Transforming the Culture of School Leadership
Humanizing Our Practice
- Joseph M. Giancola - Kent City Schools, OH
- Janice K. Hutchison - Kent City Schools, OH
Foreword by Richard Hawthorne
Stanton Middle School, OH
Lasting organizational improvement and effective leadership blossom in climates of compassion, trust, and productive relationships. The authors describe the key to true organizational transformation in the one-on-one conversations and relationships that take place in a school. Personal transformation, one person at a time, is the key to building a team of educators who are heading in the same direction for the best interests of students, teachers, and administrators. This exploration of the Humane Dimension of school leadership illustrates the lasting effects of transformed school cultures.
Transforming the Culture of School Leadership melds research, theory, and the spiritual aspects of education leadership to demonstrate how to encourage personal transformation. Giancola and Hutchison draw on a combined 50 years of classroom and school experience to relate their observations about the Humane Dimension including:
" Developing a team before developing a vision
" Creating a climate of Win/Win consensus building, negotiating, and decision-making
" Helping team members become leaders
" Implementing curriculum-driven staff development
"Transforming the Culture of School Leadership is a must-read for teachers and administrators who want to transcend roles so often found in today's schools--roles that produce noncooperation, mistrust, and isolation between teaching and administrative staff."
"In an era of accountability, it is all too easy for school leadership initiatives to dehumanize the culture of the educational workplace. Yet Giancola and Hutchison provide an alternative view of school leadership—one that supports a humane dimension which will transform the culture of school leadership, even in the most challenging of times. This book belongs in the hands of every school leader whose goal is to make a difference in the lives of students, teachers, and administrators"
“To read this book is to understand that education’s passage from semi-professional to professional status must necessarily traverse the human dimension so ably mapped by the authors.”
"This book is for everyone in administration as well as those who would like to be. It will make you want to be a better administrator and in the process make you a better leader."
"In my years as a high school principal, I have read countless books and journals about leadership and school building. What Giancola and Hutchison have done is to move the conversation about school leadership away from managing people to building a culture where everyone is valued."
"The authors see schools as they should be and ask 'why not?'" There are no limits to what we can accomplish together using this humanistic approach."
"'Humane administration...', sadly, that sounds like an oxymoron to some on the teachers' side of the equation. How exciting, then, to read such an innovative and thoughtful proposal for school reform. Giancola and Hutchison present ideas and strategies that should resonate strongly with current and prospective school administrators and faculty."
-Wendy L. Sims, Professor of Music Education & Associate Chair
Department of Learning, Teaching & Curriculum
