The impact of school leadership development: evidence from the ‘new visions’ programme for early headship (original) (raw)

2006, Journal of In-Service Education

This paper examines the impact of one leadership development programme, drawing on a model developed by Leithwood and Levin (2004) for the Department of Education and Skills. The New Visions programme, offered by the National College for School Leadership, is aimed at new headteachers and adopts a process rich approach to leadership development. The paper uses evidence from the authors' evaluation to show that the programme had a significant impact on participants' knowledge and skills, and on their leadership practices, but a more limited effect on classroom practice and pupil outcomes. Introduction: leadership and school aims The performance of educational leaders is under the microscope. They face wideranging expectations from diverse sources, and multiple accountabilities to many different constituencies. There is also a widespread belief that their role is critical to achieving and sustaining high-quality education for children and students. In England, and in many other countries, heads, principals and other leaders are expected to absorb and accept the burgeoning agenda for change, and to succeed in ways which satisfy learners, parents, governors, teachers and other staff, and, above all, to comply with the rapacious demands of government. The contemporary emphasis on 'vision' inevitably raises questions about the aims of education. Hallinger and Heck (1998, p. 179) stress that 'formulating the school's purposes represents an important leadership function'. Bush (2003) makes a similar point about management: Educational management has to be centrally concerned with the purpose or aims of education … These purposes or goals provide the crucial sense of direction which should underpin the management of educational institutions … Unless this link between purpose and