Request to Participate in an Educational Leadership Survey to School Principals

Survey Instrument: Building Collaborative Culture in School Survey

Title of the Research:

A Study of Principals Awareness for Teacher Leadership in Building Collaborative Culture in Schools

Purpose of the Research:

The purpose of this project is to identify what Principals’ “aware” about building a collaborative workplace environment for teachers. Collaboration is identified as teachers working together in the shared pursuit of improving professional practices that improve student learning. So the project aims to identify what awareness school principals have in building a culture of collaboration.

Teachers who engage in continuous learning become better teachers. Hence, improving student achievement is conditional upon teacher learning. And given the nature of the global economy that we live in, it is imperative for our education system to continually improve. Collaboration is one effective strategy for improving professional practice. Therefore, a collaborative culture becomes foundational to improving student learning and best preparing the next generation for a global economy.

This study will help clarify areas on which professional organisations, institutions of learning, education boards and departments across the country can focus to be more effective and efficient at building administrator’s capacity to create collaborative workplace environments for teachers.

Procedure:

Many school principals in the states of Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra are invited to participate in a brief, 10 to 15 minutes on-line survey using Gmail facility.

                                                                                                                  

Risks:

There are no known risks of discomforts associated with this research.

Benefits:

Participants in this study do not receive direct individual benefit. However, participants do indirectly get professional benefit from participation in this research study will help professional organisations, institutions of learning, education boards and departments to develop principal capacity to create collaborative workplace environments for teachers. Results of this study will help these individuals and organisations provide current and future principals with better quality professional development and focussed learning based on identified needs that will ultimately improve teacher practice and student learning.

Confidentiality:

Your participation and responses to my questions are confidential. Data used in reports will be presented in a manner that prevents identification of individuals and schools.

Opportunity to Ask Questions:

You are encouraged to ask questions concerning this research before on after agreeing to participate in this research study. Please contact me at 09552061187 or my wife, Mrs. Ancy Radhakrishnan, 09552913784 or chettour@gmail.com or readnflourish@gmail.com with any questions you have regarding my study.

Freedom to Withdraw:

Your participation in this study is voluntary. You are free to decide not to participate in this study or to withdraw from this study at any time without adversely impacting your relationship with the researcher. Your decision will not result in any loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled.

How to Participate:

Copy and paste the ‘survey attachment file’ given below into a new MS Word document and follow the instructions given with it or you can request me in the below given email id for survey questionnaire and follow the instructions in the questionnaire. After answering the questionnaire save the document onto your computer and attach and mail the same file in the given email id. Any problems, kindly contact the researcher. Forwarding this page link to interested fellow principals and encouraging them to participate in this exercise would be appreciated.

Consent, Right to Receive a Copy:

You are voluntarily making a decision whether or not to participate in this research study. Your acceptance certifies that you have decided to participate having read and understood the information presented. Please print a copy of this informed consent for your records. I would appreciate if you could mail me a certificate of your participation in this survey in your letter head with your sign and stamp.

Please accept my sincere thanks for your help with this important project.

Radhakrishnan. C

chettour@gmail.com

Survey Attachment file

Survey Purpose:

The purpose of this survey is to identify what principals “aware” about building a collaborative culture in schools for teachers. Thank you for your time!

5-point linkert-scale items

Please respond to the following items using this scale(Put a tick (√) against the appropriate option):

Use

DK = Don’t Know or Unsure

1 = Strongly Disagree

2 = Disagree

3 = neither Agree nor Disagree

4 = Agree

5 = Strongly Agree

Principals Must:

Sl. No.	Principals Must:	DK	1		2	3	4	5
1.	Involve staff in making important decisions.
2.	Provide opportunities for staff input on important decisions.
3.	Encourage staff input on important decisions.
4.	Expect staff input on decisions.
5.	Implement decisions based on staff input.
6.	Engage all teachers in leadership roles.
7.	Focus staff meetings on student learning.
8.	Use workshops as the best way to improve teacher practice that impacts student learning.
9.	Have teachers work together in teams as the best way to improve student learning.
10.	Have teachers work by themselves as the best way to improve student learning more than by working in teams.
11.	Engage teachers in daily professional learning as the best way to improve student learning.
12.	Build consensus in order to facilitate change.
13.	Persist in the face of all obstacles in order to implement change.
14.	Recognise whether solution(s) to problems are either simple or complex.
15.	Recognise that meaningful change can be easy.

To build effective teams:

Of the following items, please identify the importance that you place on each element needed for building effective teams.

