The importance of developing school leadership
Post graduate study helps teachers see a bigger picture.
Duration: 01:36
The principal's leadership role
Principal Peter Gall talks about the responsibility that current school leaders have to identify potential leaders and to work with them to develop their leadership skills.
Extending horizons
Extending horizons
Peter believes it is important that teachers think more broadly about their careers and prepare for potential leadership roles before they front up for leadership positions. In his view post graduate study is a good start, as is participation in an Aspiring Principals Programme.
This article is useful for expanding this idea:
Overcoming Obstacles to Leadership by Susan Moore Johnstone and Morgaen L. Donaldson speaks directly to the experience of many lead teachers. It deals with the complex issues facing aspiring leaders, looks at the issues of setting up professional learning communities, and the importance of creating positive supportive teaching environments. Consider the reflective questions to guide your reading.
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The real seed for wanting to develop the leadership programme within our school came from when I had the opportunity to go on sabbatical. That was about the time just prior to the BES coming out, but I was in a privileged position being president of SPANZ, so I had an advanced copy. So during my sabbatical (apart from visiting exotic places all around the world) I also spent a bit of time reading the BES. And got to doing quite a bit of thinking and probably sowed the seed then about what are we doing really to develop leadership amongst people within our school. Because I think there is a void there, and whose job is it? The more I think about it I think it is the job of the principal to take the initiative there. And identify potential leaders and work with them.
It’s all very well to say that we distribute leadership and or share leadership, or use whatever term we want to. However I think as we do that, alongside that we have to develop leadership. And I think that’s quite a different aspect to a different part to just distributing it. And so away I went and did some writing, wrote some things up in a report and then carried that through with being involved in the experienced principals programme.
And also sort of bit the bullet and decided to do some studies myself. So doing some post graduate study was interesting. The first time I’d done formal study for 30 something years (too long to remember really) and away I went. I must admit that the content wasn’t new or difficult in any way. The challenge for me was to do some academic writing. That was a learning curve. And so I found that experience has been very useful, especially in terms of mentoring the developing leaders that we have within our school.
