Page 18 - Leadership Platform

EXAMPLE 2: My Leadership Platform

Education Philosophy

Education is for all: every child has to feel they can succeed.
Every child has to want to do their best.
“Best” doesn’t have to be the same for every child.
Every child in the class matters and every child does their best.
My role is to support and encourage that enthusiasm.

I measure that success in many ways: the involvement and engagement from
the differing abilities within the group. The increased involvement of the shy
child who previously saw themselves as less able than others in the group, the
child for whom the subject hasn’t been easy who enthusiastically shouts out at
the end of a pre assessment revision session ”I’m gonna ace this one Irwin”.
That’s success on 2 levels: They’ve worked hard and the reward has been the
confidence to tackle a hitherto challenging subject assessment and “Irwin” the
bond of understanding that gives them the knowledge that they might refer to
me as Irwin: an informal, familiar way children over hearing them might think
cheeky but that they know has come from an un-written contract between us
that we both do our best for their good.
Success is best when you are surprised by it: One example is the parent who
introduced themselves to me as the parents of a student who did the AYP with
me. They went on to say their daughter was in the second year at university and
had recently spoke of her most memorable learning experience from her time
in school: Apparently it was when I’d taken her to task on the top of a mountain
(KKShan) because having gone the wrong way she’d deserted the rest of her
team and turned a difficult situation into a potential disaster by her failure to
consult and work collaboratively with the rest of her group.

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