Sl. No.	To build effective teams, how important is:	DK	1	2	3	4	5
16.	Specific question strategies for teachers.
17.	A focus on improving instruction.
18.	Teachers working together.
19.	Teachers planning together.
20.	Teachers thinking together.
21.	Teachers talking about professional issues together.
22.	Teachers responding and observing to teaching.
23.	Teachers observing and responding to curriculum.
24.	Teachers observing and responding to assessment.
25.	Teachers developing joint lesson plans.
26.	Teachers developing curriculum.
27.	Principal evaluation of teachers based on the work of the team.
28.	The use of protocols (step-by-step procedures for teams).
29.	Training teachers in the skills and knowledge of collaboration.
30.	Using an incentive system for high teacher performance.
31.	Eliminating the isolation of individual classrooms.
32.	Networking with teachers in other buildings.

Resources:

Of the following items, please identify the importance that you place on each resource for building a collaborative environment for teachers.

Sl. No.	How important is it for Principals to find, provide or develop:	DK	1	2	3	4	5
33.	Time
34.	Materials
35.	Equipment
36.	Space
37.	Training in the use of protocols (step-by-step procedures for teams).
38.	Training in specific procedures.
39.	Administrative support.
40.	Trust between teachers.
41.	Access to new ideas.
42.	Access to expertise.

Continuous Improvement:

Of the following items, please identify the level of importance that you, as building principal, place on each element you know is necessary for continuous improvement.

Sl. No.	As principal, how important is:	DK	1	2	3	4	5
43.	Focused resources on a small number of goals.
44.	Data collection and analysis.
45.	The use of multiple information sources to guide and demonstrate improvement.
46.	Research-based decision making.
47.	A simple focus on refining processes in small ways.
48.	Clear, frequent talk about teaching.
49.	Clear, frequent talk about learning.
50.	Recognition and celebration for superior practices and results.
51.	Inventiveness/Innovativeness.
52.	Risk-taking on the part of the teachers.
53.	High expectations for student learning.
54.	The inclusion of continuous improvement work in teacher evaluation procedures.
55.	Using group of teachers as the main way for improving student learning.

Designing of professional learning:

Of the following items, please identify the level of importance that you place on each design of professional learning that you know will improve student learning.

Sl. No.	In improving student learning, how important is:	DK	1	2	3	4	5
56.	Developing, scoring, interpreting and acting on assessment as professional development.
57.	Designing, implementing, reflecting on and revising curriculum as professional development.
58.	Analysing and acting on data as professional development.
59.	Engaging in lesson study as professional development.
60.	Engaging in faculty study groups as professional development.

Correlation to Student Learning:

Of the following items, please identify the level of importance you place on each as it relates to your own work and its correlation to student learning.

Sl. No.	As principal, I must:	DK	1	2	3	4	5
61.	Learn along-side my staff.
62.	Learn from a mentor.
63.	Plan together with other principals about professional issues.
64.	Think together with other principals.
65.	Observe and respond to teaching with other principals.
66.	Observe and respond to assessments with other principals.
67.	Focus on improving instruction with other principals.
68.	Use protocols (step-by-step procedures for teams) with other principals.

Your own level of awareness:

Please rate your own level of awareness by responding to the following items:

Sl. No.	Self-assess your own level of knowledge on each of these areas:	DK	1	2	3	4	5
69.	Staff involvement in important decisions.
70.	Teachers working in teams.
71.	Modelling professional learning with/for staff.
72.	Allocate resources to improve student learning.
73.	Focusing staff meetings on students learning and improvement.
74.	Continuous improvement of student learning.
75.	Adult learning principles.
76.	Student learning principles.
77.	Principles of change.

Open-Ended:

        78. Please identify specific assessment-related activities that teachers can engage in as part of their professional learning:

        79. Please identify specific curriculum-related activities that teachers can engage in as part of their professional learning:

        80. Please identify specific instruction-related activities that teachers can engage in as part of their professional learning:

        Demographics:

        Demographic Items:

        81. Total years in education (including the current year).

            Years:

        82. Total students in your school.

            Students:

        83. Total years as a Principal (including the current year).

        Years:

        84. Total years since your last higher educational course (any course).   Years:                                                                                     

85.  Do you participate in a professional learning team?

Yes/No    (Strike out which is not applicable).

      If yes, please describe the composition of the professional learning team.

86. Please identify which Education Board you are part of.

Education Board: CBSE/ICSE/IB/IGCSE/State Board

In case State Board, specify:

                      

Thank you!

 

Thank you for your participation in this important survey!

LEARNING TO TRUST YOUR INTUITION

By Susan Jeffers, Ph.D.

 

It is said that "life is what happens when we've made other plans." If this is so, then it doesn't make much sense to keep demanding life be a certain way. It doesn't make sense to go through life traveling down the same tunnel of expectation when we know that often brings disappointment. It is an act of self-love to stop hanging on to the way it is supposed to be. It is this hanging on that causes us to be buffeted about by the unwelcome surprises in life.

