Henri, J. (1994). Thinking leadership: What place vision? School Libraries in Canada, 14, 12-14.

"Vision becomes the life blood of leadership when it is shared." (Henri, 1994, p.12)

"The art of leadership can be seen as the ability to influence people to strive willingly for the attainment of group goals." (Henri, 1994, p.12) Or, to strive willingly to attain the vision.

Thus leadership, in the exercising of influence, involves the use of power.

Henri considers four types of power. Types one (the authority of position) and two (factional self interest) are often preferred because they are uncomplicated and effective in the short term. But it is types three (technical expertise or knowledge) and four (the ability to empower others) which Henri says have long term benefits.

Leaders who are able to identify obstacles to the attainment of the vision, and are able to harness technical expertise to overcome these obstacles, are demonstrating type three power.

Leaders wo are able to shape and focus the motives and goals of group members, and contribute to their personal growth, are demonstrating type four power.

Leaders who employ type three and four power then work through the following steps:

1. Work with the group to develop the vision.

2. Work with the group to overcome short term barriers to the vision.

3. Provides the resources and strategies to enable the group to overcome persisting barriers.

Within schools, the environment is characterised by multiple problems, constant change and often contradictory pressures. In this environment, leaders must work to encourage flexibility so that group members can employ alternative strategies . Leaders should also harness the power of collaborative problem solving.

This last sentence is, I think, an important point. Why have each member of staff work independently, with varying degrees of success, to overcome similar problems. Why not combine energy to work together to solve these problems. Teachers shouldn't be isolated in their classroom trying to work towards a vision that they have little connection with. Instead, teachers should work together to not only define and refine the vision, but work on strategies to work towards it.

Leadership and Strategy

Cheng, Y.C. (2002). Leadership and Strategy. In T. Bush & L. Bell (Eds.) The Principles and Practice of Educational Management (pp.51-69). London: Paul Chapman Publishing.

Today I am working on my ETL504 assignment. I have decided to alternate on the two assignments from day to day. A bit schizophrenic? Maybe so, but it's working for me so far. I don't allow myself to get too bogged down on one or the other, and I avoid having one that is excellent while the other not even started.

The rationale of the 504 assignment is to provide me with an opportunity to document my progress towards the learning objectives of the course, which are primarily concerned with organisational and leadership theory, strategic planning, and communication, collaboration and teamwork.

I have discovered a couple of readings that I have somehow missed along the way, so I'm making sure that I get totally up to date.

Reading 7, Leadership and Strategy, is an overview of leadership theory in the context of educational organisations. Cheng contrasts traditional leadership theories with transformational leadership, strategic leadership, and organisational learning.

Traditional leadership theories focus on management techniques and interpersonal skills. They assume that the goals of an organisation are a given, and encourage leaders to adapt their behaviour to circumstances to work towards these goals.

A transformational perspective sees the leader as not only adapting to circumstances, but transforming them, working to shape organisation members' beliefs, values and attitudes. Organisational goals, rather than being fixed, are seen as ambiguous in a changing environment. The leader is not only focused on goal achievement, but also on goal development and organisational culture building.

See p. 58 for a table that outlines the different domains and dimensions of this kind of leadership, covering everything from "Motivate members to love students and education and have a strong passion to pursue excellence in teaching and learning" to "Interpret the conflicts in a constructive way and value the importance of win-win solution".

Cheng then goes on to discuss the challenges for leaders in a climate of debate over educational quality and reform of educational practice. See p. 61 for a table that summarises different strategies for achieving education quality, including "Encourage participation and promote social interactions and positive classroom and institutional climate" and "Establish a strategic plan for institutional development".

Strategic management in educational organisations is becoming a necessity in a rapidly changing environment. Strategic leadership can be seen as leadership that allows the strategic management process, which keeps the organisation continually improving and developing, to work efficiently.

The changing educational environment is also leading to an emphasis on organisational learning. The essential question is how can leadership facilitate teachers' continuous reflection on actions and learing to improve their teaching and daily practice?

So what have I learned from this reading. It is a very hard task to do leadership well. Like many things, to do just a so-so job is not too hard, but to do it right takes commitment. I wonder how many of these leadership domains and dimensions are intuitive for experienced leaders? They may not be able to articulate exactly what they're doing and why, but I think a lot of Principals are aware of the pressures on schools and teachers, and instinctively know that they have to do more than just say "mush! mush!" and keep everyone's nose to the grindstone. They have to make what happens within schools a meaningful experience for both staff and students.

Stay tuned for more exciting instalments in "the wonderful world of ETL504".

Today I am using this picture of a comet in a desperate attempt to lift my spirits. I'm trying hard to think of all the beauty and wonder in the world.

