Posts Tagged ‘educational leadership’

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Leadership for the future of education

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

Slowly a new future for Christchurch is unfolding. Times are difficult. Futures are uncertain. There are still many unanswered questions. What are the implications for our schools? We know that with reduced student numbers there will be a review of the school network, that less teachers will be needed and schools will be faced with some difficult decisions.

Little has been said about the future of education in this city. The Land Report maps carefully show schools sites as ‘white’ meaning that their individual futures have yet to be decided. Given the complexity of the situation this is not surprising. While the Ministry of Education has an important role in the future of our city’s schooling we cannot leave it up to them to provide vision and direction. Our principals are key players in the future of our city. Our community must also play a part. Development of a vibrant, future focused education system must be one of the key strategies for Christchurch – driven by local needs.

Our secondary schools have had the opportunity to share sites, to rethink timetabling structures and to explore other ways of curriculum delivery. While this has been stressful it has also helped school communities to think differently and find ways of making education work. As we move to a new phase of Christchurch’s redevelopment let’s maintain and grow some of these new ideas. As schools move back to their own sites, or to newly established sites, there are opportunities to deliver education more flexibly, to share school expertise, to collaborate and to move learning forward.

Good schools know that it is not wise to build a new building on the school grounds without having a whole school improvement plan in place. It’s not good enough to see a gap and put a new classroom on site just because that is where the gap is. It requires strategic vision for the future and a plan to get there. The plan needs to be flexible and acted on. On a bigger scale this is what must happen across the network of schools if we are to thrive in the future. As the picture for a new Christchurch emerges we must ensure we are future focused in terms of educational possibilities.

Last year Core Education ran a two day workshop Building Future Focused Schools, leading up to the ULearn Conference. Derek Wenmoth and I hosted this workshop, calling on expertise from around the country and the experiences of international experts from the UK and Australia. The workshop themes were vision, planning and governance; pedagogy and space; curriculum infrastructure; and buildings and architecture. There were many key ideas developed during these two days. Some of the ones that stand out for me are the importance of investing in capability development; to think collectively and respectfully; and to develop governance committed to the vision. Above all leadership is key.

One example of leadership that has led to educational transformation comes from Knowsley, not far from Liverpool, England. In 2001 the Knowsley borough decided to transform its model of education, following a review of school provision. Called Future Schooling in Knowsley, this initiative looked at the whole system of education, not just at the individual schools. They aimed to create something much more, where schools were at the heart of the community and where the traditional roles that schools had had with students were redefined.

The new initiative saw eleven secondary schools replaced with seven new Centres of Learning. These centres were community hubs not just new buildings. They offered a more personalised curriculum and explored new models of governance, leadership and management. The New Zealand Curriculum and its partner document Te Marautanga o Aotearoa were developed to be future focused, and lend themselves well to a localised approach. We have opportunities for local government and CERA to take a role in developing a localised approach in our city. The Greater Christchurch Schools Network (GCSN) has already been working to support schools make better use of fast speed broadband for learning. How can we grow a strong network of education in Christchurch?

Everyone will have their view on this. At the end of the day it must be about the collective needs of our city. Learning must be at the centre of all decision making and planning and not everyone will have their needs met. Strong leadership will be needed to drive this forward. Principals are under pressure simply trying to keep their schools running, to deal with traumatised students, teachers, parents and whanau. And a number of them are also trying to cope with their personal griefs, their own red stickered homes and their own family circumstances. We must support them and help guide the future of education.

It is time strong leadership in education to consider next steps. Like many, I have an strong investment in Christchurch. I grew up here and intend to stay here. If we picture the city’s education in ten year’s time we can either look back and think:

  • We shared sites and made some changes to education during the year of the quakes. Now we have less schools but we are all back to doing the same things in the same ways as we were pre-earthquake. OR:
  • The year of the quakes was a catalyst for us to rethink education in Christchurch. We now share expertise across the city and take responsibility for the education of all students across the network. We are looked to as world leaders because we have reduced disparities in education and our students are engaged in learning.

