Together we can change the education world

Last Friday I was lucky, as a consultant at dk2, to facilitate the Digital Leadership: Collaborations & Conversations boutique professional learning conference - with 50 odd educators from 18 schools.

This event was held in partnership with the fabulous school leaders of Canterbury PS. 

Since early 2015, dk2 and CPS have been working together on an exciting project called 'Digital Leadership Hubs' where we work as partners to bring educational experts (like Professor Stephen Heppell and Eric Sheninger) to schools to work at the coalface with educators and parents and the wider school community to effect change.

The conference on Friday was the last of 3 exciting events we've worked together on with the CPS team for 2015...but no doubt the beginning of many more to come.

But enough of the promo talk...what did Friday mean to me? Of course, it meant something different to everyone who attended....but here's what it meant to me.

I'll start by wrapping some context around the event.

We began the day with the fabulous educational documentary by One Potato Productions Most Likely to Succeed. We had decided to ditch the traditional keynote after following discussions on Twitter about this new doco. After contacting the producers in the US, we were excited to be one of the first organisations to bring the film to Australia. So the film began......there was an air of anticipation and an open, growth, adaptable mindset by everyone in the room.

5 minutes into the film, I received a text from my son. He's just finished Year 12. He was devastated to tell me that his best mate's mother had passed away that morning: she had only been diagnosed with a terribly vicious form of cancer 4 weeks ago. 2 weeks ago, she was sitting with us at the boys' Valete Dinner celebrating the end of their secondary schooling. I couldn't believe it. As I looked around the hall at the faces transfixed on the film, I was trying to reconcile this loss with what was happening that day. 

It's been a month of losses. My dear Dad passed away in October. Although he had been unwell for some time, his passing has been life changing for me. He taught me most of what I know about what it means to be a good man, so my sons can grow up to be one, and what it means to be a leader who truly makes people, and doesn't break them. Every day I miss him - it's as much a physical pain as an emotional or psychological one. And while the fog is slowly starting to lift, the world post-Dad is a new and unchartered one for me.


So, back to the conference.

Here I was, now halfway into the film, trying desperately to compartmentalise.

Then it hit me....what learning can I take from these losses? 

Do I beat my brow at how unfair the universe is? 

Do I bemoan opportunities lost, lives cut short, the quixotic unfairness of living?

Yes, maybe, for a little while.....but in the end that really doesn't help anyone.

My friend had talked with me that morning about the notion of 'legacy'. He had attended dad's funeral and was commenting on how moved he was to see old crusty war veterans broken in sadness at the loss of a mentor, a comrade.

And that's where the most profound learning from the day came for me - legacy: a bequest; an inheritance; a heritage; a benefaction; an endowment; a gift.

What legacy can we  as educators leave our students?

In what state do we leave or change the education world for the students we teach? 

How do we make the world better for them so they can make the world a better place when they are leading it in the future?

The first step is to share and connect with each other - because it as as connected educators we can become a powerful PLN and our legacy can be exponentially grown.

It was a great day...but the days for working on making that legacy a reality have only just begun.

Willing to stand out from the crowd

I purchased this C Blair linocut a couple
of years ago during a trip to New Zealand:
I was motivated by the focus on an
individual being prepared to stand
out from the crowd.

Recently I was talking with an inspiring group of school leaders from the Mildura region in rural Victoria, Australia.  

I asked them to think about what sort of learning culture they had in their schools - were signs of learning visible and everywhere? Was everyone seen as a learner? Did their leadership team model learning and risk taking? Was the view of failure refashioned? 

How was change received and perceived?

And, how were tall poppies and those advocating innovation and change viewed by others? 

Were they encouraged and nurtured or crushed into silence because they challenged the status quo of complacency and comfort? (See image below showing the brainstorming of the characteristics of a learning organisation developed with this group.)

Then I came across David Gurr's article A Model of Successful School Leadership from the International Successful School Principalship Report**.

Gurr's article highlights some salient research about leadership that is relevant to those questions above that I posed to my colleagues. Part of his research draws on 15 stories of principal leadership success from 13 countries and identifies 11 key themes. These include: 

1. High expectations that are contextualised and reasonable;

2. Pragmatic leadership styles that enable them to be instructional and transformational leaders and, as and when it is needed, with a strong focus on ensuring improvements in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment;

3. Distributed leadership through which the input and effort of teachers, parents and students is valued;

4. Core, consistent leadership practices which include setting direction, developing people, leading change and improving teaching and learning. Additionally, other practices encompass strategic problem solving, articulating a set of core ethical values (moral purpose), building of trust, being visible across the school, building a safe and secure environment, building coalitions, ensuring equity, care of others and encouraging achievement;

5. Leadership that is heroic by challenging the status quo, fighting for the best outcomes for their students, having and sharing a positive view of their school community, fostering collaboration, leading with others and not leading alone;  

6. Building capacity - by being people-centred, these leaders enjoy seeing both tens students and adults in their school community develop - personal, professional, organisational and community capacity building;

7. Leaders who are trusted and respected act with integrity, are transparent about their values, model good practice, deal with people fairly, build ownership and involvement in decision making and consult;

