SSAT National Award for Middle Leaders: Vision and values
Tutor notes
Your vision and valuesModule aim / Rationale
The session works in two parts, firstly focusing on setting a vision and then on the values that underpin our vision, and all our subsequent actions as a leader:
- For an aspiring or existing leader in education, identifying and communicating vision is crucial to determining school and team success. The vision represents the aspirations of the school and summarises what it would like to achieve, securing its overall direction and development. A well-communicated vision radiates possibility, creating hope and belief in a better future. Educational research and inspections of schools have shown that where others commit to sharing a vision or purpose, the group as a whole achieve more than the sum of their individual parts. The essence of leadership and team building is to serve a common purpose. A well-articulated and shared vision provides the framework for this to happen. It encapsulates the belief that the job is worth doing, with common approaches and goals increasing overall accountability and improving harmony. As a result teams are led to spectacular and well-deserved success.
- A vision does not occur in a vacuum, it is the consequence of deeply held values that motivate and drive our actions. The moral purpose of education is what brings most teachers (hopefully all!) into the profession. At its heart education is a moral activity and keeping this in view can energise and sustain us through the ups and downs, changes of policy and accountability pressures. Our values are what we should keep coming back to and evaluate our decisions against. The question ‘Would I want this for my son/daughter?’ can be a useful touchstone.
- To explore what ‘vision’ is and it’s importance.
- To understand the relationship between values and vision.
- To reflect on your school or academy’s vision.
- To begin to build or develop a vision for your team or area of responsibility.
Module outcomes / By the end of this session participants will have the following knowledge, skills and understanding:
Knowledge of
- The key components that underpin a vision and why vision is important
- Themselves as value carriers and moral leaders
- Create, develop and communicate their vision in order to foster commitment from others
- The importance of common shared purpose and its importance in ensuring a school or team’s success.
- How their role can contribute to realising the vision of the school
- Personally held values and how this should impact on vision and action, to ensure wholeness and persistently purposeful action
The school will benefit from a shared understanding of the school’s vision among those in leadership roles about their part in contributing to the realisation of a common vision.
Duration / 2 hours
Applying the learning / This between-session activity is designed to help delegates make the link with their practice and with their role in the school.
The following questions should stimulate some thoughts:
How have you learnt to be a leader in your current role?
What values and principles underpin the way in which you undertake your leadership role?
- Specific activities arising from the session
Module resources / Resources
There are usually three main types of resources to support each session. A PowerPoint presentation, which the tutor may use in whole or in part; activity sheets, which again may or may not be used in total depending on the particular stage of development of the group; and additional materials. The trainer may wish to supplement materials by including examples of practice from the home school or partners.
PowerPoint
There is one PowerPoint for this session, ‘NAML 1 Vision and Values Nov 16’.
Additional materials
There is a worksheet to support the activity where delegates imagine what there department/team/area of responsibility would be like in 5 years time called ‘NAML 1 Vision and Values Envisioning’.
Evaluation / Evaluation sheets distributed at the end of the session.
Session time and topic / Learning Activity / Notes
Arrival /
- As delegates arrive, facilitator walks the floor and welcomes - shows them to their tables
- As delegates arrive at their table they are invited to choose a number (1-10) which represents their confidence as a leader; write on a post-it and stick up
- Facilitators introduce themselves informally
Welcome and introductions /
- Facilitator Introduces self and welcomes everyone to the event
- If this is the first time participants have met, you may wish to use an ice-breaker before moving into the session objectives.
Say: 1. An adjective to accompany your first name beginning with the same letter, 2. Your role in school and the name of the school, 3. A surprising or interesting fact about you.
“I’m Dangerous Dan, I’m Head of X at Y school and I am a qualified diving instructor”
OR
“Two truths and a lie” – in small groups (2-4), each person introduces themselves and takes it in turns to say three things about themselves – two truths and a lie – the others in the group must try to guess the lie. / Slide 1
- Go through the session objectives
- Explain that there will be a combination of discussion and activities
I have a dream / Use the ‘I have a dream’ slide and reference to Martin Luther King Jnr to highlight the power of a vision to inspire and unite.
