During the week’s readings I was particular taken by the blog post by Beth Holland, 21st-Century Libraries: The Learning Commons. It got me thinking about the space of the library and what that would look like. It also got me thinking about if the library space itself is important, or is the library shifting so far to digital access that the library space is becoming obsolete? Beth Holland discusses the birth of Enlightenment and the role of the coffee houses as a place for people to gather to have meaningful conversations on learning. Is the 21st Century school library moving more towards this coffee house style of space? I have been reflecting on this and beginning to think that the answer is both. The physical library space is still important as it provides a common space within the school for students to gather, whether in a class capacity or independently. The space itself triggers the concept of a place of learning and discussion. If the library space didn’t exist, where else would students have these opportunities? I know for myself I have certain places I go to for certain activities. I do my school-work downstairs in my office (or at school when we can be there!), and I do my reading for leisure upstairs on the couch. I couldn’t let these areas cross over because the feeling of the space would be wrong. I think this theory applies to the school library space. If no other space in the school provides the opportunities for discussion, collaboration and sharing in a common area then these key learning activities are in danger of not occurring at all.
I’m thinking that a 21st Century school library would be more like the space that is described in Beth Holland’s blog post: a learning hub for the school with space for interaction, collaboration and sharing, leaning more towards the space as a learning commons rather than a traditional library. The space and building itself contribute to the activities that happen within the space while the resources are supported in both a physical and digital environment.
I have just completed and submitted the first assignment for ETL504. I found working with the software challenging, and my perfectionist self definitely struggled with ‘getting it right’. I came to the conclusion that the concept map was never going to be perfect because of the interconnectedness of all the parts of a school. I stand by my big ‘uh huh’ moment of ETL401 that collaboration is the key to success within a school. Staff cannot be islands who function independently of each other. Without collaboration each person would have their own values, vision and agenda and there would be no cohesion within the school.
I have also been reflecting on the attributes of different leadership models and how they interrelate and affect each other. Schools are always striving towards best-practice teaching, taking into account the 21st Century educational landscape. The leadership styles of the principal need to complement the change required to accommodate this evolving landscape. Transactional leadership is not going to be a good choice for inviting change. Instructional leadership is a good choice but needs to be supported by both distributed and transformational leadership attributes.
Shaked (2021, p. 2) shows that instructional leadership correlates with “better school results, improved teacher practices and higher student achievement.” This is a strong case for utilising instructional leadership within the school, but as stated before, this needs to be done in a distributed manner to mitigate the ‘dictating from the top’ approach that could be a factor in instructional leadership. Shaked (2021) and Ng Foo Seong (2019) both support that leadership must be distributed throughout the school and cannot be left to the principal alone.
For this distribution of leadership to work, there must be open lines of communication and opportunities for collaboration and discussion. The TL is well-placed within the school to be a central point of collaboration and communication. As a central point within the school, interacting with all staff and students, the TL can lead from the middle to provide professional learning communities and collegial collaboration to support and resource these areas (Oddone, 2021).
This task has been interesting to analyse my understanding of leadership theory and to apply it in a real-world context. Prior to undertaking this assignment my idea was that a principal took on one leadership style and applied that. Through research, there has been a shift in my understanding of how several leadership styles can be combined to support change and the 21st Century education landscape. I was also challenged by the concept that conflict could be a good thing. I am usually one to avoid conflict at all costs but have come to the realisation that conflict that occurs, as a result of collaboration, can be positive (Ho and Ng, 2017). It gives rise to opportunities for change with a purpose rather than change for change sake.
References
Ho, J., & Ng, D. (2017). Tension in distributed leadership. University Council for Educational Administrators. Vol. 53(2), 223-254. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X16681630
Ng Foo Seong, D. (2019). Instructional leadership. In T. Townsend (Ed.), Instructional leadership and leadership for learning in schools : understanding theories of leading (pp. 15-48). Springer International Publishing.
Oddone, K. (2021, June 14). Teacher librarian as leader: Lessons from the literature. Linking Learning. https://www.linkinglearning.com.au/teacher-librarian-as-leader-lessons-from-the-literature/
Shaked, H. (2021). Relationship-based instructional leadership. International Journal of Leadership in Education. Vol.ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2021.1944673