Kingsley Platform

Kingsley Platform
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Abstract
Educational leadership encompasses activities by various parties within a school setting that ensure that the learning process is effective and that the students fully benefit from their learning process. Traditionally, educational leadership has been left to the school administrators alone to forge the way forward for the rest of the school. However, modern times have shown that many players within the school setting, as well as the community, play an integral role in educational leadership and how well the players integrate in offering educational leadership will determine the level of education received by the students (Lozano et al., 2013). Other parties such as non-teaching staff or non-administrative teachers are often ignored, but their roles are crucial in offering optimal educational leadership. The paper seeks to discuss the role played by the various parties in offering effective educational leadership and highlights the importance of all the parties involved.
Educational leadership is a modern terminology that does not have a clear definition, but which includes all forms of leadership offered to students to enable them to receive the best from their education activities. Educational leadership can be used synonymously with terms such as school leadership (Lozano et al., 2013). Educational leadership encompasses efforts from leaders from within the school setting and without. Characters that are included in the definition include, but are not necessarily limited to, school administrators, policy makers, teachers, supervisors and active citizens proactively involved with school curricula and education matters.

The term educational leadership is favored for its dynamism and its varied application that allows it to involve many applications of leadership principles in the effective dissemination of knowledge to students and in ensuring that the students fully benefit from the lessons learnt within the school setting and during heir learning years (Lozano et al., 2013). This paper discusses the role of educational leaders with respect to dissemination of effective education and passing on of the leadership qualities to the students.
Teachers, especially the ones that do not hold administrative duties in schools, are often ignored and not considered when discussing educational leadership. In the educational leadership and management discussions, school administrators and senior teachers with at least a position of influence in a school setting are considered. However, teachers have a big role to play as far as educational leadership is concerned, regardless of the position they hold. The influence that teachers have on their students is huge, and the impact cannot be downplayed. Teachers are the leading resource providers and provide their students with resource materials to facilitate their education process. The teachers are responsible for providing the professional materials, as well as making lesson plans that are effective in disseminating knowledge to the students. Teachers are also tasked with the responsibilities of ensuring that their lesson plans are effective. In this regard, it is common for teachers to hold departmental meetings in which they discuss strategies for effective implementation of lesson plans, as well as revision of lesson plans that have been determined as ineffective by one of the staff members (Andreas, 2012).
Teachers offer classroom support to their fellow peers, especially when some lesson plans require different implementation strategies. The classroom support may also take the form of attending lessons and offering feedback to their fellow teachers. The exercise is meant to improve the learning experience and ensuring that the strategy works as planned. Teachers are often tasked with the role of mentoring other new teachers into the school teaching system. The mentoring process is crucial as it shapes the development of the new professional. The mentoring process often includes the acclimatization of the new professional to school practices, school politics, teaching strategies, as well as settling into the new community. The mentoring process requires a high level of expertise and is instrumental in ensuring that the teaching profession in any given institution maintains a certain culture that is synonymous with that school (Andreas, 2012).
The school administrators and supervisors are often tasked with the making of administrative decisions and in representing the school regarding external affairs. However, the school administrators are tasked with the implementing of the school vision and in approving of strategies used in the learning process. They are expected to evaluate the learning strategies and approve the strategies they feel will enhance the learning experience for the students as well as for the teaching staff (Andreas, 2012). Other staff members that are often not considered in the educational leadership debate include the non-teaching staff such as coaches and gym instructors. For most schools, the game departments play a central role in shaping the school name as well as in promoting the school image. The modern educational curriculum has been devised to recognize the games department and is designed to provide ample time to encourage talent from the young students. In this regard, it is common to notice that more time is being allocated to sports and sporting activities in schools. The coaching department is equally important in ensuring a successful school team.
Recent times have seen schools acquire professional coaches to coach their teams to local and national competition glory. The coaches responsible for nurturing the young talents play a significant role in shaping the young students’ characters and behaviors. A good instance is Kevin Sumlin, the present coach for the Texas A&M University. Kevin, in his coaching career, he has coached various schools such as Oklahoma, Minnesota, Purdue, as well as Washington State. Presently, Kevin is the most sought after coach due to his successes in all the coaching roles he has assumed in the past. His effective coaching career are as a result of his recruiting abilities, his integrity and passion for the American football game (Penrose, 2013). Coaches such as Kevin have a huge influence on the students they coach and are not only viewed as role models but as mentors as well. Therefore, different players in the school setting have a role to play in the educational leadership responsibility. When these roles are integrated to have common goals that reflect the common school goal, the educational institution and, most importantly, the students benefit.

References
Andreas, S. (Ed.). (2012). International Summit on the Teaching Profession Preparing Teachers and Developing School Leaders for the 21st Century Lessons from around the World: Lessons from around the World. OECD Publishing.
Lozano, R., Lukman, R., Lozano, F. J., Huisingh, D., & Lambrechts, W. (2013). Declarations for sustainability in higher education: becoming better leaders, through addressing the university system. Journal of Cleaner Production, 48, 10-19.
Penrose, M. M. M. (2013). Outspoken: Social Media and the Modern College Athlete.