Dec 29

Leadership is a responsibility

This morning during a crisp winter walk, I reflected on the importance of leadership, especially during this most troubling time. Leadership has been front and center throughout this pandemic and the influence of leaders has been essential in the education world. System and school leadership has been remarkable over this time and has demonstrated the deep talent that exists in our schools and districts here in Canada. I know that all principals or superintendents are not perfect (yes there are bad ones out there) but I’ll guarantee the percentage of poor politicians far exceeds that of poor administrators!

Educational leadership has come a long way since I was in school or began my own teaching career in 1985. At one time, many leaders were chosen out of the physical education ranks and tended to be successful coaches and most were male! It was about rank and privilege rather than what leadership is all about…responsibility! Often, these individuals could motivate their players through fear and motivation with good results and sometimes they employed those same tactics on the adults in the building. Unfortunately, the result for the adults, similar to that of an autocratic teacher, was compliance over commitment. Leaders today still need to motivate but more importantly, they need to inspire the adults in the building and that can’t be done through intimidation.

I’m not suggesting that every “jock” led or leads like this but it was more common than not in the past. In fact, some of my best leaders and closest allies in my administration career were former coaches who were able to lead and serve rather than manage and demand. But also, some of the best leaders that I worked with were “non-jock” women! I will always be forever grateful to my first principal in High Prairie, Dorothy Cowell, who taught me about servant leadership. She did it better than anybody else!

In systems where female leadership is more prominent, leadership tends to be more collaborative, more compassionate and more relational while still obtaining excellent results. While I believe that female leaders in many circumstances need to fight harder to be recognized, their motivation to success is far more related to responsibility than rank and privilege. In my tenure as superintendent, three of four members of my senior education were female and much of the credit for my success and the success of the entire division rests with them. Maybe even more than a responsibility, they saw leadership as a calling, without ego and with great humility.

I think the above quote hits the leadership nail square of the head. True leaders see their role as one of service rather than of one to be served. It is certainly not for the faint of heart or for the selfish in being. It requires a tough skin without losing a compassionate heart. And, given that it has such a potential impact on others, it must always be considered a privilege.

The leaders we need now, regardless of the realm they lead, need to believe in responsibility. While the situation may not be their fault, it is and always will be their responsibility. That’s what leaders do…take responsibility! They have been placed or elected into roles of great service not self serving. Decisions made, even the toughest ones, need to be made with compassion and seldom are those decisions enacted without reviewing collaboratively with a team, ALL of the OPTIONS and POTENTIAL OUTCOMES! It is not easy, it shouldn’t be easy because it is leadership!

Dec 18

Unsung heroes through the pandemic

It should be very evident that our front line workers are some of the biggest heroes during this pandemic. They’ve been incredibly strong in supporting and ultimately keeping our health care system going as well as it is during this time. It is hard to imagine the additional stress they have felt and the mounting expectation for care being required to limit infection spread and death. Kudos!

But I want to affirm the work of those in school systems as they may be the greatest unsung heroes in this time. I fully understand and can appreciate the desire for governments to have schooling continue. There are good reasons, educationally, socially, emotionally and fiscally not to lock down or lock up schools. Given the increasing numbers in some areas, I’m also understanding of the switch from in class to at home learning and visa versa.

It has not been a normal year for anyone yet, schools and school staffs have been asked to bring as much normalcy as possible to students and their families. This normalcy is required no matter whether students are in class or at home or whether there is an outbreak or not. Schools have just plugged along doing what they always done in some of the worst conditions known to this generation…they’ve cared for kids and focused on academics.

System and school leaders have needed to be extremely flexible in structuring and restructuring the learning landscape. Consistency is a rare commodity as each day has the potential to being very different from the previous. Teachers, prior to the pandemic, met the needs of a very diverse student population…at school. Now that diversity is even greater with blended learning, sometimes inconsistent student attendance and continued inequity of resources for our most marginalized populations. Teachers and school staff as a whole, have been required to develop additional resilience, flexibility and adaptability to keep as much normal as possible for students and their families. This isn’t just to feed the academics but more importantly to address the social emotional needs of students. To say the least, the education world has been turned upside down but educators continue to move it right side up and with little fanfare.

They do it because that is what they do!

It is interesting that in any crisis, schools and school systems are automatically the ones to step up to the plate. Schools and their extended supports become command centres to deal with any tragedy whether it occurs in the school or general community.

