engleski

Professional Learning of Leadership As A Prerequisite for Kindergarten Development

The demands of leading an educational institution are increasingly growing and are becoming more complex. Nevertheless, preparation for leadership, either at the initial level of education or professional training, is still largely at an inadequate level in the Republic of Croatia. It is often reduced to personal experience of the educational staff, i.e. to ad hoc dealings with complex managerial challenges. In this paper we discuss the most common forms of professional learning about leadership and its disadvantages, as well as the possibilities of conceptualizing the conditions for better professional learning of leadership. These include encouraging the culture of learning at the institution itself, which involves a large number of subjects, not just the principal. In particular, we highlight the value of professional learning of leadership at the institution itself, and this includes professional expertise of the employees and it is incorporated into the day-to-day practices of the institution that relies on the power of the group of other employees. Such forms of leadership learning take into account different structures and institutional contexts of the institution, as well as the value of employee co-operation. In this paper we present the action research we undertook in a number of kindergartens. Action research is a specific type of empirical research that is carried out with immediate pedagogical action. This is a scientifically based change of the pedagogical process in which the main organizers and creators of this process appear simultaneously as researchers. In that sense, it was based on the connection and collaboration between the members of the academic community and practitioners as equal partners. The aim of this research was to become acquainted with and to improve the quality of leadership in the real context of the institution, which means that the research and the learning opportunities of leadership that grew out of this research were highly personalized. In this regard, employees were enabled to experience the research of the quality of their own leadership in the real context of the institution and the integration of various skills required for continuous questioning and (self)evaluation. The results of this research are noticeable in acquiring new knowledge and improving the management process in kindergartens involved in the research. At the same time, the results could also represent the basis for redesigning the program of professional learning of leadership by competent institutions. In that sense, the kindergarten could become a learning center for better practice and quality leadership, through formalization of the approach that has been developed through its own practice.

action research ; learning culture ; leadership ; kindergarten

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