Leadership and the Key Competencies
The Ministry of Education web site notes that "Learners are most likely to develop and strengthen their capabilities for living and learning when they learn with teachers in a school whose leadership creates conditions that stimulate key competencies." (MoE, 2014). It goes on the say that compelling change to support key competencies is a vital role for school leadership and that, for many, key competencies require, and make possible, a significant change in practice.
Key Competencies and 21st Century Skills - How do they compare?
Key Competencies:
- Thinking
- Using language, symbols & texts
- Managing self
- Relating to others
- Participating and contributing
ITL 21st Century Skills
- Collaboration
- Knowledge construction
- Self-regulation
- Real-world problems / innovations
- ICT for learning
- Skilled Communication
Can you line up an ITL Rubric with a key competency? More than one? How do they fit?
How explicit is ICT in Key Competencies? This was a big issue back in 2007 - what happened? This is usually under 'using language, symbols & texts', but has the possibility of being separated because people recognise its importance. It is not teaching ICT, but how it is integrated into what students do.
What is the role of digital fluency, and do digital competencies acknowledge this? Is computational thinking the same as problem solving?
KCs and He Tikanga Whakaaro
He Tikanga Whakaaro suggests a Maori way of thinking / understanding. Macfarlane et al (2008) provide the following comparison between the KCs and the concepts of He Tikanga Whakaaro.
| Key Competencies | He Tikanga Whakaaro |
| Thinking Using language, symbols & texts | Tātaritanga (thinking and making meaning) |
| Managing self | Rangatiratanga (personal autonomy and leadership) Whakawhanaungatanga (establishing relationships) |
| Relating to others | Manaakitanga (a context of caring relationships) |
| Participating and contributing | Whaiwahitanga (engagement and participation). |
The new professional standards (Education Council, 2017) include the following values, which also overlap to some extent.
MANAAKITANGA: Creating a welcoming, caring and creative learning environment that treats everyone with respect and dignity.
WHANAUNGATANGA: Engaging in positive and collaborative relationships with our learners, their families and whānau, our colleagues and the wider community.
Professional Teaching Standards
The Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession (Education Council, 2017) includes the following statements about leadership.
"The Purposes of the Standards for the Teaching Profession are to:-
promote high-quality teaching and leadership for all learners across all education settings" (p.16)
also, in the elaboration of the Professional Relationships Standard:-
"Actively contribute, and work collegially, in the pursuit of improving my own and organisational practice, showing leadership, particularly in areas of responsibility" (p.18)
Towards Reconceptualising Leadership
Before the session this week you were asked to read Wayne Freeth's article "Towards Reconceptualising Leadership: The Implications of the Revised New Zealand Curriculum for School Leaders" (Freeth, 2013). In the article, Freeth addresses a number of interesting concepts, including knowledge as a verb vs. knowledge as a noun, and how teacher leadership can be promoted within distributed leadership. School culture is addressed; “A change of culture goes hand in hand with a change of conceptualisations of knowledge and of leadership.”
Freeth also raises the question of teachers' willingness to engage in self development; “The lack of time was emphasised by many participants. I wondered whether, in certain cases, this may not also become an excuse that masks other reasons, such as the perception that ‘thinking’ is heavy intellectual work that is done in a strange and difficult language”
On a more positive note, he believes that within every school there is a sleeping giant of teacher leadership that can be a strong catalyst for making changes to improve student learning. Also, that teacher agency is central to school improvement. The article's comparisons between management and leadership are also interesting. Teacher leadership is different from administrative or managerial roles, not top-down, transactional practices but shared decision making, teamwork and community building.
Reflective Practice and Blogging
As a regular process on this course we ask your to reflect on your practice; to be a reflective practitioner. Maxwell (2009) states that "Experience alone does not add value to life, or your practice. It’s not necessarily the experience that is valuable; it’s the insight you get because of your experience. Reflective thinking turns experience into insights!"
On the fourth course of this programme “Applied Practice in Context” you’ll get to critically reflect upon different aspects of your practice. If you want to start that journey already you can start to blog about your learning. Even if blogging is not assessed as part of the official assessments during the initial courses, all the previous students who have started blogging have felt it has been essential to their professional growth and improvement. Blogging can be a really good way for you to explore and record new ideas for your future research. If you are taking notes anyway, why not share them and build your online identity at the same time?
If you choose to make your blog public, it can become a positive contributor to your digital footprint. As Betcher (2009) notes "Ask any blogger, they know the benefits.I can see a day in the not too distant future (if it’s not already here) where your digital footprint will carry far more weight than anything you might include in a resume or CV.”
Hanuscin et al (2014) state that blogging can also be important from a leadership perspective. "Specifically, by participating in pedagogical transactions, social interactions, and intellectual deliberations via blogs, teachers were supported in their efforts to be leaders in their classrooms, schools, and districts."
References
Betcher, C. (2009). Digital footprints. Retrieved from http://chrisbetcher.com/tag/digitalfoot print/
Education Council. (2017). Our Code, Our Standards: Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession. Wellington: Education Council
Freeth, W. (2013).Towards Reconceptualising Leadership: The Implications of the Revised New Zealand Curriculum for School Leaders. TLRI. Retrieved from http://www.tlri.org.nz/sites/default/files/projects/Towards%20reconceptualising%20leadership.%20A%20Case%20Study.pdf
Hanuscin, D., Cheng, Y., Rebello, C., Sinha, S., & Muslu, N. (2014). The Affordances of Blogging As a Practice to Support Ninth-Grade Science Teachers' Identity Development as Leaders. Journal Of Teacher Education, 65(3), 207-222. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022487113519475
Macfarlane, H., Glynn, T., Grace, W., Penetito, W. & Bateman, S. (2008). Indigenous epistemology in a national curriculum framework? Ethnicities, 8, 102
Maxwell, J. C. (2009). How successful people think: Change your thinking, change your life. Hachette UK.
MoE. (2014). Leadership and the key competencies. Retrieved from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Key-competencies/To...
No comments:
Post a Comment