Unit 1.1 Leadership vs. management

Introduction

We know from research into effective schools across the world that the most successful head teachers both lead and manage the people in their schools. If we are to have a decentralised education system in UNRWA schools, we need to be clear about which tasks are mostly about management and which are mostly about leadership, in order to encourage you to develop responsibility and accountability within your school.

Leadership is focused on vision, motivation, the future, and the teams and people in your school. Management provides systems and processes essential to the smooth day-to-day running of the school. Both leadership and management are essential for successful school development.

Objectives

By the end of this unit of study, you will be able to:

• understand the difference between leadership and management;
   
• identify when you are leading and when you are managing;
   
• understand that the most effective head teachers both lead and manage the people in their schools.

Learning and practice outcomes

By the end of this unit of study, you will:

• know if your current role in school is mainly focused on leading, managing or administering;
   
• have clear ideas about effective leadership and management activities in your school.

Implementation task

Keep a log and produce a simple analysis of how you spend your time in school in relation to leadership, management and administration.