Reflecting on Leadership Styles Through Teaching Practice
As an elementary teacher I do not necessarily see myself as a leader amongst my peers. But looking at leadership styles through the lens of my role as a classroom teacher can help me to see natural affinities and areas I would like to work on. Smith argues that great schools are built by leaders with an integrated leadership style comprised of transactional leadership, transformational leadership, inspirational leadership and instructional leadership (2016, p. 66). When I was a less experienced teacher, hearing my principal say “Teach to your strengths” helped me realize that no teacher can do everything equally well. Similarly, Smith points out some of the leadership styles will be a more comfortable fit for different personalities: “In order for an integrated model to be truly effective, it must be understood that it is not necessary to master each of the styles, rather find the traits in each that fit for each individual” (2016, p. 75). Thus I will measure my teaching against each leadership style to see which traits I already possess, which I am progressing towards, and which I will need to put effort into developing.
Transactional leadership
I see evidence of transactional leadership being used often in teaching when it comes to procedural and behavioral expectations. In the past I have used a transactional system to reward certain behaviors and routines such as walking in line and keeping materials organized. More recently I only employ these systems with students who need consistent concrete feedback on a specific aspect of their behavior. This has been a helpful system for those students who are not able to self-regulate or reflect on their behavior without direct support. Sometimes to spur productivity I use a class-wide or self-assessed transaction systems, such as keeping track of how many minutes the class has been able to sustain agreed-upon independent reading habits or how many pages a student has been able to read or write. The reward in these cases is the recognition of improvement, or additional support if progress is not being made. Generally I want students to do their best (how ever this looks) not because they will get a reward, but because it is the right thing to do. So as a teacher I believe that I skillfully apply transactional systems when needed, but I try to avoid overusing this leadership style.
Transformational leadership
Transformational leadership best defines how I see myself as a teacher, as the ability to get people to want to change, improve, and be led (Northouse, 2001; in Smith, 2016). Three strong aspects of transformational leadership in my classroom are differentiated learning, an emphasis on collaboration, and a strong, supportive classroom community. When I am teaching students, I remind them of the reason why we are doing or practicing something (to get better at reading, to be better friends, etc.). However, to be a better transformational leader I could more explicitly connect the key components of the Primary Years Programme (PYP) to the learning we are doing. I see this as a parallel to how transformational leaders help their followers understand the vision of the organization.
Instructional leadership
It would seem that instructional leadership is a prerequisite for effective teaching. Obviously this leadership style has a different impact when considered amongst the many demands of a school leader versus the fewer non-student related demands of a classroom teacher. The students’ needs are at the center of every decision I make in the classroom. I am always learning and trying new instructional strategies that will most benefit my students. My current journey is towards leading a more inquiry-based classroom, which is well scaffolded by the learning I am doing in this course as well as by working at a PYP school.
Inspirational leadership
Many of the descriptors of inspirational leadership seemed to fit with transformational leadership; for example in the emphasis on caring, connection, and individualization. Secretan describes four attributes of an inspirational leader that I believe I embody as a teacher: courage, love, authenticity, and grace (1999, in Smith, 2016 p. 69). The first attribute of courage is required for anyone to truly be themselves around others. As I have evolved as a teacher, I have opened myself more and more to my students, so that they see me as the unique person that I am, not just a distant, buttoned-up teacher. This certainly takes courage, but it builds a powerful bond. The following attributes are all connected to the ability to be yourself around your students. In my mind, inspirational leadership should be the foundation from which the other leadership styles build upon.
Servant Leadership
There are two other forms of leadership described in Module 2.2 that Smith does not include in his integrated model. These are servant leadership and distributed leadership. In servant leadership, the leader serves the best interests of her team. The servant leader is very attuned to his or her workers, with key attributes like listening, self-awareness, stewardship and community (Agile at Barclaycard, 2016, 0:52-1:03). Servant leaders are focused on the future and on developing the skills of the team. I find the term servant leadership objectionable because it sets up a servant versus master dichotomy. I would not want to be considered a servant or a master regardless of whether I am the leader or the follower. So while I see positive attributes in the servant leadership style, I am put off by the ingratiating suggestion that a leader should be a servant, or of the implication that in other leadership styles the worker is the servant.
Distributed leadership
I see similarities between servant leadership and distributed leadership, so I will reflect on the latter term against my teaching practice. The leader with a distributed leadership style places a high level of trust in workers and empowers them to become autonomous when working in teams to take on responsibilities and self-direct their work (Harris, 2014, para. 4). Keeping teams moving productively in the same direction with this leadership style would be a challenge requiring a strong, collectively understood vision. In a classroom environment, distributed leadership seems similar to personalized learning (TeachThought Staff, 2019, para 2-4). While I differentiate learning activities for my students, I am the one making decisions so this is not an example of distributed leadership. Having students involved in setting learning goals is a professional goal I have set in the last two years but have only begun to explore. I can see how the structure of distributed leadership is essential to its success as I wonder how to build the capacity in my students to have more agency over their learning. Of the different leadership styles, distributed leadership is where I have the most need and interest in growing as a teacher.
References
Agile at Barclaycard. (2016, October 14). What is servant leadership? [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKk0AaaFqtU
Harris, A. (2014, September 29). Distributed leadership. Teacher Magazine, ACER. Retrieved from https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/article/distributed-leadership
Smith, B. (2016). The role of leadership style in creating a great school. SELU Research Review Journal, 1(1), 65-78. Retrieved from https://selu.usask.ca/documents/research-and-publications/srrj/SRRJ-1-1-Smith.pdf
TeachThought Staff. (2019, January 7). The definition of personalised learning. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/learning/the-definition-of-personalized-learning/
Anonymous 
Hi Marla,
what a thoughtful post! I love the way you are teasing out your ideas, exploring the language and making connections to your practice in the classroom. This provides a solid foundation to go on to reflect on these traits in terms of your relationships and interactions with the staff – teachers and leaders in particular. For example, looking at your growing confidence and experience with inquiry learning, to consider how you could share this with teaching colleagues. The way you do this could be instructional, or quite likely, in a servant leadership capacity. I have added this quite deliberately as you have taken a fairly literal interpretation of the term. Consider this quote: “A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid,” servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.” and its source https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/
This is quite often the natural role of the teacher librarian – providing structures to help teachers expand their teaching horizons and also, often as a key supporter for principal led change. I am not necessarily saying that this role is ‘the best’ for the TL, but it certainly has a long standing tradition where
TLs set themselves up as the ‘go to’ person – where they are quite literally a servant – but ideally they then build on this to support and scaffold teachers’ skills and problem solving capacities – and that is the leadership aspect.
It is also challenging to find opportunities to employ distributed leadership in the classroom with students but certainly not impossible. You need to identify and recognise individual strengths and expertise and an authentic purpose for them to shine in.
For example, 30 years ago when teachers at my school were struggling with the adoption of technology at a base level – such as how to use Word, I set up a student support group with tech savvy students being available to provide technical instruction. I trained them not to solve the problem but talk the teacher through it (starting with “do not touch the mouse!” but talk the teacher through the solution).
Thanks for sharing.
Jennie