The Principal and School Improvement by Amanda Heffernan

Author:Amanda Heffernan
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9789811314957
Publisher: Springer Singapore

An important element of this vision, the final point he made, was that he did not want just to be the guitarist for ‘any old rock band […] playing Doug’s 60th down at the Bowls Club’, he wanted his band to be ‘the best rock band in the entire world’. Scott’s metaphor of leading from behind has connotations that differ somewhat from Max’s approach as having a strong leadership figurehead presence within the school, although both share the notion of working in teams.

Judy’s position aligned more with Scott’s than with Max’s but continued the theme of strong teams and partnerships from both of their visions regarding instructional leadership. What was notable about Judy’s discussion of leadership was the lack of ‘self’. Judy’s image of leadership involved more of a focus on how she related to others. When talking about the influences from early in her career, the ways other people impacted upon her also came through as a way of shaping her identity as a leader. This brings to mind Thomson’s (2009) suggestion that aspiring principals can be influenced to apply for leadership positions by positive and negative leadership experiences they had as teachers. Judy noted that her passion for collaboration, shared leadership, and strong teamwork arose from her own previous negative experiences as a beginning teacher in schools with a lack of strong leadership and positive approaches towards teamwork and collaboration or sharing of resources. She explained when reflecting upon some negative experiences with her early colleagues and principals:I thought, I am never going to be like that, I will always share what I have, and I will never treat people badly, and I will be far better than that, I would always help people, I would always support them, I would always be there for them. So that’s where I sort of built my philosophy that the teaching profession, the principalship, it’s all about relationships and sharing knowledge […]. So that’s the core of my philosophy, my ability to build sustainable schools and build a leadership team.

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