LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT: DRIVING FORCE FOR SUSTAINABILITY OF SCHOOLS By Dr. Mrs. Ayodele Womiloju

A leader can be described as someone who influences others to act and to do the right thing. A true and right leader will do it right always even if others do not agree with him/her. No matter how unpopular his/her decision may be, he/she believes in doing it right always.

There are leaders who are naturally inclined to be good leaders and there are leaders who acquire the skills of leadership having exceptional leadership skills by bringing the right people together and create a winning team. A team that can think big, identify opportunities with fresh and ICT-driven insight into the future. As a leader pushing the team members to achieve greatness, success and in fact surpass their goals is the distinguishing factor between a leader and a manager.

It must be categorically stated here that all individuals have the potential to lead. As earlier stated, it is the inherent nature of man in every individual to lead. The inherent nature if well harnessed and used creatively drive organisation to realise their potentials and achieve lofty goals. Getting to the top of Mount Everest is not accidental. So, to get to the highest peak of one’s profession demands clarity and intention. In another word, being a successful leader demands that there is intentional leadership. This suggests that the leader knows where to get it and taking consistent action to get it. When you don’t back up your thought with clarity and action then you can as well be referred to be day dreaming.
This concept of globalisation of education is capable of impacting positively by improving educational opportunities. There is therefore no gainsaying that for us to achieve world class education for our students, our leaders of tomorrow, we require effective leaders and managers. One major task in this new move is that we as school administrators must be ready to share experiences, collaborate, synergise and work to avoid diversions.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR
To be a good school administrator is not an easy task as leadership itself is a complex task. However, it must be clearly stated that to be a good administrator is a profitable venture which really worth any level of sacrifice, discipline and diligence. A good school administrator is an instructional leader with strong ethics, dynamic personality and unyielding commitment to the achievement of educational goals. A good school administrator is one who empowers others to achieve their goals or accomplish their various responsibilities that enhance the individual and collective growth of the students. A good school administrator must be deadline-driven and possess high level of organisational skills. He/She must be one who can balance multiple tasks simultaneously and delegate appropriately.
He/She must be a good communicator both in speaking and writing with good inter-personal relationship.
A good administrator must enhance and always look for ways of improving service delivery.
A good school administrator above all must be one who can combine various approaches and apply knowledge from wide range of disciplines including economics, general management, educational psychology and sociology to facilitate effective management and administration of the school.

The school principal/administrator is the Chief Accounting Officer of the school. He/She is the leader that builds other leaders: the manager that manages the human and material resources available in the school.
Let us examine the features of a good principal using the measure of the nine (9) letters of the word “Principal” thus:
P: Plans school activities and provides guidelines.
R: Respects the wishes of the school population, replies their requirements and listens to them.
I: Indicates and commands school population and never dictates orders.
N: Networks to the school population and makes timely contacts.
C: Consults with school population and conducts constructive changes.
I: Instructs school population and accepts new idea(s).
P: Participates in school activities and encourages team work.
A: Attracts school population and motivates them to teach and learn effectively.
L: Leads school population in the right direction and learns from them.

A good principal must be seen and heard. He must be highly visible.
Must be a problem solver
Must be fair and consistent
Must be discreet and ready to move forward.

SKILLS REQUIRED OF A GOOD ADMINISTRATOR
Even though there are variations in these requirements of an effective school administrator, they are however all pointing to the fact that an ideal school administrator must be equipped very well to cope effectively with any challenge in the school organisation.
Skill implies an ability which can be developed, not necessarily inborn but which is manifested in performance. In another word the principal criterion of skilfulness must be effective action under any circumstance and in varying conditions. There are three basic skills to be developed for would be excellent administrators, namely:

Technical Skill: As it is used here it implies an understanding of proficiency in specific activities particularly one involving methods, processes and procedures or techniques. In short, technical skill involves specific knowledge and mastery of contents. The school administrator must be able to use this skill to facilitate the development of the school especially in the different specialised areas of the school. A recognition of the need for technical skill in the school management will go a long way in determining the level of efficiency of a school administrator.

