Leadership in Guyana’s Schools

Introduction
A fundamental component in an organisation such as a school is the requirement for an intelligent, flexible and responsive leadership. Such leadership is both essential and highly critical in the modernisation and development of the Guyanese nation in an era of broad, rapid, and all-encompassing change.

In a developing country such as Guyana, the demands on leaders continue to increase. The expectations of leaders are different in many aspects than in developed countries and take on new forms. In this given context, it is imperative that we develop as many leaders in as many sectors and levels of Guyanese society as humanly possible.

Whilst we talk of society as a whole, leadership training starts in school by providing opportunities for individual children and groups of students to practice their influence on others in a controlled way. This is why school councils, prefect systems and pupil government in general are so important to the development of our future leaders. It is clear, when we look at the current Guyanese leadership that most emanate from certain schools where individuality, independence and confidence building were and still are part of the hidden curriculum and an expectation for all. If we are to provide equal opportunities for all and avoid an elitist society, we must ensure that the good practices in these few schools are spread across the board to all.

Individual study time: 4 hours

Learning outcomes
After working through this unit, you should be able to:

§ understand the essential characteristics that Guyana wants to inculcate in its leaders.
§ understand better the practical issues of leadership in Guyanese schools.
§ respond positively to the demands on yourself as a potential leader to train and become acquainted with leadership practice.
§ show, with clarity, what is required of the head, the senior leadership team and middle managers in training their staff for leadership.
§ relate these requirements to the imperative to create an effective and successful school.
§ appreciate the role of leaders external to the school and within the educational system in developing Guyana’s leaders.

Leadership in Guyana
We believe that leadership in Guyana ought to be:

shared throughout the organisation;
developed in a wide cross-section of staff (broad based);
focused more on teams than on individuals;
dependent more on process than on individual style;
delivered increasingly through facilitating, coaching, and mentoring;
reliant upon up-to-date information, data analysis and strategic planning;
characterised by system thinking;
adaptable to different situations.

Activity 3.1
Using the information above, analyse briefly the following:
1) The extent to which you focus on these issues when carrying out your current role in school
2) If you are not a head, the degree to which your school leadership is focused on these areas
3) The extent to which the whole region or even the educational system in Guyana is focused on this approach.
4) The extent to which you, throughout your career, have been included in teams, decision making, been provided with relevant information, been trained and encouraged to be inventive, flexible and adaptable.

Comments
Only you can answer these questions but you may find it helpful to discuss what you have written with other colleagues or trainees as they may have a very different perspective. You may have a more valid point of view when you evaluate the region and the system in general as you are more likely to be more objective about others’ work and contribution than you own subjective point of view about where you work.

In the last question we have highlighted the features of this way of operating as the theory in the earlier section can sometimes be difficult to assess. Nonetheless, as always, you should support your answers with concrete evidence of how, when where and by whom, otherwise your assessment may be worthless. If you have not done this, review your answer and add to it.

To survive, thrive and succeed, organisations must constantly prepare for their future leadership needs. They must successfully identify the new skills, knowledge and behaviour that are required to achieve immediate and long-term goals. To do so requires a continuous investment in life-long learning and leadership development at the individual, and organisational levels. This is why when you signed up for this programme you made a commitment to pass on your new skills and develop others around you in the same way.

Give some thought for a moment about what you have done to pass on to others the skills learnt in the seven modules so far of this programme. If your answer is limited, consider what you might do from this point onwards.

Characteristics of Leaders in Guyana

We want leaders in Guyanese schools to demonstrate:

visionary pragmatism (the ability to take a practical approach and relate it to their vision for the school)
the ability to recognise the positive potential of people, situations, and organisations
the capacity to inspire and support others in achieving extraordinary results
the breadth of vision to have a local, regional, and national perspective
the courage to take necessary and calculated risks in order to achieve the vision
the beliefs and skills to make the vision a reality
the capability of leading by example

In the context of educational reform and development, leadership in Guyana is essential because:

§ learning is the foundation of development.
§ research in education shows that there is a positive correlation between effective leadership in schools and student success.
§ future success and sustainability of quality education depends upon it.
§ successful maintenance and sustainability of a healthy, high-performance organisation is directly related to the Ministry’s ability to build and provide strong leadership in all areas at all levels.
§ public education is becoming increasingly challenging
§ the rapidity of change and the increasing number of difficult: issues requires leaders that work together at all levels of the organisation to achieve common goals

Leaders need to work in cooperative and collaborative ways with those they work with and partners in the community.

§ A shared vision for leadership in the public system of education is essential for the attainment and sustainability of quality education.
§ Individual, team, and organisational learning must become core values that are linked to the overarching mission statement of the Ministry of Education.
§ Learning that is purposeful and intentional will allow adaptation to changing contexts.
§ Learning as groups and teams develop collective knowledge, improves organisational performance, and creates the momentum that facilities change.
§ Organisational support and encouragement are essential components in the development of leadership.
§ Opportunities to focus on effective training within a supportive context create changes in the culture of learning.
§ The development of leaders requires long-term investments and must be carefully planned.

Our frequent reference to a shared vision amongst each of the stakeholders is not accidental.

