Page 15 - The South China Business Journal
P. 15
search tells us that a school environment that is happy I follow a research group, The Research Initiatives, from
and nurturing, is critical to maximize student learning. the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Currently,
Positive interactions between adults and students, they have six programs being conducted within schools.
and amongst students themselves, positively influence “Empathy and Compassion” and “Happiness” are two of
students’ brains, promoting better learning and better the research projects I have been following. The research
behavior. One of the biggest joys of my role is coming to from this project tells us that happiness makes students
school each day and seeing so many smiling, happy faces. more engaged and productive. When students are
And it’s not just the students who are smiley – the happy laughing, and are truly happy, their serotonin levels are
faces extend to the faculty and staff as well. A key part of higher, and the emotional filters that could potentially
our recruitment is finding highly qualified faculty, who inhibit their learning capacity, are lowered. The take
are also happy. How can we expect students to thrive if away from this is that the simple act of smiling and
they’re surrounded by miserable people in a miserable engaging with each other, sets in motion a multitude of
environment? brain activity that opens us up to be more relaxed, more
engaged, and, significantly important when it comes to a
classroom context, more willing to learn.
How would you describe your You’ve talked before about the
leadership style? “future ready”importance of students being
.
Traditional leadership in schools focused on a What does that mean, and how do
“top down” structure, where the Head of the school you ensure that is even possible?
demonstrated complete control over the decisions
made within the school. The consequence of this, The world into which our students will graduate
however, is that the organization tends to be very from college or university will be inevitably
rigid and inflexible, with everything dependent on different from our world today, and significantly
a single person’s ruling. different from the world into which we graduated
from college or university five, ten, or twenty
My approach to leading a school more closely years ago. Our Mission is one that places great
reflects a system of distributed leadership. It’s importance on the concept of being “future
important to build high leadership capacity ready.” AISG exists solely to “Nurture future ready
across your organization to ensure sustained individuals to aspire, achieve, and contribute.”
improvement. That is, empowering others to be We prepare our students to be “future ready” by
confident enough to make decisions, and to know equipping them with 21st Century innovation
that they have my support in making a sound skills, with an explicit focus on creativity, critical
decision, is likely to create a more effective, and thinking, communication, collaboration, and
productive organization. If I implement a program resilience. It’s important for students to be
within a school, with no thought for my colleagues equipped with the skills they need to thrive in an
feel about that program, then that very initiative ever-changing environment.
is likely to fail as soon as I leave that organization.
It’s essential that people feel confident and safe I recently read an article by Dr. John Hattie
enough to ask questions and share opinions. from The Center for Transformative Teaching
and Learning. The main idea of the article was
the importance of using the right strategies at the
right time. In other words, if a student is being
successful in class, asking them “What strategies
are you using that are helping you succeed?”
allows them to be conscious of their actions that
are leading to success. Likewise, if they’re having
difficulty, asking them to reflect on what other
strategies may work for them, helps them to be
reflective and make necessary adjustments, instead
of defaulting to a simple “I can’t do this” mentality.
South China Business Journal 15
and nurturing, is critical to maximize student learning. the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Currently,
Positive interactions between adults and students, they have six programs being conducted within schools.
and amongst students themselves, positively influence “Empathy and Compassion” and “Happiness” are two of
students’ brains, promoting better learning and better the research projects I have been following. The research
behavior. One of the biggest joys of my role is coming to from this project tells us that happiness makes students
school each day and seeing so many smiling, happy faces. more engaged and productive. When students are
And it’s not just the students who are smiley – the happy laughing, and are truly happy, their serotonin levels are
faces extend to the faculty and staff as well. A key part of higher, and the emotional filters that could potentially
our recruitment is finding highly qualified faculty, who inhibit their learning capacity, are lowered. The take
are also happy. How can we expect students to thrive if away from this is that the simple act of smiling and
they’re surrounded by miserable people in a miserable engaging with each other, sets in motion a multitude of
environment? brain activity that opens us up to be more relaxed, more
engaged, and, significantly important when it comes to a
classroom context, more willing to learn.
How would you describe your You’ve talked before about the
leadership style? “future ready”importance of students being
.
Traditional leadership in schools focused on a What does that mean, and how do
“top down” structure, where the Head of the school you ensure that is even possible?
demonstrated complete control over the decisions
made within the school. The consequence of this, The world into which our students will graduate
however, is that the organization tends to be very from college or university will be inevitably
rigid and inflexible, with everything dependent on different from our world today, and significantly
a single person’s ruling. different from the world into which we graduated
from college or university five, ten, or twenty
My approach to leading a school more closely years ago. Our Mission is one that places great
reflects a system of distributed leadership. It’s importance on the concept of being “future
important to build high leadership capacity ready.” AISG exists solely to “Nurture future ready
across your organization to ensure sustained individuals to aspire, achieve, and contribute.”
improvement. That is, empowering others to be We prepare our students to be “future ready” by
confident enough to make decisions, and to know equipping them with 21st Century innovation
that they have my support in making a sound skills, with an explicit focus on creativity, critical
decision, is likely to create a more effective, and thinking, communication, collaboration, and
productive organization. If I implement a program resilience. It’s important for students to be
within a school, with no thought for my colleagues equipped with the skills they need to thrive in an
feel about that program, then that very initiative ever-changing environment.
is likely to fail as soon as I leave that organization.
It’s essential that people feel confident and safe I recently read an article by Dr. John Hattie
enough to ask questions and share opinions. from The Center for Transformative Teaching
and Learning. The main idea of the article was
the importance of using the right strategies at the
right time. In other words, if a student is being
successful in class, asking them “What strategies
are you using that are helping you succeed?”
allows them to be conscious of their actions that
are leading to success. Likewise, if they’re having
difficulty, asking them to reflect on what other
strategies may work for them, helps them to be
reflective and make necessary adjustments, instead
of defaulting to a simple “I can’t do this” mentality.
South China Business Journal 15