They do it because that is what they do!

We would like to believe that students are not carriers of COVID-19 but we know that is not the case. We would also like to believe that every parent/guardian practices proper hand washing protocols, maintains appropriate social distances, wears a mask when required and follows all other public health measures. Yet, we know that is far from true and the children of those families COME TO SCHOOL! Then those teachers and other staff, go home to their own families unaware if they are infected. Why?

They do it because that is what they do!

The school has often been the glue that holds a community together. That fact, has unfortunately been simply taken for granted. While I don’t think educators need parades to be held in their honour, I do believe they should be recognized for the unsung work they do, not only pre-pandemic but especially now during this pandemic.

Imagine a world without a school community, without education systems who care for children, educate children, feed children. Who would you turn to for support in times of tragedy, in unsettled times like now? The school and the people in those schools are the rocks required to brave the storm. Please remember those unsung heroes who begin their breaks today and will come back in the new year ready to do exactly what they do- love, support and educate children.

Dec 12

The window is open!

Last week I wrote a blog post entitled, “There are no curriculum police!” which addressed the very real need of shrinking the number of outcomes taught to ensure essential learning for all students. With the general loss of teaching time from the pandemic, it is imperative that teachers, using their professional judgment both individually and collectively, purposely focus on essential outcomes and make learning deep. While this may seem like a dream to educators, it has been my experience that it is a difficult task to accomplish given the historical mandate of covering ALL the curriculum.

Often there is another barrier to focusing on the essential outcomes that rang true in a presentation I did a couple of weeks ago. The issue, and it has been an “issue” for years now, is that any outcome may be on a provincial assessment and therefore must be taught. In other words, just because it could be a question on a standardized exam, it warrants time in the classroom! Well… in Alberta, provincial achievement tests in grades 6 and 9 and diploma exams are optional this year. Grade 3 provincial achievement tests were dropped a number of years ago. Hence, outcomes that do not serve to address current and future learning success of students DO NOT NEED TO BE TAUGHT!

One of the additional arguments against provincial standardized tests (used by me as well) is that you are so busy covering the curriculum that you don’t have time to really go deep into areas of student interest or ensure competency for all before you need to move on. Schools have done a great job to react to this issue by incorporating passion projects, exploratory options, and Flex Fridays into weekly schedules. However, I’m at a loss as to why (given this time in history) we can’t incorporate these student led/teacher framed concepts into our current curriculum/teaching practice? There is a window open for change, but it will not be open long after the pandemic is over. The time to radically transform the delivery of the education system and as Michael Fullan and associates suggests develop “new pedagogies for deep learning.” is now!

One of the questions I used to ask teachers was:

“If you didn’t have to worry about provincial achievement tests or diploma exams, how would that change your teaching?”

A fairly typical response was around being able to be more creative in the classroom and engaging students with real life learning. I agree! I don’t believe we need more charter schools as some leaders would suggest, to provide some local context for students; we just need some flexibility! And, quite frankly, we have it this year! But we’ve had that flexibility in K-5 here in Alberta for at least 5 years now with the elimination of the Grade 3 Provincial Achievement Tests. So…

“How has your teaching been radically different since those provincial achievement tests were eliminated?”

Through my many, many observations of teaching, I’ve seen some of the most transformational practice in the last 5 years. These teachers (and many throughout the province and country) have embraced the 7Cs as endorsed by the C21 CEO Academy and shared in the document “Shifting Minds” in May 2015. I’ve also witnessed teachers who have not made the shift due to habit or fear, or what might be the toughest challenge…being good! The Canadian education system as a whole, and teachers in general, are good at their craft. As Jim Collins shared in his book “Good to Great”…

“The natural enemy of greatness is goodness!”

Teachers, like most who are good at their particular craft, have a difficult time getting uncomfortable in order to move to greatness. This is certainly not a slight on any teacher, rather merely a fact of human nature. Most of us loathe discomfort and yet that is the only place where growth can occur. Great teaching for the 21st century cannot be the same as great teaching in the 20th century.

