Educational Context and Value-Based Leadership Model of the Adolescent

The subject of my research is the influence of the school context compared to the Scouting context on the value-based leadership model of the secondary school students. I have used the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale and a questionnaire, inspired by the GLOBE dimensions of the Culture questionnaire, to measure how the adolescents perceive their classroom or Scouting environment. The questionnaires were submitted to 600 students and 231 scouts enrolled in upper secondary schools in Rome (9th and 10th grades). The analyses support the hypothesis of an influence of the educational context, especially the way in which power and responsibilities are shared and the group cohesion, on the eight dimensions of the Social Change Model of Leadership, which are considered the main values necessary for the development of a leadership which “facilitate positive social change at the institution or in the community” (HERI, 1996). The idea that the leadership skills are developed through experience is found in Dewey's pedagogy (1916, 1938), in the Social constructivist perspectives of Piaget (1932, 1950), Vygotsky (1926, 1930), Kohlberg (1980, 1981, 1984), Erikson (1982) and Gilligan (1980, 1982), and in general, in Cognitivism and Constructivism. This research addresses the need to reopen the discussion on the educational dimension of school, and not only on the transmission of knowledge or skills at school, where the educational context is likely to contradict the principles enunciated, and only formally shared, of democratic citizenship.