School managment in technical and vocational education: challenges for leadership

Abstract

This article addresses the analysis of the institutional management modalities and the management leadership practices in educational institutions offering secondary TVET education in Chile. To this end, the vocational orientation existing in these centers are reviewed, along with the articulation processes between the general and specialized education and the actions aimed to promote links with multiple industries and relevant actors with the goal of supporting education-to-work processes. The case study conducted, revealed a predominance of leadership styles that adopt a delegative nature, with little capacity of the managing teams to take on tasks that are specific of the different secondary TVET areas of specialization. The external requirements for education quality assurance demand a significant portion of these institutions" management efforts, relegating to a second level the professional training goals and making it more difficult to develop links with companies or other production actors, local or regional. As can be inferred from some innovative experiences, promoting a leadership model that favors intra and inter mediation actions of educational institutions, is an alternative of particular interest for the development of secondary TVET and its future challenges.