Educational Leadership in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

Education needs to be redesigned with a focus on student success in schools, their future workplace, and community life as there is a growing concern among various stakeholders that schools are not preparing students for the new demands of the twenty-first century. School principals are powerful key personnel that can influence school improvement and enable change. However, due to this, the role of principals has become increasingly challenging. This chapter begins with a brief overview on the importance of school leadership by highlighting the principal’s role in developing effectual collaborative working conditions for student achievement and school improvement. The chapter then discusses the challenges, areas of concern, and struggles faced by school principals in today’s schools such as burnout leading to principals wanting to leave the profession. The chapter then highlights future of leadership such as instructional leadership, and its proven impact on school performance and student outcomes, followed by teacher instructional leadership, a new paradigm shift that enables principals to find ways to include and strengthen teacher participation in instructional decision-making processes as well as on building teacher capacity in schools. Finally, the chapter explores ways to sustain educational excellence in schools in the twenty-first century.