attention to student needs more easily. Leadership absolutely affects a school’s sense of wellbeing and efficacy.
It does not take us long to recognize the source of much of the stress that many principals and teachers face. Given the various calls to address safety, overcrowding, drugs, gangs, low teacher pay, teacher retention, schools’ personnel can feel overwhelmed. Add to that stress the competing demands of increasing assessments and reporting in a world of decreasing funding, and we begin
to see a prescription for emotional, professional, and economic collapse. Specifically, consider the pressure many principals and teachers are under as they try to come to terms with being “highly qualified” and achieving “adequate yearly progress ” (AYP) coming from the federal mandate,
“NCLB.” These are not easy times for schools. Leadership style, school culture, teacher morale, and student performance all suffer in a community where tensions are high and emotional support is low. Uncontrolled, unidentified stress can drain the life-blood of even the best schools.
When one walks into schools, the stress level reveals itself almost immediately. One can watch a principal and teachers and see that the way they interact with each other and with students
communicates the cultural undercurrent. Specifically, the leadership style this author finds most often amidst stress begins to be more about:
Fixed and authoritarian vs. flexible and democratic
Narrow and uninviting vs. original and embracing
Vertically focused vs. collaboratively aligned
Concrete and objective vs. abstract and subjective
Judgmental vs. encouraging
“My way” vs. “Our way”
“Hurry up and do” vs. “slow down and think”
Talking vs. listening
When the author examined morale in effective schools, he quickly found the same sort of
indicators in the research literature as in anecdotal observations in the neighborhood schools. The teachers talked to students and to each other. Students felt safe and adults knew their names. The principal was in the halls, talking to students and teachers. One of my favorite places to visit had a principal who walked about with an index card in his shirt pocket. As teachers and students
offered comments or ask questions, the principal took notes and the next day, without exception, returned to the person with a response.
As an instructional leader, another principal engendered trust and understanding when she gave all her teachers a “wild card.” The wild card was a small, colored index card that stated: “This card entitles me to a day, free from observation, without reasons or rationale.” The principal knew that there were some days that, for reasons beyond the teacher’s comprehension and control, things
were not going well. When the principal appeared for an observation, the teacher had the option of presenting the card and the principal “turned on a dime” and departed the room. All teachers
received one wild card for the year. They appreciated her realistic understanding and her support for their teaching.
In coming to terms with the attributes of good places to work, Buckingham and Coffman (1999)
identify 12 questions that receive a strong “yes” in organizations where employees have high
morale:
Do I know what is expected of me?
Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
Does my opinion seem to count?
Does the mission of my company make me feel like my work is important?
Are my coworkers committed to doing quality work?
Do I have a best friend at work?
In the last six months, have I talked with someone about my progress?
Have I had opportunities to learn and grow?
The message is clear: people want to work where their humanity is acknowledged and celebrated.
Likewise, teachers perform better and feel more nearly positive about students in schools where the principal takes a personal interest in their professional development. And, when tough times come along, then the principal, teachers and students draw strength from relationships built on trust and empathy.
As leadership and teachers begin coming to terms with stress and its related, albeit often
unanticipated, consequences they first notice that stress can destroy morale and enthusiasm in the schoolhouse. In other words, unmanaged stress debilitates teachers, students, families and
dismantles their learning communities. Leadership can, however, create and sustain a school
culture where student and teacher learning is the heart of the matter. There are two, very specific elements for building community within the varied texture of schools: Trusting Relationship and Caring Communities.
Over and again, when I asked teachers what they wanted in a principal they responded that they
needed someone whom they could trust. Leadership can build trust in a variety of ways. Through
effective and authentic communication, principals engender trust by paying attention to the needs of teachers. One principal with whom I visited recently devoted one half-hour of the monthly
faculty meeting to conversation. In that part of the agenda, teachers discussed their needs,
celebrated successes, and then outlined goals for the coming month. The principal verbally
paraphrased the teachers’ comments and feelings, and in so doing, checked his own perceptions of what was being said. Later that night, he sent his notes in an email to the staff making sure he had captured accurately what was said. Within two days, the teachers delivered an email to the
principal outlining one goal for the month and the accompanying plan for achieving that goal.
Also, the teachers suggested one strategy that they would request of the principal so that he could support their pursuit of the goal. One caveat, and this was the really exciting part in the author’s estimation, the principal encouraged teachers to include personal goals in their plans. Although strategies for student achievement and teacher effectiveness were always part of the discussion, the principal also encouraged private or personal goals. The message from the principal to the
teachers: I value you as a professional and as a person. In the end, a relationship built on trust emerged and the morale and enthusiasm of principal and teacher alike were bolstered.
