N2 Leaders Growing Leaders program – my leadership philosophy change

As a result of the N2 Leaders Growing Leader program, it affirms my belief in taking ownership to develop my teachers so as to improve ability and address willingness. 

In school, the most important people are our students. However, our primary role as school leaders and middle managers know is to develop the teachers. The best way to enhance the learning for the students is to provide them outstanding teachers.  That is why in both schools I was attached to during my attachment focused on  raising their teachers’ efficacy through training in curriculum such as Understanding by Design (UbD) and differentiated instruction in Chongfu Primary, and Concept based and Skillful Teacher in YTSS. The focus is on students – by focusing on teachers!

Also the readings on the Leadership for Organizational Learning and Student Outcomes (LOLSO) study shared by my principal mentor Mr de Silva showed that though many factors influenced quality of learning, and changes in programs and process can have some impact, the only way school leaders and middle managers effectively affect and contribute to learning in school is by influencing and improving the teachers already in the school. 

I am sure that our teachers will do their best they know how. If we want them to do better, we must help them improve their skills and master new ones. And since teachers do their best they know how, we can expect that they will put new skills into practice. 

Take for example, engaging in positive teacher student relationship (TSR) which applies to all teachers. All teachers build TSR the best they know how. Why am I so sure of this? Simply because having positive TSR is in the teacher’s best interest. Which teacher does not want a foster a positive TSR? Teachers will struggle with fostering such positive TSR will eventually, if not immediately, become frustrated with their students’ negative development and lack of motivation to learn. Surely, if they know how to better build positive TSR, they would do so. The best teachers may build positive TSR for the sake of their students, but all teachers want to interact with their students positively if they have skill.

I believe that recognizing this fact of human nature is important towards brining changes in my teachers, not just in positive TSR but in all aspects of teaching. With this assumption that all teachers do their best they know how, our attention is now on improving what they know. 

Hence, the peer observation of teaching in Chong Fu primary and Open classroom concept in YTSS are ways, I thought, of enabling teachers in schools to be much better teachers! Even for me, I don’t’ pretend to visit my teachers’ classroom just to only improve their teaching. Quite contrary, I learnt from them, the techniques and approaches that I could model in other classrooms. My visits also provided me with the opportunity to support my teachers. Hence, getting other teachers into their classrooms is an essential tool. After all, who better to “teach” the teachers than those with the best skills?

My only concern is whether it is a good idea to put the best teachers as examples for other teachers. My personal take is to frame the observations as a two way learning, an interaction between fellow teachers. For example, getting an outstanding teacher and less skilled teacher to observe each other’s lesson so that they build a relationship. Otherwise, less skilled teacher may just work hard not to learn anything from the other teacher:)