Critical Analysis

 

A school is a place where people come together to learn. In order to build a powerful learning community, a school must be a caring place that fosters trust. Strategic leadership styles build this supportive environment, uniting members of the community with a shared vision for 21st century learning promoted by collective efficacy and resulting in learner agency. 

 

All members of the school community, but most importantly the leaders, must come from a place of genuine caring (Louis, Murphy, & Smylie, 2016, p. 312). This is why caring encircles the concept map. When the interactions of the leaders in the community are infused with caring, all learners feel safe and ready to take the psychological risks that are required to innovate and learn (Louis et. al., 2016, p. 316). Trust is envisioned within the circle of caring in the concept map. Trust is built among community members in a caring environment. Within organizations, trust is the foundation for high performance (Covey & Conant, 2016, para. 2). Within schools, higher levels of trust between leaders and colleagues result in better student achievement (Moir, Hattie, & Jansen, 2014, p. 39). The importance of a caring, trusting environment cannot be overstated. In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, individuals are ready to strive for higher goals once needs for safety and love are met (McLeod, 2018). At the pinnacle of the needs pyramid lies self-actualization, “a desire to become everything one is capable of becoming” (Maslow, as cited in McLeod, 2018). The self-motivated, self-actualized learner (represented by learner agency on the concept map) is the goal for all members of a learning community.

 

To create the most powerful learning environment members of the senior leadership team should practice transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is pictured at the apex of the triangle on the concept map because it has the potential for the largest impact on school culture. This type of leadership is characterized by high levels of caring and trust paired with individual understanding, creating an environment in which teachers are supported and challenged appropriately (Smith, 2016, p. 67). The power of transformational leadership lies in the strength of the relationships the leader builds with colleagues. When teachers are inspired by collective vision and confident in the support of their leaders, they are willing to take risks and innovate to find the best ways to meet the needs of students (Moir et. al., 2014, p. 36). 

 

Kotter characterizes a leader as “creating a vision for the future and a strategy for getting there” (2013, August 15). Having a clear vision for the school’s learning environment and facilitating processes that lead to a clear roadmap for making this vision a reality is essential for a successful school. Transformational leaders employ effective communication skills to make sure every member of the school community understands and feels invested in the school’s vision (Smith, 2016, p. 67). In the concept map, vision and communication flank transformational leadership to exemplify how these two sides of transformational leadership fit together. 

 

A symbiotic relationship between the senior leadership team and the peer leadership team is essential to support streamlined communication and effective action to meet the school-wide vision and goals. Bidirectional arrows on the concept map represent this relationship. The teacher librarian is uniquely placed to both give and accept feedback on strategies for making this vision a reality. Showing initiative by scanning for trends that could support or hinder school-wide goals and collecting data about the efficacy of different strategies to meet these goals would help to educate senior leadership of the impact a teacher librarian can have (Figueroa, 2018, p. 16; Green, 2011, pp. 25-26). Similarly, the teacher librarian and other members of the peer leadership team can communicate the vision and associated goals widely within the community to keep these immediate and alive. 

 

A clearly communicated vision within a trusting community builds a positive mindset within the school culture to embrace change. A change-embracing school culture is the base of the triangle in the concept map, as the result of vision and communication. To create this type of culture, Pennington suggests that leaders not only manage change but lead change by seeking opportunities to make their schools better (n.d.). A powerful shared vision can create a sense of urgency to motivate those within the school community to actively seek change instead of avoiding or resisting it (Pennington, n.d). The relationships transformational leaders build within the community enable a clearly communicated educational vision, resulting in a school culture that is empowered to innovate in order to serve the needs of 21st century learners. 

 

Collective efficacy is shown in the concept map as a large triangle with each corner representing a different leadership style that fosters collective efficacy. Collective efficacy is a positive feedback loop spurred by the belief within a group that they can achieve change (Donohoo, Hattie, & Eells, 2018, p. 41). Teachers confident about the ability of their school to achieve student learning outcomes create increases in student achievement. Collective efficacy has the greatest impact out of a range of factors that affect student achievement including variables like prior achievement, socioeconomic status, and motivation (Donohoo et. al., 2018, p. 43). Strategic leadership and an empowered school culture with high expectations of student success are required to harness the power of collective efficacy. 

 

High levels of trust in teachers and a clearly communicated, well-understood vision for supporting student learning enables distributed leadership and servant leadership to be fostered in the peer leaders of the school community. Distributed leadership relies on a network of leaders that emerge within the school community to work interdependently to support the educational objectives of the school (Harris, 2014, para. 3). Distributed leadership has close ties to collective efficacy, as both rely on collaboration among empowered leaders with shared educational goals. Both also lead to improved student outcomes (Harris, 2014, para. 8).

