Theories of Educational Leadership and Management - Tony Bush

a summary and commentary

Theories of educational leadership and management is one of the required books in the field of educational leadership and management. This book is written by a well-known expert in the field Tony Bush. This book comes in many editions. By the time of this writing, the book is in its 4th edition, published in 2011 by Sage Publications. The book is organized into nine chapters, starting with The importance of leadership and management for education, ending with a chapter on the conclusion.

The content of the book

This book tries to look at models of leadership and management in education. The models of leadership is looked at from four main elements:
a. "the level of agreement about the goals and objectives of the institution.
b. the meaning and validity of organizational structures within educational institutions.
c. the relationship between the institution and its external environment.
d. the most appropriate leadership strategies for educational institutions." (p. 35)

From the above criteria it comes six models:
1. formal models
2. collegial models
3. political models
4. subjective models
5. ambiguity models
6. cultural models

All the above models come in its own chapter. Before discussing the leadership models, Tony Bush also dedicates one chapter on how these models come about, with abundance of theories. In this chapter it also talks about the nature of theories where some interesting conflicting ideas about the nature of theories become exciting to read.


Why is this book significant to read

- it discusses arguments for and against the differentiation of leadership and management and its importance over another. This is interesting because every argument he brings in seems logical, which probably suits to the context of its practical use in different location and time or situation.
- the book seems to be able to look at subtle but importance little nuance in its discussion about the nature of theory, leadership and management and its implication, and the models.


This summary is based on reading a first few chapters of the book, hence the incomprehensiveness.


Silahkan dibaca buku selengkapnya.