As you can tell, the resentment of my uni assignments has degenerated further into a blue funk.

So, time to turn it around and practice gratitude and positivity.

1. My wonderful, generous parents are taking my kids to see Up! at the movies today. My parents are always available to my siblings and I, whenever we need them. In fact, they make themselves available even if they're really not. So far this is the third day in a row that they're entertaining my kids for me so that I can work.

2. I have everything I need. This is not just a positive statement of fact, but kind of like a mantra. The more I say it, and remember it, the more it is true for me. I have enough. There is no need for me to grasp or desperately want. I am complete and whole.

3. I will do my best with my uni assignments, and guess what? My best is enough.

Ok, so you've been privvy to the inner workings of my mind for a few minutes. Now I'm ready to get on with my day. What wonderful things will I achieve? What marvellous progress will I make with my assignments?

Hope you enjoy your day.

I'm feeling a bit grumpy today, so have decided to try to cheer myself up with a cute puppy picture! Aaaaawww! Why am I feeling grumpy? I'm starting to resent my uni assignments.

The sun is shining today, and I'm shipping off my children to the caravan park to be entertained by my parents, so I can get on with work. So I'm feeling a little bit resentful of my assignments, which are not cooperating. They are complex, difficult, multi-part affairs, which are difficult to define and even more difficult to complete. Trying to squash all my thoughts, and everything that I'm learning, into the required form is doing my head in.

The assignment forums have been running hot with questions from students and responses from both other students that are trying to be helpful, and the lecturers who sometimes seem just a little bit frustrated by our ignorance! Don't get me wrong, they answer our questions with great patience, I just detect on occasion an undertone of exasperation! We ask all sorts of things, from the the mundane but necessary such as referencing, to the more existential. "What is the purpose of this part of the assignment? You seem to be asking such and such, but I think I'd rather talk about thus and so, which I think better meets the purpose." You guessed it, I am guilty of a few of those more curly questions. But you know what? I actually trying to learn something here, not just pass assignments. (Though I would really, really like to pass as well!)

Anyway, back to work for me. First I will swing by the forum to see if I have any answers yet...

Flash Forward - What did you see?

Memories of the future...

The television event of the year!
Series Premiere: Thursday, September 24th, 2009. 8/7c on ABC.

You wouldn't want to miss it. Thanks to Yanpei for the good intro.

Ris Low speaks Chinese!!! I just want to get famous!

Credits to Omy.sg

In Praise of the Crockpot

The crockpot, that staple of the 70's kitchen to rival the Margaret Fulton cookbook, is having a major resurgence all over Australia, and especially in my kitchen!

My mother passed on her original 70's model to me a couple of years ago, after my husband mentioned how handy he thought it would be for me to have one! Just imagine, he said helpfully, how wonderful it will be to chop up some vegies, brown some meat, and throw it all in the crockpot early in the morning. Then, he continued, you can get on with your day, and there will be a beautiful meal cooked and ready at dinner time!

I was sceptical at first. Were these helpful comments of my husband's somehow a commentary on my usual habit of throwing together a quick dinner at the end of the day? (Or even not cooking anything, but instead leaving it to him to cook when he got home from work? What sort of terrible wife was I anyway?)

The economic crisis, and a series of Masterchef later, Australia is now in the grip of a "nesting" frenzy, and every supermarket is full of recipe base sachets that are designed for slow cookers. Plus, I have discovered that my crockpot has two settings (low and high), and if I don't get everything in the pot early, it doesn't matter! (I just can't get my head around dinner until at least lunchtime.) On the high setting, my crockpot delivers a lovely tender casserole in only 4 hours. I can do my chopping and browning while watching The View (which shows at 1pm at my place).

As you can tell, I'm a convert! And yesterday, getting home from the second day of the ballet eisteddfod at 7pm, there was nothing like being greeted by the wonderful smell of dinner (sausage hot pot) all ready to serve onto the plates. Yum!

Alana danced beautifully at the eisteddfod. I have ordered some extremely expensive photos (of course cameras and videos are banned inside the auditorium), and will scan them to post here when I get them. She competed in four different solo sections; classical ballet, demi-character, modern/lyrical and contemporary. I know it all sounds like so much mumbo-jumbo to the uninitiated, so I'll do a quick explanation. For classical, think tutus. For demi-character, you dress as a character and your dance tells a story. Modern/lyrical is expressive and emotional, while contemporary is more of a free-for-all and very "So You Think You Can Dance".

I'm now going to get my head back into uni assignment mode. The kids are playing their DS's happily, and I promised them a milkshake when I head up to my local for my caffeine fix.