Before engaging with ETL504 my knowledge of leadership itself was limited and informed by my experiences as a teacher. As far as I was aware, leadership in schools was hierarchical and involved a filtered-down approach of telling staff what they needed to do, when it was due and, depending on the individual, offering varying degrees of support. Clearly I had a basic understanding of leadership theory and organisational structure, which is reflected in an early blog post (Coddington, 2024a; Robinson, 2010).
The immediate development of my knowledge evident in an early viewings and contributions discussion boards. Initially I was challenged by how to visually represent my buddying knowledge about leadership styles, particularly for my central school context (Coddington, 2024b). Viewing other’s posts helped me achieve this goal. Some that I found particularly helpful for element inclusion and potential tool selection were Marchant’s (Marchant, 2024) and McDonald’s (2024). In this thread I posted a basic visual representation of the structure and different leadership styles in practice at my place of employment (Coddington, 2024b).
This identification of leadership styles indicates growth in my knowledge. This was informed by module content and by close study of Smith’s (2016) and Bush & Glover’s (2014) detailed explorations of leadership theory. Farrell’s work (2014) further developed my knowledge of how the TL can operate effectively by leading from the middle of the school context, leading me to reflect on my own leadership styles. This prompted me to identify the use of transactional leadership by colleagues and myself in my own practice. However, my study of this literature imbued me with the desire to implement transformational leadership styles in my daily role for the positive influence it has on goal accomplishment, whilst distributed leadership is one I identified as being highly useful for larger, school-wide leadership projects. It will be one I seek to implement when engaging in substantial projects I plan to lead across the school to draw upon colleague’s expertise and increase the success and longevity of the project (Abbot & McGuinness, 2022; Bush & Glover, 2014; Smith, 2016).
This represents my developed understanding of the TLs role and capacity to lead across the school, which is further revealed through blog posts. Early on I identified my capacity to lead professional learning of staff in the digital sphere, but didn’t identify a leadership style to do so (Coddington, 2024c; Coddington, 2024d). This occurred later however, where I explored the positive impact transformative leadership of beginning and proficient teachers I can make using Soulen’s continuum of care (2020) on mitigating teacher stress and improving retention in the workforce (Coddington, 2024e). This change reveals the development of my knowledge, and these are certainly additional strategies I will implement in my future practice to support my colleagues.
This is only some of learning gained in ETL504. However, it, and the opportunities provided to implement it practically in assessment tasks has worked to consolidate all of my learning thus far in my studies, whilst also equipping me with a range of skills and leadership approaches I will certainly use to implement change in my practice as a TL.
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References
Abbott, L., & McGuinness, S. (2022). Change management in northern Ireland’s transformed integrated schools: what we want is a school where you can be who you are and its a safe place. International journal of inclusive education, 26(6),576-591.
Bush., T. & Glover, D. (2014). School leadership models: what do we know? School Leadership & Management, 34(5), 553-571. DOI: 10.1080/13632434.2014.928680
Coddington, M. [monica.coddington1]. (2024a, July 13). 1.1 Influences upon an organisation – change it, for change’s sake. The Learning of a Teacher Librarian in Training. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/teacherlibrarianintraining/2024/07/13/1-1-influences-upon-an-organisation-change-it-for-changes-sake/
Coddington, M. (2024b, July 25). Module 2.3: Feedback on diagram opportunity – Central school diagram. Discussion forum post [ETL504 Brightspace].
Coddington, M. [monica.coddington1]. (2024c, August 16). 3.1 A vision and plan for leadership opportunities. The Learning of a Teacher Librarian in Training. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/teacherlibrarianintraining/2024/08/16/3-1-a-vision-and-plan-for-leadership-opportunities/
Coddington, M. [monica.coddington1]. (2024d, August 1). 3.1 Learning in the 21st century – Preparing to be prepared. The Learning of a Teacher Librarian in Training. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/teacherlibrarianintraining/2024/08/01/3-1-learning-in-the-21st-century-preparing-to-be-prepared/
Coddington, M. [monica.coddington1]. (2024e, October 1). Leadership approaches to mitigate stress in schools. The Learning of a Teacher Librarian in Training. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/teacherlibrarianintraining/2024/10/01/4-1-leadership-approaches-to-mitigate-stress-in-schools/
Farrell, M. (2014). Leadership Reflections – Leading from the Middle. Journal of Library Administration, 54, 691-699. DOI: 10.1080/01930826.2014.965099
Marchant, S. (2024, July 22). Module 2.3: Feedback on diagram opportunity – Module 2.3 Diagram Feedback. Discussion forum post [ETL504 Brightspace].
McDonald, E. (2024, July 22). Module 2.3: Feedback on diagram opportunity – Module 2.3 Diagram Feedback. Discussion forum post [ETL504 Brightspace].
Robinson, K. [RSA Animate]. (2010, October 14). Changing education paradigms [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U
Smith, B. (2016). The role of leadership style in creating a great school. SELU Research Journal Review, 1(1), 65-78.
Soulen, R. (2020). The continuum of care. Knowledge Quest, 48(4). 36-42.
