# The Johari Window for aspiring school heads This is the Markdown copy of [The Johari Window for aspiring school heads](https://nash.com.ph/johari-window), published by NASH Reviewer, an independent practice platform not affiliated with DepEd, BHROD, or NEAP. *Self-assessment for aspiring school heads* The NASH is meant to show aspiring school heads where to improve. The Johari Window, a simple model of what you and others know about you, turns that into a plan: map each PPSSH domain, find your blind spots, and decide whom to ask for feedback. - **4**: Areas in the Johari Window - **5**: PPSSH domains to map yourself against - **4.1.1**: The PPSSH self-assessment indicator for aspiring school heads - **15**: Points for Potential when reclassifying to School Principal I ## What the Johari Window is Psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham introduced the window in 1955 and named it after their first names. It sorts what is known about you by two questions: do you know it, and do others? ### Open area *Known to you and to others* What you and the people you work with both see in your leadership, whether a strength or a growth area. **Example:** You and your teachers both know that you run focused, well-prepared meetings. Grows as you ask for feedback and share what you are working on. Also called: arena, free area, public area ### Blind area *Known to others, not to you* What others see in your leadership that you do not, including strengths you undervalue. **Example:** Teachers find your classroom feedback hard to act on, but no one has told you. Shrinks when you ask for feedback and act on it. Also called: blind spot, blind self ### Hidden area *Known to you, not to others* What you know about your leadership that others do not, such as a gap you have kept to yourself. **Example:** You are unsure how to liquidate the school’s MOOE, and you have not asked for help. Shrinks when you share it with a mentor or your school head. Also called: facade, hidden self, avoided self ### Unknown area *Not yet known to you or to others* What no one has seen yet, because you have not been tested in that work. **Example:** How you would lead a school through a disaster, a task you have never faced. Shrinks as you take on new tasks and reflect on them with others. Also called: unknown self Feedback shrinks the blind area. Sharing what you know shrinks the hidden area. New work, reflected on with others, shrinks the unknown area. Each move makes the open area larger. ## How the window changes The four areas are not fixed. Their sizes change as people give feedback, share what they know, and try new work together. ### Feedback moves the border sideways When others tell you what they see, it leaves your blind area and joins the open area. On the window, the line between the open and blind areas moves to the right. ### Sharing moves the border down When you tell others what you know about your leadership, it leaves your hidden area and joins the open area. The line between the open and hidden areas moves down. Three windows drawn to scale, with the open area’s share of the width (what you know about yourself) and of the height (what others know about you): - **The usual drawing**: open area 50% of the width and 50% of the height. Four equal areas. In practice their sizes differ from person to person and group to group. - **A newly assigned school head**: open area 30% of the width and 30% of the height. Teachers know little about the new head, and the head knows little about how teachers see things. The open area is small. - **After a year of feedback and sharing**: open area 70% of the width and 65% of the height. The open area is the largest. The other three are smaller, but never empty. ### Where a discovery lands - **Others notice it first**. Lands in: Blind area. A master teacher watching your learning action cell notices that teachers stop talking when you join their group. It joins the open area when someone tells you. - **You notice it alone**. Lands in: Hidden area. Leading an earthquake drill for the first time, you find that you stay calm and give clear directions under pressure. It joins the open area when you share it. - **You find it together**. Lands in: Open area. In school planning, you and the team find that you are good at turning data into a short list of priorities. A shared discovery needs no further step. This is why a mentor who watches you lead and then tells you what they saw is so useful, and why group work such as school planning and learning action cells can widen everyone’s open area at once. Joseph Luft later set out principles of how the window changes. Among them: a change in one area changes all the others; threat tends to reduce awareness, while mutual trust tends to increase it; and forcing people to disclose is undesirable and usually does not work. ## Why it fits the NASH and the PPSSH DepEd’s issuances ask aspiring school heads to do what the window describes: assess themselves, reflect, and learn from people who know the work. ### The NASH is developmental > “The NASH now serves as a developmental assessment tool to evaluate readiness and identify areas for improvement among aspiring school leaders.” Results arrive as a Certificate of Rating and an Individual Development Report: feedback on what