WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO CONSENSUS AND UNITY?

I first served as a School Principal 40 years ago. Two generations of school leaders and students later, the world of schools is vastly different. Thanks to social media, there are countless polarising conflicts that have seeped into the fabric of schools in recent years, Olina Banerji observes, (see 3 Ways Principals Can Respond to Polarisation and Division, on Edweek, 10 September 2024), and Principals now find themselves navigating conflicts around big-ticket, national issues like a presidential election, as well as the divisive, local politics of book bans, masking mandates, gender-neutral bathrooms, or changing a school’s name, Banerji laments. Add to this American list some of the polarisations Australian schools are presently facing: ?the reading wars; the History wars; the banning of mobile phones; the banning of access to social media for primary and junior secondary students; managing aggressive parent behaviour towards teachers, and the threats to the independent sector’s customary practice of selecting staff whose personal faith position is aligned with the denominational affiliation of the school.

Banerji’s observation that there is one skill that no 21st?century school leader can do without is absolutely incontrovertible – and that one skill is the ability skillfully to mediate conflicts in the schools they lead.

The role of a school leader in 2024 is inherently difficult and conflict-ridden, as I have reflected here in the past couple of weeks. Banerji is correct when she says school leaders are answerable to stakeholders both above and below them. They’re answerable to parents, and they’re responsible for the well-being of their students. There’s bound to be friction between the various factions they manage. The level and pitch of these conflicts, however, have both intensified over the last two decades.

Diffusing a polarising issue isn’t just a leader’s superpower, it’s also a survival mechanism, according to Katy Anthes, leader of the FORWARD Initiative at the Public Education and Business Coalition, a Denver-based teacher training and advocacy organisation. Anthes, Colorado’s former Education Commissioner, works with school systems to help them deal effectively with conflict, and was interviewed by Education Week. The reality is that leaders have some responsibility to model better behaviour. It’s one more thing that leaders need to learn to do, or it’s possible they won’t keep their jobs, Anthes went on, noting that our muscles for productive disagreement are atrophying and we need to rebuild them.

What Anthes is hinting at is that our society’s former preference to seek consensus out of disagreement is sadly a thing of the past. Now disagreement becomes a reason for people to be ostracised, vilified or ‘cancelled’ for holding a different or contradictory view to what passes for the norm. Western civilisation’s key norms and foundational values emerged from a crucible of deep thought and robust discussion about the common good and how best to achieve it. Leaders cared about what was in everybody’s best interests, not allowing themselves to be distracted by noisy minorities relentlessly pursuing shallow self-interest and self-advancement.

But the solution to increasing polarisation of schools and school systems does not rest solely on school leaders modelling how to diffuse conflicts. Banerji cites a nationally representative survey conducted this summer by the Edweek Research Centre found that more than 3 out of 4 K-12 educators?believe that schools have a responsibility to teach students how to have respectful conversations about important topics with people they disagree with.

Banerji spoke to mediation experts and school leaders and asked them to delineate essential practices that can help resolve polarising conflicts.

When leaders can anticipate conflict, they diffuse it more quickly

?Leaders should have their ear to the ground and identify the rumblings of conflict that could quickly polarise a particular group — like parents — against the school, Banerji counsels, referring to Suzan Harris, the Principal of the 800-student Henderson Middle School in rural Georgia, who relies heavily on her ability to anticipate a conflict. As she watched a national debate unfold about age-appropriate books and the correct methods to teach reading, she knew the conflict would come to her school as well, Banerji recounts, continuing, By 2021, Harris was prepared. We knew the reading wars were coming. My superintendent and I decided to look at the curricula we were offering, Harris said.

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When they reviewed the books their book vendor had supplied, Harris found what she called controversial material that wouldn’t have sat well with the community, Banerji reports, adding that the books in question featured families with same-sex parents, which, according to Harris, would have sparked tension in a community which holds conservative values. These books were removed from the syllabus, Harris said, explaining that what helped her diffuse the issue was that as a school, they had worked hard to understand their community and the values that are important to them.

