The Individual Within the System: the Hero

and Heroic Behaviour in Education

Douglas Hamblin

Romantic Hero or Heroic Behaviour?

The need may be for heroic endeavour rather than the traditional hero. Schools and
education are under threat as we move towards a post-industrial society. The school is
losing its credentialist function as graduate unemployment erodes motivation. King
(1973) showed that middleclass pupils like school no more than the working class, but
value it as a means to a valued goal a career but this is now problematical.
- -

Hamblin (1984) reported that fifth and sixth form students expected help from schools
to understand unemployment. Watts (1983) traces the growth of the tendency to
blame schools for inhibiting the production of wealth. W’e have to battle with the
assumption that aspects of education we value actively inhibit the profitability and
growth of industry. A crude utilitarianism could be thrust on us.
Such statements implicitly recognise the power of the school. Many researchers,
e.g. Swift (1973) and Rutterel al. (1979) show that the school as a social system has an
impact on pupils which is independent of family and neighbourhood.
Hegel states that the Great Man is he who experiences the will of his time; who tells
his time what it wills; and who carries it out. A search for heroes in a situation of stress
brings dangers:
-
Admiration should be dependent on the causes to which the hero’s effort is directed. Danger lies in
admiration of brilliance and the way things are said, leading to a blunting of critical appraisal.
-

Revelatory prophets or heroes may function to polarise existing negative attitudes of cynicism,
rejection of the possibility ofchange and cloud issues. They become, not positive martyrs, but a source
of conviction for others that nothing can be achieved.
-

Heroic effort implies the exemplary· prophet who struggles realistically with the forces which erode
professional competence and caring constructive effort consistently maintained over time, and
-

shaped by adaptation to system forces, the need for establishing credibility and mobilising support.

Heroic Effort
Tensions exist between the individual and the collective. Durkheim saw school as a+
place where pupils acquire the collective beliefs and behaviours which allow them to
take their place in society without disrupting it. This limited view is questionable,
possibly distasteful. Hargreaves (1982) argues that we have inflicted unnecessary
deprivation on education through our repudiation of 19th Century concern with the
social functions of education. Heroic effort is needed to clarify the nature of the
relationship between our responsibility to society and the individual, including
debate or do we: .

merely react to social change;

-
facilitate it; .

or initiate social change in defence of the individual?

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Curle (1972) distinguished between identity by belonging and identity through self
awareness.
..

Identity by belonging implies:

-
we identify ourselves by what we belong to - family, cultural background, country or occupation;
-

is’a stabilising force;

it
-

danger of stagnation or support of outdated traditions and concepts. z

We have to explore the relevance of this form of identity’ to a post-industrial,

nuclear and rapidly changing society. Have we to revise our beliefs that work is a
necessary part of identity? (Occupation is a major component of belonging identity,
therefore its status could be problematical.)

- Identity by self-awareness:
-
Has been a major pre-occupation of the educator.
-
Could be devalued by current economic pressures or stresses.
**
-

%lay be more important in an age of rapid social change.

Heroic activity:
-

Requires us to face uncomfortable questions:

(1) What are we preparing pupils for in life?
(2) Do we assume a stability which is questionable?
(3) Are we preparing pupils for a dynamic, unstable and essentially unpredictable future?
(4) What are the implications of the answers for the transmission of value, development of
commitment and style of learning we foster?

Effective Heroic Action

-
:
~_
&dquo;

This occurs within a structure of which account has to be taken, involving the skills of
innovation:
(1) Building up communication without which there can be no trust.
(2) Creating awareness of the issues.
(3) Adopting the concept of organic growth, eschewing utopian plans for piecemeal
objectives which are gradually integrated into developmental trends.
(4) Understanding the beliefs extant among teachers, and other factors, which shape
action and reaction, e.g.
-
beliefs about what certain groups of pupils can, and should learn;
-
beliefs about the nature of order, e.g. contagion or &dquo;the rot will spread&dquo; approach.
Those who act heroically must:p
(1 ) Combine a vision of the future with avoidance of the normative fallacy, viz. belief
in The right way if they are not to reinforce the &dquo;theory of the impossible task&dquo;
used by many teachers to reject change.
’

(2) Learn to cope with resident cynics.

(3) Recognise innovation and change. is slow.
(4) Deal with the reversal of attitudes favourable to innovation and child centredness
which occurs in the probationary year.
(5) Look for supports and possible areas of growth - not being, however, hypnotized
by a belief in consensus as a pre-requisite for growth. ·

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(6) Work to sharpen the powers of explanation and persuasion of supporters,

blending them into a self-sustaining support group.
o.

Leadership and Heroic Behaviour

The dynamics of heroic
leadership
Klapp (1972) describes the hero/leader as an idealised person with many devoted
admirers who identify with him. He is engaged in a process of reinforcing an ideology
and morale. Perhaps the crucial elements are:
-

clarifying by their own performance what is needed;

-

providing a working model with which others can identify. .

Bandura (1977) provides evidence that for effective modelling to occur, the model
should: . 0

-
Be attractive.
-
Be powerful (in a way seen as legitimate).
-
Get a visible pay-off for his behaviour.

But pressures and stress can erode all three conditions.

