The Leader As Learner

The most important responsibility of every educator is to provide the conditions under which people's learning curves go off the chart. Whether one is called a principal, a teacher, a professor, a foundation official, or a parent, our most vital work is promoting human learning. That's what it means to be an educator. Learning on the part of younger people called students, of older people called teachers, and, above all, our own learning. To paraphrase Vince Lombardi, "In schools, learning isn't everything; learning is the only thing."

Many roadblocks stand between educators and their own steep learning curves. One, of course, is "I don't have time," a lament that rings particularly true for principals. When I talk further with principals about time constraints, I also hear: "There is no downside for me not spending time on my own learning; there is a dramatic downside if I don't attend to these hundred other things." Yet our task is to lead others toward learning, and we can't lead where we won't go.

A second impediment to school leaders' attending to their own learning has to do with the past. Most have been the object of somebody's attempt to "staff develop" them, whether it was the university, the central office, the state department of education, or someone else. And those I talk to often report that this staff development hasn't been very good. Educators don't like to be educated badly. So any fresh invitation to take part as a learner encounters heavy baggage from the past. We have learned all too well that more of the same is unlikely to help us become better at...