Transformative Leadership and the Authentic Child

Transformative leadership asks us to let go of a powerful myth. The idea that leaders must know everything. The belief that wisdom flows in one direction. The assumption that children arrive as empty vessels waiting to be filled.

Instead, transformative leadership begins with humility.

It recognizes that children are born with an innate ability to explore, learn, and innovate. Each child arrives with a unique identity, shaped by experience, culture, relationships, and curiosity. The role of the leader is not to impose a vision onto students, but to understand who they already are and to create the conditions that allow them to grow into who they are striving to become.

Transformative leaders do not lead through ego. They lead through service.

Leading Without Ego

Traditional leadership models often center authority, control, and compliance. Transformative leadership challenges this entirely. It acknowledges that learning is not something done to students, but something lived with them.

Children are not designed to be molded into someone else’s ideal. They are designed to flourish into themselves. As Ryan (2006) reminds us, growth happens when individuals are supported in becoming who they are meant to be, not who others want them to be.

Trying to force a child into a predetermined outcome is like trying to teach a caterpillar to become a panda bear. It ignores nature. It ignores identity. It ignores possibility.

Transformative leadership avoids this trap by honoring authenticity over conformity.

The Authentic Child

Every child carries their own rhythm, strengths, and ways of understanding the world. Transformative leaders take the time to learn who their students are before deciding what they need.

They recognize that identity is complex and intersectional. That equity is not about treating everyone the same, but about responding to individual needs with care and intention.

In this way, leadership becomes less about direction and more about cultivation.

The Leader as Environment

Transformative leaders understand their role as environmental rather than directive.

They are the wind, carrying seeds and possibilities.

They are the water, nourishing growth.

They are the sun, offering warmth and encouragement.

They are the earth, providing stability and grounding.

They help the flowers grow, then move on to help the next.

They do not ask for recognition.

Their impact is measured not by titles or accolades, but by the quiet, lasting growth of the individuals they support.

The Impact of Transformative Leadership

When leadership is rooted in equity, humility, and service, the effects are profound.

Each student blossoms into who they are meant to be.

Individual identities are honored rather than erased.

Learning becomes relational, meaningful, and human.

Transformative leaders leave behind confident learners, critical thinkers, and compassionate community members.

Qualities of the Transformative Leader

Transformative leaders consistently demonstrate:

• A commitment to equity and social justice

• Respect for individual identity and intersectionality

• Service to students rather than bureaucratic systems

• Support for learners with diverse and individual needs

• Courage to act as change agents

• Selflessness and humility

• Equity in action, not just in language

• A deep respect for individuality

• A genuine celebration of the child

These leaders understand that leadership is not about being seen, but about seeing others.

Who Is the Transformative Leader?

The transformative leader is someone who creates space rather than control. Someone who listens more than they speak. Someone who understands that education is most powerful when it is rooted in trust, dignity, and relationship.

Transformative leadership is not loud. It is lasting.

And its greatest legacy is the authentic growth of every child it touches.

Honouring Student Voice in Schools: Why It Matters and How to Do It

Honouring student voice in schools must be a foundational aspect of institutionalized education. Society relies on culture and language to function - communication is the thread that weaves together the diverse cultures of society into a cohesive whole.

Schools exist to prepare children for life in society and should reflect this in microcosm. In this microcosm, students need opportunities to communicate effectively with people who hold different opinions. Through these experiences, they learn how to navigate differences, find common ground, and contribute positively to the “society” of their school community.

Without honouring student voice, schools risk serving only a single purpose: silencing the next generation to preserve societal stagnation for those already in positions of comfort and power.

What the Literature Says

Philosophers and educational theorists provide guidance on why student voice is essential:

• John Dewey, in Pedagogic Creed, emphasizes that members of society must first understand how society functions before they can positively influence it.

• Bobbitt’s theory of curriculum highlights the importance of culture in society, noting that culture allows individuals to form groups with shared values while still existing within a diverse social ecosystem.

• Paulo Freire underscores the significance of the voices of the oppressed, showing how communication with those in positions of power is necessary for meaningful change.

Together, these ideas remind us that society is built from individuals who communicate their identities, form cultural groups, and interact with other groups. Schools, as a microcosm of society, should reflect these dynamics.

Essential Question

How can student voice be honoured in the curricula of government-mandated elementary public education systems?

Response

Through investigation of literature on curriculum development, implementation, and structure, it becomes clear that student voice must be considered a non-negotiable component of public education. Allowing students to actively participate in their learning ensures that curricula are not only delivered to them but shaped with them.

How to Honour Student Voice

Our current model of public elementary education is flawed. It is largely influenced by elected officials who rely on public votes to maintain their positions, yet often lack deep understanding of best practices in education. Decisions are frequently driven by political agendas rather than student learning needs.

The result is a rigid curriculum designed to demonstrate accountability, often measured through standardized testing. Research shows this approach is harmful: **Fu, Hopper, and Sanford** analyzed 183 studies highlighting the detrimental effects of standardized testing on students.

Recognizing these systemic flaws illuminates the *how*: students must be active participants in their own learning. But how do educators do this in practice?

Guidance from Educational Literature

• Henry Giroux encourages educators to resist bureaucratic and political pressures, advocating for integrity in practice. He urges teachers to “go for broke,” standing up for student-centered learning despite systemic obstacles.

