Leadership Dialogues

Conversations and Activities for Leadership Teams

John West-Burnham, Dave Harris

• Publisher: Crown House Publishing
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781845909062
• eBook ISBN: 9781845909239
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Designed to provide stimulus materials for school leaders to support their personal development, Leadership Dialogues encourages personal reflection, dialogue with a coach or mentor and conversations in leadership teams. It includes short think pieces, case studies, diagnostic reviews, selected quotations on a particular theme and questions for discussion and reflection.

The book is a valuable and practical resource for leadership teams. Much of the content is included on a free CD-ROM of printable resources.

Education Resources Awards finalist - Best Educational Book 2016.

D

Leading teaching and learning

D1

1 Equity, fairness, vulnerable students and closing the gap

Question

What can leaders do to create a fair school which all pupils have the potential to benefit from?

Why is this important?

Imagine schooling that isn’t fair – schooling that only favours the advantaged, schooling that deliberately discriminates. Few of us would feel comfortable working in such a school, even though some would claim that many schools are walking blindly into this very scenario.

The optimal situation for a school, or an education system, is to achieve both equity and excellence. But there are some who believe that these factors are mutually exclusive. One problem with some education systems is that they are democratic (i.e. every young person has the right to go to school) but they lack equity (i.e. not every young person goes to a good school).

Key quotes for the section

“My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors.

(Attributed to Maya Angelou)”

Section discussion (also available at crownhouse.co.uk/featured/Leadership_Dialogues_D)

Any teacher, if asked, ‘Is every child you teach identical?’, would undoubtedly quickly tell you that it was a stupid question and that, of course, they were not. However, lesson observations might sometimes lead us to ask the question again. Teaching a lesson from the front, with a single point of entry and assuming a step-by-step approach appears to presuppose the training of a group of automatons.

Politicians around the world have raised concerns about the poor performance of pupils from deprived/minority families. The fact that research analysing the factors which influence pupil learning has identified that 80% stem from social and personal factors outside the school should not deter us. Particularly in conjunction with the fact that the variation within most schools is still greater than the variation between social factors. In other words, improving the performance within your school remains crucial. Researchers have identified five priorities for schools that wish to close the gap.

1 Share the values

What are you doing, and why? Ensure ethos is not simply a catchy phrase that is trotted out for prospective parents, but is like the writing in a stick of rock – running through everything you do. How explicit is your commitment to securing fairness and equity? Do you discriminate in favour of the most vulnerable children? To what extent is the quality of teaching and learning consistent across the whole school? How confident are you that your school’s values are embedded in the daily life of every member of the school community? (See section A2 if you feel your ethos still needs work!)

2 Develop trust

In their research into elementary schools in Chicago, Bryk and Schneider (2002) found a high correlation between the levels of trust in a school and its capacity to improve. Schools with a high level of trust had a one in two chance of improving in maths and literacy, while schools with low levels of trust had only a one in seven chance. How could you develop trust within your school? Do you have a handle on the levels of trust at each level of your organisation? Use D1(i) to investigate.

3 Develop quality professional learning

Brandell Robinson (2011) identified the factors that affect the quality of professional learning (see D1(ii)). It is a stark lesson for leaders. By a considerable margin, the biggest influence a leader can have is to promote the learning and to join in the learning themselves. So, the next time you excuse yourself from some training to do something more important – don’t! (See also D1(iii) and section F4.)

4 Learning centred leadership

Southworth (2004) defined three elements of learning centred leadership.

1. Modelling: Do as you say you expect others to do.
2. Monitoring: Analysing what everyone does and what needs to be done.
3. Dialogue: Creating opportunities for professional dialogues at all levels.

The goal is to find the overlap between these three elements – what we refer to as coaching and mentoring. Use D1(iv) to analyse your own behaviours, and consider what you can do to be a more effective coach or mentor.

5 Move from find and fix to predict and prevent

Predict and prevent is essentially the same as prevention is better than cure. It involves moving the culture of a team or department from reaction to anticipation and intervention – crucially, the willingness to intervene. There are numerous instances of this approach in everyday life. For example, the best way to avoid a heart attack is to stop smoking, not to invest in more cardiac surgeons. And the most effective way to maintain your car’s efficiency is to have it regularly serviced.

Do you service your school? Use resource D1(v) to find out.

Key questions

Is everyone in your school treated with equal respect?

How consistent is the ethos in the school (ask pupils, staff, governors and parents)?

Is there a climate of trust in your school?

Is your training continuing professional development (CPD) or joint practice development (JPD)?

How do you classify your leadership?

Are you predicting or reacting?

Resources (also available at crownhouse.c...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• A: Effective leadership
• B: Thinking Strategically
• C: Leading innovation and change
• D: Leading teaching and learning
• E: Leading and managing resources
• F: Leading people
• G: Collaboration
• H: Engaging with students, parents and community
• References and further reading
• Website menu
• Copyright