Laboratories On Leadership Observations In Classrooms

Author(s):

Lonni Hall(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

ERG SES H 05, Leadership and Education

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-08

11:00-12:30

Room:

309. [Main]

Chair:

Philippe Masson

Contribution

This abstract refers to a micro-optic study on transition from state government into leadership in the Danish public school Folkeskolen.

Research question The question is how leaders makes transition between expectations from state government and municipals and into their leadership. An imperative towards change in leadership into learning centered leadership (TALIS 2014) is stated. The question here focuses on laboratories on leader observation in classroom, as a praxis to establish such changes. The question is:

How do leaders transform and perform leader-focus on pupils learning outcome through laboratories to develop this?

Objectives In 2014 Denmark had a new reform with ambitions of improvement in the Danish public school. The Skolereform 2014 states that: The Danish public school is (---) facing significant challenges. The academic standards (---) are not sufficiently high. Danish students perform on the average within the OECD (reform, 7.7.2013;1.). Through this reform, an attention was raised on leader responsibility for pupils learning outcome. This attention is also informed from international research - The effective school research, PISA reports, TALIS reports (2014), and “the miracle” in Ontario, Canada, and New Zealand.

The focus on leader responsibility for pupils learning outcome might have come as a micro-shock (Bjerg 2011). Denmark has a tradition for distributed leadership (Ratner, 2009, Weinreich, 2014). And learning centered leadership had now become a huge topic in Denmark.

A tendency is seen to be, that a respond to the challenge of strengthening learning centered leadership is laboratories on how leaders is to observe in the classroom. From the organizers of the laboratories (consultants and local authority employees) the laboratories are told to be a place to create and experiment with new knowledge and new practices in the school (notes from fieldwork). The laboratories are arranged as sequences of day-courses and invitations to the leaders to experiment in practice with observation in the class room in between the course-days. Experiences and practices is then to be brought back into the next course days to make reflections on. The process is running for three months.

Theoretical framework This is a post-human study putting affective theory and intersectionality to work under the post-human umbrella. The Deleuzian credo inspired by Spinoza on desire to be the primary affect - the hallmark of life and creation (Spinoza 1996) and affect as: A productive force that forms relations between different aspect of an assemblage (Ringrose & Coleman 2013;125) is the framework for analysis and data-collection. Knowledge is created in an onto-epistemoligical optic. That is, knowledge is created without a prescriptive structure or predesigned codes. Knowledge is created with a tension towards raise and fall in intensity when leaders perform leadership in the laboratories.

The theme presented here, is one of four assemblages presented on leadership in my Ph.d. thesis.The assemblage is called Laboratories on leadership observations in classrooms. On definition of assemblage following quote from Deleuze: Assemblage (is) of bodies, of actions and passions, an intermingling of bodies reacting to one another; on the other hand it is a collective assemblage of enunciation, of acts and statements, of incorporeal transformations attributed to bodies (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987/2014; 102).

Leadership is studied as not singular. But as multiply kinds of doings. And leadership is seen as enactment with floating limits,different levels of intensity, different appropriations of a certain habitus (and ---) readiness to act (Raffnsøe, Staunæs, 2014:2).

Method

My research on this assemblage has been fieldwork based on micro-optic studies. I have participated in course-days. And I have followed leaders around in their school when performing observation in classroom. An understanding of the laboratories as tinted by a micro-shock, has developed as a methodological understanding during the fieldwork. The methodological naming as laboratories is inspired by Raffnsøe, Staunæs, Leadership laboratories (2014). Labora means work. And is methodological seen as an idea of withdrawal from the daily rush. In line with the ambition of the organizers to create change for learning centered leadership the researcher can look for how the laboratories creates new knowledge and practices (Staunæs & Nickelsen 2013:23).

Expected Outcomes

The leaders have “tamed” the challenge on change. It is performed into a well-known distributive praxis and pedagogy entangled with intensities raised from “the new”. The transition seems to involve handling the micro-schock in a messy way. In the assemblage-laboratories a messy repertoire of affects seems entangled with the leaders. Notes from fieldwork shows words and body language of resistance and a quivering affecting of the room. At the same time words are spoken on how "this is important We look forward to it" (leader A), and "there is energy in turning the linse" (towards learning centered leadership. ed) (leader B ). In the transition from state government to Folkeskole leaders transform explicit stated focusses on the importance of learning centered leadership into distributed leadership and psy-management. To create pedagogical ambitions of pupils well-being leaders focus on psy-management (notes from fieldwork). This is performed with spoken words and direct intensity (notes from fieldwork). Attention on academic teaching and learning is performed by low intensity, little time passed on the subject and repeated statements that "it is the teachers who knows" (leader C). They perform distributed leadership. To sum up; the data shows learning centered leadership transformed and performed into psy-mangement and distributed leadership in performances of: • A severe trust in pupils well-being as the “thing” to create raise in learning outcome. That is a focus on social teaching and learning. Less on academic teaching and learning. During this leaders perform psy-management • The leaders highlight the competences of teachers and talk themselves into an abdication of the possibility to influence pupils learning outcome. During this they perform distributed leadership • The affects raised is about “taming” the imperative into a suitable change when ending the laboratories. Learning centered leadership is to be performed in suitable ways in the school

References

• Bjerg, H. (2011): Skoling af lyst, Ph.d. monografi, Århus Universitet • Bjerg, H. & Staunæs, D (2011): Appreciative Leadership and shame. Bringing together Governmentality Studies and Affectice Turn, Emphemera, theory and politics in organisations 11(2) • Coleman, R., Ringrose, J.(ed),(2013): Deleuze and research methodology, Edingburgh University Press • Deleuze & Guattari (1987/2014): A thousand plateaus, Bloomsbury • Juelskjær, M., Knudsen, H., Pors J., Staunæs D., 2011: Ledelse af uddannelse, at lede det potentielle, Samfundslitteratur • Raffnsøe, S., Staunæs, D., (2014): Learning to stay ahead of time: moving leadership experiences experimentally, Management & organizational history • Ratner, H. 2009: Skoleledelse i et krydspres. Hvidbog om international forskning inden for skoleledelse, Institut for Ledelse, Politik og Filosofi, CBS • Spinoza, B. (1996): Ethics, Penguin classics • Staunæs D., Adriansen H., Dupret k., Høyrup S., Nickelsen N.C. (2014): Læringslaboratorier og eksperimenter, Århus Universitetsforlag • Weinreich, E. (2014):Hvilke offentlige ledere er der brug for når velfærdstænkningen flytter sig: Er Diplomuddannelsens lederprofil svaret? Ph.d. monografi, CBS

Author Information

Lonni Hall (presenting / submitting)

Åthus universitet/UCC

IUP

Copenhagen

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