7 Techniques for Effective Leadership

During the academic year, leaders are constantly organising, team building, reviewing and renewing. While there are a great number of successful preschools and kindergartens, some require improvement and change, with a view to moving away from unsatisfactory or mediocre ratings, exemplified by underperformance. Where there is ineffectiveness one is likely to see:

• Lack of vision

• Unfocused leadership

• Dysfunctional staff relationships

• Ineffective class practice

• An inconsistent approach to teaching

I have worked with a number of preschools that have battled for years with ineffectiveness and failed to understand how to navigate the waters to achieve effectiveness. Good ideas are not enough. Implementation, using key strategies for change and development are essential. It requires a combination of factors to achieve greatness represented by, at least, 7 factors:

1. An evident child centred approach

2. Peer grouping based on differentiated ability 

3. Child initiated learning

4. Activity based learning

5. Child to child discussions

6. Positive self esteem and behaviour displayed by the pupils

7. Clear and definitive lesson objectives linked to a research based curriculum

"A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way"

This article was originally published by Patricia Mezu in LinkedIn on 19 September 2015.