Page 8 - Leadership Platform

A Leadership Platform

Those aspiring to become better school leaders will benefit from writing
a platform early in their careers. This helps them prepare for the rigors
accompanying leadership in schools. As Sergiovanni and Starrat affirm,
“Unless teachers and supervisors uncover their platforms, they will not
establish a base of mutual understanding that is necessary to ground their
collaborative efforts” (2001, p. 70).

Therefore, aspiring leaders need to develop their platform through engaging
with what (and why) they believe about education, leadership and people
throughout their careers, even before they move to formal leadership
positions.

Developing, sharing and discussing an educational leadership platform is
important because it provides that ’spark’ and challenge that only comes with
debating and defending our beliefs. As one teacher said:

I found that writing the platform was beneficial for me in terms of
providing me an opportunity to reflect on my beliefs and to really
question some of my school’s current practices. . . For me writing the
educational platform from a school leader’s point of view, helped me to
visualize and be able to articulate my hopes for ways that we could better
teaching and learning at my school.

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