Not unlike trusting relationships, schools that are caring communities also support diversity and achievement. Anyone who has taught in middle school recognizes the folly of thinking that
putting people into teams, alone, creates a community. Even scheduling shared planning, although necessary, is not sufficient for bringing teachers together. Creating a community requires
intentional acts in an atmosphere of caring amidst shared needs and concerns. Leadership that
provides teacher ownership of the schooling process invites the cultivation of community.
Specifically, when teachers are given significant and real responsibilities for running the school, when they are expected to be aware of each other’s needs and to support each other, then they
begin to share needs and concerns. At one elementary school, teachers began a process of deciding what mattered most to them as a staff and then committed to supporting that belief in an
atmosphere of collaboration. It became clear, however, that collaboration was not an option for everyone as some teachers were working just to “stay afloat.” Recognizing this harsh reality, the staff met again and reflected on what it was, specifically, that got in the way of their being able to collaborate. In teams of three, an individual teacher identified one obstacle and then two other teachers committed to help address that obstacle. The teachers took time to listen to each other.
They, in their teams of three, committed to helping each other address challenges each month.
Much of the conversation and support during the month came in the way of emails and
“accidental” contact during the normal schedule of the school day. The threesomes did agree,
however, that some sort of contact was necessary at least three times a week. At the end of each month, the threesomes gathered to assess their status and to make plans for the next month. And all these monthly meetings occurred as part of the regularly scheduled faculty meetings. Although there were different levels of success in becoming a school of collaborators, a sense of community and caring clearly became the most important product of the initiative.
Leading is a lonely and stressful job. Given that school leaders are daily handed increased
accountability amidst decreasing resources, it is no wonder that many are managing stress that is compromising their personal and professional health. The schooling we are doing today is far too demanding to go it alone. When we can create school cultures that emphasize trust and caring,
places where teachers and principals see a shared responsibility for what is going on in the school building, then we can begin to survive the many harsh realities. Ultimately, it comes down to
celebrating a place where everything is about relationships . . . about our individual “threads” of life that contribute to the fabric of the school. If we as principals, teachers, and students can tend to each other in a trusting and caring atmosphere, then we can begin to attend to what matters
most, the children in our schools. And when that middle school child fumbles with the
combination on her locker, she will look to the adults in her school as trusting and caring people who will help her through this tough time
Conclusion on the Elements of School Leadership
The elements of art juxtaposed to leadership provide us with symbolic language for understanding what makes for successful school leadership. As might be perceived in viewing different art
forms, some of the elements are more obvious or more significant in one instance versus at
another moment or place. Such is the case with the elements of school leadership. Line, value,
shape, form, space, color, and texture all contribute to quality schooling. Given one school with a certain set of needs, we might find that shape is the leading element. At another school with very different needs, however, we might find that texture is a focus. But just as in playing a piano or singing in harmony, there are individual strikes of the keys or notes of the harmony but it is the collective, simultaneous action that elicits an effect that is full, coherent, and complete. The successful school leader has all seven elements at her command, albeit at different levels. Because she understands the interrelated nature of the elements, she is able to orchestrate a successful learning and teaching experience for her students and teachers.
Using an arts-based approach to understand the nature of successful school-based leadership helps craft an enlarged view of what schooling might look like. It is not so much that this approach is the answer to understanding all schools, but such an approach offers one the capacity to view
typical schooling in a new and exciting light. When one continues to see the world through the
same metaphorical lenses, then one is likely to continue seeing the same things in the same light.
When, however, one considers seeing schools from an arts-based approach then that observer may
very well gain a new insight into perplexing and persistent problems. And in the final analysis, just as effective teachers learn to see different students from different perspectives effective leaders can see different teachers in light of their different contributions. Maybe by considering the use of line, shape, form, space, value, color, and texture one can open his/her eyes to a new reality.
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Solutions
Chapter 6. WHY IS SCHOOL LEADERSHIP
PREPARATION SO COMPLEX
This module has been peer-reviewed, accepted, and sanctioned by the National Council of the
Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA) as a scholarly contribution to the
knowledge base in educational administration.
This chapter will make a wide sweep of leadership research, exploring some of the mysteries and attempting to define the term “leadership.” affirm the difficulties in linking leadership preparation in universities and executive development progr