It would be a tragedy if all we thought about was closing schools, downsizing and the doing the same things we have always done in education. What if we explored new possibilities and used these difficult times to create a new and vibrant education for our city?

We have decided to take a proactive stance by providing the opportunity for others to share their ideas and suggest possibilities. If you are interested in transforming Christchurch education fill out our survey Shaking Up Christchurch Education and pass it on to others who you think might be interested.

 

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Do something impossible

Friday, July 8th, 2011

I recently read a post called about challenging doubters to do something impossible. It commented that when people say “This is impossible” there is a great opportunity to figure out how it could be possible. My good friend David Anderson would probably respond by asking the question, “If it was possible, what would it look like?” I can think back to a number of occasions where people have said things such as, “What has this got to do with education?” and  ”I tried that…it didn’t work…” These have been really useful comments for me because in both cases I have personally reflected on “What if…” and believe I have come up with some good stuff! I have tried to make connections and explore possibilities.

My latest thinking revolves around the impact that the Christchurch earthquakes have had on our local education system. What if we took looked at this as an opportunity to grow a new vision for education in Christchurch? What are the possibilities? How can we take the best of what we already have and create something that is world class, and considers the needs of all students?

 


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Leading community engagement

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

Leading involves listening and exploring possibilities before making decisions. While they may be decisive, they also realise the importance of engagement. I really like the model shown below, developed by the council of the City of Charles Sturt, as I think it shows the many facets of interacting with the community. Leaders need to understand that engagement is not simply working at informing and consulting. To only work at this level is not to engage but to believe you know it all and so only need to check in for affirmation or fine detail. Where leaders understand the many facets of engagement they are able to articulate the level they are working at, who will make the final decision and how the voices of others will be heard and valued.

I would suggest that this model can be adapted for educational leadership, especially to encourage student voice. Schools often focus on informing and discussing, thinking that discussing = consulting. Yet this is just the start, often being implemented when ideas are well developed. The second stage of consultation sees stakeholders involved in dialogue during the early stages of planning and having a role during the whole process even if they do not make the final decision. Less often, schools focus on students as equal partners, with decisions being made together. And still less frequently are students entrusted to initiate and manage their own work.

All these levels of engagement are appropriate. When students (and other stakeholder in all settings) have opportunities to be partners in decision making there is a greater chance of commitment and increased opportunities to make decisions for oneself. This is the fine balance between structure and freedom.

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The Future of Christmas in Schools

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

I am over the time wasted each year by schools ‘doing Christmas’ for the last two weeks of the school year. Yes, it’s that time of year again. A note comes home asking for some extra money for the craft activities needed for the Christmas theme. Now there may be a wonderful reason for this….it just takes a bit to convince me. I would want to ask the teacher:

  • What is the purpose? The response will determine whether this is a teacher who really knows his/her stuff, or just another teacher trapped in the past of nice activities to finish the year with.
  • How will this drive my child’s learning in ways that are powerful and future focused? Yes, I know it’s nice to do some really cool stuff just for fun too…
  • What will they be doing/making? Is this something that reinforces our throw away society? Is it a nice paper Christmas tree with some glittery lights; maybe a fairy to put at the top of the tree; or some loops we can colour in then staple together to hang in the classroom…
  • Will they be considering Christmas from multiple perspectives – different cultures, religions, and ways of celebrating? Giving instead of getting? Does that mean when other religious festivals are on the calendar they’ll do the same? As well as the Easter theme that is?

If a teacher focuses on a Christmas theme for two weeks it could look like this:

-’making and doing’, singing, dancing etc on a Christmas theme – 8 hours

-working out the item for the Christmas concert so it looks like the kids have come up with the idea – 2 hours

-the class relentlessly practising for the concert  - 3 hours

-liaising with the parents re costumes and props – 1 hour

-team or schoolwide practices for the concert – 2 hours

That’s 16 hours for Christmas each year, and I think that is a conservative estimate. This is just on the ‘celebrating’ aspect of Christmas.

