MODULE 8

LEADERSHIP AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION

Curriculum development is a cooperative enterprise. It requires the cooperative

efforts of many persons. It is sometimes said that probably, no single aspect of the
curriculum improvement process is as critical as the quality of existent and emergent
leadership. The reason for this is that leadership must synchronize and coordinate
activities and energies, and must facilitate and insure the necessary planning,
communication, execution of decisions, and evaluation of activities in the curriculum
development program.

What is leadership? Is it a quality, a process, or an activity? Is it for some, an

expression of evangelistic fervor in educational developments which they personally
espouse? Is it a form of self-aggrandizement? Or is it a less personal function with a
locus that moved from role to role through the system? As a future leader, you should
know the answers of these questions.

General Objective

To know the roles of the leader in curriculum development.

Objectives. At the end of this module, you should be able to:

1. Define the terms leader and leadership.

2. Understand the functions of leadership in curriculum development.
3. Know the qualities and characteristics of a good leader.
4. Know and understand the principles of educational leadership.
5. Answer the questions given at the end of this module.

Definitions of Leadership/Leader

There is a variety of definitions given to the term leader/leadership. The following

are a few selected ones:

Leadership may be broadly defined as the relationship between an individual and

a group built around some common interest and behaving in a manner directed or
determined by him (Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 1990).

Leadership is (a) the ability and readiness to inspire, guide, direct, or manage
others, (b) the role to interpret the interest and objectives of a group, the group
recognizing and accepting the interpreter as spokesman (Dictionary of Education,
1985).
 A leader is ordinarily understood to be a prominent and active person. All leaders
together are the “leadership” (Lassell, et al., 1990).

Leadership is not an attribute of the personality but a quality of his role within a
particular or specified social system. Viewed in relation to the group, leadership is a
quality of its structure (Gibbs, 1989).

A leader is an individual who is moving in a particular direction and who

succeeds in inducing others to follow after him (Cowley, 1995).

Behavior on the part of an individual which results in his being considered a good
leader or excellent leader is adequate leadership (Hemphill and Westie, 1993).

Gibson and Hunt (1999) state that there are some threads that run through the
foregoing definitions, and that, in summary, it may be said that “a leader” (a) is an
individual (b) acts in a group (c) has common interests, purposes, or goals, (d)
influences the efforts of the group toward the achievement of their goals. For our
purpose, the leadership role may be defined as “the role in which an individual
exercises influence among other individuals toward the achievement of goals.”

Functions of Leadership in Curriculum Development

The demands required of leadership in a curriculum development program are

varied. These demands imply competencies in several different areas – in face-to-face
situations with individuals and groups, in curriculum processes and procedures, in the
marshalling of resources, in the creation of a stimulating and supportive environment
and atmosphere. In addition, there is required of those who exercise leadership an
understanding of the role of the school, of school- community structure and
relationships, of child development and growth, of the learning progress, of curriculum
theory and organization.

In the process of organizing and facilitating the curriculum development program,

it is clear that group processes are almost always involved. Some of the important
contributions that leadership in a curriculum development program can make are
described below:

1. Leadership should improve group effectiveness. One of the primary roles of

curriculum leadership is to extend the group’s skill in the identification of problems,
the discussion of ideas and the formulation of decisions for action in order to
advance toward their accepted goal. The curriculum leader can upgrade the
problem-solving processes by raising the quality of discussion, helping the group to
establish good operating procedures, facilitating the sharing of leadership, and
accelerating the group toward maximum realization of its own potential. Because
considerable curriculum-improvement rests on growth in small-group situations,
 one of the curriculum leader’s key responsibilities is to heighten group
effectiveness in cooperative planning. He may serve as chairman or fill other roles
essential for a group to attain its desired goals. A mature group-one which is
productive and satisfying – is an important asset in working on curriculum
improvement.

