Alternate pedagogy for developing transformational leadership
Abstract
As the growing concern for educational reforms worldwide is on developing transformational leadership that is responsive to the needs of the local as well as the global contexts, teacher educators are still searching for pedagogies, which could help them to develop transformational leaders.
This paper offers some scope to teacher educators to critically analyze current teaching learning pedagogies while preparing transformational leaders for the 21st Century. While the paper does not share any formula or prescription about how to develop transformational leaders, it does share some insight from the author working in the Professional Development Programmes held for practicing and aspiring educational leaders, at the Institute for Educational Development, in one of the private international Universities in Pakistan.
Utilizing the allegoric approach as an alternate pedagogy for developing transformational leadership, this paper deliberates upon the relevance and efficacy of the role of aesthetic tradition of learning in leadership development programmes in eastern contexts. The paper claims that aesthetic approaches such as allegories, parables, metaphors, stories, kathas, pictorial images, poetry, etc. have power which help leadership learners to internalize principles and values in a language, which is more relevant to their contexts. It is argued that aesthetic pedagogies engage learners in critical and self-critical stimulating discourses which help them to reconceptualize their roles and responsibilities as transformational leaders. Yet, current pedagogies in professional development programmes in most instances, while theorizing transformational leadership, devote time and efforts in discussing thoughts and literature developed and designed as a result of conventional-rational pedagogies rooted in scientific traditions of learning. Aesthetic traditions of learning which could, in fact be a great source of wisdom to be offered, to this newly emerging field of educational leadership, are not considered within the realm of current pedagogies; thus, it is nowhere captured in the process of professional development of transformational leaders in education.