Design Thinking in Educational Leadership

Introduction

Leaders have a prominent role in stimulating society's development to a more sustainable and prosperous future. Many definitions of leadership, according to Cambridge University Press & Assessment (2017), imply that “international influence is exerted by one person or a group, over other people or groups, to structure the activities and relationships in a group or organization” (p. 1). Back in 1950, Stogdill (1950) had already suggested that “leadership may be considered as the process (act) of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts toward goal setting and goal achievement” (p. 3). Many scholars had suggested different views on leadership. Leadership theories can generally be divided into the following three views: leadership as a process or relationship, leadership as a collection of traits or personality characteristics, and leadership as specific behaviours (i.e., leadership skills). However, there is no doubt that leadership is “a process that involves influence with a group of people toward the realization of goals” (Amanchukwu, 2015, p.7). “Setting directions” and “exercising influence,” according to Leithwood (2005, p.1), are two critical aspects of leadership. Leadership theories are clearly important in the principles of influence, group, and objectives. Although these definitions and theories concentrate on identifying the activities and qualities of leaders, other academics believed that the term “leadership” does not always imply leader-centred. Leadership practices, according to Spillane et al. (2004), delegate leadership power and empower team members. It highlights that leadership philosophy is a network of leaders and followers in many situations, rather than one individual.

The application of leadership methods in the education setting focuses on describing how leadership occurs in educational institutions, including not only formal but also informal leaders. Schools are both organizations (with official leaders, such as principals and department heads) and communities charged with learning, education, and research (multiple stakeholders and informal leaders, such as teachers and lecturers who specialize in specific areas and share knowledge with other stakeholders). In this community, several groups are created to address problems or achieve certain goals. In these groups, there are both leaders and followers, while some members are both leaders and followers. The rights are not concentrated only in the hands of the leader, but are shared and divided among all. Schools in the current sense can no longer run themselves using the conventional or restricted notion of top-down linear leadership structure (see Figure 1).

Figure 1.

The School as a Community System (English, 2006, p.575)

However, that traditional leadership methods are incompatible with today's educational environment. The modern education environment has been expanding from physical space to virtual space as a result of the continuous development of globalization, emerging technologies, and the COVID-19 worldwide MOOCs reform. This tendency indicates that the educational environment will involve an increasing number of stakeholders, leadership will be more diversified, and issues will become more complex and wicked. As a result, the reform and development of educational leadership are imperative.