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34
Vol. 2, No 1/2015Contemporary Educational Leadership
Monika Kaczmarek-Śliwińska
Koszalin University of Technology, Poland
stitute a preventive function of crisis
management. The rules and regulations
of an institution formalized in the form
of statutes (Social Media Policy) could
be helpful in this, and therefore the abil-
ity to construct guidelines and rules set-
ting desirable and unacceptable behav-
iours within an educational institution in
the area of new media, especially social
media becomes an important element.
Keywords: educational leadership, me-
dia world, social media
Introduction
Traditional media space understood
as institutional media (press, radio, tel-
evision), through a controlled distribu-
tion of communicates, on the one hand
was an obstacle for an educational in-
Abstract
Traditional media space understood
as institutional media (press, radio, tele-
vision), through a controlled distribution
of messages, on the one hand was an ob-
stacle for educational institution, and on
the other hand was a guarantor of content
concerning the school appearing in the
environment. With the development of
internet technologies the method of the
distribution of content has also changed
the existing recipients of content can
also become its broadcasters, and the in-
stitution itself can create its own media.
In such conditions an educational
leader should possess awareness and
competencies in the management of
school’s communication in order to ef-
fectively protect its image and reputa-
tion. These competencies should con-
Educational leadership in a changing media space.
Social Media Policy as an element of an educational
institution’s activity management.
stitution, and on the other hand was a
guarantor of content concerning the
school appearing in the environment.
With the development of internet
technologies the method of distribu-
tion of content has also changed—the
possibility for the existing recipients of
content to become its broadcasters has
appeared, and the institution itself can
develop its own media, retaining in-
dependence from institutional media.
This situation can be a source of po-
tential crises, because each member of the
institution’s internal environment (teach-
ers, non-teaching workers, students, par-
ents of students, etc.) as well as exter-
nal (public institutions, media, private
individuals, etc.) may become an agent
distributing contents about its activities.
An educational leader should be aware
how to manage an institution in order
to minimize the risk of a crisis, and if
such a thing occurs, have competencies
in the eld of its management. Hence
also the ability to construct guidelines
and rules setting desirable and unaccept-
able behaviours within an educational
institution in the new media, especial-
ly social media, becomes an important
element. Such rules, often formalized
in the form of regulations (Social Me-
dia Policy) are within the range of pre-
ventive actions for managing the com-
munication of educational institution.
Informational and educational actions
of institutions and the distribution of
content in media
It would be a truism to say that a mod-
ern school should communicate with its
environment. On the one hand, this is-
sue seems to be indisputable because
such are the expectations of its environ-
ment. Students, parents, teaching staff
and non-teaching workers as the internal
environment of the institutio, but also
entities from its external environment:
superior institutions, local governments,
media, society, graduates or potential
candidates often want to obtain informa-
tion on the scope of its activities. Thus,
there is a need for information, and edu-
cational institution should try to ll this
gap. On the other hand, there are formal
requirements obliging schools and insti-
tutions to conduct informational activ-
ities. The Regulation of the Minister of
National Education of 7 October 2009 on
pedagogical supervision should be not-
ed here (Journal of Laws No. 168, item
1324), as it mentions tasks that include:
the concept of a school or institution to
be known and accepted by students and
parents (since it should be known and
accepted, the process of communication,
transfer of information and possible ex-
planation of actions must occur earlier);
a school or institution to be positively
perceived in the environment and the val-
ue of education to be promoted. In the
aforementioned Regulation the analysis
Contemporary Educational Leadership Vol. 2, No 1/2015
35
of the attractiveness of the offer of the in-
stitution and implementation of changes
on its basis was also indicated. Also the
environment of an educational institution
is recorded by taking into account pos-
sibilities and needs of the environment.
It follows from the above that both the
demands of an educational institution’s
environment, as well as formal and legal
requirements, may be a reason for commu-
nication. Depending on the competencies
and awareness of the headmaster-lead-
er-educational leader concerning the risks
associated with the communications of
members of an educational institution, the
risk of a potential crisis situation may vary.
Management of communication process-
es.
Organizations operating in the mar-
ket implement management of process-
es of communication with the environ-
ment through public relations activities.
According to the denition formulated
by Scott M. Cutlip, Allen H. Center and
Glen M. Broom: “Public relations is the
management function that establishes
and sustains mutual benecial relation-
ships between the organization and its
environment, on which depends its suc-
cess or failure.” (Cutlip, Center, Broom,
2000). One of the leading gures of the
Polish PR, Krystyna Wojcik, points out
that PR is a management function with
a continuous and planned nature thanks
to which the organization acquires and
sustains the understanding, sympathy
and support of those in whom it is inter-
ested now, or may be interested in the
future - by testing their opinions about
the organization, in order to maximally
adapt its goals and business to them, to
achieve - through planned, wide dissemi-
nation of information - better cooperation
with the community, and better achieve-
ment of its objectives ( Wójcik,2015).
