Pedagogical leadership

Pedagogy — the science and study of teaching, i.e, finding answers to the basic questions ‘what’ and ‘how’.

There is a thin line between teaching and leadership. If we look closely we might find many similarities and few irregularities too. Both encourage, motivate and value their followers but at the same time the goals are slightly different. The former is the creator and the latter is the one who nurtures them. The former lays the foundation and the latter gives the finishing touch.

Eventually both of them play a vital role in creating a masterpiece. Having said so, and understanding the importance of the same, the education system nowadays has come up with ways to pick a leaf from each other’s books and make their function feasible in all conditions. And this is how pedagogical leadership came into the picture.

In the past, we have witnessed eminent teachers, scholars and leaders each with their own principles, methodologies and styles having excellent outcomes.

To study the art of teaching with basic traits of leadership, we need to identify who is dominant and who is submissive. To answer that, let’s take a quick peek into history. Is there any leader who is a good teacher or any teacher who had great leadership traits? The answer is “none”. Since the teacher is the creator, it should be dominant over the leadership role.

According to me, these are a few important characteristics of great teaching:

1. Set goals and the layout to achieve them. Discuss them with your students as they should be clear about the way ahead.

2. Identify your audience, or in leadership terms, identify your team. Teaching and learning is a team effort between a teacher and a disciple. You need to identify what their strengths and weaknesses are and the best situations or conditions in which they can give their best results.

3. Don’t be a dictator. Be a listener, or as a matter of fact, be an effective communicator. An effective leader communicates. He/she listens and involves others for the common cause.

4. When we talk about involvement, we talk about accountability. Ensure that students are made accountable for assignments and imbibe them with responsibilities. This will lead to them being encouraged. At the same time, it will make them feel important.

As far as teaching techniques are concerned, it’s very evident that no technique is right or wrong unless it gives results. There is only one thumb rule to be followed — “keep learning so that you can teach better”.