Thursday 26 April 2012

Lessons I've Learned!

It's true what they say! You often don't realise what you've got until it's gone and by then of course it's too late! I was in Leeds again last week and met some old friends and colleagues who talked passionately about Education Leeds and the incredible culture we created within the organisation.


We need to continue to build brilliant learning places with strong, dynamic and successful leadership and empowered, trusted and passionate learning teams to serve every community. Learning places with strong community engagement and powerful and modern governance. We need to build deep learning in all our learning places; deep learning to equip our little learners with the functional, personal and social skills they need to be successful bigger learners in a world that is increasingly automated, and where the routine, the repetitive and the ordinary will be done by machine. We need to powerfully use digital learning, ICT and local networks to develop and nurture excellence and share good practice, great ideas and connect and learn from the things that work. We need to nurture talent, creativity and imagination in our learning teams, and wherever we can find it, so that every school becomes a brilliant learning place, changing lives and releasing the magic! How do we do it in this strange fragmented, Academy driven and negative educational landscape? Well, these are the lessons I've learnt:
  • be driven by a mission with values and beliefs that focus on inclusion and equity,
  • be positive and optimistic, and yet realistic,
  • constantly search for excellence and great ideas,
  • constantly search for talented people,
  • have high expectations of everyone you work with,
  • develop cooperative and collaborative approaches,
  • develop and support communities of interest,
  • be open, honest and genuine about successes and failures,
  • learn from everything you do,
  • be flexible, responsive and adaptable,
  • listen to those you work with and those you serve.
After all, as Tom Peters said... "Leadership is the process of engaging people in building the future, creating a legacy of excellence and making a difference."
Chris

2 comments:

  1. Here here. If only everyone had such aspiration what an education system we'd have!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The cutler initative et al are lucky to have you! x

    ReplyDelete

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