How Might Our Beliefs Overcome Constraints?

I really liked this recent post from Rebecca Thomas where she is moving us from the 'possum in the headlights' space to a place where we can be proactive and to contribute with our wisdom, in the belief that our voices will be heard.

It certainly helped me move from the place of anger that I was in to one in which I can feel more positive, which I was trying to be in my last post.

It got me thinking about how I responded to what I believed were unhelpful 'requirements' when I was a principal. I thought about how the school I was helping to lead responded to the formal qualifications environment. I know delivering NCEA Level 1 was never something required of us, but it was almost believed back in 2014 that it was.

We had founded our school on a set of beliefs and values that included learning being driven by deep challenge and inquiry, with the needs and interests of the learners at the centre. When we decided that we would not deliver NCEA Level 1 as part of our Year 11 programme that decision was based on the belief that that would enable us to keep our focus on deep challenge and inquiry.

Any of you who have read my posts over the last few years will know that I strongly believe that our decisions around our practices need to be driven by a set of values and beliefs. This is what we did back in 2014 in relation to NCEA Level 1.

I have found using Julia Aitken's Circles a great template to base decision-making on.

You start with your core values and beliefs and determine the principles or guidelines for action that will help you to decide on your practice.

This is all very well, but we do operate in a wider system and, unless you're a Charter School, there are parameters in which we are required to operate. Some of these might be strictly mandated (unless you're a Charter School!) such as phones, an hour per day of reading, writing and maths etc.

A way to navigate this, I suggest, is to see these as enabling constraints - requirements that we need to follow but open us up to the possibilities of thinking innovatively.

My approach would be to still begin with and be driven by your core beliefs and values and to follow your agreed principles/guidelines for action before accommodating the mandated requirements. I've attempted to capture this thinking in the following model:

I know in the past this is how I have made decisions (without being fully aware I was doing so).

If you're a principal out there who sees some difficulties in some of the recent mandates, starting with your core values and beliefs first, as shown in this model, might be useful. I know many, many principals do operate in this way.