Educational leadership

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The way in which the teacher / educator influences the teaching and upbringing process is called educational leadership . It wants to contribute to the (young) person recognizing himself and the world and shaping both independently and responsibly. Various theories serve to explain or orientate educational leadership processes. These are outlined below.

Lead or grow

The pedagogical leadership of a teacher / educator is closely related to his view of the world and people. In the history of pedagogy, there are two recurring positions on pedagogical leadership, which are referred to as “leading” or “growing” and are often juxtaposed. These mark two opposing approaches in education. Most pedagogical theories, however, contain a synthesis of both positions, the weighting of these poles being different.

To lead

Leadership is a mechanical model. In this model, the teacher / educator can be compared to a vehicle driver. He knows both the goal, which is set by politics or other ruling powers of the time, as well as the path to the goal. According to this conception, the pupil is to be steered in a certain direction, and the teacher / educator can achieve the desired, given goal in a certain period of time by using the right methods. Here the student is seen as a material that can be steered and shaped at will. The upbringing is thus analogous to the manual activity, to be seen as "making" and "forming". If the set goals are not achieved, either the teacher / educator has used the wrong methods or there are deficits in the material (the student).

Examples of the conception of pedagogical leadership as forms of human beings towards a certain “ideal” are given in their extreme form in totalitarian states. In the Third Reich, for example, people spoke of “human material” and “human selection”. The educational ideals should be “burned” into the “heart and brain” of the pupils (cf. March 1980, p. 61). Similar views were already held by some representatives of the youth movement such as B. can be found at Gustav Wyneken (cf. Geißler 1965, p. 22ff.). But even today there is still a material image of man, for example when people speak of “human capital” or “education as a raw material”.

Leadership as forms is also expressed in psychological-behaviorist-oriented pedagogy. From the founder of behaviorist psychology, John. B. Watson quote: "Give me a dozen healthy, well-educated children and my own environment to raise them in, and I guarantee I will pick each one at random and raise them to be a specialist in some profession, a doctor , Judge, artist, merchant or beggar and thief, regardless of his talents, inclinations, abilities, talents and the origins of his ancestors ”(1968, p. 123 quoted from March 1980, p. 112).

To let something grow

The opposite position describes the educational process as an organic model. The student, so the assumption, unfolds from within, i.e. H. according to its immanent laws, analogous to organic growth in nature. The teacher / educator is compared to a gardener who has to look after and care for what is growing. This internal process must not be disturbed by external interventions. The pedagogical task of the teacher / educator is thus a negative one, that is, he should guard the natural development process of the pupil and keep the disruptive factors away. So this position does not deny the human need for education. The teacher / educator ensures favorable conditions and waits attentively for the impulses that come from the student in order to absorb and build on them. Only if the student is not disturbed in his development can he find out what talents he naturally possesses. The teacher / educator then has the task of helping the student to develop these talents. To this end, Jean-Jacques Rousseau writes in his novel “ Emile or about education ”: “Allow his character seed to show himself freely! Do you think that this time of freedom is lost for him? On the contrary! Because that's the only way you won't lose a moment when time is much more precious. If you do not know what to do, you are acting on good luck: you are mistaken and have to start all over again! After all, you are further from your goal than if you had taken your time. So don't do it like the curmudgeon who loses a lot because he didn't want to lose anything. In childhood, sacrifice your time, which you will get back later with interest ”(1975, p. 73 quoted from March 1980, p. 242f.).

In the style of Rousseau, “leading as letting grow” can be found in the reform pedagogical movement “from childhood”, for example in the pedagogy of Ellen Key , Maria Montessori , Ludwig Gurlitt and also in the anti-authoritarian upbringing of Alexander Neill .

The synthesis of leading and letting grow

Theodor Litt postulates a synthesis of both in his book “Leading or Growing” (1927). A “reverent and patient letting grow” and a “responsible leadership” are equally necessary for him for upbringing (cf. ibid, p. 81f.). The development of the student's inner strength is just as important as his engagement with the objective world of things, tasks, values ​​and norms of a society. It is precisely this confrontation that helps the student to develop his own attitude towards the objective side of the world and enables him to act independently and responsibly in society, to consciously participate in the culture and to help shape it.

The polarity between the creative forces of the subject and the objective content of culture is also addressed by Herman Nohl. For Nohl, the primary goal of education is also self-determination, which only arises when both poles meet. The pedagogical leadership of the teacher / educator consists in the mediation between the subjective pole of the child's individuality and the objective pole of the cultural powers (cf. Maier 1992, p. 106).

Educational guidance as an aid to self-management

In a teacher-student relationship , a distinction is made between the self-management of the student and the external management of the teacher / educator, with the emphasis on the self-management of the student. Both the acquisition of knowledge and the taking of an attitude towards it cannot be brought about from the outside, but only possible through the self-activity and the student's own value judgment. It is assumed that the student is able to achieve this through his innate reason. In the teaching and upbringing process, the teacher / educator guides the student's learning process by supporting the learner in dealing with the subject on their own. He initiates the student's learning process with questions, impulses, suggestions, suggestions and requests and is at his side as a role model and advisor. This type of leadership can be described as Socratic Maeutics (cf. Hintz et al. 2001, pp. 184ff.).

Leadership styles in education (after Kurt Lewin)

According to Kurt Lewin, the various possible leadership styles can be divided into three groups.

1. Authoritarian leadership style: the teacher / educator specifies the content, procedures, timing and objectives of the teaching process and strictly controls both the process and the results. The students are obliged to obey and have no right of participation.

2. Democratic leadership style: the teacher / educator involves the students in planning, setting goals and carrying out the lessons. The students are encouraged to participate and to work independently. They are free to express their views and are encouraged to express their own views.

3. Laissez-faire leadership style: the students are largely left to their own devices. You have great freedom and have to organize and regulate yourself. The teacher / educator does not neglect to provide assistance or give suggestions, but leaves it at that.

literature

  • Geissler, Erich E. (ed.): Authority and education. Klinkhardt's educational source texts. Bad Heilbronn 1965
  • Hintz, Dieter / Pöppel, Karl G. / Rekus, Jürgen: New school pedagogical dictionary. Weinheim and Munich 2001
  • Litt, Theodor: Lead or let grow. Stuttgart 1964
  • March, Fritz: Problem history of pedagogy. Volume II. Pedagogical Anthropology Part 2. Bad Heilbronn 1980
  • Maier, Robert E .: Pedagogy of Dialogue. A historical-systematic contribution to the clarification of the pedagogical relationship with Nohl, Buber, Rosenzweig and Grisebach. Frankfurt am Main 1992
  • Rousseau, Jean J .: Emil or about education. Paderborn 1975
  • Watson John B .: Behaviorism. Supplemented by the essay: Psychology as the behaviorist sees it. Cologne and Berlin 1968