2. Leadership should improve communication among curriculum workers. Effective

communication can facilitate curriculum improvement; poor communication block
growth. Within working and planning groups and among various individuals and
groups, clear channels of communication are essential. Curriculum leadership
should facilitate the clear definition of avenues of communication so that ideas,
information, and even grievances may be seen, examined, and acted upon.
Recent developments of media make it possible to share information, diffuse facts,
and explain curriculum planning to a wider audience within and without the school.
Communication is a whole complex which can increase understanding of planning
and, from that stage, spread identification with an active participation in curriculum
efforts. Seeking ways and means which will enhance understanding and facilitate
working together can be an important function of curriculum leaders.

One such function relates to writing assistance and the keeping of necessary
records. Significant activities, projects, and researches require the maintenance of
adequate records through professional direction and clerical assistance. One
barrier to some kinds of research is the time needed for clerical processing and
recording of data. Reports must be made and communication maintained. These
are resources which curriculum leadership can help provide for individuals and
groups.

3. Leadership should furnish needed expertness and coordination. The very nature of
curriculum improvement suggests a continuing need for certain competencies and
insights which the groups may or may not be able to furnish from within their own
membership. While outside experts and specialists have important and useful roles
to play, all group members have competencies which should be capitalized upon
as an initial step in group development. These resources within the group will have
to be extended at times. The use of consultants should be explored, so that
expertness which cannot be readily developed within the group can be secured
when required.

Curriculum leaders may supply needed expertness in the selection of

procedures for changing the curriculum and organizing for instructional planning.
Techniques and procedures which can be employed in working toward the
improvement of teaching-learning situations require insights, skills, and
understandings if they are to be used appropriately and are to bring about desired
changes. If a workshop seems desirable, how will it be organized? Someone or
some group will have to make the necessary arrangements, secure personnel
resources, and generally assume responsibility for being sure that the workshop
 method can lead to the kinds of curriculum development wanted and have
reasonable chances for success.

Synchronizing working relationships among the individuals and group

responsible for various phases and services is another responsibility of curriculum
leadership. However, such coordination need not be the concern of a single
individual; it may well be accomplished through steering committees or
coordinating councils. Whatever administrative means are devised, the diverse
efforts and activities of individuals and groups must be coordinated and directed if
cumulative growth is to result. As specialist in the process of bringing about
change, curriculum leaders should guide thinking about possible means for
attaining specific goals and the advantages and disadvantages of various
alternatives. They should also teach how to evaluate the effectiveness of the
procedures which are used.

4. Leadership is needed for releasing the potentialities of individuals and groups.

Because the talents, leadership, and active efforts of many individuals are required
for curriculum improvement, ways of discovering, releasing, and utilizing these
creative skills, knowledge, and insights must be found. In this respect, the leader
must find means to motivate and inspire individuals to acquire and use skills to
reduce psychological tensions and barriers by building trust and confidence, to
stimulate creativity, and to provide opportunities for exercising leadership and
assuming responsibility. Helping individuals with problems in one area may enable
them to grow in another. Opening up avenues for free expression and creativity will
extend possibilities for personal and professional growth.

In a process which deals primarily with human beings, the relationships

among people are paramount. The curriculum leader who recognizes that this
major concern is in mobilizing and releasing the energies, interests, abilities, and
initiative of individuals must give attention to the significance of human relations in
the school groups. The provision of a good physical and social environment has
three facets: healthy working conditions, improvement or maintenance of good
morale, and freedom from tensions and pressures which block individuals and
groups from effective work in curriculum development.

