Beyond the Manual: Governance and School Leadership
Contact Us
  • Home
  • The Governance Corner
  • Learning to Learn Differently
  • Support for Schools

The Governance Corner

A forum for discussing issues in Independent School governance in the third decade of the 21st Century

Read all Posts

Bringing down the hammer

8/13/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Summer always seemed so much longer when I was a child. The days were endless, the weeks seemed to stretch out forever and I really cannot remember a  time that wasn’t sunny! I have always loved summer.

This July my family took a a little time out to spend at our cottage on Georgian Bay. Between swimming and sunning and climbing rocks with the boys, I spent a good deal of my time rebuilding a section of our docks.

I have to admit, there is something  intrinsically satisfying about pounding nails. Unlike people, they generally go where they are needed, stay where they are put and, even when they get a bit rusty, continue to do the job that you ask them to! Definitely good for the soul!

Aside from this therapeutic hammering,  I  have been faced with an interesting engineering challenge over the past few years of tearing out an aging infrastructure that had  been in place since the cottage was built in 1945 and starting from scratch with a new design, updated materials, and a clean slate. That is not to say that I didn’t have various generations of family critics who lamented the changes and ached for the “good old days” of stepping through rotten boards or tripping on uneven joints. But even they have appreciated the eventual outcome which has been a blend of the old and the new and which has provided the opportunity to stand on what was firm and had stood the test of time while appreciating the value of change and growth.


Schools are a bit like my dock. Once and a while you have to tear things out and start over, but for the most part, each school year sees a new and unique blend of the traditional and the innovative, skilled experience and energetic learning on the job and the wonderful dynamic that is created when differing approaches combine to create a wonderful learning experience for each child and young adult.  

Boards and administrators sometimes neglect maintaining that balance at their peril. Changes in leadership in the administration or the emergence of a "reform" movement on a Board can sometimes sweep away much that is solid and serviceable in the haste to construct something new and shiny. Now don't get me wrong, I am a firm believer in constructive growth and positive and thoughtful change. None of our schools should be allowed to rot (like my dock cribs had over time!) in the name of preserving traditional norms and structures. However, if change is to be truly transformative then it must first identify the still solid underpinnings and build upon them rather than tear everything out and start from scratch.

Although summers now seem much shorter than they did when I was a child, they still provide a welcome break in the routine to pause and reflect on what needs changing and what needs to be supported and preserved. As long as Boards and Heads see themselves not as agents of change, but rather as architects of growth and improvement, then all of our schools will continue to be adaptable to changing circumstance and sustainable through challenging times.
    


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Dr. Jim Christopher
    has been working with Boards and Heads on Governance issues for the past 15 years. He is a former Superintendent of Schools, ED of the Canadian Association of Independent Schools and Canadian Educational Standards Institute and is the author of a number of books and articles of education and governance. His latest book, Beyond the Manual: A Realist's Guide to Independent School Governance is available on iTunes or at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/388729

    View my profile on LinkedIn
    21stC Podcast

    Archives

    March 2022
    April 2020
    July 2019
    March 2019
    September 2018
    July 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    April 2016
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly