Sustaining the Principalship Via Shared Practices VI

Part VI (of VII)

III. Know Your Teachers’ Strengths

Effective shared leadership begins with knowing your staff.  Principals must take the time to uncover the strengths of each person who works with children in their building.  This takes time, but it is time well spent.  Principals who uncover the strengths of teachers can use those strengths to enhance their school while building overall teacher capacity.

Goals conferences, pre and post observation conferences, and end of year evaluation conferences are great opportunities to learn about the skill sets teachers possess.  Attending social functions, grade level meetings, and informal sessions with the staff provides principals with the chance to learn of the interests and abilities of their teachers.

IV. Include Teachers in Decision-making

Involvement in the decision-making process greatly impacts teacher efficacy.  Teachers do not expect, nor do they want to be involved in every decision.  They do, however, want to be involved in decisions related to the how, what, and when of teaching.  Principals can include teachers when developing schedules and targeting instructional strategies.  In the age of state and federal standards, teachers should still be empowered to develop curricula to address the specific needs of their students.

One of the quickest ways to build a culture of shared leadership is to include teachers in the hiring of new employees.  When teachers help select new staff members it reinforces the collective responsibility of teaching.  How impressive is it to new teacher candidates if they are selected by their peers?  Teachers who select their new teammates are instantly invested in their success.  Opportunities for including teachers in school-based decisions are only limited by the imagination and creativity of the principal.

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