Followership in Education: How Competent Followers Develop Effective Leaders
First Presenter's Institution
Auburn University
First Presenter's Brief Biography
Dr. Doris Hill is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst and an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation, Special Education, and Counseling at Auburn University. She is the Director of AU’s Regional Autism Network. Dr. Hill earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Maryland, her Master’s in Behavioral Science from Cameron University, and PhD from Auburn University.
Second Presenter's Institution
Jonte C. Taylor
Second Presenter’s Email Address
jct215@psu.edu
Second Presenter's Brief Biography
Dr. Jonte' C. Taylor (JT) is an Associate Professor of Special Education in the Department of Educational Psychology, Counseling, and Special Education in the College of Education at Penn State University. He taught for approximately 10 years with a variety of populations from PreK to Adult in settings ranging from inclusive classrooms to residential treatment facilities. His research interests include: science education for students with disabilities, evaluating innovative classroom practices, and bullying issues for students with Autism, Learning Disabilities, and Emotional/Behavioral Disorders.
Document Type
Event
Primary Strand
Positive Behavior Interventions and Support
Relevance to Primary Strand
Competent followership in education leads to enhanced school climate, provides structure for those in teaching roles, and provides rules and suggestions regarding how to support leadership, develop competence, and provide an ethical professional framework in schools.
Brief Program Description
Competent followership is an area in need of study in education. Effective followership, leadership, and collaboration skills are necessary in K-12 educational settings, including teachers, administrators, and other educational professionals. Understanding the relational skills of the leader/follower dynamic are important to developing teacher effectiveness, a positive school climate, workplace satisfaction, and improved student and teacher outcomes.
Summary
Followership in itself is not a new concept. Virtually every individual spends more time in the role of follower than leader and there have been both effective leaders and followers throughout the course of history. Currently, followership as a construct for examination is relatively fresh, especially in education. In many cases, leading and following roles occur simultaneously, since most of us have a supervisor or a higher person who evaluates our work. The importance of following is rarely highlighted and certainly under-studied. In fact, this focus on leaders is at the expense of followers, fostering the belief that followers are less important (Kellerman, 2008).
Literature surrounding followership currently is found in the military and large business structures, and research conducted associated with followership exists. Comparatively, followership research in educational structures is scant with a most of the available research focused on higher education and post-secondary settings (Taylor & Hill, 2017). As schools are comprised of teachers and administrators in the roles of followers and leaders, understanding the leadership-followership dynamic provides opportunities for improving collaboration and school climate.
Literature on leadership training is its own profitable industry (Kellerman, 2008; Ready & Conger, 2003). Recently, there have been several books published that address followership as part of the discussion on leadership (see Kellerman, 2008; Schindler, 2014). This includes the practices of following established rules, implementing policy, engaging in personal and professional development, complying with instructions, and supervising or being supervised by others. As followership applies to K-12 teachers, the role of follower is in addition to teaching students daily. In examining how individuals become leaders, it is important to study the origins of leadership which lie in the practices of good followership, particularly related to education and the educational outcomes for students. It is the goal of the presenters to highlight the importance of effective and competent followers in their organizations.
Evidence
Hill, D. & Taylor, J.T. (2021). Exploring the Dynamism in the Leader/Follower Dyad. Fenwick W. English (Editor), US. Palgrave Handbook of Educational Leadership and Management Discourse. Accepted for publication as a book chapter
Taylor, J.T., & Hill, D. (2017, Summer). Leading through Following: Understanding the Intersection of Followership, Leadership, and Collaboration. School Leadership Review, 12(2).
Learning Objective 1
Participants will learn about the intersectionality of leadership/followership in education
Learning Objective 2
Participants will understand the role of competent followers in an educational organization
Learning Objective 3
Participants will be provided examples of important followership skills
Learning Objective 4
Participants will be able to support school leadership by implementing skills learned.
Recommended Citation
Hill, Doris Adams Ph.D., "Followership in Education: How Competent Followers Develop Effective Leaders" (2022). Southeast Conference on School Climate. 10.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/secsc/2022/2022/10
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Followership in Education: How Competent Followers Develop Effective Leaders
Followership in itself is not a new concept. Virtually every individual spends more time in the role of follower than leader and there have been both effective leaders and followers throughout the course of history. Currently, followership as a construct for examination is relatively fresh, especially in education. In many cases, leading and following roles occur simultaneously, since most of us have a supervisor or a higher person who evaluates our work. The importance of following is rarely highlighted and certainly under-studied. In fact, this focus on leaders is at the expense of followers, fostering the belief that followers are less important (Kellerman, 2008).
Literature surrounding followership currently is found in the military and large business structures, and research conducted associated with followership exists. Comparatively, followership research in educational structures is scant with a most of the available research focused on higher education and post-secondary settings (Taylor & Hill, 2017). As schools are comprised of teachers and administrators in the roles of followers and leaders, understanding the leadership-followership dynamic provides opportunities for improving collaboration and school climate.
Literature on leadership training is its own profitable industry (Kellerman, 2008; Ready & Conger, 2003). Recently, there have been several books published that address followership as part of the discussion on leadership (see Kellerman, 2008; Schindler, 2014). This includes the practices of following established rules, implementing policy, engaging in personal and professional development, complying with instructions, and supervising or being supervised by others. As followership applies to K-12 teachers, the role of follower is in addition to teaching students daily. In examining how individuals become leaders, it is important to study the origins of leadership which lie in the practices of good followership, particularly related to education and the educational outcomes for students. It is the goal of the presenters to highlight the importance of effective and competent followers in their organizations.
