www.chitraltimes.com

 HEAD MASTER AS A PEDAGOGICAL LEADER

 When, I reflected on my experiences as a student and later as a teacher, I realized that the majority of headmasters mostly believed in running the schools in traditional ways. Because, what they learned and observed as students, they practice the same as headmasters and do not bother to know more about their roles and responsibilities to run their schools differently. For example, as headmasters, they neither have clear school vision nor have long term school development plan to lead school improvement. Beach and Lindahl (2004) argue that effective school leaders must lead the schools through long term school improvement plans. But, in Pakistan the headmasters� jobs are to distribute subjects among the teachers to early complete the syllabus and rote learning and memorization of text is the single and popular way of school education in their eyes. Rizvi and Elliott (2007) also point out that teaching in Pakistani schools, generally characterized as rote learning and memorization of facts to be regurgitated on school exams. Although, there are some headmasters, who are very committed and strict in school management as a result their schools perform well in exams, but when they leave the schools, everything ends, because they are autocratic leaders, who never think about sustainability of change.                                                  

However, my experiences as a headmaster of high school and later as an M. Ed student inform me that the quality of teaching and learning in a school mainly depends on the quality of school leadership. Kunwar (2001) also supports this view that school leadership is a key factor in school effectiveness (p. 150). From my theoretical understanding at M. Ed course, it is evident that school leadership having shared vision, mission, values and long term school development plan can get the support of community and school staff to lead school improvement. Although, one type of leadership can not fit for all situations, but pedagogical leadership seems to be more suitable for holistic development of school by focusing on teachers� professional growth for improving students� learning. In nineties, Sergiovanni the well known educational scholar suggested pedagogical leadership to facilitate learning of all individuals in the schools. According to Sergiovanni (1998) pedagogical leadership invests in capacity building by developing social and academic capital for students and intellectual and professional capacity for teachers. It means that pedagogical leadership focuses on the intellectual, social and academic development of students and professional and intellectual advancement of teachers to bring about holistic development in the school. Therefore, I feel that the headmaster as a pedagogical leader can involve all stakeholders to develop shared vision and make long term school improvement plan and maintain harmony among the stakeholders by respecting their individual differences. He/She can manage both human and material resources effectively and supervise and monitor the whole teaching and learning process with academic support to improve the performance of teachers in order to enhance students� learning outcomes. Finally, I can claim that pedagogical leadership with shared vision and collective decision making can provide better learning environment in the school by focusing on the professional growth of teachers in order to promote the social and academic knowledge and skills of students.  

Dur Wali Khan  Karachi