Oct 23, 2021
School improvement is at the core of any comprehensive plan for 2022. The WCED guides you with the SIP that you construct and compile from various personal evaluation plans, identified areas of school development and responses to systemic analysis and NSC results. But, an often overlooked tool is an annual planning conversation with each teacher. Not all principals are wired for open, direct and sometimes confrontational courageous conversations, but a well-planned, purposeful interaction based on reflection, expectation and team emphasis for 2022, will give your school a collective boost.
In discussing this with the principals I serve, it’s clear that most prefer more informal, on-the-go chats with teachers which are both personal and professional, and which include the usual themes of recognition, gratitude, family news, upcoming events, and general encouragement. The more you do of this the better, but a more structured, inclusive, core business conversation about the available data, plans, targets, and updated responsibilities is an effective way of driving and aligning improvement. I realise that it is an extremely busy time of the year for principals. You could save time by seeing two or three teachers together according to appropriate subject and grade groupings, but that one-on-one is the ideal.
In preparing to write this letter, I discuss what I’m thinking with the four or five principals I coach each week. It’s part of our conversation. We value each other’s contextual insight and experience, and we deepen our understanding and our mutual respect. Your structured conversation with each team member and teacher should underline the same professionalism. When we sit down to chat as principal and teacher, we both learn. My Head-Coach schedules individual meetings with mentors like me on a regular basis. It’s what’s expected of learning organizations.
Start off the conversation, if appropriate, with general thanks and very particular praise for the teacher’s contribution. This needs preparation to be sincere and effective. Remember each one’s family details. With most of your teachers the conversations will be easy. I guarantee you, even the world’s best teachers and principals are always aiming to improve.
Always give your teachers a chance to have their say. Their insights are valuable in that you get to understand your school from another perspective and to adapt your communication strategy accordingly. Ask about their most stressful tasks. Make a point of ascertaining any professional development requests.
This is your chance to provoke change, to drive it with specifics like the depth of teacher collaboration you are trying to introduce as a school wide strength. You are not urging teachers in the staffroom; you are ‘signing’ an upgraded individual ‘contract’, personally developing your teachers, fulfilling your role as an instructional leader. Actually, too many heads regard this as the HoD’s responsibility. I can hear a principal say, ‘That’s not my job’. It’s 100% your responsibility to ensure that there’s a working structure in place. One you can vouch for. Make it happen, one interview at a time.
Ask the teacher to talk about involvement beyond the classroom and to share observations and highlights. If it’s obvious there is little involvement, discuss one or two possibilities and let the teacher choose. Follow up with the head of the chosen activity or administrative task. Add to the organogram. Being added to a committee is meaningless; being assigned a responsibility is progress.
When speaking to teachers who need to improve particular aspects of their work, address, if necessary, the elephant in the room – punctuality, irregular attendance, leaving a class unattended, insufficient evidence of written work or marking, insufficient support for subject head, etc. Get it said calmly and discuss steps and deadlines for immediate improvement.
If you are VERY lucky, you may have an outstanding deputy who buys in to what you are driving, sits in with you to observe and then undertakes the same with other teachers. It’s not a job you can delegate to someone not on the same page. There’s loads of joint commitment, loyalty and maturity required.
Remember, as principal, you build strong and successful relationships with your teachers by being respectful, caring, and supportive. And always sincere. When you trust teachers as professionals you are more likely to get buy-in, especially in trying new things.
Chatting to teachers about their year, their strengths and challenges, can be invaluable and motivating. It’s real leadership. Don’t shy away from it because it’s time-consuming or unpredictable. You’ll be glad you put in the extra time.
Till next time.
Paul (Coach/Mentor)
Principals Academy
Keeping in Touch in Tough Times, #32 of 2021, 23 October 2021
Aug 12, 2021
Although the pandemic has seriously affected communities in general and schools in particular, we’re still learning about its huge impact on so many aspects of our roles as principals. What has become a vital part of the principal’s responsibility is the mental health of the school’s stakeholders.
The country’s health resources have been prioritised for fighting the pandemic. Mental Health, which, earlier commanded only 5% of the health budget, has, like other disciplines, been severely affected by the crisis. I’m not qualified to comment on any medical issue, but I simply want to support principals in raising awareness and making classrooms and staff-rooms warm, welcoming, and caring spaces which provide learners and teachers with some solace, sensitivity and understanding.
And it’s not just the pandemic. Principals will testify to the textbook case of chronic stress which is best described as a weight which children carry with them and can’t put down. It’s the unemployment and poverty, the daily hardships, and the neighbourhood gangsterism – the significant suffering which seriously affects schools in underserved areas. The mental health of learners, teachers and principals has become a local school issue – a huge one. And as always, like the Mom in the Family, the principals are the lead-solvers in this crisis.
Medical professionals should be treating depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder – so prevalent among us all – but many hospitals and clinics have very limited or no mental health practitioners. In any event, fearful people stay away from health services at this time.
What can schools do? They can make their staff fully aware of these challenges and work to foster meaningful relationships between staff and learners. The current alternate day attendance reality is an opportunity for teachers to better interact with learners as individuals and to teach coping strategies. Schools can work closely with the WCED’s existing social services; they can try to access any official free care available and develop public private partnerships with hospitals, doctors, and psychologist practices. They can consult the many government and institutional websites which offer resource toolkits for teachers and parents.
