CHAPTER 8 TEACHING AND LEADERSHIP
5.7 A SYNTHESIS
Not all the respondents immediately and readily accepted the notion that a teacher has a leadership role to play; a number claimed to be unaware of the current South African legislation in this matter. During and after the related discussions most embraced the concept with the enthusiasm of a convert.
Insofar as being a leader is concerned, it should be expected that role modelling, setting an example, and possessing passion for one’s job should be part of teacher training lore.
These were readily recognised by the respondents and in some cases demonstrated.
Although the notion of servant leadership is as old as any writing or philosophy that has concerned itself with leadership, it re-surfaced with the publication of Robert Greenleaf’s Servant Leadership. An appreciation of the concept of service in leadership (as opposed to the related meeting of needs) was barely evident amongst the respondents of this study, and it was noted only briefly in two of the focus group discussions.
170 Whilst having a sense of humour (an aspect of emotional intelligence) was recognised by the respondents and was also evidenced by those teachers that I observed teaching in their classrooms, it was apparent (in that these were neither observed nor spoken of) that little or nothing was understood by the respondents in terms of a number of current priorities in leadership literature and practice. An understanding of these priorities, or at least knowledge of them, could reasonably be expected from professionals involved in leading others. These priorities include concepts to do with authentic leadership (e.g.
good stewardship and dealing with realities), values such as dependability and empathy, and strategic intelligence (i.e. comfort with ambiguity and being able to deal with change within organisations). A further aspect that was not evident in the data was personality intelligence (i.e. understanding and responding to various types of people, being able to engage in deep listening, and having clear mind usage). Finally, another attribute that was barely evidenced was a good and necessary understanding of such aspects of emotional intelligence as realistic self-assessment, the management of one’s own emotions, and the reading and management of the emotions of others.
Insofar as leaders’ knowing is concerned, the respondents readily spoke of the need to know answers and be knowledgeable about one’s subject areas. The pastoral nature of teaching and of those attracted to the profession dictates that knowing the children and knowing about them are also important aspects of teacher leadership and they were spoken of by the respondents as well as observed by me. An appreciation for the knowledge of the arts and methods of didactics was implied, and it was also recognised by those in the film-stimulus focus groups who had seen effective teaching represented in the movies watched. Its importance, however, to the leadership role was not raised even once by any of the respondents.
Surgency and emotional intelligence were barely noted by the respondents in response to the questions asked, although aspects such as self-control and a sense of humour were noted as well as evidenced.
The doing aspects of the teacher’s professional life in terms of leadership were more fully recognised by the respondents. Their responses evidenced their awareness of the need to: create a vision and goals (although there was no indication of them realising the need to develop a shared vision community), provide inspiration and motivation, and
171 meet the needs of their pupils. Aspects that were only sparsely mentioned and barely discernable through my observations were: the empowering of others and the concept of leaders mobilising others.
Most of the aspects relating to leaders relating were understood by the respondents, who both discussed and demonstrated the following attributes of teacher leadership:
affirmation, communication, presence, building trust and relationships, respect and caring. The respondents clearly recognised these attributes as belonging to a teacher’s store of competencies, functions and characteristics. Listening, receptiveness, and the use of persuasion were not, however, identified by the respondents during the interviews.
“All is data.” (Glaser, 1998, p. 8). The respondents’ failure to recognise or demonstrate certain leadership skills, together with their clear understanding of and display of others, is in itself evidence for this study. It has not been possible to note any examples of profound learning (see Chapter 3), where deep leadership would demonstrate creativity, and lead to innovative and varying applications of such deep leadership knowledge.
Glasser (1998b, p. 9) comments as follows on the issue of teachers knowing how to do their job (which includes knowing how to lead) and the opportunity to do it in a way they deem best:
In any field, and this certainly should include teaching school, professionals not only know how to do the job they are hired to do, but they are also given an opportunity to do that job the way they believe is best.
The first decade of the twenty-first century has been labelled, amongst other labels as the era of the ‘connection economy’. This tag arose as a result of the greater realisation of the inter-connectedness of people in terms of the global economy. ‘Teaching by leading’ assumes an apposite approach to connecting to those of previous eras. It requires that there be a clear and comprehensive understanding (i.e. a deep and profound knowledge) of the nature and working of leadership by all professionals where leadership plays an important role in the delivery of service. This understanding was
172 barely evident through the data collected from the small sample surveyed in this qualitative research.
I note here that I did not take cognisance of any aspect of leadership throughout the enquiry that had not already been identified (by way of the literature review) and labelled (within the theoretical framework) as a hallmark of leadership.
The findings from the interviews conducted suggest that the respondents’ understanding of leadership in the classroom ranges from tacit (i.e. their understanding has been gleaned mostly from life’s lessons as contained in and represented by the media, their discussions and their minimal training) as when they recognised leadership attributes, to a more sound understanding and self-reliant usage of it, which is derived from a more explicit understanding. The majority of the respondents were in the latter group (i.e.
they have a more sound knowledge of teacher leadership), whilst only a few were in the former group (i.e. those who have a shallow knowledge of teacher leadership). Those respondents with a more sound knowledge of teacher leadership evidenced this knowledge through their recognition of the leadership competencies that were displayed by the teachers portrayed in the films used in the film-stimulus exercises. These teachers were also able to both verbalise and demonstrate sound leadership.
That some issues – such as listening, being receptive and displaying affirming behaviour – were demonstrated and not (or only minimally) discussed in the interviews could be attributed to personal leadership qualities that are practised even if they are not known, recognised, understood or perceived as such. This would be a further example of tacit understanding.
i It is of interest to note the results of a quantitative survey that was carried out by Covey and his associates in order to determine perceptions of effective leadership amongst 54000 people. Far and away the most important in terms of ratings was integrity (being), followed by communicating, being people-focused and caring (relating). Expertise (knowing) was only rated eleventh in importance (Covey, 2004, p. 148).
173 CHAPTER 6: HOW LEADERSHIP HAPPENS IN THE CLASSROOM –
OBSERVING AND LISTENING