Learnership is leadership for learning. I developed this term to convey the most important task of principals and other school leaders. Learnership is different from the popular concept of the principal as an instructional leader, because Learnership focuses on the outcome of schooling which is not instruction but, rather, learning.
Principals engaged in Learnership keep their eyes on the prize of student learning by constantly looking for evidence of such learning. True, high-stakes tests can gauge some kinds of learning in some ways. However, at their best, those tests are like sign-posts on the highway that tell us if we are headed in the right direction. They come only once in a while and are certainly not the only tools to gauge progress on our journey. The Learnership task is to constantly engage in the search for evidence of learning and to understand the processes that support that learning.
The Learnership principal understands that leading for learning means attending to teacher learning equally as much as student learning, because when teachers are steadily learning, so are students. Through learning conversations with teachers, principals enact their Learnership role by constantly asking teachers about what they are learning and how it is enhancing student learning. Principals then further teacher learning through support of educational coaching and professional learning teams and through their own supervisory actions.
My book Learnership: Invest in Teachers, Focus on Learning, and Put Test Scores in Perspective provides the tools principals need for their Learnership role.
Principals engaged in Learnership keep their eyes on the prize of student learning by constantly looking for evidence of such learning. True, high-stakes tests can gauge some kinds of learning in some ways. However, at their best, those tests are like sign-posts on the highway that tell us if we are headed in the right direction. They come only once in a while and are certainly not the only tools to gauge progress on our journey. The Learnership task is to constantly engage in the search for evidence of learning and to understand the processes that support that learning.
The Learnership principal understands that leading for learning means attending to teacher learning equally as much as student learning, because when teachers are steadily learning, so are students. Through learning conversations with teachers, principals enact their Learnership role by constantly asking teachers about what they are learning and how it is enhancing student learning. Principals then further teacher learning through support of educational coaching and professional learning teams and through their own supervisory actions.
My book Learnership: Invest in Teachers, Focus on Learning, and Put Test Scores in Perspective provides the tools principals need for their Learnership role.