you have not yet seen in yourself. DepEd Memorandum No. 069, s. 2025 ### The PPSSH starts with self-assessment > “Conduct self-assessment of personal and professional development needs using the Philippine Professional Standards for School Heads.” This is indicator 4.1.1, for Career Stage 1, the stage of aspiring school heads. At Career Stage 2 you set goals from it, and at Career Stage 3 you reflect on reaching them. DepEd Order No. 24, s. 2020 ### Domain 5 asks for openness > “They should be able to build relationships with individuals and organizations anchored on mutual trust, honesty, openness, respect, and commitment towards sharing the same vision for the attainment of institutional goals.” School heads build relationships on these terms. Openness is how the hidden area shrinks. DepEd Order No. 24, s. 2020 ### DepEd urges coaching and mentoring > “Given that the NASH is designed as a developmental tool, aspiring school heads are strongly encouraged to actively participate in coaching and mentoring sessions with experienced and proficient school principals to support their professional growth and leadership readiness.” The memorandum adds that these sessions give “practical guidance and reflection opportunities”: feedback from people who know the work. DepEd Memorandum No. 069, s. 2025 ### Walkthroughs give feedback without a rating > “timely, constructive, and developmental feedback without the pressure associated with formal performance evaluation” DepEd Order No. 016, s. 2026 encourages instructional leaders to make frequent, non-rated walkthroughs of about 10 to 15 minutes. Each one is a chance to hear what others see in your teaching. DepEd Order No. 016, s. 2026 ### Your rater is meant to coach you > “The Rater, as the coach or mentor of the Ratee, plays a critical role in the performance monitoring, coaching, and provision of technical assistance.” Under the PMES for teachers, the rater records significant incidents and feedback in the Performance Monitoring and Coaching Form and agrees with you on an Individual Development Plan. Ask what has been recorded. DepEd Memorandum No. 089, s. 2025 ### Feedback rarely arrives on its own > “Without a strong mentorship system, school leaders miss out on the valuable guidance and feedback essential for navigating challenges and improving their leadership skills.” EDCOM II Year Two Report (2025), p. 263 > “Performance management systems generate compliance, not improvement.” EDCOM II Final Report, Turning Point (2026), p. 31 > “The absence of standardized tools and rubrics for school head evaluation, in contrast to the highly structured RPMS-PPST for teachers, reflects a fundamental inconsistency in the performance management architecture that further complicates accountability and support mechanisms.” EDCOM II Final Report, Turning Point (2026), p. 357 These findings mean you cannot wait for feedback to reach you. Ask for it, and use the window to decide whom to ask about what. ## Map your leadership window For each PPSSH domain, say how you see yourself and what feedback says: from walkthrough debriefs, your PMES reviews, your school head, colleagues, your NASH Individual Development Report, or practice results. Your answers stay on this page and are not saved. On the page, you answer two questions for each domain: - **Your view:** A strength, A growth area, Not sure. - **Feedback says:** A strength, A growth area, No feedback yet. Signed-in learners can fill “Feedback says” from their practice results, where a domain clearly meets the practice benchmark or falls clearly below 65% of points. ### Domain 1: Leading Strategically Set the direction of the school. ### Domain 2: Managing School Operations and Resources Manage the systems and processes in the school. ### Domain 3: Focusing on Teaching and Learning Promote quality teaching and learning. ### Domain 4: Developing Self and Others Nurture themselves and others. ### Domain 5: Building Connections Engage stakeholders. ### Where each pair of answers places a domain | Your view | Feedback says | Area | Why | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A strength | A strength | Open area | You and the feedback agree: a strength. | | A strength | A growth area | Blind area | You see a strength; feedback says a growth area. | | A strength | No feedback yet | Hidden area | You see a strength; no one has given you feedback on it yet. | | A growth area | A strength | Blind area | You see a growth area; feedback says a strength. | | A growth area | A growth area | Open area | You and the feedback agree: a growth area. | | A growth area | No feedback yet | Hidden area | You see a growth area; no one has given you feedback on it yet. | | Not sure | A strength | Blind area | Feedback calls it a strength, and you are not sure yet. | | Not sure | A growth area | Blind area | Feedback calls it a growth area, and you are not sure yet. | | Not sure | No feedback yet | Unknown area | Neither you nor others have a view yet. | ### Your next steps | Your view | Feedback says | Next step | | --- | --- | --- | | A strength | A strength | Build on the domain: help a colleague grow in it, and keep the evidence for your application. | | A strength | A growth area | Ask the people behind the feedback for specific examples in the domain, then test