Transcript School leadership matters in OECD countries Beatriz Pont Education and Training Policy Division OECD Education Directorate International Conference School Leadership Development Strategies Dublin, November 7, 2007

School leadership matters in
OECD countries
Beatriz Pont
Education and Training Policy Division
OECD Education Directorate
International Conference
School Leadership Development Strategies
Dublin, November 7, 2007
Background: The ISL activity
Started in early 2006 : brainstorming on key topics to analyse
Australia
Austria
Belgium (French)
Belgium (Flanders)
Chile
Denmark
Finland
France
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Korea
The Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Network of experts
Portugal
Slovenia
International
Spain
organisations
Sweden
United Kingdom (England)
United Kingdom (N. Ireland)
United Kingdom (Scotland)
The objectives
To provide policy-makers and others with timely analysis to help
formulate school leadership policies leading to improved
teaching and learning:
i) Synthesising research on issues related to improving
leadership in schools;
ii) Identifying innovative and successful policy initiatives and
practices;
iii) Facilitating exchanges of lessons and policy options among
countries; and
iv) Identifying policy options for governments to consider.
Key issues to respond to
What are the roles and responsibilities of
school leadership
How to best develop effective school
leadership
Complementary ways of looking at school
leadership
Analytical strand: Country Background Reports to focus on
Country Background reports: Policies and structures that
impact on the role and development of effective school
leadership (January 2007)
Innovative practices strand: Case studies to innovative practices
•
New models of school organisation and management that
distribute leadership roles and responsibilities in innovative ways
(UK October 06, Finland, January 07; Belgium April 07)
Conference in England July 2006
•
Promising programmes and practices to prepare and develop
school leaders (Austria, April 07, Australia, Aug 07)
Conference in Dublin November 2007
Outputs and calendar of the Activity
Comparative
report 2008
Final
conference,
Denmark
April 2008
Country
questionnair
es
Individual
country
reports
Case study
visits (20062007)
Report on
systemic
approaches to
school
leadership, 2007
Dedicated website
International
conference on school
leadership
development, 2007
International
conference on
school leadership
approaches,
London, 2006
Why is school leadership a policy issue?
Evidence shows that:
• Principals have an indirect impact on schooling outcomes
• Principals are important for school reform
• Pressing issues of attracting, training and developing good leaders as
well as replacing existing ones.
• Shortages of high-qualified school leader candidates across countries.
Either for retirement reasons or for lack of attractiveness to the
position
At the same time:
• Rising expectations of schools and schooling (knowledge
economy, globalisation, migration, …)
• Greater accountability for schools and principals
• Changing systems and school environments (decentralisation and
autonomy)
Today’s focus: Professionalising school
leadership
Concerns related to the quality of school leaders
i) Many principals complain about lack of training and
development
–
Denmark, 90% felt need for mandatory training
–
Ireland: 18% of those participating in induction felt prepared for post
ii) International research evidence stress the significance of
school leadership preparation for school improvement (Bush
and Jackson, 2002; Møller, 2006)
iii) Research evidence also shows some key features to successful
training programmes
–
Mentoring and coaching/collegial work
–
Work based learning
–
Coherence in curriculum
–
Focus on leadership for learning
Today’s focus: Professionalising school
leadership
The context of leadership development:
i) Almost all principals or candidates have received teacher
training:
ii) Participation in training can depend on the formal
requirements for school leader’s selection
iii) The length of tenure in the position can have strong influence
in the type of training provided.
The approaches:
• Skills development prior to becoming principal (System wide
pre-service training):
• Encouraging induction programmes
• Promoting skills development on the job (training for acting
principals)
Leadership development approaches
Today’s focus: Professionalising school
leadership
The practice:
•
There is a wide range of approaches and support
•
Timing varies from 2 months to 2 years part time
•
Content varies from procedural to school reform
•
Wide range of institutions providing training
•
Quality control
•
Difficult to measure the impact
•
need to develop a solid base of empirical research to inform
design
This conference will help us understand the practice better:
•
Innovative case studies: The Victoria, Australia and Austria
case studies
•
Country roundtable discussions
School leadership: The policy
Developing knowledge and
skills for effective school
leadership
• Support school leadership with
appropriate training and development
frameworks related to increased and
changing expectations.
• Define coherent training frameworks that
target different stages of school leadership
School leadership: The policy
Developing knowledge and
skills for effective school
leadership
• Encourage initial training for school leaders,
whether mandatory or voluntary
• Take a proactive approach to select high quality
candidates
• Adapt content of training to standards of practice,
focused on leadership for learning
• Ensure coherence of provision by different
institutions.
School leadership: the policies
Redefining roles and
responsibilities of school leadership
Developing the knowledge and
skills of school leadership
Making school leadership an
attractive career
Working beyond the school borders
activity documents to be found in:
http://www.oecd.org/edu/schoolleadership
Thank you very much.
[email protected]