A Metamorphosis of a Coastal School Community amidst Adversities: An Autoethnography

Abstract

Introduction

I am a leader –I was born and made! When God gave me the beautiful gift of life, I believed that He also gave the wonderful gift of leadership. Since my childhood, people around me regarded me as a born leader. The situations and the communities where I was sent to lead made me a leader. This study describes my journey as a leader and elucidates my experiences in leading and transforming Tarik Suliman High School (TSHS), a secondary school in a fishing village in a coastal area in Masantol, Pampanga. The tales of pains and gains during my five-year stewardship of TSHS are worth sharing and retelling.

Methods

As I share my story and my journey of self as a school leader, I have applied autoethnography which has recently become a popular form of qualitative research. It is a genre of writing that displays multiple layers of consciousness, connecting the personal to the cultural. Through autobiographical narratives, I was able to explore my experiences as a leader that may have contributed to the transformation of the school and community.

Results

By summarizing the narratives and accounts of experiences as well as the reflections, a model for educational leadership was drawn out for other school managers to try to apply. In the model that emerges from this research,the principal is the driver for school and community development and this originates from the leader's educational foundation and the formation and personal philosophies in life. This is also facilitated by the culture of collaboration and partnership the leader establishes across the school community. The model proves the equations good leadership is equal to school improvement and culture of partnership is equal to a culture of excellence.

Discussions

The leader's principles and philosophies in life as influenced by his family and school significantly affect his perception and principle of leadership. These principles and philosophies result in different leadership metaphors –symbolizing how a leader should live and act in his mission ground. The leader does not only confine his tasks with leading –he goes beyond managing and leading. He inspires, forms and transforms. This is the call of the school and the community and the leader's yes to this call determines the difference, change, and transformation he can make which results in student development and school improvement. It is, therefore, the PRINCIPAL who is the force behind the transformation.