FESE HandBook v03c 15112023 MEV- COMPLETO - Flipbook - Página 24
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ALGUNAS PERSPECTIVAS EN LIDERAZGO ESCOLAR / PRIMERA PARTE
The focus on educational vision and purposes is essential for school
leadership but it leads to four key questions:
What is the value of formal aims or vision?
Who 8owns9 the aims of the school?
How are the school9s aims decided?
Which purposes should be pursued?
FORMAL AIMS AND VISION
School aims are sometimes very general, leading Murphy and Torre
(2015: 181) to say that 8schools are often found to have vague goals, ones
that lack the power to direct action9. A typical aim might focus on the
acquisition by each pupil of physical, social, intellectual and moral qualities and skills. This is worthy but it has considerable limitations as a
guide to decision-making. More specioc purposes often fail to reach the
same level of agreement.
The international trend towards self-managing schools, encouraged
by the OECD, for example, has led to a call for leaders to develop a distinctive vision for their schools with clearly articulated and specioc
aims. Where schools have such a vision, it is possible for leaders to link
actions with aims and to ensure that all leadership activity is purposeful.
In practice, however, many 8visions9 are simply general educational aims
(Bush, 2020), and may be derived from national government imperatives
rather than being based on a school-level assessment of needs.
OWNERSHIP OF AIMS AND VISION
The notion of school aims and vision assumes that a single vision statement is shared by all stakeholders. However, in practice, an extended
vision-building process is required if it is truly to represent all participants and be genuinely 8shared9. As noted above, aims may be based on
national requirements, disregarding the specioc needs of the school and
its community. Where the vision is not 8owned9 by the stakeholders, they
may not implement it enthusiastically, or at all. For example, behind the
classroom9s closed door, teachers may choose to act in accordance with
their own professional values, rather than following a prescribed vision
(Bush, 2020).