Demands upon Leadership as Implied in the Provision of the Revised Philippine

Educational Program

According to Peralta, there are some specific demands upon education

leadership on the elementary school level as indicated (or broadly implied) by various
provisions of the Revised Philippine Educational Program. It may be mentioned at this
point that many of these “demands” are in relation to the process of curriculum
development.
 1. The analysis, interpretation, and implementation of the five fundamental
objectives of education;
2. The analysis interpretation, and implementation of the specific objectives of
elementary education;
3. The initiation, organization, enrichment, adaptation and development of the local
curriculum;
4. Programming in the different grades;
5. The administration and supervision of instruction and observance of the national
standards;
6. Seeking workable possibilities of holding more classes on the full day basis;
7. Seeking ways to reduce class size without undue waste;
8. The organization, administration, and supervision of multi-grade classes were
needed;
9. Developing and administering “a sound, practical and continuing community
school program as a vital instrument of community development…” which “shall
give special attention to the out-of-school children and youth who must be
provided with at least fundamental education”;
10. Taking the necessary and practical steps toward the eventual implementation of
compulsory education for all children between the ages of 7 and 13;
11. Taking practical and workable steps towards the use of Pilipino as the medium of
instruction in Grades I to IV decided upon by the Board of National Education;
12. The in-service education of teachers for up-grading the quality of instruction and
releasing leadership or creative potentials;
13. Selling the educational reform to the parents, town and other government
officials, and other lay groups and individuals;
14. Coordinating the various educational activities of various government agencies
and civic organizations to better serve the needs of the children and the
community;
15. Maintaining wholesome human relations with the personnel and sound public
relations with the many publics of the school by being ever aware of the trends in
community lie and the possible effects of this upon the school; and
16. Pursuing a balanced program of self-improvement aimed at maintaining himself
in a state of fitness capable of meeting the various demands upon his person as
a citizen and as a professional.

In 1954 the Bureau of Public Schools undertook a series of regional seminars for
the purpose of training community leaders. In these seminars, concepts on leadership
from the point of view of teachers and laymen were developed. Some of these concepts
are:

1. Group leadership is the best kind of leadership.

2. Leaders must not dominate. They should not claim monopoly of wisdom.
3. The effective leader knows how to learn, and he knows he can learn from the
lowest creature.
4. Local potential leaders should be identified…and their leadership should be
developed and utilized to the fullest extent.
 5. The leader must preach in the form of examples.
6. In a democracy, the leader goes to the people and he serves them because they
are the real masters.
7. In a democracy, every individual is a potential leader.

Qualities and Characteristics of Leadership

An analysis of two studies on leadership led the researchers to come to the

conclusion that there seem to be two basic elements in the definition of a democratic
leader: (1) what he is – this refers to his personal equipment, personality, character, and
competence; and (2) what he does – this refers to his performance and leadership
behaviors.

The aforementioned researchers offer the following statement about what a

democratic leader should be:

1. The democratic leader should possess the personal qualifications of a good

leader – energy, intelligence, character, emotional stability, patience, empathy,
enthusiasm, a sense of humor, confidence, competence, and considerateness;
all of which make it possible for him to work effectively with others.
2. He should be a person who fees a compassion and responsibility for assisting a
group to reach goals, some defined by the group and some defined for the group.
3. He should be a person who recognizes intelligence within the group and from
outside the groups that can be brought to bear on the solution of problems that
will produce ultimately better results that he can devise through the use of his
own intelligence and efforts alone.
4. He should be a person who can make perceptive delegation of responsibility to
members of the group, provide the resources and conditions for the group
activity, motivate and encourage the group to recognize achievements, and give
credit for contributions of the group members and the group which are in any way
responsible for success.
5. He should be a person who can utilize group intelligence and the group process,
while at the same time accept personal responsibility for the progress of the
group toward its goals.

Extensive research has shown that the effective leader – whether he is a school
administrator or a manager of a business enterprise – is one who sees to it that the
goals of the organization are achieved but at the same time looks after the welfare and
attends to the problems and needs of the members of that organization. Likert, who has
conducted studies on the supervisory process, developed the following description of
the characteristics of supervisors who develop reactions among the personnel with
whom they are associated.

