Critical Review On Leadership

I anticipated EE811 would offer me the following skills: (i) to learn to critically analyse and research key literature on the leadership and management of change and PD; (ii) theories to inform my leadership practice to enhance student learning; (iii) engage in valuable discourse with my fellow students; (iv) learn to write academically.

I now view the leadership of change through new lenses. Although change is often uncomfortable, I must lead it with consistency, empathy, and authenticity. Change drives education: it is inevitable and unpredictable, comes in many varieties (incremental, continuous, discontinuous), and may be caused by internal and/or external factors. (Name names here!!!) Leaders must accept that successful change management

I am interested in pursuing opportunities for communities of enquiry, such as those explored through the empirical analyses of Butler and Schnellert (2012), in order that teachers feel their input valuable. In addition, I will stay abreast of leadership research and theory, just as I expect teachers to keep up with teaching. Fullan (2010) asserts that ‘proactive practitioners [. . .] critically consume research as they go’ (p. 14). I will continue to be an avid PD literature reader. I will also become a far more reflective leader, who links current theory to practice: after reading of Guskey’s (2002) article on evaluating impact, I am already conducting empirical research (observations, requesting teacher and student input) to measure the effectiveness of an English grammar program I spearheaded. In addition, I led an overhaul of our vocabulary instruction to incorporate an online program three years ago. However, I realised, during my literature analysis (e.g. Guskey, 2002; Earley and Porritt, 2014), that I did not sufficiently evaluate impact on learning. I subsequently requested teacher and student feedback (via online surveys) and worked with our registrar to establish baseline and current quantitative data (e.g. English PSAT/ACT