This approach to the communication
with the environment, assuming care
for dialogue with respect for the eth-
ics of communication, should be one of
the strategic activities of an institution,
included in the framework of its oper-
ation. Then it would have the chance
to be an effective action that allows the
determination of objectives in accord-
ance with the vision and mission of an
educational institution, through the con-
struction of a strategy, as well as identi-
cation of tactics and implementation
programs (Kaczmarek-Śliwińska, 2013).
One of the important components of
the aforementioned communication strat-
egy will be to determine the environment
of an educational institution that seems
to be particularly important for the ef-
fective achievement of goals. The gure
below (g. 1) shows a simplied typol-
ogy of an institution’s environment and
assumes the existence of two groups: in-
ternal environment, understood as direct
members of the organization (students,
parents, teachers, management, and oth-
ers) and external environment understood
as entities that currently are not direct
members of the organization, but have a
Vol. 2, No 1/2015Contemporary Educational Leadership
36
relationship with the institution now, in
the past or in the future (candidates for
students, graduates, media and others).
There are many typologies of an in-
stitution’s environment (Kaczmarek-Śli-
wińska, 2015), but from the point of view
of the subject matter under discussion -
managing the communication of the in-
stitution in a changing media space - it is
worth mentioning the typology aimed at
communication with the environment in
crisis situations. It presumes the relation-
ship of an institution with three groups
in the environment, namely (Kacz-
marek-Śliwińska,2015),:
1. Priority - groups from the organi-
zation’s environment, which should be
strictly taken into account in crisis com-
munication, as they are directly involved
in the crisis (e.g. a crisis situation such as
students injured in a school bus accident;
the priority environment certainly in-
cludes students, their parents and carers).
2. Important - groups from the organ-
ization’s environment which in the case
of having sufcient resources (staff, time
and nancial) should be included in sce-
narios of crisis situations (referring to the
aforementioned crisis they may be groups
of potential candidates to the educational
institution).
3. Possible to omit - groups from the
organization’s environment the lack of
which in crisis situation scenarios should
not lead to negative consequences (an ex-
ample could include social groups associ-
ated with the pro-health movement).
Familiarity with environment groups
is a particularly important aspect of an
institution’s strategy of communication
because incorrect denition of groups
with which communication should be
maintained can lead to weakness or lack
of effectiveness in reaching and under-
Contemporary Educational Leadership Vol. 2, No 1/2015
37
Figure 1. Environment of an educational institution in view of the subject of communica-
tion.
Source: own elaboration
standing the message.
The consequences of changes in media
space in the context of content distribu-
tion and potential risks of crisis situa-
tions.
Together with their use in the activities
of organizations of various types, the in-
ternet and its services also appeared in the
sphere of communication. Initially in the
mid-1990s, and from today’s perspective,
these forms were very limited in terms of
interaction, as well as active participa-
tion of recipients. This was related both
to technical limitations and the costs of
using the Web, as well as a lack of prepa-
ration of Internet users for maintaining
active communication through the crea-
tion and distribution of their own content.
Less than a decade later the internet
social space was completely different:
improved technical and computing com-
petencies of users, greater availability of
easy-to-use applications, lower costs of
using the internet, but above all much
greater awareness of users and their ac-
tivity in the processes of creating own
content, and distribution of the content
of other network users, both institutional
and individual. Conditions for carrying
out activities related to the communica-
tion of organizations (in the paradigm
of public relations, as well as for formal
and legal reasons), including educational
institutions, had earlier often been point-
ed out but due to the awareness, compe-
tencies and capabilities of the internet’s
infrastructure, in reality, they could not
be created until after 2000. F.P. Seitel, in
relation to the activities of commercial
organizations, indicated three main rea-
sons, namely: the need for information
experienced by consumers, action in real
time and the need for individualized mes-
sages (Seitel,, 2000). It quickly turned out
that the information needs of customers
in relation to organizations offering com-
mercial goods are similar or even identi-
cal to those of customers of other types
of organizations, which probably con-
tributed to the use of practices familiar in
the commercial property market in rela-
tion to the educational services market .
The change caused by supplementing
the traditional media trinity (press, radio,
television) with internet space on the one
hand led to an expansion of communi-
cation opportunities of organizations but
also to a greater risk of potential crisis
situations. These two reasons—great-
er opportunities for the distribution of
an institution’s content supporting its
PR activities and promotion of educa-
tion, and a higher risk of crisis—should
serve as an occasion to supplement the
competencies of an educational leader.