In their book “New Pedagogies for Deep Learning: Leading Transformation is Schools, Districts and Systems“, authors, Michael Fullan, Joanne Quinn and Joanne McEachen define traditional education as follows:

TRADITIONAL (Fullan, Quinn, McEachen)

  • Teacher driven
  • Transmits existing knowledge
  • Compliance orientated
  • Student is receiver of knowledge
  • Learning is impersonal
  • Student agency is unclear
  • Technology used for transmission and consumption

The traditional approach to education as described above may have been “good enough” for generations past, and may even be “satisfactory” for some students today, but we cannot remain stuck in that paradigm, even if we are good! We still are promoting a system of winners and losers and quite frankly it is unacceptable to have students lose in their learning. The goal of a high functioning and inclusive education system is not to have every student as an honour student but rather to have all students competent in key outcomes that allow them be successful in the world. The diverse nature of our classrooms requires a major shift in our teaching practice to implement deep learning.

DEEP LEARNING (Fullan, Quinn, McEachen)

  • Student led – Teacher framed
  • Connects students to real world, authentic problem solving
  • Builds new relationships between and among learners, teachers, families, and community
  • Student is an inquirer and builds knowledge
  • Learning connects meaning to student interest and voice
  • Deepens human desire to connect with others to do good
  • Technology as a connector and amplifier

I’m not against centralized standardized testing as it has some merits, but unfortunately many of the uses of these exams, like ranking schools, systems, and sometimes even classrooms are untenable. This year and maybe only this year, (unless we can demonstrate deeper learning) we don’t have that same top down testing accountability and that optional status needs to be leveraged. At the end of 2014 I wrote the following and it still applies today:

Parents don’t complain when their sons and daughters are engaged in learning, excited about learning and can articulate their learning! That won’t occur for all students if we continue force feeding them a mammoth of useless outcomes!

If we want governments to stay out of the education accountability world, then we need to make sure that parents and the general public are assured of high quality education. One of my favorite leadership quotes around change was “Bottom up when possible, top down when necessary!” This is a time when bottom up, individual teachers, schools, and districts, is possible and that giant leap to move from traditional to deep learning is here before us all. Don’t let the pandemic opportunity pass us by!

   

Dec 06

There are no curriculum police!

Back in 2014, I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel at the Curriculum Prototyping Symposium in Calgary and followed it up with a blog post entitled, “Why curriculum needs to change.” The panel brought together a wide array of stakeholders debating the “big why” of curriculum redesign. The process of prototyping in itself was revolutionary and provided great hope for the future of curriculum. Unfortunately, the process stalled and the expectation that new curriculum would be “just around the corner” has never come to fruition, here in Alberta.

I remember clearly the hush in the room when I made the statement, “There are no curriculum police!” Some government officials thought I’d just committed educational heresy but those attendees from my own school division were not surprised, given it was a statement I’d been making for a number of years. It was one of the ways I employed, to shift our system to a more innovative culture, allowing students to become more engaged and learn more deeply.

It should not come as a surprise that every curriculum has far too many outcomes and… every outcome is not equally important. What I was giving teachers the permission to do, was to cull the curriculum to ensure that the most essential outcomes were not just taught by them but more importantly competently learned by students. Teachers have been expected to “cover the curriculum” at all costs rather than to have been allowed to go deep with learning, which is essential for the current and future success of students. Most experienced teachers, (since they are curriculum experts), would be able to reduce the number of outcomes taught by close to 20%. There is a vast difference between outcomes that are considered “need to know” and those which are “nice to know” and teachers understand this well. That one phrase allowed teachers, who took it seriously, far more time to engage students in meaningful learning. The excuse of not having enough time was no longer a barrier.

Given the pandemic and the already loss of learning time, this is not just important but rather critical. As time is reduced due to school closures or isolation requirements, teachers need the ability to focus on what is most important in the curriculum. This is not an opt out as some politicians may think, but rather an opt in from teachers, schools and districts to ensure that the outcomes most critical to a student’s current and future success are not just taught but deeply learned. What a novel idea… LEARNING FOR ALL!

This is certainly not a solution for all time but it is part of the answer going forward. The next step is to go from personal autonomy of what are the essential outcomes in a curriculum to collective autonomy whereby teachers in schools and districts come together to flesh out the “need to knows!” This process allows teachers to dialogue as professionals and establish key outcomes in order to maintain high standards. One of the other spinoffs is that students get to go deep in their learning and ultimately direct their own learning but framed by teachers. The need for new charter schools becomes obsolete…just saying! The result will be a transformation from a “still” industrial style model of compliant students to a highly engaging and personalized system of committed learners. Too often we’ve heard from high school graduates that don’t remember what they learned the previous year or semester because all they were doing was playing the game of school and trying to get a good mark. THAT, can’t be enough for school and education in the 21st century. Deep learning sticks, it is not fleeting!

