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0 School Leadership and Leadership Challenges; Types of Leadership and

Leadership Challenges at School

Leadership has been described as a process of social influence in which one person
can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task
(Chemmers, 1997). According to Blake & Mouton (1964), there are four types of leadership
which are autocratic, human relations, democratic and laissez faire (Warrick, D.D. 1981). An
autocratic leader gives high emphasis on performance and a low emphasis on people. To
get the job done, an autocratic leader relies on power and hard work with minimal employee
involvement. However, a human relations leader gives low emphasis on performance and a
high emphasis on people. This type of leader relies on teamwork and good relationship to
get the job done. Next, a democratic leader gives high emphasis on performance and
people. The leader motivate and managing individuals in order to reach organizational as
well as their own personal objectives. Lastly, a laissez faire leader gives low emphasis on
performance and people. The leader just do enough to get the job done and leave people
alone as much as possible. Every school leader has its own way to choose their leadership
style. Furthermore, there is another type of leadership which is servant leadership. Servant
leadership is a form of democratic leadership, as the whole team tends to be involved in
decision-making. This leadership has some interesting characteristics for the leader to apply
it in their organization and management

In 2013, the National Education Blueprint 2013-2025 was released which outlined 11
shifts that will need to implement in our education system. The fifth shift in this plan is to
ensure high-performing school leaders in every school. A high-performing principals/
headmasters in primary schools are important to ensure the successfulness of school
performance. International research on school leadership shows that an outstanding
principal - one who is focused on instructional and not administrative leadership can raise
student outcomes by as much as 20% (Education Blueprint 2013-2025, 2012). Therefore,
types of leadership practiced by the headmasters are important because it will give either
positive or negative impact to the schools community.

During my last teaching practical, I noticed that the school headmistress practiced a
combination of democratic leadership and servant-leadership styles. Based on my
experiences and observation, I believed that this school leader possesses some
characteristics as democratic and servant leader. Some of the democratic characteristics
are being a decisive-decision maker and also a good communicator. In addition, she also
has some characteristics of servant leader such as being empathy, persuasive and
community builder. I really admire her leadership styles because I can see that the school
communities are comfortable to do their work and the school performance also increases
from year to year.

The first characteristic of a democratic school leader is being a decisive-decision

maker. The leader is a decisive decision maker who emphasizes team decision-making but
also makes some decisions alone (Warrick, D.D. 1981). I still remembered the time when
we had a school meeting where the headmistress came out with an issue and gave the
freedom for the teachers to voice out their views or ideas. I rarely see this type of leadership
in school. Usually, the school leaders will come out with their own decision and ask the
subordinates to follow their plan. However, it is different with my school headmistress
leadership styles. She facilitated the discussion and encouraged the teachers to share their
ideas and then synthesizing all the available information into the final decision. She also
even asked the teacher trainees to contribute ideas for the school. I was touched with the
discussion and hope that I can have a good leader like her in my future teaching.

The second characteristic of a democratic leader possesses by the headmistress is

being a good communicator. In democratic leadership, communication is open, two-way
and genuine (Warrick, D.D. 1981). Whenever she talks either in meeting or in informal
discussion, she always ensures that there is two-way communication. She was able to
create an environment where the teachers feel very comfortable not just receiving
information, but also sharing information with her. In addition, she was also able to build
trust among the teachers through her genuine communication. She always being honest in
whatever she says and that make me proud of having a school leader like her. In addition,
she is also a good listener when she communicates with others. Listening refers to a deep
commitment of listening to others, possessing high level of attentiveness, devoted to

understanding the communication of others (Autry, 2001; Bennis and Goldsmith, 1997; Frick
and Spears, 1996; Greenleaf; 1970/1991; and Secretan, 1996 in Crippen, 2005). Thus, I
can say that my headmistress is an effective leader because she has both characteristics of
being a great communicator and also a good listener.

Thirdly, the headmistress also practices one of the characteristics of servant

leadership which is empathy. I can see that she strives to understand and empathizes with
others. Empathy is described as identifying with the thoughts, feelings, and perspectives of
others (Secretan. 1996 in Crippen, 2005). During the teaching practices, I observed that the
headmistress frequently go around the school. She entered the teachers room and check
on the teachers progress. Sometimes, she asks about our well-being and also discusses
about the problems in class. Moreover, whenever she meets with her students or the school
staffs, she always tries to have simple conversation like asking about health and so on. By
reaching out to students and teachers and extend a caring attitude, the headmistress
actually present an inviting and safe atmosphere to the school community. This type of
environment also can encourage teachers and students to become productive and
successful in their work and study. This idea is supported by Greenleaf (Spears, 1998a in
Crippen, 2005) that individuals grow taller when those who lead them empathize and when
they are accepted for what they are.

Fourth, the school headmistress is a persuasive leader who seeks to convince

others, rather than coercive compliance. During the meeting, the headmistress has not put a
lot of energy into getting people to follow her idea but the teachers are willing to follow her
decision. I still remember her word this is the way we should do it and here is why. She is
not only able to come out with good ideas but also able to persuade others to accept the
changes.

