TI-AIE: Managing and developing self: managing and developing yourself
What this unit is about
In order to realise the vision of transforming schools in India into centres of excellence for student learning it is critical that school leaders take personal responsibility for renewing and updating their skills and knowledge throughout their working lives, as it is they who are at the centre of this movement. Personal development is a lifelong process of nurturing, shaping and improving your skills and knowledge in order to ensure maximum effectiveness in the school work sphere and developing a positive self-concept. Personal development does not necessarily imply upward movement (that is, promotion). Instead, it is about enabling you to improve your performance in leading your school.
Making time for personal development is challenging for busy school leaders. Therefore this unit focuses on two critical key skills to enable you to create space in your schedule: time management and delegation. It will then explore how to use the time you create for personal development by ensuring your actions are purposeful (using a personal development plan) and effective (using SMART objectives).
The criticality of developing the self has been highlighted as one of the six key areas in the National Programme Design and Curriculum Framework, published by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) in 2014. This is viewed as important for bringing about school transformation and the professional growth of school leaders in India. This calls for convergence between the goals of self-development and institutional development for each school leader.
Learning Diary
During your work on this unit you will be asked to make notes in your Learning Diary, a book or folder where you collect together your thoughts and plans in one place. Perhaps you have already started one.
You may be working through this unit alone, but you will learn much more if you are able to discuss your learning with another school leader. This could be a colleague with whom you already collaborate, or someone with whom you can build a new relationship. It could be done in an organised way or on a more informal basis. The notes you make in your Learning Diary will be useful for these kinds of meetings, while also mapping your longer-term learning and development.