One of the pillars of the Canadian educational system is a robust centralized curriculum in each province. However, one of the barriers, is the inability of most governments to be nimble enough (or trusting enough) to thin the curriculum to the essentials or provide the big ideas. Teachers, others in the K-12 education system and most government bureaucrats do with this quite easily because they are experts in the field. However, those outside the K-12 educational system (some, not all) and often politicians themselves tend to impede this process. They get pulled in all directions on what needs to be in a particular curriculum, make curriculum development a political game or worse, look for outside direction (most of which is either out of date or out of touch) rather than allowing experts inside to manage the development process.

The pandemic has turned our world upside down but it has provided us with an opportunity for curriculum development, enhancement and transformation. By concentrating on the essential outcomes (the big ideas) and committing to going deep in learning we will do well for our students and assure parents of the high quality. And, teachers, schools and districts can do this without fearing an archaic accountability system (seen in many provinces) that includes provincial achievement tests and diploma exams. In other words we have a “free pass” to get it right because this window, will close quickly at the end of the pandemic.

Nov 08

Searching for wellness

If I was able to wave a magic wand to establish a priority in all organizations, it would be for wellness! Most might assume that it is due to this ongoing pandemic and while the need for wellness may be more pressing today, it was a growing need long before COVID-19 hit. The importance of wellness in the workplace is increasing as mental health issues, anxiety, depression continue to skyrocket in both adult and children population. If you don’t want believe it is just the right thing to do, then believe very clearly that when your people are not well, your organization does not function at its best.

In Alberta, a number of school divisions have decided to inject some wellness days into their November calendars. Given the commitment to students and their learning by school staffs during this most difficult time, I applaud those divisions for providing this well deserved wellness break. But I’m also quick to point out, through my own experience, that suddenly changing a calendar can be extremely difficult in some communities. So, I would never say anything negative about those divisions who, for a variety of reasons are unable to do the same.

It is nice to see that not only are school divisions trying to focus on wellness but large business organizations as well. For example, the IBM K-12 Leadership Team has hosted a non-work noon social every Friday to check in with their team members since March. As I read some of the comments on social media, it was very evident how important these check ins were to team members. Even as little as one hour, once a week can dramatically impact wellness. There would be many similar organizations who without needing the wave of the magic wand, place wellness as a priority.

But regardless of whether you are in an organization that values this priority or not, wellness is also an individual responsibility. There may be limits on what you can do to enhance your own well being but there are also a great many possibilities that are not directly connected to your place of work.

How many times have we heard a comment about someone’s poor attitude? Your own attitude has a great influence on your own wellness. Anger, frustration, hate are emotions that can sour your attitude pretty quickly. By contrast, those who are hopeful and express gratitude tend to have a rosier disposition. Your well being is not enhanced by a lack of emotion but rather from an increased dose of positive emotions, thoughts and actions.

But, once we’ve “flipped our lid” as expressed by Dr. Jody Carrington or engaged in that social media tirade, its already a little late to positively impact our well being. Increasing our wellness quotient is about prevention, not reaction.

I’ll begin, as I always did when I was a Superintendent of Schools, with a reminder of the importance of faith or spiritual wellness. This is not about a particular religion or even attendance at church, although that sometimes really helps many. It may simply be a connection with nature but, whatever your beliefs, spiritual wellness is an essential component of overall well being. The pandemic has certainly impacted my own ability to attend weekly mass. My wife and I have had to keep our social circle fairly small due to some health vulnerable people in our lives. Weekly mass was a critical part of my own faith life and now without that regularity, I’ve been forced to ensure my own spiritual wellness is still nurtured. Not particularly easy, but I know that without my intentional actions, my spiritual wellness would be gravely compromised. The bottom line is that wellness is greatly enhanced when your faith or spirituality is well intact.

