Chapter 2 – Administration Roles in Professional Education Like other professions, education contains distinguishable specializations (i.e., counselors, speech therapists, reading specialist, and psychologists as well as teachers and administrators work in elementary and secondary schools). School administration, a field of study as well as an area of practice, is considered a specialization within the education profession. 1. Is school administration a profession? 2. What exactly do school administrators do? 3. What are the various jobs available in school administration? School Administration as a Profession Nature of Administrative Work School-Level Administration District-Level Administration Other Careers in Administration Introduction to Educational Leadership1

2. Administration Roles in Professional Education Professions in education contain distinguishable specializations i.e. Counselors, speech therapists, reading specialist and psychologists as well as teachers and administrators As a specialization, a field of study, common components include research, theory and craft knowledge (including place of work – school building level or district level, or nature of work –business managers or curriculum director) This chapter deals with 1. is school administration a profession? 2. what exactly do school administrators do? And 3. what are the various jobs available in school administration?

I. School Administration as a Profession Why not? Administrators Do not control specific practices, salary or working conditions. Administrators Do not control who gets admitted Is the fact that more administrators are teaching classes like this one a way of saying we do control who gets in, in a limited fashion? Profession vs. moral dimension and democratic character of education. Introduction to Educational Leadership3

A. Justification of Professional Status Why? States require licensure/certification A degree is required to enter practice Most recently an exam required as condition of licensure Require special knowledge Stay engaged in life long learning Rely on professional knowledge to guide practice Research is done to construct theory to solve problems of practice Introduction to Educational Leadership4

B. Professional Organizations Professions are also marked by the existence of state and national organizations supporting the needs and interests of practitioners. The diversity of administrative work is one reason why there are multiple national organizations serving administrators. Table 2.1, page 22 of text Introduction to Educational Leadership5

C. Lingering Doubts Public looks at school administration as quasi-professional (high value to society but having low status) The more government involvement the more the perception of semi- professional. (Yes or No) As teachers embraced unionism The perception here is that in the act of bargaining teachers lose the professional status. Yet we have no issue at all with unionized professional athletes, entertainers, etc. If bargaining is the issues, why do CEO’s get to negotiate their salaries and severance packages? Introduction to Educational Leadership6

D. School Reform and Professionalism The more difficult it is to be accepted to professional study and the more rigorous the examinations for licensure, the higher the status accorded by society. Would lawyers agree with this idea. How lawyer jokes are there and how many negative perceptions of lawyers exist regardless of the difficulty faced in taking and pacing the BAR Exam? Sergiovanni argued against this as this would swing the pendulum towards the “management” side of administration and disregard the “leadership” side. Introduction to Educational Leadership7

II. Nature of Administrative Work -images and perceptions of the work performed by administrators are inaccurate, often drawn from experiences and images portrayed by the entertainment industry and tend to be stereotypical and unflattering. Introduction to Educational Leadership8

A. Purposes of Administration Those who assume responsibility for providing direction are expected to make decisions about what should be done and about how to do things appropriately. The former involves leadership and the latter focuses on management. If the average teacher in the United States makes four thousand decisions per day, how many does a school principal make? Introduction to Educational Leadership9

10 Leadership Work is devoted entirely to making decisions about what should be done (e.g., visioning and planning) Work is divided between making decisions about what should be done and how to do things. Work is devoted entirely to making decisions about how things should be done (e.g., managing the cafeteria and building) Management

B. Work Lives of Administrators The all inclusive tasks of providing direction and support to organizational activity can be separated into nine general areas. Representing – visible heads of organizations Planning – for increased accountability Organizing – arrangement of people, materials and resources Leading – from stability to school improvement Managing – here and now of goal attainment Facilitating – easier for teachers to teach Mediating – knowledge and skills to control conflict Evaluating – individuals and programs Communicating – everyone wants to know everything Introduction to Educational Leadership11