The Effect of Student Leadership in University Classroom Management on Attendance
Background of the study
Literature Review
Leadership is all about influence in the sense that the leaders find ways in which they can be sources of power to people who look up to them and in this case the followers. Transferring the leadership notion to the school area is in order. It is quite evident that school leaders ought to offer an environment where is the element of support, guidance and behavior that promotes changes in the performance and the behavior of the said school; this is according to Morgan (2015, p, 10). Morgan continues to add concerning the phenomenon termed distributed leadership. Distributed leadership promotes the advantages of an increase in not only accountability but also in responsibility. With the presence of the accountability and responsibility virtues, there is bound to be an improvement in instruction and even learning as well as in the identification of those the factors that are contributing to learning inability and underperformance.
According to Morgan (2015, p, 10), leadership that is effective, in the school set up, is one that promotes excellence as far as academic endeavors are concerned. According to the teacher toolkit (n.d, p, 1), having student being assigned leadership roles in the classroom has a particular outcome that is desirable. In the same thread, some of the desirable traits that ensue from student leadership are the development of the sense of ownership, community spirit and the presence of cohesiveness among class members arises. The toolkit adds that in such cases where students take up leadership roles, they actively engage or are partakers of the functionality of the classroom. What grows out is the ability to have the sense of self-management and then at the same time, the students no only manage themselves, but they manage other students. There is the element of carryover that is felt among the student in the class owing to the positive influence that arises in the classroom because of the interaction between the student leaders and their classmates.
According to Gornto (2009, p, 16), students taking part in student leadership functions enable the student to exercise some forms of leadership roles. In such an occurrence, the students can undergo learning in an environment that is both social and even supportive. Such students in leadership positions have the role of coordinating activities amongst the members of the group and the sole purpose being goal achievement. Classroom activities put the students in situations where the student leaders become responsible or are accountable for the actions of other student counterparts.
Classroom leadership activities can take many roles and one of the discussed functions, is classroom attendance facilities. Gornto (2009, p, 20) adds that classroom management is a vital role and it ought to be a key concern for the address of teachers given that it is a crucial topic when assessing the success of a given student. In the management of class attendance, a student can exercise leadership duties by taking note of the class attendance and having the teacher go through the seating chart for accuracy determination. When a student plays a role of leadership in the monitoring of class attendance, the teacher can proceed with the course. This case can be termed to be a win-win situation for the class because the class proceeds, the teacher can continue the class in tranquility and the student who takes part in taking the attendance, enhances personal and class responsibility and in so doing, develops leadership skills (Gornto, 2009, p, 20).
Educational leadership is a critical topic that is worthwhile to address however much the question has been left for people in the administrative roles. Students in the future are expected to take up leadership roles and are in fact, projected to have the basics of leadership the moment they set foot in the task force. With this notion in mind, it is worth noting that leadership opportunities have to be taken up by anyone in a given educational set up, including the students. Leadership skills help transitions in the society (Gornto, 2009, p, 32).
According to Obiero (2012, p, 3), the author noted the importance of university student leaders in school processes and this case; decision-making processes was the main study area. In the article, Obiero (2012, p, 3) noted how students, in the real sense, participated in making decisions processes. The study was made possible by taking note of the systems that were in place at Kenyatta University and Olsen University. Student leaders served their purposes as links between the management and the students, and the leaders felt a sense of gratification when their ideas enjoyed implementation in the universities. The struggle of realizing application is still rigorous given that the administrative function of the schools does not quite believe in the decision-making abilities of the student leaders (Obiero, 2012, p, 3).
In many universities, as mentioned by Obiero (2012, p, 56), student leadership is classified under the non-academic activities as opposed to being part of the academic section of university activities. The author mentions that student leaders, in Kenyatta University, were mainly involved in issues regarding class attendance. The involvement of the leaders in the design of timetables, unit registration, online assistance, and matters involving lecture halls are just but other minor functions. With regards to class attendance, student leaders in KU have a say in class attendance of the lectures by keeping them up to task as far as living to the end of their bargain is concerned concerning active participation in classes. The leaders, therefore, enhance accountability in the lecture halls, for both the lecturers and students.
Dugan and Komives (2007, p, 7), acknowledge in their works that the need for development for leadership among college students has been a contentious subject for more than a decade now. Four trends mentioned above in the article by the researchers referred to above were drawn from a National Study. Their article attempted to explain the pattern of leadership in higher education setting. Extension of leadership programs of both curricula and extra curricula set ups, leadership models in both theory and conceptual instances have been promoted, promotion of education in administration and finally, undertaking research on the leadership topic.
Aim of study
Further Study
More study can be done on the topic which would address both the quantity and quality perspectives given that information available on the subject is very limited when in fact, the number of universities, in today’s world is unmatched to what was the norm, about 3-5 decades ago. Study areas of the past, on the topic, have addressed majorly, the high school and lower grades with limited information on higher institutions of learning. Future study areas can look into linking the study outcome to future effects, improvement in quality and shifting focus to the current life and not majorly dwelling on contemporary literature. Determination of the consequences of student leadership on the academic lives of the students is necessary. In such a case, academic excellence can be addressed and have some form of linkage of the outcome to student classroom attendance (Obiero, 2012, p, 64).
