Leadership development for students

The current ‘Sandhurst School Education Board Strategic Plan’ has a major goal of ‘creative and meaningful opportunities for all students’. This is drawn from a challenge within the most recent ‘Sandhurst School Improvement Framework’(SSIF) ‘to focus on the educative needs of all students and [to go] beyond the organisational needs of the school’.

The SSIF offers three questions.

• What are the appropriate leadership structures to promote student leadership?
• How can students be involved with school improvement?
• What are the leadership opportunities for all students?

A fourth can be added.

• Should leadership structures be the focus, or rather opportunities to explore and develop for each student?

All persons will be called to leadership in different ways during their lives – in families, clubs, committees, community and workplaces. Some will be formal positions. Many will not.

Schools are places of education, and leadership development should be an objective for all, not only for a small group. A school’s approach to student leadership should flow from its mission, ideals and identified graduate outcomes. A Christ-centred ethos will permeate all aspects of its life,
‘… grounded in the person of Jesus and interpreted and enacted for the ‘common good’ in response to the ’signs of the times’. These principles require that the dignity and potential of each person be fully respected within a climate that is conducive to peace, security and development’. (Source of life, p.17)
Catholic social teaching vigorously opts for the dignity of each human person ‘… human life is social, and community is central to our existence. Because of this, an essential part of the protection of human dignity is ensuring that every human being can enjoy the fullness of life in community, which includes the right to participate in the development of the community’ (McGuire, 2002). Do all students have the opportunity to participate reasonably in our schools?

At its core, leadership development in Catholic schools must reflect the example of Jesus Christ – fully articulated by his total giving at the crucifixion. He calls for transformation that often will lead us to places that fit uncomfortably with the wider cultural context. He called very clearly for leadership grounded in service - ‘the first shall be last’ (Mk 9.35). He preached the Good Samaritan and washed his followers’ feet (Jn 13).

How is a school to foster servant leadership in its students?

Servant leadership is not primarily a set of skills as a set of attributes. It is humble. In the pairing of words, it is servant first. It is based in trust, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. These grow in listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualisation, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and the building of community (Spears, 2002)

‘The best test, and difficult to administer, is: do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, will they not be further deprived?’ (Greenleaf, 1970).

Can servant leadership thrive for all when only some are the focus, or when structure leads?

Are there implications?

Each school should be conscious of what its own Vision and the wider church vision has to say about leadership. What does a Christ-centred view of leadership mean? How does the school’s leadership development program connect to the school’s curriculum priorities? What does its commitment to pastoral care indicate about leadership development?

Each school should have some regard to what its current approach to student leadership (indeed all of its approaches to leadership) is teaching its students. Is it that there are leaders and followers, winners and losers, those with power and influence and those without? Is it that leadership is restricted to a select group or is something associated with prestige, privilege, popularity, poise, presentation or specific skills?

Is its leadership program regarded as part of the curriculum of the schools? If so, how does it connect to its religious education and faith formation programs? How does it provide for all students – to recognise the dignity and potential of each student?

In what ways is Christ-centred leadership meaningfully promoted and taught? Is being in a leadership group a privilege or a sign of status, or is it something else? Does it promote the equality of all, or are some more equal than others? Is it for the benefit of the collective or the individual members? In what ways does it mirror, support or oppose the models of leadership adopted elsewhere in the school?
Senior students can be regarded as the elders of the school. Are they all called to leadership? Is there really a role for school captains/leaders? ‘Words like ‘relational’, participatory’, function of the group’, ‘empowering’, ‘valued and trusted’ seem to point us away from notions of a solely exclusive or selective leadership exercised by the few’ (Lavery, 2002). If there is a role, how will it better serve the school and all students? What needs to be different in how the captains/leaders are formed?

How inclusive are the leadership models provided? What are the explicit and implicit messages about inclusiveness, collaboration, communication and collegiality? Do the same people provide the public face of the schools, for example captains always providing end of year reflections? Do they relate to all levels of the school?

How is informal leadership developed? Leadership can be developed through leadership programs, but also through the way a school is structured and operates. Are existing leadership development programs supported or contradicted by the structure and operation of the school itself?

‘ . . . the presence of barriers that prevent students realising their human potential cannot feature in the Catholic school’s approach to student leadership if it wishes to be distinctive. If service is understood to mean to bring out the potential of another person because of the belief in the dignity of each person, then the particular approach to student leadership in a Catholic school will need to be invitational, cooperative and collaborative.’ (Willmett, 1997).

Questions

In light of the above reflection:

• what can / should be done as a diocese to support leadership development for all students?
• what can / should be done by the diocese to enhance leadership opportunities for all students?
• What can / should be done in my school to enhance leadership development opportunities for all students?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr Kevin Lawlor is a senior education officer with the Catholic Education Office for the Diocese of Sandhurst, and is based in Bendigo. His responsibilities include human resources and issues related to leadership. His background includes education, financial services, insurance and the public sector. His qualifications include B.ED., B.Theol., Dip. Bus., Grad. Cert. Ed. Law, PhD.

 

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