Abstract:
Current literature has indicated that school leaders are both instructional and organisational leaders and that they need to be contextually literate, indicating the importance to be sensitive to the broader community and understand how external factors affect the school. This signifies the importance of having a shared vision with the school community, the knowledge and skills to influence others as a way of leading change, and using a range of leadership styles to support change and lead the organisation.
This thesis is interested in investigating the perception of school leaders and teachers on their strengths and needs as organisational leaders. By using a mixed-method approach, the researcher has collected quantitative data from a small sample of school leaders on their perceived leadership strengths and development needs through an online survey, and captured descriptive statistics from semi-structured interviews on their journeys up the leadership pipeline in the NSW public school system. This covered the significance of their formative years, career trajectories and the necessary training and development to equip them with the necessary level-relevant capabilities to lead in the public-school system.
This thesis is interested in investigating the perception of school leaders and teachers on their strengths and needs as organisational leaders. By using a mixed-method approach, the researcher has collected quantitative data from a small sample of school leaders on their perceived leadership strengths and development needs through an online survey, and captured descriptive statistics from semi-structured interviews on their journeys up the leadership pipeline in the NSW public school system. This covered the significance of their formative years, career trajectories and the necessary training and development to equip them with the necessary level-relevant capabilities to lead in the public-school system.