When we jump to the level of the Higher Self, we are greatly relieved to find the guarantee that we have been looking for. And that guarantee is this ... No matter what life decides to hand me, I'll handle it!

Do you see the peace this assurance of our inner power brings us? We can never control life in any other way. Yes, life is filled with surprises. But with the inner knowing that we can handle anything life hands us, we don't have to worry about the future any longer. We can get on with our life with a feeling of freedom and adventure. We can even begin to enjoy the mysteries, instead of feeling threatened by them. Wherever life takes us, we'll be okay!

Developing this kind of trust requires our constantly using our Spiritual tools. Even when we think we have the hang of it, new situations arise that bring up our need to control. But the more we find ways of dwelling in the house of our Higher Self and trusting the Grand Design, the easier it is for us to let go of our need to control.

There have been many times when I haven't understood why certain things have happened in my life. Much later, however, the great miracle of it all was revealed to me. I didn't understand why my first marriage didn't work out; I later learned that there was much I had to learn about becoming whole and, for me, being on my own was a necessary step. I didn't understand why I got cancer; I later learned how much a life-threatening illness teaches us about enjoying life in the present.

It certainly is up to us to take some action. And, we can begin taking more appropriate action in life when we learn how to listen to our innate intelligence, our intuition. Whether we are aware of it or not, the Higher Self is constantly sending us valuable messages that can guide us to where we need to go for our highest good. Our task is to learn how to tune into these messages.

In Western society, we are taught to think logically, not intuitively. Logical thinking is very important. It helps us get through our everyday mortal existence. For example, it helps us know that 2 + 2 = 4, an essential concept to understand when we are paying our bills! But logical thinking is very limited. It uses only part of our brain.

When we add intuitive thinking to logical thinking, we expand enormously our inherent capability of living life in an incredibly powerful manner. We realize that we have available to us much more wisdom and guidance than we thought we had. The logical mind draws on the teachings of the physical plane; the intuitive mind draws on the teachings of the Spiritual plane. When the two are combined, the resources for guiding us into the future are unlimited. We certainly are much more than we thought we were!

Since we have not been trained to use the intuitive part of who we are, the question is, "How do we tune into these powerful messages that are coming through to us?" Every morning as you contemplate your day, ask your Higher Self three questions...

"Where would you have me go?"

"What would you have me do?"

"What would you have me say, and to whom?"

Ask these questions with a sense of trust that your inner wisdom and power will come forth. Then consciously turn it over and go about your day. As your day progresses, listen to any inner messages that you are given. These are messages from the intuitive mind. Then start going where your energy wants to take you. Sometimes you just get the "urge" to call a friend, or a business contact, or whatever. Those urge is your intuition speaking. Again, see where these urges are taking you.

In the beginning you may hear nothing. But eventually, you will pick up on the guidance coming through. Some of it may make no sense to you consciously. But it will make sense to your Higher Self. Trust that. I have found that when I listen to my intuition, I am led to places that I would have never gone had I listened only to the logic of my rational mind. And the results have been magical.

Remember that our minds, when governed by the Lower Self, aren't capable of imagining the grand possibilities that are there for us. It is important that we learn to tune into a part of us that has much greater vision, the Higher Self.

People ask me how to know if it is their intuition speaking when they are being guided or when it is the Lower Self disguising itself as the Higher Self. My answer is that, in the beginning, we need to play with it a bit. Experiment with little things. If you get an internal message to call so and so and it makes no sense, call anyway. See what happens. Or go somewhere where you are being "led" to go. Or read a book that seems to jump out at you in the bookstore or online. And so on.

 

One clue that it is a message from the Higher Self is that it has a purpose for good. When we know that the action we are being led to take is a positive one, then we know we are probably on the wavelength of the Higher Self.

Another exercise that has been very helpful to me comes from Ram Dass, one of my favourite spiritual teachers. When I know I will be faced with having to make a decision, instead of lamenting, "What should I do?” the more peaceful approach is simply to say, "I wonder what Susan is going to do?"

When I say, "I wonder what Susan is going to do," in a sense I become the observer rather than the decision maker. I distance myself from the drama. I trust that "Susan" will be led by the wisdom within her and I put the issue out of my mind. Later I find myself living into the answer - easily and effortlessly.

 Remember, as soon as you leave the Lower Self behind and surrender to the events surrounding your life, you are free to enter the Higher Self where the fear, upset and disappointment disappear and new opportunities for a beautiful life are constantly placed before you.

Grow, Glow and be Great!

Read, Learn and Flourish!