Ladders Not Ceilings

I was lucky enough to watch the leadership team from Summerland Primary School in action at ULearn14. They talked about some very powerful stuff. One thing that really struck a chord with me was that you need to give teachers a ladder, not a ceiling.

In an environment where we encourage students to reach for the stars, that anything and everything is possible - how often do we allow our teachers the same open space to really fly as professionals?

A previous Principal of mine used to say that we were not to get too far ahead of everyone else on the teaching staff (mainly in the digital arena) or else we'd have the snap back effect. He likened it to a bungee cord that we were running away with, there was only so much stretch before the cord was too tight and either snapped or we would be jerked back where the others were. I didn't like this.

So I wasn't allowed to stretch myself for fear of getting too far ahead? I wasn't allowed to push myself to new heights because others weren't ready? This didn't sit well with me. Tall Poppy Syndrome for adults.

University of Canterbury researcher Louise Tapper thinks we have an unhealthy tall poppy chopping culture here in New Zealand. She says "Expectations in New Zealand are that we want people to be the same, rather than excel". We all know that we need to stop having those expectations with our children, but what about with our teachers?

By placing rules and restrictions around people you also create a ceiling for people who could have been better. People who could have pushed through and created amazing things if they were allowed to, encouraged to even. We need to chip away at the practices that create the bungee cord in the first place and allow for ladders for people to climb up past the ceiling. To grow into what they could be. To soar and become the very best they can be.  

What else could you aspire to if you were given the chance? The scope to believe that anything and everything was possible? We give the stars and sky to our students to reach for, let's start giving it to our teachers.

I'll finish with a quote from Ben Young (New Zealand Herald - November 11, 2009). He says "Success is a hard road to follow, it alone is going to naturally select winners and losers. Why should we make it even harder? Or worse knock out natural leaders at a young age? Shouldn't our aim be to maximise the amount of people rising their head above the rest? And in turn create a pool of tall poppies? In a global knowledge economy this is a big win".