Children in today's world are inundated with information about who to be, what to do and how to live. But what if there was a way to teach children how to manage priorities, focus on goals and be a positive influence on the world around them? The Leader in Meis that programme. It's based on a hugely successful initiative carried out at the A.B. Combs Elementary School in North Carolina. To hear the parents of A. B Combs talk about the school is to be amazed. In 1999, the school debuted a programme that taught The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Peopleto a pilot group of students. The parents reported an incredible change in their children, who blossomed under the programme. By the end of the following year the average end-of-grade scores had leapt from 84 to 94. This book will launch the message onto a much larger platform. Stephen R. Covey takes the 7 Habits, that have already changed the lives of millions of people, and shows how children can use them as they develop. Those habits -- be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win-win, seek to understand and then to be understood, synergize, and sharpen the saw -- are critical skills to learn at a young age and bring incredible results, proving that it's never too early to teach someone how to live well.

Learning to Lead in the Secondary School is designed to meet the needs of subject leaders and heads of department in secondary schools, offering practical advice and guidance to teachers taking on these demanding roles. This highly informative book is structured around six sections that address all of the key areas in leading a department including: * becoming a subject leader * managing effective teaching and learning * leading and managing people * the strategic direction and development of a department * the deployment of staff and resources * managing personal performance and development. This guide will be invaluable to middle managers in schools, subject leaders and heads of departments. It will be of interest to teachers and managers at all levels and will also be useful to those undertaking research or further qualifications in educational leadership and management.

Positive youth development is a strengths-based, positive psychology approach to fostering adolescents' educational engagement and achievement. It focuses not just on students' academic development but also on their vocational, social, and emotional development. The positive youth development philosophy is at the heart of Cynthia Hazel's unique model of secondary school change, which uses a multi-tiered system of support to challenge the status quo of widespread achievement gaps. In this thought-provoking book, Cynthia Hazel presents her positive youth development-multi-tiered system of support model, including its theoretical foundations, practical instructions for implementing the model, and case examples illustrating application. Recognising that students' own voices are critical to their empowerment and strong outcomes, the model calls for students to participate alongside parents, teachers, and administrators in designing and guiding the school's support structures. The resulting paradigm shift - truly empowered learning - offers hope for all secondary schools, especially those in which many students currently do not achieve postsecondary success.

Students want to be trusted and challenged, even when it looks like they don't! Leadership gives them a sense that they have something to offer, and that their experiences can be useful and helpful to others. Even the most disruptive, difficult student is showing leadership qualities - it's just not in the right direction, yet. This book contains 50 activities for building confidence and skills in students for leading themselves, others and their communities. It also includes online resources detailing a plan on 10 workshops incorporating and adapting the activities in the book to fit a mix of learning styles. Incorporating leadership learning into the curriculum in both primary and secondary schools will challenge students to take responsibility for themselves and others, build their self-esteem and improve the lives of others in the school and local community. Incorporating leadership learning into the curriculum in both primary and secondary schools, will challenge students to take responsibility for themselves and others, build their self-esteem and improve the lives of others in the school and local community.

One of four books that form a course for secondary students - The units can be used in any of the upper secondary school years.

'Overall, and as one has come to expect from Fink, this is a readable text that thinks outside the box of leadership theory... I have no doubt that the text will be welcomed by many readers for an engaging style that places human interest at the heart of the discourse in the field' - Mark Brundrett, writing in Educational Management Administration and Leadership 'It is a 'must read' for those in educational leadership roles in schools, both to gain invaluable insights and to draw on a framework for individual reflection' - Professor Brent Davies, University of Hull `I enjoyed reading this book. The combination of critical reflection of his experience in the light of relevant literature makes for a lively and thought-provoking book. I was going to say "little" book, because at times I would have liked to have read more. But on the other hand, it is the sort of book one - the academic and the leader - could read in one sitting, enjoy and come back to for some ideas. I recommend you to do so' - ESCalate `This book provides a refreshing alternative to the rhetoric about 'superheads', and 'mavericks' that has been prevalent in some of the recent discourse about leadership. Dean Fink draws heavily upon the work of Andy Hargreaves, Michael Fullan and his own research with Louise Stoll so some of the ideas are familiar. However, what makes Leadership for Mortals interesting is the way in which he untangles the complexities of leadership by using genuine examples alongside the theory. Dean Fink's writing is accessible and his anecdotal style should resonate with his intended audience of current and prospective leaders' - LDR, The Magazine for School Leaders `This book is a welcome antidote to the notion of school leaders as heroic figures. Dean Fink's commitment to enhancing the life chances of young people shines through the pages' - Kate Myers, Times Educational Supplement `With great wisdom and insight, Dean Fink invites us into his leadership stories to masterfully illustrate that school leadership is no longer a person but an intricate network of 'mortals' working together to enhance learning experiences for students. They are truly leaders of learning, where commitment to successful learning for all students is the locus of their passion, perseverance and persuasion. Balanced with connections to respected leadership literature, this lucid and eloquent book will inspire current and future school leaders to reflect and develop their leadership practice to higher levels of effectiveness. An outstanding and optimistic read for all school leadership mortals, practitioners and scholars alike. I enjoyed it immensely' - David Eddy, Director, First-time Principals Programme, The University of Auckland `Practitioners will find this book at the same time reassuring and challenging. Fink includes stories of leadership that highlight effective strategies and some approaches that have gone wrong. They are real and ring true and therefore credible and instructive' - Ken Thompson Principal, Gladstone Park Secondary College, Australia `A great story about schools and their leaders progressing towards a knowledge driven world and the roads they choose to travel. Building sustainable communities of practice and the credible and varied examples of how the combination of leadership behaviour and enabling and disabling processes can make or break a successful school are clearly illustrated in Leadership for Mortals. A significant read for all aspirant and accomplished leaders' - - Jenny Lewis,Executive Officer, Australian Council for Educational Leaders 'Dean Fink brings together a wealth of learning from his own experience as a leader and learner to provide some powerful messages. This is a well-informed book with a strong theoretical basis but it is also personal and real, making sense of educational leadership in a way that is both profound and down-to-earth. School leaders in the UK and elsewhere will find inspiration, reassurance and challenge in this book' - Steve Munby, Chief Executive, National College for School Leadership 'Grounded in solid knowledge base and profound lived experience, Dean Fink's Leadership for Mortals provides deep insights on how ordinary practitioners could become great and sustainable leaders of learning. Fink's book is not a "quick-fix" how-to-do-it manual. It stimulates us to reflect on education leadership both as a personalized, value-laden journey and an art as well as reminds us of the imperative issues of extraordinary commitment, effort and determination in making a difference on leading students and teachers' learning. This is a must-read book for aspiring and serving leaders in the field of education' - Professor John Chi-kin Lee, Dean of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 'Its style is conversational and unpatronizing, yet it makes powerful statements about the key components that contribute to successful leadership. It is always practical, and readers will come away from this book knowing they have learned something that they will be keen to try out for themselves...Readers will recognise leaders good and bad that they have come across, at times being reassured that they are getting it right and at others despairing as they identify situations in which they, too, got it wrong. Fink's writing makes it clear that leadership is not exact science! He reminds us that, although we are mortals, with good mentoring and better training our own potential has a better chance of being realised, and that this is the best way to enable our students to achieve their own potential.' Journal of Research in International Education Leadership in recent years has become a growth industry. Politicians demand more of it, academics decry the lack of it, and potential school leaders are deciding 'to hell with it' .....we are making the business of leadership so complicated that we seem to need John Wayne at his mythological best or Xena the Warrior Princess to run a school. Most educational leaders are not 'heroic' but rather ordinary people who through extraordinary commitment, effort, and determination have become extraordinary, and have made the people around them exceptional. Educational leadership is more art than science; it is more about character than technique; it is more about inspiration than charisma; it is more about leading students and teachers' learning than the management of things This resource for prospective and practising school leaders: - motivates and inspires - addresses the challenges of contemporary school leadership - presents a model for leadership development, selection and succession - challenges existing and prospective leaders to develop and live by a set of core values based on students' learning - describes and explains the 'learnings' required by effective leaders of learning - describes the intellectual 'tool kit' that leaders can develop - describes the trajectories through which leaders proceed, and the 'learnings' required at each stage of the leaders evolution - presents a template for leadership development and succession.

First Published in 1999. Expectations placed on middle management have risen sharply in the last few years and their increased importance in the role of managing and developing others have been reflected in the new Teacher Training Authority (TTA) Subject Leader Standards. Consequently, the role of subject leader is one which necessitates careful preparation and development. Written in line with these Standards in an accessible style and format, this book supports INSET courses and days designed to develop the essential management skills required by secondary subject leaders; provides support for the Head of Department in developing an mor systematic approach to the management of an effective department; provides useful information for aspiring Heads of Department and Senior Managers who are endeavouring to improve the performance of middle management in their schools.