Empowering Students By Challenging The Teacher

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” Mother Teresa.

I need grounding. Things needed simplifying.

A trip to Kolkata with a group of students to spend some time helping teach at a school was the change I needed.

It’s easy to get lost in the mire of your own problems and emersions in a wider global issue. But these were not problems. These were the smiles and determination of a group of Indian teachers and students who choose to rise above any perceived disadvantages we saw.

State of the art facilities meant nothing to a group of professionals who chose to show leadership in a way I came to understand was both effective and empowering. This was the beginning of my journey to understanding the importance of servant leadership for the teaching profession.

On this trip, I had the opportunity to visit Mother Teresa's home. Whilst expecting a tourist overload, I was instead rewarded with yet another reminder of how simple, humble changes, could cause ripples that create great movements.

At its core teaching is a leadership activity. And whilst some may not embrace that role, the simple act of being at the front of a classroom creates countless opportunity to set an example.

But maybe that’s the problem. In my experience working in India, the teachers were often sitting among the students, sometimes at the back, but never at the front. Maybe the optics of being at the front is just the beginning of what needs a second look.

Empowering Students is a Teachers Responsibility

So much of teaching in the last ten years has been about pushing against the grain. Much time has been devoted to formulating mobile phone policies, computer usage contracts and the like. All necessary, but often with a reactionary, not re-imaginary goal.

What if, instead of fashioning policies that just focus on what to do when things go wrong, we set about targeting and shaping the values of students by taking responsibility for helping them establish their position in society. 

We can meet students where they are, and bring them deeper and immerse them in the richness that being an active member of a community can offer.

I have observed again and again students' exquisite sensitivity to the qualities of their teachers, both their fierce loyalty to the teachers they trust and their keen alertness to hypocrisy, injustice, and indifference.

Research shows that even when schools are massively restructured, students often remain strangely oblivious to new structures and practices. When asked about the strengths and weaknesses of their schools after these reforms, students focus on the strengths and weaknesses of individual teachers.

In these relationships, moral qualities are shaped. Adults do not simply transmit moral qualities and beliefs to children. These qualities and beliefs emerge and continually evolve in the wide array of relationships that every child has with both adults and peers starting nearly at birth, and in children's felt knowledge of what is harmful, true, or right.

In these relationships, students continually sort out, for example, what they owe others, what they should stand for, what traditions are worth keeping, whether to follow rules, how to contribute to their family, classroom, and community; in other words, how to be a decent human being.

Teacher-student relationships shape students' moral development in another sense, through their influence on students' emotional development. Most of the talk about moral development in school assumes that we can teach students to behave morally by instilling in them virtues and standards, a clear sense of right and wrong.

This assumption ignores the fact that emotions are often the horse, values and virtues the rider trying to hang on. Harvard child psychologist Jerome Kagan observes that violence prevention programs that explain to students the harmful consequences of violence often don't help because “children know violence is wrong, what they can't control is the shame and destructive impulses that fuel violence.”

I believe it’s time to flip the switch, to change the way we lead students by example. It’s time for teachers to go to the back of the classroom and become servant leaders.

Servant Leadership in the Classroom: Servant Teaching

The concept of servant leadership, first developed over forty years ago by Robert Greenleaf, addresses the natural desire to help others. In his ground-breaking work, Greenleaf listed ten characteristics of servant leadership:

• Listening
•  Empathy
•  Healing
•  Awareness
•  Persuasion
•  Conceptualization
• Foresight
• Stewardship
• Commitment to the growth of people
• Building community

Servant teaching is about putting a comfortable method of teaching aside and learning from the students which teaching methodologies work best for them. Students with servant teachers were more empowered, confident, and invested.

A servant teacher takes a holistic, self-reflective, and practical approach toward earning the respect of his or her students. Presenting beneficial material is only a small part of effective teaching. The central issue of servant-leadership education is relationships and finding value in each student.

Teaching is a challenging profession that demands much from educators. Most teachers are dedicated to student achievement, willing to work hard and put in long hours. They are also committed to professional growth that will in turn help their students learn better.

