Wendy gave us a personal journey and history to introduce her to the group.
Easy to let things go, but we need to take responsibility – sustainable leadership – what will make a difference for our children. The work done in NZ is recognised internationally – Peter Moss has placed us as in the top 3 countries in the world because we deserve it.
Sustainable development, democracy and peace are divisible as an idea whose time has come – Wangari Matthai.
United Nations decade of education for sustainable development – 2005 – 2015 – what have we been doing as work towards this goal – didn’t really even know about it until now.
Andy Hargreaves and Dean Fink – drawn on for this presentation and is dedicated to them.
Sustainability leadership matters, spreads and lasts.
Sustainability is the capacity of a system to engage in the complexities of continuous improvement consistent with deep values of human purpose.
With professional development targeted to specific areas what will Centres do now – will they pay for this.
1. Depth It matters
Sustainable leadership matters. It preserves, protects, and promotes deep and broad learning for all in relationship of care for others.
Te Whaariki has been showing us the way all this time. Do we have utter respect and de we care deeply for all the children in our care – it’s not easy, but it’s incredibly powerful. Who are the people that have made a difference for us – what was the value of this relationship and why did it resonate for you personally.
In a team it is important to have a deep, abiding respect for each other – when then there are differences of opinion it doesn’t break the team a part.
The Five Pillars of Learning – Unesco (Four Pillars Of Education)
2. Learning to Know
3. Learning to do
4. Learning to be
5. Learning to Live Together
Hargreaves & Fink 2006
Paper – John Bennett – research for OECD – schoolification – able to search on the internet – we should be providing less structure up to the age of 7 because the research shows that this is a better pathway for later learning.
Slow Schooling –
1. Starts formal learning later
2. Reduce testing
3. Increases curriculum flexibility
4. Doesn’t hurry the child
5. Rehabilitates play alongside purpose
2. Endurance It lasts
Sustainable leadership lasts. It preserves and advances the most valuable aspects of learning and life over time.
Endurance – it is a common defect in men not to consider the good weather the possibility of tempest.
Good Succession Plans are important for the team – a good leader might just die!
Spreading positive messages for all – write a message – we used our cards from Wendy and I will take time to write one to every staff member over the next couple of weeks. Do this often – as with children, focus on the strengths because it will make a difference.
SUCCESSFUL LEADERSHIP SETTINGS:
Leadership is not delegation – distributed leadership is shared leadership and is based on respect for each other as a team member – ownership.
Build strong professional communities – engage in P.D. because they know it is a pathway for strong leadership, are committed to learn something new and not shut it down.
Deepens are broadens the pools of leadership talent.
Establishes leadership settings – Roskill South Kindergarten – get a critical friend to take the team forward.
Stresses future leadership competencies – Greerton Childcare Centre – they take it through to budgets and salaries – it’s not easy but it can be done.
Supports aspiring leaders –
Replaces charismatic leadership with inspirational leadership
Have you considered yourself as a Mentor “to help and support people to manage their own learning in order to maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance, and become the person they want to be.” Pen Green think that it is critical to mentor another personal.
Mentoring is to be a rainbow in the clouds! www.mentoring.org
Maya Angelou – google her and find out more!!!!
A mentor helps a person interpret the world!
TED.com – Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we are educating children. His book – The Element
3. Breadth It spreads
Sustainable leadership spreads. It sustains as well as depends on the leadership of others.
Collaborative leadership with children – what are the processes, what are we doing to make this truly collaborate.
How much do we use the knowledge of the students in our team and do we take on board this – new theorist can be one area of reflection and review.
Professional Learning Communities Aren’t
Merely convivial and congenial – they are demanding and critical
Just a collection of stilted teams looking at information together
Obsessed with results instead of depth of learning
Forced or imposed, they are facilitated and supported
Ways to hijack teachers to carry out administrative agendas
Justice It does not harm the surrounding environment
Do not steal your neighbours capacity – another Centre – don’t take from them.
Emphasis collective accountability
Coach a less successful partner centre or setting – find another Centre and form a partnership
Make a definable contribution to the community your Centre is in – go out and get to know your neighbours – this is our community – bake a cake – clean up your area
Pair with a Centre or setting in a different social environment
Collaborate with your competitors – at the heart there is fear, particularly in these difficult times, but both Centres will be strengthened for everyone.
Te Wháriki
You can learn more from people who are different than oneself, than ones that are the same, Hargreaves & Fullan, 1998.
Strong Networks are:
Strong branding and definite products
Clear moral purpose
Clarity, focus, discipline
Resourcefulness
Energy Restraint
No achievements without investment
Shared goals, not imposed ones
Slow leading, slow learning
Time
Self and Peer Feedback Process – available on the internet – John Heron – this can be used within the teaching team – get someone to give feedback on a teacher practice, e.g. reading a story, puppets – it’s about feedback not criticism – do it with someone you trust – email admin@elp.
Conservation – The Past, Present & Future of Change
Acknowledge the past because the best learn from the rest.
Wildness, diversity and disorder have value
The past is not pure – do not romanticise it.
The past has no Golden Age to which we should return
We view the past differently, we must therefore interpret it together
We dismiss or demean the past, we fuel defensive nostalgia among its bearers
Three Cultures of Teaching
Veteran Dominated Novice Dominated Blended
Serves experienced surrounded by provides mentoring
Teacher interests fellow novices
Feels exclusionary feels inclusive offers leadership
Offers few leadership driven by enthusiasm Reciprocal learning
Opportunities
Go on retreats
Audits of the organisations
Organisational abandonment meetings
Storytelling to pass on the wisdom – of our place, our Centre – make them visible
Mentoring that runs in both directions’
Good documentation
Creation of blended cultures
Finished with Nickleback video “If Everyone Cared and Nobody Cried”
Considerations for me:
Mentoring – getting and giving
Cards to every staff member in celebration
Make more links to our local community – Exminister Street, Green Bay Kindy, UELC – Jump Start, Te Puna Reo and other Kindy
Become politically aware – curriculum development
Thank you from Karen Ramsey
