LDRS/EDUC 626 - Leadership for Contemporary Issues (3 S. Hrs)

The course situates schools in the context of contemporary social and political forces that impact them, often expressed in terms of current issues. The primary learning focus is on informed, ethical leadership initiative and response.  Concepts of choice, inclusion, and privatization are considered in relation to schooling and changing societal attitudes toward schools.  Political processes around diversity, demands for participatory democracy in school programs and services, learning assessment, approaches to school governance, and pressures for and responses to educational reform and renewal are examined.  The course explores approaches to demands for human and collective rights and increased professionalism in education; it addresses the challenges of nurturing an open, supportive school community.

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

EDUC 626 is designed to help you as a leader and scholar-practitioner to:

• Understand and apply a model of leadership for practice in complex, often turbulent settings,
• Grow in your understanding of the key role of school leaders in enabling learning,
• Develop a heightened understanding of and a strengthened leadership response to important contemporary issues in education,
• Develop your understanding of the micro-political context of schooling and the implications of that for servant leaders,
• Strengthen your knowledge of accepted standards of practice for school leaders.¹

"You will learn:

• How to lead from different organizational position levels
• The interactive dynamics of power, authority and influence.
• How to develop a healthy organization culture.
• How to promote and develop a value-based organization that utilizes personal and corporate ethics in decision-making.
• Models of servant leadership that make your organization more effective and the workplace experience more meaningful."