How to raise leaders among our students

Teaching and learning are no longer about fact-finding, knowledge giving and spoon-feeding. A good education in the 21st Century is considered to be one which promotes skills for 21st Century living. This is proving challenging as we prepare our students for an unknown future world that is full of complexities.

I feel that, as a leader of a large international school, we should be focusing and aiming to build leadership skills in as many of our students as possible. This is not about putting pressure on children and giving them the impression that the only worthy future careers are those that involve being part of a leadership team. It’s quite the opposite. This is about educating students that there is a place for leadership skills in every aspect of life. By promoting, building, and applying leadership skills, we are opening up endless possibilities and improving mental health for our students, regardless of whether they have aspirations for leadership or not.

I believe that there are several key elements to being a successful leader and all of these can begin to be instilled in children from a very young age, through school and interactions at home. The school culture, as well as the curriculum, is central to this.

Emotional Intelligence

Our School Positive Education philosophy underpins learning and awareness in this area. Our Values in Action Curriculum allows children to understand, develop, and apply important character strengths to certain situations, raising self-awareness, self-regulation, and empathy for others. These are necessary skills in leaders but undoubtedly beneficial for the well being of any individual.

Passion

A love for what we do is necessary for developing conviction, belief, and determination. Teaching and learning pedagogy in the classroom is key in ensuring we move away from didactic strategies and the old-fashioned “chalk and talk” way of teaching. Giving children ownership of their learning and adopting child-initiated themes is a way of securing passion for the learning itself. If we love what we learn, the determination to succeed will be increasingly apparent. Great leaders lead with passion and self-belief but of course, these characteristics will benefit all children as they progress through education and into the real world.

Effective Communication

Our Curriculum gives multiple opportunities across many subjects to develop skills in team building; as part of this development, the children are implicitly taught how to delegate, celebrate successes in enquiry-based and challenge ideas. These are not skills that come naturally to young children but through enquiry-based learning, project work and collaboration, students start to get a sense of the stumbling blocks that working together as a team will bring. The teacher acts as the facilitator and mentor in overcoming such challenges. This will benefit our learners in whichever path they choose to take.

Flexibility

Successful leaders are open to change and new ideas; they can cope with the unexpected and they are prepared for some degree of failure. Our students have explicit opportunities to fail; we hold F.A.I.L (First Attempt In Learning) days, where the students are offered extremely challenging tasks that mean that they are likely in the first instance to fail. We teach the children to be able to change their minds, adapt their ideas and cope emotionally to be able to reach a better, more successful outcome. It is important that children are exposed to a sense of failure as this is what helps them to cope in the real world and equips them for the future.

Children are incredible, adaptable and resilient creatures, but more so when nurtured, mentored and guided in the right way. If we see our students always as potential leaders, they should succeed in whichever field they choose to go into. The development of leadership skills should not be reserved only for those who naturally see themselves in a leadership role, but should help to nurture all students to be confident, self-assured and emotionally intelligent individuals who can go on to pursue their passions and thrive in a profession of their choosing.