Leadership Strategies at Ellenbrook Primary School: A Case Analysis

This case study examines the leadership strategies employed at Ellenbrook Primary School, focusing on Principal MacNeill's approach and its impact on school improvement. It describes the school's community, staffing, student demographics, and funding. The analysis aligns MacNeill's leadership with the road-to-goal theory, discussing its merits and demerits in the context of Ellenbrook's needs. The study also explores the shift in pedagogy and its support within educational literature. Furthermore, the case study highlights the school's improvements in student performance and evaluates the effectiveness of MacNeill's leadership in transforming Ellenbrook Primary School into a successful institution. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of adapting leadership styles to the specific needs of the team and situation.

Running head: LEARDERSHIP 1
Leadership in Schools
Name:
Institution:
Date:

LEADERSHIP 2
School leadership
Question 1
Describe the school community that is Ellenbrook Primary School in terms of its
ICSEA, staffing formula; student numbers, traits and attendance rates; location and
level of funding.
Ellenbrook primary school has a population of 579 students with a 34 teachers and 20 non
teaching staff. The ICSEA value of the school is 998. The school has students from different
backgrounds, a fifth of the school population consists of students from Indian and Middle
Eastern countries, these students do not have an English background (Broadbent, Boyle &
O’Brien, 2015).. This is a public school hence it is funded by the government. According to
Dr. Neil Macneil who joined in a the new principal, the school was like a wild west. There
were many children that came from troubled families and they consequently were involved in
bullying.
the success of the leaders depends on the ability with which they understand the causes
underlying problems that are found, depending on the context as an indispensable element to
improve their schools . Educational leadership does not rest only and exclusively in the figure
of the principal but it must be distributed in all the school and in the working modes and
professional relationship between its members (McLeskey, Billingsley & Waldron, 2016).
Elmore (2010: 81) gives a step further affirming "after observing several schools in the
process of improvement school, these are not limited to distributing the leadership -that is, to
give greater
influences to people with expertise- they also develop leadership, it is say, they create a
common body of knowledge and associated skills with the practice of leadership and provide

LEADERSHIP 3
opportunities for people to incorporate it into their work ".leadership practices affect the
goals set and the development of the organization, personal development, management of the
teaching and learning programs to achieve the improvement of the results of the students.
These distinctions in leadership actions are perceived as a strategic response, since they used
to be based on the size, complexity and culture of the respective organizations (Williams,
2017)..
For me, I would form a good team so that as a principal to exert an influence that helps to
encourage the work of all for a common goal and achieve good performance for the school. A
good leader makes decisions, inspires team members, sets common goals and has the respect
and support of the group. In addition, the democratic leader neither imposes nor remains in
the background, but relies on the debate and exchange of opinions of the team to make
decisions.
Question 2
Describe Principal MacNeill's leadership and align it to one of the theories of
educational leadership that most suits his style. Analyse the merits and pitfalls of
MacNeill's leadership style and evaluate whether it is a good fit for the recent and
current needs of Ellenbrook Primary School.
The leadership of Neil is Firmness and flexibility. Innovation implies changes and requires
that the entire educational community leave their comfort zone and embark on an exciting but
demanding adventure. In some instances, Macneil remain firm in the decisions made and
involve his team to carry them out, but also allow some flexibility to adapt erroneous or
overly ambitious plans, redirect problems and assume unexpected setbacks. In that balance

LEADERSHIP 4
they have achieved. Principal Neil came and found a school that was performing dismally but
through decisions such as zero tolerance to bullying ,the principal has managed to make some
improvements in the school.
The leadership of Principal Neil aligns with the road to goal theory. In this theory , a leader is
mandated to assist his followers in achieving their goals by providing them with support and /
or direction to ensure that their goals are compatible with the overall objectives of the school.
The term road to goal is derived from the belief that a leader is supposed to to help his
followers from where they are towards achieving their goals for them to be considered as
effective. A leader is supposed to make the path easier and decrease obstacles and other
dangers(Hargreaves & Ainscow, 2016). This allows the followers to know what is expected
of them, the schedule of work and how to accomplish tasks.
Merits and demerits of this leadership
To answer this question I will build on the associated behaviors that the dictionary of key
competences attributes to leadership, adapting it as far as possible to the reality of a
classroom, and which are distributed in four levels:
Level 1: Communicates and guides to group 1. Lead well the classes or sessions: plan what
is going to work and the specific objectives, control the time, assign the speaking turns, etc.
2. Make sure that the group has all the information they need to do the tasks. 3. Explain the
reasons that led you to make a decision that affects the group or part of the group. 4.
Maintains a close relationship with the group and knows what is happening.
Level 2: Promotes excellence and motivation of the group 1. Use complex strategies to keep
the motivation of the group high and to achieve good levels of productivity: assignment of
work and task teams, distribution of the classroom space, use of the spaces of the center in

