For the purpose of this writing piece, I have been inspired by recent events within Huamei school whereby an emphasis has seemingly been placed upon enabling certain individuals to demonstrate their leadership abilities. Such a skill, that relating to leading, can be considered as essential for ones immediate and future success. After all, it is ‘to inspire vision and cultural values that allow people to create a truly collaborative and productive workspace…’ (Richard L. Daft). It is also worth highlighting that this topic of student leadership is not only relevant here in China, but is also something which is heavily focused upon back in my home country of the UK. This suggests a universal and global appetite for individuals who are able to demonstrate leadership traits not only in a professional environment but also in addition to their own daily life. That being said, it is not enough for a student to succeed by simply deciding that they want to become a leader; the making of a good leader is not something that is so easily attained as it is widely agreed upon that individuals have to work compulsively on their own skills in order to reach a level whereupon others feel confident in trusting them. If one has to start from the somewhere then it therefore makes sense to start this journey in a safe environment that promotes such opportunities, and what better place than within the confides of Huamei itself.

To reinforce the importance of leadership, I would like to highlight some research which refers to the definition of leadership as not simply an individual exerting influence, but as a “dyadic, shared, relational, strategic, global and a complex social dynamic” (Schneider et al, 2012). This definition alludes to the notion that a focus on leadership helps to develop listening skills, negotiation skills, goals, and also commitment. This is therefore especially relevant for those in the education sector as embodying this philosophy can only benefit the students and help them to succeed regardless of where their future endeavours lie. As mentioned previously, I frequently encounter examples of students in Huamei engaging with leadership tasks to the extent that it is easy to overlook such situations as part of an established norm. In fact the focus of growing future leaders is so embodied within the halls of Huamei school that in order to witness this philosophy one simply needs to enter a classroom on any given day. From student leaders being provided with the opportunity to lead via such tasks as attendance monitoring, or by actually leading the class with group activities under the observation of their home room teacher,I have found that all classes frequently challenge their students in order test and push past their preconceived limits. This is something that I am trying to implement in my own classroom and a great example of this is with the recent ‘group projects’ whereby students divided themselves into groups and were tasked with creating a poster so as to demonstrate their recent learnings. Only one individual per group was given the opportunity to present which forced each group to assess their own skills and determine who would be best to represent them. Overall all the selected students rose to the occasion and overachieved, reflecting well upon their recent class objectives whilst successively demonstrating the importance of leadership.

For my final thoughts, I would like to bring focus that all people, regardless of their origin, require role models and leaders in their life in order to be successful. Professions such as medicine, education, business, technology, politics, and even the arts require people who can use intelligence and critical judgement meaning that the need and desire for a leader who can demonstrate these traits naturally comes into contention. After all, the purpose of a leader is ‘to see change rather than stability as natural’ (Richard L. Daft) reinforcing the idea that it is the leaders of today who will be shaping our tomorrow. It is therefore the role, and privilege, of educators to assist with the development of these leadership attitudes so that our students may fulfil their dreams and make theirs first steps towards the chosen professional of their future.