Moral leadership( Author: Klaas Fokkinga)

Moral leadership

If we want it or not, the school is a moral enterprise because:

• We want to equip the children for the society of tomorrow.
  Which manners, values and norms do belong that society?
• It is our task to advance the development of the children. This interest is the school sharing with the parents. Development is not only about learning and teaching knowledge and skills but also about raising.
  F.i. hoe do we fill in the pedagogical partnership with the parents?
• All involved in school have certain views / opinions about “ good education” .
  How do you – as director – lead a conversation about this theme with professionals and others in and out site your school?
• Every decisions you take has consequences.
  Which moral reference framework do you use yourself with your choices?

In our society – at least in my country – individualisation is growing very fast.

Individual rights, individual freedom, individual development seems to be the most important thing there is. And ofcourse is the personal development very important. But individual / personal development freedom stops there where the development possibilities of others become affected.

A moral leader guards that border.

A moral leader reflects on his own behaviour and let employees reflect on the question which values and which behaviour should be seen as “ good” . But what is good today can be bad tomorrow. That´s why dialog is important.

So moral leadership deals more with creating a reflection and interaction process concerning the question what is good or bad in the circumstances.

Working with young learners is very responsible work. We all work with children in a vulnerable age; the development program must be good at once because we don´t get a second chance. That means every professional in the field of education must justify one self morally. Do I do the good things and do I do them well?

For a moral leader in primary education the leading question is always:

What is good for children? And which consequences does it have for my acting?

Beware that moral leadership is not the same as moralistic leadership.

A moralistic leader forces children to take over his / her norms of good and bad.

They see themselves as agent of the good , which must fight the evil. They try to convince others of their points and don´t invite to self-reflection and dialogue.

That means they take away acting up to one´s personal duty of responsibility; you only justify yourself with respect to set (laid on) norms.

10 traits of moral leaders in primary education

1. committed people with high expectations
2. feel primarily responsible for the pupil
3. dare to take a stand
4. they act as they speak
5. they can be called to accounted on their responsibility and are transparent in their decisions
6. they invest in relation, reflection and dialogue
7. they respect people and environment
8. they deal with undesired and wrong behaviour
9. they know how to balance hard dilemmas
10. they are aware of their power and authority and do not abuse them.

Assignment 1: Prioritise

Write the 10 traits on a memo. Put them in your order of importance with respect to your job. Note the order. Go from top to bottom and compare the memos two by two Then compare them on the basis of the following question..

In my daily work I show more (A) than (B), or I think it is important to show more (B) than (A).

When you decide you think (B) is more important than (A) you change the order.

Go over all traits until they are in the right order. Compare this order with your first order. Are there striking differences? How can they be explained? Does your professional behaviour show what you feel is important?

Note some suggestions to improve your moral and professional behaviour on the basis of what you have found out. Work on these points and evaluate them in a month to see if there really has been an improvement.

Assignment 2: Quickscan moral leadership

Grade yourself 1 to 10 on every trait. Have your team members fill in this list anonymously. Calculate the average and compare the scores. Pay special attention to the remarks and draw your own conclusions.

Description	Appreciation	Remarks
Is committed to people and has high expectations of me
feels primarily responsible for the pupil
dares to take a stand
acts as he speaks
Accounts for decisions
Invests in relation, reflection and dialogue
Deals with undesired behaviour
Knows how to balance in difficult situations
Does not abuse his position

posted by admihiotis @ 7:38 am