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Teach Like a Queen
Lessons in Leadership from Great Contemporary Women
Tracey Leese, Christopher Barker
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eBook - ePub
Teach Like a Queen
Lessons in Leadership from Great Contemporary Women
Tracey Leese, Christopher Barker
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About This Book
Teach Like a Queen explores teacher leadership like never before...
This exciting and unique text brings together leadership theory, popular culture and action research to inspire and empower female teachers into leadership roles. Teach Like a Queen celebrates the successes of iconic women and translates their respective brilliance into becoming successful, dynamic and high-performing practitioners and educational leaders.
Focusing on seven key inspirational women as archetypes, the authors address emerging professional issues which will benefit classroom practitioners and leaders, each correlating to a different Nolan principle and inspirational queen. Inspired by the incredible work of WomenEd, including a Foreword from Vivienne Porritt, each lesson features:
- a constructed definition of each respective icon and how that translates into the teaching profession;
- a case study exploring how a female school leader experienced her own Queen moment and the leadership lesson it taught her;
- key lessons for aspiring leaders; and
- takeaway actions to channel your inner queen.
Illustrating how a diverse cross-section of women personify the leadership strength of their assigned principle in practice, Teach Like a Queen will empower female teachers to aspire to lead and equip them with practical strategies to secure and fulfil leadership roles.
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THE NOLANS IN PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICE
DOI: 10.4324/9781003182474-1
At its core, teaching is fundamentally about investing in people. Year on year we take on a new cohort of students, believe in them, share our knowledge and skills and ultimately equip them with the confidence to rise to the myriad obstacles presented by society (or at least the next key stage). In many ways, teaching parallels leadership, which begs the question - why in a female-centric profession do we have so few female leaders?
Is it that we are societally more inclined to see men as leaders as opposed to women? Certainly, the definition of leadership has evolved greatly since Thomas Carlyle concluded that leaders have a fixed set of shared characteristics in the mid-1800s. His trait leadership theory postulated that leadership is essentially an inheritable characteristic: born leaders, literally.1 As the subsequent research indicates there are many types of leaders and styles of leadership: autocratic, distributed, transformational. Styles of leadership are context-specific and interchangeable depending on specific circumstances. And ultimately leadership is a social process2 and therefore, cannot be separated from the wider forces and assumptions prevalent within society.
There a great deal of brilliant empirical qualitative research into how people become effective leaders in existence, but to be honest with you - that is not what this book is ... rather this is an unashamed celebration of powerful women and their accomplishments in the hope that by admiring their collective courage, talent and impact we can affect change in a profession which so desperately needs more women front and centre. Enter Teach Like a Queen seeking to contribute to the brilliant work already happening to in order to change the system from within.3 And we're not going to labour too much over why women aren't leading, and more on what we can do about it.
The Nolan Principles
There are countless facets of leadership and many ways that leading has been quantified and branded over the years, in the case of this book we have focused on 7 key leadership behaviours, which isn't to say that this an exhaustive definition of leadership, because leadership is absolutely about influence, empathy and bringing about change but it should also be driven by values. For the purpose of the book, the Nolan principles will serve as a moral framework. By placing each of our chosen queens into the context of a specific Nolan principle, we'll explore how these fit into educational leadership. These principles for public life were first set out by Lord Nolan in 1995 and are included in the Ministerial Code of Practice, and form the ethical basis for conduct (and therefore leadership) at all levels within the public sector.4
In 1995 Michael Patrick Nolan (1928-2007) was given the invidious task by then Prime Minister, John Major of developing a code of ethics in order to hold all elected officers to account. Nolan was the founding chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life and the subsequent principles are his legacy.5 So, though the Nolan principles were not created specifically for the teaching profession, they do provide us with a moral yardstick against which public officers can be held to account. Ultimately, Nolan concluded that the seven key areas of selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honestly and leadership were the bedrock of public life. In spite of the radical societal changes which have taken place since 1995, these principles somehow still feel entirely relevant.
