Leadership Theme: Leadership for Change and Professional Learning
The [leader] guides the evolution and realization of a vision that can support the transformation of the school into a dynamic, interconnected hub. The journey begins with the development of a shared vision that inspires staff and students alike. Success with any initiative is possible only when the community takes ownership of it. |
- Hughes & Burke, 2014, The Digital Principal
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The Unsuspecting Transformational Leader (Griffiths, 2015), an explorative essay completed near the conclusion of my studies, comes to mind during these reflections. An unsuspecting leader is something I’ve often considered myself to be. In many ways, I've never considered myself a leader, at least not one that fits traditional definitions and models of leadership. Through my studies, I understood that as educators, ‘leading’ is something we all do whether we admit it or are even aware of it, though it is how we lead that impacts learning in the 21st-century.
Sergiovanni (1996) relates this (sometimes unrealized) leadership to the work educators perform with their students. Teachers are leaders as they are the ones who are in direct contact with children. Perhaps in the 21st-century learning environment, Sergiovanni’s teacher-student leadership relationship model needs revamping. Referencing Osberg (2010, p.162), Male and Palaiologou (2012) state that leadership in the 21st-century is "offering the capacity to learners to challenge existing knowledge, to exercise logics of emergence and deconstruction and to be cognizant of the notion of an incalculable future”, and as such leaders must be willing to discard traditional ways of teaching and learning (p.219). Reflecting on my journey through the MEd program, this is a big takeaway for me. As someone who works in educational settings, 21st-century leadership demands we become agents of change, regardless of where we land on the organizational chart.
Fullan (2013) states in Maximizing Leadership for Change, quoting the work of Kirtman (2013), that 21st-century leadership can be broken down into the following seven competencies:
1. Challenges the Status Quo
2. Builds Trust through Clear Communication and Expectations
3. Creates a Commonly Owned Plan for Success
4. Focuses on Team over Self
5. Has a High Sense of Urgency for Change and Sustainable Results
6. Commits to Continuous Improvement for Self
7. Builds External Networks and Partnerships
While competency five’s focus is the characteristics of a change agent, all seven borrow and lend specific roles and responsibilities. As I move towards my artifact reflections, these competencies are the foundation of my understanding of leadership.
My other leadership subtheme, Professional Development, borrows many of the characteristics of Kirtman’s (2013) seven competencies, specifically competency six, Commits to Continuous Improvement for Self, and competency seven, Builds External Networks and Partnerships. Traveling through the MEd program, I observed that the wording of 'professional development' in a 21st-century learning context would be better rebranded as professional learning. Let me explain the difference.
Dr. Robertson’s EDUC 5204G Staff Development and Supervision course was my introduction to professional learning as a concept. At the course's commencement, Dr. Robertson made it clear that, despite the course title, we would NOT be learning about 'staff development', but instead 'professional learning'. At the time, I was unaware of the difference. Mattson’s (2014) blog on education philosophy best sums up the main differences between development and learning. Quoting Martin et al. (2014), Mattson states that over the course of time, professional development has become closely linked with the top-down training model of in-service based on the “assumption that teachers need direct instruction about how to improve their skills and master new strategies” (p. 7). This model of continual learning does not fit well with 21st-century learning as we need to seek ways to engage the learner in authentic, valuable experiences. Professional learning takes form as “ownership over compliance, conversation over transmission, deep understanding over enacting rules and routines, and goal-directed activity over content coverage” (p. 147). To reflect on my understanding of professional learning in the Professional Development theme, I will offer two artifacts from EDUC 5204G Staff Development and Supervision.
