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A GPS for Teacher Leaders

By Nancy Flanagan

In my third year of teaching, the local union president asked me if I’d like to attend a “Women in Leadership” conference sponsored by the state NEA affiliate. He offered a scholarship—and said he thought I was leadership material. Flattered, I readily accepted. In the 1970s, lots of women were interested in re-defining female roles and responsibilities. My mental picture of leadership training for women: a roomful of young, passionate teachers, re-imagining ourselves as idea generators and role models in building better schools.

The training turned out to be the traditional skill set for teacher unionists: contracts, grievances, confidentiality, managing money, public relations, greasing the wheels. Plus a speaker from the NEA who urged young women in the audience to get involved with the union, because education was one of very few fields wide open to women who wanted to move up.

I was crestfallen. I wanted a kind of organic leadership, collaborating with colleagues. I was not interested in a worker-bee role in the union hive, diligently following the pre-established association leadership ladder: building rep, local president, regional, and statewide roles. And I...