|
|
|
|
Heroes in our Midst By Gord KerrJust a few short months ago, I began the transition from years as a researcher, volunteer and school council member to assume new responsibilities as a public school trustee. Despite those years of working closely with the system, I find myself on a very steep learning curve as I discover more about the system from this new vantage point. One of the most rewarding aspects of this new role is the opportunity to discover some of the very talented people working in behind the scenes to keep the system running as smoothly as possible every day. Within this pool of talent are people supporting our teachers, principals and support staff in a variety of ways, planning for student needs over the next 5, 10 and 15 years, running the bus system, discovering new ways to engage students in the curriculum, finding new ways to help students stay in school, developing future leaders and the list could go on. These are some of the people who work behind the scenes supporting all of our principals, teachers, support staff and students that we see in our schools every day. The expertise that all these people bring to the system does not readily show itself. Many of these heroes in public education toil away in anonymity, quite happy to make their contribution without recognition and well out of the spotlight. It’s just part of the culture. There is a reluctance to highlight the things that are working well, because there is always more work to do. Within the education profession, the humble reign. And the humble don’t crave recognition, just the next issue to be solved, the next student to be helped or the next lesson to be made ready. What this means is that we hear little about all the things that are working well, they just happen. We don’t hear about the little everyday miracles that happen within our schools and within the board offices to support our teachers and our students. We tend to hear more about the things that are not working. Here’s the paradox. With a reluctance to highlight the expertise and everyday efforts sustaining and advancing public education in Ontario, criticism reigns. At times, we seem to have little faith in the people who run the education system everyday. Our educational leaders and professionals are subject to ongoing criticism as we often point out how easy it should be to address this issue or that. In doing so, we devalue the very people that we should be honouring for their efforts behalf of our children. We sustain a culture of criticism rather than a culture of trust and respect. And in a culture of criticism, is in any wonder why we sometimes struggle to foster collaboration and open dialogue? Openness and collaboration are risky ventures for the humble who are happy to toil in anonymity. Openness and collaboration expose the humble to more criticism, not something that anyone would willingly sign up for day after day after day. We have heroes in our midst. Anyone with children in the education system likely knows of at least one of these heroes and in behind the scenes, there are many more. We hear some of their stories from time to time but perhaps we need to shine a light on more of these everyday heroes in our midst. In doing so, perhaps we can phase out the culture of criticism and contribute to replacing it with a more powerful culture built on a foundation of trust and respect for all.
|
|
Send mail to
gkerr@schoolcouncils.net with questions or comments about this web site.
|
