Education Commons^™

Catholic School Principals: Promoting Student Leadership, Shane D. Lavery, Gregory S. C. Hine

Gregory S.C. Hine

Adolescents possess enormous leadership potential. They are tomorrow’s leaders in the workplace, the family, the community, and in government. Increasingly, schools have taken on the significant responsibility of nurturing leadership in young people. Schools are, as van Linden and Fertman (1998) have noted, “hotbeds of leadership development” (p. 224). This article explores the role and function of the secondary school principal in developing student leadership. Specifically, eight principals of secondary schools in Perth, Western Australia were interviewed about their vision of student leadership and what they saw their role as in promoting student leadership at their schools. As a prelude, …