I returned to Pat's article at
http://www.nais.org/about/article.cfm?ItemNumber=152810&sn.ItemNumber=4181&tn.ItemNumber=147271
and found a comment by Curt Leineck which I found to be particularly
insightful. At one point, he defines three reasons many people choose
to teach in independent schools:
Autonomy: I can choose what to do at work.
Mastery: I can become expert at doing the things I've chosen to do.
Noble Purpose: My reason for becoming an expert at doing what I've
chosen puts me on higher moral ground than some other folks.
Curt then observes "So, let's throw a hundred people who value these
factors into a building, and let's say their nominal "leader" asks
them to sacrifice some of their autonomy to master things they may not
like to further a noble purpose they feel they are already fulfilling.
Why would we be puzzled when they resist? (...) People who give
independent school leadership a shot are outliers who believe that, as
noble as it is to teach, it is more noble still to persuade others to
willingly surrender some of their autonomy to create an entity greater
than the sum of its autonomous parts-- a profoundly enhanced entity
that returns even greater value to students."
Good leadership, then, keeps our students first in mind and helps
promote a culture wherein Autonomy, Mastery and Noble Purpose are
slightly but significantly redefined, as Curt does:
Autonomy: I am free to become and do whatever my students need me to.
Mastery: I can become an expert on how each of my students learns. My
peers and superiors freely and actively share what we know so each of
us can master the skills it takes to make our school truly great.
Noble Purpose: I have willingly chosen to share my weaknesses and
strengths with my peers and superiors so that we can act in unity to
serve students in ways we never could alone.
Such a culture would seem to require more than good leadership alone;
it would seem to require good faith effort on the part of the entire
faculty and administration. So I'm going to guess that one possible
limiting factor to creativity, innovation and change is the degree to
which a school is truly student-centered. This is a school culture
factor affecting, and affected by, all constituencies, from the
administration to the Board to the faculty to the Head to the parents
to the students (last alphabetically but first in our hearts). As
such, school culture may be shifted over time by key influencers but
will not change overnight.
Is anyone else finding themselves all shook up by this conversation?
It's certainly making me reflect more than a bit on my own practice
and reasons for teaching.
Take care,
Bill Ivey
Stoneleigh-Burnham School
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