Let’s just pretend that a classroom was ‘doing Christmas’  like it’s been done for generations. By the time a student finishes their first six years of schooling they could have had nearly 100 hours of ‘doing Christmas’.

Sorry, in most cases I don’t consider this deep and meaningful learning. It’s simply repeating education as we know it. I know there are some teachers and some schools that have moved beyond this. And I can also tell you that an awful lot haven’t. And that has got to change or schools will become irrelevant. Actually when I think about it ‘doing Christmas’ is just one symptom of the root cause. Too many teachers teach for the past not the future.

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Avoiding the conformity trap

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

I’m part of a team working on a two day workshop called Building Future Focussed Schools. It’s a pretty challenging topic and it has me thinking about the whole notion of how leaders can grow the conditions for change to occur. We seem to be so focused on conformity that we are in danger of choking in blah. So how can we move beyond this? Four ideas came to mind as a starting point.

    Team work is not enough. We must question and challenge our own thinking and that of others. When ‘group think’ occurs there will be no forward momentum – “We’re okay as we are! In fact we’re really good so why change?” While organisational coherence is necessary, so is creative tension and challenge. “Challenge is the crucible for greatness” – Kouzes & Posner.
    Over-consultation stymies creation. I’m a fan of involving people to gain deep commitment, and of listening to people’s needs. At the same time I worry that ideas generated from consultation sometimes focus only on the past and present; without building in ways to explore possibilities and to ask “What if…?”. There is the famous quote from Henry Ford “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” If we spend too much time in consultation we slow things down, reduce clarity and conform to the average.
    Courage is needed. We live in times where we are pulled back to standards, quality assurance and risk aversiveness. Moving beyond this takes leaders who are strong in their beliefs about learning, have a dream of what could be and can intelligently advocate their position. Courageous leadership is not about the position we hold in the organisation and doesn’t make excuses that those ‘above’ require conformity. “The greater the darkness, the more brightly the candle glows.”
    Learning will happen if we get out of the way. Most schools of today are over-structured and over controlled. What would happen if educators stepped back and let students do more for themselves? Allow them to be expert learners and teach the adults – it’s a reciprocal arrangement that acknowledges the expert knowledge of the teacher. It also acknowledges that students can create their own learning when they engage, collaborate and choose.

I was reflecting on this as I watched one of the latest TEDTalks from Sugata Mitra, on The Child-driven Education. His work in putting computers into holes in the walls of buildings in Indian villages has had profound results. His latest work goes well beyond this. He has come to understand that children will learn to do what they want to learn to do. Sugata talks about the way in which the learning happened without intervention from the outside.   When the students asked him “How do we do that?” his answer was ” I don’t know that actually…” and he left them to it. They worked together to move their learning forward.

Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education

While I’m not yet convinced of the depth of the learning shown in the TEDTalk what I am sure of is that a new idea was tried and has had amazing results. Sugata Mitra didn’t conform to the tried and true. He had an idea and went with it. If we are aiming for future focussed schools perhaps one of the key understandings is to look outside the current realities and explore the possibilities, generate some creative tension and take a giant leap.

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Three Cups of Tea

Monday, July 19th, 2010

I have just finished reading a fantastic book – Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. I was particularly interested in this biography because of my connection with the Rata Teachers’ Support Trust and the fact that I will be volunteering in India later this year. The book describes Greg’s journey to help build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He provides a real example of courageous leadership with a commitment to educating children, especially girls. His clear focus and passion are exhibited in his treatment of obstacles. Failure was something to learn from; obstacles an opportunity to think differently. This is the type of leadership we need for the future – adaptive, reflective and resilient.

