Developing Leadership Skills in the Classroom

Abstract

There have been calls for pre-service teachers to be equipped with leadership skills. The 21st century urges schools and colleges to prepare the next generation of teachers to have leadership skills and to foster these skills among their students in the classroom. Pre-service teachers need to be equipped with leadership skills to be capable of making real changes in society. This study was conducted to examine to what extent pre-service teachers in Bahrain Teachers College possess leadership skills and the strategies faculty ought to use to improve those skills. A validated survey consisting of eight categories of leadership skills was used to collect the data. The sample consisted of 177 students from different majors (Arabic and Islamic, English, Maths and Science, and Cycle One). The results showed that pre-service teachers possess leadership skills and confirmed developing these skills in the classroom. The pre-service teachers enhanced their leadership skills in planning, problem-solving, self, and other management/controlling, communication, teamwork, decision-making, motivating, evaluation. Furthermore, the participants identified teaching strategies such as group presentation, group work, project-based learning, and problem-based learning as the strategies used by faculty in teaching, which they said facilitates the development of leadership skills in the classroom.