school management
A matter of trust
Maintaining strong leadership , positive school culture and resilience during a time of turbulence .
Rochelle Borton interviewed by Wade Zaglas
To discuss some of the key challenges in the school sector at the moment , and what can be done to ensure the entire school community ( students , teachers , parents and school leaders ) continue to promote a positive culture and consistent quality during turbulent times , Education Review spoke with Eduinfluencers founder and expert in school leadership and cultural change , Rochelle Borton .
Rochelle said schools that were well prepared for the pandemic have handled it much better , while others have faced far more challenges and stress . She discussed the importance of strong leadership during these times and providing communication that is “ clear and concise ”. She spoke about the importance of positive workplace cultures during these times of crises , and how staff can adopt maladaptive ( unhelpful ) or adaptive ( helpful ) behaviours in creating the culture .
Finally , she emphasised the absolute importance of teacher care and wellbeing at the moment , going beyond the usual resilience building activities .
ER : What practical steps can school leaders take to provide clear and informed communication to help students , teachers and parents deal with the uncertainty that will characterise school life for some time yet ? RB : Last year , after we spent time in remote learning and in locked down situations , some of our partner schools came to us and said , “ How do we help our students and staff recover well ?” And one of the things we realised was the importance of preparing for a crisis before it happens .
We ’ ve discovered that the teams who were prepared for a challenge are responding really , really well now . So they ’ re the teams that are doing things like setting goals , that were prepared for the worst case scenario . They are led by leaders who are available , they plan ahead , and they ’ ve learned from where we ’ ve been before .
Another area that school leaders need to consider , and perhaps us as a community of learners as well , is that the way we process information during change or crisis is different . School leaders should think about people needing simple messages . Let ’ s say there ’ s a whole lot of information coming from our jurisdictions . Actually simplifying that for our people , and delivering that in a very clear and concise way , is probably my first tip .
The second thing is to recognise that people hold onto beliefs , and they ’ ll hold onto those things until something else persuades them , and that ’ s just the nature of crisis and change . So we just have to be mindful that that ’ s something that happens .
The other thing is people look for information . So yes , we want our messaging to be really simple , but sometimes people are going to want more . Including things like the most relevant health links in this situation , the most relevant data , or anything that you think might help those people who want more information , becomes important as well .
We ’ ve also got to consider our own personal bias in that . So obviously , we ’ d want to be using reputable news sources and places that can help people actually decipher this information themselves .
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