All over the world we’re learning that the Covid-19 pandemic has made it harder for learners to learn. They’re often distracted by anxiety and have trouble concentrating or retaining new information or just remembering things. They feel tired. One high school Mathematics teacher, preparing learners for prelims, told me this week that ‘it feels that in some way they have got lazy’. These are critical issues, but they are best handled in the schools of principals who lead and in the classrooms of teachers who care.
In pre-pandemic times we would talk about a school being a haven for vulnerable learners where they could be safe as well as feeling that they belong, that they and their context are known, and that their efforts are recognised. Today principals are using a similar vocabulary in describing the caring climate they need to create for their teachers. Given the inequalities, the declining resources and the longstanding early backlogs in basic literacy and numeracy, teaching is a stressful profession. We need to accept that many employees in other sectors have been much more adversely affected. Principals who are changemakers know that wellness, openness, and gratitude work, but the very best medicine for teachers’ mental health is the development of a growth mindset towards teaching and learning. Those small wins crop up again and again.
Obviously, if the principal is responsible for the health of the school community, it would help if the principal were healthy. That’s challenge number one. You’ve certainly had enough practice in uncertainty, stress and trauma. The principal’s role is so complex right now. Perhaps it’s best to remember the age-old phrase ‘many hands make light work’. A fully functional leadership team – my colleague, coach Keith Richardson would add ‘with a very detailed organogram’ – makes for a good school and a healthy principal.
If you want further frightening detail and reason for developing a local school response, read:
‘Mental Health and Covid-19 in South Africa’, Siphelele Ngusi and Douglas Wassenaar, May 2021 in South African Journal of Psychology
Till next time.
Paul (Coach/Mentor)
Principals Academy
Keeping in Touch in Tough Times, #24 of 2021, 12 August 2021
Aug 6, 2021
You may remember a previous letter entitled, ’How would you like to work for a boss like you?’ Never forget to put yourself in the shoes of others, whether a troubled teenager or a member of your team who is taking strain or hurting or even just captured by a clique. Treat others, especially your team, the way you would want to be treated. Be open. Rather say what needs to be said. Sooner rather than later.
How do you unify a school management team? You lead them with purpose, sincerity, inclusivity and openness. People don’t naturally work together as a team; they have to be led to achieve a collective standard. You’re the principal. You have to have a vision even if it’s as simple as leading teachers and teenagers to achieve their true potential. It can be much more ambitious than that in terms of how systems, technology and data will help you, but your team wants to know where you’re going, why, when, and how. Strive for clarity in articulating what you envision. Only when they buy in and trust you and each other, do you have a team.
In a school sense the principal and deputies often work together as the school’s executive. Again, this can only work in an atmosphere of trust where the rest of the team are only too happy not to attend these daily meetings because they are busy leading their own phase or grade teams. Yes, daily! The very best schools take the business of leading seriously.
I mention inclusivity because team members want to feel part of management by knowing what’s happening. Keep them informed on an on-going basis. They will feel excluded when they are not ‘in the know’. Communication and consistency go hand in hand as the trademark qualities of a functional school. Your management team should be working with you; alongside you, not for you.
One thing that unifies a team is the meaningful contribution by each member. Each one should be able to report regularly on phase or grade issues and assessments. Get the one who is a little shy of committing to assist a hardworking deputy in a particular project. Don’t hesitate to include others from outside the SMT helping to get something done. Looking ahead as a team is also important. Look at the coming week and the coming month.
Remember that to be unified school teams must be led continuously. Stop pushing and they stop moving. The more school specialists actively leading on a daily basis within your school, the more chance there is that teachers and learners will perform better. Make a point of ensuring that teaching and learning feature prominently on the agenda at every meeting. These core function issues are often moved down the list because they involve some serious homework in terms of collaboration, book checks, data collection and learner support. If you want your school to focus on better reading and writing skills, then you need a unified response from teams and teachers. Unified means everyone’s involved in setting achievable goals, sharing resources and reporting progress. Get one grade to show the way and then share insights with all.
An aside or two. Our TV screens have highlighted Tokyo for two weeks. We all wondered how an Olympic atmosphere would be created without spectators. Well, while the stadiums have been empty, we have been captivated by the intimate moments of the individual athletes and their performances, irrespective of medals, and how the emptiness has been filled with the sounds of the athletes urging each other on and celebrating personal bests. Treat your staff as athletes in training each with their professional bests to better. Create that performance enhancing atmosphere in which teachers can share their successful moments. Fill your staffroom with the sound of teachers urging each other on and celebrating personal bests.
The Springboks take on the British and Irish Lions in a decider tomorrow after coming back with such style last Saturday. Siya Kolisi is recognized internationally as a heroic leader and he showed his leadership on the field by making the most tackles including a try-saving, series-deciding one and by just being a huge presence. But, in the post-match interview, he made the point that his was a team of highly respected and experienced leaders, and he named each key leader within the team and thanked them for rising to the occasion and executing their part of the game plan. Stronger together, indeed.
Till next time.
Paul (Coach/Mentor)
Principals Academy
Keeping in Touch in Tough Times, #23 of 2021, 6 August 2021