Research question(s)
What factors show that student leadership positively affects university class management on attendance?
Aims / Hypotheses
Methodology
As earlier mentioned, research would be in a position to address both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the study. A mixed system of data collection was employed and in this case, both quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques were designed. Research facilitation would be promoted by carrying out of surveys to find answers that would tackle the topic at hand. This study would be implemented in the form of a survey of 10 universities, four being of the Ivy League status and the other six being ordinary higher institutions of learning. The pool of data to be collected is expected to be wide, and this would further enable broad scope data quantification. Random sampling would be done for arriving at the universities that would provide the respondents of the survey. Random sampling will be done for the actual respondents of the study.
Use of questionnaires, interviews, and observation, through video recordings during classroom activities, will be made. Usage of data from the available literature work that has been done prior would be employed; these will provide the avenues for data collection. The outcome would then be compiled gradually with the final compilation done at the end of the survey. The study will be carried out over a period of 1 year, and this timeline was settled upon given the analysis of the review period that was conducted by researchers on related topics. One year is an ample time for not just acquiring results, but obtaining beneficial results from which trends can be retrievable. The data collection for the study was intended to be conducted over two seasons. One study was to be undertaken over the winter period and the other over the summer period to determine if there would be any variance if the study is conducted over distinct seasons and also to understand the variation that would arise and to what extent. Use of statistical approaches to data analysis would be of assistance in this sense, in trend determination from plotting of graphs from the raw data that will be present.
Ethical issues /Rigor /Impact
Addressing of ethical issues rigor and possible study impact is critical. Ethical issues come about when carrying out social research activities. In this sense, ethical issues refer to those items that enable one to choose between factors that are either deemed to be socially right or wrong. When carrying out the research, the form of treatment to the respondents as well as the knowledge of the subjects that may or may not be addressed by the research assistants when undertaking the study is of importance. Making use of ethics associations would offer guidance on the dos and the don’t codes of ethics (Bryman, 2015, p, 121). The quality of the study can be maintained by addressing matters objectivity, reflexivity, generalizability, transparency and why the study area was chosen. The lowlights of the survey mode used are the potency of bias during the study that can come in at the point of data collection and transcription. Having questions for review that tackle various matters including quality will help keep the research up to the task in quality maintenance. Bias can be however mitigated by compliance to the ethical principles and guidelines, seeking clearance of ethical committee and have some element of consent that is conforming. Identification of whether previous studies by psychologists like the Milgram’s and Humphrey’s experiments play a role in the understanding of social research (Bryman, 2015, p, 146).
Understanding of ethical principles and requirements and actual application of the same will see to it that the quality of the social research is maintained in a sound manner as possible. Matters to do with transparency, reflexivity and generalizability can be addressed in this sense. Potential shortcomings of the study are worth discussing via finding ways of limiting the limitations. The impact of the survey would then be felt in the academic sectors. Institutions of learning will be able to reap fruits of the study outcome where improvement in classroom processes as far as attendance is concerned will be noted. Implementation of the recommendation that emerges from the study outcome will attempt to improve the processes in the study area and in so doing, modifications can be arrived at as a means to achieve a positive impact on process improvement. Student leaders, the student bodies, and the management are the key stakeholders of the study outcome, and if the principles that emerge therein are workable and are proven to yield fruit, the principles can be applied to the work sector for instance, for wider scope application.
Summary
In summary, it is quite evident from the literature available on the effect of student leadership on the management of the classroom in class attendance, is minimal. There is a limitation, and it is worth noting that most data on student leadership is of high school and lower grade schools. This shows that there is the need for research to be done to address the impact of student leadership. From the research outcome, ways of improvement and modifications can be discussed from the recommendations that would be put in place. Before going into the outcome of the study, it is worth noting the processes that went through in researching the above topic of interest. The research methodology ought to be sound to collect data and analyze data that is sound as far as transparency, generalizability, reflexivity and why the study type was chosen. The primary purpose of the research plus other research work should be looking at the bigger picture of understanding the effects of the outcome of the research on a wider scope of the study.
References
Bryman, A. (2015). Social Research Methods - 5th Edition. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Dugan, J. P., & Komives, S. R. (2007). Developing leadership capacity in college students. College Park, Md.: National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
Gornto. J. S. (2009). The Impact of Student Leadership in Classroom Management on Student Achievement. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/305175201.html?FMT=AI on 04/07/2016
Morgan. L. N. W. (2015). The Influence of School Leadership Practices on Classroom Management, School Environment, and Academic Underperformance. Retrieved from http://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1451&context=dissertationson 04/07/2016
Mozhgan, A., Parivash, J., Nadergholi, G. and Jowkar, B., (2011). Student leadership competencies development. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 15, pp.1616-1620.
Obiero, N. A., (2012).The Involvement of Student Leaders in the Governance of University: An Implication of Shared Leadership. Retrieved from https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/35488/Julaix19.52.docxcorrectedxversion.docxLatest.pdf?sequence=1 on 04/07/2016
Seashore Louis, K., Dretzke, B. and Wahlstrom, K., (2010). How does leadership affect student achievement? Results from a national US survey. School effectiveness and school improvement, 21(3), pp.315-336.
The teacher toolkit. (n.d). Student Leaders. Retrieved from http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/student-leaders on 04/07/2016