Student's benefit from teachers who enjoy their jobs and are engaged in the important work of educating their students. Satisfied teachers are passionate, devoted, and enthusiastic. Students in their classrooms are in turn more likely to be passionate, devoted, and enthusiastic about learning.

Most educators do not teach for the money (that would be impossible) but for the love of influencing, challenging, and inspiring young people to succeed.

As Ramajanaki Doraiswamy Iyer so eloquently stated, “There is no big incentive for people to become teachers other than an innate desire to serve. No teacher has ever got rich or famous or powerful but there is always a simple teacher behind every big and famous individual.” There is no better return on investment than to invest in the professional and personal lives of students.

Servant Leadership Beyond The Classroom: Servant Schools Leadership

“Teachers and principals who are, for me, the clearest representatives of leadership exemplify the statement, ‘Leadership is not about being in charge. It’s about taking care of the people in your charge.’ ” (Simon Sinek, 2015)

Good teachers care for their students and good principals do the same for their faculty. Their work is about making school a more meaningful and rewarding place. It is about respecting the individuals they lead and ensuring that the work they share is both doable and satisfying.

The leadership in all schools, public and private, as well as each state’s education department, can also have a role in moving to the servant model. In both contexts, these leaders want to build a community of shared values in which individuals learn to trust and support one another in moving toward, achieving, and surpassing shared goals.

Ideas for all Schools to consider include:

• Highlight the teaching profession; support positive changes to support students and their learning; foster pride in the teaching profession; influence change and proactive policies to benefit education.
• Celebrate the leadership throughout the building – administration, teachers, support staff, students – the whole team.
• Recognise best practices through initiatives like the Induction Teacher of the Year award; build capacity in others around us.
• First, we must define and model this action. I believe leaders know that they need people to achieve a mission. But leaders forget that they need to enrich their lives and build the capacity of the people vital to the mission.

Schools should also be concerned about teacher retention. However, a more compelling case would be for them to promote teacher satisfaction, as satisfied teachers are more likely to not only continue teaching at their schools but also be engaged in the important work of educating.

These teachers will be more creative and engaging. Students who benefit from the instruction of these satisfied teachers may learn more because when teachers are engaged and enjoying their jobs, they are more likely to provide a quality comprehensive education.

Servant leadership has proved to be an effective leadership style that positively influences teacher satisfaction and longevity.

Therefore, leaders can incorporate the principles of servant leadership to promote a healthier, happier school culture. I believe the first step towards this culture is to encourage students to have the self-awareness that leads to self-determination. 

Servant Leadership In Action: Fostering Student Self-Determination.

Self-advocacy is defined as a set of skills based on self-knowledge, including awareness of personal strengths and limitations, knowledge of one’s rights and the ability to communicate this understanding.

Self-determination is an empowered state in which individuals take charge of their lives, make choices in their self-interest and freely pursue their goals.

If self-advocacy skills and self-determination are to get the attention they deserve from educators, parents, and students, we must make them explicit within the student’s learning goals.

Targeting these skills is essential for students to build a foundation for being change agents in their own lives.

We need to connect in-school and out-of-school experiences more cohesively to ensure more practical opportunities to practice these skills. Our students need opportunities to practice and refine their skills in self-advocacy. While some are confident in approaching their teachers, counsellors, or even the principal, others need more support and even scaffolding.

If we are going to prepare all students, including students with disabilities, for success after high school, we need a changing tide in how we approach education. At the same time, it's essential that the changing tide truly lifts all boats.

If we are explicit and intentional about how we empower students to become self-advocates and develop the skills they need to navigate life’s challenges after they leave secondary school, we have the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to the next chapter of educational success.

For many students, school is a major source of meaningful relationships and one of the first places they make social connections outside of their immediate family. Building these skills from a young age is incredibly important for academic and lifelong success. 

The Future of Leadership

Life for me has come full circle. These days  I have the privilege of taking a group of students to Cambodia year as part of service learning that aims to move students from charity to justice and advocacy. 

The goal is to send out into the world a generation of young people who understand the role and power of advocacy, who are committed to making ethical and just decisions, and who have a desire to make a difference in our world.

However, it's now time to explore and learn from the surprising and satisfying qualities of servant leadership and allow that privilege to embed itself within them.