The Challenge of Integrity as a School Leader (or anyone else for that matter)
I'm currently reading Theories in Practice by Argyris and Schön. It is a remarkable, thought-provoking work, exploring the inconsistencies between the things people claim to value and the things they actually value; between the theories they claim to have about how changes occur and the theories they actually use to direct their actions. It is easy to reflect on how these inconsistencies are evident in the words and actions of others - much harder to see our own inconsistencies. As school leaders, we say we seek to increase the effectiveness of our schools. But what do we mean by effectiveness? Do the things we claim to care about improving match the things we actually demonstrate caring about by our actions - the things we actually care about improving? And how do we claim to be going about effecting improvement - what are our espoused theories of improvement? Do we use these espoused theories to guide our actions, or do we actually operate according to different theories, of wh