Fifth, I identified that the school headmistress also possesses one of the servant
leadership characteristics which is a community builder. (Novak, 2002 in Crippen, 2005)
encourages schools to move into the community (through their service and real life problem
solving) and move the community into the school through parent groups or community

members becoming involved in school planning. During the teaching practical, I found out
that the headmistress is the real community builder. There are many activities in the school
plan that has involvement of school community and also the community outside the school.
For example, Maulidur Rasul program is one of the Islamic programmes that had been
organized by the school which needed the students and teachers to meet with the
community who live outside of the school. From what I heard, the teachers and also the
students were walking from the school to the nearer villages at that time. They were reciting
selawat for Prophet Muhammad from house to house and the school headmistress received
positive feedbacks from the villagers. Beside, the headmistress also organized a gotongroyong program where there was an involvement of parents and students in decorating and
cleaning the school areas. The outcome of this activity is really impressive and successful
because it involves both communities who live inside and outside of the school to contribute
their ideas. (Starrat, 2003 in Crippen, 2005) states that in order to cultivate civil learning
communities the school leader must work with parents on projects to coproduce structures
and procedures through which teachers and parent concerns can be heard and acted on.

(Fullan, 2001 and Mortimore, 1995 in Azian binti Ahmad Shaharbi, 2010) assert that
in this globalized era, a head teacher needs to practice professional leadership which
includes firmness in making decisions, having realistic objectives and emphasizing on
uniqueness as a leader in school. (Chan Yuen Fook, 2000 in Azian binti Ahmad Shaharbi,
2010) opines that the nations educational aspirations will not reach its objectives if the
school leadership focuses only on administrative chores when the school leadership field
today is much more dynamic, complex and demanding. Therefore, in order to fulfill the fifth
shift in National Education Blueprint; to ensure high-performing school leaders in every
school, the head school not only led the students to have high achievements in academics
and co-curriculum, but more importantly to the opportunity to make difference in school.
However, their responsibility of being a leader is very challenging to them. (Fullan ,2001;
Deal and Peterson, 2000; and Abdul Shukor Abdullah, 2004 in Azian binti Ahmad Shaharbi,
2010) exposed that there are weaknesses in the school leadership. One of the challenges in
school leadership is the role of the school leader to be a facilitator and also an activator to
the teachers. A facilitator is a leader with outstanding human relation skills that include the
abilities to build individual relationships with parents, teachers, and students; collaborative
teams with staff members and parents; and a schoolwide community of leaders (McEwan,

Elain K., 2003). On the other hand, an activator is an individual with gumption (e.g., drive,
motivation, enthusiasm, energy, spunk, and humor) enough to share with staff, parents, and
students (McEwan, Elain K., 2003). The headmistress is lacking in this characteristics
despite of her good relationships with the school community. It is proven by (Mansor Abd.
Aziz, 2001 and Hasrat Abdul Rahman, 2001 in Azian binti Ahmad Shaharbi, 2010) that the
role of a head teacher in a school is just as an administrator and not as a professional
educational leader as hoped by the MOE which includes the role as an educator, act as
mentor towards the teachers as well as a leader who is able to generate the teachers
loyalty so as to be more committed and productive.

Besides, another challenge in the school leadership is the head schools role as the
change master. The change master is a flexible, futuristic and realistic leader, able to
motivate as well as manage change in an organized, positive and enduring fashion
(McEwan, Elain K., 2003). Conversely, the headmistress in my previous school was over
emphasizing on students result in examination and thus neglecting the teachers
psychological needs. She shows a good personality like being caring, empathy, and genuine
in her words but she does not really understand the teachers feeling. The teachers in that
school also do not have the confidence to voice out their emotion because of the power hold
by the headmistress in the school organization. Thus, it is truly said by (Chan Yuen Fook,
2004 and Herbert, 2006 in Azian binti Ahmad Shaharbi, 2010) that they are many school
heads who practice the autocratic leadership style with formal procedures, neglecting the
teachers psychological needs, suppressing the teachers creativity, overly emphasizing on
academic achievement and putting aside their roles as leaders who have to generate quality
human capital for the purpose of education development.

As a conclusion, there are various types of leadership styles and the head teachers
are expected to practice various leadership styles in administering schools as each
leadership model has its own strengths and weaknesses. One obvious weakness is that not
all the leadership models can be applied in any situation or context (Rahimah 2003; Ross
2006 in Azian binti Ahmad Shaharbi, 2010). Therefore, to fulfill the education aspiration of
producing a high prestigious leader in every school, a head teacher must be wise to adapt
various leadership styles in his administration to suit a particular school, situation and the

different needs. A variety of leadership practices results in more effective leadership

instead of merely relying on one particular style (Bolman, Bloch and Granell 1999; Abdul
Shukor Abdullah 2004 and Abdul Rafie Mahat 2002 in Azian binti Ahmad Shaharbi, 2010)