Concerns and issues

It is interesting to work through this assignment with group members. But the assignment itself is quite vague in what it is after and what we need to do. I have no problems with the readings and topic of leadership and I understand the importance of the TL as leader but what gets me is where is the instruction in Educational leadership that principals do for TLs and the role they play in the school? We know what we can do, we are specialist teachers but principals often don't have the understanding that the TL as a specialist teacher is and should be part of the leadership team. A lot of principals don't see the relevance of the TL in leadership and I know we should be our own advocates but when is there the time to do this? A lot of the time they see us as 'copping' out of the teaching stream, we don't do the same work - in fact I think it would be thought that we don't have the same workload as a teacher. Yet here we are doing a Masters degree to gain the qualification that TLs should have and it is underrated by a number of staff, both within the school and within the education system. I think there should be a broader look at the role of the TL as leader, not just in the course with ambiguous assignments but in other courses for other leaders in the school. We shouldn't have to be pushing our role, constantly justifying our inclusion in leadership decisions across the school. This would tie in with government views on the time allocation for TLs - every school should have at least a TL working 0.5 load and in a school of 200 or more it should be heading to a full time TL for all the jobs we are meant to be doing. Advocacy is all well and good, educating is all well and good but as new staff come the cycle starts again.

Back to the assignment - a ppt about an aspect of Organisation Theory, in a group where you have to find alternate ways to communicate. Again I understand the purpose for it but in a time where people are working full time and can't use the day to communicate then have to find a time at night where people have different commitments and a short time frame to achieve it I am unsure how effective it is. The purpose of the assignment is still a little unclear and at times it seems like it is too easy at times and that we are just regurgitating information without getting into the deep thinking about the theories.

I have enjoyed a number of the readings, especially Donham's and I like reading the Visionary... text as these are relating directly to schools and TLs as a number of others are really aiming it at the Prinicpal or Manager. Still going through some of the readings so back to the grind stone...