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December 1, 1998
The Importance of Networking for Principals
by Dianne Yee
The school principal’s role has become increasingly complex. Educational restructuring and public demands for accountability are politicising the work of principals at the same time as we have been told to take a larger role in instructional leadership and be supportive and transformational in our relationships with students, staff, and parents. Principals have indicated that that they have considerable stress because of a perceived need to do more, to know more, and to be more accountable in an unstable environment (Townsend, 1996). We often have difficulty finding the time to be the reflective professionals we are expected to be (Brubaker, 1995).
Everyday school leadership involves intense face-to-face communication. The issues that will arise often cannot be predicted. Frequently, important decisions must be made quickly and without complete information, and the resolution of school problems often involves many individuals who have differing perspectives (Greenfield, 1995). Even though most principals bring a strong sense of purpose to their work and challenges are often attractive to them (Brubaker, 1995), contemporary educational leaders definitely require personal and professional support networks (Roberts, 1992).
When carefully considered, these networks are able to promote continued personal and professional development, to develop a trusted peer group that counteracts tendencies for professional isolation, and create time for reading, reflection, and thoughtful discussion. To be effective, such networks require a professional focus, relevant topics, a comfortable environment for substantive discourse, and leadership opportunities for all participants (Krovetz, 1995).
Networks for principals often involve mentoring relationships. By definition, mentors share the responsibility for another individual’s developmental journey by providing support, challenge, and vision (Parks Daloz & Edelson, 1992). Mentors provide a climate of trust that allows the protęgę to feel safe enough to risk new perspectives and behaviours. Mentors may raise challenging questions or propose tasks that they consider appropriate for the protęgę, and they also offer direction and vision by providing more global perspectives. Principals have commonly participated in programs that help them become more effective mentors (Daresh & Playko, 1991), but opportunities to experience both roles in a mentoring relationship—as mentor and as protęgę—have been powerful learning experiences for me. These experiences often have occurred with the help of information technology (IT).
Information Technology Networking Tools
Information technology holds considerable promise for creating collegial networks that facilitate the sharing of information, concerns, and talents among school principals. Several information technology tools are available that can greatly aid principals in developing such personal and professional networks.
Electronic Bulletin Boards and Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) Systems
My first experiences with electronic networking began in the early 1990s when I started using a Saskatchewan educational bulletin board system that operated before our schools had easy access to the Internet. I had been a principal for several years, but I was just learning about electronic communication. The patient mentoring of a technology leader in the special education branch of our department of education showed me the value of logging in. I learned about interesting and practical online projects for students, found valuable curriculum-support materials, and received free and speedy online technical assistance that kept me engaged in learning about ad with computers.
When our school district created an information technology "lighthouse" school that involved corporate and educational partnerships, I became its principal. Although we had an internal messaging system at the school, we had a strong interest in developing a system that would allow students, parents, and staffmembers to have off-site access. We purchased the FirstClass CMC system for our school; because we had "space" available, we also created mailboxes for other schools in our district as a vehicle for information sharing among principals. This system was very attractive to many students and parents, and I found it helpful for making contacts that I could not make during regular school hours.
The FirstClass system, however, was not as well used by other principals as we had hoped. About the same time, inexpensive e-mail access via the Internet was being tried in schools with support from our provincial telecommunications company. Principals who were just beginning to become comfortable with IT tended to devote snippets of their hectic schedules to experimenting with the Internet rather than using the FirstClass system even though it had considerable potential. Principals found it hard enough to find the time just to learn one electronic communication mode, so the amount of time required to learn and check multiple applications and two systems was a major barrier.
Several years later I began using FirstClass again in a university course designed to explore a variety of telecommunication applications. This updated version, although quite expensive, allowed us to experiment with collaborative, online writing and Web development through the use of its shared folders. We also worked with synchronous communication in private online chats and group discussions. Only the speed of our typing hampered us in this supportive environment for professional networking!
Listservs and Electronic Discussion Groups
My first serious involvement with a listserv came in a university educational leadership course and as the result of opting for alternative online assignments. Our professor allowed a wide variety of assignment choices, and I felt that I had written quite enough critical analysis papers and article reviews in print format. I was comfortable with e-mail, and our professor encouraged us to try this medium for academic discourse.
