School leaders in a learning organization: an internship report

Compton Moore, Gloria (1997) School leaders in a learning organization: an internship report. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (1MB)

Abstract

This is an internship report based on the concept of a learning organization, as defined by Peter Senge. In particular, the roles of educational leaders as teachers, designers, and stewards were examined. -- The setting for the internship was a two-stream elementary school which serves five smaller communities. It was chosen as the site because of its reputation for collaborative efforts among the staff and administration. -- This report consists of a research component and critical reflections on the experience of the internship. The focus throughout has been the five disciplines which comprise a learning organization. These disciplines are personal mastery, challenging mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking. The research was in the form of a case study to look for and describe how these disciplines appear in a K-6 school, from the perspective of a practicing administrator. Application for educational leadership has been the focus throughout the research component. -- The critical reflections indicate that several elements of a learning organization were evident in the elementary school site. These reflections take the form of a descriptive narrative of daily experiences observed by the intern. From these experiences, a critical analysis was conducted to indicate evidence of school leaders as teachers, designers, and stewards as outlined in Peter Senge's concept of a learning organization.

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