Our earlier discussion raised the importance of a reciprocal, communicative approach to the challenge of leadership for sustainable retreat ( I want to revisit the word retreat later - it has negative connotations and I recognise the need to define this carefully).
To achieve this there is a need for a coherent model of leadership support that will enable participants to connect at a point that suits their personal requirements.
In the outline below, we draw upon six principles described by Lambert (2005) that enable integrated, dynamic and interconnected working. Often the principles overlap and contain each other, they reinforce each other and present a vision of development for educational leaders that is both powerful and practical in leading towards individual and community learning and transformation.
Our earlier discussion highlighted the significance of people centered change, as a sustainable, practical and principled route to reform. We suggested that:
People charged with taking a lead with the change need to have opportunities to investigation what is wanted – they need to generate their own ‘solution’ to the problem
People have to find out what’s already working
People require time and support to build the solution
People support each other in order to identify and amplify useful strengths
People address the solution by taking small steps to build on what’s working
People focus on interactions between individuals
These aspirations place demands on how people work together. To respond to them we suggest that there are some important principles that can be considered and actions can be built around them. Each of these are outlined below and serve as the overarching frame for the work we envisage.
1. Trust: Who am I and am I safe here?
Becoming a confident, capable and caring leader is a lifelong process that involves taking responsibility for one’s own learning within a context of a community of learners.
Key points:
Meeting people in similar stages of professional life
Challenging and supporting self-disclosure, risk taking, and reflection
Sustaining trusting relationships
Programmes of support:
Year long cohort based groups 10 – 20 participants and 2/3 partner facilitators, one day and residential retreats
Activities to maximize potential learning, understanding of differences and common themes between participants
2. Purpose: Where are we going?
How do we generate, balance, and interrelate concern for organizational goals with those of the individual whilst ensuring personal and organizational well-being?
Key points:
Learning by leading and co-designing goals
Programmes of support:
Seminars: expert led seminars working with small groups and providing focused and specialized advice and support on topics of interest
Leadership ‘Accounts of Practice’ working as a cohort team and visiting each others sites and providing critical feedback
A consultant led, structured visit, which would involve some preparatory activity (reading, responding to questionnaires, providing initial data) an on-site dimension (observation, learning walk-throughs, data capture) and a plenary event involving dissemination of findings and further questions, and new lines of enquiry.
Use of provided self-assessment instruments, journals, narratives, case studies, weblog and e-support
Inquiry into site improvement needs, and site leadership capacity
3. Action: How will we get there?
A practice field for action and reflection – doing is all about how to pursue the goals and design activities that elicit and sustain authentic interest, investment and engagement in learning.
Key points:
Learning by leading by experiencing and participating in the learning community
Individual activity
Community activity
Programmes of support:
Action learning teams: undertaking shred fieldwork and enquiry into specific questions that are a) site related b) common across the group
Group based presentations and feedback sessions – facilitator participating and working within the group
Coaching and peer mentoring activity – using experienced coaches and mentors to deepen leadership understanding of role and function
Shadowing
This form of leadership support would be a bespoke activity brokered between colleagues from different institutions over agreed periods of time ranging from single days to multiple visits. The focus is mutually agreed and the process can be operated through an agreed protocol, or through the support of an experienced consultant it can be extended into other forms of inter-organisational support.
4. Construct: What are we working on and learning about?
This involves making sense of everyday activity and focusing on how we do our work.
Key points:
Attention to details, discrete topics, skills, challenges, new possibilities
Attention to real world, integrated holistic problem and practice based topics, skills, challenges and possibilities
Programmes of support:
Learning walkthroughs – teams focused on questions generated within the institution – provide critical feedback after a series of structured enquiries
Opportunities to model, teach, and build learning activity around dialogue, conversation and reflection processes, can be facilitated – guided developments
World Café activities – opportunities for groups of varying sizes to gather together, possibly from a wider regional base and share expertise, reflect together on common challenges related to policies and local issues, extremely powerful in visioning and generating creative solutions for persistent problems
Inter-school/establishment networking – building on know how of the NLC programme
5. Reframe: How else might we view this?
By this point the programme beins to address the question What is the powerful pedagogy for thoughtfulness? It involves learning by thinking and doing.
Key points:
Self assessment and personal accountability for leadership behaviour and practice
Partnership in mutual encounters aimed at growth change and improvement
Programmes of support:
Placements in other establishments (one day – one month)
Facilitated group narrative activities such as journal readings, reflection times, emphasizing enquiry and systems thinking
Established protocol activities – such as Accounts of Practice, Walkthroughs, Group reading, Portfolios
Structured visits to other institutions – conversations with other practitioners
Conferences and specialist workshop/seminars where work in progress can be profiled and examined
Regional leadership and networking – using the regional leadership and networking centres
6. Transform: How far have we come and what are we seeing that is different?
This principle is realized as a result of working with the other five. It concerns values and commitments that are nurtured in the learning community.
Facilitated evaluation and appraisal programme which draws upon evidence presented in earlier activities and combines the perspectives to generate a portfolio of work in progress which is critically evaluated by peers
Retreats / residential reflective seminars aimed to frame new goals and recognize needs and areas of improvement
Regional leadership and networking - building upon existing organizational services at the regional level it is feasible to foresee new roles and functions emerging from leadership centres.
Participants in this programme need to see their school accurately and honestly. They need to have experiences that will expand their sense of the possible, of self and organization. The range of ways in which this can best be achieved have been outlined in the document. We have emphasized the importance of dialogue and communication as a driver for sustainable practice. We have also moved away from some of the traditional knowledge transfer programmes towards a process led model which engages participants in their own knowledge creation activity. This approach, we suggest, is more suited to the learning culture that is being encouraged to flourish and will nurture a new generation of enquiring, learning professionals.
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