A mid-year reflection to consider
As we reach the halfway point of the academic year, educational leaders are often at a key reflective milestone about many aspects of their work including student progress, the impact of professional learning, performance and development reviews, and team strategic planning. These reflections often demand administrative and bureaucratic requirements that sometimes drive a mechanical task-oriented response from leaders.
At this halfway point educational leaders describe pending deadlines. These sentiments ripple across the many staff rooms and offices of our many educational institutions. For educational leaders, these wintery mid-year reflections carry with them the weight of accountability and responsibility.
At this time leaders grapple with routine questions such as what have we accomplished together; what challenges have we overcome; and how has our work impacted our students? These question types work well for us as leaders as they elicit the information required to meet deadlines, complete reports and finalise reviews.
On completion of these tasks we may be left wondering as to whether these efforts could lead to something more.
Philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer John Dewey could guide us toward ‘something more’ by describing reflection as a “highly personal, cognitive process,” requiring the internalisation of our experiences and connecting them to our values and biases (Dewey, 1910). Dewey describes responsibility as one of the key attitudes for reflection along with open mindedness and whole heartedness. The two latter attitudes guide leaders beyond task completion and towards greater opportunities in the reflective process.
A century onwards, this call to action beyond responsibility and to look within, is echoed in educational literature. Fullan, M. and Kirtman, L (2019) express the importance of self-awareness and reflective practices in leadership. This inward gaze is key to aligning ‘who we need to be’ as we consider ‘what we need to do’.
Whilst we complete our mid-year reviews, we could consider these as more than a product of accountability requirements and seize this opportunity as a process for deep individual and collective reflection for development. In examining our inner selves, we may find moments for celebration and recognition, and a fertile pathway forward with renewed focus and determination.
In considering ‘more’ from our mid-year reflections than the completion of a task, we must look beyond the final documented product and ‘more’ towards a renewed way of working that articulates ‘who we need to be’ as educational leaders to achieve the difference we seek to make.
Amanda Conray
ACEL NSW Branch Executive Member