Leading in the New Normal – Opogo Community

Whilst we are in the helter- skelter experience of post COVID-19, there are some things which remain as foundational truths:

Education will never be the same again, we are presented with a singular lifetime opportunity to make a whole scale change in approach, attitude and process.
The world came to a standstill and we suffered a collective trauma, but as leaders of the profession, we have not lost control nor are we in a crisis that is insurmountable.
We will navigate the new landscape and with intellectual curiosity and professional resilience.

This chapter in the Ed-book gives leaders who will serve within the ‘new normal’ an opportunity to shape the narrative and come together with a diversity of thought that can pave the way for leaders in our schools.

Education Leadership

The world of education leadership can move painfully slowly, we have been waiting decades for leadership to become diverse in terms of ethnicity and gender. We are still searching for a model of national accountability that does not polarize the profession, (we may be 100 years away on that one, more than 2 leaders in a room often leads to professional fisticuffs when we are talking about accountability).

Then COVID-19 made an abrupt, unwelcome appearance into our world and overnight,

Collaborations between schools, trusts and communities took on new life
IT systems that were creaking or outdated, were quickly brought up to speed, thousands of learners went online with their teachers as though this was always the way.
Swathes of CPD at all levels across the profession appeared by webinar and the phrase ‘you are on mute’ entered our everyday discourse.

In the midst of this, a tragedy in the USA, where a man lost his life at the hands of police brutality became a catalyst for immense change across the world, and suddenly school leaders across the country began to ask, ‘What does this mean for us and the way we run our schools?‘.

Living in the New Normal

The ‘new normal’ is a fascinating concept, it does not begin in September 2020, we are living it now. Leaders are re-shaping established narratives, re-working aged traditions, making both subtle and radical decisions that mean young people entering our schools for the first time will graduate having experienced a completely new educational system compared to their predecessors. That’s if we make the stance that going back to the old ways is not a route to which we will default.

In all this, we are not novices. We are skilled, competent and confident leaders, and there are aspects of our work that were great pre-covid and remain great today. Now is not the time for wholescale dumping, confusing that, with appropriate reaction to a crisis. Rather, leaders are choosing to engage in comprehensive dialogue with their teams, seeking advice and support from established experts, carefully planning for practical scenarios and eventualities, whilst shaping new paths for the future.

Summary

Be confident in your leadership, but don’t work in a silo, explicitly seek out support for yourself and your organization.

Plan for 3 scenarios: