PARTICIPATORY APPROACH LEADERSHIP
Darvesh Karim
Assistant Instructor
Professional Development Center, North
University Road, Konodass, Gilgit.
Ph. No: (+92) 05811-454132-4 Ext: 3017
Fax No: (+92) 05811-454135
Cell No: (+92) 03465419307
Email (Official): darveshkarim@pdcn.edu.pk
Email (Private): dk_hunzai@yahoo.com, darvesh.karim@gmail.com
Online Blogs: www.dkhunza.blogspot.com; www.scribd.com/dk_hunzai
PARTICIPATORY APPROACH LEADERSHIP
INTRODUCTION
This paper aims at exploration of participatory leadership approaches, based upon the mini-research carried out in a private secondary school in Karachi. The school initiated its educational journey in 1994 with 30 students, three teachers and only two class rooms. Currently, the school comprises of 560 students, 42 teachers and its own, well estblished building. The school provides services to multi-cultural[1] communities under the vision, “holistic development of the child”, given by the founder of the school.
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The principal occupies an important position inside the school building. As the leader of group of professionals, he/she establishes important relationships with staff. To achieve the higher outcomes, he/she needs to pay attention towards all the supportive staff by allowing them to participate in all the school matters. As Stewart & Prebble (1993) suggest that by encouraging increased participation, the principal does not give up any power; instead a large amount of influence is created. The task of a principal is not a single handed job. It is rather a collective and participatory approach where leaders create spaces for more leaders, where each person who holds a lever of power uses it in ways that allow other leaders to emerge (Mitchell & Sackney, 2000).
Participatory leadership focuses on the delegation of tasks to different members of the team. Thus, relationship must be in the form of mutual understanding and through building trust. As Hergreaves (1994) emphasizes on the establishment of trust which is essential for the creation of effective and meaningful collaborative work relationships. In general the schools where these kinds of relationships exists, they are regarded as good schools because they produce higher achievements on the basis of their mutual collaborative and participatory work and by involving all the members in decision making. Sergiovanni (2000) articulates his views about good schools as; they foster creative problem solving and make a habit of turning the problems they face into common challenges. It is always a difficult task to face the challenges by a single person because they vary in their natures and they can be overcome if all the members are involved and appropriate decisions are made to remove them. As Kezar & Eric (2001) describe that many higher education institutions have moved away from traditional, hierarchical leadership toward participatory or collaborative leadership approaches with the goal of increasing commitment, and to address organizational fit for problems. The involvement of different stakeholders depends upon how much a leader provides opportunities to his/her sub-ordinates. If the opportunities are in a positive way where each member is encouraged there is always success, other wise it affects on desired outcomes. As Day (2005) describes success as it is more likely where people act rather than always re-acting, are empowered, involved in decision making through a transparent, facilitative and supportive structure and are trusted, respected and encouraged.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study is to explore the participative leadership practices in the school and its effects on school development, focusing mainly on students academic achievements.
RATIONALE
According to Memon (1998) in the Eastern context generally and particularly in developing countries including Pakistan, the role of Principal as an educational leader of the future is not fully understood and recognized. A principal can play multi-dimensional roles such as a pedagogical, transformational, managerial, administrative and instructional leader. But it is argued that lack of understanding of goals and roles ambiguity causes confusion and impacts on teaching and learning process in schools.
I belong to Northern Areas of Pakistan, and when I reflect back to my past experiences, working in different systems and looking at the leadership practices, it gives me a clear indication that the heads/principals play authoritative roles in many schools. I have chosen this topic to explore the leadership practices so that they will remain helpful to me in bringing changes in existing practices in my context. It has been my keen interest to know that how a principal can encourage the teachers to participate in various processes of the school development.
After completion of my studies at AKU-IED[2], I have to work as PDT[3] at PDCN[4]. My major responsibilities are mainly concerned with head teachers in school improvement. So, this study will facilitate me to improve my professional capabilities to work effectively in my context.
METHODOLOGY
I used qualitative research method because the nature of my topic was exploratory and exploratory study falls under the paradigm of qualitative research. Similarly, I conducted the study in a particular school and used different sources for data collection. In this regard case study was more suitable, because multiple sources of data collection are used in case study. (Merriam, 1998) also suggests that “The case study offers a means of investigating complex social units consisting of multiple variables of potential importance in understanding the phenomenon” (p.41).
RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS
Merriam (1998) suggests that sampling depends on what an investigator wants to know and from whose perspective the information is desired. According to the demand of this mini-research, I selected principal, one coordinator and two teachers, so that in the limited time, I would be able to get required data.
DATA GENERATION PROCEDURE
In order to collect data, I preferred to use two methods; semi-structured interview and observation. It is said that semi-structured interview allows the researcher to ask more open-ended and in-depth questions from the interviewee (Hitchcock and Hughes, 1993). Similarly, in observation researcher engages in social scene, experiences it and seeks to understand and then explain it to the readers (May, 2001). Further I took field notes to triangulate the data.
DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE
I went through the data several times, coded, reviewed, analyzed, and re-writed it. Based on the developed ideas, I put the data under certain tentative themes and then came out with the following findings.
Participation in Academic Activities
During the discussion with the principal, I came to know that she has assigned different roles to teachers by formation of different heads[5]. Their roles have been defined at the beginning of the academic year. The principal said that, at the beginning of academic year, they arranged duties to all the teachers and each one is allowed to participate in all the decision making processes. When I visited the teachers meeting before assembly, the academic coordinator was conducting the meeting and each teacher was participating in the meeting through sharing their ideas with whole team. Further, I observed that the subject head was helping the ECD[6] teachers inside the class in formation of various activities.
