Throughout 2022 the Deputy Principals across the college have had a professional learning focus on “Developing self and others”.
This term we engaged Dr Ben Palmer from Genos International to facilitate a workshop on emotional intelligence. The workshop included evidence based content and learning exercises that will help deputies to:
- Better understand themselves, their leadership style and the impact they can have on others
- Flex their leadership approach to better connect, communicate and influence.
Importance of Emotional Intelligence for Leaders:
The skills of emotional intelligence have been shown to be an important attribute for school leaders as school leadership involves high levels of emotional labour and require high levels of emotional regulation. As school leaders you can be involved in a number of emotional situations and pivots in any one day. For example, one moment you can be inspiring the performance of your teachers; the next moment you can be helping a student through a personal crisis or challenging behaviour; the next you can be dealing with a difficult parent over a highly sensitive topic; and the next you can be managing a challenging performance issue. How well you, as a school leader, perceive, understand and respond to emotions relates to your well-being, the quality of your interactions with students, staff, parents and community stakeholders, school culture and overall school performance. The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) third Leadership Requirement (Personal qualities, social and interpersonal skills), “…recognises the importance of emotional intelligence in the leadership and management of the school and it’s community”.