Physical health also contributes to overall wellness. I’ve always been a regular gym attender but that has been taken away due to the pandemic. Being a runner (or a plodder at best) was another activity that kept my mind sharp. I’m not overly impressed with this getting older but a knee injury has forced me to substitute my runs for slower and much shorter walks. It is not perfect but it allows me to get outside for some fresh air and get a little exercise as well. That activity, even as limited as it is, keeps my appetite in check too! Eating healthy, getting good rest and being active all improve one’s wellness.

While there are many ways all of us can take on the challenge of wellness, I would submit one last idea…staying connected! We are wired for connection and although it may be less face to face in today’s scenario, it must still be a priority. We’ve learned through this pandemic to do much of our work virtually. Virtual check ins, coffee dates or a number of those types of opportunities must be taken full advantage of during these times.

I certainly don’t want to minimize the many struggles that people are facing today. Nor do I want to assume that the above suggestions are cookie cutter solutions for mental health issues. I just think that we all need to try to find our own ways to improve our wellness quotient. Organizations need to do their part but so do we!

Oct 27

The Diploma Exam Debate

Recently, the Minister of Education in Alberta announced that Diploma Exams for students written in November would be optional due to COVID-19. In the Red Deer Advocate on October 20th, editor Dave Marsden wrote, “Rather than having less testing, if anything, the school system needs more.” His premise, because there may be gaps in the learning of students due to the pandemic, is more testing should be instituted “to identify areas for improvement and provide resources”.

I’ll begin by applauding the Ministry for the decision to make diploma exams optional for the November writing. It would be my humble opinion that the decision should extend to at least January as well, given the ongoing impact of the pandemic on teaching, learning and overall school operations. Depending on where we are in 2021, it might be beneficial to keep these exams optional for the remainder of this school year. But I’m not in favour of eliminating these exams forever! I still believe they are a necessary component of our education system beyond the pandemic.

One of the most contentious issues with either diploma exams or provincial achievement tests is that their intended use is far from their actual use. While these exams should be for the purpose of maintaining standards, improving teacher practice and student learning, they have become an ultimate ranking system of divisions, schools and sometimes individual teachers. While the data provided by these exams should be used and reviewed by systems, schools and teachers, the data alone is insufficient to drive deep learning. Instead the “stress to perform” and “outrank your neighbouring school” always lays just beneath the surface and ready to erupt which typically causes harm, especially to students.

Currently diploma exams make up 30% of a student’s final grade. The previous government made the change from 50% to 30% and for the most part, the benefits have been evident. There was a time however, when a student’s final grade was determined entirely by a government exam…100%. When I graduated from high school in 1979, that pendulum had swung completely to the opposite and the teacher awarded mark was the determining factor for a student’s final grade. I was a good compliant student who graduated from an excellent school in the day. I was taught by some outstanding teachers. But, I’ll guarantee that had I been required to write a diploma exam in a couple of my subjects, I would not have ended up with honours standing. This is not to slight any of my teachers then but rather to point out that a lack of consistent assessment practices or common assessments led to some significant variations in grading. Throughout my education career, I witnessed varied assessment results from strong teachers within individual schools and across systems. There were no checks and balances around assessment and without them teachers tried to meet an imaginary or a constantly changing standard with varied success. That system was unfair to the student, but also highly unfair to the teacher.

High stakes standardized tests in themselves are not the answer, but common assessments are a critical part of the solution. We need to find ways for teachers to work together to create common assessments that maintain standards and demonstrate curriculum competence. And then, they need to be able to come together after the assessment to review and compare the results with a focus on teacher practice and student learning. Professionals should always be seeking to continually improve and this has the greatest potential for teachers to do just that. This is not judgment day from the government or the school division or even the school administration. This is an opportunity for teachers to within a trusting environment be vulnerable about their own practice asking questions like, “Your students did well on this concept. What are some of the strategies you are using to impact that learning?”

Mr. Marsden wants more testing to ensure gaps are identified and supports are then mobilized. I don’t disagree with the concept other than using the term testing. In the education world we call his desire, formative assessment. This analysis of student learning should be ongoing and given the world we live in right now, it is probably even more critical to be highly engaged in this practice. We don’t simply need more tests where some government officials and members of general public can point fingers and publicly criticize. That is not the answer!

Diploma exams need to remain in my opinion and I’d be supportive of dropping their relevance to 25%. And provincial achievement tests, in their current form, do little to improve teacher practice or student learning. The stress we place on students to perform well on tests that really don’t matter is appalling. Common assessments need to be locally developed and perhaps monitored provincially and teachers have to be provided the time to dig deeply into the data and engage in rich conversations on their own practice. This is not the entire answer, but we need to ensure this is the way we are moving forward.

