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At the conference titled “Leadership in Educational Organizations: Dilemmas and Perspectives,” Dr. Denise Vaillant, academic secretary of the Institute of Education, emphasized that, today, the focus is on leadership for the promotion of learning.
Historically, when discussing leadership and the role of a director, the conversation has often centered on resource management, financial management, or human resources management.
The event took place on January 12, 2017, in Santiago, Chile, as part of the book launch Educational Leadership in Schools: Nine Perspectives, edited by José Weinstein, director of the Center for the Development of Educational Leadership (CEDLE).
“What do good principals do?” Vaillant asked himself. Based on his visits to schools that “work very well,” he concluded that, in addition to promoting education and focusing on rethinking practices, there is one common element: “honest rule-breaking.”
These are institutions that “do everything they’re supposed to do,” without taking regulations into account—or only partially doing so.
While he made it clear that he does not condone illegality or noncompliance with the rules, there are sometimes strategies that the regulations do not cover, but which a principal who wants to move forward and exercise pedagogical leadership often employs. For example, he cited a case of a school where the principal evaluates teachers, even though this is not permitted.
Vaillant also emphasized that it is essential to view the principal as a “role model for teachers’ professional development.”
Although the workshops and training activities held in the 1990s and 2000s demonstrate “the limited impact that professional development for teachers has had,” he explained that it cannot be said they are useless: “It means that the way we have approached it in our countries has not been the right one.”
Leadership itself is key to driving change and innovation. But at the same time, leadership serves as a vehicle for bringing about change and improvement.