Discussion Kit: Positive Leadership for Flourishing Schools
Discussion Kit: Positive Leadership for Flourishing Schools
date: August 25, 2025
Based on the work of Sabre Cherkowski, Keith Walker and Benjamin Kutsyuruba
With strong evidence of a positive connection between wellbeing and improved learning, and of the relationship between educator wellbeing and student success, educators and education leaders across the country and around the world are realizing that attending to the wellbeing of our school communities is paramount. In their book Teacher Wellbeing, Cherkowski and Walker (2018) noted that “Building and maintaining wellbeing is both an individual and an organizational responsibility. Individuals should not wait to flourish until their organizations pay attention to wellbeing. At the same time, flourishing in schools is an organizational imperative in which all partners must be engaged together.” (p. 21)
Building on their research on flourishing in schools, Cherkowski, Walker and Kutsyuruba (2020, 2021) explored the role of positive leadership in cultivating flourishing school communities. The appreciative inquiry focuses on the positive emotional and social aspects of the work of school leaders. Leadership is embraced as a mindset, in which students, staff, teachers and system leaders all take their turns leading, following and contributing towards a shared goal of flourishing. A model for leadership emerged from this research, grounded in the values of purpose, passion, presence and play.