Ethical leadership is paramount. Widely speaking, the concept of leadership has been dogged with masculine connotations and ideals for too long, this book is written in the hope that women in teaching can step into their power and perhaps renegotiate some of the accompanying assumptions. Clearly, leading ethically is not specific to women, however if we are to revolutionise the way a publicly funded profession is led then surely integrity needs to be at the heart? Therefore, these principles have been chosen, and are offered as, a working definition of leadership. Not as mutually exclusive traits but as the sum of its parts, each principle overlapping with the other creating a glorious Venn diagram with transparently value-driven leadership at the centre.
The Queens
During the COVID-19 pandemic female leadership emerged as a key (and unexpected) strength when coordinating national responses6. Women like Jacinda Ardern and Angela Merkel have challenged widely held assumptions about what good leadership looks like as well as providing irrefutable empirical evidence of their own respective brilliance. Similarly, the role of female leadership within teaching is quietly undergoing its own revolution, thanks to the amazing work of organisations such as WomenEd, who inspired and supported the writing of this book.
The majority of teachers are women but this does not translate to the leadership of education, most prevalently at secondary headship level. According to the Future Leaders Trust, in 2015, 74 per cent of teachers are women yet only 65 per cent of headteachers are women.7 More recent data from the Department for Education shows that in 2020 the percentage of female teachers had risen to 75 per cent and that women comprised 67 per cent of headteachers,8 so while change is clearly under way, there is still so much more to do.
Clearly, the profession needs more females in leadership roles, as well as cultivating a culture in which women are championed, celebrated and supported. More women are also desperately needed at decision-making and policy-creating level if we are to truly address the lack of female representation within educational leadership. Which is where our queens come into play; while exploring and commandeering some of their brilliance we hope to reclaim leadership as something which is rooted in empathy, values and compassion and is ultimately achievable for all. And we'll be taking inspiration from women, not from the remote archives of history, but who are living and breathing the change we want to be today - who are not notable through hereditary peerage but on merit.
Leadership is not a destination, it's a process and even those at the hierarchical pinnacle of their career still need to dedicate time to honing and exercising these skills. Teaching is a profession which offers fresh challenges and new frontiers to pioneer. In which case, surely school leadership can never be over-practised? So, even if you are already in a leadership position (or if you're looking to get the most out of your female staff) our queens have lessons to move practice forward in your school.
Without further ado, we present our principle cast of leading ladies and their respective lessons:
- ► Michelle Obama will illustrate how openness is an essential aspect of ascending with dignity.
- ► RuPaul will school us in the importance of honestly, especially when flattery would be preferable.
- ► Meghan Markle will enable us to discuss women's fundamental fear of disapproval and how to overcome this, especially in the face of criticism.
- ► Lady Gaga's selfless approach will enable us to explore the vital role that teachers have in addressing social injustice and that sometimes disturbing the status quo is the way to achieve this.
- ► Jacinda Ardern is an undeniable queen who will offer us lessons in humanity and integrity and generally winning at leadership by it not being about you.
- ► Kim Kardashian is an unlikely queen who will serve us masterclasses in how to succeed with metric and how accountability can be positive and loaded with possibility.
- ► Malala Yousafzai is our final queen whose work on educating girls within a context of oppression reminds us of the importance of championing other women as we too climb.
These (perhaps unlikely) queens have been chosen as inspirational successful women who will allow us to illustrate specific aspects of the Nolan principles in action. Many of whom are also mothers who manage the demands of family life alongside their careers. Some of the queens are divisive and evoke very strong feelings, but therein too lie leadership lessons.
Disclaimer: these women are intended to function as archetypes who have unwittingly given us leadership lessons in the pursuit of their goals, response to criticism and how they rise to the challenges of public life. Clearly, the thought of Lady Gaga turning up to cover an unplanned French lesson is as ludicrous as it is unlikely. We will, however, explore the lives and achievements of these queens and translate their own respective brilliance into tangible lessons in our queens' own words for teachers. Also - at the risk of stating the obvious - our queens are not affiliated with us or this project, they are just amazing women.