Human Skill: This implies the ability to work effectively as a team and to build a cooperative effort within the team. This is primarily concerned with working with people, ie interpersonal relationhip

Conceptual Skill: Ability to see the management and administration exercise as a whole. Recognising how various functions of the organisation depend on one another and how changes in one affect the others. The success of the school organisation depends on the conceptual skill of the principal and all those involved in the decision making and putting decisions into actions.

Other Skills required are listed below:
? Excellent spoken and written communication skills;
? Organising skill;
? Assertiveness skill;
? Analytical skill;
? Good ICT skill;
? Interpersonal skill;
? Administrative skill;
? Risk Management skill;
? Active Listening skill;
? Empowerment skill;
? Delegating skill; and
? Monitoring skill.
These Skills must be developed on daily basis because they are critical to success. They are normally learned, acquired and applied.
, a leader must know how to lead in all settings.
In relation to our country Nigeria, principals, middle managers (vice-principals, heads of departments, supervisors) and officers from the supervisory agencies (MOEST, SUBEB, TSCOM etc) need to have the following qualities in order to lead, direct and achieve the set educational goals.
? Self Awareness
? Resourcefulness
? Moral Uprightness
? Power of skills of teaching and learning
? Knowledge and skills of effective leadership skills.

For a leader to be effective in any setting, he must:
o Be ready to unite his team.
o He must not be discriminative.
o He must be ready to share similarities and avoid diversions.
o He must give room for happiness and humour as against sadness, anger and sentiments.
o Know how to express thankfulness
o Be humble, sincere and full of smiles.
o Operate an open door policy when dealing with people of various backgrounds.
o Encourage his team to visit him anytime and carry them along in his activities.
o Be a good listener and a compassionate talker.
o Be trust worthy and be a person of honour.
o Must be polite and tactful.

Advantages of Effective Leadership in an Educational Setting
? Increased creativity
? Wider range of perspectives
? More and better ideas
? Greater achievement of set goals.
? Creation of conducive learning/working environment.
In conclusion, there is need to draw attention to the fact that in schools, students/learner's background will make them to learn in different ways.



Effective leaders should therefore take cognisance of the following:
? Focus on leader-team interaction.
? Provide guidelines to be followed.
? Recognise the differences that exist in the classroom.
? Help the team and set the vision or goals required.
? Equalise power
? Create mutual respect for one another in the setting.
? Give feedbacks and set criteria.
? Show a lot of trust.
? Add flavour to other people's ideas.

LEADERSHIP AND GLOBALISATION OF EDUCATION: USE OF TECHNOLOGY
Education is described as the main element of the society. For Globalisation to be achieved, knowledge and skills are essential tools. Globalisation refers to the inter-connectivity of the whole world, with reference to the world as a global village. The Education System now competes in a global league table rather than local or national competitions. In other context, in the demand for Globalisation, there has to be new forms of Education with focus on Technology.

Globalisation of Education has impacted the world positively in the area of technology; hence the need to discuss the various ways in which Technology has improved Education globally. The use of technology has improved educational opportunities by enabling teachers and students to overcome difficulties facing content and delivery of basic instructional materials. The use of IT makes it easier to deliver lessons or trainings from teachers to students from one location to another. The Covid-19 experience which brought about the Ogun Digiclass is a good reference point.

Distance learning which brought a lot of inconveniences to students in the past is now enhanced and better through the use of IT teachers from countries where the use of IT has become the major means of teaching students before now shared their experiences with us, convincing most of us from developing countries the necessity for the commencement of the use of computers in our classrooms. This we have no option about with the outbreak of Covid-19 and its attending effects.
Lessons delivered through the use of computers can be interactive, which gives students real time feedbacks on their work and enable them to work at their own pace.

