One of the shifts I have long encouraged teachers to make—especially in their PLCs—is to consider how much of their attention is focused on teaching and how much is focused on student learning. That’s not because teaching isn’t important. Teachers need strong instructional skills, thoughtful planning, engaging strategies, and deep content knowledge. But teaching is not the outcome. Learning is the outcome.
In the words of Rick DuFour, a leading voice in the development of professional learning communities, “The professional learning community model flows from the assumption that the core mission of formal education is not simply to ensure that students are taught but to ensure that they learn. This simple shift – from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning – has profound implications for schools.”
A focus on learning changes the questions we ask.
When the focus is primarily on teaching, a teacher might ask: Did I explain it clearly? Did I use the strategy correctly? Did I cover what I planned? Did I provide enough practice?
When the focus shifts to learning, the questions change: What are students doing? What are they thinking? What are they understanding? Where are they struggling? What are they doing when they struggle? What evidence tells me learning is occurring?
That shift also requires giving up some control. I can control much of what I teach. I can’t directly control what students learn. Learning requires something from the learner. Students have to produce the behaviors that generate learning—thinking, questioning, practicing, persisting, making connections, seeking feedback, and revising their thinking. So effective teachers don’t simply deliver instruction. They create environments in which students increasingly take responsibility for producing their own learning.
I believe school leaders face a similar shift—from a focus on managing to a focus on leading.
That’s not because management isn’t important. Schools need schedules, procedures, budgets, policies, expectations, and clear responsibilities. Effective management creates the structure necessary for a school to function. But just as teaching is not the outcome of teaching, management is not the outcome of leadership.
The question is what our management makes possible. When leaders are primarily focused on managing, their questions may sound like: Are teachers following the agreed-upon procedures? Is the curriculum being implemented as planned? Are PLCs meeting regularly? Are teachers submitting their professional growth plans? Is everyone doing what we agreed they would do?
Those can be important questions. But they don’t necessarily tell us whether professional learning and change are occurring in ways that will impact student success.
A leadership focus raises different questions: What are teachers learning? What are they questioning? What are they discovering about their students? Where are they struggling? What are they trying? What evidence are they examining? How are their thinking and practice changing as a result?
There is an important parallel here. Just as students have to produce the behaviors that generate their learning, teachers have to produce the behaviors that generate professional learning. They need to question, examine evidence, test ideas, collaborate, seek feedback, reflect, and revise their thinking and practice in response to what they are learning.
Leaders can’t produce that learning for teachers any more than teachers can produce learning for students. What leaders can do is create the conditions that encourage and support it. And, just as with teaching, that can require giving up some control.
When we are uncertain about results, the temptation is often to manage more closely: provide more direction, specify the practice, monitor implementation, and check for compliance. Sometimes that may be necessary. But when the desired outcome requires professional judgment, learning, and change, increased management may actually reduce the very thinking we need teachers to do. In our effort to ensure improvement, we can unintentionally reduce the professional learning necessary to produce it.
While management can create clarity around what needs to happen, leadership creates the conditions in which people learn how best to make it happen. That distinction raises an important question for school leaders: When does a situation call for management, and when does it call for leadership?
Some aspects of schooling appropriately require compliance. There are times when a leader needs to provide clear direction about what must happen. Safety procedures need to be followed. Required assessments need to be administered according to established guidelines. Deadlines need to be met. Management is important here.
But many of the outcomes we seek in schools can’t be produced through compliance. Increasing student engagement, developing greater student independence, improving the quality of classroom discussion, responding to students who aren’t learning, or determining how best to implement a new curriculum all require teachers to observe, think, make judgments, experiment, and learn. Leadership is important here.
The more an outcome depends upon professional judgment, the less likely it is that management alone can produce it.
Consider the parallel. Teachers need classroom management and strong teaching skills to create environments where students can learn. School leaders need strong management skills to create the conditions in which they can lead professional learning. In both cases, learning requires more than what the teacher or leader does. It requires giving learners the opportunity and responsibility to think, question, experiment, reflect, and make decisions.
Quality teaching builds student learning environments. Quality leadership builds professional learning environments.
The more an outcome depends upon professional judgment, the less likely it is that management alone can produce it.
There is a parallel worth considering. Teachers need classroom management and strong teaching skills to create environments where students can learn. School leaders need strong management skills to create the conditions in which they can lead professional learning.
In both cases, management and skill create important conditions. But learning requires more. It requires giving learners the opportunity and responsibility to think, question, experiment, reflect, and make decisions.
Quality teaching builds student learning environments. Quality leadership builds professional learning environments.
