Students Today…Leaders Tomorrow

Reinvigorate Your Student Leadership Program

“The future of society is dependent on the quality of the leaders we produce.”

As the world battles COVID-19 and continued insecurity due to chaotic leadership in some countries, this quote has never been more pertinent. While the leadership spotlight tends to be on a political or business level, good leadership is required in all walks of life including at work, at school, in families, in sport and in the wider community.

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The leaders of tomorrow are developed in primary school and progress through secondary school and beyond. Developing leadership skills in students involves more than merely promoting their social and emotional skills, although these are important components. The schools and classrooms that succeed in developing future leaders focus on more than social competencies. They define competencies and attitudes that contribute to effective leadership and put in place programs that nurture those attributes.

Following are common features found in schools and classrooms with strong student leadership programs:

A Balanced Framework is in Place

Educators have long recognised the value of frameworks for effective teaching and learning. A framework ensures consistency across the whole school or year levels, forming a valuable launching pad for more in-depth skill development. Many schools take an ad hoc approach to student leadership development or hitch their leadership wagon to a social skills program already in place. A leadership framework that balances competencies with values can easily support an existing social and emotional program, while adding rigor to leadership.

Personal Leadership Precedes Public Leadership

Leadership capacities need to be developed in a personal sense before they are put to the blowtorch of the public domain. For instance, it will be easier for a student to speak clearly in front of an audience if they have developed the confidence to clearly articulate their thoughts in one-on-one and small group situations inside the classroom. Similarly, teamwork skills so essential for effective leadership are best developed as friendship skills in the personal domain. When these skills are practised and mastered, they can be transferred to the public or group domain.

There’s a Focus on Service and Community Benefits

There’s a temptation to frame student leadership up as primarily a personal growth opportunity for students. Pressure from parents and other sources can be the catalyst here. If leadership is to be seen primarily for the social good, then student leaders need to be encouraged to serve others and enrich the educational communities that they represent. The skills and capacities students learn along the way are secondary to the benefit mindset that they develop.

Accelerate leadership learning through mentoring

It’s evident that mentoring is one the most efficient ways to accelerate student leadership development in a school or class. There are four domains of mentoring to be practised including:

1. Being a mentee
2. Being a mentor
3. Passing on learning 4. Leaving a legacy

These are all easily incorporated into a leadership program.

Develop a meaningful induction program

Is your school or class leaders’ program effective in terms of preparing students for their roles? Does it encourage them to set goals and think about their legacy or does it focus more on team bonding and skills development? An effective induction program forms the leaders into a team, encourages students to understand their roles, set goals and consider the legacy that they will leave behind. Ongoing support provided by at least one teacher is an extension of an effective induction program.

How does your class or school leadership program measure up? It’s well worth spending the time reflecting on student leadership development, as the benefits of a strong leadership program to a class or school are enormous. School tone, classroom culture and teacher satisfaction generally rate far higher in schools that value and implement strong student leadership development.

The Young Leaders Program from Parenting Ideas

The Young Leaders program is designed to help teachers create leadership skills in young people. The three-part program is provided as a kit containing easy to follow teacher manuals, student workbooks, classroom posters and activity cards. It is easy to run, fits easily into the existing curriculum, caters for the whole class and includes parents and mentors in the program. The sessions can be used as class lessons by teachers wanting to promote leadership skills in whole class settings. Find out more about the Young Leaders Program at parentingideas.com.au

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Michael Grose


Author, columnist and presenter Michael Grose currently supports over 1,100 schools in Australia, New Zealand and England in engaging and supporting their parent communities. He is also the director of Parentingideas, Australia’s leader in parenting education resources and support for schools. In 2010 Michael spoke at the prestigious Headmaster’s Conference in England, the British International Schools Conference in Madrid, and the Heads of Independent Schools Conference in Australia, showing school leadership teams how to move beyond partnership-building to create real parent-school communities. For bookings, parenting resources for schools and Michael’s famous Free Chores & Responsibilities Guide for Kids, go to www. parentingideas.com.au.