Educational leadership for social change: Positioning school administrators as agents of social change in Nigeria

Introduction

This piece centres on how school administrators could be positioned to serve as social change agents for more quality education in Nigeria. As such, school administrators may help change people’s lives positively in Nigeria considering the increasing rate of social vices, religious intolerance, nepotism, and others too numerous to mention. In Nigerian societies, school administrators, as the head or leader in their various schools, are looked upon as individuals who can help to bring about positive change in the lives of people within and around the school. They are seen as expert leaders who can give advice especially in the development of learners and their immediate environment. Within the context of their direct interaction with children, parents and larger society, school heads could play several major roles in the prevention and elimination of social disorder and other forms of misbehaviour among school children. The activities school administrators undertake to achieve the aims and objectives of education in their schools directly or indirectly help to transform people’s lives and, in so doing, contribute to bring about the desired change in the society. Social change as a phenomenon explains the process involved in bringing about significant alteration in the behavioural patterns of people that could help to transform cultural and social institutions over a period of time. Apart from home, school, under the guidance of its leadership, is where life-changing knowledge and experiences are acquired.

School, which is considered a potential agent of socialization, does not perform these life-changing phenomena on its own without the active participation of teachers, students and parents under the collaborative efforts of school head/administrator. Considering the enormous responsibilities of the school administrators, it is therefore necessary that they should be adequately prepared and consciously selected because no education system can rise above the quality of its educators/administrators. It is necessary that school heads who are closer to children at their formative stage of life participate in decision-making and in educational planning and reform so that the desired change in the society through education could be possible.

The very nature of school administrators as advocates of school personnel’s rights makes them effective partners in realizing and maximizing the potential of education in the fight against social disorder. All of the analyses on the relationship between education and child development under the auspices of the school point to the urgent need to improve the status of head teachers and their working conditions so as to address their continuing professional development (Candy, 2003; Kathy, 1994; Rosenya, 2012). These are prerequisites for improving the quality of education in any society, especially in developing countries like Nigeria where most of the youths are misinformed by their culture and/or religion.

Nigeria as a developing economy is faced with many challenges including high rate of unemployment, religious intolerance and insurgency as a result of some region’s dissatisfaction with the government due to increasing level of economic hardships orchestrated by high level of corruption in both public and private places. This has, in turn, brought about many youths’ involvement in social vices such as cultism, drug abuse, cybercrime, prostitution, robbery, hostage-taking to obtain money, malpractices in examinations, electoral irregularities, violence of different forms to mention but a few (Aja and Eze, 2017). This has affected all the facets of life in Nigeria to the extent that it has risen to a social problem that requires social change. This accounts for why the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN, 2014) enshrined in the National Policy on Education that Nigeria’s philosophy of education is based on the belief that education is an instrument for national development and social change.

Social change as a phenomenon is the change which takes place in the structures of social institutions, as they affect people in relation to their environment. This type of change is usually enhanced through education. The relationship between education and social change according to philosophers is a complex one as some believe that education leads to social change while to others education is shaped as a result of social change. In the context of this opinion piece, school administrators are those with the responsibilities of the day-to-day running of schools and colleges. To do justice to this topic, the fundamental concepts in education, school administration, educational leadership, preparing school administrators for social change within the framework of social reality to emphasize the roles school administrators acting as agents of social change could be understood and better appreciated.

Education and social change

The relationship between education and social change is not a simple, unilateral one, as perhaps many would like to believe, for education is not only instrumental in bringing about social change but also instrumental in maintaining the status quo. In other words, education plays both a ‘conservative’ and a radical role, that is, it helps both in ‘maintaining’ and changing different aspects of the social system. Society wishing to change or modernize itself has to employ a number of means, instruments, institutions, agents or agencies to achieve its desired goals. Among such means, education is perhaps the most important. Education provides necessary training in skills and occupations and thus produces the needed competent personnel for maintaining the different specialized jobs in modern industrial, business, educational and research establishments. Not only this, education is expected to change the values and attitudes of people. That is why Nigeria has based its philosophy of education on the set beliefs that education is an instrument for national development and social change because it maximizes the creative potentials and skills of the individual for self-fulfilment and general development of the society (FRN, 2014).

