Chapter 7 Revisioning Decision Making in Education Leadership Peter P. Grimmett

How can one embrace politics in a manner that transforms educators’ actions into a positive force for good?

Professional Discourse: Emotional Satisfaction ●Optimal learning conditions within policy ●Relationships with colleagues ●Daily work- pedagogy is stimulating ●Glimpse of HOPE Political Discourse: Emotional Despair ●Policy changes constrained educators ●Intention is suspicious ●difficult conditions ●Trappings of DESPAIR Teacher Discussions about their Environment

●Increasing difficulty and complexity of teaching and relating to students ●The volume of work during a teacher’s day ●Lack of time, resources, support, and respect 3 key Areas of Stress for Teacher TUMOR Cancer Cells Immune Cells Fight Politics- revert back to its original function of serving pedagogy

Educational leaders can transform the political into a positive pedagogical force.

Dewey (1997) says: “When teachers give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking, or the intentional noting of connections; learning naturally results…”

Study is the Site of Education Barriers: Tying Learning to Instruction and Assessment creates a Trap ●makes students dependent on teachers for learning ●holds teachers responsible for student learning

How can educational leaders direct teachers to address curriculum indirectly?

Making Teachers work Significant ●Leaders must understand the myths and stories of the organization. ●Leaders must engage in “remystification”- stakeholder discussions about culture that include: o mission o vision o purpose to define the SIGNIFICANCE of the school

Student Relationships Teacher’s Significance SocietyContent

Dewey (1997) says: “When teachers give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking, or the intentional noting of connections; learning naturally results…”

Teachers infuse Value, Passion and Purpose Grapple with… ●What are values, beliefs, assumptions and norms? ●What role to myths and historical artifacts play? ●How are mission and purpose at the heart of school culture? How do they define success?

The Role of Leadership ●Remember that even self-motivated teachers need to be governed by professional norms. ●Do not govern with explicit expectations or rules. ●Understand that professional norms are built over time when principals and teachers have expectations of one another. Appr Approach the changing of norms indirectly

“Frontal attacks are even more wasteful in learning than in war” (Dewey, 1997)

Policy- makers make the same mistake by insisting that the norm of “learning” be hit head on.

Public Pedagogy ●Communicate through story ●Honor and remember the past ●Revisit the schools significance ●Infuse the value, purpose, meaning and direction of the work of teaching

Stop then from the staid and somber line. Move out into dancing into dreams so daring; without them you will settle for the road that wanders by and winds to nowhere. (Gire, 1996, p. 154)