Visionary Leadership and the Teacher

By Vijaya Samarawickrama

Human beings have reached the top of the evolutionary ladder, leaving other animals far behind because of three factors: the ability to dream, to realize that dream, and to teach others what had been learnt in the past. For example, humans had dreamt of flying for thousands of years and like the mythical Greek Dedalus and Icarus, they tried to realize that dream by sticking feathers on their bodies and flapping their arms like birds. They died of course, but that dream was finally made into reality when the Wright brothers invented the Kitty Hawk a century ago. Since then humans have been to the moon and back. This is the power of the dream.

Humans have made remarkable advances because besides dreaming and experimenting they have also developed the unique ability to teach. In this way, unlike animals, we have been able to build on past experiences and move forward from where others left off. At the core of this human capacity for progress is the reality of change which pervades all of human existence. We humans cannot stagnate, we must move forward, for better or for worse. If we want to be effective as teachers, this is the first reality we must fully understand: that we are the most important agents of change, who mould young minds to cope with the challenges of human existence.

But there is a difference between a Dhamma teacher and a regular school teacher: in our case our primary task is to mould our children to understand and practise the teachings of the Buddha in order to make them spiritually happy, useful adults. For this we must have the vision as well as the skill to translate this vision into a method to bring the ancient wisdom discovered by the Buddha into the modern world. So teachers have to be not only visionaries, but leaders who effect change.

‘Teachers need to be able to seek, plan, implement creative and humane solutions that are inclusive and respect diverse communities. They need to clearly articulate these visions and collaborate with others to make them realities.’ This statement to my mind summarizes our topic, which is how teachers with vision can provide the leadership to make effective learning possible. To be good teachers, we must be visionaries, that is, we need to ‘seek’ and ‘plan’. We need to seek out ways to teach the sacred Dhamma in fresh and innovative ways; we need to plan strategies which transcend the physical limitations of most temple-based Dhamma Schools. It is easy to blame these limitations as excuses for poor teaching, but if we have the creativity and initiative, we can convert problems into challenges and strike out in new directions to inspire our children to rise to the best of their abilities.

What is the vision? It is to make ‘students make connections in order to learn”. It is not enough to spoon out portions of the 84,000 Dhammas lesson by boring lesson, so that students are filled with facts to the brim like a vessel. It must be made relevant and meaningful to today’s children and they must see the relevance of the Dhamma to their daily lives. To quote Dr. Ong Puay Liu, “the Buddha Gotama expressed emphasis on the student’s personal experience as the basis of education to allow them to see for themselves how the Dhamma is applicable to, and beneficial for their lives here and now”. (Community, Vol.1, Issue 1, Page 10)

No matter how clear-sighted or creative a teacher may be, however, she cannot achieve much on her own. To effectively bring about the desired change in a child she has to be a LEADER and a TEAM MEMBER , to be able to ‘collaborate with others’. To quote Dan Rather, “the dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called ‘truth’.” We see here that a teacher is no longer a disciplinarian whose task is to coerce children to remember facts.

A good teacher today LEADS the children in her care to realize their own potential and nurture it: “The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards,” (Anatole France). But you do not only lead children—you must also effectively work with other adults to help you in realizing this dream—parents, colleagues, principals, committees. As a leader, you need to model and invite collaboration, especially among teams—not a ‘mine’ but ‘ours’ attitude. As a leader you must have a vision, then you share that dream and direction in a manner that makes other people want to share and follow.

To conclude, the teacher as a visionary leader must have a grasp of the following fundamentals:

• clearly set organizational direction and purpose for himself/herself, the pupils, and for others involved.
• inspire loyalty and caring as well as enthusiasm, belief and commitment.

Is this all too much? Well, are you up to it? Are you prepared to become an effective agent of change to leave this world a better place than when you came to it?

“Teachers, I believe, are the most responsible and important members of society because their professional efforts affect the fate of the earth.” (Helen Caldicott)