Effective Leadership for Improved Pedagogy

Educational leadership plays a significant role in the development of the school, teachers being seen as leaders of their own activity, leaders of the class of students, leaders of the process of personal and organizational development, without focusing on a hierarchy of positions. An authentic pedagogue should be effective in the professional community, contributing to the improvement of the educational process by assuming the status of leader of the class of students. However, there are few data from the Romanian pre-university environment about the direct impact of a certain leadership style on the educational act itself, both by favoring the acquisition of specific skills by students, and by improving training along with creating a favorable climate. The purpose of this study is to analyze teachers’ perspectives on how leadership impacts pedagogical effectiveness. This study was conducted with 22 people, especially inspectors, principals and methodists from Romania, using a qualitative research design and a semi-structured interview. The results of this research prove that leadership is important for streamlining the pedagogical activity in the pre-university education system, but many teachers do not have sufficient knowledge about what authentic educational leadership entails and how it is implemented in the direct relationship with students. Therefore, teachers’ performance tasks do not achieve their goals, and this affects students’ receptivity, motivation, and implicit results. The results show that the profile of an authentic teacher-leader requires certain personality traits and professional skills, which can support the implementation of an effective leadership style