http://dx.doi.org/10.35381/e.k.v4i7.1084
Liderazgo en la gestión escolar del proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje en básica superior
Leadership in School management of the upper elementary teaching- learning process
Yesenia María Candela-Borja
ycandela3449@pucesm.edu.ec
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Sede Manabí
Ecuador
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9896-8527
Mirian Patricia Castro Cárdenas
mcastro3599@pucesm.edu.ec
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Sede Manabí
Ecuador
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2819-6108
María Lucía Lema-Paucar
mlema5737@pucesm.edu.ec
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Sede Manabí
Ecuador
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7965-7571
Ruth Carmen Santana-Mero
rsantana0396@pucesm.edu.ec
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Sede Manabí
Ecuador
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2794-5667
Reception: 01 de octubre 2020
Revision: 01 de noviembre 2020
Approval: 20 de diciembre 2020
Publication: 01 de enero 2021
ABSTRACT
The objective of the research was to analyze the leadership in school management of the upper elementary teaching-learning process in the province of Manabí - Ecuador. It was generated from a descriptive methodological conception with a non-experimental field design. The population sample leans on the transformational leadership style to a greater extent, obtaining a bilateral significance of 0.676 followed, in this order, by pedagogical leadership with 0.662 and, in third order, by directive leadership with 0.645. Despite the absence of a significant relationship between the studied variables, there is evidence of a tendency or preference for transformative leadership as the style that generates a better teaching-learning process, since this implies working on the student´s personality the consolidation of an ethical commitment with its social reality.
Descriptors: Activity learning; leadership; computer assisted instruction. (Words taken from the UNESCO Thesaurus).
INTRODUCTION
Leadership is a cooperative issue in the development of optimal management in educational organizations, there are various styles and its application generates a response among the members of the institution. Thus, considering roles previously played and developed, a managerial, pedagogical and transformational style might be made.
In this sense, it is necessary that school directive leadership motivates and promotes good working conditions to achieve teachers’ substantial improvement, as well as a continuous training to generate cooperative situations for their integral growth, in this way; they will transmit effective learning to students from this dimension (Aparicio-Molina, et al., 2020).
In consideration of educational leadership, this should focus on improving a pedagogy that allows reaching an optimal teaching-learning process. Based on this, it should be developed by all the members of the institution and a defined curricular line that works on the continuous improvement of the teaching staff in order to develop valuable skills for the consolidation of effective learning (Ritacco-Real & Amores-Fernández, 2018).
Transformational leadership is perceived as the one that projects changes and innovation in the organizations, consisting basically of generating motivation and commitment to meet goals in overcoming the expectations of subordinates. In this respect, the transforming leader uses various strategies to encourage renovation in the persons and then in the context where they unfold (Hermosilla, et al., 2016).
As a summary, the directive leadership is developed essentially by all the members of an organization, that is, directive or rector team of the institution, the pedagogical team, the teachers and the students, who help to promote improvements in the pedagogical praxis. On the other hand, the transformational leadership could be generated both by principals and by teachers, basically, in accordance with the organization in the classroom. It differs from the previous ones in relation to the emotions, which are necessarily involved in transformation for motivating the achievement of transcendental changes inside the educational field.
Due to the above, the objective of this study consists in analyzing the leadership in the school management of the upper elementary teaching-learning process in the province of Manabí – Ecuador.
METHOD
The research was generated from a descriptive methodological conception with a non-experimental field design, which made it possible to collect information without being intentionally manipulated by the researchers; but rather, it was processed in order to maintain its characteristics. The population sample was made up of 172 upper elementary school teachers from fiscal institutions in the province of Manabí - Ecuador.
The information was collected through the online survey technique, applying an instrument of 27 items of five response alternatives (totally disagree: 1, disagree: 2, neither agree nor disagree: 3, agree: 4, totally agree: 5), which was validated through expert judgment. In relation to its reliability, it obtained a result of 0.85 according to Cronbac's Alpha, being considered reliable for its application.
Once the information was collected, it was processed in a matrix table to disseminate the annotations of the population sample in the applied online survey. This information was organized to be processed in the statistical program: SPSS Statistics V25, calculating one- way ANOVA in order to know which of the leadership styles had greater significance on the teaching-learning process.
RESULTS
In consideration of the information gathering, the research results are presented:
Table 1.
One- way ANOVA test.
|
ANOVA |
||||||
|
Sum of squares |
gl |
Quadratic mean |
F |
Sig. |
||
|
Directive |
Between groups |
0,855 |
4 |
0,214 |
0,63 |
0,645 |
|
Within groups |
57,365 |
168 |
0,341 |
|||
|
Total |
58,22 |
172 |
||||
|
Pedagogical |
Between groups |
0,893 |
4 |
0,223 |
0,6 |
0,662 |
|
Within groups |
62,298 |
168 |
0,371 |
|||
|
Total |
63,191 |
172 |
||||
|
Transformational |
Between groups |
0,724 |
4 |
0,181 |
0,58 |
0,676 |
|
Within groups |
52,201 |
168 |
0,311 |
|||
|
Total |
52,925 |
172 |
||||
The one-way ANOVA test allowed determining the variable with the highest incidence on the teaching-learning process developed in the surveyed institutions; in this way, the results show that the population sample leans on the transformational leadership style in a greater proportion, with a bilateral significance of 0.676, followed, in this order, by pedagogical leadership with 0.662 and, in third order, by directive leadership with 0.645. As a consequence, the correlational differences exceeded the value of 0.05 used for the test; therefore, no correlations were generated bilaterally significant, discarding for this study, the affirmative hypothesis, which determines that although leadership styles are applied, they must be perfected in their practice to considerably influence the teaching-learning process in relation to the theoretical premises of each style. In relation to the results, the following aspect is highlighted:
Transformational leadership vs. teaching-learning process.
