Careers in Educational Leadership

Education sector has seen a phenomenal growth in the world in the past decade. A rise in the world population has led to an increased need for high quality educational institutions and programs.

The education sector is unaffected by economic recession as there is always a demand for educational services from the huge student community and hence, a career in this field would be a stable and high paying one.

Educational leadership involves leading departments, decision-making committees and boards in different types of educational settings. An educational leader is a vastly experienced person who has served as a faculty in an institute and who takes decisions about the institute, which he leads, transforming it into a technologically advanced and friendly one.

He has to make sure that the quality of education imparted is as per the set standards by the education board, and takes efforts to make the system more transparent and systematic. The term educational leadership is relevant in all educational institutions, right from preliminary schools to universities offering advanced courses.

An efficient educational leader has to stay updated with the changes in the field of education. He has to carry out new policies to enable students become industry ready professionals. Educational leadership not only involves concentrating on educational facilities, but also doing administrative work in the institution.

Monitoring performance of teaching staff, assigning them work, calling for staff meetings, monitoring student admission procedures, managing finances of the institution and informing board of directors of the institution about its working, are some typical duties of an educational leader.

They need to possess leadership qualities to render their services in a professional manner.

Jobs at the elementary and secondary level would include being a principal, assistant principal, deans, teachers or headmaster in elementary/secondary schools. At the elementary and secondary level, educational leaders teach students, hire staff, allot work to staff, prepare financial budgets and are involved in policy making process.

At most places, the elementary careers can be entry-level jobs for educational leaders. So, naturally, the salaries in this job would be less as compared to jobs in bigger institutions. Elementary/secondary educational leaders can expect a salary of around $70,000 to $90,000 per year.

High school is the most important phase in the career of any student. So, having quality educational leaders in high school is a necessity. In high school, students choose different subjects as per their interests and inclinations and each department therefore needs an educational leader.

In high school, duties of these leaders increase further and they also take part in counseling and giving career advice. These leaders help students know their strengths and weaknesses and prepare them for the challenges of the future. Salaries in high schools for educational leaders can be in the range of $75,000 to $85,000 per year.

College department director would be one of the best careers in educational leadership. For this position, candidates would require at least ten to fifteen years of academic experience.

Here, the responsibilities increase greatly as the person has to manage an entire department of a large institution like a college. Also, salary packages are better with college heads making anything between $90,000 to $150,000 per year.

Being a university dean is perhaps the highest post in the education sector. Deans of prestigious universities manage the institutions and are also on board of several government education agencies and private education companies. Deans get paid handsomely and can make anything between $100,000 to $201,000 depending on the kind of university.

The demand for educational leaders is not just in the education sector, but also in the corporate world. Businesses today need trained and skilled employees to increase their overall efficiency and profitability.

Educational leaders can work as corporate trainers and train these employees in business skills, soft skills and help them deliver best performance for every project. Salaries for corporate trainers can be more than $100,000 per year.

Educational leaders can be the most important post in non-profit organizations which work in the area of education for the underprivileged. These experienced academicians can use their vast experience to chalk out effective policies to make education affordable and accessible for children belonging to lower sections of the society.

As per the view of experts, the academic administration jobs are expected to grow at a rate of around 4% from 2018 to 2028. So education professionals can expect better salaries and a stable career going ahead.