The Chalkboard Review, for which I wrote previously about my journey from socialism to conservativism, has published a new essay I wrote exploring whether university training is really needed for aspiring school principals. In short, my answer is that school principals definitely need training, and ideally universities have a uniquely valuable role to play in that process, but only if they arise to the challenge of doing so. Otherwise, other pathways for aspiring school leaders should be available. Excerpts:
Two valuable things would be lost if universities no longer play a role in teacher and principal training. First, university professors are better positioned to ground educators’ training in meaningful theory and research. Theory often gets dismissed in the field of practice as being irrelevant or too idealistic, but that is only because it has been presented to them poorly or disconnected from the real problems educators face every day. Education scholars who are actively engaged in conducting applied research rooted in the context of their local schools have a gift to offer their practitioner colleagues. My own collaborative work on developing instructional coaching models to help school principals deepen their self-reflection and effectiveness aspires to be this kind of scholarship.
Universities have a second potential gift to offer aspiring teachers and school principals. With independence from the schools and districts they serve, professors are better positioned to offer a critical perspective on the field of practice, helping their students think in innovative ways and challenge the status quo. Trainers who are themselves employees of the same districts or cooperatives as their clients may lack the capacity or the desire to question current education fads or long-standing, taken-for-granted assumptions that make up the very fiber of school and district culture. The sad history of perpetually stagnant student achievement makes clear that fresh and innovative policies and practices are sorely needed in K-12 education.
Of course, I am describing an ideal university, where professors are deeply connected to the field of practice, pursue meaningful scholarship, and are themselves innovative thinkers. Sadly, we know that is not the case in many universities.
Read the whole thing here.
Related posts:
Comments