Abstract: School leaders today are responsible for an incredible variety of administrative duties. As schools have grown in organizational complexity, so have the number of areas over which headmasters must provide administrative leadership. Etymologically, however, the “headmaster” of a school is simply the “head teacher.” Despite the increased complexity of the headmaster’s role, in an important sense every school leader still is and must be the intellectual leader of the school. In this seminar, we will examine the importance of a headmaster’s intellectual leadership and also consider practical suggestions for how headmasters and school administrators can provide such leadership whether or not they have formal academic training themselves.
Dr. David Diener works at Hillsdale College where he is an Assistant Professor of Education. Previous experience includes fifteen years in K-12 private education, eleven of those in administration and eight as headmaster of classical Christian schools. He also is a Fellow on the Alcuin Fellowship National Council and Director of the Alcuin Fellowship Midwest Chapter, serves on the Board of Directors for the Society for Classical Learning and the Board of Academic Advisors for the Classic Learning Test, is a member of the National Council of Classical Educators, and offers consulting services through Classical Academic Press. He is the author of Plato: The Great Philosopher-Educator and has published articles on Plato, Kierkegaard, and various topics in philosophy of education. He also serves as the series editor for Classical Academic Press’ series Giants in the History of Education and is an associate editor for the journal Principia: a Journal of Classical Education. He holds a BA in Philosophy and Ancient Languages from Wheaton College as well as an MA in Philosophy, an MS in History and Philosophy of Education, and a dual PhD in Philosophy and Philosophy of Education from Indiana University.
