How Educators Grow

Being an educator is, in our view, one of the hardest and most consequential professions in the world. Few other people, outside of family, have such a profound impact on children’s formative years as their teachers do. And the work of a teacher is about much more than information transfer. The values teachers embody through their behaviours every day, alongside the way classrooms, schools and education systems are run - all create what our guest in this episode - Dr. Dan Kaufman - beautifully calls ‘the hidden curriculum’ - a powerful and mostly invisible set of lessons our children absorb about what is true, what matters and how the world works. Dan generously shared with us wisdom gathered over a lifetime of service as an educator and mentor of educators, and also, most importantly, a lifetime of work challenging and growing himself as a human being. He showed us how our deepest wounds can become our greatest gifts in life and provoked us to think about the role of education in a much broader way - as a vehicle for human ‘trans-formation’, rather than merely a process by which children receive ‘in-formation’. We hope every educator (and parent) listening to this episode will feel called to reflect and hopefully find a valuable new perspective or even an idea for a personal experiment towards growth. The comments section is open to all our paid subscribers - please share your insights and learnings!Episode timeline* [00:00:00 - 00:05:00] Introduction: how raising children can catalyze personal growth for parents and educators alike.* [00:05:01 - 00:10:00] Dan’s Background: from a struggling student to an advocate for educational change, focusing on personal and professional growth.* [00:10:01 - 00:15:00] Impact of School Experiences: how school experiences shape lifelong development and the importance of educators seeing the whole child.* [00:15:01 - 00:20:00] Systemic Pressures: the tension between the academic pressures of education systems and the need to nurture students' personal development.* [00:20:01 - 00:30:00] Horizontal vs. Vertical Development: we introduce horizontal (knowledge) and vertical (personal growth) development, stressing the need for educators to balance both.* [00:30:01 - 00:40:00] Reflective Practice: peacemaking circles in schools as a way to enhance teacher self-awareness and create supportive learning environments.* [00:40:01 - 00:50:00] Questioning Assumptions: the importance of educators questioning their own beliefs and assumptions to better support their students.* [00:50:01 - 01:00:00] The Hidden Curriculum in schools, which subtly teaches students societal values beyond academic content.* [01:00:01 - 01:10:00] Importance of Self-Awareness: the importance of ongoing self-awareness and personal growth for educators to effectively support students.Guest Bio: Dr. Dan Kaufman has spent his long career working for educational change and the personal and professional growth of educators.  Throughout his career, he has witnessed huge changes in our society as the population has more than doubled, our population has become more diverse, and the complexity of our lives and systems has grown dramatically.  A major focus of Dan’s work is helping educational leaders become more adept at dealing with and making sense of the increased challenges they face.  Dan also helps leaders to explore uncharted territory and to recognise the role that both their personal and professional development plays in supporting others, in shaping the lives and futures of young people and creating meaningful change in an ever-changing world. Dan has worked in a wide variety of school districts and schools at all levels from elementary, middle school and high school. He has provided coaching for teachers, principals and senior district administrators. He has also been a mental health counsellor in support of families struggling with the growth of their children. Dan’s many experiences have allowed him to develop a unique perspective of the role that public education plays in shaping the lives of young people and its role as a key player in shaping and supporting the larger culture of our society. If you are keen to connect with Dan, feel free to contact him via LinkedIn or email. contact him. Are you new to Vertical (Adult) Development? Start by listening to this:In this episode, we mention “development” several times and we briefly make the distinction between ‘horizontal’ and ‘vertical’ development. If you are keen to understand better how ‘vertical’ development unfolds, we encourage you to listen to this introductory podcast Alis recorded a while ago, exploring the stages of development humans go through throughout their lives:Dive deeperJoin our in-depth, self-led developmental course for adults who raise and educate children - Growing Humans: How Raising Children Raises Us. As a paid subscriber to this substack, you will receive a 50% discount on the price of the program (you will receive the code when you activate your paid subscription). Head on to the program page to learn more.Spread the word…If you’d like to see this community grow, we hope you share this article with other parents, grandparents or educators who could benefit from the reflection.and, if you haven’t done it yet, Subscribe!Join the ‘Growing Humans’ community and let’s keep supporting each other to keep on growing up, as we raise the kids in our care!As a paid subscriber, we’ll welcome you into a smaller, closer-knit community where we regularly meet, share, and learn together. You will have access to the chat and comments on every article, as well as dedicated, facilitated fireside chats for the community. You will also receive a 50% discount on our self-led program for parents and educators: Growing Humans: How Raising Children Raises Us.Growing Humans is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Growing Humans at www.growinghumans.education/subscribe