Prefect systems in schools, and other archaic irrelevancies.
I often wonder what historians will write when they reflect on global events of the past twenty years, sometime in the future. For I have a sense that we are living in a time of extraordinary social, political, and environmental change. It will be known as the era where global politics lost innocence (or at least stopped pretending), hitherto unassailable empires crumbled (and new ones formed), and corruption, voter manipulation, self-interest, and extremism intersected on a massive scale. And if we are indeed living through a crisis in global politics, there can be no doubt that this is symptomatic of a deeper malaise - corporate and civic governance, law and order - the basic tennets of society - face a crisis of leadership - visionary, principled, ethical servant leadership.
As school leaders we have a duty to our learners to prepare them for this complex world that provides few ethical markers of its own. Sometimes our efforts manifest in overt leadership education, but often our notions of leadership manifest structurally as prefects. I would argue that this is a flawed model that is inadequate in addressing the needs of contemporary society.
Many schools hang on to a prefect system as part of their English colonial roots. It is a quaint arrangement that dates back to the nineteenth century schoolroom in England- a 'traditional' system of bestowed power where older students gain the ability to discipline younger ones (and, in theory at least, their peers). It bestows privilege, entrenches hierarchy, is based on power and patronage, and concerns itself less with leadership than it does with petty discipline and ensuring compliance. It is, possibly, the only time of their working lives where students will be able to qualify for a job simply because they are older than anyone else in the group, and where recognition and trappings of office precede the doing of any work, or the quality thereof. The prefect system was never conceived as a leadership system. It simply delegates power to ensure compliance.
Worse than the 'classic' prefect system is the more contemporary version where the appointment of prefects is subject to a 'democratic' vote. While this system appears on the surface to be more democratic (and therefore more legitimate), it is flawed in at least two ways. Firstly, an immature electorate tends to elect popular or prominent persons into the role and this does not always correlate to their leadership potential or their ability to actually do the job. Secondly, the ability of such a person to actually 'lead' (challenge thinking, effect change, able to make unpopular decisions) is limited by the fact that they are socially dependent.
I do not believe that the prefect system was designed as a leadership system and we should stop pretending that it was. The very word 'prefect' gives away its purpose, dating as it does from the Roman Empire - it was a title afforded to government officials and military commanders, government officials whose duties included ruling districts and managing the bureaucracy. Leadership, and specifically the ethical leadership that we so need is much more than that. In fact, I would contend that the true leaders - the entrepreneurial thinkers, the challengers of the status quo - the movers and the shakers - are often considered too alternative (or rebellious, or non-conformist) to be considered as prefects. Often, we substitute compliance for leadership in prefect selection, or (bizarrely) sporting prowess, or popularity.
Leadership, and ethical leadership should reflect explicitly in our curriculum at every level - it is not something that only 'seniors' do. Leadership development should not form part of an archaic age-based hierarchical arrangement of power - it should find its way into every team, every activity, and all the institutional discourse. While there is a need for discipline structures in a school and it is expedient to have foot-soldiers to enforce it, we need to stop pretending that that is what leadership is about.