Paul Miller pointed to changes in the
area of the internet as a medium, and
expressed his thoughts in the following
manner: “Web 1.0 led people to informa-
tion, Web 2.0 led information to people.”
(Rahiman, 2010). An educational leader
should be aware of the fact that this lead-
ing of information to people, and then
distribution of content in a completely
arbitrary manner (without any control
Vol. 2, No 1/2015Contemporary Educational Leadership
38
on the part of the institution) and with-
out an organization’s (educational insti-
tution’s) inuence on its form, manner,
time and context, may cause threats.
Changes in media space result primar-
ily from changes in the role of existing
recipients of media. Those people who
until now were only recipients (and if
they were also broadcasters of messages
or their creators, then it was to a very lim-
ited extent) were given the opportunity to
create and distribute their own content,
as well as content obtained from other
internet users or entities on the internet.
In practice, in many cases this may mean
that on the internet there are entities which
have the nature of an old medium, such as
editorial ofces. Unfortunately, the threat
may be the fact that while editorial ofces
respect the rules of applicable law or pro-
fessional industry codes, internet sources
can act on self-appointed terms within
the law, and sometimes act outside of it.
The diagram above (g. 2) presents
a simplied method for the distribution
of messages in media space. Two enti-
ties - institutional media and educational
institution (organization) - in addition to
traditional forms of content distribution
to their environment also have commu-
nication channels on the internet. There
is public opinion, which in all kinds of
ways, and often dependent only on its de-
cisions, can become a source of distrib-
uted content. Finally, there is the opinion
leader, who has also appeared in ofine
communication processes (e.g. as an ex-
pert in a TV programme or in the press),
but in today’s media system he may be an
entity with a signicantly different role
and functions. While in the space of of-
ine media the opinion leader was mostly
an entity with a recognized professional
role, in online space he may be an entity
with any professional position but with
signicant impact on the environment
around the internet instruments used by
him (e.g. around a blog or account on
social network). Media space dened in
this way is characterised by the possibili-
ty of high activity of all entities but from
the point of view of the discussed subject
matter - public opinion, opinion leader
and educational institution. Through the
use of online tools they can become a
source of information independent from
traditional journalistic channels. This can
lead to considerable facilitation of the
transfer of content to the facility’s envi-
ronment, which is particularly important
when this content seems unattractive to
editorial ofces. However, it may be a
cause of an organization’s problems be-
cause functioning within social media re-
quires specic competences, and perhaps
also regulations within the institution.
Possibilities of regulations associated
with the distribution of content of an in-
stitution’s environment
Observing the communication of edu-
cational institutions, there is a clear ten-
dency to take example from entities of
the market environment. Although in the
case of educational institutions we should
Contemporary Educational Leadership Vol. 2, No 1/2015
39
not talk about the product in a commer-
cial sense but about values and promotion
of education, instruments and methods of
implementation can be identical. Taking
on the practices of a commercial market
is probably related to the realities of the
educational services market—increasing-
ly erce competition between entities, de-
mographic decline and the search for sav-
ings through elimination of institutions.
Certainly there are three areas that
could be a challenge for an educational
leader, namely:
1. The impact of content distributed by
an educational institution (from the man-
agerial level) on its image and reputation.
2. Activities of the society of an edu-
cational institution in the eld of media
having an impact on its image and repu-
tation.
3. Activities of the environment of an
educational institution in the space of
media having an impact, negative or pos-
itive, on the way it is perceived.
While in the traditional media (news-
papers, radio, television) the above-in-
dicated problems could exist marginal-
ly, in the space of social media they can
be a source of crisis situations. There-
fore, relations with the media, includ-
ing activities in social media, should
be recognized as part of the strate-
gy of an institution’s activities with-
in preventive and regulatory measures.
Regulations and principles that engage
expected and undesirable actions in the re-
lations of an institution with its internal and
external environment may include com-
ponents (Kaczmarek-Śliwińska, 2013):
1. Relating to the relationship with the
external environment:
a. provisions determining principles of
moderation, or lack thereof, of user ac-
tivity (e.g. posting comments after prior
moderation by an administrator repre-
senting the educational institution).
b. rules that raise the issue of users
anonymity (experience shows that some
institutions choose to leave considerable
freedom to users and the right to be anon-
ymous, appearance is apparent in reality,
since the user can be identied through
IP); some institutions require logging in
preceded by registration or using a social
network account due to the possibility
of so-called self-disclosure (Valkenburg,
Peter, 200 ) and disinhibition ( Join-
son,2001),
c. information related to legal regu-
lations (e.g. issues of defamation, insult,
or any violation related to the goods of
another entity or the institution itself; the
issue of minimum age for users in the
processes of communication),
d. rules determining user culture (the
culture of criticism relating to the subject
of discussion, the adoption of
e. principles of substantive criticism,
exclusion of any form of electronic ag-
gression ( Pyżalski,, 2012), and thus:
f. information on desirable and exclu-
sive content
g. determination of the consequences of
non-compliance with the rules presented
by the institution (e.g. blocking users, and
in extreme situations taking legal action).
