Making sense of school leadership in the 1990s: being and becoming (original) (raw)

School leadership in England: Reflections on research activity between 1997 and 2017

This is a theoretical and reflective examination of research into school leadership in England which concludes that activity has been both constrained and limited throughout the last 20 years. A review of school leadership development from 1997 indicates that the main government agencies have identified skills, attributes and behaviours, yet these have not been the consequence of robust empirical research. This outcome is compromised further by the way in which two mainstream academic UK journals, which ostensibly focus on the field of leadership in education, have less than 20 per cent of published papers in the years 2014 and 2015 on school leadership in England. I conclude, based on the samples of outputs examined, that this represents an alarming lack of evidence underpinning our understanding of the demands of school leadership in the rapidly changing nature of education in England. From this discussion, I call for two outcomes: greater opportunity for publication of domestic research within UK journals and national conferences and a determination from major agencies and institutions to support more substantial, detailed and focused research into school leadership.

Investigating School Leadership within a European Project

ECPS - Educational, Cultural and Psychological Studies, 2015

This article draws on the work conducted within the context of the European Policy Network on School Leadership. Its aim is to discuss and reflect upon school leadership policy development in the context of European education systems. The first section focuses on the concept of school leadership, identifying connections between school leadership practices and the promotion of equity and learning in schools. The second section discusses critical factors in policy implementation that shape the capacity of school leaders to combat inequalities and promote learning performance in schools. The article ends with an outlining of key policy actions for the promotion of distributed leadership practices in schools. In effect, this section stresses the need for a conceptual shift in understanding school leadership, from the position, roles, responsibilities, traits and capacities of the individuals holding formally assigned leadership roles in schools, to leadership as a function inside schools. As it is argued, such a conceptual shift calls for a policy shift in school leadership capacity-building that strengthens, but also goes beyond, the traditional repertoire of policies that focus on the preparation and professional training of school heads or other members of formal teams responsible for school management.

Improving School Leadership - OECD Review

2006

Background Report for Flanders Geert Devos Melissa Tuytens 18/10/2006 This report was prepared for the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training for the OECD Activity Improving School Leadership following common guidelines the OECD provided to all countries participating in the activity. Country background reports can be found at www.oecd.org/edu/schoolleadership. Flanders has granted the OECD permission to include this document on the OECD Internet Home Page. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the national authority, the OECD or its Member countries. The copyright conditions governing access to information on the OECD Home Page are provided at www.oecd.org/rights CHAPTER 4: SCHOOL LEADERSHIP AND STIMULATING LEARNING 36 4.1 Points of interest in the policy regarding quality of education 36 4.2 Accountability of the school in relation to pupil learning 36 4.2.1 The curriculum and pupil assessment 36 4.

Challenging the orthodoxy of effective school leadership

International Journal of Leadership in Education, 2001

This report examines the nature and practice of effective leadership in schools in England and Wales in the 1990s. It is based on a study that explored how existing theories of effective leadership--purposeful leadership, transformational leadership, or moral leadership--compared to the practices of successful head teachers in times of change. The research was based on more than 200 interviews with heads (principals), staff, governors, parents, and students in 12 primary, secondary, and special schools. The methodology recognized that effective leadership was a highly contextualized and relational construct. A generic case-study protocol was designed in which each school was visited for two-and-a-half days. Analysis revealed that the various stakeholders shared a broadly similar social construction of leadership that did not wholly endorse existing theories of leadership. The heads themselves operated on the basis of both internally and externally determined measures of quality control; their quality-assurance criteria had a broader agenda in keeping with a holistic moral vision of a good school and good teachers. Their leadership approaches did not neatly adhere to existing leadership theories, in part because the complexity of the role they faced meant that no one theory could explain existing practices. (Contains 30 references.) (RJM)

The Art and Science of Leading a School

Final report of the project: International Co-operation for School Leadership Involving Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden 2013 "What makes a school leader successful in the 21st century?" is the fundamental question that the international expert team investigated. This book presents the Central European Competency Framework for School Leaders – coined Central5 –, a unique competency framework inasmuch as it is cross-border (developed by partners from five Central European countries: Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia) and demand-driven, i.e. it is based on the expectations of key stakeholders such as school leaders, teachers, trainers of leaders, educational experts and decision-makers. The paper looks at the theoretical background, describes the methodology of the development process, and examines the coherence of the framework. It also gives an insight into the adaptation processes taking place in the five countries, and thus provides the reader with feedback and reflections concerning the applicability of Central5. Further perspectives on the framework and considerations for (self-)evaluation and the development of school leaders' competencies are equally offered. The Swedish context and comparative analysis presented by the Swedish experts, show how the Central5 is reflected upon in a different educational context. The study suggests that the framework can be used at different levels, by different stakeholders and for various purposes and highlights some indicative implications for policy-makers as well.

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

Journal of In-Service Education, 2006

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

The Critical Potential of Nordic School Leadership Research: Fundamental but Often Forgotten Perspectives

Research in Educational Administration & Leadership

Many phrases used in education policy discussions are very vague. They are fluid signifiers that everybody can interpret and understand in their own way. They are useful when building political consensus or affirmation. But the phrases are often too vague when trying to communicate and understand education and educational leadership because they obscure the elements in the phrase: who is the political agent, and what are the relations between policy, research, school and staff. They also