About This Profession
A globally recognized profession, an educational leader fosters a positive learning culture by identifying and developing the necessary skills to achieve optimum educational objectives. A degree in educational leadership qualifies you to help students reach their academic goals, assess needs, evaluate interventions, and ensure access to quality educational programs. Educational leadership provides an added value to any educational career in terms of recognizing competencies related to cultural alignment, administration, management, supervisory and collaborative teamwork.
Educational leadership careers are often found in learning and development contexts such as: public service; private industry; private government; not-for-profit; healthcare; social work; military contexts; organizational development; human resources; and curriculum development (post-secondary). The profession entails developing diversity awareness and academic advising methods, applying quality teaching and optimum learning, and evaluating school operations, resources, and systems.
Studying Educational Leadership at Yorkville University provides the necessary competencies such as undertaking initiatives to improve the quality of educational services, creating motivational work environments, and building partnerships with the local community and educational agencies.
A Career in Post-Secondary Education Administration
Key Duties
- Developing organizational vision, mission, plus, work structure and guidelines
- Providing direction and supports and removing barriers to enable performance of tasks
- Analyzing current research, theories, and instructional practices in educational and organizational environments
- Creating inclusive environments for diverse internal and external members
- Supporting educational practices across diverse instructional and organizational settings
- Supervising, monitoring, and evaluating staff and academic performance for goal achievement
- Overseeing organizational administration including budgeting
- Overseeing student activities
- Working closely with RO, Admissions, and Student Services
- Ensuring effective daily operations of the organization (e.g., a school, university, community-based organization, educational entity in a health care setting or other facilities)
- Establishing and maintaining relationships/partnerships with key stakeholders and community members
- Facilitating staff professional development and career advancement
- Conducting faculty research
- Soliciting staff participation in decision-making
- Promoting staff collaboration, and engagement in improving the quality of services and outcomes
- Fostering and maintaining effective relationships with local, provincial, or state, and national educational entities
- Facilitating advocacy and outreach programs with effective representation of the organization
- Ensuring that curricula, instruction, and assessment are aligned with quality assurance and accreditation requirements
Critical Skills
- Knowledge of:
- teaching and interdisciplinary leadership approaches, practices, and trends
- curricula, instruction, and assessment
- school policies
- Ability to lead, mentor, and empower staff
- Ability to plan, direct, or coordinate student instruction, administration, and services
- Ability to build collaborative relationships with staff, students, local community, and educational entities
- Strong listening, verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills
- Emotion management and teambuilding
- Complex problem solving
- Awareness of, and ability to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Teaching, academic advising
- Advocacy and modeling of optimistic attitude towards learning success
- Ability to manage and evaluate school operations, resources, and systems
- Transparent and ethical decision making
- Innovative, open to change, growth mindset
- Adaptability and flexibility
Work Environment
The work environment of educational leaders is as varied as the educational context where they work. Work is often completed in an office environment but throughout the day, activities and responsibilities will take the educational leader all over the campus to participate in meetings, work with school staff, and students, and in the community.
For higher educational administration, outreach and community partnerships, conferences as well as fundraising events, are important to the work environment. The work week is typically forty hours, with availability for emergencies that may arise. The summer schedule is usually lighter, providing time to focus on preparation work for the academic year.
"Over the period 2019-2028, the number of job openings (arising from expansion demand and replacement demand) for School principals and administrators of elementary and secondary education are expected to total 11,500, while the number of job seekers (arising from school leavers, immigration and mobility) is expected to total 11,600.”
Source: Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS)
Job Search Tips - Where to Focus Your Time
Building Professional Relationships (80%)
- Meet with a YU Career Services Advisor
- Learn about volunteering opportunities and network with experts in your field
- Learn about industry contacts and topics via free resources, publications, bulletins, subscriptions, and magazines
- Find a mentor or join a mentorship program
- Participate in leadership development activities
- Join a professional association
- Join LinkedIn groups and search for group members
- Aspiring entrepreneurs can join a business networking group
- Search for industry events and professional learning opportunities
Online Activities (20%)
- Learn about essential skills, labour market information, employment trends, and salary data and wage comparisons
- Build a strong resume:
- Create a LinkedIn profile
- Education Administration (and other) job portals:
