Application of Leadership Stance in Teaching Practice

Draft – Assessment Point: Part 2 Introduction and Rationale Transformational leadership is one of the fundamental and most influential leadership frameworks within the education leadership field. The theory originates from James Burn’s research on political administrators. It was later extended by Bruce Avolio and Bernard Bass to delineate corporate leaders’ behavioral inclinations. Transformational leaders emphasize inspiring their followers to “commit to shared goals and vision for a unit or organization, driving them to be increasingly innovative problem-solvers, and cultivating followers’ leadership capabilities through mentoring, coaching, and provision of support and challenge (Bass & Riggo, 2006, p.4). Teachers’ leadership behavior within the classroom cultivated a paradigm shift in educational literature towards viewing instructors as transformational leaders (Koh, Steers, and Terborg, 1995, p.1; Pounder, 2014, p.5). For example, learners perceiving their teachers as transformational leaders demonstrates additional efforts in classroom activities, and report significant satisfaction with the learning experience and instructor effectiveness perceptions. The literature review rationale is anchored on the need to describe specific examples of applying transformational leadership stance in classroom settings and the theoretical basis for transformational teachers influence on their followers (i.e., students). Aims and Objectives There is limited research that critically evaluates transformational teachers’ leadership stance examples within educational contexts to demonstrate the causal impacts on learners’ outcomes. Many reviews report correctional findings; hardly reliable evidence on how teachers employ transformational leadership stance in classroom settings to influence student outcomes.

In this vein, I aimed to examine how teachers take their transformational leader roles in educational settings by critically drawing on established literature and theory in the management to test transformational teachership. This paper critically reflects on teachers’ role model and empowerment practice actions as the primary examples of taking transformational leadership stances in the educational context. In this way, the paper suggests the best teaching practices in the employment reflection in transformational leadership stance while considering core contextual issues to avoid leadership misapplications in educational settings. Examples of Transformational Leadership Stance in Classroom Settings Empowerment Aspect of Transformational Leadership In the teaching practice, the instructor could allow students to make their own decisions and have autonomy. Considering a scenario where the teacher is instructing engineering and physics basics, they could assign similar activities to students to create toothpick towers and note down the results. In the first case, the instructor provides learners with a broad guideline set for completing the lesson project, including the number of toothpicks they could utilize. The learners follow these guidelines to attain the projected results. In the second lesson, the instructor motivates students to identify new approaches to conduct the project independently. In this vein, the learners experiment with innovative ways and alternative materials to design and construct the toothpick tower. This is due to the teacher’s transformational leadership that empowered the students to have autonomy in the learning experience. Role Model Aspect of Transformational Leadership Many students always lack role models at home, and the time they spend in school means much. The teacher acts as a role model in the classroom by building relationships that make each

student feel like a crucial player in the class. This can be achieved by cultivating classroom communities or groups that challenge students to be team players and be patient with others. For example, I could ask students, “what it means to treat others well?” I would then show each student that their opinion matters, making them more respectful to divergent viewpoints and feeling comfortable voicing their concerns. Methodology The study is anchored on seven fundamental steps within the search strategy. These procedures include (a) identification of key phrases and words, (b) formatting the phrases and words, (c) converting the key phrases and words into practical searches, (d) utilizing limits and filters in databases, (e) evaluating and reviewing the search results, and (f) deriving the most out of the search results. In order to conduct the literature review, I employed the following databases: Google Scholar, Educational Research Complete, ScholarWorks, and ProQuest dissertations. I scanned the sources of relevant dissertations and articles for additional sources. In searching the databases, I employed these key phrases and words: retention, mentoring, student achievement, principals, transformational leadership, administrators, leadership practices, and leadership behaviors. I repeated the gathering process until I attained saturation. Research reliability measures the precision, trustworthiness, consistency, and repeatability of the research (Mohajan, 2017, p.10). In limited the search to recent books and peer-reviewed articles published in the recent years in order to improve its reliability. The search strategy employed terms related to the research topic to ensure that the search results perfectly depicted what the current study intends to measure. Research validity is the extent to which the instrument of study measures what it was initially designed to assess (Mohajan, 2017, p.14). Although reliability is not a sufficient validity component, it plays a critical role in enhancing study validity (Mohajan, 2017,

p.10). Therefore, the search strategy worked effectively to ensure that the evidence addressed the objectives, thus enhancing reliability and validity. Literature Review Findings Transformational leadership is consistent concept within educational practice that has persisted over some decades, with studies increasingly drawing literature within management to explain the link between instructor’s teaching approaches and educational outcomes (Peters, 2014, p.6). A vital aspect of leadership constitutes teachers’ perception of school administrators’ practice effectiveness. My perception concerning teacher’s role model practice in educational contexts is tailored to demonstrate self-efficacy and professionalism to students, parents, and teachers. Nevertheless, research indicates the presence of transformational leadership in school leadership (Hauserman et al., 2013, p.53). Accordingly, Hauserman and colleague’s qualitative arguments posited that transformational leaders are trusted, far, consistent, perceived as role models, as well as interacting routinely with students and teachers (Hauserman et al., 2013, p.53). Further, Bryant and colleagues’ (2017) qualitative research collaborated the significant of role model practices exhibited within transformational leadership (Bryant et al., 2017, p.33). This case research of three principals reported the significance of modeling the way leadership practice, as delineated by Kouzes and Posner’s (2003) arguments on transformational leadership practices. The study’s findings in reiterated that school leaders who cultivated supportive, trusting, powerful, and positive mentorship engagements with instructors are integral administrators’ practices as role model (Bryant et al., 2017, p.32). The study further indicated that principals cultivated administrative capacity by offering authentic leadership opportunities for teachers pursuing administration credential (Bryant et al., 2017, p.32). Further, the principles

methods of leadership capacity building received positive affirmation from teacher leaders as part of role model take on transformational leadership approach.