yourself with a practice set in it. | | A strength | No feedback yet | Tell a mentor or your school head what you see in the domain, and ask whether they see it too. | | A growth area | A strength | Ask the people behind the feedback for specific examples in the domain, then test yourself with a practice set in it. | | A growth area | A growth area | Set a goal for the domain in your development plan, and practice its strands with someone who can check your progress. | | A growth area | No feedback yet | Tell a mentor or your school head what you see in the domain, and ask whether they see it too. | | Not sure | A strength | Ask the people behind the feedback for specific examples in the domain, then test yourself with a practice set in it. | | Not sure | A growth area | Ask the people behind the feedback for specific examples in the domain, then test yourself with a practice set in it. | | Not sure | No feedback yet | Create evidence in the domain: take a practice set, or volunteer for a task in it, and reflect on the result with a mentor. | ## Questions to ask about your window Once your domains are placed, use these questions to decide what to do next. Write the answers into your development plan. 1. Which domains are in your open area, and would a larger open area help you lead a school? 2. Which domains are blind or hidden, and what has kept them there? 3. Whom will you ask for feedback on each blind or unknown domain, and when? 4. What will you share, and with whom, to move a hidden domain into the open? 5. How will a larger open area help you work with teachers, parents, and your own school head? ## How to widen your open area Three moves shrink the other areas. You can start each one this school year. ### 1. Ask for feedback For your blind area - Ask your school head or a Master Teacher for one specific example of what you do well, and one of what to change, in a single domain. - Ask for a short debrief after each walkthrough of your class. DepEd Order No. 016, s. 2026 makes these visits non-rated, so they are the easiest feedback to get. - Bring your development goals to your mid-year and year-end PMES reviews, and ask your rater what your classroom observations and the Performance Monitoring and Coaching Form show. - Take timed practice sets, and read your results by PPSSH domain and strand. - When your NASH results arrive, read your Individual Development Report with a mentor. It summarizes your strengths, areas for improvement, and recommended developmental interventions. ### 2. Share what you know For your hidden area - Tell a mentor which domains worry you before anyone else finds out. - Write your growth areas into your Individual Development Plan, which is Part IV of your IPCRF under the PMES. - Choose training that matches the plan: in reclassification, learning and development aligned with your Individual Development Plan is among the evidence that earns points. ### 3. Try new work For your unknown area - Look for strengths as well as gaps: at work, the unknown area most often holds an ability you have not yet had the chance to use. - Volunteer for tasks you have never led, such as school planning, a budget, or a community partnership. - If you are a Teacher VI, Teacher VII, or Master Teacher I, ask about serving as an Assistant School Head designate. DepEd calls it part of the professional development of aspiring principals. - Join professional networks, as PPSSH indicator 4.3.1 asks: “Seek opportunities to improve one’s practice as a school leader through professional networks.” - After each new task, reflect on it with someone who saw you do it. In an essay in the EDCOM II Final Report, Turning Point (2026) (p. 123), Dr. Milwida Guevara recalls that when Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian presented the reading problem, principals replied, “Mayor, wala namang problema!” She writes: “This defensiveness has become ingrained in our culture, preventing honest recognition of the problem.” A blind spot is easier to admit when you went looking for it yourself. **Put numbers on your blind spots** Ten timed questions show your score by PPSSH domain, so you can compare it with how you see yourself. [Try a free practice set](https://nash.com.ph/sign-up). ## Use the window as a school head The PPSSH asks school heads to build relationships “anchored on mutual trust, honesty, openness, respect, and commitment.” The window shows how: a school head widens other people’s open areas, not only their own. ### 1. Make feedback safe Teachers decide what to tell you by watching what happens to the person who brings you bad news. Luft observed that threat reduces awareness and mutual trust increases it. - Thank the person who tells you about a problem before you discuss the problem. - Answer a teacher’s admitted weakness with support, never with a rating. - Keep what teachers share with you in confidence. - Ask for feedback on your own leadership where teachers can see you do it. PPSSH 5.1.1 Demonstrate skills in dealing with authorities, colleagues, parents and other stakeholders to encourage an enabling and supportive environment for learners. ### 2. Ask as well as tell Widening the open area is not only the work of the person in the window. Colleagues help by giving feedback with care and by asking about each