#BTColumn – Blueprint for a school Servant Leadership, Followership Diploma

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

By Walter Edey

The flight of a flock of geese, or black birds heading north after a storm, is science, leadership and followership. Their characteristic squadron ‘v’ formation conserves energy as leaders of the group enjoy periods of rest, creating synergy as leaders and followers
exchange complementary roles. This is an exemplary organisational model. However, such a model is not automatic. For the geese and birds it is instinct-led. For everyday life it must be nurtured, developed and institutionalised .

The education system that knowingly integrates leadership and followership skills and activities into a school diploma will, more than likely, forge sustainable thriving family, community and business relationships. 

Leadership and followership are derived from the practice of doing. Among other things, leaders: serve others and build teamwork; listen and respond to information and emotions; create the space and time that others can be heard, valued and appreciated.

Followership requires similar skills. As with the geese and birds, followers embody the same purpose or mission as their leader. More importantly, followership allows followers to develop intangible skills such as patience, trust and mutual respect. Until a person walks those paths, the confidence needed for a leader to turn his back, face the future and lead others, is not assured. Without that experience, the fear of an arrow in the back remains real.

As with everything, these soft skills need a home or structure for them to increase or multiply. Clubs and fraternities are proven agents. Other agents are informal such as: gatherings of a family for a sit-down Sunday meal, or a piping-hot pot of coucou; gatherings at a corner store or shop and gatherings of teenagers on the playingfield.

Out of the family activity, for example, matriarchs emerge and their role is sustained. In the other situations leadership and followership keep the activity alive. When they migrate, move to another neighbourhood the group activity suffers. Interestingly, before Sir Deighton Ward, G.C.M.GG.C.V.O. was the Governor General of Barbados from 1976-1984, he was a long-standing president of the Barbados’ Football Association, a community organisation.

The curricula of schools in Barbados include non academic activities: games periods, cadets, scouts and guides and photographic, music and dance clubs. However, unlike some other school systems elsewhere, the value and importance of these activities are not directly integrated into the diploma design. Students graduating from New York and New Jersey junior and high schools, for example, must pass academic courses, as well as complete a specified number of credit hours in electives like gym, health, financial management, and community service. The student following an academic programme, who chose community service as an elective, must complete the specified credit hours in order to graduate.

In Singapore, the skills gained from photography, dance, singing, plumbing etc. are defined as having important and significant national value. Students pursuing academic and technical paths must both complete programmes deemed useful to society in order to graduate.

For historical reasons, it would make sense to make cooperativeness and financial management fundamentals a mandatory requirement for all students graduating from secondary schools. First, it makes good sense to replace the divisive plantation mindset and way of thinking with its opposite. Secondly, the “meeting turns” idea and the cooperative movement have both given Barbadians financial freedom. Imagine therefore an upgrade of the Landship Movement as a club with a purpose of learning, developing, leadership and followership, cooperative movement practices, and basic financial management skills, in addition to community service. 

The setting of Landship Clubs in a formal structure like a school: raises its importance; moves it from a community activity to a multicultural, prosperous national movement, whereby regional clubs could compete annually for national awards and participate in the Independence parade. 

The transition of Barbados’ society from a collection of villages to the emerging urban cities across the landscape, together with the advent of technology, has compromised natural channels of social wellness and community, two things which are integral to any education portfolio or curriculum. However, the school system remains a viable structured option to nurture and develop competencies that would benefit the lives of students after they leave school. 

A Servant Leadership and Followership School Secondary Diploma knowingly prepares graduates in the broader needs and values of the marketplace. It signals to graduates that academic qualifications, though necessary, are not sufficient for success and building family and community.

By enshrining these concepts in a diploma, it will give a unique expression to reform questions, education for what purpose? Indeed, global onlookers will notice the achievement and give Barbados, the nickname, the island of the flying geese. safe and secure.

Walter Edey is a retired maths and science educator in Barbados and New York.