Transcript Leadership
Leadership for Learning
In a time of change, challenge and opportunity David Cameron
What changes are we responding to?
The changing world - technology, globalism, uncertainty The changing context - policy, frameworks, expectations and priorities Changing relationships Inhabiting ambiguity
Eric Hoffer
In times of change, the learners shall inherit the earth while the learned will remain beautifully equipped for a world that no longer exists
David Cameron
And the learners who can identify opportunity and manage risk, who can innovate and create, will shape that inheritance and define the future
Adding value is not enough for some of our young people, we need to challenge their destinies. We are not editing life stories, we are creating new narratives
Improvement will not be enough Effective Ineffective Traditional Forward Looking
What do learners need?
The capacity to think, learn and adapt The ability to innovate and create The skills to access knowledge including the skill of questioning The commitment to sustained enquiry or task The specific skills required by disciplines or vocational choices
What sort of learning?
It has to be active It has to involve the quest for meaning It has to be varied It needs motivation It should respect disciplines but not be dominated by them It must be assessed in terms of breadth, depth and application
What makes learning successful?
''My father would cry reading Dickens to us as kids. These are the passages I remember.'’ Malcolm Gladwell ''One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers - but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material - but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.'’ Carl Jung
The “Mortimore” factors
Purposeful leadership of the staff by the head teacher The involvement of the deputy head-teacher The involvement of teachers Consistency among teachers Structured lessons Intellectually challenging teaching
Work-centered environment Limited focus within sessions Maximum communication between teachers and students Record keeping Parental involvement Positive climate
"There can be no educational development without teacher development;....the best means of development is not by clarifying ends but by analysing practice.”
Lawrence Stenhouse
"The greatest problem in teaching is not how to get rid of the 'deadwood', but how to create, sustain and motivate good teachers throughout their careers.”
Fullan and Hargreaves 1992
"People learn what they need to learn, not what someone else thinks they need to learn.” Fullan (1994)
"In the end, it is the teacher in his or her classroom who has to interpret and bring about improvement.” Fullan and Hargreaves
"You cannot have students as continuous learners and effective collaborators, without teachers having these same characteristics.” Sarason (1990)
In short, it is the task of all educationalists outside the classroom to serve the teacher.. For only they are in a position to deliver effective learning
Adapted from Lawrence Stenhouse
Key principles
Where change is imposed or driven by others, we play at it, defuse it and subvert it It affects interviews far more than practice It makes no difference to pupil achievement You work best when you are enthusiastic about what you are teaching
More Principles
Change should only be driven by self evaluation, provided that self-evaluation is realistic and takes account of economic and social changes If all learners were experiencing the best practice in our schools, we would not be talking about system change Any change has to be rooted in current practice
And……………
Focus on learning Support and challenge learners Whatever you do, do it right, consistently and persistently Improvement comes through systems, priority for practice and looking at the needs of individual learners
What do we need from leaders?
Certainty (where possible), confidence at least Early anticipation/creative response Clarity - of purpose and of expectations Cohesion Engagement Direction and support Common purpose
What do leaders need?
Clarity
Commitment
Courage
Collegiality
Clarity of Purpose
Purpose is not simply a target that an organisation chooses to aim for - it is an organisation’s reason for being. It needs to express what the organisation wants to accomplish in providing value to its stakeholders - and describe how these accomplishments can be measured.
Aims and ambitions
Schools must make it very clear what they stand for and must have a clear vision of what they are trying to achieve. The vision will always be there for them as a goal and will support and encourage when things go wrong or are difficult. Knowing what you want to achieve is crucial. Without that, there will be no progress
A real vision
..we believe that people are important, the children placed in our care, the adults who spend their working lives in the school, the parents and members of the wider community .
We believe that education is about every aspect of human personality and achievement. This view requires that teachers give generously of their ideas and the community to welcome those ideas
What we teach must work for all the children and tap all their potential talents, not just some of them.
The curriculum that we offer must be broad, balanced and progressive. It must reach out and touch all children in a way that makes sense to each individual child. It must motivate each child, involve each child, inspire and enlighten each child. It must be a curriculum that recognises that there are many kinds of knowing, feeling and expressing truth.
So……………?
We need to create a culture where we all believe we can make a difference and have a common view about what that difference is We need to create the conditions where we can make that difference We need to listen, to learn and to act We need to build on the work done
In this context….
Leadership has to be collegiate
It concerns leading people not managing institutions
It has to be founded on belief, knowledge and understanding
It requires skill
It needs purpose
It has to be informed by evidence
It must be judged by outcomes
But let’s think……
Targets need to reflect ambitions and not just requirements We need to get beyond set standards and qualifications There are many ways of assembling the vital elements We need to think about learning AND leadership
Leadership lessons
Consistency Persistence Generosity Getting beyond self Getting the best people and enabling them to be the best -create the team
…. And more
See things clearly – tell them simply Keep the focus Get rid of the clutter Everything fit for purpose Leadership and management = 2 wings/1 bird Leadership without legacy = pan+ flash
The Lacuna
Their white dresses swirled like froth, with skirts so wide they could take the hems in their fingertips and raise them up to make sudden wings, like butterflies, fluttering as they turned…..
“Indian girls,” she spat……”A corn eater will never be more than she is”
The dancers were butterflies. From a hundred paces Salome could see the dirt under their fingernails, but not their wings