Your Self-assessment Preferences Explained
What was your preference? Were your answers all Letter A or all Letter B or a mixture of both? Look at both the following to understand your preferences.
Letter A leaders
Leaders who like this style are very focused on the quality they expect from each colleague and are not afraid to give clear and direct instructions on how this quality can be achieved. They provide clear and unambiguous guidance around what is required and focus on what individuals need to do.
This approach is ideal when:
- giving guidance on a brand new skill
- establishing clarity around what is expected from a newly qualified teacher or trainee teacher
- there are procedures that must be followed to the letter, for example, Health and Safety procedures
This approach is particularly good where a colleague needs clear guidance or when there is very little interpretation needed or there is a set way of doing things.
Leaders who use this approach are usually good at driving things forward and ensuring high standards. However, they have to ensure that by using this style they avoid some of the downsides of this approach, such as:
- appearing overly bossy and pushy
- creating a dependency culture where colleagues rely on the leader for answers
- stifling innovation and creativity
- restricting open-ended debate
- a tendency to emphasise short-term issues over long-term ones
Letter B Leaders
Leaders who like this style give high priority to the individual needs and aspirations of each colleague and tailor support accordingly. They use a questioning style to open up issues and are concerned with supporting the capacity of each colleague to identify and address key learning needs.
This approach is ideal when:
- there is no single right answer
- colleagues are working with challenging situations in their classrooms and learning through trial and error
- you want colleagues to develop their own thinking and capacity around improvement in learning and teaching
- you don't know the answer
This approach is good for open-ended challenges, where there are many possible options and the next steps are not clear.
Leaders who use this approach are usually good at supporting colleagues in identifying their own learning needs and actions for change and improvement. However, they have to ensure that by using this style they avoid some of the downsides of this approach, such as:
- colleagues becoming confused over what is expected
- a lack of appropriate support and direction
- leaving colleagues to sink or swim
- a tendency to emphasise long-term issues over short-term ones
Reflecting on the questionnaire
Often our scores with any questionnaire like this differ depending on our mood or the context we find ourselves in at that particular moment. However, they can be useful in getting us to reflect on our leadership approach and the need to tailor what we do to fit the context we find ourselves in.
For instance, do we instruct a colleague when we should have posed a question, and vice versa? We may instruct a colleague in the importance of following vital Health and Safety procedures but we may use a coaching approach with a colleague around a difficult issue they face. Both approaches are valid and often a school leader will use both in the same situation.
Reflective Questions
Pick one of the following items from the reflective questions below. Post a short paragraph to fellow students on the discussion board itemising your answer. When each student posts his or her paragraph make sure that you respond to the post.
- Are you supporting the professional learning of your colleagues, regardless of whether you are in a formal leadership role or not, in any of the 5 areas highlighted above from Rajan and Eupen? If yes, in what way? If not, what other things are you doing to support your colleagues?
- One of the key coaching persons in your area of responsibility is yourself. Think of ways in which you can use a coaching approach to support your colleagues’ professional learning?
- When a team colleague returns to school from an external development or training event what could middle leaders do to more effectively maximise the impact of the learning for the colleague or capture the learning for the team?
Complete the following item for your Reflective Journal Blog