Attributes of School Leaders

Professional standards for school leaders should be rich and powerful in order to represent adequately leaders’ performances in their complex, challenging roles. For this purpose, practising school leaders have identified eight attributes considered most important to performing at a high level. These are being fair, supportive, collaborative, decisive, flexible, tactful, innovative and persistent.

While all narratives were rated for three of the eight attributes, for some, the analysis revealed the internal linkage was not sufficient to validate the rating for each attribute. Therefore some narratives appear with only one or two attributes associated with the performance.

These attributes, along with the multiple roles and duties of school leaders, are not exercised in isolation but must be balanced against one another. For example, a performance might achieve a balance between decisiveness on the one hand and fairness on the other.

Nor is the quality of performance simply a matter of displaying a high level of a particular attribute. For example, in some situations too much decisiveness can become dogmatic or autocratic behaviour. Of course, decisiveness is required in situations of crisis. Similarly too little decisiveness can look like weakness or dithering. The quality of performance is therefore a matter of displaying the appropriate amount of an attribute, in combination with other attributes, for the particular situation.

Copyright © 2004 This material is held by the Department of Education and Training through the Leadership Centre, Murdoch University and Edith Cowan University.