Moral leadership and authentic learning

It seems to us that what these big-screen teaching heroes had in common was a preparedness to ask the most fundamental of questions: “What must I do if 1 am to make a genuine difference to the lives of my students?”

Like them, we need to connect the learners’ search for meaning and purpose in their lives to a variety of personal experiences in the academic curriculum. We need to enable learners to continuously transform their understanding of themselves and their worlds and to use this to face the challenges and possibilities of their lives and their future. This type of learning is authentic, and it is truly transformative.

The open challenge to educators, therefore, is to infuse academic learning with a dimension of personal meaning, and thereby in doing so enrich the whole learning process. Learning which is not authentic to the needs of the students’ life world is not only inappropriate but unethical, and goes to the very heart of what we do as educators. The pedagogic leader’s role is to act courageously. If we take our work as educators seriously, and seek to be ethical in its practice, we must also be constantly in search of ways to make learning authentic.

What does authentic learning look like? Among other things, it promotes:

• • Development of personal meaning.
• • Awareness of the connection between the learner and the subject.
• • Respect for the integrity of what is being studied.
• • Appreciation of implications for the trajectory of the learner’s life.
• • Application of a rich understanding of the subject/object of study in practice; and ultimately
• • Transformation into a more fully human individual (Duignan & Bezzina, 2004).

This type of learning is not just about taking new knowledge and skills for oneself but is more about giving of one’s unique humanity to others and to the community. It is deeply relational. Authentic learning is itself a fundamentally moral activity because it engages students in a deeper understanding of the nature and purpose of their lives and in determining how they can best contribute to the greater good of the community and society. In the everyday busy-ness of schools, it may be easy to forget, but all of us engaged in the privileged work of teaching are engaged in a profoundly ethical activity.

Naming authentic learning as the goal of our work assumes values and ethics which often go un-named and undiscussed. The challenge for educational leaders is to find ways to make these explicit - to give them expression and to promote ownership. This is not always easy.

Moral purpose and shared leadership - a potent brew indeed!

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