The attitude and behavior of the superior toward the subordinate as a person, as
perceived by the subordinate, is as follows:
  He is supportive, friendly, and helpful rather than hostile. He is kind but firm,
never threatening, genuinely interested in the well-being of subordinates and
endeavors to treat people in a sensitive, considerate way. He is just, if not
generous. He endeavors to serve the best interest of his employees as well as of
the company.
 He shows confidence in the integrity, ability, and motivations of subordinates
rather than suspicion and distrust.
 His confidence in subordinates leads him to have high expectations as to their
level of performance, with confidence that he will not be disappointed; he expects
much, not little. (This again, is fundamentally a supportive rather than a critical or
hostile relationship).
 He sees that each subordinate is well trained for his particular job. He endeavors
also to help subordinates be promoted by training them for jobs at the next level.
This involves giving them relevant experience and coaching whenever the
opportunity offers.
 He coaches and assists employees whose performance is below standard. In the
case of a subordinate who is clearly misplaced and unable to do his job
satisfactorily, he endeavors to find a position well suited to that employee’s
abilities and arranges to have the employee transferred to it.

The behavior of the supervisor in directing the work is characterized by such

activity is:

Planning and scheduling the work to be done, training subordinates, supplying

them with materials and tools, and initiating work activity; and

Providing adequate technical competence, particularly in those situations where

the work has not been highly standardized.

The leader develops his subordinates into a working team with high group loyalty
by using participation and other kinds of group-leadership practices.

Principles of Educational Leadership

According to Ragan, when leadership is exercised by anyone in a manner suited

to a democracy, it follows certain principles. The principles that mold an individual’s
thoughts and guide his actions when entrusted with educational leadership, as
discussed by Ragan, are presented in the paragraphs that follow:

1. Educational leadership is based on intelligence. In a profession that

emphasizes the application of intelligence to the solution of problems of living,
leadership is entrusted to the man who knows. The magnetic personality, the
 common touch, and the imposing physical stature no longer suffice. The
leader needs a thorough grasp of the entire school program in its social
setting – its historical background, its objectives, the relationship among its
parts, its methods and procedures. In addition, he needs to be well grounded
in the techniques of evaluating the effectiveness of the school program. And
he must gain an intimate understanding of teaching which comes only
through an integration of theory and practice.

There is a special burden placed upon the supervising principal in an

elementary school to acquaint himself with educational methods at all grade
levels and in all curriculum areas. To be truly a leader, the principal must
know methods of teaching primary reading; he must know recent
developments in the teaching of foreign languages in the elementary school;
he must be prepared to assist in the development of a program for science
teaching in the elementary grades; he must know the field of child growth and
development. Through a program of formal course work, of reading, of
attendance at professional conferences, of classroom visitation, the principal
whose training has been inadequate must make up for its inadequacy. And
even the best prepared educational leader must continue to be a student of
education if he is to furnish intelligent leadership for teachers.

2. Educational leadership is based on personal integrity. Since we teach better

by example than by precept, what the leader does is more important than
what he knows or what he says. The term personal integrity, as used here,
means that the leader really stands for certain principles and can be
depended upon to see that these principles are observed in staff
relationships. If he believes in the principle of group planning, he should in
practice try to carry out the policies agreed upon by the staff. Unless the
leader has this kind of personal integrity, group processes become a form of
busy work, and the morale of the staff steadily declines.

The subject of national morality has been given a great deal of attention in
recent years. National morality is nothing more than the sum of the characters
of the individuals composing the nation. The public schools have a part in
building character. It is not surprising, therefore, that the personal lives of
educational leaders should be the subject of the closest examination and that
personal integrity should be regarded as an essential qualification for
leadership.

3. Educational leadership should be inconspicuous. The effective educational

leader is the one who develops confidence in the members of the staff to do
things themselves. Instead of keeping himself in the limelight, he is constantly
calling attention to the accomplishments of the group who is bent of his own
personal advancement, who seizes every opportunity to promote his own pet
projects, who presides at every meeting of the staff and proceeds to lay out
his program for the school, has failed to comprehend the role of leadership in
 a democratic society. It is the function of leadership to help the members of
the group formulate common goals, develop ways of achieving goals, and
grow in their capacity to evolve worthwhile procedures.

