Category: ETL504

ETL504- Module 2.2: Leadership Theories

Reflection

I found the comparison of Managers and Leaders to be interesting, particularly when one is allocated the role while, the other ’emerges’. Of the four leadership theories MindTools (2016) presents, the following stood out to me.

Trait Theory

The concept of Trait Theory were interesting and I can see how many well known leaders possess similar traits, however, having a combination traits alone is not enough to be a successful leader (Mind Tools, 2016). For example, possessing assertiveness and good-decision making skills can be a positive, but, when lacking likeability and empathy, less people are likely to follow this person.

Behavioural Theories

I have known autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire leaders throughout my career and have struggled, most notably, with those who rarely check in on their staff due to laziness or preoccupation. Sadly, in my experiences, many staff either kick back and do the bare minimum under this kind of leadership or, on the other hand, take an aggressively outspoken route, trying to push their opinions and beliefs on others. This leads to discord amongst staff, miscommunications and frustration.
Notably, however, if a leader is micro-managing capable, highly skills, organised and motivated staff, it can be quite stifling and cause friction as well. I believe this type of leadership should only be employed after serious consideration of staff abilities and commitment to the project or role.

Additionally, I found Harris’s (2014) article on distributed leadership interesting. I believe I have experienced something striving toward this concept in my UK experience. All staff were required to be a part of a KLA committee that met once a fortnight. These meetings were run by a different staff member each time, using a minutes scaffold collated by the previous weeks’ chair. All staff were included in these committees (classroom teachers, librarians, support staff, specialist staff) and were invited to join the committee that interested them the most. These were then dubbed leadership teams for each KLA and they were asked to review, assess and reflect on their KLA as it was represented in schools. There was also opportunities for planning, training and team-teaching across KLA committees. This was a very enjoyable experience and though there were some complainers, as all staff were expected to be involved and to contribute, most approached the thirty minute meetings as an opportunity to engage with a select area of choice in a positive way.

References

Harris, A. (2014, September 29). Distributed leadership. Teacher Magazine, ACER. https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/article/distributed-leadership

MindTools. (2016). Core leadership theories. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/leadership-theories.htm

 

ETL504- Module 2.1: Organisation Theory cont.

Activity and Reflection

Think about the school library. How does the library contribute to the success of the school? Consider the educational outcomes that the school is trying to provide according to the Australian Curriculum General Capabilities and Priority Areas. Add your thoughts to your notes and experiment with print or digital maps to try and put the library where you think it should be in the school structure (physical and hierarchical, i.e. communication and people).

My first step was to locate the most recent School Plan (2018-2020) and confirm that the three areas of strategic direction being targeted for the length of this plan is:

  1. Success
  2. Engagement
  3. Connections

Under each of these, there have been target areas assigned for different members of the school. Below, I have considered how the library can impact on each of these areas and if it is currently contributing as much as possible towards the School Plan.

Learning: developing learning culture, wellbeing & curriculum
After a reorganisation of the library last term, introduction of new furniture and expectations, I feel that the students’ attitude towards coming to library has changed. I am seeing more enthusiasm and engagement. Additionally, the increased use of technology to share information and conduct lessons in the past few weeks has added to the development a positive learning culture and increased student wellbeing. Having been situated within the library since the start of the year, I have been able to integrate Science, STEM, information research and library skills with strong links to the NSW curriculum.

Teaching: effective classroom practice, data skills and use, professional standards & learning and developing
Since taking on the role of TL I have been required to develop behaviour management strategies specific to the library and including the use of devices and technology. This has entailed engaging with online resources, specialised study, discussion with my principal and trial and error to what works most effectively to manage student behaviour and increase work ethic in the library. With the development of cross-curricular units to be taught in the library, I have been required to refresh my understanding of certain professional standards and establish a clear and consistent collection of data to record and report student behaviours and engagement to CTs. Additionally, I have been included in ongoing professional learning and development contributing to whole school wellbeing and hosted PD days in my library space.

Leading: educational leadership, school planning and reporting, school resources & management practice and processes
This is the area in which I have just entered as I have been required to source new resources for students in the senior fiction section- our library has been overrun by mould! This was tricky as I had yet to establish specific selection criteria, other than to replace senior fiction genre physical texts that may interest the current and future cohorts in the school. AS a result, some of the texts I collected are more suitable for 7-9 aged students. On a positive, I intend to establish a Year 6 only section in my office for those extended readers using those advanced texts.
Currently, as the teacher resources have been left to fall into a complete and utter mess, I have not been able to stocktake them to determine what I have and what we need. They sit unloved in a room out the back, waiting for me to engage with them and discover what treasures have been hoarded over the years.
I am now learning about the need for management practices and processes to be implemented, in writing to pass on to future librarians. As I had no such documents, it has taken some time to settle into TL duties and get a handle on all that encompasses. It is a lot to come to grips with and this is likely the area I will be concentrating on most over the next twelve months.

Below is an example, using draw.io, thate xplains my current schools heirarchy as of present.

(Excuse the blurrrrrrr)

Currently, at my small school, in my role as TL (and only being there 2 days a week) I can often feel quite isolated from other staff as their communication system is somewhat lacking and everyone is so busy with the daily running of the school. Being a small school, everyone has multiple roles and not enough hours in the day.

Overall, I don’t think it is a terrible structure and, in a small school, it works well that everyone has additional duties, rather than dumping it on just one person. With some adjustments to communication habits, I feel like the TL could be included more equally in the everyday running of the school.

Kokemuller’s (2017) classification of a Professional organisation would probably best suit my school as some staff have been in place for more than twenty years and are struggling to update their working knowledge on curriculum and pedagogy. At the same time, other staff have different levels of knowledge and have previously been given autonomy over the teaching and learning in their classroom. As a result, some become defensive when questioned about their style, choices and documentation.
It is important that I recognise here, that my principal is working to change the structure of our organisation to become more of a hybrid of Entrepreneurial and Innovative styles. She regularly encourages staff to take on tasks that interest them and consider sharing, teaching and planning in new and different ways.

