EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP PRACTICES IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS: THE ROLE OF PRINCIPALS IN GOAL ACHIEVEMENT

Abstract

Educational leaders play a pivotal role in affecting the climate, attitude and reputation of their schools. In secondary schools, the principal is the manager and the educational leader of the school he/ she is saddled with lot responsibilities. The principals are therefore expected to deploy all they have in terms of experience, human relationship, communication skills and collaborative skills to bring to bear quality leadership practices that will not only stimulate and motivation the human element in the school, but will ensure that all available resources are put to judicious use with the singular aim of achieving set educational goals or objectives. It is the concern of this study therefore that, the solution to this ugly trend is to address the educational leadership practices of the school principals. Based on this, the study has identified three all time tested leadership practices that can redirect the leadership sagacity of school principals if put to practice effectively. These three leadership practices are, Setting direction for goal achievement, developing People (staff and students) for Goal Achievement and developing the organization (school) for goal achievement. This paper therefore discusses, concept of education, leadership, educational leadership and educational leadership practices. In addition, the paper further discuses the role of principals in  Setting direction for goal achievement, developing People (staff and students) for Goal Achievement and developing the organization (school) for goal achievement in secondary schools in Nigeria. It was concluded that the goals of our educational system can be achieved maximally if genuine effort is put in place to substantially address the gap created in the existing educational leadership practices. It was recommended that National Institute of Educational Leadership (NIEL) should be established to provide avenue where educational leaders, principals and would be principals will undergo extensive courses on all aspect of educational leadership programmes and practices.