Teaching leadership

As children grow and develop, it is important to impart leadership skills in their lives. Instilling leadership skills helps children to have a sense of responsibility as they mature. The initiative of teachers to teach children about leadership is also imperative in shaping their decision-making processes and boosting their self-esteem (Fox, Flynn & Austin, 2015). At the time of growing up, teachers need to properly understand the temperaments of different children in ensuring that they guide them accordingly in being good leaders. Since different children are raised differently, it is important for teachers to employ the right or effective leadership techniques that suit all children as they learn to become leaders.

In the course of teaching, teachers tend to assume strong points of view on how different children learn. As such, a deeper understanding on how children learn makes it possible for the teachers to identify the most applicable means that can help these children grasp leadership concepts being taught to them (Fox, Flynn & Austin, 2015). To make children easily connect with what they are being taught, the teacher needs to show care. During the early developmental stages of children, an important element that shapes how best children learn is the level at which they feel safe and cared for. As such, while teaching leadership, teachers must take time and make the children feel comfortable while being engaged by their teacher.

The first way through which a teacher can teach leadership to children is through helping them model a leadership behavior (Harris & Allen, 2019). Fundamentally, children learn or adopt behaviors that they see from other people. In inculcating leadership skills to children, teachers must adopt some leadership aspects to make the children learn from them. The other way that teachers can use to teach leadership to children is by making them see things from other people’s side of view (Perkins, 2018). For example, teachers can achieve this by teaching children to be good listeners and communicators. In leadership, effective communication is very crucial as it allows people to identify with the needs of other people. In the same way, it also allows people to reason together and make the right decisions. Besides, as children learn to become leaders, teachers must help them to build self-confidence. During learning, teachers must appreciate the young learners by praising them when they excel as this boosts their confidence.

The other way that teachers can use to teach leadership to children is by creating problem-solving situations (Perkins, 2018). Leadership calls upon children to solve problems. As such, in making these children learn to solve their problems, teachers must allow them to start making small decisions such as choosing the kind of classroom activities that they want to join and also taking responsibility for their decisions (Perkins, 2018). In the same sense, teaching leadership to children can also be achieved easily when the teachers teach the children to work with other children in groups and pursue endeavors that interest them.

As discussed, the initiative of teachers to teach children about leadership is important in shaping their decision-making processes and boosting their self-esteem. In inculcating leadership skills to children, teachers must adopt some leadership aspects to make the children learn from them. Teachers can teach leadership to children by modeling their leadership behavior, allowing them to take part in decision-making processes, encouraging them to work in groups, and creating problem-solving situations in classroom environments.

References

Fox, D., Flynn, L., & Austin, P. (2015). Child Leadership: Teachers’ Perceptions and Influences. Childhood Education, 91(3), 163-168. doi: 10.1080/00094056.2015.1047306

Harris, A., & Allen, T. (2019). Ensuring every child matters: issues and implications for school leadership. School Leadership & Management, 29(4), 337-352. doi: 10.1080/13632430903152021

Perkins, H. (2018). Teachers’ and Peers’ Perceptions of Children’s Self-Concepts. Child Development, 29(2), 203. doi: 10.2307/1125980

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