Leadership in Education

The topic of leadership has come up a lot lately in my life in more ways than one. It is such a big and broad topic that takes on multiple shapes and forms. One thing to note that I think is important, it is not only those that are given a title that are called to be leaders because truly some heroes do not wear capes but hopefully they do get a chance to be noticed and are celebrated.

Over the past few weeks in the last and current month, I have been so inspired by leaders in education who win Global Teacher Prizes. Leaders who write books to equip teachers based on their experiences. Leaders who become school principals at schools at the age of 29 after pulling up a pass rate from approx. 22% to 82%. Leaders who have a vision to transform schools socially and academically. Leaders who make other leaders.

I’ve been picking up a lot of common threads from each if these individuals which seem to be a working recipe each within their own context.

• Leadership requires faith in yourself and in your abilities.
• Have to be a sponge. Someone who can learn as much as they can. And someone with a growth mindset. Doesn’t make sense to lead in education with a fixed mindset.
• As a leader, more often than not you will put in overtime. Working only within working hours won’t make much of a difference.
• You have to have a sense of wanting to do more! For your school and your learners.
• Because of that you are more likely to get opposition which isn’t always nice and can be highly stressful.
• But you develop a sense of resilience and a thick skin to go with it.

Leadership takes a certain kind of passion and is not for the faint hearted. Sometimes I question the conditions of my own heart and that’s okay, because being worried about messing things up means that you really care, and that is never a bad thing.

Thank you for your time. Always willing and able to engage further on the topic.

HAPPY WOMEN’S MONTH 💓 FOR SOUTH AFRICA 🇿🇦