Vol. 2, No 1/2015Contemporary Educational Leadership
40
2. Relating to the relations with the
internal environment, the execution of
which - from the point of view of an edu-
cational institution - is facilitated because
the organization’s members (students,
teachers, etc.) remain in a relationship
with the institution which is specied by
law. These components can be specied
as:
a. behaviour towards the organization
(e.g. an appropriate method of criticism,
involvement or lack of involvement in
discussions about the institution),
b. behaviour towards colleagues and
other members of the institution (e.g. stu-
dents) especially relating to the method
of commenting on their behaviour and
actions (e.g. acceptable forms of criticism
of a student by a teacher and vice versa),
c. behaviour towards competitors. It
is worth remembering that—in the case
of criticism of actions—we should re-
member to maintain the form of referring
to facts and avoid comments in a situa-
tion where it is not possible to conrm
the heard opinions. A special case is the
critique of competitive institutions strug-
gling with a crisis situation, where a crisis
situation may be transferred to the indus-
try, and thus the institution may be affect-
ed by the crisis (e.g. critique of another
school for lack of supervision of pupils
during a school trip, during which stu-
dents used drugs. This problem may be
raised by the media, because it is “attrac-
tive,” it will arouse interest of recipients,
but it can also transfer the questions of
the media and environment to the insti-
tution itself),
d. behaviour of members of an edu-
cational institution towards the external
environment. The role of educational
leaders is also to draw attention to rela-
tions between the internal environment
and entities from the external environ-
ment that constitute a hazardous element
especially in the face of a crisis situation.
Then one of the elements of the external
environment’s behaviour is thorough ob-
servation of the institution and attempts
to obtain information related to the crisis
situation. Both school staff and parents
should be familiar with the information
policy of the institution in order to create
one message and not give out information
that may be causing the so-called grow-
ing crisis (Kaczmarek-Śliwińska, 2015).
Two more aspects are also important
in relation to the internal environment of
a facility:
e. rules determining the desired level
of worker/student culture, and expressed
in two perspectives as:
i. behaviour as representative of the
institution - teachers and students repre-
sent a school; on their proles there is in-
formation about their belonging to a par-
ticular institution, etc.
ii. behaviour as a private person - on
this issue rules should be determined tak-
ing into account the fact that management
of the institution has the right to require
certain behaviour but they cannot violate
the rights of members of the institution,
for example, the freedom of expression,
criticism and others.
Contemporary Educational Leadership Vol. 2, No 1/2015
41
f. Professional standards in terms of:
i. guidelines on ethical issues (e.g. for
teachers - the matter of professional eth-
ics; for students - ethical issues contained
in the statute of a school),
ii. guidelines referring to values and
norms of an educational institution.
The analysis of the activities of or-
ganizations, not only educational institu-
tions, shows that the Social Media Poli-
cy regulations, which have been created
as a result of joint work and agreements
between management and members of
organizations, are effective. It is the edu-
cational leader who should stimulate and
guide the work, but at the same time he
should try not to impose solutions which
are comfortable or safe from the point of
view of management of the institution.
Such rules should be the result of a con-
sensus, arrangements arising through un-
derstanding the needs of members of the
organization (e.g. needs of self-presenta-
tion, the right to freedom of expression,
etc.), and on the other hand there should
be awareness and understanding among
members of an organization that actions
taken by them may affect its position, im-
age or reputation.
Summary
The changing media space will set
new tasks for educational leaders. Ten
years ago, media coverage and content
distribution were limited to a situation
in which the leader managing an institu-
tion was its main representative. Today,
when every internet user can be a crea-
tor and broadcaster of content, it should
be assumed that each member of an in-
stitution is its face, and can affect—pos-
itively or negatively—the perception of
the institution in the internal and exter-
nal environment, as well as represent the
values with which it will be associated.
Due to the fact that media space is
not constant, but is subjected to constant
transformations, we must acquire com-
petencies that will allow the creation of
institution media space through which
the distribution of content will create
the smallest risk of a crisis situation.
Vol. 2, No 1/2015Contemporary Educational Leadership
42
43
Contemporary Educational Leadership Vol. 2, No 1/2015
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