 

Skillful collaboration is a key factor in the success of distributed leadership and collective efficacy. Senior leaders lay the foundation for a culture of collaboration by modelling empathy and effective interaction and having high expectations for productive teacher collaboration (Donohoo et. al. p. 43). Trust creates a supportive atmosphere for evidence-based practice, whereby teachers can try new things and grow from their mistakes (Donohoo et. al. p. 43). Teacher librarians would have a key role to play in supporting and enabling the collaboration required of distributed leadership. With extensive experience working with diverse members of the learning community, the teacher librarian would be able to enable teams by building collaboration skills (Green, 2011, p. 24). By keeping a “finger on the pulse” of the various teams working across the school community, the teacher librarian can support senior leadership’s understanding of interdependent teams while helping to keep the teams’ work centered on the school’s vision. 

 

In support of collective efficacy, the teacher librarian is ideally suited for servant leadership. As a servant leader, the teacher librarian is focused on identifying and supporting the professional learning of others (Greenleaf.org, 2016, para. 4). Providing professional learning opportunities for teachers is one of the most recognized ways that teacher librarians can support the school vision and goals and maintain a high profile with the senior leadership team (Green, 2011, p. 25). The teacher librarian would also be able to respond to the individual needs of teachers and peer leaders by providing personalized professional learning. In this way the teacher librarian supports the collective efficacy of the learning community through servant leadership.

 

In the concept map, collective efficacy surrounds the circle of the 21st century learner. Arrows show that collaboration, personalized learning, and innovation cross over between adult and student learners. Students would both see these processes taking place in the adults around them and be a part of them. The learner in the concept map is in the Primary Years Programme [PYP], a part of the International Baccalaureate [IB]. Although founded in the 20th century, the IB educational philosophy and practices for teaching and learning powerfully align with the goals of 21st century learning. 21st century learning is comprised of skills that allow students to succeed in a rapidly changing world. While there are different skills included in definitions of 21st century learning, this list usually includes collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking (Applied Educational Systems, 2019). 21st century skills and the constructivist philosophy of the IB contrast to 20th century education models that envisioned students as passive and awaiting the deposit of static knowledge from a teacher. The teacher librarian has an important role in modelling and promoting 21st century skills. This could be done by showing teachers and students ways that technology can support collaboration, communication, and content creation and by teaching critical thinking skills with sources of information.

 

Approaches to teaching and learning in the IB are based on the constructivist philosophy, whereby learners need opportunities to construct their own knowledge through the process of inquiry (IBO, 2017, p. 6). Inquiry-based learning is pictured in the concept map under the learner to signal that it is a foundational practice in the PYP. Central to the constructivist process are supportive relationships between teachers and students within a community of learners, symbolized by a circle on the concept map (IBO, 2017, p. 6). Supporting teachers in learning about and leading inquiry-based learning is another way the teacher librarian can practice servant leadership. 

 

Taking action based on their knowledge is expected of a successful PYP student (IBO, 2017, p.6). Learner agency is the disposition which spurs students to take action and is a central focus in the enhanced PYP (IBO, n.d.). Likewise, learner agency is in the center the concept map. Learner agency results from the synergy of transformational leadership, distributed leadership, and servant leadership practiced within a school culture energized by collective efficacy. This powerful learning environment is enabled by caring and trust.

 

References

 

Applied Educational Systems. (2019). What are the 4 C’s of 21st century skills? Retrieved from https://www.aeseducation.com/career-readiness/what-are-the-4-cs-of-21st-century-skills

 

Covey, S.M.R, & Conant, D. R. (2016, July 18). The connection between employee trust and financial performance. In Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/07/the-connection-between-employee-trust-and-financial-performance 

 

Donohoo, J., Hattie, J., & Eells, R. (2018, March). The power of collective efficacy. Educational Leadership, 75(6), 40-44. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar18/vol75/num06/The-Power-of-Collective-Efficacy.aspx 

 

Figueroa, M. A. (2018). FUTURING for FUTURE READY LIBRARIANS. Knowledge Quest, 46(4), 14-18. Retrieved from https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/imagine-possible-future-school-libraries-mar-apr-issue/

 

Green, G. (2011). Learning leadership through the school library. Access, 25(4), 22-26. Retrieved from https://asla.org.au/publications

 

Greenleaf.org. (2016). What is servant leadership? In Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. Retrieved from https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/

 

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

 

IBO. (2017). What is an IB education? Retrieved from https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/what-is-an-ib-education-2017-en.pdf

 

IBO. (n.d.). Preparing for the enhanced PYP. Retrieved from http://blogs.ibo.org/sharingpyp/files/2017/09/FINAL-TEXT-Preparing-for-the-enhanced-PYP.pdf

 

Kotter, J. [Dr. John Kotter]. (2013, August 15). The key differences between leading and managing [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEfgCqnMl5E

 

Louis, K.S. Murphy, J. & Smylie, M. (2016). Caring leadership in schools: Findings from exploratory analyses. Educational Administration Quarterly, 52(2), 310-348. doi:10.1177/0013161X15627678

 

McLeod, S. (2018). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In Simply Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

 

Moir, S., Hattie, J. & Jansen, C. (2014). Teacher perspectives of ‘effective’ leadership in schools. Australian Educational Leader, 36(4), 36-40. Retrieved from http://www.minnisjournals.com.au/acel/

 

Pennington, R. (n.d.). How to make change work. In Educational leaders: Leading and managing change. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leading-change/Leading-and-managing-change

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