Transdisciplinary Leading

The following are mainly thoughts. Thoughts as an IB educator in the Asia Pacific region. But an IB educator not from this region. A visitor. A guest.

As educators, we are bombarded with the theory of education and as school leaders theory of leadership. But a school is a team, not single people operating in isolation. So what can we learn from other leadership practices?

The following is not proofread - but rather it's a stream of thought with quite a lot of references along the way. It is a thought exercise for me. But if it makes you think...all well and good.

IB educators and their schools have unique identities tied to strong institutionalising forces, (Bunnell, Fertig and James, 2020) yet they also contain cultural tensions with faculty drawn from diverse backgrounds (Poole, 2020; Fisher, 2021). Leadership within international schools is messy requiring agile approaches, often different from those in national settings (Bunnell, 2021). Context, therefore, has a significant impact on the effectiveness of leadership (Bush, 2018) and this flexibility is especially important when leading within diverse cultural contexts (Javidan and House, 2001), though little practical guidance is available to international school leaders around the challenges of intercultural understanding (Bunnell, 2018; Fisher), with each having to find their own path.

The pedagogical (IBO, 2018) framework of IB Continuum Schools, places importance on collaborative (team) development and practice. Teams (educators) during both the authorization and evaluation process tend to operate in a rigorous and pressured setting (Bunnell and Fertig, 2016, 56; Bunnell, Fertig and James, 242; IBO, 2022), while attempting to leverage the experience of educators sometimes coming from pedagogical backgrounds very different from the IB (Hill, 2010, 56; Walker, 2010). This can be especially true during the authorization process in newer locally focused schools in the global south.

Much of the literature defining high-performing teams (Hargreaves et al., 2010; Bush and Middlewood, 2013, chap.8) centres around western cultural concepts (Fisher, 135). However, within Asian IB Continuum schools these practises may need to consider the deep influence of cultural dimensions (Hofstede, Hofstede and Minkov, 2010) if leaders expect to develop effective teams in diverse settings (Fisher, 149). Cultural tensions can be overlooked by school leaders (K. Keung and J. Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2013) to the detriment of building effective teams (Lee, Hallinger and Walker, 2012) - the “acid test” (Bush and Middlewood, 2013, p.128) of effective school practise, especially when those interactions operate within a high power distance culture (Hofstede, Hofstede and Minkov,; Greer, Van Bunderen and Yu, 2017, 119).

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The following are thoughts on how a transdisciplinary approach founded around team development in sport as well as education could support the development of high-performing educational teams (Heffernan, 2015; Larder and Bishop, 2015; Talking Leadership & Culture with Sir Dave Brailsford, 2021) developing a personal narrative of practise (Connelly and Clandinin, 1999, 1–5).

Theory into practice.

This approach is situated within a framework Sir David Brailsford Director of Team Sky names the CORE principle (Chan, 2016).

CORE

Commitment – Selecting the right people. In new schools this can be easier, however traditionally Human Resource Management in international schools has been geared towards the notion of experience and cost as the driver of recruitment (Meneghella, Walsh and Sawagvudcharee, 2019) rather than human capital, organisational or cultural fit (Cameron and Grootenboer, 2018).

Recruitment of educators for “fit” with the aim of completing authorization, a pressured environment, prioritises flexible and committed educators regardless of experience. This allows the rapid development of a team that from day one knows the purpose of the project, can help frame the project and are committed to it (Fullan, 2020, 43).

In an existing school, with existing faculty, Abrahamson (2004) suggests team development requires building without obliterating the past. Time taken to communicate the journey is essential and productive (Fullan, 2020). In this setting, much would be centred around implementing step-wise changes that are thoroughly explained and articulated to all faculty (Fullan, 2020, 56–58). Including and listening to, and when needed acting on, sometimes opposing views, in this context is not only sensible but assists in bringing the reluctant onboard through taking time to foster relationships (Fullan, 2020, p.48). School leaders do not have all the answers so developing shared outcomes is preferable to forcing agendas (Fullan, 2020, 46).

Neither is perfect and a trade-off must be made in each case.

Ownership – is developed by including faculty in the journey (Fullan, 2020, 58). IB educators self-identify through a strong institutional connection to the philosophy of the IB. (Bunnell, Fertig and James) This develops with time and is articulated through grounding the school in the language, professional development, curriculum approach and artefacts unique to IB schools as institutional pillars (Scott, 2014; Bunnell and Fertig, 59). The development of the school itself as an extension of the IB educational brand (Lee, Hallinger and Walker, 291).

Simultaneously investment in professional development and career opportunities (Bush and Middlewood, 125) are essential. This feeds back into stronger connections to the institution. Building successful high-performing teams depends on identifying individual strengths rather than focusing on weaknesses while providing the systems and processes which allow individuals to grow their professional capital (Hargreaves and Fullan, 2013; Farchi and Tubin, 2019).

Responsibility – shared priorities with a focus on the many marginal gains (Heffernan; Talking Leadership & Culture with Sir Dave Brailsford) that improve teaching and learning (Giles and Hargreaves, 2006) and empower educators within their own classrooms. This could be articulated through self-directed Professional Learning Communities organised by and directly impacting members’ practice (Fullan, 1995).

Excellence – The combination of the other three when building effective teams is as a leadership priority in educational management theory (Hargreaves et al., 61; Fullan, 2014, 99).

Cultural dimensions

However, in the context of the Asia Pacific region, the second strand of consideration may be required: the awareness of cultural barriers, some of which are more subtle and nuanced than the first assumption suggests.

First, the recognition of the interface between our cultural norms and those of local faculty while also forcing a recognition of unconscious cultural bias towards other cultures similar to our own. Each educator's artefacts from their educational culture (Barakat and Brooks, 2016), can create conflicts without consideration of the differences.

Add working with local educators and support staff, where power distance (Hofstede, Hofstede and Minkov) and deference to power may be a constant norm, then cultural awareness, as well as self-awareness, is central to bridging the gap and developing trust (Fisher). Recognising that every interaction needs consideration of not only language but approach and recognition of one’s own personal bias as well as the barriers culture may present for the educator.

Working towards the team goals is a central concept within societal relationships (Park and Shin, 2006) in many cultures in the Asia Pacific, yet the low power distance associated with individuality and self-responsibility, as suggested in the CORE model is often difficult for local educators to embrace (Kirkman and Shapiro, 2001, 612). Therefore, it becomes essential to lead as well as distribute leadership using and adapting a range of strategies to engage the entire faculty within the team (Antonakis and House, 2014; Fisher) This accepts that there may be more than one way to be an effective team member, especially true within an IB Continuum School where the final line of the IB Mission statement concludes with “..... understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right” (IBO, 2020).

References

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