Oct 02

Canadian politicians…time to wake up!

The other night, I watched the US Presidential debate and like most sane people, I was pretty dismayed by the entire debacle. It was certainly a low point if not the lowest for American politics. There wasn’t a simple stretch of the truth, instead, lies spewed and the decorum exhibited was deplorable! What we watched wasn’t a debate, it was a street fight. Radicals on either side may have seen something positive but for most people sitting and listening, nothing of substance around true policy or direction was shared.

If I was an American, I’d probably align more with the Republican mandate but there is absolutely no way that I could vote for Donald Trump. He is an ego maniac and a bully. More importantly, he has caused more division in the country (by not denouncing white supremacy or supporting peaceful protests) than any other president in recent history. The man is as far away from a true leader as can be humanly possible. Being humble is not likely in his vocabulary.

So what has that to do with Canada? Well, over the past number of years, we’ve started to head down the road of mud slinging politics. An acquaintance of mine grew up in Ottawa years ago and he and his buddies would head to Parliament often to watched the proceedings. He would tell you that the decorum during that time was classy. Debates were courteous, questions were tough but there was a lack of drama. In other words, politicians acted like the leaders they were elected to be.

During the beginning stage of the pandemic, I was proud of the majority of our Canadian politicians as they put the country first and party politics second. We were in a crisis and it was time to come together. That may be waning slightly now because it likely time to start thinking about checks and balances within this crisis. However, the bottom line is that disagreement on the floor should be done with integrity. Cat calls, rude comments, stunts and interruptions are not what we as a public should accept as proper behaviour by our politicians…no matter the party!

Living in Alberta, I’m more aware of our own provincial politics. I’ve been required to attend the legislature on a number of occasions and given my history, I would not send students to watch our provincial politicians during debate. There is not a classroom in the province run by a good teacher that behaves as poorly as many of our MLAs. This is not about picking sides because I’ve witnessed rude and obnoxious behaviour on both sides of the floor over many terms. Where is the class? Where is the appropriate decorum? Where are the respectful interactions? It seems that those characteristics of years gone by are few and far between and “staging” seems to be more important than meaningful discourse.

Unfortunately it is not only being seen in the Legislature but through social media as well. Politicians (from all sides) are flinging personal insults, making rude comments and in the end perpetuating a belief that nothing is ever good on one side or the other. Social media can be a powerful tool but it can also be a devastating weapon when used improperly. I think all politicians need to do a gut check to see if their behaviours or their comments in person or through social media are leading them more toward Trump style politics and if so…cease and desist!

I think our federal and provincial politicians should be applauded for responding to a call to serve. But note it is a call to serve not be served and a call to be humble and not arrogant. They deserve our respect because of the work that they do and the tough job that it is. But they should only earn our respect when they show respect not just to those who agree with their platform but more importantly to those who do not. Canadian politicians need to be leaders and as such…it is never about themselves.

Arrogance or rude and bullying behaviour have never been descriptors of high quality leaders. So let’s try and remove ourselves as far away as possible from Trump style politics and ensure nothing less from our politicians, to act with dignity and integrity and not with arrogance and a reality show mentality. We deserve that and quite frankly they should desire it too!

Sep 26

Messaging counts!

I had really hoped that through this pandemic the overall respect for what educators and systems do would improve. During out of class learning, there were more than enough parents who said something like, “I can’t keep up with my own 2 children, how do teachers do it with a class of 30?” I’m not sure whether that sentiment will continue on the positive path or instead only be fleeting.

Why? Why is so hard to convince the general public of the importance of educators?

For some, it is because they “think” they know what a teacher does since, they did go to school! They look at holidays or pay or workday or PD Days and believe that teachers have it pretty good. They choose the worst teacher they ever had and evaluate the entire teaching population based on that individual. Pretty easy to be negative! What they don’t see is behind the scenes, the hours of preparation and marking, the volunteer time and the stress of being responsible in many ways of raising someone else’s child. They also don’t see the glamour parts of the job like, cleaning up poop or being told to “F” off or being threatened by a bullying parent. No, they just think that teaching is a 8:30-3:30 job with weekends off and a lot of holidays!

