Toughen up

I have been working on a framework for educational leaders and it has really reinforced for me the importance of self leadership. If we don't build our internal understandings of self it is extraordinarily difficult to understand others. The development of self awareness and self management can be grown in a number of ways. One of the most important ways is through receiving feedback. I'm not talking about a one off approach, but a regular way of listening to what others have to say and changing based on this feedback (or at least contemplating the feedback and choosing not to change!) Feedback should feed forward to next steps in learning otherwise why bother getting feedback. Never have the skills of dialogue and listening been so important.

In talking to a group of school leaders recently the scenario was posed of a teacher who was underperforming. They moved the students forward in terms of test results but they did so through fear. The school leader had given feedback to the teacher on several occasions but nothing had changed. Some students thrived, others survived. My question in these circumstances is always "So would you be happy if your child or grandchild was in that class?" I'm not talking about it necessarily being a first choice, but that you would be satisfied, at the very least. When leaders think about this question they often have an 'aha' moment and in many cases they come back with the answer 'No.' If no is the answer then leaders must be proactive in dealing with the issue, not skirt around the concern. This is about the future of a group of students year after year. If it ain't good enough for your child or grandchild it ain't good enough - full stop.

Yes, this can create industrial issues and it does get tricky. It is the leader's job to confront inadequate performance; to follow the rules, but to move things forward - consistently, rigorously and relentlessy. This may involve further development of the teacher in more explicit ways, and it may result in the teacher ultimately leaving the school. Working through such issues is really hard work and some school leaders do not feel they have the skills to confront them. In some cases, through not dealing with the issues when they first arose, and not investing in the development of high quality professional learning - they have exacerbated the problem.

Leaders must be proactive. They must first look to their own behaviour and explore what needs to be changed. What have I been doing (or not doing) that has led to this problem? What do I need to do to build my skills? Personal courage is needed as a school leader. Self aware leaders will understand that empathic and ethical behaviour is crucial at such times and they will act accordingly. A self aware school leader knows that they personally impact on students through their own behaviour and the way they model to the adults in the organisation. An unrelenting focus on doing the best for all students and developing a school community that lives and breathes this too - that's the challenge. So if the question is "Would you be happy to have your child or grandchild in that class?" and the answer is "No" take action.

Build Others - Stay Sane

People are overwhelmed with the sheer complexity of things to do and torn between the various commitments in their life, both at work and at home. Some of this is caused by the pace of change, the expectations of others and the nature of our work environments. Workload is killing us. The Japanese have a word for this phenomenon - Koroshi - literally death by overwork. Stress in low doses is good for you - this is called eustress. Stress in high doses is bad for you - this is called distress and in its worse form - death. I am more in favour of eustress than distress, personally.

Today I have friends visiting. We have had a wonderful time together and I haven't had so many belly laughs for a long time. Liz and I walked up the hills of Sumner admiring the views and talking about anything that entered our heads at the time. I don't do enough of this, do you? And yet exercise, laughter and friends are a winning combination.

I reminded me of the survey I asked educators to fill in towards the end of 2008. This survey asked some key questions about their competency in relating to others. It was a self rating survey and the results were very interesting. It was no surprise that the following question was rated lowest by respondents:

There are two main problems with lack of delegation. The first is that it can led to distress because we try to do everything ourselves. It will be quicker after all, we won't have to fix others' mistakes and we know how it should be done. Koroshi here we come!

The second issue is important too. By not delegating we are stealing from others who have the ability to perform. Our role as leaders is to build the capacity of others so that they can grow their own abilities, and in doing so succession is more likely to be assured. In order to delegate it is important to understand a person's strengths and build on these. What are the person's productive skills for that particular task? Do they have the constructive energy for the task? Consider these elements in order to delegate appropriately. Build the skills of others on purpose, for if you do everything yourself they will never learn. Your employees, colleagues and family will be trapped in a dependency model and may very well resent their lack of power. Develop their abilities to be resilient and to cope with stress positively. This implies building strong relationships and knowing the needs and capabilities of those around you.

I'm not going to rush off and shed my workload, or abdicate my responsibilities. But maybe there are some things that others want to learn and to take control of. Maybe I should start by asking them what I am doing that they could be doing. Maybe I could identify others' strengths to build on and support them to have a go. Maybe I could live for a few more years in a non-koroshi state...now that's appealing...

Perturbation

I am getting perturbed. For a while I have been pondering where we are heading with educational leadership. I have read the latest books by Michael Fullan and I think he makes some good points. Trouble is there is a little voice nattering in my right ear... "but is that going to be enough in the future?" My worry is that we keep talking about leadership of schools from a past paradigm and I have a sneaking suspicion we need to move on... In fact it's more than sneaking...it's perturbing.

When I read the blogpost from Singapore Education Consultants, Education in Singapore - TIMMS and the "New Stupid" it confirmed my thinking. The blog quotes Mike Schmoker as raising the question whether the data that that has been collected by schools promotes 21st-century teaching and learning? Those schools that are achieving high test scores in the model of today's education say why would we change - we are successful. Schmoker's argument is that you can increase test scores without offering students tasks that are intellectually stimulating.

So if we are saying that students need to be multiliterate, to think for themselves, problem solve, think critically, be self aware, be flexible and relate to others why are we measuring learning in the same old ways. Can't we have 'and-both'? As leaders, what are we doing to drive education forward for new times? Measurement using educational standards have been tried in a number if countries with dubious success. Unintended results include teaching to the test, and the narrowing of the curriculum to be mainly focused on literacy (from a narrow perspective) and numeracy. Is that enough to create leaders for the future? I don't think so.

So here are some key questions to think about for principals and administrators:
What do we consider the essential competencies or dispositions for the 21st century to be?
Does the data we collect enhance learning for the 21st century?
Are we looking out to other schools, or beyond schools to other educational learning centres, beyond educational frames to look at global trends, busines, web 2.0...
What literacies do we need for the 21st century - just reading and writing?
What are we going to do about it?