Harvard Graduate School of Education - Leadership: an Evolving Vision 2007

One of the things whch struck me in Professor Richard Elmore’s presentation today was his recurring use of the term “instructional practice”.

I know teachers in Scotland would be horrified by such a term - “we are not technicians” would be their immediate response. The other difficulty in the term is its association with the verb to “instruct “- to tell/direct, which for many teacher smacks of didactic and authoritarian methodologies.- “instructions are something that you get when you board a plane”

Yet one of the themes which have jumped out for me over the duration of the course has been the need to separate the classroom practice from the person if we are going to be able to have a true dialogue about the quality of that practice.

The problem with the word teaching is that is is associated with the noun - teacher, i.e. if you comment on my “teaching” you are commenting upon me as a person.

If we take heed of Elmore’s words there is an undeniable need to clarify a body of knowledge and skills associated with teaching - perhaps by using the concept of instructional practice it might be possible to step back from evaluation of the person - to an evaluation of the practice -which is surely where we want to be?

Yesterday I moved very definitely into my “stretch zone” when I volunteered, in front of over 140 delegates, to participate in a role-play situation with Barry Jentz.

Barry asked me to engage in one of those “difficult conversations” we sometimes have to conduct as leaders. The scenario, in brief, was that I, as the leader, had to share with Barry, the new teacher to the school, that I was unhappy about his conduct in a recent staff meeting.

At the end of the role-play I thought I had done a fairly good job in that I was “cool, calm and collected” and I had also managed to give Barry the bad news.

However I was making these conclusions based on my reflexive thinking i.e. I gave Barry the information I had to share with him BUT I conducted the conversation in a “closed” manner.

With some input from Barry I was able to see that I need to move to a much higher level of engagement and shift my thinking from this reflexive mode to the more open, reflective mode where one is entering into a two way, problem-solving approach.

This reflective mode has far more intellectual rigour and also it is something we ask the people around us to engage in regularly so if we are asking them to do this we must show that we, as leaders, are ready and able to engage in this too.

A reflective skill set is about giving good data i.e. sharing accurate information AND listening. The outcome of this is that we can decrease the amount of defensiveness from the person with whom we are speaking which in turn increases the openness to change. This in turn leads to more opportunities to improve performance.

I found yesterday that, as Jentz says,

“Any information that helps improve your performance will make you sting inside.” 

However I can now see that

“A Reflective Mind is a Learning Mind.”

A challenging day!

This was a presentation by Millie Pierce on the pupose of public schooling. Some of us a had a difficulty separating schooling from education but we agreed to accept the term.

Millie set out an alternative 3 Rs – rigour, relationships and relevance:

1. Rigour: academic/disciplinary learning
2. Relationships: children need to have something to believe in – “I am here to save your life” - her challenge was to accept the role of being the interrupter in children’s lives in order to break the cycle of pernicious poverty
3. Relevance: relevant curriculum and connect to life skills

She then proposed that the role of the school leader is to be an advocate for every child in the school

Parents sometimes say - “I don’t care about other children in the school” – is this acceptable? We need to challenge this perception - all to often we compromise our values to keep a parent happy.

We felt that it’s the leaders job to maintain balance between the needs of the individual and the needs of the whole school.

We sometimes need to share the baggage carried by children with other staff – need to share confidential information – break free from traditional assumptions – trust the professionalism of teachers not to share – teachers need to learn not a to treat children’s behaviour as being personal attack.

Fact - Reading scores in third grade determine the number of prisons which will need to be built in 25 years time”

Corporate parenting responsibility – this is something which all teachers need to accept.

Fact - Measurable drop in discipline referrals following case conferences – touch teachers compassion – when they understand they change they the way they behave towards children in crisis.

Fact - 95% of children are capable of attaining their potential – only 5% have learning difficulties, which inhibit them from attaining their potential

Millie once stopped a teacher teaching by removing her from her class - she had damaged too many children - when she was asked by her superintendent what she was doing? - she reponded – “I can do anything I want – I’m the Principal”

Fact - If you have a bad teacher for one year sets you back three years and a bad teacher for two sets you back five – or perhaps for life?

Give every child what you want for your own children

“Do what you want to do and you’ll find a way to earn” - this is a message for children.

The group feel that there is incredible resonance with what Millie was saying and how it relates to what we are trying to achieve through A Curriculum for Excellence and Integrated Children’s Services.