You may choose to use the blog post “I Have a Dream”: The Power of a Vision for your Organization, by Jeff James, Disney Institute / Slide 3
Walt Disney’s dream / Use the example of Walt Disney’s vision for Disney and Disneyland as another example of a vision. It is interesting to note how he speaks first of it as a dream and how it aims to inspire. / Slide 4
Vision definition / A dictionary definition of vision
Introduce to delegates the concept of creating a vision. Get input and feedback on any occasions when they’ve been involved in setting a vision. Why was it important? How did it impact the way you and your team worked?
Discuss the benefits of creating a vision – discuss how often this vision should be revisited and updated. / Slide 5
Mission and Vision / Share the definitions of vision and mission. Ask delegates if they can come up with some examples of visions and missions.
E.g. My vision for running is that I’m going to be an amazing marathon runner that glides round courses, avoids injury and loves running.
My mission: I believe that running marathons will make me happier and healthier so I’m going to train hard and use a running coach to develop my running.
Use their examples to stimulate discussion on the following points:
- What is in a vision?
- What is it not?
Why does vision matter / At this point introduce that there is significant research highlighting the importance vision setting in school leadership. This activity aims to get delegates to move from thinking about visions in general to specific visions in education. / Slide 7
Visons for middle leaders / Show the delegates 5 made up visions of middle leaders
Pose the questions:
Which of these is your favourite?
Are there any you don’t like?
Why?
As a group come up with a what makes a good vision / Slide 8
Values before vision / It is our values that underpin our vision. They should not be in conflict. In this next section of the session delegates are encouraged to begin reflecting on their personally and professionally held values and remind them of the moral purpose of school leadership. In an era of high accountability and ‘performativity’ (obsession with grades, targets and tests), it is good to come back to this core belief. / Slide 9
Day et al / Although much recent research has focused on outcomes, evidence continues to show that the most successful headteachers hold many common core values and have strong moral purpose.
For the full paper see: Day et al (2010) 10 strong claims about successful leadership. / Slide 10
My values / Facilitate delegates’ reflection on themselves, what drives them and what they stand for. / Slide 11
Values grid / This example is taken from the book Leading the strategically focused school (2006) by Brent Davies. The values grid was produced by staff on a training day using key words to sum up their values. The grid is then used with students and parents as a basis for additions and deletions before a set of value statements can be written down.
This may be a useful activity to do within teams. / Slide 12
Creating a vision in context / Explain to delegates that in this final section of the session they are going to begin to craft their vision bearing in mind their context / Slide 13
Personal, Team and School Vision / Discuss that their vision needs to be true to themselves and their personal values but also needs to sit within the context of their school and their schools vision. It should also guide team strategic planning and thus should be aligned with school strategic planning. / Slide 14
Your school / This slide provides a range of questions to help participants reflect on the vision for the school, how that is lived and breathed and their roles as middle leaders in contributing to the realisation of the school vision.
Think – Pair – Share may provide a useful framework for participants to work through the questions. Not all questions need to be covered.
If a person is unsure what the school vision is, it would be worthwhile exploring why this might be and what the vision might be (based on their lived experience at the school). Remember a vision should paint an inspiring picture of the future.
This slide may provoke some interesting and important discussions. / Slide 15
Envisioning / Before writing their vision statement ask participants to close their eyes and imagine what their department/team/area responsibility would be like in 5 years time if they were successful in leading it. / Slide 16
Your vision / Activity: give the delegates some time individually to write their own vision (on a post-it note) and reflect on the questions on the slide. If they are comfortable, encourage participants to share their visions and post them together for display and discussion. These can be referred back to later in the end-of-session reflection. / Slide 17
Creating a vision as a team / Discuss the value of creating a vision as a team – which of these approaches might work best with the team they lead / Slide 18
Group discussion and sharing / Whole group discussion:
Reflect on the similarities and differences present in the visioning activity
Can everyone have a different personal vision and yet meaningfully contribute to a single collective vision? (or does this lead to ‘double-vision’ or ‘division’?) / Slide 19
Reflections / Reflection on the questions
Before concluding the session, encourage participants to write up their vision and value statements in their journal.
Applying the learning (between sessions activity) / Possible tasks for participants to complete before the next module meeting.
- Discuss vision and values together with colleagues in your department or area of responsibility. Explore how individual values and visions can be harnessed to work towards a shared vision for your department / area and school.
- Once you have established your values and vision, you may want think about how this gets put into practice. What are the ‘norms’ (the way we do things around here) aligning with our values and vision?