Part of the issue is that teaching is experiential and unless you do it, you really don’t have a full understanding of the requirements. I would always forewarn new administrators coming right out of the classroom that what they thought administration was and what it was going to be like were very different. Most didn’t totally believe me, but they soon realized that administration like teaching was also experiential and, “You don’t know what you don’t know!” I always thought it was a great advantage for me as a superintendent to have taught from K-12, including Provincial Achievement Test grades and Diploma Exam subjects. So given that educational positions are so experiential, I think it will continue to be difficult to communicate what they do, to achieve a better understanding from the general public. So then how does education get the recognition is so richly deserves?

This is where I believe messaging counts both from an individual perspective and from teacher organizations. My daughter is a teacher and it gave me great pride that she chose the profession. However, I was dismayed at colleagues who thought she should choose a different profession because of the “state of education.” Do we really want to thwart our children’s passions because of the job is tough? It is not a good message to our own children and their friends that teaching isn’t highly regarded by us within the profession for a career. If we want the general public to have respect for educators then we must have the same respect for ourselves and clearly demonstrate that to our children and our students.

Have you ever been around a person that is always negative? It is not much fun! Pretty soon you either try to find a way to limit contact with that individual or simply go tone deaf. Unfortunately, we have those individuals in the profession too! Their constant whining that nothing is good enough or that the sky is always falling doesn’t provide much confidence in the system. There are people out there who are just waiting to shove the dagger in a little deeper and be able to say, “See educators are just whiners and certainly don’t deserve our respect and support!” Individual messaging counts!

Social media can be a breeding ground for negativity and especially now with this pandemic. While I’m sure that most people believe they are just advocating for themselves and their students, the negative overtones are front and center. Don’t get me wrong, there are still a far greater number of positive posts from teachers, but we know that most people will tend to gravitate to the negative if it is out there. I don’t know the exact line between advocating and complaining but somehow we need to bring forth more positive messages. Always try to advocate by telling the great things that are happening in the school or system rather than looking for something or someone to blame or to fault.

My point for individuals but especially for organizations is that the messaging can’t always be negative. You are not winning the battle if you consistently communicate that nothing is ever good enough. It would be most welcome if politicians, ALL POLITICIANS, led this movement to acknowledge strengths and good decisions rather than look for the negative and simply criticize everything on the other side.

When I was a superintendent, Alberta Education officials knew me pretty well as being a straight shooter. They knew that when decisions were made that supported student learning, I was their biggest fan. They also understood that when those decisions were contrary to what was best for students, staff and the system, I was their toughest critic. It would not have been unfair for me to only be their toughest critic when they deserved accolades too!

I would consider myself a liberal-minded conservative. I have not been pleased with some of decisions this government has made but I also wasn’t enamored by many of the decisions of the previous government. However, I can’t say enough good things about the work they did with curriculum. Contrary to popular thought, it wasn’t political in nature, it did have great stakeholder input and the timelines were very acceptable. I say this because even though I’m not a supporter of the previous government, they did some great work. All of their policies or decisions weren’t bad, in fact many of them were very strong. I’m guessing that when the dust settles, we will see that this government provided some positive outcomes as well.

The key point is that we can’t continually be negative and only look for things that are wrong and hope that our stature as a profession is elevated and ultimately the learning environment for our students is enhanced. Every decision made by a government or board, or educator can and likely should be scrutinized (ensuring you truly know all the facts and the context). However, if the comments on those decisions are only negative, then you’ve likely lost your ability to be objective and are missing your “fair” quotient! I don’t believe we should be silent, but in order to be a strong and successful advocate, it needs to be done without constantly pointing fingers and playing the blame game. Hint…eventually nobody listens to you!!!

As the saying goes, you will always attract more bees with honey than vinegar so, let’s use a little more honey going forward!

Sep 16

September constants…always relationships!

The start of school, typically in September has a couple of constants. First, everybody gets sick! We have a heightened awareness because of COVID 19, but let’s face it, students and staff often get sick during this first month of school. Students and staff have typically lost some of their immunity factors over the summer and the ramped up schedule for both tends to lead to more illness at home and at school.

