TI-AIE: Perspective on leadership: planning and leading change in your school
What this unit is about
Change in its various forms is a common occurrence in educational systems and within schools. The drivers may be external or internal, or a combination of both. Change may be imposed on you or started by you. In most cases the ultimate aim is to move from a current state to a more desirable future state. Within a school context, this ultimately relates to improving student learning, either through direct changes to teaching and learning or through improving the effectiveness of school structures and systems to support learning.
In this unit you will consider what change means in your school or educational setting and consider some of the drivers of educational change. You will then move on to look at different leadership approaches such as collaborative, distributed, democratic and transformational leadership. You will link these different approaches and perspectives to educational leadership.
Motivation and trust are considered to be important levers for change. Therefore, you will spend some time looking at how best you can motivate yourself and others as you prepare to lead change. You will reflect on your role as a leader and consider how some of the issues presented in this unit can help you improve on your current practice.
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.