Educational Leadership: Implications for Quality Management in the Development of Cameroon Higher Education

Abstract

Many questions concerning quality of functioning and effectiveness are connected with the management of education as a professional field in educational organizations. Leaders are generally considered as mediators of the social and curriculum contexts of schools for staff, students and parents. They make teaching and learning relevant and appropriately differentiated in compliance with internal and external policy makers demands and values. Tests presented in the paper deal with the processes of making choices about values and social outcomes of educational leaders. The leadership of Higher Education in Africa has been placed under increasing scrutiny since the 1980s with the expansion of student numbers, changes in funding for student places, increased marketization and student choice, and continuing globalization and professionalization of the sector. In this macroclimate of change, Higher Education institutions have been required to consider how to develop their leaders and what might be appropriate leadership behaviour to enable adaptation to these new circumstances. When the various paradigms of leadership encountered in the Higher Education sector are compared with established leadership theory and practice, it is possible to identify further intricacies in the development of Higher Education leaders. Further consideration of practicalities within Higher Education identifies whether competence frameworks might assist in leadership development. An examination of a recently developed comprehensive framework of leadership capabilities applied in an alternative sector leads to an evaluation as to whether the same constructs apply to the demands placed upon leaders in Higher Education. Analysis demonstrates that, with minor changes in terminology, the constructs remain appropriate and valid. The definitions of activities and behaviours offer insight into how Higher Education leaders particularly in Cameroon could be developed and therefore form a potential framework of leadership capabilities for Higher Education. This conceptual paper therefore has leadership and educational management bearing within the context of Cameroon. TamukongNdifor Mariana Ngeche, Ph.D"Educational Leadership: Implications for Quality Management in the Development of Cameroon Higher Education" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-2 | Issue-2 , February 2018, URL: http://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd9534.pdf http://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/education/9534/educational-leadership-implications-for-quality-management-in-the-development-of-cameroon-higher-education/tamukongndifor--mariana-ngeche-phd