As an example of how these signature pedagogies work together, a middle school math teacher in a small North Carolina city spent time in homestays in a village in Guatemala where families subsisted in large part from the food they grew in the gardens outside their homes. He shared his experience by having students conduct word problems that involved determining the largest possible area for a garden based on different amounts of fencing for the perimeter. As students applied curriculum-required math skills (e.g., calculating area and perimeter), the teacher engaged them in conversations about thedifferences in how kids around the world get food and do household chores, which prompted them to think deeply about the actions they take in their own homes regarding food acquisition and before- and afterschool activities. As an example of how these signature pedagogies work together classroom observations of globally committed educators, my colleagues and I found that teachers shared their international experiences with students by decorating their classrooms with photos or artifacts from their travels and infusing knowledge gained from their experiences into lesson plans (Tichnor-Wagner et al., 2016). At a deeper level, by sharing their experiences first, teachers turned their classrooms into safe spaces where students felt comfortable opening up about their own cultural backgrounds and global experiences. Simple actions such as these spark student curiosity about the world, make the content richer, and create a caring classroom environment.
These signature pedagogies are not hypothetical; they are borne out of real activities done in real classrooms with real educators—activities that are spiraled throughout the year. In other words, these educators have figured out how to embed global competence into the DNA of what and how they teach so they are consistently reinforcing outcomes such as feeling empathy, valuing diversity, understanding global conditions, communicating and collaborating across cultures, and problem solving.
Despite cross-sector cries that students need to develop skill sets that cover cognitive, social-emotional, and behavioral domains—and emerging evidence of the positive impact of globally competent teaching practices—globally competent teaching remains the exception in K–12 schools. A common challenge that teachers already doing this work have shared with me is operating as lone islands within their schools. These visionary teachers have lamented that even when their administrators applaud the work they are doing, they don't truly understand it and therefore do not adequately support it. It can't be left up to chance that students get opportunities to develop global competence. Systemic change is needed so every student, regardless of ZIP code, ability level, or random classroom assignment, has the opportunity to foster the skill set needed for a peaceful and prosperous future. As education historians Tyack and Cuban (1995) argued, "Teachers cannot do the job alone. They need resources of time and money, practical designs for change, and collegial support" (p. 10). This is where leadership comes in.
The Imperative for Globally Competent School Leadership
Leadership plays a central role in successfully implementing instructional reforms that target teaching and learning (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2006). School leaders directly and indirectly affect teacher behaviors and student outcomes through actions such as setting clear, learner-centered goals that the whole school works toward; allocating resources (e.g., time, materials, training, and staff) to meet those goals; and fostering a collaborative work environment (Desimone, 2002; Leithwood, Louis, Anderson, & Wahlstrom, 2004; Tichnor-Wagner, Harrison, & Cohen-Vogel, 2016). School leaders, therefore, are critical for starting and scaling global learning experiences for students.
What makes a school leader a true leader? Leadership does not arise out of a formal title. It comes from one's actions. A school leader can be anyone whose actions inspire others to act in ways that systemically change the educational experiences and outcomes of students—a teacher, school coordinator, curriculum specialist, school administrator, principal, district administrator, or superintendent. Globally competent school leaders take actions that inspire those around them to transform schools into relevant, engaging places of learning that prepare students for citizenship and jobs and to be agents of change in our diverse, interconnected world. These actions, whether bold or unassuming, positively affect school culture, the implementation of innovative reforms, and student learning (Tichnor-Wagner, 2019; Tichnor-Wagner & Manise, 2019).
An Implementation-Based Approach to Becoming a Globally Competent School Leader
Because leadership is born from action, this book takes an implementation-based approach to globally competent school leadership. As researcher Maureen McLaughlin (1990) observed after decades of research on school reforms, "Implementation dominates outcomes" (p. 12). It doesn't matter how inspiring your vision might be. Without concrete steps to transfer that vision into action, your vision will remain just that: words on a page in a policy document or a statement hanging on a wall.
Just as there is no single way to become a globally competent teacher (Parkhouse, Tichnor-Wagner, Glazier, & Cain, 2016), there is no single road to follow that will lead you to becoming a globally competent school leader. School leaders, even when coming from the same school district, have shared with me different motivations and journeys that brought them to embrace bringing the world into their schools. Some decided that their school community needed to reset how they perceived demographic shifts in the student population as being an asset to celebrate and not a challenge to endure. Others began after a realization that their schools needed to better respond to market demands and the interests of students and families. Still others have always had a global focus in their personal and professional lives, having studied and worked overseas. There are, however, certain tools you can employ from wherever your journey began and toward wherever it may take you. A synthesis of decades of research examining policies and programs that lead to effective implementation of educational initiatives points to four domains of leadership actions to support you in successfully transforming your school into a place of global learning: alignment, will, resources, and capacity (see Figure 1.3).
Figure 1.3. Leadership Action Domains
Action 1: Align Aspirational Initiatives to Existing Ones
Schools are nested in a loosely coupled education system of community, district, state, and federal contexts. School leaders feel the push and pull of priorities and the demands of students, staff, families, district central office units, state government, and community groups—which are often not well coordinated and may even oppose one another (Datnow, Hubbard, & Mehan, 2002). Multiple improvement initiatives may be thrown at schools at the same time and from multiple directions: state policies, district reforms, federal programs, and vendors pitching instructional programs from outside the system (Honig & Hatch, 2004). School leaders are already charged with the task of creating coherence across varied and sometimes competing reform efforts (Hatch, 2001). Introducing one more thing on top of everything else may seem overwhelming. At the same time, it can be easy for school staff to ignore or abandon if they don't recognize how the work fits into the work already happening (Honig & Hatch, 2004).
School leaders overcome this hurdle by asking, "How does this new initiative meet the needs and mission we already have?" They identify overarching goals and strategies to meet these needs and engage in "bridging activities" to inform and enhance the implementation of their goals (Honig & Hatch, 2004). When implementers see compatibility between new initiatives and existing activities—and when they see compatibility across multiple levels of the education system—the new initiative will more likely be sustained and deepened (Coburn, 2003; Stringfield & Datnow, 2002). Therefore, globally competent leaders align global learning to address local needs and current policy constraints.
Action 2: Generate Will Across School Stakeholders
When there's a will, there's a way. When teachers, staff, parents, community members, and district-level decision makers believe in the value of a new initiative and show an eagerness and motivation