8. Continually learning means that these leaders develop their leadership skills over time through a blend of on-the-job training, formal and informal professional learning, mentoring and sponsorship. These leaders are hungry for new ideas, open to new thinking, seeking new ways of doing things, exploring new opportunities for them and their schools and consistently developing their professional repertoire;

9. The personal resources of these school leaders include "acumen, optimism, persistence, trust...tolerance, empathy, alertness...curiosity, resilience, benevolence, honesty, openness, respectful and humbleness" (p. 140)

The standout paragraph for me was:

They have a strong ethic of care, empathy for others, value individuality and display the transformational leadership quality of individual consideration, believe in freedom and democracy, are good at balancing individual versus collective care, and so forth. Above all they are driven by the desire to provide the best educational environment they can for all students. Even in the most challenging contexts, they view challenges as obstacles to overcome rather than problems that are insurmountable, and so they are always looking to improve the learning environment. Perhaps using a spiritual, moral or social justice base, or more simply from an understanding of what is possible in education, they have the courage to what is right to help their students be the best they can. (p.140)

10. They are context sensitive  - they understand the context in which they   work, but are not necessarily driven or controlled by it. They "fine tune" their responses so as to achieve optimal success in the context of their own school;

11. They sustain success by involving others across the school community in deciding what is best to do, being resilient and committed, utilising a range of instructional practices as needed, continuing their own professional learning and have a positive attitude towards change.

And so, these leaders are insightful, empathic, change savvy and heroic because they are informed by their strong moral purpose and have a clear view of how to involve others, build capacity, nurture guiding coalitions and move their schools forward.

They stand out from the crowd, while standing within it and moving along as part of it.

Brainstorming the characteristics of a learning organisation with the #BastowLSDA
crew from Mildura. To what extent is your school a learning organisation?

**Article: David Gurr, A Model of Successful School Leadership from the International Successful School Principalship Project, Societies 2015, 5, 136–150, 6 March 2015

http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/5/1/136

A plan without a vision ain't no plan at all

I was having coffee with a girlfriend the other day and we were ruminating over all things education...I consider her a wonderful teacher, fantastic at establishing positive relationships with her students, smart, direct, enthusiastic and caring.

After the second skinny cappuccino, I asked her what she thought about the importance of educational vision and whether or not the leaders in her school had a clearly articulated educational vision - setting a comprehensive, cohesive and clear direction for her school.

I was a bit taken aback when she scoffed at me and said "spoken like a true consultant Nikki". She went on to say "we know what we're there for...we want the best outcomes for our students, doesn't matter what pathway they take".

I'll admit the denigrating consultant comment that hurt just a little...after all we know what everyone thinks of consultants even though I avoid this label and rather think of myself as an educator....but then I thought some more. 

I started reflecting on how I might've responded to me a few years ago when I was still working in school if I'd asked myself the same question........

Even when I was working as a teacher (in the same school she's now teaching) I yearned for a clearly articulated vision. I had a definite sense of my own moral purpose: I knew that I wanted the best for the students in my care; I was keen to explore innovations; I wanted to get involved in new initiatives aimed at further engaging them in their learning and making a difference. But I sometimes felt like I was doing this in a vacuum. I knew what drove my practice but I was unsure and unclear about what drove others or what the big picture was for where the school leadership wanted the whole school to go. I was seeking a sense of the vision for our school and whenever I looked for it, it wasn't easy to find.

And then I thought about a friend of mine who showed me his school MSWord templates with the succinct school vision statement on the header of every document and another colleague who is now a principal who has distilled her vision to 4 key words which form the acronym DARE; Diversity; Aspiration; Respect; Excellence. She has posted this on almost every wall of her school, in the stairwells, on their Facebook page and she uses this a lens through which to analyse any new initiatives she might want to introduce to her school or which her staff might be keen on getting involved in.

So, back to my coffee and my thinking about the importance of vision. A change plan without a vision leads to confusion. Vision encapsulates the thinking around the why and where you want your school or any organisation to head - it's your statement about a preferred future. It might be big picture thinking, but it captures the values and aspirations of the organisation. Without it, you're like a body without a head.....going nowhere. And of course, vision without understanding the capacity building required to achieve it, incentives to get people on board (extrinsic and intrinsic), effective resourcing and doable actions is an amorphous statement of hope without a framework of reality.

(Adapted from Knoster, 1991)

So, I might still be a bit sensitive about being labelled a "consultant" but certainly won't retreat from my addiction to and love affair with vision.

Time to set another coffee date and start again.

Thank goodness the world is such a small place!

Last week we finally met Eric Sheninger face to face, held our second #dk2digihub Digital Leadership Conversation at Canterbury PS and trekked to sunny Mildura to meet the school leaders who had enrolled for the BastowLSDA course up there in our first face to face workshop.

It was a huge week...but one which I am reflecting on now was full on connections and synergies - connecting with leaders during the lunchtime conversation at Canterbury PS, connecting with our mentors, meeting Eric and feeling like we had been friends for ages talking the same talk with shared philosophies and values about education, leadership, change and the place of digital technologies.  And then, the icing on the cake was meeting the Mildura group!

