Sep 17, 2023
I had two or three topics in mind for today’s letter, but a message this week from one of my past learners galvanised my thinking and led me to share some ideas about passion as the indispensable ingredient for quality learning and teaching.
I’m interested in passion because, like you, I’ve felt its effect in some very special classrooms; I’ve seen it in many an underserved school principal’s office; and, like you, I’ve witnessed how it sets learners and their subsequent trajectories apart.
Just look back on your own schooling and reflect on how the quality and passion of a teacher who made something come alive either in a field of interest or within your own sense of self. Passionate teachers achieve this sort of response because of who they are, what they know and how they teach – a mixture of values, attitude and professionalism.
My past learner is Margo. She was in Matric in 1999. Ten years later, a qualified medical doctor, she suffered a near fatal accident when she mistimed her 263rd skydiving parachute jump, landed hard and broke multiple bones in her body, including her back in two places, her hip, her pelvis in seven places and a compound fracture of her thigh. She was in hospital for six months and learned to walk again thanks to 30 hours of surgery, well over 3kg of titanium plates and screws and a driving passion to lead a full life. She did, too. She married the man who sat at her bedside, became a highly respected psychiatrist and gave birth to a son. Two weeks ago, she had surgery again; this time to give her brother the kidney he needs to live a full life.
Passion, our CEO Keith Richardson would say, comes from the Latin word ‘to suffer. True passion demands sacrifice and a degree of suffering so that the end result is worth it.
The interesting thing is that passion is not just natural to some. It’s something you discover, something which you can learn from others and which you can replicate. It’s a love of teaching, a love of watching learners succeed and thrive.
My memory bank’s screensaver is filled with passionate teachers. I just love a teacher who cares about the learners, not just on occasion, but as every day’s default response. I love the way learners speak about passionate teachers and their influence on personal motivation and on subject and career choice. Learners remember the way a teacher made them feel – comfortable, supported or valued. Incidentally, how do we, as principals, make our teachers feel?
I love the way a passionate teacher enhances engagement with the learners. That infectious enthusiasm or focused discipline or intellectual connection is passion in action in the classroom. It’s that willingness to experiment with a different approach; one which is perhaps clearer, less boring, more active. Or one that you tackle as part of a teaching team.
I like to connect my passion to my purpose. Why do I teach? And why did I choose to be a principal? And why at this school? Do I realise how important a role I play in the school and in the lives of its learners? That passion, that dedication, that lifelong learning is what makes us role models. And good role models are in short supply in our time.
I’m humbled by the passion I encounter in underserved schools because I recognize both how complex the circumstances are and how critical and precious a commodity that passion is to those so reliant on the hope it brings.
The three stand out values I notice in the passionate principals I partner with are tenacity, resilience and perseverance. They may sound like one and the same. That’s because they are. That’s what passion is in a school and its classrooms. Especially in the most needy communities.
We all worry about a system which is failing the majority of our children. But how many of us regard ourselves as part of the problem?
Passionate teachers make their professional development their own business. They are competent and confident in the specifics of their subject and in the most effective teaching methods to take that majority to the proficiency essential for a decent education.
Passion is the driving force in a school that works. It is the driving force of a life that works. We don’t have to donate our organs to bring schools to life. We just have to add much needed value by giving of ourselves – personally and professionally. I just wanted to share that word – passion – with you today. Til next time.
Paul
Coach/Mentor: The Principals Academy Trust
Keeping in Touch in Tough Times No: 14/23
04 September 2023
Feb 10, 2022
I’ve said before that I became a teacher because I loved the vibe of a school and I became a principal because I felt I could influence that vibe and give it, substance, personality, and direction.
We all felt that buzz again on Monday when distance disappeared, and the two alternate schools became one school again after almost two years. One could feel that buzz in the playground, in the corridors and even in the principal’s office. Schools had rallied to move and clean furniture, to fine tune yet another timetable and to stretch a staff establishment to cover a learner roll which had somehow swelled during rotation.
The buzz belies the magnitude of the challenge to minimize the loss of learning and, like any business seriously affected by the pandemic, to heed the international call to build back better.
In the midst of all the optimism I read the media reports of the inaugural gathering of last week’s 2030 Reading Panel which aims to ensure that all Gr4s in South Africa can read with meaning by 2030. You all know the PIRLS 2016 finding that 78% of Gr4s cannot read with meaning in any language.
The panel’s experts explain what needs to be done. I can’t help thinking that all South African primary school principals should immerse themselves in the detail of that report. It’s clear that, over the last few years, so much has been done to understand the issues and so many resources have already been created. A switched-on, proactive principal, armed with an equally inspirational Foundation Phase Head of Department, can find those open-source affordable resources, and fast-track a campaign which can drive a school to hit that 100% Gr4 reading with meaning target long before 2030.
I have included the link to all the panel presentations as well as a media summary. Set yourself the challenge, become an expert, provoke your team, create a school buzz, consult your coach, and put in place a plan which will give your school an edge. Nothing you do as a principal will be more important.
Change in schools often happens because you use the buzz – that excitement and activity – to move quickly and get important things done. Critical changes like a more streamlined and appropriate subject package, Gr12 subject changes in those first weeks, more accountable subject or phase collaboration or a new commitment to subject-specific teacher development usually come about through the creative buzz of an inspired individual who does the research, persuades key role-players, and makes things happen. Don’t waste that buzz.
