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“Leadership means inspiration, attitude, action, motivation and passion without imposing your thoughts but making the others choose them with freedom and working together to achieve the common goals”

 

 

The person who I consider a good example of a leader is Mahatma Gandhi since he had the characteristics to be a leader because of being inspirational, trustworthy and humble. Gandhi, apart from having a strong vision to make changes, lived in poor conditions like millions of Indian people. The fact of living in the same conditions as his followers made him to understand better the problems that ordinary people from his country had and to create a closer connection with them. With his words, Gandhi empowered Indian people to believe in themselves and gave them power to take risks and action to fight for solutions, in this case, fighting for the Indian independence from the British. Besides, he took part in this change, not just with words, but also working with the Indian society as equals, which is essential to be a good leader since he didn’t feel superior to the rest of people, he was one them. Also, another fact that I love from his policy is that he believed in the power of words instead of the use of violence to achieve his goals. 

 

On the other hand, another person who I consider a great leader was Maria Montessori. She continues being one of the most influential educational contributors in the world because of her revolutionary method for infant children in a period when childhood was not very important (early 1900s). She opened a new world to raise children and gave to that period the real importance that it has. It was possible because of her leadership characteristics since she was a determined, trustworthy and charismatic woman who was able to speak out in a man’s world. Consequently, I think that not only she was a pioneer educator, but also as feminist, showing the intellectual capacity that women can have and expressing her thoughts and ideals. 

 

The last example that I want to talk about is Adolf Hitler. Even if I am completely against his policies, it continues being surprising the amount of followers that he had and continue having, since he was a dictator but chose by elections and there are people that continue supporting his ideas today. The reason is his great capacity to be a leader. He was a charismatic speaker, powerful, persistent and clear what made people rely on him. 

 

These three opposite examples show totally different ways to be a leader, since Ghandi was an inspirational and life-changing leader, Maria Montessori was a visionary one and Hitler followed a dictator leadership. However, the three of them were leaders somehow since a big amount of people followed and supported them. 

 

Someone that I see as a good leader is one teacher with which I worked when I was living in Scotland. She used to be democratic when deciding something with the rest of teachers and me, but also with her students. Another important fact is that she felt passion for her job, so she transmitted it to her students and inspired them. Moreover, she was very creative, so she knew how to make her classes interesting and fun to engage her students.  Likewise, she was a good communicator, so people used to believe in her and share her opinion. And, of course, she has a positive attitude, since she was a fun and cheerful person who was able to transmit it to the others. 

 

Nevertheless, the last boss who I worked with in my previous job is, in my humble opinion, a bad leader. It was because he was an authoritarian boss who tried to impose his opinion all the time without taking the others into account. Also, when he didn’t like something, he didn’t try to talk to the person involved; I even think that he felt superior to his workers, so this situation resulted in a bad environment and unsatisfied workers. 

 

 

The picture with which I agree the most is the one in which the leader and its followers are holding their hands in a circle. The reason why it is the one that fits better for me is because, from my point of view, a good leader is the one that collaborate with the others as a partner or colleague, taking into account the others opinion and moderating the situation to come to terms. 

However, there are several photos that I don’t see a good leader has to be. Especially, the one of the narrow in which the leader is directing the team and the members have to carry him and the narrow. I consider that it represents a dictator leader who just says orders and the followers have to do the work. The reason why I don’t agree with this idea as leader is because someone who doesn’t put the same effort as its followers to achieve the common goals can’t be a trustworthy leader. 

From my point of view, there are some characteristics that are essential to be a good leader:

·         Honesty and Integrity are two main factors since people follow someone that they can trust and share similar values and beliefs.

·         Motivational: a leader has to be a reference that inspire you and make you feel motivated to achieve your goals.

·         Confidence: a leader has to be sure about what she/he does to make followers trust you as a leader and the capacity to take decisions. 

·         Empathy: It is essential to be able to understand your followers’ situation as a way to create closer connections with them.

·         Good communicator: being able to communicate your massage effectively is basic, since words have the power to motivate people.

·         Creativity and innovation: the capacity to develop new ideas is a necessary characteristic.

·         Be passionate in what you do will make you do it better and result in satisfied followers.

·         Delegation of tasks: as leader, you can’t do everything as a way to empower your followers.

If I have to choose the top five from the characteristics that I said before, I would choose them in the following order: 

1.      Honesty and Integrity: because it is essential for me that my leader have good values and doesn’t cheat his/her followers.

2.      Empathy: a leader who is able to understand you and to walk in another’s shoes allows the leader to know what it is important for them.

