Ethical Leadership

Julia Lloyd Bruin Head of English

Ben Crowe, mindset coach of Australian Open winners Dylan Alcott and Ash Barty, commented on a podcast recently that an individual’s values can be shaped through the habits they adopt. This means people have a far greater capacity to develop themselves than perhaps they feel. Too often we put behaviours and attitudes down to genetics or societal expectations, without examining who we really want to be and taking steps towards that goal.

This year, Shelford is piloting an Ethical Leadership program designed to help our students understand themselves better and consider the impact they wish to have on their peers, their families, and the wider community The combination of part time work, full time school, friendships, relationship, family commitments, and the ubiquitousness of screens can be overwhelming for young people In combatting this, our aim is to facilitate self-reflection in a safe and structured environment in order to help our students consider who they are, where their blind spots might be, and look forward with their cohort to leave a lasting, positive leadership shadow behind them

At Year 10: students build on their existing values, belief systems and talents, and examine individually who they are, which attributes of which they are proud, and who they want to work towards becoming

At Year 11: the focus is broadened to consider the whole cohort and the legacy they wish to leave behind� Students are asked what their ideal future world looks like and encouraged to consider the behaviours they could adopt to take the first step towards it

At Year 12: students look towards the world they are about to enter and how to make ethical decisions and manage conflict within the realm of their established values

In our first few sessions, the buy in from students has been outstanding The curiosity with which they have approached the discussions and activities is something about which they can be very proud as they look towards the final years of their formal schooling It is clear the Shelford students wish to consider the influence of their values and beliefs, and positively influence the world around them.

We are pleased to be welcoming several parents to speak with our students later this year and encourage all members of the school community to please get in touch with Julia Lloyd Bruin if they would be available to provide advice, their time at school, or some insight into how their values and ethics have influenced their career choices.