Who would have thought Leadership would come from there?

Sometimes you find leadership material from the most unlikely places. Well, maybe it should be a given, but I was not expecting this...

As my role on a local school council, I have come across discussion of leadership from the perspective of the Victorian Education Department; namely what they called, 'The Developmental Learning Framework for School Leaders'.

Take a deep breath. There's some content in there that's worth having a look at. The document is about helping school leaders reflect on their leadership practice and to identify strengths and work areas.

In recent days I have had the privelege of helping in the employment of a new school principal and this is where this new framework comes into play.

There are five areas that sum up the 'organisation of leadership framework' produced by the Department of Education Victoria. The five areas of leadership (related to education but also leadership on a broader spectrum) are:

1. Technical Leadership
2. Human Leadership
3. Cultural Leadership
4. Educational Leadership
5. Symbolic Leadership

Technical leadership is about an effective leader demonstrating the capacity to optimise the school's finances, physical and human resources. Human leadership is about fostering an environment that is safe, meaningful and inclusive amongst all the relevant stakeholders (students, parents, staff, etc). Cultural leadership is about the leader being able to have vision, purpose and values that are relevant to particular educational environment. Educational leadership is unique to the education system, and of course is related to a leader's capacity to understand and engage with effective learning processes that will enhance learning in a school. Symbolic leadership is about a teacher's ability to 'model important values and behaviours' to the school, the community, etc.

If you're interested, read more about leadership from an education perspective here.

So, out of ten, how do you rate when it comes to modelling important values and behaviours in your own leadership context?

Out of ten, how well do you acheive when it comes to enhancing a particular environment so that it is safe, inclusive and meaningful?

Out of ten, how well do you do at cultural leadership? That is, do you have a vision? Do you know what you value? Do you have purpose and meaning around what you do?