Instructional Leadership Platform

QUESTION

Rationale

A “platform” consists of those beliefs, opinions, values, attitudes and assumptions that form the basis for the decisions we make and the actions we take. Our platforms derive from life experiences, formal education and training, and the trial and error learning in our profession. By reflecting upon and articulating our platform, as clearly as we are able, we can become more aware of the inconsistencies in our practice. We can move our beliefs, opinions, values, and opinions from an unconscious to a conscious level and can more easily recognize incongruence between our words and our deeds.

Teachers can better understand our behaviors (where we are coming from) if we clearly articulate our platform. This understanding is especially important for those teachers whose platforms may be diametrically opposite from our own. It is important to know if and where the teacher’s and supervisor’s platforms differ and whether these differences will prohibit collaborative efforts for improving the teaching-learning process.

Your paper should include the following topics:

Your five most important aims of education for children who will be in your school
Your preferred school culture/instructional climate
You ideas about how one learns.
Your definition of classroom supervision
Your ultimate goal of instructional leadership
You ideas about the best ways to teach.
Your role as the instructional leader
The characteristics you will model that demonstrate your instructional leadership capability

There are no right or wrong responses. Remember, you are creating YOUR platform.

Develop this platform as a starting point for identifying the beliefs, values, attitudes, and opinions that you currently possess. It is not a static document. The truths that you have today may change over time. Even with your final copy for the purposes of this class, your platform will always remains in “draft” form.

ANSWER

Developing an Instructional Leadership Platform

Introduction

In the provision of quality education, I stand for equality and equal opportunity. Every student deserves quality and equitable education, regardless of their gender, cognitive abilities, the color of their skin, socio-economic status, and background. It is important that teachers and educators work towards ensuring that every student receives quality and equitable education throughout the country (Bush, 2015). It is also important that students are made aware of the fact that their teachers believe in them and their abilities, to boost their zeal and interest in education. By having teachers that are supportive, students build a sense of trust, respect, and belonging towards their teachers and instructors. This contributes to their learning and ensures that all learning outcomes are achieved. It is also important for teachers to show parents that they believe in their children and are willing to provide quality education to them. As an instructional leader, I will strive to set the tone for staff and teachers to establish a climate of equality for students, to enable the provision of quality education.

Aims of Education – Vision and Mission

When developing a mission and a vision statement for a school, it is important to consider all the stakeholders involved – students, parents, administrators, and community members. This way, the stakeholders will be assured that they are valued and that their needs are considered. Everyone needs to feel included in the process. The scope of the mission and vision needs to be one that all the stakeholders are willing to focus on and work together towards goal achievement. Everyone has to understand the goals set to enable the formation of a conducive environment for goal achievement. As an administrator or leader, my main role will be to motivate teachers to assist students to maximize their learning potential. My mission will be to provide quality and equitable education to students. The following are the five main goals for my school:

To provide quality education to all students.
To assist students to identify their strengths and weaknesses for purposes of identifying the areas that they need to focus on.
To establish a conducive learning environment where students believe in their teachers and work hard to achieve success.
To motivate teachers to focus on holistic student development/
To provide a caring and loving environment that will set the foundation for life-long successful learners.

School Culture and the Promotion of Student Learning and Professional Growth

My belief is that learning is only possible when healthy and lasting connections are built between people. Classrooms provide opportunities for interactive discussions and teacher-modeling, where teachers and students can engage in stimulating conversations to expand their perspectives (Day, Gu, & Sammons, 2016). Teachers and students are able to listen to and interact with varied opinions, ideas, and thoughts. An environment of collaboration is established when teachers and students interact, enabling everyone to understand that the opinions of others matter. For this to occur, a school culture based on collaboration and hard work needs to be present. A culture based on collaboration and hard work would result in the establishing of a social learning environment where students can learn from one another and not just from their teachers. It would also enable teachers to look at things through the perspectives of students.

Students have different styles of learning. They either learn orally, visually, audibly or through hands-on engagement. To ensure equity in the provision of education, it is important that classroom activities recognize the different learning styles of students. Every student should be provided with the best quality education, which is only achievable by ensuring that teachers use different methods of teaching to cater to the learning needs of every student. There should be no discrimination or segregation in the classroom. It is the role of teachers to ensure that they provide students with quality education and that learning outcomes are achieved (Day et al., 2016). Lesson plans should include the use of all the methods of teaching to ensure that all students benefit from lessons. No student should be ‘short-changed’ during lessons, to ensure that education is effective.

As an instructional leader and administrator, I will utilize teacher assessments and evaluations to ensure that teachers are helpful to students and that their lesson plans and activities provide an opportunity for all students to learn. I will also ensure that classroom supervision is provided by teachers in-charge of student performance to ensure that teachers are kept on their toes and that student needs are addressed. Supervision will entail the collection of student performance data and the analysis of lesson plans. In addition, student performance data needs to be analyzed and reviewed regularly with their teachers to address any areas of weakness (Marks & Printy, 2003). This will provide a clear way of improving teaching and learning in classrooms and the improvement of student achievement.

Management and Instructional Leadership

Leadership in a school needs to focus on ensuring that educational goals are achieved (Daniëls, Hondeghem, & Dochy, 2019; Marks & Printy, 2003). To achieve educational goals, students need to feel safe, cared for, and loved. Happy students have a positive attitude towards learning and are, therefore, ready to learn. Good school leadership also needs to ensure that parents are comfortable to send their children to school. Parents and students need to see administrators and teachers as their friends for educational goals to be achieved. Besides creating a conducive learning environment, it is important that school leadership ensures that there is a low teacher turn-over rate (Mehdinezhad & Mansouri, 2016). This way, school improvement plans and projects will be cohesive and learning will not be interrupted from time to time.

It is my objective to provide leadership that provides teachers with a conducive teaching environment while ensuring that student needs are met (Blase & Blase, 1998). By ensuring a low rate of teacher turn-over, I will ensure that teaching staff is continuously improved from one year to the next. It is also my objective to ensure that yearly plans are developed to improve student learning. Plans will be developed from data obtained after teacher assessment review and a review of annual student performance, identifying specific areas of weakness that need to be prioritized in the coming school year. Through this course, I have improved and polished my instructional leadership knowledge, enabling me to understand effective leadership and the tough decisions that it often involves. This has prepared me for different situations that I will encounter in my career.

Conclusion

With the best interests of students and teachers at heart, I will provide instruction aimed at improved teaching and learning outcomes to the best of my abilities. By practicing ethical decision making and establishing a school culture based on collaboration and hard work, I am confident that the education goals set will be achieved.

References

Blase, J., & Blase, J. (1998). Handbook of Instructional Leadership: How Really Good Principals Promote Teaching and Learning. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED418493

Bush, T. (2015). Understanding instructional leadership. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143215577035

Daniëls, E., Hondeghem, A., & Dochy, F. (2019). A review on leadership and leadership development in educational settings. Educational Research Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2019.02.003

Day, C., Gu, Q., & Sammons, P. (2016). The impact of leadership on student outcomes: How successful school leaders use transformational and instructional strategies to make a difference. Educational Administration Quarterly, 52(2), 221-258. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X15616863

Marks, H. M., & Printy, S. M. (2003). Principal leadership and school performance: An integration of transformational and instructional leadership. Educational administration quarterly, 39(3), 370-397. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X03253412

Mehdinezhad, V., & Mansouri, M. (2016). School Principals’ Leadership Behaviours and Its Relation with Teachers’ Sense of Self-Efficacy. International Journal of Instruction, 9(2), 51-60.