Activity 3.2
It is said that good headteachers will take responsibility for their own leaning and development. In the context of a developing country, this may sometimes be difficult due to lack of resources and available resource persons. Therefore, to what extent do you feel that the above characteristics of leaders in Guyana need to be developed centrally by the Ministry of Education and the Region, or by the individual headteachers themselves? Remember, of course that this is an MOE programme and therefore the responsibility here is shared.

Comments
One might say that, in the context of career growth and development, an individual must make the decision about the path they wish to take and the commitment to life-long learning that they are prepared to give. However, the daily life of a senior leader is busy enough without having to design ongoing programmes for themselves through research. It is, therefore a shared responsibility throughout for the Ministry and the departments of education to develop their staff at their own cost. The part of the individual heads is to be prepared to participate willingly. Most countries take this approach and it is no different in Guyana.

However, just like all teachers, headteachers require not only pre-service training (preparation for headship such as this programme) but also continuous development opportunities provided by the leadership of the Ministry and organisations such as NCERD. It is, of course, the responsibility of the government to provide adequate resources for this training.

Responsibility for leadership training
The responsibility for the development of leadership can be summarised in various ways. One such summary follows:

1) Potential Leaders
§ Exercise individual responsibilities for personal performance, learning career development (identifying strengths and weaknesses and working towards self improvement)
§ Maintain positive attitudes and improve leadership competencies
§ Engage in professional dialogue with colleagues, mentors, supervisors and others
§ Gain insights through reflection
§ Know yourself and bridge your learning gaps
§ Seek feedback from multiple sources
§ Engage in self-directed learning
§ Take advantage of appropriate professional development programmes
§ Seek assignments that will yield new skills and information
§ Participate in learning networks and become involved in professional organisations
§ Create short and long- term development plans
§ Create and maintain portfolios that illustrate incremental growth in leadership
§ Be prepared to work with others in teams to create a shared sense of purpose.

2) School Leadership Teams
§ Know the strengths and weaknesses of all of your staff
§ Develop a skills profile of the staff
§ Be aware of the qualifications and previous training of all staff
§ Insist that staff take responsibility for their own professional development
§ Encourage staff to maintain a training portfolio containing all of their professional development credentials and identification of training needs
§ Remind staff frequently that they may be the future leaders and they should start to prepare
§ Provide leadership opportunities within the school for staff to practice skills in a safe and non-threatening environment
§ Recognise the role of all teachers as leaders of the pupils and train them in appropriate strategies
§ Provide quality staff development opportunities on leadership. This course is available in all schools and can be used as resource materials to assist you
§ Do not allow yourself to feel threatened by staff who develop their competencies.

3) Middle leaders
§ Be aware that your close relationship with teachers will encourage them to emulate you. What they copy must be a good example
§ Concentrate on the role of teachers leading children
§ Do not allow your friendship with teachers to affect your professional responsibilities as a leader of the team.

4) Regional Education Officer and District Education Officers
§ Participate on training team leaders by example – show trust and appreciation
§ Act as mentors, role models, and facilitators
§ Encourage all members of staff to develop leadership potential
§ Create a work culture that empowers members of staff and provides for growth
§ Identify staff who may be interested in future leadership roles
§ Encourage and support participation in training opportunities
§ Make time and resources available for leadership development
§ Set high standards and hold leaders accountable
§ Provide constructive feedback, encouragement and follow-up support

5) The Ministry of Education
§ Provide the framework for learning
§ Require annual growth plans for all leaders and potential leaders
§ Ensure that appropriate resources are available
§ Accelerate the development of leadership capabilities to build a learning organisation
§ Define a process to identify future leaders
§ Develop a communication strategy
§ Provide a means for coordinating and tracking leadership development
§ Monitor quality and consistency of programmes
§ Make development of subordinates part of supervisory evolution
§ Identify, support and promote best practice and innovation
§ Capitalise on internal expertise
§ Champion professional growth

As you can see, it really is a shared responsibility to develop our current and future leaders. It is one that cannot be shirked or progress will not be made towards the ultimate educational goals of the nation.

Activity 3.3
We are sure that you will have noticed that many of these responsibilities for developing leadership in Guyana are easily interchangeable and apply to all groups. We might describe these as generic responsibilities or ones which will fit all situations.

1) Look again at the five lists above and identify those responsibilities which should be carried out by all
2) Having identified these generic responsibilities, you will have to include yourself. Rate your performance in each of these from 5 – 1 with 1 being low and 5 being high.

Comments
If you are a leader at present, at whatever level, you should have identified all of the points above (with the exception of the provision of resources over which you may have no control) as possible action for the development of yourself as a leader and those in your care – the point being that we have a responsibility for ourselves and for others. You might want to share your answers with another trainee.

Summary
In this unit we have moved the focus to the needs of the Guyanese educational system, from the theory to its application in schools. We have required you to understand the essential characteristics that Guyana wants to develop in its leaders and to put some of this into practice by analysing your own performance in these areas.

We have identified a number of groups, whose responsibility it is to develop the future leaders of Guyana. These range from yourself as a potential leader (or perhaps you already are one) through each of the various levels in the school though to those externally responsible for schools in the regions and the Ministry of Education. In each case we have related these requirements to the imperative to create effective and successful schools.