We were met with educators keen to know more, with open minded growth mindsets and an eagerness to connect with each other.

When we flew home that night, I felt inspired...by my mentor colleagues; my dk2 mates; by Eric; by the leaders we met that day. 

I felt inspired because we're on the same journey - we want our schools to be better and different. We want our students to connect authentically with learning that doesn't just engage them but that empowers them to be discriminating, informed, active, responsible and ethical global citizens.

On Thursday when I was talking with Michelle Costa (Principal of Melton West PS), we talked about this not just being a course - it's a process of winning over hearts and minds, shifting thinking.....perhaps it's a movement.

Why school leaders need to be good learners

In 2012 Michael Fullan said "the degree to which the principal participates as a learner  is twice as impactful as any other factor" in achieving school change.

So that's why we need school leaders in our school change teams. They need to help articulate the vision, and model risk taking, willingness to fail and demonstrate their own learning transparently, honestly and with candour. They need to lead from within and empower others to act, build ownership, interest and  draw on the intrinsic motivation of their staff.

So, as a start, let's have a think - as a school leader, how good are you at:

• listening to others
• being creative
• articulating your educational vision concisely
• demonstrating a positive attitude and a growth mindset
• coaching others
• motivating yourself to change
• motivating your staff
• showing your learning side, not just your leading side
• persevering
• being self-directed and accountable for your learning
• working in teams
• delegating and empowering others to act
• loving and valuing your employees
• authentically connecting with your school community
• celebrating successes
• acknowledging and owning failures
• evaluating initiatives
• articulating your moral purpose
• giving others license to try
• building leadership capacity - formal and informal - across your staff
• managing your time
• being organised
• adapting to change
• creating an environment in which great ideas can happen
• moonshot thinking
• handling criticism
• having critical conversations with staff when needed
• being resilient 
• prioritising
• collaborating and connecting with others not just in your school but across networks, locally and globally
• showing empathy
• critical thinking
• divergent thinking
• taking risks
• being willing to fail
• modelling all of the above?

The Teeter Totter Change Principle

Change isn't easy for everyone.

Some of us embrace it and run with it, and wonder why others struggle with it. But we are the ones who need to build our empathy for those who think differently...just because change is easy for us, doesn't mean what we do is better, it's just different.

And here's where the 'teeter totter' principle comes into play - our colleagues struggling with change can manifest a range of responses that we might find perplexing, but which are both justifiable and understandable if we give ourselves some time to reflect:

• change-readiness doesn't come naturally to everyone
• some colleagues may fear change, or be uncomfortable about it because they truly value the status quo, they care about where they are at now and may be untrusting about the motives for why we are advocating a particular change
• our peers may want change, but just not know how to achieve it
• there may be a prevailing ambivalence towards change manifested by up and down, push and pull responses that can be unpredictable and frustrating for those of us already fully invested in the change journey.

When leading change in schools, we can sometimes become frustrated by the 'teeter totters' who one minute are agreeing with us and then the next day blocking the ideas they appeared to like the day before. It can feel like 2 steps forward, 1 step back.

Yes there are the natural resistors - those who don't like any new idea that's not their own. But I would hazard a guess and say they're probably in the minority.

The others who teeter on the brink of joining in your change journey need your love and support. They need you to stretch a warm and comforting arm around their shoulders and gently but firmly help them to shift.

They need you to help them build momentum and get off the teeter totter and you can do this by seeking to understand them and empathise with their struggles so you can build the direction of your journey together.

Image source: http://www.sodahead.com/fun/swings-are-the-coolest-things-on-the-playground/question-403685/ 

Don't be an armchair traveller

I liken this Bastow LSDA experience to a journey of the heart and mind.

It's not like the type of "journey" you hear politicians and political apparatchiks talking about - the platitude for "do as I say but not as I do"...

Instead, I see #BastowLSDA as a personal quest for meaning and relevance, contextualised and interpreted differently by everyone who joins the course.

This journey can be taken in a myriad of ways:

• through armchair travel where one watches from the sidelines and feels like they are learning vicariously via osmosis simply by being enrolled in the course (and thus having the 'ticket' to show for their involvement);
• as part of a guided tour group where all the decisions are made by the leaders, but the tour highlights are experienced at some level (opting in and out of those optional extras depending on needs, wants and enthusiasm);
• as an independent traveller eager to grasp meaning and memories from every second of the experience; 
• as a reluctant traveller, sitting with arms folded, closed, unreceptive saying "I've seen this all before"; or
• as an extreme traveller, seeking extreme experiences, stretching thinking and adrenalin to their limits and taking the virtual bungy jumps into the unknown.

I'm going to stretch the metaphor a bit further here, so bear with me... 

How we travel is completely up to us.

What we take from this experience is dependent on what we want out of it, and what we are able or keen to put into it.

And, finally, the destination we reach relies heavily on the hard yards we've put in to get there.

(Image source with thx: http://www.blogher.com/armchair-travel-living-vicariously-through-others )