Developing_Leadership_Among_Students

DEVELOPING LEADERSHIP AMONG STUDENTS What this entails' The world has gone from the initial notion that leaders are born, to the ‘Trait Theory’ and has now graduated to the approach, and indeed acceptance, that leaders can be trained. It is also pertinent to note that leadership today includes management, which essentially is about the 5 M’s (Men, Money, Machines, Minutes, and Metre). The sum of activities in school must bolster practice of resource management, understanding of self & interpersonal skills and help develop students’ decision making and communication skills. It is only practice which will help fuse these various aspects into one holistic package, valid in today’s world. What better ground for a child to learn all this than his own school. The Environment to Develop Leaders A tiger reared as sheep will behave as sheep. Environment is hence important to develop leaders. This includes the following aspects, borne out by research: ▪ A leadership environment for all students may be created when teachers themselves have a belief that all students can lead. ▪ Student Leadership skills foster cognitive and social development. There is no prescribed approach or curriculum that supports teaching skills and knowledge in leadership. However, practice makes perfect. The more we give responsibility to students, the faster they will grow. ▪ The process of leadership from awareness to development to mastery of leadership skills, leads to more sophisticated leadership roles. Students need this prior instruction and experience to perform at a sophisticated level. ▪ Relationships within an environment of student leadership changes teacher perspective reduce tension between teachers and students, and helps students and teachers identify one another as persons and not stereotypes. ▪ Teachers should continue to develop leadership opportunities for students within classrooms, schools and community (eg through community programmes like Nukkad Nataks, plantation drives and the like). Measures to Groom Student Leadership could include: ▪ Inclusion of students across the entire spectrum of classes (from junior to senior) in student leadership ▪ Inclusion of students in maximum areas of functioning of the school giving students the opportunity to grow ▪ Controlled guidance by faculty to speed along the growth of student leadership (Depending upon the age) ▪ Recognizing good work of students ▪ Holding students responsible within their sphere of activity ▪ Organisation to facilitate Exercise of Leadership Promoting Creative, Critical and Parallel Thinking The most important aspects of getting students to think free, and to enable them to be capable of making radical changes is to groom them for the purpose. The cornerstones of this very approach have been outlined in the preceding paragraphs. One excellent approach to teach students could be to teach them the Edward De Bono’s approach on ‘Parallel Thinking’ and ‘Six Thinking Hats’. The following steps in this regard would help: • Encouraging independent thoughts • Bringing to notice that there is more than one way to do a thing. This can be by way of examples given in the book • Encourage discussions in School Parliament sessions on the lines of ‘Six Thinking Hats’ approach • Have brainstorming sessions in the School students council to throw up ideas • Reward unique ideas through public recognition (in assemblies etc) • Incorporate such activity within the framework of the school curricular and extra curricular activity Conclusion Student voice is a valuable tool in educational reform and daily learning through contributions and relationships. Much stress needs to be laid on developing the dynamics of student leadership, on students leading the learning for themselves and others. The role of student as learner is more multi-faceted than ever before. The education system needs to recognize, support and nourish that changing role. Rita Singh Principal Indirapuram Public School Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, NCR [pic]