Moral leadership: getting to the heart of school improvement

Abstract

Most would agree that leadership is an important component in improving our schools, yet few are satisfied with leadership practices now in place. In this book, Thomas J. Sergiovanni shows how creating a new leadership practice--one with a moral dimension centered around purpose, values, and beliefs--can transform a school from an organization to a community and inspire the kinds of commitment, devotion, and service that can make our schools great. New leadership, not more leadership is the key to improving schools. Current management theory and leadership practice often underestimate the complexity of human nature and people's capacity to be motivated by factors other than self-interest. Teachers are encouraged to respond as subordinates, do only is expected, and work for rewards. Sergiovanni shows how the emphasis in schools on doing things right is often at the expense of doing the right things. He explains the importance of legitimizing emotion and getting in touch with basic values and connections with others. He reveals how true collegiality, based on shared work and common goals, leads to a natural interdependence among teachers. And he shows how a public declaration of values and purpose can help turn schools into virtuous communities where teachers are self-managers and professionalism is held up as an ideal. When teachers and administrators are motivated by emotion and social bonds, guided by a professional ideal, and feel they are truly part of a community, the guiding principle is no longer what is rewarded gets done, but what is good gets done.