Parental Involvement
Participatory leadership is observed to bring the parents close together in decision making in school matters to get higher outcomes. One of the teachers expressed that when they see a student lacking in any activity, they precede it to principal and she calls for their parents and discuss the matters with them. When we visited the school, there was a session for parents about their roles in student’s achievements. The principal said that she always invites parents before implementation of any program regarding student’s development. When I compare this approach with my experience where I devised MTA’s[7], these activities always remain fruitful for higher academic outcomes. The principal pointed out that because of parents involvement their school has shown good results last year and one of the student has secured 84% in secondary board examination last year.
Participation in Professional Development
The school offers professional development opportunities to teachers. Teachers are sent to various institutions for different sessions and the school bears all the expenses regarding course expenditures; including transportation and tuition fee etc. There are in-house trainings as well, arranged in Saturday’s and summer vacations, conducted by principal, coordinator and subject heads, on need basis. The academic coordinator said that if a teacher gets any professional training from any institution, she/he arranges workshops for the teachers about his/her learning. The principal further explained that if teacher is appointed, his/her lessons are being observed by subject coordinator, academic coordinator and principal. After the observation, feedback is given to the teacher for further improvement. When I observed a science class on “hard and soft water”, I noticed that the teacher was using activity based teaching by showing the samples of hard and soft water. It shows that participatory approach is practiced in all the professional development activities.
Group work and Collegiality
In school, principal’s participatory approach leads to team work and collegiality among all the teachers and other supportive staff. The school emphasizes on group work by involving all the teachers and other supportive staff in bringing any initiative. The principal said that, “my style is democratic and I have learnt these styles by AKU-IED courses, I believe in the concept of We, not I”. She further explained that during the groundworking of year plans, curriculum decisions and other co-curricular activities plans, she invites all the teachers and other supportive staff to make it effective. During my observations I noticed that the principal and teachers were working together to make arrangements for parents meeting. The Principal further added that there is admin in charge to handle the administrative matters; she has to consult with him for budgeting for any event. A teacher also elaborated that our principal is highly cooperative and welcomes us if we wanted to discuss her.
Social and Moral Development
The principal and teachers mainly focus on the social and moral development of the students. They discuss the student’s moral attitudes among themselves and in case of any mishap; they take decisions with the participation of the parents. The principal was of the view that patience plays an important role and in our school, it is focused in this school. She further elaborated that during the meetings with parents, we advise the parents not to show movies which reflect violence like wrestling because these kind of movies effect on students social and moral attitudes.
CONCLUSION
The research findings through interaction with the principal, teachers, coordinator and personal observations suggest that the school is in the path of practicing participative leadership approaches. There is cooperation and support among the teachers and principal, on the other hand the principal and teachers’ interactions exist in the form of caring, trustworthiness, and providence of professional growth opportunities. They have created their own modes of interaction in various participatory tasks, comprising of passion and dedication towards effective educational leadership.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
As a novice researcher, this mini-research remained helpful in developing certain research skills such as how data is gathered through various sources; how it is analyzed, and ideas are converted into themes. This whole process still comprised of certain limitation which are as under:
- Firstly, it was a gender sensitive approach, the research where I conducted belonged to female participants having different cultural backgrounds, so throughout my research I had to focus on gender issues.
- The sample of the study was small due to short time span; I have to pay more attention to gather required data.
- The mini-research was based upon two formal visits to school, so it seemed a challenge to me to be specifically focused.
- Small-sized sample and qualitative nature of the study limits the generalizability of the findings to the school itself only.
REFERENCES
Day, C. (2005). Principals who Sustain Success: Making a Difference in Schools in Challenging Circumstances. Leadership in Education, 08(4), 273-290.
Hitchcock & Hughes, D. (1993). Research and the teacher: A qualitative introduction to
school based research. London: Routledge.
Kezar, A. (2001). Investigating Organizational fit in a Participatory Leadership Environment. Journal of Higher Education Policy & Management, 23(01), 85-101.
May, T. (2001). Social research: issue, method and processes (3rd. ed.). Philadelphia: Open
University Press.
Memon, M. (1998). The future of head teachers as educational leaders in Pakistan: Implications for pedagogical leadership. Education 2000, 3 (3) October, 1998 pp.23- 28.
Merriam, S. B (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass.
Mitchell, C., & Sackney, L. (2000). Profound Improvement: Building Capacity for a Learning Community. Netherlands: Swets& Zeitlingar Publishers.
Sergiovanni, T. J. (2000). The Lifeworld of Leadership: Creating Culture,Community,and Personal Meaning in our Schools. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass.
Stewart, D., & Prebble, T. (1993). The Reflective Principal: School Development within a Learning Community. Massey University,New Zealand: ERDC Press.
Hargreaves, A. (1994). Changing Teachers, Changing Times. London: Cassel Villiers House.
[1] The communities consist of various cultural backgrounds, belong to different parts of the country
[2] Aga Khan University- Institute for Educational Development
[3] Professional Development Teacher
[4] Professional Development Center North
[5] The heads comprising of academic in charge, section heads and subject heads
[6] Early Childhood Development
[7] MTA (mother teachers association), comprising of teachers and representative parents. Their task is to join hands together for the development of children
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