Learning for leadership

AIS Executive ConferenceTuesday 15 May 2007

Michelle Andersonandersonm@acer.edu.au

‘No-one ever taught you how to coach in those days, you had to find out for

yourself.’(Kevin Sheedy reflecting on his 27 years as the

coach of Essendon Football Club)

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LeadershipBooksSource:LibrariesAustralia

Interest in leadership learning

OECD’s Improving School Leadership Activity (2006)

• Two strands: analytical and case study

• 20 countries participating (17 OECD and 3 non-OECD)

• Australia is participating in the analytical strand: Country Background Report

• Based on current evidence within each country

Structure of the Country Background Report

Chapters:

1. The national context of schooling2. Features of the school system3. School governance and leadership4. Enhancing learning and school leadership5. The attractiveness of school leaders’ roles6. Professional learning of school leaders7. Conclusion

Learning for leadership in context:features of the Australian system

• Diverse forms of school governance• A large number of small schools• Overall, high degree of decentralisation of

decision making within an increasingly strong accountability framework

• Increasing emphasis on educational leadership, not just management

• Concerns about lack of clarity of leaders’ roles and inadequate support

Pathways to becoming a school leader in Australia

Generally, requires:

1.a four-year undergraduate qualification*

2.registration as a teacher with a regulatory authority

3.evidence of good teaching and school-wide leadership and management

*In some sectors there are specific requirements for becoming a school leader.

Framing learning along some form of career phase continuum

Aspiring Beginning Consolidation and growth

High

achievingTransitions

Challenges the assumption –

‘once a leader, especially a principal, always a leader’ (Mulford, 2005)

(Career pathways, Queensland, government school leadership strategy)

International examples of school leader career pathways

England:

1. Emergent

2. Established

3. Entry to headship

4. Advanced

5. Consultant

Scotland:

1. Project leadership

2. Team leadership

3. School leadership

4. Strategic leadership

Staff in Australia’s Schools survey

Australia-wide survey of school teachers and leaders in 2006 and 2007 about their:

• Background and qualifications• Work• Career intentions• Factors that impact on the appeal of the

profession(ACER & ACE)

Staff in Australia’s Schools survey: leader learning and preparation

E.g. Question 20: Which of the following did you undertake to prepare or help you early in your career as a school leader, and how helpful was it?

a. Leadership development program organised by your employer

b. Structured mentoring by an experienced colleague

c. Regional/District program with other new leaders

d. Leadership orientation program with colleagues at your school

e. Leadership program organised by a professional association

f. Post-graduate study in education

g. Other assistance (please specify)……

h. I have not undertaken any preparatory training

Critical features of professional learning for leadership

Does it do

what it says

on the tin?

Critical features of professional learning for leadership

content focus, recognising the importance of what is to be learned

(Ingvarson et al, 2005)

Developers of professional learning need first to have guiding conceptions of

school leadership

Standards for school leadership

Every state and territory in Australia nowhas some form of standards framework for

school leadership

Standards for school leadership are one way to identify what is ‘valued’

Questions for writers of standards:What’s in? What’s out? How come?

It's been very important throughout my

career that I've met all the guys I've

copied, because at each stage they've

said, ''Don't play like me, play like you.''

(Eric Clapton, musician)

Critical features of professional learning for leadership

In addition to content clarity and focus researchers have

identified the critical features of:

• active learning engagement and reflection on learning;

• effective and timely feedback from a coach or supporting peers; and

• follow up support during the implementation phase of a professional learning program.

Example: Networked Learning Communities (NLCs)

• Launched in 2002 from National College for School Leadership (NCSL)

• 132 school-to-school networks = over 1500 schools

• 11 = average size of a network (smallest 6 schools – largest 37 schools)

• Of the 132 NLCs, most are a combination of primary and secondary schools

(December 2005)

Three Portraits of NLC Learning

• Adult learning:

Boston Schools Improvement Partnership

• School-to-school learning:

East Manchester EAZ

• Leadership learning:

Winsford

Shifts in leadership learning

From:

• Episodic

• Over emphasis on training for a role

• Detached, off-site course-based programs

• Individual learning

• Face-to-face

To:

• Long-term or continuous

• Greater emphasis on knowing and understanding self and others

• Job-embedded with increased practicum work-place learning, learning by doing and reflecting

• Collaborative problem-solving and mentoring / coaching / peer support learning

• A mixture of e-learning and face-to-face

Challenges

1. Research is small-scale and localised

2. Focus has mainly been on the principalship and formal leadership roles

3. Little attention to cost and impact of different leadership policies and strategies – especially in regard to student outcomes

…How incredibly stuck things get, in the worst modes of fluffball, individualistic, jargon-

ridden babble that unfortunately marks the worst of certain staff development

approaches in Australia and internationally (Deputy Vice Chancellor)