Reflection FIVE

Reflection Five – Improvement
In the session on ‘leadership style’ by Dr. Stuart Middleton, I learnt some leadership skills which can be applied to my position, especially when I have to work with 25+ visiting lecturers, different working styles and different attitudes toward teaching and learning.

How do these ideas reflect on my position?
As I mentioned in the first reflection, I made some changes this year in order to make our jobs easier and bring the practicum into the 21st century. Due to the heavy workload, I don’t have much time to chat with the team except when we all come to practicum meetings or degree meetings. I like to communicate with staff through emails, as this way I have evidence and records of important conversations.

What obstacles did I face?
I was very disappointed to hear that some colleagues in the team have commented on me having too few consultations. I try to communicate with the team as much as I can but I still cannot make everyone happy. Some of them simply don’t like change and I feel they will disagree with whatever changes I propose.

One of the members in the management team often encourages me to remember that I am the leader of practicum; the final decisions have to be made by me and the programme leader, because we understand the practicum more than other people. My colleague/friend told me that I care to much about how people look at me, which I shouldn’t do. I was thinking of Dr. Stuart Middleton’s discussion, and that as a leader I need to improve the school in all areas. For my position, I need to improve the practicum and innovate the practicum in all areas.

What to do in the future?
Therefore, my aim should put students first, not gossip. I will try my best to be open to ideas from staff and consult with management and staff. I have set up a special meeting for Monday, the 12th of December and all visiting lecturers are invited. At the meeting I will discuss the changes we have had this year and the direction for 2012, as my focus is looking at improvement in all areas of the practicum.