It’s been said that educators are the unsung heroes of our time and we would all agree that today’s educators and students also need advocates, heroes, leaders who believe in an exciting and progressive educational future.
In the early nineties, as a newly appointed principal to Noumea Primary School, I had many advocates, heroes and leaders who allowed me to take risks, challenge traditional practices and to test assumptions about the purpose and structure of school. I could ring educational leaders within the Department of Education, seek advice, test boundaries and discuss new opportunities surfacing in education, both here and overseas. At that time, my boys were three and five-years-old and it was always my goal that Noumea would become the school that I would be proud to have my own children attend. This moral purpose became the glue of all staff as together we built an amazing learning place where everyone felt safe, everyone aspired to reach their full potential, and everyone knew this was a school that they would be proud to bring their own children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces to.
Occasionally, I would get a call from the regional director to see what reforms were being trialled and I always knew there was genuine interest in what we doing at Noumea, no matter how radical or crazy it sounded. I knew that if it was research-based, and we believed in what we were doing, that we had his full support. I was continually challenged by him and other departmental officials and had many discussions about what ‘was worth fighting for’. We always provided a defensible and evidence-based strategic position that was hard to question.
As time moved on, however, education became more political, reactive and media-driven and the capacity to do things differently had to become more covert. My protectors were moved to other places or unceremoniously removed from their positions; structures were dismantled and cobbled together ensuring a loss of community around learning and risk taking. For some, it was easier to be compliant and to play safe.
I was, however, one of the lucky ones. In the midst of all this upheaval, I was able to search elsewhere for amazing educational leaders at conferences and forums, particularly through Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL). I was also encouraged to attend the International Congress of School Effectiveness and Improvement, held annually somewhere in the world, and began to connect with an extraordinary array of researchers, policy-makers and practitioners the likes I never dreamed that I would be able to talk with, let alone work with.
As a result, I was able to gather some wonderful intellectual colleagues, coaches and mentors around me. as I continued my learning journey with Noumea and ACEL. I realise I was fortunate to connect with these colleagues and, to some extent, cheeky enough to make this happen, and so ask, in today’s education climate, are the same opportunities available to those want to make a significant difference? Can today’s educational leaders wanting to apply new research and challenge the way we do school, contradicting system policy, actually do so, particularly in today’s government departments of education?
Just as worrying a question is who, in Australian education right now, are prepared to be the coaches, the mentors, the protagonists, the writers, the spokespeople now and over the next ten years to support and advocate for our current and future schools and their leaders? I recognise that we, as a profession, are helping our own but I am also looking to the regional directors, the superintendents, the ministers of education, diocesan leaders, faculties of education and principals and teacher leaders, who should be shaking the establishment and fighting for a better Australian educational future. A future that is evidence-based, future-focused and professionally driven and, most of all, exciting, exhilarating and a place we all want to be a part of.
It is really hard to find in this generation a Beare, Caldwell, Fullan, Hargreaves or Stoll. Who is standing out? Who is making a difference? And what opportunities are they creating for today’s and tomorrow’s leaders? What pictures are we painting or, more importantly, what pictures are we allowing to be painted about our profession and our education system?
We know that a new imaginary about learning and schooling is gathering extraordinary momentum across the globe. Hong Kong, Singapore, countries in the Middle East and the like are challenging their educations systems to ensure sustainable and long-term productivity. Finland also is recognised for its extraordinary commitment to education. Schools are built around high trust, highly qualified teachers, shared responsibility and cooperation. There is a co-commitment between principals to make every school a good school. All principals teach and they can manage this by having few external initiatives. Schools are not confined to literacy and numeracy and there is a great historic and social vision about creativity in the past (Jean Sibelius - music) and the future (Nokia).
The essential question, therefore, becomes what is acceptable, possible, and necessary for today and tomorrow for us, the educators, policy-makers, and parents? And more importantly, what are we doing about it?
I’d like to share some learning from a book by Hubbard, Samuel, Heap, and Cocks who identified the First Eleven Winning Organisations in Australia and how they became winners. These organisations included Bovis, Brambles, Harvey Norman, Macquarie Bank, National, QANTAS, RIO TINTO, Telstra, the Salvation Army, Westfield and Woolworths. Their learnings are essential if we are to move our schools from good to great but the stories are not new, just well implemented, owned and continually espoused and practiced.
