Standard 6. Professional Capacity of School Personnel

Effective educational leaders develop the professional capacity and practice of school personnel to promote each student’s academic success and well-being. Effective leaders:

a) Recruit, hire, support, develop, and retain effective and caring teachers and other professional staff and form them into an educationally effective faculty.

b) Plan for and manage staff turnover and succession, providing opportunities for effective induction and mentoring of new personnel.

c) Develop teachers’ and staff members’ professional knowledge, skills, and practice through differentiated opportunities for learning and growth, guided by understanding of professional and adult learning and development.

d) Foster continuous improvement of individual and collective instructional capacity to achieve outcomes envisioned for each student.

e) Deliver actionable feedback about instruction and other professional practice through valid, research-anchored systems of supervision and evaluation to support the development of teachers’ and staff members’ knowledge, skills, and practice.

f) Empower and motivate teachers and staff to the highest levels of professional practice and to continuous learning and improvement.

g) Develop the capacity, opportunities, and support for teacher leadership and leadership from other members of the school community.

h) Promote the personal and professional health, well-being, and work-life balance of faculty and staff.

i) Tend to their own learning and effectiveness through reflection, study, and improvement, maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

GELS 6 activity: conduct of how the staff balance the work and family

 Reflection of Work-Family Balance

By: Hadi Alqahtani & Areej Alshahrani

Family is among the most important assets in the life of every individual. Therefore, one requires time for their family in terms of commitment, support, and fun. Consequently, to support their family financially, people require work as a source of their income. Thus, it would be logical to assume that work and family are two things that one must have in life. To eliminate the challenge of abandoning family and concentrating too much on work, or on the contrary, to avoid neglecting work and putting family matters first, one requires drawing a line that will help in creating a balance between the two aspects of life. The most affected individuals, who face the challenge of balancing work and family, are educational leaders because their presence is required to the place of work to such an extent that they might fail to find enough time for their families, thus.

Work/Family Balance Strategies for Educational Leaders

1- Work Smart

Working smart is a strategy, used by many leaders to create a balance between work and family. Following this strategy, leaders ensure that they divide their time in the workplace efficiently in such a way that their office work covers the time that they should spend in their offices. Leaders, who work smart, make sure that they do not take their work home, thus avoiding the mistake of extending work-related challenges to their homes and families. In addition, they make their timetable in such a way that there is some time scheduled for family matters. For example, some leaders include meals, such as breakfast and dinner, with their family as well as doing homework with the children into their busy schedules (Boushey, 2016).

2- Skipping Lunch

When leaders are too busy, they opt to skip lunch and utilize their lunch hour to minimize their work. By doing so, they know that they can go home early after work. Although this strategy is unusable by many leaders, those, who use it, take their meals to their offices and have lunch while still working. Thus, they can be sure that they will save some time for dinner with their family, and in many cases, they can even participate in evening family discussions since they will be able to arrive home early.

3- Living Close to Their Place of Work

Distance is one of the challenges that affect many families and prevent them from meeting often. In most cases, this problem arises because most people do not like relocating to small towns or rural areas. To eliminate the challenge, most leaders relocate from big cities to small towns that are not far from their places of work. Therefore, they can live with their families and have time for them on a regular basis. Although some small towns lack comfort facilities that are available in big cities, they allow leaders and their families to live together and enjoy their special moments.

Theories

There are some leadership standards and theories as well as researches that define the strategies that education leaders can use to form a balance between work and family. Among them is great man theory that assumes that the capacity for an educational leader is inherent. This theory presupposes that a leader can reserve the weekends for their family and working days for work-related issues. Leaders spend their weeks busy in the office, at meetings, and even dedicate some evenings to their friends. Due to their busy schedules, many of them might lack enough time to spend time with their families during weekdays. Nevertheless, it is vital to make sure that weekends are set aside for their families. Here, Saturday and Sunday should be reserved for their time with children or spouses. For instance, they can take their family out to a hotel for a lunch or take children out for some festival. It will ensure that these few days that they could not spend together due to work commitment are well-compensated during the weekend, dedicated to family only (Prohaska & Zipp, 2011).

Further, trait theory assumes that leaders inherit traits and qualities that make them even better leaders. For instance, this theory suggests that a leader can organize and create a family calendar. Every person should understand the priorities of their family, know what their children prefer and prepare a list. A good example could be extra-curriculum activities, children’s festivals, and birthdays. Here, leaders use the calendar to mark different occasions that they will attend with their families and spend some time with them. For instance, children appreciate the presence of both their parents at their birthday parties. Therefore, leaders ensure that they are aware of such occurrences and they find time to make an appearance to celebrate with their families. Such a gesture makes their families appreciate their presence even when they are too busy to be always present at some celebration. At times, due to other commitments, they may not spend much time at such occurrences. However, staying for least 15 minutes at a party makes children appreciate their parents and excuse them when they do not have an option and they cannot attend their birthday party, for example (McKay & McKay, 2013).

Situational theory argues that gifted leaders sets the balance depending on a situation. For instance, educational leaders can connect with their family during day time. Today, technology has moved the world to the level, where individuals can connect with each other without necessarily been physically together. Thus, mobile phones, iPads, and computers have brought such a possibility. A good example of applying situational theory is the utilization of webcams to communicate with family members while a leader is at work. Leaders can also ensure that they make at least a single phone call to their families and appreciate them, which brings the family together and fosters a sense of togetherness. Family members can also connect using Facebook, Twitter, or WhatsApp. These applications require minimal time to connect leaders with their families without affecting their busy schedules in the office (Moulds, 2014).

Interview with Leaders

Amal (high school principal in Saudi Arabia) and the principal of Grayson High School in America are two leaders that I have interviewed. Moreover, both are talented leaders in the field of education. During the interview, I learned that both had the same views at work and family. It is not easy to work and offer full attention to the loved ones, they said. However, with love and sacrifice, one can balance the two things without any of them suffering. Creating special family activities, connecting during the day, reserving weekends for the families, and creating family calendars are among the important factors of life that both said they would consider implementing to make sure that they balanced work and family.

Conclusion

In conclusion, leadership is a call and commitment that demands individuals to spend most of their time at their place of work. Thus, it is the responsibility of the leaders to develop a strategy of balancing their time between work and family. Among the strategies that have proved to be effective is creating create special family activities for weekends, living close to work, and skipping lunch. Although activities require much time, leaders should ensure that they spend some time with their families. Moreover, this should be quality time to compensate for all the instances that leaders had to miss family sessions because of their work.

References

Boushey, H. (2016). Finding time: The economics of work-life conflict. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

McKay, B., & McKay, K. (2013, October 23). The Eisenhower decision matrix: How to distinguish between urgent and important tasks and make real progress in your life. Retrieved from http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/10/23/eisenhower-decision-matrix/

Moulds, J. (2014, August 13). More men working part-time shows a shift in lifestyle choice. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/men-part-time-work-lifestyle

Prohaska, A. & Zipp, J. F. (2011). Gender inequality and the Family & Medical Leave Act. Journal of Family Issues, 32(11), 1425-1448. doi: 10.1177/0192513X11403280