Semester Offered:                             Semester 7

Course Coordinator and Team:      SES Faculty

Email of course coordinator:           pcbabed@aud.ac.in 

Pre-requisites:                                   No

Course Description:

The purpose of the course is to introduce prospective teachers to the emergent issues and aspects of school leadership practices amidst the changing educational policy landscape across the globe, the new curriculum frameworks, the challenge of accommodating and adapting to the changing demands on educational institutions and the increasing expectations that come with the culture of ‘performativity’. The course is designed to equip student teachers with the perspectives and competencies they need to drive school transformation and help diverse stakeholders establish priorities and improve practice. 

Course Objectives:

• To familiarise students with leadership theories and practices within the context of educational organisation, structures and governance issues in India.
• To encourage prospective teachers to develop a systems view of educational organisation and leadership.
• To develop a critical understanding of global policy context in which vision of educational change is embedded.
• To enable prospective teachers to develop and envision change leadership, critically engaging with the contemporary context of schooling.

Course Outcomes:

• Describe the diversity of schools in India, its structure, its governance, issues, challenges and school leadership needs
• Critically examine the different leadership theories and practices and its relationship with the governance structures, the autonomy and accountability mechanisms and the larger educational policy context
• Critically think in relation to education leadership and its potential application to different contexts
• Reflect critically on school-based data for reflection and improvement
• Develop a culture of cooperation collaboration and teamwork
• Synthesise effectively to develop coherent and compelling arguments in the area of study
• Develop school vision, mission, goals, and School Development Plans.

Brief description of the modules:

Module 1: Understanding Indian School System

The first module will contextualise the discussion on the nature of schools as organisations, the structure and process of organisation of schooling in India –the macro context of school education. Students will be introduced to the role of school leadership within the complex macro context of diversity of schools in the country

Module 2: Understanding School Leadership

This module will focus on leadership discourses in an educational context and help students explore the purpose and different dimensions of school leadership practices. The attempt will be to focus in particular on the contemporary context of schooling across the globe, best practices and insights for schools and school leadership in the Indian context.

Module 3: School as Learning Organization: Role of School Leadership

The module will focus on introducing student teachers to the concept of learning organization and systems thinking. Students will engage with seminal writings in educational leadership discourse to understand and appreciate the significance of building professional learning communities in thinking about schools as learning organizations.

Assessment Plan

Assessment	Weightage
Assignment 1: Group In-Class presentations on Case Study of School	20%
Assignment 2: Making a Leadership Profile for a learning organisation	40%
Assignment 3: Project on School Development Plan aligned with specific aspects of NEP 2020 recommendations	40%

Readings:

• Mehendele, A. (2021). School education systems and policies in South Asia. In Sarangapani, P. M. and Pappu, R.  (Eds.). Handbook of Education Systems in South Asia, pp. 393-410. Springer. 
• Sharan, S. (2015) Quality concerns in school education. Journal of Indian Education, 40 (4), 65-77.
• Kumar, M. and Sarangapani, P.M. (2005). Improving government schools: What has been tried and what works. Case Studies (Module 1 and 2) for Sample case studies. Books for change. Creating More Equitable Classrooms with Subir Shukla (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN2Bd3e2dSU 
• Batra, S. (2011). The Construct and Scope of Educational Leadership. The Learning Curve, Azim Premji Foundation, XVI, 7-12.
• Western, S. (2019). An Overview of the Leadership Discourses. In Leadership: a critical text. Sage. On Eco Leadership – Simon Western; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se51ao-tqEY 10 Leadership Theory in 10 Minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKUPDUDOBVo 
• Alebachew A., Sharma, A., and Das S. (2017). School climate: Friendliness of physical climate in elementary schools and its implications for educational leaders. Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, 31(4), 307-326.
• Learning Curve: School Leadership Special Issue, XVI. Azim Premji Foundation. Sergiovanni, T. J. (2001). Leadership: What’s in it for schools? London: Routledge. (Chapters 1: The real context for leadership and Chapter 3: New leadership, roles, and competencies) 
• Saravanabhabhavan, R.C., Pushpandham, and Sararavabhavan, S. (2016). India: School leadership, India at the crossroad. In Ärlestig, H., Day, C., and Johansson, O. (Eds.). A Decade of Research on School Principals: Cases from 24 countries. Springer. 
• Senge, P. (2000).   Schools That Learn.  London :Nicholas Brealey Publishing. https://schoolsthatlearn.com/(The idea of school that learns, pp. 5-24; section II-select excerpts)
• How Do Education Systems Learn? | Subir Shukla https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqJorDjPnGQ 
• Fullan, M.G. (2009). Large scale reforms come of age. Journal of Educational Change. 10. 101-113. 
• Claxton, G. Learning to learn: a key goal in 21st century curriculum. QCA. www.qca.org.uk/futures/