The greatest lesson Greg learnt was to “share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects (p.150).” This may have seemed more time consuming to start with but in the long run it produced more sustainable results. Too often leaders are focused on doing things rather than creating connections. They become driven by improving the external environment of their organisations without considering the foundational relationships that underpin the organisation’s success.

In their work based in Chicago schools, researchers Bryk and Schneider came to the conclusion that relational trust was foundational for school improvement. They suggested four vital signs for identifying and assessing trust:

  • Respect – genuinely talking and listening to each other in ways that acknowledge and accept the views, ideas and beliefs of others.
  • Competence – the ability and willingness to fulfill responsibilities and believe others to be competent.
  • Personal regard – caring for each other personally and professionally. Going that extra mile.
  • Integrity – keeping ones word. Putting the needs of children first, even when tough decisions need to be made.

These points were all exhibited by Greg Mortenson. He did not try to impose his views on those he was working with and he was prepared to do what was needed, at times with great personal sacrifice. The building of trust allowed him to work in areas that few could access and to provide education to many.

Future leadership is very much about collaboration, building professional learning networks and growing capabilities in others. It builds on trust and integrity and comes from the heart as well as the head. Future leadership requires leaders who listen and who constantly reflect on their own behaviour.

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Gesture Controlled Computing

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

We are moving into new spaces, new times and new ways of collaborating.  Technology is a key influencer in changing the landscape that we work and play in. Here are just three of the emerging trends that are set to change the way we interact:

  • Haptics -the ability to experience the sense of touch and apply pressure through a simulated environment. Will this help experts share their knowledge and skills (eg surgeons) in all countries without leaving home?
  • Surface Computing – smart surfaces with no keyboard mouse. So do we need to learn to handwrite beyond a basic level? Is it relevant in this day and age? How much longer will we need keyboard skills?
  • Gesture controlled computing – a swish of the hand to make yourself understood. How could we use this to communicate in new ways? Does this mean that communication will be more in the head and the gesture than in the vocal chords? Implications?

The videos below explore cutting edge technologies. They pose many challenges to the way we think, and open up many new possibilities. I’m not suggesting all these are positive. But we do need to be watching the trends and keeping up to date if we are to develop our preferred futures.

As you watch the videos you might like to consider some of these questions:

  • How could these technologies change the ways we learn?
  • As a leader, how will I adapt and help others adapt? What will I keep doing? Stop doing? Start doing?
  • How will I enable these new technologies to distribute leadership and to collaborate globally in new ways?

These are just some of the tensions that face leadership for the future. Take a look…and ponder…

Visteon Haptic and Touch Screen


An omnidirectional projector being developed by Microsoft

And another example: The g-speak Spatial Operating Environment inspired by Tom Cruise’s The Minority report film

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What is the purpose of a school website?

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Last week our local paper included an advertisement for school open evenings. It is getting to that time of year when schools are vying for new students for 2011. In preparation for these open nights each school listed their contact details, including their website addresses, the idea being that you can find out more about the schools you are interested in. It’s all about marketing.

I was interested in finding out what was happening in all these schools. One process I use to do this is the web walk, a type of learning walk which involves looking through a site looking for key statements and ideas that provide information about the school:

  • What does it stand for?
  • What does it focus on?
  • Is it an ongoing ‘story’ or just updated for marketing?
  • What does it tell you about the benefits of attending the school?
  • Does it mention learning (you’d be surprised the number of schools that don’t)?
  • Is there any evidence of student voice?