Influences of social change on education

There are several key factors that have contributed to the rapid social change experienced since the late 20th century in Nigeria. These include the high rate of unemployment; unstable education policies as a result of changes in government; parents’ failure in their responsibilities; changes in the societal values; strict adherence to cultural norms, beliefs, traditions and values; and global industrial and technological revolutions (Ololube, 2011; Ololube et al., 2013). All of these factors in one way or the other have influenced the education system. The implication of these factors is that the school administrators/leaders need to be prepared and supported for these challenges.

Preparing school administrators for social change

School administrators are experts who help to transform institutions, people’s behaviour and their social relation through the instrumentality of education. Educational leadership for social change is concerned with the need for school leaders to have practical skills and experience, foundational knowledge and ethical commitments necessary to achieve lasting and effective societal change within the field of education, including but not limited to the classroom learning environment. Considering these crucial roles of school administrators, it is therefore necessary that the personnel tasked with the responsibility are adequately prepared.

It is important for such programmes to bridge theory and practice, to make connections between course material and the broader social context, to explain to pre-service leaders how they might take an active part in bringing about social change, and to validate and incorporate adult learners’ personal knowledge and experience. People rarely change through a rational process of analyse–think–change. They are much more likely to change in a see–feel–change sequence. As such, the exploration of new understandings, the synthesis of new information and the integration of these insights throughout personal and professional spheres can lead future educational leaders to a broader, more inclusive approach in addressing issues of student learning and equity.

Harington (2005) was of the view that school administrators/leaders should undergo professional training that will equip them with the competencies on how to (1) gain a foundational knowledge of the historical and philosophical underpinnings of education in general as an instrument par excellence for every child’s development and self-actualization; (2) analyse past and present models of administrative leadership for their effectiveness in promoting equality of educational opportunity and greater workplace democracy to enhance people’s exercise of their rights; (3) learn to utilize networks and coalitions for broad-based, popular initiatives and reforms in educational policies and programmes that will engender all-inclusive non-discriminatory education systems; (4) learn to promote meaningful collaboration among and between parents and stakeholders in education for the vulnerable children’s unfettered access to quality education; (5) develop and demonstrate the knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary to create and maintain learning environments that value diversity, continual knowledge acquisition, instructional leadership, innovative and ethical decision-making and the successful achievement of all school-aged youth. It is by being able to exhibit those competencies that they could be seen as driving the needed social change in the students through the school.

Challenges to school administrators’ effectiveness as agents of social change

The challenges confronting Nigerian teacher education programmes in preparing school leaders for their work of leading schools in a democratic society are enormous. The challenges are further compounded by curricula programmes being used in teacher education institutions which lack in both content and novelty of the modern-day realities. Kathleen (2010) noted that the major preoccupation of the institutions charged with the responsibility of preparing education leaders should be on teaching leaders to understand and rise against the inequities in our society, teaching leaders to serve as agents for social transformation and teaching leaders to help each and every student learn and succeed. These in most cases are not included in the education programme designed for teachers cum school administrators as there are no differences in their programme in Nigeria.

There are also glaring evidences that our public school population experience negative and inequitable treatment on a daily basis despite the fact that our educational system in a democratic society ought to end such oppression, to increase equity and to make bold possibilities happen for all students. The gap between the rich and the poor is wide; hence, children of the rich are enrolled into private schools where the resources are adequate while the children of the poor languish in public schools where there are limited resources. What an irony! In the context of preparing the ‘would-be leaders’ efforts through preparation programmes to involve students in consciousness-raising activities and democratic-defining strategies require the reflective analysis and activist intervention of school administrators. Furthermore, respect for diversity and culturally inclusive education entails advocacy, solidarity, an awareness of societal structures of oppression, and critical social consciousness. Therefore, preparing educational leaders to accept this challenge necessitates a close examination of personal beliefs coupled with a critical analysis of professional behaviour necessary to drive the force.

Conclusion

It is justifiable to conclude that education provides individuals with requisite knowledge and skills for self-fulfilment and prepares one to bring about the desired change in the society. It is also worthy to note that school through the instrumentality of teachers properly guided by well-prepared school administrator could drive the process of good education systems. This is because school provides a structured education that promotes a child’s overall growth as well as acquaints in the child important life skills for responsible citizen (Ocho, 2005). Therefore, the school administrators as key players in the education industry need to be well prepared for the job so as to guarantee qualitative social change in our society.