Leadership for democracy : developing democratic organizations

What seems to be one of the core values that shapes our understanding of the main goals of educational institutions is development. It should be discussed on at least four different levels: individual, group, organizational and social. Individual human development should be seen as the most important precondition for all the other types or levels of development. Using L. Kohlberg’s theory of socio-moral development, the paper discusses necessary organizational changes in schools necessary to create better conditions for individual development of all students, teachers and others involved in school life. It also offers a description of “inclusive” and “developmental” school culture supporting individual development of all. Presenting the results of the research on perception of school culture among teachers of Polish schools, it tries to discuss the chances of building such organizational culture that comes from introduction of a new school evaluation system. Finally the paper looks at the implications for leadership. It suggests a definition of educational leadership as “developmental leadership” and tries to characterize that type of leadership