Leadership Qualities in Education

Being a teacher, a principal, is a job of great responsibility as the future of the children lies in your hands. As a teacher, you are a leader of the children. As a principal, you are a leader of the teachers and the entire school staff working under you. The main goal of a leader is to ensure that the students learn as much as they can and that they are cared for immensely so that they turn out to be intelligent, aware and secure adults. In order to reach these goals, education leaders need to do their job well, while exhibiting certain qualities.

Leadership Qualities in Academics

Honesty and Morality
As teachers are the role model for students, they should work with honesty and display a strong moral character. There should be emphasis on development of strong, open, trustful and committed relationships amongst the teachers, between the teachers and the principal and between the teachers and the students. Students from all the communities, irrespective of their background, should be treated at par. If there are some conflict situations or ethical, moral issues, the principal and teachers should deal with them with an open mind. A principal should ensure that if any important decision is to be taken, the school staff is consulted and made aware of the same. It is the principal's job to see to it that teachers' professional and learning growth takes place continuously.

Self-belief and Competence
Teachers and principals should have a strong belief in themselves. They should try to come up with new ideas, from time to time, to improve learning in schools. Leaders in the education sector should be aware of the happenings in the field and make strives to ensure that new innovations in the sector are incorporated in the school functioning. Some of the leadership qualities important in the field of education are - self-confidence, optimism, courage, resilience, enthusiasm, problem solving abilities as well as the capacity to work under pressure.

A Learner and a Teacher
A leader has to be a learner, throughout his career. If teachers teach with an open mind, they would see that they have a lot to learn from their students. Similarly, while dealing with certain issues, if the principals involve the entire community, the students, the teachers, other school staff and the parents of students, they will learn about many new ideas and ways to deal with those issues. Principals in particular should keep themselves updated on the new happenings at the professional front. They should take time to gain knowledge, learn, reflect and imbibe new ideas and skills, which would add to their growth. Principals and teachers who continuously evolve and grow, ensure that the people under them develop critical thinking too. Attending workshops, meeting up with fellow principals, studying further, these are some of the ways to acquire leadership qualities in education.

Inspiring and Supporting
Whatever type of leadership style an educator displays, the whole point is that he or she should be an inspiration, support and guide to others. An education leader should be caring, considerate and empathetic. A teacher should function in such a way that each and every student is able to develop his leadership qualities while studying and the principal should function in such a way that each and every teacher becomes a potential leader.

An educator has to be a good planner with excellent communication and people's skills. He should know how to listen and speak effectively, how to motivate and inspire others and how to make the school community strong. Being updated with new happenings and issues that affect education, continuously upgrading one's skills, coming up with creative and new ideas to deal with issues - these are some of the other requirements to be an excellent educator. If an education leader is able to master all these qualities and can function in an honest way, there is no doubt about the fact that he will be able to achieve the vision and goals of the twenty-first century!