The second constant for the school start is the critical importance of adults building strong relationships with students. This year, the need to foster effective and trusting relationships with students, parents and guardians is even greater. There continues to be a high level of anxiety out there, (some warranted and some not) and students first need to feel safe and supported in their learning environment. Media hysteria, social media rants or politically motivated misinformation about how schools are ill prepared don’t make it easy for educators in schools. The good news however is that compassionate educators always tend to push these distractions aside and focus on relationships.

Prior to the start of the school year I was invited to present to an elementary staff on school culture and relationships. With regular in-school attendance being interrupted for almost six months, the general public may believe that the 3 Rs: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic should be the primary focus coming back into school. However, my contention then and now is that the 3Rs to be attended to are: Relationships! Relationships! Relationships!

Of interest, is that in many standards for teachers and leaders, the first competency is always around fostering effective relationships. Great teachers and great leaders always build strong relationships with their people…little or big! Yet the push from some governments and the general public is to elevate the standards usually by imposing unnecessary high stakes testing. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in constantly improving the educational experience of our students and I’m adamant that data should be used to inform our instructional practice. But higher standards or “better graduates” won’t come about if we don’t first focus on relationships. The issue is well characterized in the photo below.

Dr. Jody Carrington would be all over this slide because it speaks of connection and in essence, that is what strong relationships are…connections.

Why would teacher and leader standards have relationships as their first competency if it wasn’t that important? Every September should be the start or re-start of building relationships that carry on throughout the year. If we don’t get that right…then we really aren’t getting education right!!!

 

 

  

Aug 17

Don’t forget about your people!

Some leaders are people first while others tend to be more policy driven. The very best can walk in both worlds quite easily but if a leader needs to choose, I would always suggest working on relationships. Many organizations and especially small school divisions were run like small “mom & pop” corner stores. There wasn’t much written down in terms of regulations and everybody just knew how things worked. Unfortunately our world has shifted so that those types of “laissez faire” operations have become almost non-existent. Employment rifts, poor relationships between management and employees and a litigation happy society has created this outcome. And sometimes, rules are required to be made because of “stupid” decisions of staff.

I’m not against policies and regulations and during my time as a Superintendent of Schools, I needed to establish some strict directives and make some tough decisions. I agonized over decisions about cancelling some trips that I knew were of great benefit for students but also knew that their safety was in potential jeopardy. I never wanted to be known as the superintendent who bankrupted the division because of a poor decision around policy. There is always a fine balance between people first and policy first and honestly, sometimes I got it right and sometimes I didn’t. But one thing I learned through my many years in leadership, it is pretty easy to judge that line when you’re in the cheap seats and have no skin in the game.

There are rules that are clearly defined, very specific and there is no other way than “this or that.” Anything involving money is pretty specific and as example after example shows, even nice people commit fraud if you don’t have tight controls. However, not all policy is or should be “black or white.” One of the things I always looked for in any policy or regulation was the gray area. Laws should never be broken but policies should be adaptive enough to have some breathing room. Your best leaders, those who lead with compassion and not simply “by the book” will always look at the intent of the policy and how its application will create a win-win scenario for both management and employee. Policies should never be to advantage one side or the other but rather be a guide for appropriate and acceptable decisions, and actions. Too often they are used as a hammer to curb usually a small percentage of rogue employees. While that saddens me to write that sentence, I know it is true because every organization has rogue employees or leaders who lack compassion and proper relationship building skills.

In the next couple of weeks, schools are going to be open for business and there is going to be a strong requirement for compliance reporting. We are still in the midst of a pandemic and if you think the paperwork was excessive for occupational health and safety standards this will be worse. School personnel will be required to keep accurate records to ensure the safety of students and staff. It is going to be another task placed on an already full plate! Make no mistake, this requirement is critical going forward and cannot be seen as just another hoop to jump through. Frustrating as it is, school divisions, governments and more importantly departments of health need this very accurate information to limit widespread infections.

Here is my point- divisional staff and government officials need to be patient with school personnel. There are a lot of moving parts in a school and…

If everything is important, then nothing is.” -Patrick Lencioni ...

Policies and regulations need to be relaxed or at the very least the “gray” found so that the most important aspects of schooling can be accomplished. Every report is not critical, every task is not essential but the health and well being of staff and students is!!! You want massive sick leave…keep piling on the non-essential reports or other tasks that in the grand scheme of things make your life as a manager easier but theirs as employees, not so much! That is why, especially in this time of pandemic, don’t forget about your own people and therefore lead with people in mind first!