Heroic leadership means taking a Mannheimian/Lewinian position, i.e.
-

recognition that behaviour is a functiuon of the environment as perceited how we see things
-

determines what we 4o;

-
that &dquo;truth&dquo; is, at least partially, a product of one’s position in social structure;
-

awareness of the fallacy of &dquo;the school&dquo; instead of assuming uniformity, let us see it as a curate’s egg-

good in parts!
Bales (1970) suggests that task leadership and organisational perspectives differ
from, and to some degree, are largely independent of interpersonal skills and social - a

emotional leadership. The effective leader requires both skills. The effective heroic
leader therefore needs to:
-

understand the dynamics of the school and its sub-systems;

- recognise the functions and power of latent process and beliefs, e.g. the &dquo;ideal pupil&dquo; model;
-- increase his ability at standpoint taking as a preliminary to entering a process of negotiated
-

role-making.
- derelop referent power based on liking and credibility.
Difficulties For Those Attempting To Be Heroic
Simmel’s old propositions about conflict illuminate the dangers well, and the images
accord well with the topic discussed here. ~
The dangers are:
(1) Failure to distinguish between realistic conflict and unrealistic conflict. The latter
can be:

(a) a product of job insecurity, redeployment, personal experiences of change

and the existence of sentient groups;

(b) blocked promotion and limited career prospects;
(c) conflicts about the scarce resources of time and energy;
(d) threats to competence inherent in new organisational structures and teaching
methods; .

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’
(e) factors which erode positive mental health, i.e. the feeling that relaxation
leads things getting out of hand or feelings of powerlessness.
to

(2) The tendency to attribute difficulties to colleague’s personalities rather than the
situations in which they have to work.
(3) Being seen as the freretic, i.e. one who accepts the basic values of the staff group, but
duffers about the means - seeing alternative paths to goals, where the majority
want no alternatives to exist. _

(4) Becoming the renegade or &dquo;enemy ivithin&dquo; who repudiates the values and beliefs
of the majority. The leader innovator then unwitting has a positive function for
-

others - allotving them to dismiss his suggestions with a good professional

conscience.

_ What Should We Be Heroic About?

( 1 ) Accepting responsibility for the affective side of education and the development of
the truly morally educated person who holds self-referring principles of morality
rather than relying on external checks and surveillance.
(2) Tackling inevitable dilemmas, e.g.
(a) the autonomy of the teacher as a professional balanced against the need for
uniformity and consistency;
(b) cqmpetition versus co-operation;
(c) contradictions between the need to control and build the autonomy of pupils.
(3) Exploring discrepancies between ideas espoused and ideas in action.
(4) Maintaining pursuit of standards of excellence, although not dcfining excellence
narrowly. Actively questioning what within the school reinforces deprivation and
disadvantage, not forgetting alleged gender differences and sexual stereotypes
which handicap both males and females.
(5) Being unashamed of our intrinsic motivation and going beyond the performance ’

required.
(6) Evaluating the models of man which guide our efforts. We may use all of those
given below, but do we allow ourselves time to question.
Models of man shaping our reactions and methods may include:

(a) Adam Smith’s economic man who maximizes his gratifications.

(b) Man as a reactive being shaped by punishments and rewards, essentially inert
and dependent on external forces.
(c) Man as a reactive being in depth, a product of early experience and family .

background. A deterministic model. 10

(d) Man in the process of becoming. A tough-minded self fulrlment model which
argues that people have to learn to cope with anxiety constructively as they
strive to be the best they can be.
(e) Appolonian man who is rational, prudent and acquisitive the man of the -

protestant ethic who believes in work and planning ahead.

(f) Dionysian Man who believes iri immediate gratification, sensation and face to
face relationships.
(g) Other directed man dependent upon the signals of approval and disapproval
received from others. (These brief statements drawn from the work of Allport,

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Riesman and Benedict do the originals scant justice, but may help to sharpen
ourheroic effort. They are not, of course, exclusive or exhaustive.)
(7) Becoming aware of the degree to which our behaviour is shaped by our implicit
personality theories. This naive psychology attributes causality to the behaviour
of others, and may remain unquestioned. Our underlying beliefs about why
people stcal)4are aggressive or promiscuous often shape our reactions unnoticed.
They then cbntribute to the discrepancy between practice and principles of which
we are uneasily aware. -

.- I

References
Bales, R. (1970) Personality and Interpersonal Behaviour. Holt, Rinehart and Winston: New York.
Bandura, A. (1977) Social Learning Theory. Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Curle, A. (1972) Mystics and Militants. Tavistock: London.
Hamblin, D. (1984) Pastoral Care - a Training Manual. Blackwell: Oxford.
Hargreaves, D. (1982) The Challengefor The Comprehensive School. Routledge and Kegan Paul: London.
Klapp, O. (1972) Currents of Unrest. Holt, Rinehart and Winston: New York.
King, R. (1973) School Organisalion and Pupil Involvement. Routledge and Kegan Paul: London.
Rutter, M. Maughan, B., Mortimore, P. and Ouston, J. (1979) Fifteen Thousand Hours. Open Books:
London.
Swift, B. (1973) "Job Orientations and the Transition from School to work", British Journal of Guidance
and Counselling, I, pp.62-78.
Watts, A. (1983) Education, Unemployment and the Future of Work. Open University: Milton Keynes.

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