3.      Motivational: a leader capable to encourage her/his followers is very important for me.

4.      Communicator: through words is how a person can make you think and understand other points of view.

5.      Innovation: a leader with good and new ideas is essential.

 

 

 

·         Are there universal traits? 

 

In my opinion, yes, talking about leadership, there are traits that are universal independently the culture in which you grow up, such as being honest, motivating, confident, extrovert  or communicative since they are aspects that are necessary for every leader in every situation. Especially nowadays, when the world is interconnected and the differences between people are softer. However, it is true that there are aspects culturally determined and vary depend on the country or culture. So, knowing about universal and behavioural traits can help us to understand how to be a better leader globally or locally.

 

·         Can these traits predict leadership in all situations? 

 

It is true that depends on the personality traits you have can lead you to be a type of leader or another, or just a follower, but I don’t think it can be applied to everybody and every situation.

While I agree with the idea that some traits are inside you when you born, I also think that most of the personality traits that you have when you are an adult are influenced by your life experiences and can be learned or developed along your life. 

 Moreover it is suggested that certain traits can sometimes be associated with strong leadership, but I consider that there isn’t a specific universal list that identifies the traits that all great leaders possess or that will guarantee leadership success in all situations since while there are some traits that are often linked to leadership, just a few leaders possess all these traits and even if a strong leader has many of these qualities, the situation also play an important role in determining if this person is able to lead well. Consequently, it is an interaction between traits and the situation which determine if the person is a good leader.

 

·          Is there real correlation between leadership and traits? 

I consider that there is a connection between leadership and traits, since you personality can determine if you have leadership capacities and make you feel more or less comfortable in leadership situations. However, as I said before, I think that there are traits and skills that can be developed if you work on them.

Nevertheless, it is my opinion but there isn’t a clear answer for this question, since after some research, I have realised that the existence of a real correlation between leadership and traits depends on the opinion of each one. Some authors claim that the connection is clear, such as Handbury (2001) who says “Leaders are not just identified by their leadership styles, but also by their personalities, their awareness of themselves and others, and their appreciation of diversity, flexibility, and paradox” while others like McGregor (1960) states “It is quite unlikely that there is a single basic pattern of abilities and personality trait characteristics of all leaders. The personality characteristics of the leader are not unimportant, but those which are essential differ considerably depending on the circumstances”

Consequently, de connection between two aspects is determined by the personal opinion of each person.

 

·         Do those traits determine success or achievement? 

 

From my point of view, there are traits that can help or facilitate you success of achievement, such as motivation, perseverance or determination, since when you work hard and are determined to achieve your goals, you can become more successful in what you do. Consequently, we can say that these traits affect the success you can have in your life, but it doesn’t mean that success is always achieved if you have some specific traits. For example, even if you are a hard-working person, there are some situations in which you can fail achieving your goals, but what is true is that the possibilities to success are higher if you have this trait. 

 

·         What about if you have those traits but no motivation?

 

In this case, I strongly believe that motivation is an essential trait to achieve success or be a leader, without motivation or passion for what you are doing, it is more difficult to achieve your goals and also to motivate others. If a leader wants motivated followers, he/she has to show these motivational traits and show that you believe in what you are doing as a way to engage the others in the objective and to make them believe in it. 

“To become an efficient leader, you must be self-motivated. Once you are self-motivated, only then you can motivate others to achieve their goals and to harmonize their personal goals with the common goals of the organization” (Juneja, 2016)

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Hanbury, G. L. (2001). The function of leadership styles and personality types among city managers: An analysis of "fit" and tenure. Boca Raton, FL: (UMI No. 9998892)

 

Juneja, P. (2016) Leadership and motivation. Management Study Guide. Retrieved from: https://managementstudyguide.com/leadership-motivation.htm

 

McGregor, D. (1960). The human side of enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

It is a fact that different leadership styles are associated to the country, culture and society where the person is. For this reason, focusing on education, the way to lead in schools is totally different depends on where it is. 

Regarding leadership styles in Western schools, it is more typical to find more democratic and participative leaders whose style is more focus on people, trying to develop teamwork and providing open communication with the objective make followers think and act in a free and innovative way. We could say then that Western schools use a transformational leadership style.

However, Eastern schools, I want to put special emphasis for example, in Chinese schools, they usually follow a leadership style focused on organization and an autocratic style where the leader takes the decisions and everybody follows the system and follow steps. So, their style is more centred in a transactional leadership. 

I consider that the main reason why the leadership styles in schools of different countries vary so much is the culture in which the school is involved to. While people in Western countries are, in general, more extrovert, Eastern people live in a more controlled and organised society which influence what each one consider as a good leadership style. 