Harris is now contemplating a separate “book club” for the parents in the community who may want their children to read books that feature non-traditional family structures. That of course may still be a controversial solution, Banerji allows: ?supporters of diverse books have said all children need access to a range of stories that reflect their own experiences and provide a window into the lives of people who may seem different from them.

When leaders can pre-empt conflict, Anthes told Banerji, they can train their brains to deal with it better. In her workshops with school leaders, Anthes encourages them to learn a few conversation starters to use if arguments get heated. Phrases like: “I hear you’re frustrated,” or “can we brainstorm this together?” can help diffuse the tension, Anthes suggests.

Always be open to listening

There are always going to be conflicts that school leaders cannot resolve, but they can bring down the temperature of the conversation, Banerji says, quoting Mark R. Leary, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, who has researched the role of high-quality listening in depolarising arguments: It’s important for school leaders to always have a “listening posture. If leaders can show they’re genuinely listening, that they’re seriously considering the other person’s opinions, the other person is more likely to accept or at least tolerate a decision they don’t agree with, Leary said.

By contrast, he went on, if leaders go into the conversation with a defensive attitude or are dismissive or inattentive during an argument, they will not move any closer to depolarizing attitudes.

Leaders shouldn’t listen with the aim to change anyone’s mind, Leary added, but rather, they should listen with the aim of shaking loose tightly held beliefs. Listening well can diffuse tensions during arguments, but leaders also need to be prepared to take unpopular decisions. It takes courage to know that a significant percentage of their staff or parents are going to be upset with the decision, he said. Leaders shouldn’t get defensive, and instead discuss with their opponents how they reached the decision.

Above all, leaders need to realise that no decision they make is going to please everyone. They need to listen; to weigh up; to consider; and then to decide. People who feel they have been heard during the decision-making process are far more likely to be willing to accept the decision even if they disagree with it.

Immunise against future conflict

Banerji found her expert panel had some interesting ideas about conflict prevention, or conflict amelioration. Katy Anthes suggested that as leaders learn to anticipate conflict, they should adopt a few key practices, like regularly getting coffee with people they disagree with, and getting curious about those people’s worldview. It also helps school leaders to access spaces where they can model listening to and mediating polarising conflicts, said Scott Guggenheimer, who leads programming for a leadership development program for educators, situated within the University of Virginia.

Banerji notes that Guggenheimer’s team runs yearly cohorts where leaders from school districts across the country bring specific leadership challenges to resolve. Guggenheimer said that over the last few cohorts, more leaders have tried to build their skill to have tough conversations with different groups, like school boards. Through this program, which supports participants over two years, Guggenheimer has created a deliberate space for leaders to “practice” disagreement, Banerji states. The leaders are taken through case studies from different industries outside of education and practise having difficult conversations with each other.

According to Banerji, Guggenheimer has noticed that participants are much more willing to listen to each other, if before the discussion, they talk to each other about a moment when they felt like they were their best selves. The leaders get a deep insight into how others view themselves. When we transition to the case study, they have more productive discussions. This humanising activity, Guggenheimer said, helps people within a school or system celebrate each other. The more people feel that they are affirmed and celebrated in their schools, the more open they may be to having difficult conversations.

Conflicts and polarisation are not going anywhere. Principals and their senior staff need to position themselves to be more astute in how they respond to incidents that may arise in their schools. Being alert to anticipate emerging conflicts can allow Principals to secure the higher ground. Honing their listening skills and remembering that the conflict is not personal or about them, may enable Principals to feel more confident as they step in to hose down a grassfire before it becomes a conflagration. Taking steps to defuse conflicts before they emerge too is a useful strategy.

Most importantly of all, Principals, along with their senior staff members, should be ensuring that their school’s culture mitigates against intolerance, prejudice and poor conflict resolution by promoting acceptance of a diversity of backgrounds, experiences and ideas. Then an important next step is to ensure that their young people are learning skills to anticipate, deal with and reduce the likelihood of conflicts that may emerge in their day-to-day student experience.