The solution to an actual scientific problem regarding the formation of
leadership skills in students of general secondary education institutions is offered
in dissertation.
According to the result of a deep analysis of scientific sources, it was
established, that a leader is a socially active individual, who has appropriate
leadership skills, that make it possible to positively influence another subject or
group, mobilizing them to achieve socially significant goals in order to change
certain social situations.
The most common theories of leadership were studied in this research, like,
the Theory of Leader Traits, which distinguishes the charismatic and
transformational leaders; theories of Interactive, Situational leadership, the
Normative The Vroom-Yetton-Jago model is a contingency approach to group
decision making that is designed specifically to help leaders select the best
approach to making decisions.; Probabilistic theories of leadership, which
determine the factors of effective leadership; R. J. House's founder of Path-Goal
theory, which describes styles of leadership behaver – directive, supportive,
participatory leadership and result-oriented leadership; The theory of leadership
roles, which presents a variety of leadership typologies depending on the content
of the activity, leadership style, nature of the activity; synthetic concepts of
leadership (super leadership, the theory of the "outstanding person"). It was
discovered that leadership skills are essentially a set of stable personality
characteristics that confirm the effectiveness of activities and help to set the leader
in a group, are manifested in organizational skills, able to significantly influence the behavior and mood of people, to be the role model. Leadership skills of
students of general secondary education institutions are distinguished into four
groups – personal, cognitive, social and civic skills. Personal skills are those that
identify a student’s personality in a particular way. Initiative, time management,
flexibility, purposefulness, responsibility, constant personal growth, stress
resistance – all these skills are included into the group of personal skills. Cognitive
skills are a set of mental skills that allow students to process information about the
surrounding world and solve various tasks. The group of cognitive skills includes:
critical thinking, creativity, ability to solve problems, self-learning and selfdevelopment, digital literacy, media literacy. Social skills are the ability for the
effective interaction between specific people or different groups, competently
perform social tasks while achieving set goals, this group includes: emotional
intelligence, communication, teamwork, social responsibility, ability to act
autonomously. Civic skills – skills with the help of which social and public activity
of students as responsible citizens is realized. Civic skills include: civic awareness,
volunteering, safety, participation in community life, tolerance.
That leadership skills , as it was established, can be characterized by a
certain motivational aspect that determines the student's recognition of the leader’s
role - a leadership position; the cognitive aspect, which indicates the leadership
awareness about methods of activity and management of the team and him\herself;
the activity aspect, which reflects the peculiarities of leadership behavior, the
leader's contribution to group activity, his use of the organizational algorithm, and
the emotional aspect, which ensures the group's acceptance of the leader and, in
this way, the deployment of leadership influence.
The following aspects of the formation of students' leadership skills have
been submitted - motivational, cognitive, activity-based and evaluative-reflective.
The basis of the construction of the criterion base for the formation of leadership
skills in students of general secondary education institutions is the sociopsychological indicators of the development of adolescent students, indicators of
the manifestation of leadership qualities, as well as general indicators of the formation of skills and abilities. The criteria of motivation specifies the hierarchy
of cognitive, educational, personal, social motives, needs, instructions, value
orientations in the indication of students' leadership skills. The cognitive criteria
covers the knowledge possessed by the student, which allows him to be a leader
everywhere, to reveal leadership skills and develop them. The activity criteria
shows the student's ability and readiness to apply his knowledge and skills in
practice, being a leader in a particular situation, to show the special way of project.
The evaluative-reflective criteria reflects the ability to recognize and manage one's
own emotions and the emotional states of others in order to achieve the
organization's goals.
