0.4 The art of successful school-based management  (Page 22/36)

A Leadership Perspective:

When a teacher works alone he often has fewer skills for problem solving than when he works with an older or moreexperienced person (e.g., mentor). The mentor can help the teacherexplore different, and often new, ways to solve problems through trial and error or through approximations of existing schema. Forexample, if new learning is conceptually close to what the new teacher already knows and understands, then he can more readilyinternalize the information. If, however, the new learning is significantly different from what is already known, then theteacher will likely encounter more difficulty in capturing the new information. In this case, a mentor can assist the teacher inidentifying new pathways of understanding. Mentors can enhance the ability to internalize new and difficult material. The simultaneouseffort of support and challenge on the part of a mentor offers a productive model for learning. For example, the mentor mightsupport learning by first presenting material that the teacher already understands and then challenge him with information that isan extension of that understanding. Put more directly, a teacher learns best when learning is connected to existing understanding;teacher learning is social in nature.

Understanding the role of space can help leaders create learning places that are at once challenging andsupporting. Teaching assignments and the pedagogy that come with them help create challenge. Leaders help teachers grow and stretchby challenging them to take on different subjects, different age groups of students, different roles. Additionally, leaders createpositive moments as they encourage teachers to use a wide range of pedagogical techniques in order to reach more students. Left alone,these challenges can create negative working conditions as teachers feel stretched but not appreciated. Effective leaders find a way tobalance challenge with support. Much as space in art is constructed with positive and negative dimensions, successful learning space isconstructed with a balance of support and challenge. The appropriate balance might include new teaching methods, but at thesame time might include opportunities for team planning or for coaching. Through sustained, long-term, coaching, and support,leaders can offer teachers a safe environment where risks are valued and mistakes are acknowledged as part of the growingprocess.

School-based management, in part, is successful to the degree to which that learning, amidst anenvironment of support and challenge, is present for both students and teachers. But bringing individuals and organizations to higherlevels of effectiveness is a daunting task. It is the position of the author that organizational change can not happen withoutindividual change, and vise versa. A first step in making such significant changes is to begin seeing teachers in a new way. Thatnew way is a view rooted in an arts-based perspective and methodology.

The notion that school-based leaders can assist teachers improve their effectiveness in supporting studentachievement is central to schooling. One of the most specific ways that leaders can support teaching is through instructionalleadership and supervision. The author develops some of this discussion in an earlier part of this monograph under shape. Butmore needs to be addressed in terms of the possibility of leaders capturing successful teaching and stretching growth of teachingfrom an arts-based approach. Specifically, the author offers a mechanism for applying the conversation of art to the art ofteacher development. Put differently, one might ask“How might a leader build the art of reflective practice into the daily practiceof schooling?”