other’s work. - Early in the school year, ask each teacher about their goals and worries. - In learning action cells, have teachers ask each other what helped and what did not. - Before you give feedback on a lesson, ask how the teacher saw it. PPSSH 5.4.1 Demonstrate competent skills in speaking and writing, as well as in utilizing communication platforms, in communicating with teachers, learners, parents and other stakeholders. ### 3. Find untried strengths in your teachers The hidden area holds what a person knows and keeps back. The unknown area at work most often holds an untried ability: a skill no one has seen because the person never had the chance, the encouragement, the confidence, or the training to use it. - Give new tasks with little pressure to succeed the first time, such as leading one learning action cell session or mentoring one new teacher. - Talk the task over with the teacher afterward, so that what you both found joins the open area. - Rotate roles, so that the same few teachers do not get every chance. PPSSH 4.6.1 Identify strengths, capabilities and potentials of individuals and teams in performing leadership roles and responsibilities. At Career Stage 2, 4.6.2: Provide opportunities to individuals and teams in performing leadership roles and responsibilities. ### 4. Look at the school’s window, too The “self” in the window can be a group. A faculty can map what it and the parents know about the school, and a school can map what it and its community know. - Hidden: results the school knows and parents do not, such as learners’ reading levels. Share them, for example through the School Report Card. - Blind: what parents and the barangay see and teachers do not, such as why learners miss school on market days. Ask in meetings and home visits. - Unknown: what neither side knows yet, such as how a new program will work. Find out together. - Read the school’s SBM self-assessment the same way. Under DepEd Order No. 007, s. 2024, the school rates itself on 42 indicators and invites the division for technical assistance: an outside view of what the school may not see. PPSSH 5.5.1 Involve the community, such as parents, alumni, authorities, industries and other stakeholders, in school programs, projects and activities to gain support for learner development, as well as school and community improvement. ### 5. Your first months in a new school A school head assigned to a new school starts with a small open area. The fastest way to widen it is to share early and to ask early. - Tell teachers what you value and how you like to work. - Ask for feedback in the first weeks, before habits set. - Listen before you change what the school already does well. - Learn each teacher’s strengths before you assign new roles. ## Your window in the interview When you apply for reclassification to School Principal I, Potential is worth 15 of 100 points: your school head assessment score sets up to 10, and a Behavioral Events Interview up to 5. > “BEI is based on the principle that past behavior predicts future performance. It uses the STAR approach to validate whether the key behaviors that are linked to the required competencies have been exhibited by the applicant.” DepEd Order No. 024, s. 2025, Enclosure No. 3 The interview looks for behavior that others have seen. Map your window first: draw your examples from domains where feedback agrees with you, and ask for feedback where it does not. ### Prepare one STAR example per domain - **S** (Situation): The real situation you acted in. - **T** (Task): What you had to do. - **A** (Action): What you did, in your own words. - **R** (Result): What happened because of it. See how Potential and the other criteria are scored in the [reclassification guide](https://nash.com.ph/principal-reclassification#performance). ## Related models These models are not part of DepEd’s issuances. They are further reading on the same skills the PPSSH asks of school heads. ### Stages of group development *Bruce Tuckman, 1965* Groups pass through forming, storming, norming, and performing. A new team, like a new member, starts with small open areas, which is one reason a team needs time before it performs well. ### Situational Leadership *Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard, 1969* A leader adjusts how much direction and support to give to how ready a person is for a task. Knowing a teacher’s open and blind areas helps you judge that readiness. ### Emotional intelligence *Daniel Goleman, 1995* Self-awareness is the first part of emotional intelligence. The window gives it a structure: what you know about yourself, and what you learn from others. ### Hierarchy of needs *Abraham Maslow, 1943* People attend to safety and belonging before growth. A teacher who does not feel safe will not risk sharing a weakness, so a safe climate comes before honest feedback. Emotional intelligence and Kouzes and Posner’s Five Practices are explained for school heads in [Leadership vs management for school heads](https://nash.com.ph/blog/leadership-vs-management-school-heads). ## Common questions Short answers drawn from the issuances. Your division office has the final word on your case. ### Is the Johari Window part of the NASH? No. DepEd’s issuances do not mention it. It is a general model of self-awareness that