Book Review (Moral Imperatives of School Leadership By Fullan, M )

Book Review (Moral Imperatives of School Leadership By Fullan, M )

 

REFLECTIVE PAPER ON BOOK REVIEW

BY: BASHIR AHMED KHAN (PDT)

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate my insights from the book review exercise and critically reflect on the learning and experiences gained during the process of book review.

This paper concentrates on background and rationale of the book, key points of the book and critique, my reflection on the learning and experiences during the process and conclusion of the paper.

 

BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE OF THE BOOK

The book ‘The moral imperative of school leadership’ is written by Michael Fullan and published by Corwin press in California in 2003. The reader is guided through five chapters. The book is users friendly and relevant strategies provided for reshaping culture and leadership within schools and school system. It is a practical handbook for educators focusing on the pivotal role played by principals as change agents. The writer’s philosophy and advice are substantiated throughout with practical examples and case studies that allow the readers to experience the journey towards sustainable change through effective leadership.

KEY POINTS OF THE BOOK AND CRITIQUE

In chapter one the author has set a platform for the discussion by showing that why changing the context is critical for school leaders. The focus is on conditions which surround school leaders that how schools are interconnected and how changing the immediate context can result in changing behaviors. For changing the context, the author has presented a two-layered perspective on the role of leadership. The first layer reveals that the principal’s role is to help create and sustain disciplined inquiry and action on part of teachers, while the second layer concerns that what needs to be done to help create and sustain the number of school principals who actually performing better their leadership roles. By changing the immediate context; school leaders can help develop and mould other leaders at many levels who can carry on and perhaps do even better than they were doing. Similarly, it is important to create a community (Senge, 1994) for changing the context because the role of every individual is important in changing the context.

Chapter two identifies some barriers and obstacles to the current school leadership. Some of the barriers presented by the author are ranged from self-imposed barriers to system-imposed barriers. Fullan identified strategies that require going deeper in transforming schools such as fostering and supporting leadership opportunities for all teachers. Understanding and implementing these strategies in team formats are considered a pivotal role of the school leaders since school leadership is a “team support” (p. 26).The given strategies are more effective and worthwhile but they need to contextualize.

Chapter three focuses on new directions for sophisticated leadership at the school level with emphasis on the moral imperative. Fullan introduces four levels of moral purpose: individual, school, district, and society. However, the chapter focuses on the first two levels: the individual and school. Moral purpose of the highest order is having a system where “all students learn, the gap between high and low performing students becomes greatly reduced, and what people learn enable them to be successful citizens and workers in a morally based knowledge society” (p. 29). Furthermore, Fullan capitalizes on the importance of effective school leaders continually selecting the right people and then developing and supporting them to reinforce school values. Identifying right people is an effective approach but the school leaders also develop and support the existing people who are attached with the organization.

Chapter four explores what it means to make a difference beyond the school. The overarching argument in this chapter is that schools cannot develop and grow if individuals within that school do not have common values and goals, nor can districts be effective if school leaders do not identify with and participate in district-wide developments. It is important for schools to work together and to be concerned about the success of each other’s schools and the district overall. Similarly, the leaders of challenged school work with leaders of more successful school to improve all school and the district as a whole.

Chapter five addresses how the principal might engage in the new evolution of school leadership by pursuing the complex process of “traveling the pathway of creating new roles for school leaders”. Fullan concentrates on new directions and new contexts that require the individual and system action on an independent, as well as on a collective basis. Ironically, in many systems, teachers and administrators have maintained their moral commitment despite of the system. Indeed the system is not conducive to attracting, supporting, and developing the leadership that is needed for moral purposes to thrive.

In sum, the book is a highly valuable and insightful for aspiring and practicing school administrators and policy makers, who are in a position to change the system. This book could serve to the school leaders in understanding the role which can best contribute to enhancing the quality of students’ learning and valuable resource for leadership programs.

MY REFLECTION FROM GROUP LEARNING

The book review exercise gave me some important insights for personal and professional development. The task was completed in four phases; I wanted to mention them in different sections. In first phase, the group members developed the criteria for selecting a book with shared understanding. The criteria consisted that the book should be related to leadership, it should be a latest version and it is written by a famous author. The contribution of every member was valued and respected in the selection process which helped the group members to carry on the task in a smooth way. The book was identified with mutual consensus (Moller, 2009) which is important for leaders in education.

In the second phase, task was delegated among the group members according to their area of interest and mutually decided to develop a comprehensive summary on the given part. Furthermore, to make the task more organize, group members were divided into two subgroups. One group was assigned the task to compile and reviews the summaries while other subgroup was assigned the task to prepare an innovative power point presentation. I was given the task to critically review the summaries of the members and compile the points for final presentation. This task improved my critical thinking skills and communication skills. I reflected the summaries and inquired for further clarification from the members about their developed texts. Overall, I enjoyed my learning in this process.

In third phase, the group members rehearsed the presentation for the final product as presentation. I found it very important part of the whole task. Here the members of the group gave feedback to each other on their presentation skills and time management. This process developed confidence and improved my presentation skills.

In last phase, the group members presented the task with lots of enthusiasm. The group was able to present the gist of the book within the allotted time. Similarly, the group members were able to answer of the important questions raised from the audience with complete understanding. However, few challenges also faced during the exercise. Two of our group members were not able to attend the meeting and complete the given task due to their domestic problems. Yet rest of the members helped them in overcoming their challenges.

CONCLUSION

Overall, book review was a meaningful exercise to develop the theoretical understanding as well as to enhance the qualities and skills on leadership generally and pedagogical leadership particularly. The book which we reviewed elaborates that the moral purpose of school leaders are not confine to the boundaries of the school, but for effective change school leaders must play their role at regional level as well as societal level. Being a school leader, I learned that working in group is a complex process however listening to each other, respect, patience, commitment, dedication and openness are the qualities which develops collegiality and essence of shared leadership (Gronn, 2002).

References:

Fullan, M. (2003).The moral imperative of school leadership. California: Corwin press

Gronn, P. (2002) Distributed leadership as a unit of analysis.The Leadership Quarterly, 13(4),

423–451.

Moller, J. (2009).Learning to share: a vision of leadership practice.INT. J. Leadership in

education. 12(3). 253-267

Senge, P. (1994). The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization.

New York: Random House.