Professional space
Lately there has been a lot of talk about the professional space of the teacher. But what space are we actually talking about?
Paul Schnabel introduced his '4R model' in 2001. The 4 R's stand for Direction, Space, Result and Accountability. We can also apply this 4R model well in education (Schnabel, 2001).
Direction : the school management, in consultation with the team and the other stakeholders, indicates the direction by formulating and adopting policy. For example, we are talking about the mission (what we stand for), vision (what we are going for) and the associated organizational goals. The organizational goals are sometimes also described as the 'what'. What must be achieved when? Weggeman (2015) speaks in this context, among other things, about the importance of working from a collective ambition .
He indicates that one of the ways to focus more consciously on the intrinsic motivation of employees and the mental models required for this is to focus on a collective ambition (Weggeman, 2015). He refers to Sinek. After all, according to Sinek (2011), the energy level and focus of professionals is a function of the ability to identify themselves with the values or higher goals of the organization. And it is these core values (shared values) that form the building blocks for the collective ambition.
Space : the professional space is mainly about the 'how'. How can the goals (within the agreed time) be achieved with the available resources? Here it is mainly about the strategy to be used .
Result : part of the 'what' is also the result to be achieved. Agreements are made about the result to be achieved (targets) and the professional is accountable for its achievement.
Accountability : in addition to the results, the education professional must also be accountable to the school management and other stakeholders about the way in which the goals have been worked on.
Making better use of teachers' professional space contributes to more involvckement in school development and the ability to experience Flow at work (Csikszentmihalyi, 2003). In other words: it empowers the teacher!