fits what the PPSSH asks of aspiring school heads: indicator 4.1.1 is to conduct a self-assessment against the standards. ### Does DepEd use 360-degree feedback for school heads? The issuances on this page do not describe one, and EDCOM II found no standardized tools and rubrics for evaluating school heads. Teachers now get structured feedback under the PMES, DepEd Memorandum No. 089, s. 2025, through rated classroom observations and a rater who also coaches. Gather feedback yourself from your school head, colleagues, mentors, and practice results. ### Which PPSSH career stage am I? Aspiring school heads are Career Stage 1. School Principal I and II positions are Career Stage 2, School Principal III is Career Stage 3, and School Principal IV is Career Stage 4. ### Can practice scores show my blind spots? They are one source of feedback. A domain that clearly meets our practice benchmark, or falls clearly below 65% of points, suggests a strength or a growth area. Practice scores are study aids, not official NASH ratings. ### Can I ask about my results after an assessment? In reclassification, yes. During the open ranking, each applicant may ask questions and seek clarifications on the results of their individual assessment. ### Do I have to share everything about myself? No. What you share, with whom, and how fast is your choice. Personal matters unrelated to your work can stay private: the window is about the knowledge, skills, and behavior that affect how you lead. Joseph Luft, one of its authors, held that forcing people to disclose is undesirable and usually does not work. ### Is the Johari Window a counseling tool? No. It is a model of communication and feedback at work, not a tool for personal trauma or mental health concerns. Those call for a guidance counselor, a psychologist, or another qualified professional. ### Is my window saved? No. The window works in your browser and clears when you leave the page. Write your next steps into your development plan. *Turn feedback into a plan* ## Find your blind spots before the NASH Timed practice sets score you by PPSSH domain and strand, so you can see where you stand and what to work on first. **What you practice with** - Results by PPSSH domain and strand - An explanation for every answer - Strand practice for your growth areas - Timed situational questions, two minutes each - **Free**: 34 practice sets - **30-day pass**: ₱1,000 for 30 days - **Lifetime**: ₱3,000 once Practice scores are study aids, not official NASH ratings. [Start practicing free](https://nash.com.ph/sign-up) or [compare plans](https://nash.com.ph/pricing). ## Sources The Johari Window and the related models come from their authors. Everything else on this page comes from these DepEd issuances and EDCOM II reports. Check the official text before you act on any rule. - **Luft, J., and Ingham, H. (1955)**: The Johari window, a graphic model of interpersonal awareness. Proceedings of the Western Training Laboratory in Group Development, University of California, Los Angeles. - **Luft, J. (1969); Luft, J. (1984)**: Of Human Interaction, and Group Processes: An Introduction to Group Dynamics, 3rd edition: Luft’s principles of how the window changes. - **DepEd Memorandum No. 069, s. 2025**: Administration of the NASH: its developmental purpose, the Certificate of Rating and Individual Development Report, and the call for coaching and mentoring. - **DepEd Order No. 016, s. 2026**: Guidelines on Lesson Planning and Learning Design: frequent, non-rated walkthroughs and developmental feedback from instructional leaders. - **DepEd Memorandum No. 089, s. 2025**: The multi-year Performance Management and Evaluation System (PMES) for teachers: the rater as coach, the Performance Monitoring and Coaching Form, and the Individual Development Plan. - **DepEd Order No. 007, s. 2024**: The revised School-Based Management system: the school’s self-assessment on 42 indicators and the division’s technical assistance. - **DepEd Order No. 24, s. 2020**: The PPSSH: Domains 4 and 5, the career stages, and self-assessment indicator 4.1.1. - **DepEd Order No. 024, s. 2025, Enclosure No. 3**: Reclassification to School Principal: the Potential criterion, the Behavioral Events Interview, Individual Development Plans, and the open ranking. - **EDCOM II Year Two Report (2025)**: Pages 261 and 263: school head evaluation and the coaching and mentoring gap. - **EDCOM II Final Report, Turning Point (2026)**: Pages 31, 123, and 357: feedback in performance management, defensiveness about learning problems, and tools for evaluating school heads. - **Tuckman, B. W. (1965)**: Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6). - **Hersey, P., and Blanchard, K. H. (1969)**: Life cycle theory of leadership. Training and Development Journal. The origin of Situational Leadership. - **Goleman, D. (1995)**: Emotional Intelligence. Self-awareness as the first part of emotional intelligence. - **Maslow, A. H. (1943)**: A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4). For official questions, contact the Bureau of Human Resource and Organizational Development, Human Resource Development Division, at bhrod.hrdd@deped.gov.ph, or visit the [official DepEd website](https://www.deped.gov.ph/). NASH Reviewer is not affiliated with DepEd, BHROD, or NEAP.