The Change Agency listserv has an international audience of more than 200 subscribers, but the majority of participants are connected with the University of Calgary. The listserv was designed to provide a forum in which educational stakeholders could discuss the major issues currently affecting school systems. A foundational premise was that teachers, principals, graduate students, professors, parents, school trustees, and superintendents are each able to make valuable contributions to an online discussion network.
As graduate students, we could respond to e-mail messages posted by others or post messages to start the general discussion in another direction of our professional interest. We were also able to submit brief reviews of books or articles that related to the topic of leadership in learning. As a result, we created a reflective, electronic "portfolio" while we became more comfortable with online communication.
Initially, it was daunting to introduce a discussion topic or to respond to another person’s posting. Pushing the "Send" button exposed my frailties to a host of experienced educational leaders. As I continued to contribute, what I came to understand was that it provided an excellent professional information resource and brought verification of or revealed alternatives to my current leadership practices. It also became a support network with the option to make valuable individual contacts as a result of the listserv participation.
My recent discussions with New Zealand principals, as part of a summer institute organised by the Universities of Calgary and Waikato on international leadership issues, reinforced the value of electronic communication as part of individual support networks for principals. A New Zealand contributor to the Leaders–NET listserv mentioned that if she came from school or university with perplexing questions or frustrations, the process of composing an electronic posting allowed time for reflection and let her check her perceptions with a diverse, but supportive, information base.
The Change Agency’s quality of discussion is very sound, so I am careful in constructing my questions and responses, even with experience. The listserv provides opportunity for the sort of thoughtful, professional reflection that is not often possible in the chaotic, everyday environment of a school principal. It has been a valuable networking and mentoring tool in my professional development.
Web and E-Journal Publication
My venture into Web development began as a result of a university course requirement, but I have embraced Web building because of my sheer enjoyment of graphic and textual design. I also value Web creation for its potential to organise the volumes of information presented by the Internet in a personal way. Again, feedback from students, parents, teachers, and other principals has supported and challenged my views of teaching, learning, and leading.
One of my professors suggested that I send some of my writing to the Well Connected Educator (WCE). I was curious. I had already published articles in print journals, but this possibility seemed intriguing. The information for prospective authors provided by WCE was helpful, and working with a writing coach was another way for me to network with educational leaders. The responses to my first article created opportunities for me to exchange practical hints and theoretical perspectives.
Recently, I have participated in publishing the International Electronic Journal for Leadership in Learning (IEJLL) as a member of its editorial committee, which reviews articles submitted to the journal. I initially had concerns about my ability to make valid editorial comments, but I have found that this process requires me to be careful as I review the work of others and also to reflect on how their ideas might affect my own learning. Although there is no direct contact with the prospective authors, this reviewer’s perspective often influences the care I take with everyday work in my school.
In the autobiographies of principals, Brubaker (1995) identified a changing context for educational leaders and a movement away from the "arrogance of a closed information system" (p. 88), where control of information determined a person’s power position in the educational hierarchy. I continue to believe that the real power of information technology is its ability to make information connections between people and to create lifelong learning opportunities with a network of global educational leaders. And now there are many more electronic tools to assist principals with such networking!
References
Brubaker, D. L. (1995, November). How the principalship has changed: Lessons from principals’ life stories. NASSP Bulletin, 88–95.
Daresh, J. C. & Playko, M. A. (1991). Preparing mentors for school leaders. Journal of Staff Development, 12(4), 24–27.
Greenfield, W. D. (1995). Toward a theory of school administration: The centrality of leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 31(1), 61–85.
Krovetz, M. L. (1995, November). Principal support networks: Collegial support for school restructuring. NASSP Bulletin, 69–74.
Parks Daloz, L. A., & Edelson, P. J. (1992). Leadership and staff development: A mentorship model. In P. J. Edelson (Ed.), Rethinking leadership in adult and continuing education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Roberts, H. (1992, February). The importance of networking in the restructuring process. NASSP Bulletin, 25–29.
Townsend, D. (1996). Looking at the work of principals. Challenge, 33(1), 4–9.
Internet Resources
E-mail: Dianne Yee
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