At the other end of the school spectrum, I witnessed that great excitement that accompanies the celebration of real success. As Chairperson of the Western Cape Education Council, I scored an invitation and a front row seat at the NSC Awards at Leeuwenhof last week. I was just an interested observer, but the marquee was filled with buzz.
The award-winning learners were, after a tough year, all smiles in the company of other top achievers; calm, yet excited at what lies ahead. The parents’ smiles were double the size. They just oozed pride. The principals relished the rarity of the occasion: happy learners, happy parents, happy department.
Like all principals, I have huge respect for realized potential, opportunities fully exploited, personal bests. It’s the consistency of the commitment, the self-taught, now in-built self-discipline, the daily Duracell spark that powers success that really impresses me.
I thought about the wonderful foundation that these achievers, from both advantaged and underserved schools, enjoyed in their early years at school which enabled independent, ambitious learning, especially the foundation phase teachers who taught them to read. I thought about the twenty or thirty teachers whose words and deeds supported each and every top achiever in their journey through school. I thought about the obvious resilience during the last two years of unprecedented disruption.
Gratitude towards the parents and, most significantly, the teachers was a major theme of MEC Debbie Schäfer, Premier Alan Winde and SG Brent Walters’ speeches. The principal in me visualized the proud, yet totally humble faces in smiling, satisfied staffrooms in schools in differing contexts.
When either celebrating or lamenting last year’s results, it’s always useful to remind senior learners that 2022 is a totally new group. All the 21s are gone. Now’s the time to create a whole new school buzz and to start a Gr12 campaign (or any other grade campaign) with energy, consistency and with a stamina that takes group effort to a new level.
Till next time
Paul (Coach/Mentor)
Principals Academy
Keeping in Touch in Tough Times, #5 of 2022, 10 February 2022
Oct 29, 2021
Can you think of ONE person whose life you impacted this week? You’re a principal so the answer is many. If, like most heads, you have a presence about you and a passion for your school and its people, then it’s really many.
I love the concept of a new book for school leaders by Stephen Peters and Mark Wilson entitled ‘ONE’. A review reads: “‘ONE’ is an inspirational read about how to grow impact and effectiveness in your school one student, one educator, one act, one word and one opportunity at a time.” I love what this says about the teaching profession. You have the capacity to make a difference one minute at a time. As a principal, if you are reaching out to a learner, or including another, or recognising a teacher’s contribution, you are building buy-in one individual at a time, making the collective stronger. Be mindful of your impact as a principal and make full use of your moments.
I made a point of recording my MOMENTS as a principal, in writing, in detail, at the back of my diary or in a special place on my phone. Otherwise, they slip into oblivion. Each year in my annual speech at Prize- Giving, I would share my year’s memorable moments – usually ones the learners could relate to, original moments full of colour, character and always with a touch of humour. Each week the principals I visit share their moments of sadness, progress, and pride. Some of you photograph them and share them on social media. I promise you, it’s moments that your learners remember and, if you record them properly, you’ll cherish them long after you’ve retired. Usually, those moments speak volumes about your school’s values and your priorities as a principal. If you make a habit of sharing the special moments with your staff, they’ll share theirs with you. Together you build a place full of moments which define the heart and humanity of your school’s culture.
Interestingly, years after, your learners remember random moments, too, but far removed from what they learned in class and more related to who and how they were taught, with whom they learned and how teachers (and the principal) made them feel. Remember moments make a school and it’s the school climate, the structure, the opportunities your learners have to grow and shine which make the moments possible.
ONE day has become more than just one day when learners only attend on alternate days. How do we make the one day really count? This is absolutely crucial in the earlier years where the focus needs to be totally on building literacy and numeracy. Principal and teachers can make this work, but not by simply doing what we used to do when we had them every day. I always urged my team and our staff to come out into the corridor at the change of every period. They don’t like it and they’re busy with the logistics of starting a new lesson, but that joint commitment to making those transitions smooth and fast makes for a school that works.
Take ONE aspect of your school – let’s say ‘text’. Scratch deeper. How much are children writing today? Walk your school and gauge the number with books out and pens in hand. Keep a mental record. Randomly call children and see how much has been written in the three weeks of this term. What has been written? How well? Was it copied? Was it marked or checked? Get your deputy to help so that you are scratching deeper and allowing the one day to provide an accurate slice of your school’s core.
In conclusion, let’s take our word ‘one’ and place it simply in front of your school’s name. ONE Siyazakha. Think about a school unified in purpose and practice with systems which guarantee quality even before lessons start, which drive one collaborative standard, and which provide the data needed and the action required to support every child to achieve at her or his personal best. One Siyazakha, with all stakeholders on the same page is what Stephen Peters and Mark Wilson would facilitate if they brought the ONE programme to your school for a couple of weeks. Actually, they’re coaches, former principals just like your coach. That sort of journey to excellence, to ONE school, demands all round involvement, but indispensable leadership from the top. Your school has many leaders, but ONE principal. You’re that ONE.
Till next time.
Paul (Coach/Mentor)
Principals Academy
Keeping in Touch in Tough Times, #32 of 2021, 29 October 2021
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
