Teach leadership skills to all ages

Friday 2 March 2018

Developing leadership skills in young people is crucial to prepare them for 21st century life beyond the school gates, starting at infant school and continuing through to the sixth form.

Unlike some school leaders, I am not afraid to say that I run a business. My business is children and I have a clear mantra – if it doesn’t benefit the children, why are we doing it?

So if children are at the centre of all we do in schools, we should try to understand the world as they might see it, to help us understand what they will need as they face the future. And to do this, we also need to involve them in our developments and initiatives.

We live in a world of uncertainty and instability, both economic and political – where Brexit, international terrorism, climate change and migration are just a few of the global challenges that the next generation will be tasked to try and solve.

Young people need to be prepared to take the baton of authority in the midst of this worldwide uncertainty. I watched with admiration and respect the reaction of the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, to the mass shooting at their school. These teenagers, lead by the likes of Emma González, are taking leadership into their own hands. They are berating politicians for their failure to act, challenging lawmakers to take action on gun control and leading a nationwide ‘March for our Lives’.

If our young people are to face this world with a hope of successfully harnessing it, then we have a duty that goes beyond curricular and extra-curricular options to teach leadership skills that will be transferrable in the future, like skills of EQ as much as IQ. And, in doing so, our schools should be rooted in their communities.

Schools must inspire and embed sustainable values that will enable pupils to realise that local, regional, national and global co-operation is worth striving for.

Every child needs his or her precious pool of self-esteem to be filled at school, to guard against the ever-growing pressures around mental health and anxiety issues, and to provide them with the optimism and ambition they need to believe that they can make a positive impact in the future.

However, perhaps the most overriding element of leadership required in a school context is the ability to ‘walk the talk’. And for me, that means all teachers seeing themselves as leaders, not just the members of SLT, leading in every part of school life from classrooms to playing fields.

Schools are places where relationships matter and we need to listen to our students, be accessible and foster a culture of mutual respect.

Never underestimate the importance of role modelling – students want to see staff leading by example and modern schools must be underpinned by the power of positive relationships, strong pastoral support and community outreach just as much as they are focused on academic excellence and extra-curricular success.