Principals and their Very Necessary Involvment in the Professional Learning and Development of their Staff

In 2014, I decided to conduct an inquiry into the involvement of principals in the professional learning and development project that I was facilitating in their schools.  I had found that in 2013, some principals were not active in the professional learning and development (PLD) that they wanted their staff to particpate in.  When this happens, some staff see the project as being of lower priority in the school.

I had about 30% active involvement of principals and decided I wanted 100%, so my inquiry was to see what I could do about it, as research had told me that the PLD would be more successful if principals were actively involved.  I decided to approach the principals and ask them to complete a checklist of indicators that they were actively involved.

This strategy had a twofold purpose:

1. To alert the principals to the fact that they should be involved (even though the Memorandum of Understanding clearly stated they would be)
2. To give principals some ideas of how they could be involved (because sometimes these things may be as clear as the big nose on your own face but not to others)

Principals were asked to help me with my inquiry by assessing their own degree of involvement and also adding any other factors that they could think of that would indicate that they were involved.  

There were unexpected outcomes.  As I watched some principals complete the checklist, I saw them waver as they filled out the sheet.  They WANTED to check the indicators positively but they knew they had not , in all honesty, done what they indicator had suggested. But they went ahead and checked it anyway!  And then they started doing it from that point on!  

So I suddenly became aware that some principals need a little help in meeting success criteria.  They need to know what is expected of them spelt out in black and white.  This year, I had over 80% active involvement by principals in the PLD.  A big improvement.

Principals also added some criteria to my original list and I am publishing this list of indicators so that it can be used by others working in schools in the same way that I do, and by principals if they wish to do a little self review on how well they are involved in PLDs in their school.

If you have a suggestion to add to the list, please do so by adding a comment below.  Here is the checklist: 

                                  

Goldilocks can teach educators about learning.

I learn about hundreds of new things every week.  I peruse a list of items, articles, how to's and latest news on my reader "Feedly".  (It used to be Google Reader but sadly they dropped that.)  When perusing, the trick is to filter out what is not immediately useful, and store other stuff somewhere (usually in Diigo) for future reference in the hope I can remember it when the time comes.  Tags are great.  They help you search for stuff that you may not immediately remember what it was that you are thinking of.  Does that even make sense?
Another trick in my job is not to overload other people when it is not useful.  This is called "PD just in time."  You are much more likely to remember stuff when you have to use it for some specific purpose.  The same applies to learning with students.  Too much stuff becomes boring and pointless unless you are going to use it.
Our school curriculum in New Zealand is great.  There is so much scope to choose contexts that will be relevant for every student.  To personalise the learning, we need to use digital technologies.  This allows students to learn along their own pathways but it does add to the teachers' burdens.  When is "not enough" guidance, when is" too much", when is it "just right?"
I have been mulling over this question this morning, in response to an educator, Kevin Schindel, who in his blog on A New Class Project reflects whether some educators trying to develop 21st Century skills rely too heavily on the technology to be able to take over the role of the teacher.
I also read a blog by Charlotte French on "Student Agency vs Student Anxiety" this morning which really asks the question 'How much should a teacher really let go?'.  Her year 13 students want the right answers rather than having to construct the answers themselves.  Of course, they are preparing for NCEA assessments, so of course they want the 'right' answers.  Just how much does assessment detract form solid learning.  Another similar vein was raised by Heather Eccles in her blog "Good Results Do Not Necessarily Mean Good Teaching" and I could not agree more.  I just have to share this video.

Probably the 5 minute university is just not quite enough.  But how much is too much?  Are we expecting too much of our teachers?  Their roles as facilitators of learning requires them to be educated and trained in their fields, adept with digital technologies, and really overseers of the whole class of learning pathways every single year.  That is a pretty big job, don't you think?