These organisations continually plan and effectively execute. They focus on their priorities, not those of others, and they deliver results. They are consistent and align everything for operational efficiency and commonality of purpose. They adapt rapidly and are quite clear about direction. They are flexible enough to ensure opportunities are seized upon, that innovation is encouraged, and that flexibility ensures strategy evolves over time. What does this look like in your school?
Interestingly, some of the companies do not have a vision or mission statement but, as Heap suggests, they have great strategy with a cause that continually grabs people. Passion is found in all of these winning organisations. Just look at Gerry Harvey.
These organisations look out so that they can look in by focusing on customers, working with other organisations, focusing on the future, thinking outside Australia but with a sense of community responsibility. What Deming would call an ‘eyes and ears’ culture. This is a practice used often by other country’s ministries of education and educators who target the Australian education system as one to learn from.
These organisations manage the downside, the risks (including strategic, financial, technical, operating, political, legal and, most importantly, reputation) and they balance people’s perspectives, philosophies, processes and structures.
These organisations develop a culture of leadership, not leaders. Captain-coach leadership is typical of these Australian organisations and this Aussie style of leadership, of rolling up your sleeves and being part of the team, has ensured the success of these organisations. Team leadership, not individual leaders, is seen as essential and each organisation has formal internal leadership programs and strategies for succession. The First Eleven leaders are about building the business, not their career, are decisive, have a long-term view, they ‘walk the talk’, are consistent, passionate and communicate, communicate, communicate. What does this look like in your school?
The First Eleven leaders find the right people and then invest in them through continuous learning and development and in the environment they work in. They think about leadership, systems, culture, strategy and structure continuously. Identifying what’s not working, and who is not learning, are valued and important strategies.
All this happens because of the Twelfth Man, something the First Eleven credit for their success, the Australian education system. Despite media and political messaging, Australia continues to be one of the top seven education systems in the world when international test results of the PISA and TIMMS are analysed, and has been since 1995.
So, how do we take these learnings, all known to us, and embed them in our educations systems, and not as isolated centres of excellence? Hedley Beare says, 'If we remain wedded to the way education is currently provided we cannot imagine other ways . . . we need some imagination, some fantasy, some new ways of thinking - some magic in fact’. It is this magic, these new ways of thinking, that we must encourage now, as I, and I am sure you were all those years ago, if we are to inspire those around us to imagine and create a better future for our students.
We must avoid asking soft 'yes', 'no' and ‘why’ questions, and ask questions that create deeper awareness and reflection. We need to be courageous and ask the un-askable questions that will empower those around us to formulate new paintings, new schools. Fran Peavey’s work is excellent in this area.
Recognise trends in learning and development. John Catlin, the CEO of Tactics Consulting, has identified the rapid rise in the use of podcasts, MySpace, YouTube, wikis and blogs as generating new worlds of online social interaction, learning and exchange and are the typical means of communication for many of your staff and students already. How are these used in your school? As Tapscott points out, this Net Generation is a force for change, ‘not just because of their demographic muscle, but as the first generation to be 'bathed in bits,' where growing up digital is all part of the experience of being a three –year-old, let alone a tertiary graduate.
Lastly, can I strongly suggest that you have at least one mentor and coach who can help you build the school you want to live in? Don’t be afraid to celebrate the tiniest achievements and watch Freedom Writers at least once. Learn from the First Eleven and celebrate the Twelfth Man, this profession that we serve in.
As Dennis Waitley says, you have two primary choices in life. To accept conditions as they exist or accept the responsibility for changing them. Be the change you want to see in the world (Mahatma Gandhi) and remember it's kind of fun to do the impossible. We need to imagine our legacy and create.
Discuss presentationReferences
Beare, H (2006). How we envisage schooling in the 21st century: applying the new ‘imaginary’. A joint publication of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders and the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust
Hubbard, G, Samuel, D, Heap, S. & Cocks, G (2003). The first XI: winning organizations in Australia. Wiley.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ms Jenny Lewis is Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders, in NSW, Australia.