BAYVIEW Newsletter ISSUE 29 Monday 9 September 2013
www.bayview.vic.edu.au
Lord, guide and protect us by your wisdom.
Claire Charman, Laura Kelly, Georgia Luckin & Eilish Drought as Fairies
From the Principal– Dr Michelle Kearney I’ve worked in a school that shunned the idea of having designated student leaders. Instead of having Captains and such, the concept was that all senior students would act as leaders. The theory being, that formal leadership structures act to alienate most of the students, creating either a cult of popularity or very much an ‘us and them’ feeling amongst the student body. So how did the ‘all are leaders’ concept work out? Abject failure would be a kind judgment. It unfortunately translated into a ‘none are leaders reality’. No doubt, some serious thought and intent had been behind what turned out to be naive in application. Leadership structures in schools can act to alienate the majority, if selection processes are not inclusive, and do not value student opinion along with staff input. Crucially, the concept of service leadership, must underpin all advocacy and effort performed by students that are successfully selected. Peer acceptance and support will willingly flow if positions, while still being valued, have a service expectation and are not seen as privileged or exclusive. It is quite possible for the real leaders to have nothing to do with a school’s formal leadership processes. Real leaders often emerge in particular situations and are not necessarily positive. They are however, always influential. To counter this potentially destructive tone, authenticity must be insisted on by both staff and students. While leaders must have peer approval, criteria for selection needs to stress proven service and commitment to others, along with leadership potential, evident in personality and respect. At Bayview, students in all year levels get opportunities not always available to students in other schools. So how do we go about promoting authentic student leadership practices at Bayview? How do we give all students an opportunity while still recognising the need for designated positions? We stress opportunities to become involved and make a contribution. Before you lead, it is necessary to follow and contribute. Many students take on leadership roles in the sporting arena and other group tasks. Our camps program is designed to test and develop skills and qualities through a process designed to create situations of leadership opportunity, along with a reflection process to help students discern real leadership as opposed to superficial popularity. In the main, this is a very successful process and consistently delivers to the school a high quality, enthusiastic, committed band of formal leaders with good support and involvement of their peers. Now is the time for students to think about how they are leading within their class presently and how they wish to lead into the future. And, for students in the current Year 8 and Year 11 cohort they need to start thinking about whether they will they stand for leadership positions for 2014. As we will be calling for expressions of interest in leadership early in Term 4. "We must be silent before we can listen. We must listen before we can learn. We must learn before we can prepare. We must prepare before we can serve. We must serve before we can lead." --William Arthur Ward