 

Being a leader in an International school is a difficult task, it is because these schools are full of teachers and students from different countries and cultures that result in different ways of understanding, teaching and learning. Consequently, the leader must be able to be open-mindness and uses a combination of leadership styles to get to everybody and make all of them feel comfortable in such a multicultural environment. The styles that I see more suitable for this type of schools are the Transformational leadership, since it works on changing the system, inspiring people and effective communication; and Democratic style which makes people think and participate. Aspects that are basic in International schools. 

 

 

The issues that can arise when we try to implement the correct leadership style in an International school is related to what I answered in the first answer, while an International school tries to be as globalized as possible, it is a fact that the school is set in a country, culture and society that affect on it. For this reason, each International school, even if they follow the same ideas, differs between them depending on where it is, due to the fact that the environment has an influence on the school, its educators and students.

Also, maybe the type of leadership that works in a school, or even in the same one, but in a different situation, doesn’t work in another one. So, it must be difficult to know how to be a good leader and which style works in each moment or place.

 

 Following the standards that IB schools support, I would say that there are several leadership styles that can be connected with them:

·         Distributive style: since, for example, points 1 and 4 refer to share information and tasks related to leadership.

·         Democratic style: since, for example, number 7 points out the involvement of the stakeholders in the evaluation of the organization.

·         Transformational style: since, for example, point 1 tries to maximize the capability of the team through a system that maintain everybody informed about the development of the programme. Also, number 3 is connected to that style since transformational leadership inspire people to do their best and the standard is related to having prepared head-teachers regarding the IB leadership.

·         Pedagogical style: Numbers 2, 5 and 6 are related to the existence of a structure, policies, etc. that help to implement the programme in a correct way and the existence of a structure and protocol is something that this type of leadership supports.

 

 

There are several challenges that schools have to face when applying the seven points of the standard. Firstly, it is not easy to know how and when apply each leadership style since the IB programme support a mix of leadership styles because it follows that an effective leader has to adapt its style to fit different situations due to the fact International schools are multicultural environments.

Also, it is a challenge to maintain the programme updated continuingly since the participation of every member in the school is necessary as well as a clear organization where educators and staff know their tasks perfectly. Especially, a strong leadership from principals and IB programme coordinators play a key role in successful programme implementation, so they must be very well-prepared to face the leadership issues that appear in the programme development. 

Moreover, carrying out a qualified evaluation programme which takes into account all stakeholders is a difficult task, since it is not easy come into terms when a lot of people are involved. 

The term of education can be defined and understood in a lot of different ways. 

Generally, it is the process of learning and acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits and normally, it is connected to schools, but education is not only produced there, also at home, through social interactions, etc. In short, education is produced everywhere since it is the process of discovering and it is something that you can do wherever. 

As I understand this concept, ‘education is a process of living not a preparation for future living’ (Dewey, 1916) I totally agree with this idea because of the fact that everybody is a continuous learner, even if you aren’t conscious of this learning. 

Consequently, we can differentiate between formal and informal education. The first one refers to the one that is deliberate and with a purpose; it is produced in schools or educative institutions. While the informal one is the education that goes in daily life without realising or the one that we do on our own or with others being conscious of it, but with a different purpose from learning. 

 

·         Why are we doing our jobs in school? What is education for? What should schools achieve?

From my point of view, the reason why formal education is produced in schools is because it is necessary the existence of a place where people can learn specific knowledge and skills that is not typical to learn in your day-to-day. Schools allow us to have an environment where learning is the principal purpose with resources and educators that allow the acquisition of knowledge. However, even if the purpose of the school is very important, a lot of students and parents don’t see its sense. For most of them, learning means to memorise and answer in order to obtain good marks. For this reason, as educators, we have to be able to transmit the utility of school and make them know that the knowledge, skills and values acquired in the school raise them as citizens and approach them to a full life, which is essential to get your dreamy job and a satisfactory life. 

Consequently, the purpose of education is much more than instruction; it is the development of knowledge, skills and values that will help students to be confident and intellectual capable to achieve what they want. In short, Education brings people the opportunity to make of themselves the best they can be. 

In this way, the purpose of education is the schools’ purpose as well. It has to be able to raise individuals able to think, live in society and confront life situations and the way to achieve it is through a high-quality education where students feel that they learn useful things. For this reasons, educators must be well prepared to transmit knowledge that allow students to love learning.

 

·         What will the future be like for your students? What attributes and skills should students have for the future?

It seems to me that the future, because of the increasing pace of technological innovations, will be marking by technology even more; consequently, as educators, we have to re-evaluate if the skills we are teaching will provide the best opportunities to succeed in the future.

