Relational Leadership: A Key in the Framework of School Leadership for the Children’s Sake by Nicolle Hutchinson

As a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, I’m currently earning both a masters degree and principal certification for Pennsylvania, and my quest is to develop a framework of school leadership based on Mason’s ideas. Not only do I love learning about educational leadership and training to be a principal, but I’m also thrilled to read the plethora of current work and research in education and leadership that concurs with Charlotte Mason’s ideas. As she presaged, educators are moving away from behaviorism toward human-centered pedagogy because research shows that humans learn best in ways that respect the whole person. Without a doubt, Carroll Smith was correct when he said that Mason was way ahead of her time. As I read (and read and read and read), I feel as though the world of education is finally catching up to her, and it instills in me much hope for the future of education.

Most of my hope lies in the direction in which educational leadership is heading.
Thus far in my studies, I have garnished research-based ideas from numerous educational leaders and philosophers that concur with Mason’s core principles. The current trends in professional development provide an excellent example.

Not until recently has the education world realized what the business world and philosophers such as Peter Senge and Mason have known for quite some time. Effective organizations are learning organizations. Schools are not places where children learn, but they are places where children and adults learn. If schools really are to leave no child left behind, then, as Jack Beckman so insightfully and cleverly put it in his blog, no teacher can be left behind.

When surveyed, most parents rank teacher competency as the most important factor for student learning. Research concurs. Effective schools show evidence of teacher learning and distributed leadership. So, to be competent and to share the responsibility of leadership, teachers need to keep learning. They learn important content. They master best practices for teaching. And finally, they model learning for children. Mason’s preservice teachers were immersed in a learning atmosphere. Regretfully, I find little immersion in my own story. I do not remember formally learning about history while teaching history to middle-schoolers for seven years in public and private schools. I was required to attend workshops on pedagogy but not on content. Principals, then, should provide opportunities and the funds for content learning and mastery because teachers must know what they are offering to children on that banquet table for their feast of learning.

Principals create a “professional learning community” to respect teachers as learners and leaders. Below is an excerpt from my capstone paper on effective leadership that addresses ways educational leaders build such communities:

A school principal is not a manager but a relational leader. Since “schools are in the person-shaping business” (Rawid, 2002, p.434), effective principals understand that in the school, all leaders and followers- teachers and students, principals and faculty persons- are in relationship and daily relate to many persons and things- themselves, others, nature, things and ideas; therefore, they create and foster a healthy atmosphere of relating in which all in the school community reach high levels of learning (Hallett, 2007; Mason, 1925). If the leader wants teachers to respectfully relate with children as persons rather than brains, then she must walk the talk and respectfully relate with her staff as persons “rather than as pawns to be manipulated” (Tschannen-Moran, 2004, p.24).
Creating a professional learning community is a respectful relational practice a leader engages in that honors the professional brilliance of teachers which in turn empowers them to increase student achievement since they increase their own sense of achievement and personal responsibility for student achievement (York-Barr, Sommers, Ghere & Montie, 2006).  To create a professional learning community or team, effective relational principals “exhibit task oriented behaviors, relationship oriented behaviors and participative leadership” (Chance & Chance, 2002, p.93).
Task- oriented behaviors include linking colleagues while structuring “mentoring, coaching and entering into dialogue and asking questions” (Goalman, 1998, p.101), providing interdependent work, space, time, schedules and systems for communication, reflective practice and informal meetings (Donaldson, 2001; York-Barr, Sommers, Ghere & Montie, 2006).
Relational behaviors involve affirming, supporting and challenging individuals; relating in authenticity, honesty and integrity; respecting emotional intelligence in others; using empathy and emotional intelligence to read needs (Cooper & Sawaf, 1996); maintaining confidentiality; speaking patiently and kindly; managing impulsivity; and thinking flexibly.
Principals demonstrate participative leadership by respecting time; attending workshops themselves; providing meaningful workshops; sharing positive, constructive, supportive feedback; developing trust through egalitarian culture and structures not highly formalized and hierarchical; distributing leadership with staff; attending to people’s feelings and behaviors toward one another; and talking about roles and responsibilities while seeking agreements as much as possible (Donaldson, 2001). These behaviors foster trust, group identity and effectiveness, which in turn foster ardent engagement and teamwork.

Relating to teachers as persons is the key to respectful educational leadership just as relating to children as persons is the key to respectful education. Principals who lead with this principle in the forefront lead schools where authentic, life-changing learning happens in the lives of the persons in the school. Everyone is a learner for life.

We know that Mason offered opportunities for her teachers to learn content, pedagogy and habits for life, but how else did she lead her teachers? It seems to me that the bulk of Mason’s work provides a framework for teaching and learning, but not one for school leadership. As I demonstrated above, her principals can definitely be relied upon. But I wonder if any of you know of some excerpts on school leadership from her body of work. Furthermore, what other elements must be considered and integrated into a framework for Respectful Leadership for the Children’s Sake? Any ideas?

