Càtedra de Lideratge en Valors
Campus UManresa UVic-UCC
Triangle

Values-Based Leadership in Educational Organizations

University Expert Diploma

Program Objectives

  1. Analyze current global and social challenges (geopolitical, migratory, ecological, and climatic) to define the role and leadership that schools should assume today.
  2. Promote a transformative pedagogical leadership that supports teachers, fosters evidence-based educational innovation, and empowers teaching teams with autonomy and shared responsibility.
  3. Conceive the school as an open ecosystem, connected to the community and other social actors, encouraging collaborative networks and a shared ethical purpose for social transformation.
  4. Place values and ethics at the heart of educational leadership, developing profiles of ethical role models capable of creating environments based on care, justice, authenticity, and a sense of community.
  5. Promote care and well-being across the entire educational community through empathetic communication, active listening, and respect as the foundations of coexistence and collective progress.
  6. Deploy strategies for human management and development, including strategic planning, evaluation and accountability, talent identification and enhancement, and the construction of distributed and sustainable leadership.
More Information and Registrations

Contents

Module 1. Today's world and the role of education

Education must be able to position itself and respond to the major changes transforming society. This module invites participants to understand how global phenomena—such as the climate crisis, digital transformation, and social inequalities—impact the purpose and function of schools. From this perspective, we will analyze what today’s school should look like, what kind of professionals it requires, and how it should be led.

 

  1. Analyze the main global changes impacting education.
  2. Identify the school and leadership model needed to address current challenges.

Module 2. Leadership within the school

Pedagogical leadership is key to transforming schools from within. This module addresses how to drive context-based projects, support teaching teams, and build a cohesive school culture with purpose, oriented toward the learning of all students.

 

  1. Develop tools to support teachers in planning, implementing, and evaluating pedagogical practices.
    Apply strategies to incorporate active and innovative methodologies focused on students and grounded in proven evidence.
  2. Understand how leadership can facilitate school adaptation and drive educational innovation initiatives.
  3. Encourage the participation of teaching teams in decision-making and school management.
  4. Promote autonomy and shared responsibility among teachers to make classroom-level decisions based on the school’s educational project and culture.

Module 3. Strategies to consolidate a shared purpose

The school is a living organization that learns and evolves with the people who are part of it. This module explores how leadership can connect the school’s educational purpose with the individual purpose of its members, and how this connection drives continuous improvement and shared excellence.

 

  1. Develop a strategic plan aligned with the school’s vision, objectives, and context.
  2. Apply project management methodologies to lead innovative and sustainable initiatives, ensuring ethical evaluation practices.
  3. Establish mechanisms for continuous assessment to foster improvement and accountability as drivers of transformation.

Module 4. Leading through values and ethics

Educational leadership must serve as an ethical reference point for the community. This module focuses on how to emphasize care, justice, authenticity, and responsibility in decision-making to create educational environments where every individual can reach their full potential.

 

  1. Ethical Leadership: Place values such as respect, empathy, justice, and solidarity at the heart of leadership. Develop skills to make ethical and responsible decisions, considering their impact on people.
  2. Authenticity and Vulnerability: Foster transparency and honesty in communication and decision-making. Recognize personal limitations, learn from mistakes, and promote resilience as part of the leadership process.
  3. Justice and Equity: Combat discrimination and ensure equal opportunities for all students. Provide intensive support to those who need it most, while considering others’ needs when defining one’s own.

Module 5. Leadership and care for the community

Caring for people is an essential pillar of educational leadership. This module explores how to build a cohesive, safe, and empathetic educational community where emotional well-being, respectful communication, and a sense of belonging are shared foundations.

 

  1. Foster a school culture based on cooperation and mutual respect.
  2. Consolidate a positive, safe, and inclusive school climate.
  3. Enhance empathetic communication and active listening across all areas of the school.
  4. Promote the emotional well-being of teachers, students, and families.
  5. Strengthen the sense of community and belonging by creating spaces for connection and participation.

Module 6. Leadership beyond the school

The school is part of a broader educational ecosystem. This module explores how leadership can open the school to the community, create collaborative networks, and promote a shared purpose of social transformation. The educational leader becomes a reference point that connects the school with families, the local environment, and other educational stakeholders.

 

  1. Understand the school as part of an open and collaborative educational ecosystem, with leadership capable of fostering a safe and demanding climate.
  2. Share an ethical and social purpose with local stakeholders, through leadership that advances toward this goal.
  3. Exercise leadership that inspires, connects, and learns with others.
  4. Design learning environments that are both welcoming and challenging, based on inclusion, cross-disciplinary approaches, constructive disagreement, and critical thinking, with leadership that promotes spaces for reflection and debate.
  5. Drive models of collaboration and networked learning with other schools and organizations.

Module 7. Human leadership, leadership of people

This module delves into leadership based on trust and talent development. We will analyze how to empower autonomous, committed teams capable of growing together, fostering distributed leadership and a culture of continuous improvement. Human leadership focuses on people as the driving force of educational quality.

 

  1. Lead through trust to build a collaborative culture and shared leadership as the foundation for sustainable change.
  2. Develop people by identifying and enhancing talent, inspiring motivated teams committed to the educational project.
  3. Grow a learning community by promoting reflection, evaluation, and dialogue as tools for improvement and collective learning.

Module 8. Final Work and/or Application Project

Development of a Project Involving:

  1. Promoting value-based leadership across the entire organization: highlighting the importance of values within the school, fostering internal role models, integrating values into daily practices, and training members of the institution.
  2. Incorporating value-based leadership into ongoing change and transformation projects to generate a positive impact on society.
  3. Other initiatives and projects proposed by participants that integrate the dimension of values as a distinctive and differentiating element.