My passion is leadership for the future so I was particularly interested to see whether there was any collaboration between staff, students, school and wider networks and whether the learning seemed to be future focused. So here is what I found…

Out of the 11 school sites I looked through 9 had up to date newsletters and term calendars. The sites had information about the structures of schooling – the buildings, the curriculum learning areas, the rules, the board of trustees…  I was hoping for more. I wanted to see the visiosn connect with ideas around key competencies, rich tasks and global projects. I wanted to see the odd glimmer of teachers being active inquirers. I wanted to see a glimpse into what might come next…

I see the challenge of schools for the future as articulating the processes of learning and collaborating with the world. While this may be happening in some of these schools, no evidence presented itself during my web walk. There is still a focus on students being involved as house leaders and school councillors. Nothing wrong with that (depending what the role involves and what is being achieved)….I just want the and… how have we moved on to really engage students in meaningful learning? Are they participants or observers? Give me examples of students having input into their learning and giving feedback to the school. 21st century learning was supposed to start 10 years ago. Have I missed it?

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The growth of ebooks

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

The Horizon Report 2010 suggests that ebook technology will develop rapidly over the next two years. Perhaps by the end of this year we may see the sales of ebook readers tripling and a 200% increase in the sales of ebooks. The technologies surrounding ebooks will improve significantly, with an exponential increase in e-friendly apps, use of touchscreens and the development of user-friendly interfaces.

This year I am launching a series of ebooks to explore these developing technologies. The first of these is a series on Talking the Walk: Walking the Talk. These are for educators who wish to use a learning walk process to develop their pedagogical leadership skills. Aspects of the Kiwi Leadership for Principals that are highlighted in this book include relationships (since these underpin learning walks) and the power of context. Leading change, problem solving, culture, pedagogy, systems and awhinatanga are also key strands throughout this book series. Talking the Walk: Walking the Talk also relates well to the Leads Other for Learning section of the ACEL Leadership Capability framework which you may also want to explore further.

Talking the Walk: Walking the Talk experiments with flip book technology, giving the look and sound of the pages of a book as they turn over. You can read it online or download as a pdf. Adding embedded audio and video will be the next stage in my learning. If you come across new ideas and tools that I could use please let me know. Ebooks are on the rise!

You will find more information about the content of  my first ebook on the News! page and can place orders at the Store.

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S.U.C.E.

Monday, May 4th, 2009

Shaking Up Christchurch Education

The Christchurch earthquakes have devastated a whole range of infrastructures regarded as vital components for a community to survive successfully. One of the key components of this infrastructure is our education system and, following the earthquakes, this has been seriously compromised. At the same time there are now new possibilities and opportunities.

In response to this a group of independent consultants, educators and business people have started networking to discuss a compelling vision for education in Christchurch. At the moment we have called ourselves the Shaking Up Christchurch Education Network.

The purpose of the network

As a group of independent educational leaders:

  • To seek and present solutions for the delivery of education in a manner recognising the needs of future learners, initially in the eastern Christchurch suburbs, and eventually in all Christchurch area schools.
  • To present realistic solutions that will improve educational outcomes for all children.

In achieving this purpose we consider the following factors to be key in influencing the establishment of schools and the ways they function: physical resources, teaching/teacher resources, technology advancement, school/campus design, leadership/governance, connecting with community, and fiscal capability.

There is a need to take action not just talk. Action is needed sooner rather than later.

Who are we?

The initial group that met:

Lois Christmas, Maureen Doherty, Cheryl Doig, David Duffy, Donna Frame, Gillian Heald, Ali Hughes, Carol Moffatt, Denis Pyatt, Chris Reece and Derek Wenmoth. Since then, some are focused more on supporting the current needs of education, while others are working to develop a longer term coherency to education in Christchurch. We see education as a key driver for the creation of a vibrant city which is economically strong, cares for its people and leads for the future.

We are not an exclusive group. We started because we saw a need and an opportunity to network beyond the group, to start the conversation and to develop an action plan. There are many others that are part of the network -you being one of them! This is about growing some ideas that are so compelling we create a new reality. Between us we have a deep knowledge of education, a passion for the city and a belief that leadership in education is crucial. We have started the conversation.

What is our plan?

Since this first meeting we have met with a number of key stakeholders, run an initial blue skies session and have developed a Concept Plan for discussion.

View the plan

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