Principal Perspective from Coaching Teachers lessons Thesis - 1

Principal Perspective from Coaching Teachers lessons - Thesis Example hin the limited research available, it seems the multi-roles employed by coaches are valued and respected and considered as a necessary resource for improving and supporting enhancement of teachers’ teaching practices. Leadership in education has been defined in a plethora of ways over the last decades and this accumulation of varied definitions serves to make the immense differences in opinions and discernment about school leadership more apparent. Historically, educational leadership was considered a means of support for teaching staff by heads of department, school principals, lead or master teachers, social workers, supervisors and education specialists (Sparks, 2002; Sledge & Morehead, 2006). During the twentieth century the role of school leaders has changed significantly, and as Suskavcevic & Blake (2001, p.2) point out, it has been ‘highly transformative’. They further claim that in the 1930s the primary role for principals was as ‘scientific manager’; in the 1940s it was as ‘democratic leader’; in the 1970s it was as ‘humanistic facilitator’; in the 1980s it became as ‘instructional leader’ (p.2) and currently it is as †˜transformational leader’ (p.4). In light of the current situation within school leadership today and the way in which roles are changing for principals, this study is undertaken solely by researching current literature in accordance with following aims. As far back as 1954, Mackenzie & Stephen considered the principal of a school to be the leader in terms of instruction (cited in Greenfield, 1987). They considered leadership to be a ‘natural accompaniment of the goal-seeking behavior of human beings’ (p.4), and that any pursuits undertaken by one teacher that assists in another teacher achieving their goal is an example of leadership. They further purport that leadership can be assumed by anyone considered as ‘having control and means’ of what others want (p.9) and that the concept is dynamic and thus