Trusting Relationships Needed First

Kaser and Halbert (2009) state "when adult relationships in schools are characterized by trust, the stories about change shift from indifference or negativity to possibility and hope." A trusting relationship is essential to making any change. This relationship seems easy for successful leaders to make and sustain, while other leaders have difficultly building trust, and then there are the leaders that build relationships and lose trust through lack of integrity. In Kaser and Halbert (2009), Solomon and Flores (2001) are quoted, " Trust is cultivated through speech, conversation, commitments, and action. Trust is never something 'already at hand, it is always a matter of human effort. It can and often must be conscientiously created, not simply taken for granted."(p.87). In my opinion, relationships need to be build prior to trust being given. Leaders need to get to know and show interest in their people personally, to have invested time and energy into finding out what they think, believe, what their interests are, and who their families are. Is this necessary for trust to develop? Are there other ways, that trust can be developed?

Intense Moral Purpose

To have an Intense Moral Purpose mindset, leaders must be passionately focused on the quality and equity of education. Leaders must be intensely committed to making a difference in the lives of young people. These leaders need to stay focused on creating success for these students whatever the odds are against them. I believe, in order to make a difference for these young people, leaders need to build emotional connections with students, especially the vulnerable ones. These students need to believe and feel that leaders care for their well-being, intellectually, emotionally and socially. Leaders, I admired were able to make connections with students and consequently make a difference for them. Does the emotional connection have to come first prior to students having high quality learning experiences?

Networked Leadership

Kaser and Halbert present the idea of networked leadership through the Network of Performance Based Schools. There are common characteristics of being part of a network including: team work, interdependence, inquiry, asssessment, public communication, depth of thinking, connecting ideas, metacognition and use of evidence. Is it possible to experience all of these characteristics? What kinds of barriers can prevent them? How can these barriers be overcome?

PQ : Using All Six Mindsets

While there are 6 distinct mindsets that characterise the way a successful, learning oriented leader operate, I am wondering how these leaders master all of them and put them all into practice. Other than have these mindsets, do these leaders also have other qualities that make them sucessful as well? If there are, what might they be?

PP : How Do You Help Educators Overcome Discomfort With The Use of The Inquiry Approach?

Earl and Timperley states that " Educators may not be experienced or comfortable with these inquiry process of questioning, reflecting, seeking alternatives and weighing consequences to promote the 'transparency' of what might remain unobservable facets of practice, making tacit knowledge visible and open to scruitiny'.

In an Asian setting, educators will experience discomfort adopting this approach as they find it uncomfortable to question many things. How then does a school leader help his/her teachers overcome this discomfort?

Moving From Sorting to Learning

In Kaser and Halbert's chapter on moving from sorting to learning they discuss the importance of providing student with appropriate context to their learning so that they can be more engaged. They discuss a shift in the teacher's pedagody to make this happen. In the research I have been conducting on parent involvment in schools, I see that it is not enough for teachers to make a shift in educational pedagogy. Parents and community members must also change their view about the purpose of education. Its sole purpose is no longer to move up the social scale. Society is still today in a sorting mindset. I wonder when we will witness a societal shift to truly understanding a knowledge base society? Can the shift only be representative at the school level?