31ST ANNUAL CONGRESS LECTURE

SUCCESSFUL SCHOOL LEADERSHIP IN THE 21ST CENTURY: A PAPER PRESENTED ON DECEMBER 16TH, 2021, AT THE 31ST ANNUAL STATE CONGRESS OF THE ALL NIGERIA CONFEDERATION OF PRINCIPALS OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS (ANCOPSS), OSUN STATE BRANCH.

BY

MRS LOIS OMOKEHINDE ADEBIMPE ADELABU. B.SC (HONS) PGDE.

RETIRED PRINCIPAL, OSUN STATE

INTRODUCTION

Education in the 21st century is a frontier and the 21st century students in secondary schools are a new breed. These students are mostly from a totally new generation, Generation Alpha. They have grown up in different world from the older generation; a world of Smart phones, Drones, Tablets, Computers, Apps and 3D Television. Theses learners are extremely comfortable with technology, many were operating these devices even before they could walk.

They have more information available to them than we could have dreamed of a couple of decades ago. They can learn anything they are interested in, on the internet and even minors can communicate with people all around the world at the touch of a button.

The task of the school leader in the 21st century is helping this capable and intelligent students prepare for challenges that are yet obscure. The school leader faces the challenging task of preparing learners for the future and strategically evolving the goals and system that will support this task. If the school leader which will be address from now as principals, will be a successful one in the 21st century, he must also key into the information and communication technology among other things and be well groomed to handle this upcoming generation.

The foresight of ANCOPSS on this development is much appreciated and the Theme of this Annual Congress “Successful School Leadership in the 21st Century will spare a number of our leaders the trauma of unpreparedness.

THE LEADER?

A leader is someone;

  • Who is responsible for, or in control of an organization.

  • Who inspire passion and motivation in followers.

  • With a vision and the path to its realization.

  • Who ensures their team has support and tools to achieve their goals.

A leader differ from a Boss, he leads while the Boss drives.


LEADERSHIP

According to Bernard Keys and Thomas, “Leadership is the process of influencing and supporting others to work enthusiastically towards achieving objects”

It can also be defined as the process by which a person influences others to accomplish the objective of an organization and direct it in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent.

Anne Pyburn Craig (2015) defined THE SUCCESSFUL SCHOOL LEADER as one who identifies and articulates a school’s mission and goals and makes them happen by implementing programs delegating tasks and allocating resources.

In the secondary education sector, the school leader who is also the top administrator is the principal, he or she is equivalent to a chief executive officer in business and is responsible for setting the institutions tone and serve as his public face.

For a principal to succeed in the 21st century, he or she must be defined by some Traits, exhibit certain skills, have some Mindsets and show certain Characteristics and Habits.



TRAITS OF A 21ST CENTURY LEADER

  1. PERSONAL QUALITIES

  • Curiosity

  • Persistence

  • Resilience

  • Flexibility

  • Responsibility and hard work

These are the key to success.


  1. PERSONAL GROWTH

  • Working on personal growth

  • Constantly improving oneself.


  1. OTHER QUALITIES

  • Creativity

  • Entrepreneurship

  • Innovation

  • Constant learning

  • Team work


Any principal who will be successful in the post must work on these aforementioned.



MINDSET OF A 21ST CENTURY LEADER

  1. POSITVE MINDSET; This makes a leader confident.

  • Encourage him/her to take risk when needed

  • Think outside the box i.e broadminded.

  1. GROWTH MINDSET

    • Develop a growth mindset

    • Do away with a fixed mindset

    • Think in ways that promote growth to avoid failure

    • Cultivate global perspective

    • Avoid thinking small

Approach issues with a view of sustainability, wellbeing and also thinking big. You will help create a school culture that encourage students to do the same.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A 21ST CENTURY LEADER

  1. HONESTY AND INTEGRITY

  • Let the community know your values and place a value on the school too and model it. E.g non-compliance to malpractices etc

  • Be committed to honesty, be transparent. When you do wrong, admit it, learn from it as no one knows it all, and keep to your words and promises.

  1. ABILITY TO TRUST AND EMPOWER

Have a listening ears to Teachers and Students, recognize their talents, interest and passions and Delegate duties accordingly. Empower them to take responsibility for tasks and appreciate their achievement.

  1. COMMUNICATIVE, COLLABORATIVE AND CONNECTED.

      • Seek and share information and knowledge, seek to understand and also understand others points of view.