In addition to those chosen, there were many others we could have included. In truth, researching this book has shown us just how prevalent strong female leaders are in contemporary society and popular culture, though they may not be recognised as leaders as we tend to define leadership through a patriarchal lens, leading to unconscious bias which unwittingly marginalises the achievements of women.
Furthermore, it's also worth noting that women are not a homogeneous group, and therefore barriers to leadership and progression differ greatly. But with that said, in writing, the recurring themes were hard to ignore: confidence, resilience and integrity were all issues negotiated by our case studies - and actual - queens alike.
In many ways school leadership is not domain-specific and that therefore we can learn a great deal from women who aren't teachers - ethics, communication and trust are ubiquitous, and these so-called soft skills when combined with the precise knowledge of education systems, curricular, pedagogy, assessment and people is exactly where the magic happens. By which, we mean the tools required to raise standards in school - which is surely the goal of every school leader.
Before we begin, it should be distinctly understood that because the queens serve as archetypes, they are not mutually exclusive, that is to say that it would be entirely reductive to assume that you need to choose the persona you identify with most in order to channel the leadership lessons we have to offer. Rather think of the lessons and women as personas you can channel in specific contexts and circumstances. With that said, you are likely to encounter women who embody these archetypes within your careers, so each chapter concludes with a summary of the key traits allowing you to identify (and learn from) these women. To further contextualise this, we have aligned a case study with each queen to illustrate said lesson and principle using real-life leaders from the profession - the true queens of this book.
The case study queens have all traversed leadership terrain which feels both universal and specific to women: the desire to work flexibly, lead empathetically and empower others are designed to bring the more abstract lessons from our global icons into sharper focus when considered in the context of the operational running of a school. The leaders hold diverse posts within a range of education providers and yet there is commonality between some of the obstacles and solutions, and they epitomise the Nolan principles in all their glory. Each leader case studied are first-rate examples of the value-driven leadership we're striving for and frankly without them this book would be little more than us fangirling over Michelle Obama. More than this, each leader used their pebble intentionally and have made waves accordingly.
We hope you enjoy the masterclasses and practical strategies provided by our queens and perhaps just revel in the majesty of powerful women while we're there. So, we will watch in awe as Meghan Markle rises above criticism, marvel at Michelle Obama's ethical ascent to First Lady and allow ourselves to imagine how Kim Kardashian would likely slay an Ofsted inspection. There are universal lessons to be learnt from the way in which Lady Gaga champions minorities and how RuPaul gives feedback; and it is our sincere hope that the accomplishments of these remarkable women will ignite the same desire in you to teach and lead like these queens.
Some questions to consider as we begin:
- ► What is your definition of leadership?
- ► Who would you identify as a successful leader? Why?
- ► Which skills do teachers have already that lend themselves to leadership roles?
- ► How do you feel when you're around an effective leader?
- ► What examples of value-led leadership have you encountered?
Notes
- 1 Cherry, K. (2016) What is the Trait Theory of Leadership, 9. Available at www.verywell.com/what-is-the-trait-theory-of-leadership-2795322(accessed 10 August 2021).
- 2 Gallos, J. (2008) Business Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
- 3 Cowley, S. (2019) 10% Braver; Feel the Fear and do it Anyway. In Porritt, V. & Featherstone, K. (eds), 10% Braver. London: Sage, p. 23.
- 4 Committee on Standards in Public Life (1995) The Seven Principles of Public Life. Available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-7-principles-of-publiclife (accessed 1 August 2021).
- 5 Roth, A. (2007) Lord Nolan. The Guardian, 26 January. Available at www.theguardian.com/news/2007/jan/26/guardianobituaries.obituaries(accessed 3 August 2021).
- 6 Henley...