Transformational leadership is perceived as the most effective to encourage effective school management in relation to the teaching-learning process. It means that the teamwork carried out by both managers or rectors and teachers achieve the compliance of institutional goals to consolidate educational innovations and transformations that promote a comprehensive context for students.
DISCUSSION
The results show the processing of leadership styles for the management of the teaching-learning process, which must be strengthened to project greater effectiveness. In this regard, (Morales-Vergara, et al., 2018) state that the educational leaders are of utmost importance in the application of educational policies; for this reason, it is necessary a permanent training that germinates leaderships to contribute to the optimal functioning of the educational organization with the intention of improving pedagogical practices in accordance with the techno- educational advance.
From the above, directive leadership should be used to consolidate the quality of education, since it implies the sum of factors that influence the articulation of learning in line with social demands (García-Colina, et al., 2018). In consequence, it must consider the pedagogical and psychological theories that make the students grow integrally from knowledge.
Nowadays, education is conceived as a unidirectional factor where the teachers transmit and students receive; for this reason, the directive leadership that is based on verticality as a hierarchical principle must be complemented with other leadership approaches that promote an interactive educational environment supported in the use of technological - digital resources as a point of cooperation for meaningful learning. To achieve this, it is essential to promote pedagogical leadership so that the teacher as a coordinator of a certain area may encourage the effective use of ICT strategies and resources as proposed by (González-Pérez, 2017).
Thus, leadership must not only be conceived as a way to direct people's behavior, but also to manage a better and effective pedagogy adjusted to the educational advances, which have been primarily influenced by the knowledge society (Contreras, 2016). In this sense, the central objective is to change the mechanistic education for a greater understanding, critical thinking and innovation that achieve a proactive pedagogical leadership of new learning styles.
Among the new learning styles, the student-centered approach constitutes an active learning (Silva-Quiroz & Maturana-Castillo, 2017). In this respect, the students have a greater role in the development of their competences through the application of methodologies, where not only cognitive growth is necessary, but also procedural and demonstrative that help to develop skills and solve problems from the school-community interaction. In this way, the most striking differences between the traditional and active approach are presented below.
The most striking differences between the traditional and active approach.
Taken from Gros (2011).
It is worth noting that the active learning proposal is generated from the so-called knowledge society; in that sense, its consolidation as a pedagogical practice is not yet effective in the case of Ecuador, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, its implementation has been accelerated and forced from the use of ICT or virtual modality as an alternative scenario to continue the academic period as proposed (Argandoña-Mendoza, et al., 2020).
In this regard, it is necessary to plan a pedagogical practice according to the consolidation of students’ significant knowledge (Vallejo-Valdivieso, et al., 2019). Therefore, important changes are required in Ecuadorian education to accomplish a transformational leadership conceived in values and ethics that not only contribute to changing people and the social environment (Coca-Herbas, 2017), but also, improve conditions to optimize the available resources for this purpose.
The research of (Díaz, et al., 2019) constitutes another reason to promote transformational leadership in Ecuadorian education, due to it raises the relationship with social responsibility, which is an essential factor for achieving both sustainable work and a sustainable vision - of the world within the knowledge society. Such a statement leads to innovate in the curriculum and projects a continuous transformational education throughout life. Besides, it allows the use of humanistic pedagogies as the center for the formation of ethical and committed students in social reality (Rojas-Carrasco, et al., 2020).
The use of transformational leadership in education permits the directive and the pedagogical style to achieve effective learning, taking into account strategies, resources, and even, emotions and values that help not only to build a commitment, but also contribute to the constant improvement of the actors involved (Martínez-Ozuna, et al., 2020).
Apart from the foregoing, nowadays, education is developed through ICT, which implies not only transcending educational models and leaderships anchored in the mechanistic approach, but also generating significant learning from the technological platform (Sánchez-Otero, et al. ., 2019). This necessarily involves working on a transformational conception that seeks to understand the importance of innovating in pedagogical practice and improve in communicative competence.
Use of technologies in the teaching and learning process.
Taken from Cavazos-Salazar & Torres-Flores (2016).
Effective communication through ICT is necessary to promote significant learning and develop leadership styles. For this, the transformational management is a key resource to accomplish a society based on an educational approach combined with the constructivist theory (Faúndez, et al., 2017). Therefore, when it is possible, it is easy to create an environment for learning based on an assertive communication between the parties involved.
CONCLUSION
Despite the absence of a significant relationship between the study variables, there is evidence of a tendency or preference for transformative leadership as the style that generates a better teaching-learning process, since this implies working on the students to consolidate a committed ethical personality with their social reality. In this respect, education is conceived as an opportunity to grow integrally; in consequence, teachers and principals of educational institutions must promote permanent training to assume the student-centered approach as the transversal axis for the curricular design of their pedagogical actions. As a result, the indicators of critical and innovative thinking must be considered in order to be consistent with the proposal of the knowledge society.
FINANCING
Non-monetary.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador, Manabí Headquarters; for promoting the development of this research.
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