This subject has provided me with the opportunity to reflect on far more than just the teacher librarian (TL) being a position of leadership but also on how leadership impacts the school environment. In earlier blogs (Curtis, 2021a; Curtis 2021b) I reflected on past and past leaders within my school as well as inspirational educators. It is clear that the style of leadership employed has a significant and lasting impact on the staff and overall workplace culture, flowing from the top-down; even permeating beyond the school gates into the community. I have also come to realise that someone in a position of power is not necessarily a leader and the people underneath, not necessarily followers. A totalitarian or manipulative principal is more likely to have subordinates (Gardiner, 2013). This rang true for me as I have experienced this myself.
TLs are certainly expected to take on a lot of leadership responsibilities, display leadership qualities and model best practice (American Association of School Librarians, 2009) so what leadership style should a TL implement? Gottlieb (2013) suggests leading from the middle and I do believe that TLs are excellently positioned to do so. There are so many opportunities for a TL to plan, collaborate and enhance the skills of others; more so than any other staff member in the school (Curtis, 2021c). I feel that servant leadership is the style best suited for this as it will allow me to show empathy while building trust, positive relationships and working collaboratively (Burkus, 2010). Looking forward, I need to consider how to further step into this role of leadership. Understanding the strategic directions within the school plan and identifying areas where staff require support would be a good place to start as I can then upskill to meet the needs of staff. In a forum discussion with Gemmell (2021a), we discussed the importance of empowering staff to find resources through skill development, as opposed to doing it for them. Meeting deadlines, communicating clearly and modelling best practice also need to priorities if I am to be taken seriously as a leader.
My understanding of how to deal with conflict and change has further developed as well. I have discussed previously how effective communication skills are critical (Curtis, 2021d; Curtis 2021e). Mezzatesta (2021) and Gemell (2021b) concurred and also agreed that making sure that all stakeholders are informed and doing so in an atmosphere of trust, collegiality and collaboration is essential. The aforementioned servant leadership style will certainly help with this atmosphere. When dealing with change, this atmosphere will be equally important. Learning that feeling ‘change fatigue’ was not unique to myself or my school (Dilkes & Cunningham, 2014) was unsurprising. Equally unsurprising is that when given the time, resources, support and respect to deal with change teachers, more often than not, come on board (Fleet, De Gioia & Patterson, 2017). In my ‘lead from the middle’ position, I will need to seek opportunities to support change within the school. These could include being involved in planning meetings, speaking to the needs of staff, supporting implementation through resources and skill development, and seeking professional development around new policies, procedures and curriculum, just to name a few.
Lastly, but certainly not least, the need to advocate for the position of TL and library has been reinforced. Jones (2021) suggests we need to move from advocate to activist and seriously promote the essential services that TL’s and libraries provide. We need to be both a defender and promoter (Curtis, 2021f) to get our message across. Talking to groups or individuals has never been an issue for me but to reach a wider audience I will need to push myself digitally and embrace platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, add a section to school website and even seek out other librarians in my area to see how we could promote our roles and workplaces collectively.
References
American Association of School Librarians. (2013). Empowering learners: Guidelines for school library programs. ProQuest Ebook Central.
Burkus, D. (2010, April 1). Servant Leadership Theory. David Burkus.
Curtis, J. (2021a, August 26). Leadership in a school setting. The Rabbit Hole.
Curtis, J. (2021b, September 22). Inspirational educators. The Rabbit Hole.
Curtis, J. (2021c, July 19). Teacher librarian as leader. The Rabbit Hole.
Curtis, J. (2021d, August 6). How do I handle conflict? The Rabbit Hole.
Curtis, J. (2021e, August 6). DISCUSSION: Communication. [Unpublished manuscript]. School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.
Curtis, J. (2021f, August 6). The defender and promoter. The Rabbit Hole.
Dilkes, J., Cuningham, C., & Gray, J. (2014). The new Australian curriculum, teachers and change fatigue. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(11).
Fleet, A., Di Gioia, K., & Patterson, C. (2017). Engaging with educational change: Voices of practitioner inquiry. ProQuest Ebook Central.
Gemmell, L. (2021a, August 28). DISCUSSION: Resourcing the curriculum. [Unpublished manuscript]. School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.
Gemmell, L. (2021b, August 9). DISCUSSION: Communication. [Unpublished manuscript]. School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.
Gardiner, J. W. (2013). The nature of leadership. In M. Grogan (Ed.). The Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership (3rd ed., pp.17-27). John Wiley & Sons.
Gottlieb, H. (2012, October 30). Leading from the middle: Bringing out the best in everyone. Creating the future.
Jones, A. (2021, May 6). School library advocacy: The time is now. Knowledge Quest.
Mezzatesta, M. (2021, August 3). DISCUSSION: Communication. [Unpublished manuscript]. School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.