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Charlotte Mason and Special Needs Children by Tammy Glaser

The Charlotte Mason philosophy of education fits well with my autistic teen. Other special needs students also benefit from this style of learning. A few years ago, I wrote an article spotlighting the elements of her philosophy that work for these learners. I have revised it to reflect what I have learned since then:

* Short Lessons – Special needs children often have short attention spans. Moving quickly through short lessons, shifting from one topic to another, helps them gradually lengthen their attention. The advice given to Inconstant Kitty’s mother in Formation of Character (Volume 5) is perfect for children struggling with inattention. Charlotte considered attention the most important intellectual habit, and all children benefit from improving their ability to focus!

* Habits – Rushing special needs children develops the habit of frustration. They thrive in a gentle atmosphere where they can develop habits slowly, one at a time if necessary. Often the steps required in learning a habit must be broken down into very tiny, baby steps. Over the long run, baby steps add up to very meaningful, lifelong habits. Research on child education confirms the wisdom of her strategies. Sow ideas that make habits worthwhile. Focus on one habit at a time. Replace a bad habit with a good one. Prevent bad habits (meltdowns, inattention, and frustration) by observing body language. Be consistent, firm yet encouraging, hopeful and expectant. Avoid prompting through nonverbal communication. Target the most beneficial habits first.

* Atmosphere – Too much stimulation overwhelms some special needs children, while the excitement of change inspires others. Since each diffability has its unique set of issues, educators can tweak the atmosphere for the individual child. For example, experts recommend a highly stimulating, engaging, over-the-top environment for a child with Downs’ Syndrome. However, they generally recommend calm, quiet, non-stimulating environment for children with autism due to sensory overload, meltdown, and shutdown. If you are not familiar with the term meltdown, Charlotte Mason described it beautifully in “The Philosopher at Home” from Formation of Character (Volume 5).

* Scattered Abilities – Some special needs children are very scattered in skills, advanced in some areas while delayed in others. A Charlotte Mason approach is perfect for them because of the emphasis on habits over grade levels or test scores. The special needs child works slowly and steadily without the stress of knowing how far behind (s)he is

* Developmentally Based Learning – Rather than pushing early creative writing on young children, Charlotte Mason zoned language arts based upon maturity. Today, standards-based education starts children on formal language arts in preschool! She knew that children under six are receptive only when developmentally ready. For children six and older, she built the foundation of writing: oral narration (composition), penmanship (physical writing), copywork (mechanics), and living books (style and vocabulary). She introduced studied dictation and grammar only after the child mastered copywork and written narration only after the child has mastered all of the elements previously listed. Standards-based education forces students to write paragraphs in second grade before many children are developmentally ready!

* Narration – At the 2005 ChildlightUSA conference, Carroll Smith compared the neuroscience of learning to narration. To store information in long-term memory, the child must make connections, process it, and reproduce it in some way. Thus, reading and narrating completes the learning. While language-delayed children may not be able to narrate, educators can find other ways to reproduce learning. The student can draw, point to pictures and places on a map, dramatize, etc. Children who struggle with writing, answering multiple guess and true/false questions, etc. find oral narration efficient and personalized. Comprehension questions reveal deficiencies, while narrating spotlights what they remember. Success stimulates more success, building confidence. Narration reinforces speech therapy goals. Books and things give a child fresh ideas for speaking. Children with dysgraphia need a longer transition into written narration. They avoid the habit of frustration by learning developmentally appropriate skills.

* Read Aloud – Some students may need read aloud longer than typical ones. Charlotte Mason advised having children read their own books as soon as possible. Some diffabled ones may find reading silently or aloud so laborious that they require audio books or read alouds. The key is to find the best way for children to learn and reproduce knowledge from books. Some challenged in receptive language improve their auditory processing from read alouds and oral narration. My daughter progressed from not processing one thing heard in a conversation to eavesdropping from another room, thanks to an extensive read-aloud program. She can now read aloud and read silently sixth-grade-level books.

* Things and Life – Since education is the science of relations, Charlotte Mason students related to things and books. Special needs children are often concrete learners and relate to things easily. Inconstant Kitty’s mom taught adding and subtracting with manipulatives like dominoes. In teaching arithmetic, Miss Mason emphasized manipulatives, hands-on learning, and real-life math (operations, money, measuring, weighing, etc.).  Children with diffabilities often need special exercises to develop fine motor skills, making things a great source of practice. Games, handicrafts, drawing, musical instruments, and life skills are much more pleasant and practical ways to refine fine motor skills.

* Books – While special needs children may extract fewer living ideas from classical literature than peers, they can absorb enough to be meaningful. Like all students, they build knowledge of the unknown on a foundation of the known. When they meet classical references in real life, they will already have connections upon which to form new ones. They have the same right to enter the world of living ideas as every other child. Some experts recommend only functional and lower level reading materials for special needs children. I am so thankful we ignored such ideas with our autistic daughter. She enjoys unabridged living books and has found her own way to connect to books. She clearly relates to these books with very strong connections in her favorites; she associates and generalizes information from one book to another.

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