So how can someone prepare for the conflict that is to come in a future job. After all, reading books and watching lectures can only get you so far. Educational leadership provides many difficult situations and choices that cannot be prepared for through lecture or reading. After all, as one researcher wrote about, the actions of school leaders is a central component of school quality and educational development. However, how does an educational system assure that their leaders are ready to take those actions? Leadership education is all about laws, policies, and decision making, but does it fully prepare you to make those decisions when laws and policies collide?
Well in class we went through a few simulations geared toward the difficult situations that will probably arise in future positions in the field. These simulations dealt with cyber-bullying, social media concerns, and leadership decisions. I really enjoyed working through these situations. I think that throughout the experiences I was exposed to legal issues and conflicts, that even though I read about in the class reading, I did not understand the widespread impact of such legal issues. I also learned about several issues that aren’t necessarily cut and dry. In leadership, I think that a rule must be followed and a rule breaker must be disciplined, but sometimes privacy laws, freedoms, and other issues make a situation not so cut and dry. These simulations made me think on my toes about the different viewpoints involved in each decision. This is actually something I am pretty good at, because I do it in the classroom so much, but the simulations allowed me to see more of the ethical and legal concerns of situations.
However, these situations were not just geared toward legal decision-making, but one relied heavily on building and developing teams. This one in particular made me see that sometimes when you make a decision, many of the options are good options, but you have to think through a decision and not just pick the good options, but the best options as well. Simulations allow people to make mistakes without consequences. One article I wrote mentioned the importance of a student making these mistakes (https://newsroom.lmu.edu/campusnews/simulation-technology-helps-aspiring-educational-leaders-prepare-for-challenging-real-life-scenarios/). After all, the bad decisions I made did not harm or affect anyone like they would in the real world. The simulations allowed me to practice without consequences which is not the case once you get a leadership position and have to make these types of decisions daily.
Even though simulations are common in other fields. I knew that pilates use flight simulators, policemen have mock drills, and firemen run simulations as well, I never thought about using simulations in leadership. Even though the simulations are all different they all allow people to make high pressured decisions in places that there are no consequences. This is important because we learn though repetition, and simulations allow us to repeat situations over and over, so that when the real thing happens we are prepare, and we are just going through the motions that we have already taught ourselves through simulations
Brauckmann, S., Pashiardis, P., & Ärlestig, H. (2020). Bringing context and educational leadership together: fostering the professional development of school principals. Professional Development in Education, 49(1), 4–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2020.1747105
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