4. Educational leadership should promote atmosphere informality. Intelligence

and informality are by no means mutually exclusive. Just as the common
touch is no substitute for intelligence, neither is intelligence a substitute for
friendliness and informality in dealing with other members of the staff. By
showing an interest in the hobbies, interests, and skills of each staff member,
by inviting the staff to his home for social meetings, and by encouraging the
use of first names instead of formal titles, the leader can help create an
atmosphere of friendliness that contributes to smoother human relations in
the school provided such informality comes from a genuine interest in people.
Informality that is a pose is easily recognized as such and is frequently
resented.

5. Educational leadership builds a morale. Morale building has been given a

great deal of attention in industry and in military circles. Educational
leadership, in general, has been slow in recognizing this important factor in
the effectiveness of the school staff. Educational leadership has no greater
responsibility than that of developing in the members of the staff as esprit de
corps, a sense of participation in the total life of the school, a feeling that all
are engaged in a work whose contributions to mankind are unquestioned, and
that each bring his own unique talents to the accomplishment of a common
goal. By giving attention to the health needs of teachers, by reducing the
teaching load, by helping to improve the social status of teachers in the
community by recognizing outstanding achievements by giving each teacher
a feeling of being wanted and appreciated by the school system, by working
for good salaries and working conditions for the staff, by keeping the staff
informed concerning actions taken in their behalf, by providing attractive
classroom and teachers lounges, by promoting from within the ranks when
possible, by consulting teachers before taking action which will affect them,
and by showing a willingness to work with a teacher in solving a problem
created by the teacher’s own mistakes – by these and by countless other
methods the leader can help build better staff morale.

6. Educational leadership requires vision. The teacher who has no vision of the
results of her work in the form of richer and more successful lives for the
children she teachers is enmeshed in a sorry round of details. Similarly, the
educational leader who does not visualize the school as an agency for
helping each child achieve to the full stature of his capabilities is unfit for his
position. The genuine leader must work and strive for educational
opportunities that far surpass those provided for children in the present time;
he must have a vivid concept of what constitutes adequate educational
opportunities; he must rest his faith on a long-range program rather than on
 immediate ends; he must not let the drudgery of current details obscure his
vision for a better tomorrow for the children in elementary schools.

7. Educational leadership requires the courage to face difficult tasks. There can
be no serene skies or easy sailing for an individual who aspires leadership in
these times. He must continuously study educational theory and practice; he
must keep abreast of the ever-changing social structure in which the school
exists; he must utilize opportunities for study and travel; and he must
welcome tasks that are difficult. Growth comes through striving, not through
attaining. Great leaders are not developed by the performance of easy tasks.
Therefore, competence as an educational leader comes only with courage to
face difficult tasks.

8. Educational leadership employs the methods of democracy. Respect for the

individual is the essence of democracy. Without respect for the individual, no
educational leader can measure up to his responsibilities. The leader reflects
this respect for personality in his dealings with pupils, teachers, parents, and
other citizens. Intelligence, personal integrity, modesty, the common touch,
the ability to build morale, vision, and courage are all included in the principle
of respect for personality or human worth. Without faith in the ability of
individuals to work out their own problems if given the opportunity to work on
them cooperatively, all other qualifications for educational leadership are to
no avail.

Principles and Procedures for Developing Curriculum Improvement Programs

There are certain principles and procedures which a curriculum leader – whether
he is a school superintendent, district supervisor, or school principal – must follow for
developing curriculum improvement programs that are effective and productive. These
principles and procedures, which apply equally well to in-service education activities,
are: (1) create an atmosphere for working; (2) help others see problems; (3) help others
get started; (4) help others make good decisions; (5) help others put plan into action; (6)
help others evaluate progress; (7) help groups improve their competence.

Questions to Answer

1. What is leadership?
2. What are the qualities of a good leader?
3. What are the roles of a leader in curriculum development?
4. Enumerate the principles of Educational leadership.