Sergiovanni (1996) relates this (sometimes unrealized) leadership to the work educators perform with their students. Teachers are leaders as they are the ones who are in direct contact with children. Perhaps in the 21st-century learning environment, Sergiovanni’s teacher-student leadership relationship model needs revamping. Referencing Osberg (2010, p.162), Male and Palaiologou (2012) state that leadership in the 21st-century is "offering the capacity to learners to challenge existing knowledge, to exercise logics of emergence and deconstruction and to be cognizant of the notion of an incalculable future”, and as such leaders must be willing to discard traditional ways of teaching and learning (p.219). Reflecting on my journey through the MEd program, this is a big takeaway for me. As someone who works in educational settings, 21st-century leadership demands we become agents of change, regardless of where we land on the organizational chart.
Fullan (2013) states in Maximizing Leadership for Change, quoting the work of Kirtman (2013), that 21st-century leadership can be broken down into the following seven competencies:
1. Challenges the Status Quo
- Maintains focus on a vision for success
- Prioritizes getting results over following traditions
- Questions or challenge current practices
- Takes risks to achieve results
2. Builds Trust through Clear Communication and Expectations
- Is direct and honest about performance expectations
- Follows through with actions on all commitments
- Makes sure there is a clear understanding based on written and verbal communications
- Is comfortable dealing with conflict
3. Creates a Commonly Owned Plan for Success
- Creates written plans with input of stakeholders
- Ensures that people buy into the plan
- Monitors implementation of the plan
- Develops clear measurement for each goal in the plan
- Adjusts the plan based on new data and clearly communicates changes
- Creates short- and long-term plans
4. Focuses on Team over Self
- Hires the best people for the team
- Commits to the ongoing development of a high-performance leadership team
- Builds a team environment
- Seeks critical feedback
- Empowers staff to make decisions and get results
- Supports the professional development of all staff
5. Has a High Sense of Urgency for Change and Sustainable Results
- Is able to move initiatives ahead quickly
- Can be very decisive
- Uses instructional data to support needed change
- Builds systemic strategies to ensure sustainability of change
- Sets a clear direction for the organization
- Is able to deal with and manage change effectively
6. Commits to Continuous Improvement for Self
- Has a high sense of curiosity for new ways to get results
- Possesses a willingness to change current practices for themselves and others
- Listens to all team members to change practices to obtain results
- Takes responsibility for their own actions—no excuses
- Has strong self-management and self-reflecting skills
- Is able to deal with and manage change effectively
7. Builds External Networks and Partnerships
- Sees their role as a leader on a broad base manner outside the work environment and community walls
- Understands their role as being a part of a variety of external networks for change and improvement
- Strong ability to engage people inside and outside in two-way partnerships
- Uses technology to expand and manage a network of resource people
While competency five’s focus is the characteristics of a change agent, all seven borrow and lend specific roles and responsibilities. As I move towards my artifact reflections, these competencies are the foundation of my understanding of leadership.
My other leadership subtheme, Professional Development, borrows many of the characteristics of Kirtman’s (2013) seven competencies, specifically competency six, Commits to Continuous Improvement for Self, and competency seven, Builds External Networks and Partnerships. Traveling through the MEd program, I observed that the wording of 'professional development' in a 21st-century learning context would be better rebranded as professional learning. Let me explain the difference.
Dr. Robertson’s EDUC 5204G Staff Development and Supervision course was my introduction to professional learning as a concept. At the course's commencement, Dr. Robertson made it clear that, despite the course title, we would NOT be learning about 'staff development', but instead 'professional learning'. At the time, I was unaware of the difference. Mattson’s (2014) blog on education philosophy best sums up the main differences between development and learning. Quoting Martin et al. (2014), Mattson states that over the course of time, professional development has become closely linked with the top-down training model of in-service based on the “assumption that teachers need direct instruction about how to improve their skills and master new strategies” (p. 7). This model of continual learning does not fit well with 21st-century learning as we need to seek ways to engage the learner in authentic, valuable experiences. Professional learning takes form as “ownership over compliance, conversation over transmission, deep understanding over enacting rules and routines, and goal-directed activity over content coverage” (p. 147). To reflect on my understanding of professional learning in the Professional Development theme, I will offer two artifacts from EDUC 5204G Staff Development and Supervision.