For this reason, the skills that I see more important to develop in our students are:

o   Digital literacy: which is the capacity to use digital technology and create information.

o   Agility and adaptability: because of the fast and continuous changing that is being produced over time, especially in technological improvements. So, they must be able to adapt themselves to new situations.

o   Critical thinking and problem-solving: since because of the existence of a lot of resources to find information and express opinion, they must be able to criticise and differentiate what is real or not, as well as having their own point of view.

o   Communication: because of the connected and globalized world in which we live and we will live, it is necessary to develop the capacity to communicate with others effectively, oral and written.

o   Emotional intelligence: it is a skill that has always been necessary and it will be in the future even more since being able to understand your own emotion and the other ones will allow having a healthier life. 

o   Team-working: again, because of being in contact to everybody, it is essential to be able to work with other different points of view.

 

o   Purpose:

There are several reasons why doing this meeting can be necessary and useful:

§  The school assessment strategies are limited and assessment teachers’ knowledge as well. They will receive instruction regarding formative and summative assessment, techniques to achieve effective assessment such as peer and self-assessment, oral and written feedback, etc.

§  New techniques to make assessment part of the teaching and learning process exist. So applying them in the school can have a lot of benefits for educators and students such as having clear the strengths and weaknesses of each student, improving the teaching practice through having more clear goals and using different learning strategies, transforming judgement into feedback…

§  Changing the way of assessment based on assessment of learning (judging task itself) to assessment for learning (how the student performs the task) as a way to use evidences and dialogue to identify each student’s learning needs. 

o   Product:

As result, more prepared teachers in terms of assessment will bring positive consequences to the teaching-learning process such as an exhaustive knowledge about what each group or student needs, lessons carefully planned towards the learning goals, own teacher’s learning about her/his way to teach and the aspects to improve…all these aspects affect to the teacher’s confidence when teaching in a positive way since it makes him/her to feel more secure in being working on what the group really needs. 

 

But also, an effective assessment generates more prepared students. They must be part of the assessment process and the way to do it is making them aware of the aim of learning, the reasons why they must know it, where they are to achieve this aim and how to achieve it. When they are able to understand it, they feel responsible of assessment and it stops being just a teacher’s task, so they feel part of the process which has positive consequences on their motivation, confidence and self-esteem thanks to know how they are progressing, the areas they need to improve and what they need to do to improve. 

o   People:

To establish the people who need to attend the meeting, I am going to establish the questions that the presentation can answer:

§  What is effective assessment? How can it be achieve?

§  Why do we need to apply new assessment methods?

§  What assessment methods can be applied to each educative stage?

§  What are the benefits and consequences of this type of assessment?

Consequently, who are the ones that need answers for these questions? The answer is Educators. They are the ones who need to apply these techniques in class and can have more questions related to assessment.  However, not only they need to know about it, but also coordinators need to be prepared to give feedback and resources to teachers about the application of assessment as a way to make all teachers to implement it in the same way. 

o   Process:

To follow the process of application of the new knowledge acquire about effective assessment, teachers will develop an agenda in which they register:

§  The learning aims and standards to achieve by students, when they are achieved and in which of them need to continue working.

§  To establish the students’ expectations and their achievement. 

§  Reflexions on the learners’ progress.

§  The methods used in the assessment process. 

o   Pitfalls:

The risks or difficulties that can appear on the meeting can be related to:

§  Questions that cannot be answered with the information presented à to overcome them, the presenter can take notes about these doubts and answer them in a second meeting or via email.

§  Negative opinions towards the new assessment methods à the presenter can give specific examples of these methods applications and their real results as a way to make teachers realize of the positive results obtained.

§  Lack of time to present all the information or to clarify doubts à another meeting can be organised in case the information is not clear enough for the attendants. 

o   Prep:

Some tips that could be useful to do in advanced as a way to involve the attendees in the topic could be to send them an interesting article related to assessment by email. It is called ‘Assessment; the bridge between Teaching and Learning’ by Dylan Wiliam. It will help educators to have some previous knowledge about the topic before starting the presentation.

After the presentation, we will ask teachers to choose one of the methods learned and apply them in class during the following week. They have to register the way to do it and its results as well as the difficulties found to talk about them in the following meeting.

o   Practical concerns: 

The meeting will be done in a big class where teachers can sit in groups depending on their educative stage as a way to make them discuss the information and doubts related to their stage. Also, a projector is need to present the information developed in ‘Prezi’ It will be done after the classes (17:00) and its duration will be around 1 hour and a half with 15 min for questions. 

Some sandwiches and water bottles will be given to attendants. 

Moreover, they will have papers and pens to take notes, but the Prezi presentation will be also send by email.