Benefits of the Use of Technology in Education
? Students enjoy working with computers, so when these computers are integrated into our classrooms, they create excitement about learning among the pupils.
? The internet provides an opportunity for students to extend the reach of their learning. Before the commencement of the internet, the resources available to students were those that could be found in their classrooms or in public libraries. The internet therefore enables students to reach well beyond the physical confines of their classrooms and gain access to unlimited information on topics discussed in their classrooms.
? The use of the internet for school assignments also encourages students to give free access to their curiosity and strengthens their research and investigative skills.
? The use of IT in a developing country like Nigeria offers opportunities to students to gain access to information and communicate via email. Professionals in different fields can also have cheap or free access to journals and other professional publications that are too expensive to afford in hard-copy versions.
? IT will enable students from a developing country like Nigeria to take courses offered in foreign institutions.
? Technology will have a positive impact on education, enabling students to learn at their own pace as opposes to following traditional teaching methods.
? Students will feel more success in schools, they will be more motivated to learn and have increased self-confidence and self-esteem when using computer-based instruction.

Technology does more than just providing an alternative to the traditional method of teaching. The following are summarised benefits of technology use in the classroom.
? It creates social awareness and gives more confidence to both teacher and students.
? There is more effective communication of complex processes.
? It makes students to become independent learners and self-starters.
? It enables students particularly in higher institutions to know their areas of expertise.
? Students have better understanding and broader view of their subjects.

Globalisation of Education with particular reference to the use of Technology cannot be stopped. The internet and international travel has seen to this. There has to be new forms of Education delivery; in view of this, and based on our experience during the Covid-19 pandemic, the following suggestions are hereby presented:
? That the Government should endeavour to see training of school administrators and teachers as paramount. This will go a long way to promote administrators’ managerial skills, teachers teaching skills, master new knowledge and develop new proficiency which in turn improves students' learning.
? To recognise as essential the need to equip teachers with computers for them to become more confident in the use of ICT in the classrooms, to input grades and students' data which will help them compute percentages and scores of their students accurately.
? To de-congest the classrooms and equip them with computers for the benefit of better teaching and learning process.
? Need for Government sponsored in-service IT training for principals to enable them face new challenges in the education world which will eventually lead to better job performances and effective leadership in their schools.

ENSURING SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF TEACHERS.
What is Social Emotional well-being? It is essential for overall health and emotionally well-being able to realise one's abilities, cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively and contribute to one's community.
Social and emotional well-being is critical to the overall health of the teacher in any teaching and learning environment.
Stress at the work place can be caused by frustration, lack of good leaders, class sizes and students' performances. All these in a way, when left unattended to, affect the well-being of any teacher. Teachers' well-being matters in any educational setting because when there is stress instead of rest during vacation, the teacher falls sick. The emotions of a teacher can affect the attention performance and creativity in his or her work.

Leaders need to understand the emotions of teachers and pay attention to that aspect. The school must be aware of the importance of social-emotional health of teachers and the chronic impact it will have on the students. Supporting therefore the social and emotional well-being of teachers is critical for leaders to create a positive school climate. This support can come in a variety of ways as discussed below:
? As leaders, always plan inductions for teachers.
? Allocate time to talk to teachers about their social and emotional well-being.
? Have a counsellor to attend to teachers' needs. They need someone to listen to them to share their worries, e.g. when they are not feeling well, they need someone to talk to.
? Since emotions affect attention, performance and creativity, leaders need to pay attention and learn to understand the emotions of teachers. Help them to believe in themselves.
? Create a comfortable environment for teachers and develop a culture of trust and respect for them.
? Always create time to talk to teachers about their social and emotional well-being status. Listen to them for ideas on how to move the school forward, they have great ideas.
? As a leader, get to know your teachers and develop a support system for them. Let teachers know that in this century, their role is not only about content but to teach social and emotional well-being.
? Celebrate their achievements and encourage acts of kindness.
? Be a role model - don't allow gossips.
? Have a circle of support.

It is evident that there is much to school management and administration than we probably may be thinking of. It should however, be pointed out that the skills of management have never been a matter of a day acquisition rather built on regular exposures, consistency and the determination to make the best of every challenging situations which ultimately increase the administrator’s experience and give room for efficiency and improved performance.

Lincolndemo

Lincolndemo (Olalekan Adeeko) is a Technology teacher. He teaches mostlyK-12

students. He is from Nigeria.