Introduction

Educational leadership is an abused concept. More often than not it is seen as synonymous to administration and with the power of office. It has become symbolic of hierarchy, of structure, and of power. It has, in effect, been reduced in its own power and in its scope because it now only replicates other useful terms, such as management and administration. Yet its potential for informing the debate over what formal education should be like, how it should serve, and why it exists is great. In the recent past, good educational leadership has been equated with effective management practices. Leadership has been geared toward the successful achievement of the organization's goals. And, most often, we equate leadership with the individual who resides at the top of the educational hierarchy-a principal, a superintendent, or a college president. Further, whether the leader be a school principal or a college president, the assumption has been that the effective leaders must orchestrate and manage the technical aspects of the organization in order to achieve the desired ends of the school or college. Faced with a myriad of problems from declining enrollments to tightened budgets, the effective leader has been considered the individual who can motivate

Administration (probate law · Business · Educational administration · Educational leadership · Hierarchy · Higher education · Instructional leadership · Leadership · Leadership style · Order (exchange · Pedagogy · Political science · Power (physics · Principal (computer security · Public relations · Scope (computer science · Sociology · Computer Science · Law · Psychology · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

• Getting into the castle of educational administration

  Ken Kempner•Peabody Journal of Education•1989

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