• Goodlad emphasizes the importance of the learning environment. Students should have a voice in shaping the spaces where they learn, contributing to both the social and physical classroom environment.

By integrating these principles, schools can begin to honour student voice meaningfully. When students participate in decisions about how they learn, what they learn, and how their classrooms function, education becomes a shared process, not a top-down mandate.

Honouring student voice is not a “nice to have.” It is essential to the purpose of education itself. Schools exist to prepare children for society, and the ability to communicate, negotiate, and participate in decision-making is central to that preparation. By embedding student voice into curricula, classroom environments, and school culture, educators cultivate responsible, engaged, and empowered learners who are ready to contribute to society in meaningful ways.

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References

Dewey, J. *Pedagogic Creed*

Bobbitt, J. Theory of Curriculum

Freire, P. *Pedagogy of the Oppressed*

Giroux, H. *Theory and Resistance in Education*

Goodlad, J. *A Place Called School*

Fu, Hopper & Sanford, Meta-Analysis on Standardized Testing

Top-Down Leadership Stinks

Taking the Good, Leaving the Bad: An essay on how one school administrator blends system level policy with school level  leadership 

The Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB), my school district, operates a  leadership model consisting of a top-down hierarchy of policy creation which contradicts  its vision statement, resulting in disingenuous attempts at incorporating equitable  practices and an avoidance of honouring the voices of those who matter most, the  students. Further, my district fails to view areas of growth from any point of view other than  that of standardization.

In Ontario, Canada, elected officials have the power to create,  destroy and manipulate education policy and do so not for the betterment of the system,  but for job retention purposes. My position as a school principal puts two people between  me and an elected policy maker. The TVDSB has a director of education who answers to  the minister of education and who oversees the district’s superintendents.

There are 161  schools in my district and each superintendent oversees a portion of these schools. Each  school principal reports to one of the superintendents. This model, in which policy is  created at the top and streams down, looks like this:

Senior leadership in my district is in a constant battle between forcing the  implementation of policy created by selfish politicians and doing what’s best for students.  They create teaching positions whose sole purpose is to improve standardized test scores  while at the same time have a mission statement of ‘we build each students’ tomorrow,  everyday.’

The system uses single loop learning strategies (Argyris, 1994) to solve  superficially identified areas of need. The following will describe how I, a school principal,  navigate district level policy, rely on my personal leadership resources and work to flatten  the hierarchy in my school. 

The TVDSB has many equitable practices at the forefront of their image but when  push comes to shove, they are pushed and shoved to the side to make space for decreased  suspension rates, increased graduation rates and better test scores.

As a school principal,  who believes in student identity, I rely heavily on the district’s equity practices to push  aside their less than equitable practices. For instance, Ontario holds an annual  standardized test near the end of each school year. This past school year, my district  began focusing on improving overall district test scores in September. I was told that the  grade 3 and 6 teachers in my school needed to teach to the test. My push back relied on  other initiatives the district had in place including, meeting students where they are and  the essential conditions for learning. The essential conditions for learning is a framework  which requires students to build relationships in order to feel safe and a sense of belonging  before they can regulate and learn. Teaching to the test ignores this framework, which is  advertised heavily on the district’s website. I focus on the aspects of my district that I believe are good, in order to steer away from those I believe are not. But how do I know I  am right? 

The first step is understanding and honouring my core values. These values are  intertwined with personal leadership resources. I believe in student agency, compassion  and integrity. I also believe that schools are in service of students and require a policy  development model that begins with them and ends with the minister of education. I have  heard this referred to as flipping the system. This is in alignment with my district’s equity  framework, as superficial as it may be.

My integrity forces me to push back against policies that contradict my district’s mission statement, putting scores ahead of students. My compassion and belief in student voice, agency and engagement as well as educator voice, allow me to build authentic relationship from which a holistic picture of the state of our  school can be developed. With these core values guiding my actions and equity guiding my  practice, I am able to being a leadership journey at the school level that helps mitigate the  incompetencies which exist above me.  

The authentic relationships I am able to build and foster at the school level not only  help set essential conditions for learning, where students and staff feel safe and feel like  they belong but also afford me insight into school climate, and individual identity. I firmly  believe that schools are in service of students, which may be a shift from the centuries old  industrial model. With this in mind, building student capacity and achievement needs to  stem from their voice, including the voices of those who support them, their community. 

As my leadership journey as a school administrator continues, I find the most success in  times when educators, parents and most importantly students, have worked together to identify areas of need and built a plan to improve. For instance, the district, through their  standardized testing, identified our grade 3 students as low performers in math. We knew  we were quite proficient in math based on far more data than a one off standardized test.  

Working as a team, with me as an orchestrator, not an anchor, we identified that it was  quite possibly students’ self consciousness in speaking French which was leading to low  math scores on standardized testing. Our French immersion school was not doing a great  job at promoting imperfections when speaking French, leading to students not speaking  French, which lead to students not understanding French as well as they should have. Our plan to promote a safe French speaking culture was developed through a flattened  leadership model and likely solved many other problems such as attendance records and  participation.  

Top-down leadership models in a system where the top rely on their position based  on popular votes is not in service of students.

Breaking this system down at a provincial  level is not feasible but holding them accountable to their policies which honour student  identity is possible. Aligning these policies with leadership qualities that honour students  and break down the hierarchy, helps build schools where students feel like they belong,  where students feel like they can contribute and feel like they can grow into better versions  of themselves.