current work sector (Ministry of Education 2003).
Similar developments had been done in
the curriculum for industrial education and improvement of student’s
achievement. In order to enhance the actual work experience and student’s
achievement, the study plan for industrial education now include more hours for
field training (Sowa & De La Vega, 2008). New courses that meet the needs
of the labor market are also introduced; the courses also give more focus on
teaching life skills, safety health and vocational abilities. In order to shape
the students’ project management capabilities, small feasibility projects that
teach project planning, resource budgeting and workforce management are
integrated (Sowa & De La Vega, 2008). Aside from technical skills, these
projects also help student develop important values like self-confidence,
independence and respect, which they could use in actual work settings
(Ministry of Education 2003). Aside from the implementation of various educational
policies, the local government of UAE has also been active in promoting the
employment of nationals in local work opportunities.
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