Distributed Leadership

"If you pay close attention, you can see signs of leadership everywhere, without even trying" - Mike Suto, leadership consultant for Premier School Agendas

Here is what Vice-Principal Felix Gelbart had to say when asked to elaborate on the notion of distributed leadership that is so pivotal to Marymount:

"What it means is that [leadership] is not top down. There's no 'you're going to do it this way because we said so' because that is so anti-Reform that we figured the best way to implement it is by modelling it and you model it with kids by making it student-centred so with staff you make it teacher-centred. That's the whole idea behind it. If they own it they will love it, if they don't own it they will say 'look at what admin. made me do.'"

Mr. Gelbart offers teaching assignments as a case-in-point: they are strategic and based on a teacher's passion and expertise. The administration will not pressure teachers to take on assignments they are unwilling or incapable of doing. Principal Miniaci describes the importance of balancing passion, expertise and needs in her staffing assignments:

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Distributed leadership is so fundamental to many aspects of reform implementation, that it is hard to imagine cycle team collaboration and professional development without it. Steven Erdelyi, Science Domain Coordinator, sees many benefits from pedagogical to just plain practical: "[Principal Miniaci] has allowed us, let's say, the leadership capacity to control how we're teaching our courses and what we're teaching, the order we're teaching [...]" Hear excerpts of our conversation with him in which he illustrates what this notion really means at Marymount:

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In the spirit of 'learning-by-doing,' the administration is sensitive to the fact that the modelling and 'ownership' the Reforms speak of extend well beyond classroom practices into all facets of school life. Building a community of learners requires that all stake-holders feel valued which means that a genuine invitation must be extended to all to participate and co-construct not just knowledge, but also a school culture based on collegiality.

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