LEADERSHIP 5
relation to tasks, etc. 2. Listen and promote participation and the contribution of ideas. 3.
Worries about facilitating a good work climate. 4. It ensures that the group's needs are met: it
gets the resources and information it needs. 5. Give instructions or demonstrations, along
with the underlying reasons, as a learning strategy.
Question 3
In the Fogarty case study, Principal MacNeill said, "we realised that a constructivist
approach to pedagogy wasn't delivering the goods that our kids needed" (2016, p. 2).
What type of pedagogy is now being used at Ellenbrook? Do the unit readings support,
or counter, MacNeill's new pedagogic approach as the right one that will lead to school
improvement in a primary school?
Leadership is the essential quality of principal, if they wish to design and develop programs
for the integral improvement of their institutions, based on the advancement of the
aforementioned group of competencies, with special emphasis on the development of
diversity programs, bilingualism, attention to cultural plurality, etc., deepening in the domain
of the human, turned into the axis of the most relevant for all people (Njenga, 2015).
and singularly for the directors of the educational centers. emphasizes that the leader must
promote the coordination and consolidation of the groups with which he interacts, managing
to improve the culture and promote the maximum commitment of all the people involved; the
value of allophilia is highlighted, which fosters favorable attitudes towards all team members.
For his part, believes that the role of leaders should be based on the promotion of mutual trust
and the development of positive relationships between all the people involved in the program
and in educational institutions. The leader must stimulate the emotional potential and achieve

LEADERSHIP 6
an adequate balance between the performance of the tasks he performs and his emotional
base, which serves as a continuous support against possible uncontrolled impacts of the
program. The complexity of the development of innovative programs in educational centers
requires managers to put "Distributed Leadership" into action , and to become involved in the
program as co-responsible and builder of the innovative project itself.
The vision of distribution of functions and tasks in the development of a program requires the
attunement of the manager with each and every one of the people who constitute the active
group of the program and requires a special closeness among collaborators with projection in
the whole training community. The relationship between educational leadership and school
performance (school outcomes), in various contexts, has been the subject of numerous
contributions, including Sammons, Gu and Day and Ko (2011), Horn and Marfán (2010), and
Leithwood and Jantzi (2009), whose research shows that the preparation, involvement and
collaboration between school leaders, teachers' teams and communities marks the potential
and quality of the school results achieved by students and the future impact on the sustainable
development of school environments.
paradigms of school leadership , proposes three paradigms of school leadership, which
guide the actions and improvement of educational institutions, analyzing them from the most
relevant dimensions, synthesized in: First paradigm Second paradigm Third paradigm Role of
the Leader - Internal, focused on internal development to achieve goals (Hargreaves &
Ainscow, 2015).. Interactive, interface, focused on competition, on the market and on the
satisfaction of workers. - Future, focused on facilitating multiple developments of students,
teachers and schools. Concepts related to leadership - Instructive - Curricular - Structural -
Human - Micro political - Strategic - Contextual / Community - Public relations Triple
leadership. - Multilevel learning. - Sustainable development. - Changes Strategic interest in
leadership This vision of leadership depends on the idea of conceiving society as an

LEADERSHIP 7
organization This paradigm focuses on the need for accounting and accountability and the
tendency to reforms Emphasizes the emphasis on the quality of the education, (it starts in
2000)
The difference between teacher and pedagogical leader lies in the origin of the authority of
each one, since it constitutes the premise of the relation dominion - subordination. The
authority of the teacher comes from the higher levels in the educational institution, in relation
to the level that it occupies with respect to the students. It is official authority.The authority
of the pedagogical leader always comes from the students with whom he interacts and with
whom he shares his position, norms and values. It is moral authority.
Question 4

LEADERSHIP 8
From the moment Dr. Mac Neil came to Ellen Brook Primary school there has been
improvement in the average number of students who have improved for example in Spelling,
the average number of students from 2012 to 2015 who have improved are 424 in 2012 and
439 in 2015. Likewise in narrative writing the improvement from 2012 to 2015 is 431 to 436.
These are some of the few example of how the school has improved and it goes to show that
the school is a cruising effect and the school is effectively creating what is called an efficient
and successful school.
Question 5
leadership of Principal MacNeill and his staff at Ellenbrook Primary School? Would it
be favourable or not and why do you draw this conclusion?
Principal MacNeill is a good leader having transformed Ellenbrook primary school in three
years to be a school that pperforms very well.
In conclusion, the most effective style of leadership is that which adapts to the collaborators
in each situation, that is, exercises an adequate leadership to the needs of the team. Situational
leadership is based on an interaction between (a) the amount of direction a leader provides
and (b) the amount of emotional support the leader gives the follower and (c) the level of
readiness toward the task that followers exhibit in a specific task, function, activity or
objective that the leader seeks to achieve through the individual or group (Connolly & James,
2014).

LEADERSHIP 9
REFERENCES
Broadbent, C., Boyle, M., & O’Brien, S. (2015). Transforming 33 teaching and learning
practices in schools through effective leadership, partnerships and career sensitive
professional learning. Teachin for Tomorrow Today, 237.
Connolly, U., & James, C. (2014). Effective change in schools. Routledge. Emerald Group
Publishing Limited.
Hargreaves, A., & Ainscow, M. (2015). The top and bottom of leadership and change. Phi
Delta Kappan, 97(3), 42-48.
McLeskey, J., Billingsley, B., & Waldron, N. L. (2016). Principal Leadership for Effective
Inclusive Schools. In General and Special Education Inclusion in an Age of Change: Roles of
Professionals Involved (pp. 55-74). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
McLeskey, J., & Waldron, N. L. (2015). Effective leadership makes schools truly
inclusive. Phi Delta Kappan, 96(5), 68-73.
Njenga, A. V. W. (2015). Assessment of head teachers’ leadership practices in enhancing
transition from Preschool to lower primary in public primary schools in Limuru sub county,
Kiambu County, Kenya (Doctoral dissertation, Mount Kenya University).
Williams, R. (2017). Leadership for school reform: Do principal decision-making styles
reflect a collaborative approach?. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and
Policy, (53).