Steps to ‘Lean’ Educational Leadership
When Sycol founder Dr Ioan Rees asked me to write a blog that people will find informative and helpful during the school day it made me think: does anyone ever have the time to read a blog in a school day?
When Sycol founder Dr Ioan Rees asked me to write a blog that people will find informative and helpful during the school day it made me think: does anyone ever have the time to read a blog in a school day?
Few things have changed since the advent of the modern education system. At least that’s the common belief: Education needs reform. What has changed dramatically is that many teachers work in what’s being called an “exam factory” rather than truly offering students the benefits of their deep subject knowledge.
Who comes first: Employees, customers or shareholders? HR Bartender Sharlyn Lauby says this is the question that drives every company culture. While some organisations fall back on the happiness equation wherein happy employees means happy customers, and happy customers means happy shareholders. However, in education, the answer must be the customer: students and their parents.
Employee engagement is down. And this declining engagement affects the education sectors as well.
All schools should prepare young people for the 21st Century, not to pass examinations.
The only limits are the ones we impose on ourselves. This is the case for individuals and for organisations. So when we see top heavy organisations with strong attachment to the way things have always been done, we see an organisation that has set limitations for itself and its employees.
Is it really necessary for leaders to be inspirational? Is motivation an indicator of engagement? While some would argue that, yes, leaders need to inspire and that motivation leads to better engagement, there is another school of thought: The best engagement is a result of culture alignment, a sense of purpose, and the exercise of discipline.
Teaching is often considered a noble but thankless job. With reductions in resources and bigger class sizes, being a teacher has become even more challenging in recent years.