      • Connect with the world via internet, blogging and social media. Seek international education organizations and follow them for regular update.

      • Collaborate it will lead you to best decision making.

  1. POSITIVE ENERGY

  • Always present positive pro-active and caring approach, know and value your teachers and students and their parents. Develop a good relationship with them.

  • To exhibit positive energy, you must manage your health and wellbeing and energy levels.

  1. CONFIDENCE

  • Be confident and be approachable, don’t isolate yourself. Ask for help when necessary.

  • Always stay calm and be confident in any difficult situation. Maintain a strong morale.


  1. COMMITMENT AND PERSISTENT

  • Never give up on your goal, stay 100% committed to school improvement plan and goals.

  1. WILLINGNESS TO LEARN, UNLEARN AND RELEARN

  • Adopt a growth mindset, never stop learning. Seth Godin states “If you are not doing the things that scare you, you are not learning”. Attend trainings as they are available.


  1. ENTERPRENEURAL, CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE

  • Develop the school with skills available among junior staffs as an entrepreneurial organization, it will help you manage the disruptions and complexities of the 21st century. Empower students and teachers to be resourceful, flexible and creative etc

  1. INTUITIVE

  • Trust your instinct. Listen to the voice within yourself. Research has said we can trust our instinct.


  1. ABILITY TO INSPIRE

  • Inspire students, parents and Teachers to improve on their standard. Address them on noble 21st century educational possibilities.

SKILLS (QUALITIES) OF A 21ST CENTURY LEADER

The skills can be summarized as;

(a) Team work (b) High emotional Quotient (EQ) and (c) Focus

These skill are crucial for, firstly managing the leader and then others.

  • TEAM WORK

The school should be run as a unit, so give support to students and staff, encouraging their continuous learning and development to become leaders too. Be accessible, never be a know all, delegate duty to others, it encourage growth and success. Groom successors and mentor your people. Team work will assist you not to burn out, retake the pressure off the principal.

  • HIGH EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT (EQ)

This allow the principal to understand his/her work, colleagues and be responsive to his/her needs and theirs. It also foster communication and collaboration. It is the path to unlocking collective genius.

EQ involves;- self-awareness and social awareness (when you know yourself, you perform better), understanding of people and good relationship management.

  • FOCUS

This is a fundamental skill for everybody in this information age, especially the terribly busy people in demanding roles. To focus is also knowing what are the key values and goals for your personal life and for your school and keeping them.

HABITS OF A 21ST CENTURY LEADER

A habit is a routine of behaviour that is repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously. It is a fixed way of thinking, willing or feeling acquired through previous repetition of a mental experience. A 21st century leader seeking success will

  1. Work as a team with those around him/her

  2. Seek constructive feedback and reflect on how things can be improved.

  3. Collaborate to unlock collective genius

  4. Set boundaries

  5. Not waste time of irrelevances and unimportant things that add no value to his/her stated goal or the school’s

  6. Build healthy habits that create a framework to help him perform at his best. For example, getting enough sleep, carving out uninterrupted time with his family. These non-work habits support the principal works. A happy man hardly create bitterness and rancor.

CONCLUSION

For a leader to be able to deal with developmental requirement associated with the 21st century frontier and also the challenges of change situation where they (principal) could act as change agents for their schools and impact the community positively, he must practice the 21st century skills.

One great challenge to this is ICT illiteracy of some leaders. The Government should from now provide 21st century leadership training workshop which will help in the aspect of INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY.



REFERENCES

  1. Christopher Day and Pam Sammons (2020) Successful School Leadership Latest 2020 Publication

  2. C. Day (2016) Successful School Leadership- Education Development Trust. ERIC Number ED565740

  3. Maxine Driscoll ( ) 21st Century Leadership, Success tips

  4. Coaching .co.uk (2021) The 10 key skills to Successful School Leaders

  5. Brent Davies, Linda Ellison, Christopher Bowing Carr (2005) School Leadership for the 21st century: developing a strategic approach.

  6. Stephen Gerhard Huber (2014) Preparing School leaders for the 21st century

  7. Maxine Driscoll (Feb. 2021)- School leadership for the 21st century

  8. Maxine Driscoll (Aug., 2021) Top 10 characteristics of awesome 21st century School leaders.

  9. Wikipedia