Claire Amos

Don't get me wrong. There is no question that educational research is useful and that understanding what has worked in the past can and should inform our decisions about which pedagogical interventions we use day to day. However if we limit ourselves to what is formally researched and published in peer reviewed papers we are going to continue to fail a good portion of our young people. To get a change in outcomes we must change our practice. “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” - Henry Ford It concerns me that there is still a tendency (for some) in education to dismiss new approaches, new strategies, new ideas, patronisingly belittling new ways of doing things as fads and passing fancies, simply because there is yet to be a lofty body of evidence that proves it works across the board. Sitting around and waiting for the evidence to be served up on a silver platter before you are willing to try new interventions and strategies ...

Warning - this is long! This is an essay I wrote about Authentic Leadership for my Ed Perspectives Paper at Waikato University. Introduction The Oxford Dictionary defines authentic as “of undisputed origin and not a copy; genuine” and leadership as “the action of leading a group of people or an organization, or the ability to do this”. Therefore we may surmise that ‘authentic leadership’ is simply the ability to lead a group of people whilst being genuine. In this paper I consider a range of perspectives and definitions for the concept of authentic leadership: authentic leadership as self awareness, authentic leadership as exemplified by authentic behaviours driven by a moral purpose and authentic leadership as a broader metaphor for effective leadership . I also consider the strengths and limitations of authentic leadership and consider how authentic leadership is manifest in my practice and consider how the concept of authentic leadership may also influence future actions. Li...