Abstract:

This paper studies the main theories on leadership with the purpose of applying them to educational leadership. Leadership has been studied from several disciplines.
According to Molina and Santiago Delgado (2001), the concept of leadership has been analysed from different perspectives. According to Santiago Delgado (2004) there are four main theories on leadership. The first perspective focuses of the native qualities of a leader and the context in which he develops his abilities. The second focuses on the study of leadership according to the position that the leader occupies. The third perspective analyses leadership identifying the behavior of political leaders. Fourthly, the last perspective focuses on the concept of vision.
This paper aims at reviewing these four theories of leadership.
Analysing the four focuses on leadership, Antonio Natera in his PhD about "Las percepciones y estilos de liderazgo en la España democrática" (1998) and "El liderazgo político de las sociedades democráticas" (2001) emphasises that "leadership" implies "the influence that one or more people have over other people in order to structure activities within an organization.
• The first focus is that of personal features. There are many features that could be included. In Maquievel´s terms some examples are the strength, the courage, conviction and pride.
• The second focus is that of the leader´s position. According to Peter Northouse (2013), the different contexts determine and develop the different types of leadership.
• The third focus is that of behaviourism.
• The fourth focus is that of new leadership.

Keywords:

Leadership, education, management.