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Mindfulness as a Prerequisite to Effective Leadership; Exploring the Constructs that Foster Productive Use of Feedback for Professional Learning

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Abstract

This paper proposes a model that integrates mindfulness, ego, and mindset as filters of the information available for professional learning. The paper explores connections between mindset, ego, and mindfulness that promote or inhibit an educator’s ability to use feedback for learning. A leader’s commitment to creating spaces for meaningful use of all types of feedback promotes a school climate that encourages risk taking in learning. Mindfulness, the cultivation of the ability to pay attention to the present moment non-judgmentally, is a prerequisite skill to the effective delivery and use of feedback to promote professional learning. The development of mindfulness requires practice of a method and the continual application of mindfulness to remain open to learning from feedback.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education, Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MA, 01420, USA

    Danette V. Day

  2. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT, 06515, USA

    Jess L. Gregory

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  1. Danette V. Day
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  2. Jess L. Gregory
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Correspondence to Danette V. Day.

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Day, D.V., Gregory, J.L. Mindfulness as a Prerequisite to Effective Leadership; Exploring the Constructs that Foster Productive Use of Feedback for Professional Learning. Interchange 48, 363–375 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-017-9307-0

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