Pedagogical leadership: thinking and building a better education

Abstract

Pedagogical leadership is a key tool in order to optimize teaching performance. Closely connected with the project of School Improvement, it provides the strategies required in order to deal with the “education crisis” which challenges us to find urgent answers to new problems. From our perspective, school directors aren't just “managers” but also –and first of all– leaders who shouldn't ever lose sight of the main objective: a better quality learning. In effect, based on the consideration of some relevant points of view, we come to the conclusion that directors are esentially educators, not “managers” or “administrators”. A “good” director shares leadership with a view to influence his collaborators properly and lead them to achieve the institutional goal. It's not about “being the boss” or “giving orders” but about knowing how to communicate effectively and how to motivate teachers on the basis of a set of personal qualities, skills and competences which enable him/her to lead the teaching-learning process to educational success.