1) As an educator and leader, the author aims to make learning happy, motivating, and prepare students for a changing world through positive pedagogy, individualized lessons, and encouraging self-directed learning. 2) The author is dedicated to developing a coherent curriculum that makes sense to students and helps them acquire skills through collaborative projects and learning to live together. 3) The author pursues professional growth to address challenges in education from a changing world through study, professional networks, and a leadership course to become a school director.

1. Statement of Educational and Leadership philosophy
As a teacher, my actions aim to make the child happy to come to school, happy and
motivated to learn, while becoming more and more autonomous, and be prepared
for the world they will live in, a world which is evolving and changing at a fast pace.
So as a leader in education, I create a vision to answer the pedagogical challenges of
the future, and mobilize and inspire people towards this vision.
I am a true believer in positive pedagogy, positive reinforcement, and inductive
teaching. I also believe in individualized lessons, encouraging teaching, which will
permit the child to thrive. Progresses are also made easier when the child has self-
control of his learning. Being aware of what is expected from him and making him a
real actor of his learning is motivating and will engage him in his development.
As a leader, I am also dedicated to developing a curriculum, a curriculum which will
be coherent and will make sense to the child. A judicious and coherent pedagogical
organization and curriculum, through the grades and the different subjects, are
important to make the child acquire the expected competencies and stimulate his
passion to learn. My pedagogical reflection and my experience made me modify my
positioning in the class, which made the child more autonomous, and gave him a
better control of his learning. As a leader, I inspire and train the teachers so they will
evolve also in their teaching style and change from a dispenser of information to an
orchestrator of learning and helping students. In line with my pedagogical style, my
leadership style is democratic and transformational.
I also think that while being focused on each individual, it is important to teach the
child how to live with others. The 21st century education must also prepare the
future adults to be adapted to the society they will live in. Collaborative work,
project-based education…, but also shared moments in the class where we learn how
to live together, are subjects which enthusiast me a lot.
How will be the Z individual, or “digital native” when he will be adult, if we do not
teach him to collaborate, to be truly media literate, to engage himself in addressing
real-world problems, issues important to humanity, and questions that matter, and
so prepare him to the real world?
Today Education faces important challenges, consequent to the important and
speeding changes of our world. These challenges fascinate and motivate me in my
pedagogical and leadership practices. Willing to continue to progress, I pursue my
pedagogical reflection and involve myself in professional growth, by studying and
getting informed through networks and groups I am a member of, and by reading
lots of publications in French and in English. Starting this September, I am also
attending a course in order to pass the “Concours de personnel de Direction” from
the French Ministry of Education.
Françoise Herry,
Head of School for the French Ministry of Education