References

Jilliby Public School (n.d.). 2018-2020 School Plan. https://jilliby-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/about-our-school/school-planning-and-reporting.html

Kokemuller, N. (2017). Mintzberg’s five types of organizational structure. Hearst Newspapers: Small business. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/mintzbergs-five-types-organizational-structure-60119.html

 

ETL504- Module 2: Organisation theory

Activity and reflection

Go to the CSU Library and explore the library site. How does this library change information sources to information resources? Note down 5 items in your notes.

Having searched up ‘draw.io’, the results provide numerous tips and hints as to whether or not each source will be a useful resource.

1)The search bar and detailed abilities (subject code, articles etc) allows easy access to grouped or selected information sources. This changes a collection of information into a collection related to your specific search terms and needs.

2)Source type: newspaper article, online article and so on. Allows you to determine if this type of resource is appropriate to use for your needs/task.

3) Reference information allows you to check up on its relevance and reliability. Also allows you to determine context of publishing, is it too old? This means it is an out-dated source of information.

4) Quote from text allows you to determine if the subject matter is relevant and if the writing style is appropriate for your needs/task.

5) Peer Reviewed icon- determines reliability and relevance depending on if it has or has not been used and reviewed by fellow academics.

Managing the info era

Special section: The capitalist century. “In the Knowledge-based economy, workers will be valued for their ability to create, judge, imagine and build relationships.”

How does the content of Colvin’s article relate the school libraries? In point form, note down your thoughts on your blog.

Colvin (2000) points out that ‘humans…haven’t evolved significantly in 20,000 years’ and for a long time were using an outdated and irrelevant management model, as established by Taylor. The same could be said of libraries. For a long time, there was no forward movement within the sphere of school (and general) libraries. Despite the changes in technology, social opinion and lifestyles, libraries remained the place where books were shelved and librarians shushed people being too loud.

Colvin (2000) acknowledges that people ‘still very much need interaction, recognition, and relationships’ and that managers now need to concentrate on ‘what really attracts and motivates the best knowledge workers, the value of teams, organizing by projects, using infotech wisely, the flattening of hierarchies…’. This can seem contradictory, as he goes on to highlight the changing nature of workplaces in that people are capable of working from anwyhere at any time nowadays, and are not restricted to 9-5 office building jobs. However, good managers must continue to foster building relationships and business communities despite space and time complications.

Additionally, the suggestion that the removal of managers (and staff) who do not ‘live’ the company values is novel in that it demonstrates companies placing a higher value on operational cohesiveness, staff wellbeing and company morals, rather than money and numbers. This suggestion is in line with the increasing awareness of staff, suppliers and customers who are requiring ethical responsibility from the companies in which they engage with (McAvoy, 2016; Ebbers, 2017/2018)

In a similar way, Teacher Librarians (TLs) have always operated on a slightly different space-time level to Classroom Teachers (CTs). TLs would come at an assigned time of day to retrieve the students and take them to another space, the library. This could, and still often does, result in a disconnect from the CT cohort as, often, CTs have little idea of what it takes to run a library and what happens within that space during the hour or so that TLs have their students. Misconceptions about workload, job roles and student achievements abound when CTs consider the library space.

With the development of technology and the increased popularity of team-teaching, it is possible to integrate TLs and the library into whole-school environments with the right management. However, we cannot ‘we tinker around the edges’ (Colvin, 2000) with the redisgn of TL roles and library as a concept. We MUST think of something completely new, consider things we have not, previously.

One concept that has arisen is the removal of school libraries and the integration of skills building into CT roles. Although I don’t agree with this concept, this is the kind of radical change we need to consider- Why should TLs be relegated to one place in the school? Could there be another way to store physical copies? Can we open students awareness of digital resources further? Is it possible develop whole-school programming that integrates the use of the library in lessons other than RFF or library skills? Can teachers bring their classes to the library to teach a lesson? Can TLs and CTs team teach units in different spaces to encourage a transfer of knowledge and a development of awareness that learning does not only happen in one space?

There is not one good answer and, even when good ideas arrise, they will look different in different schools. Colvin (2000) explains that management should be considered an organism, rather than a machine, which means it can grow and adapt when necessary, rather than become stuck in the same old rotaiton of cogs and sprockets.

References

Colvin, G. (2000). Managing in the info era. Fortune, 141(5). http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2000/03/06/275231/index.htm?iid=sr-link1.

Ebbers, A. M. (2017/2018). Modelling the way. The Journal of Government Financial Management, (66)4, 4. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/2279850707?accountid=10344

McAvoy, K. (2016, February 15). Ethical sourcing: Do consumers and companies really care? Spend Matters. https://spendmatters.com/2016/02/15/ethical-sourcing-do-consumers-and-companies-really-care/

 

ETL503 & ETL504- Subject Introductions

Welcome back to all continuing students!

This semester I have taken on ETL503- Resourcing the Curirculum & ETL504- Teacher Librarian as Leader. Both of which have intense reading and group work components, but only 2 assessments each.

I am a little dubious about group work and what other elements the lecturers want from us, particularly as work is starting to pick up again but, onwards and upwards!

At time of posting, it is Week 2 in the new semester and I already feel a little overwhelmed- I have never done a case study before and have ahd to print it out to take it all in and make notes. Hopefully it is addressed 1 step at a time. Also, the first online meeting for one subject has already been bumped back so I feel like I haven’t even started on that one and I know from previous subjects that this course has a ton of readings associated.

Feeling dubious and nervous, but wish me luck!