Education Commons^™

Why Would Anyone Want This Job? The Challenge Of Attracting And Sustaining Effective Leaders For Australian Schools, Louise Watson

2007 - The Leadership Challenge - Improving learning in schools

Over the past decade, there has been considerable concern about an impending crisis in school leadership due to a shrinking pool of applicants for principals’ positions. This paper explores the dimensions of this issue in Australia and identifies possible reasons for a decline in interest in principalship. It concludes with ideas and directions for policy reform.

Take Me To Your Leader: Leadership And The Future, Elizabeth Leo

2007 - The Leadership Challenge - Improving learning in schools

Students need to leave school with dreams for the future, high aspirations and goals for themselves and society; young men and women who will contribute to active citizenship, community renewal and economic regeneration. Schools are critical in realising this mission. The majority of our schools have talented leaders and teachers with the vision, energy and passion to create a sustainable future for their students and their communities. However, it is more difficult for school leaders serving disadvantaged communities to succeed, not only in improving learning and attainment, but in sustaining these. Contemporary research on human motivation and learning is enabling …

Authoritative Leadership, Action Learning And Student Accomplishment, Stephen Dinham

2007 - The Leadership Challenge - Improving learning in schools

There is a vast body of research confirming the important influence of the classroom teacher on student achievement. A key issue then, is that of how the quality of teaching and learning within individual classrooms can be influenced and improved. Based upon findings from a range of research projects investigating aspects of quality teaching, it is argued that two key, related influences on classroom achievement are educational leadership and teachers' professional learning. This paper concentrates mainly on the former. Educational leadership, like teaching and life generally, is heavily dependent upon relationships. There are two fundamental dimensions to relationships: responsiveness and …

Got A Minute? Can Instructional Leadership Exist Despite The Reactive Nature Of Principalship?, Sheryl Boris-Schacter

2007 - The Leadership Challenge - Improving learning in schools

Alarmed by mounting evidence of a national shortage of qualified and committed school principals, a colleague and I interviewed and surveyed over 200 public school principals from across the United States to find out why so many are leaving the profession and how those who stay persist in their role. Based on that data, we drew conclusions about how successful practitioners prioritize competing demands and achieve life balance, while keeping instruction at the heart of the enterprise. This analysis resulted in a book published by Teachers College Press in 2006, Balanced leadership: How effective principals manage their work. Knowing all …

Research On The Practice Of Instructional And Transformational Leadership: Retrospect And Prospect, Philip Hallinger

2007 - The Leadership Challenge - Improving learning in schools

The past 25 years have witnessed the emergence of new conceptual models. In contrast with many earlier leadership models applied to school administration, these models focus explicitly on the manner in which leadership exercised by school administrators and teachers brings about improved educational outcomes. Two of the foremost models, as measured by the number of empirical studies, are instructional leadership and transformational leadership. This paper will synthesize findings from research on these models in an attempt to understand what we have learned about learner-centered leadership.

Standards For Leadership : Gateway To A Stronger Profession?, Lawrence Ingvarson, Michelle Anderson

2007 - The Leadership Challenge - Improving learning in schools

Recruitment, preparation, continuing professional learning and recognition of school leaders are widespread concerns for policymakers and practitioners. Standards for school leadership are a notable development in Australia and overseas for addressing these concerns. In Australia, many quality sets of standards for teachers and school leaders have been developed but they are not profession-wide. This paper is based on a project ACER was commissioned to undertake by Teaching Australia in June 2005. Our brief was to review approaches to standards and options for a national system for assessment against school leadership standards for prospective and established school leaders. The review examined …

Quality Australian Evidence On Leadership For Improved Learning, Bill Mulford

2007 - The Leadership Challenge - Improving learning in schools

Where do those in schools start sorting the wheat from the chaff, genuine growth potions offering long-term improvement from the elixirs, shortterm opportunism and/or unrealistic expectations? The current and growing emphasis on evidence informed policy and practice is as good a place as any. The purpose of this paper is to take up the issues of the complexity and predictive validity of evidence, the need for evidence to be complex enough to come close to the reality faced by Australian schools and evidence that seeks to link leadership and student outcomes. Arising from detailed qualitative and quantitative research, two models …

Embracing The Challenge Of Leadership In Indigenous Education, Chris Sarra

2007 - The Leadership Challenge - Improving learning in schools

In his address Dr Sarra will articulate some of the most fundamental barriers to the pursuit of stronger smarter educational outcomes for Indigenous children in Australian schools. He will reflect on his work as an educator, and a researcher with an interest in teachers’ attitudes and expectations of Aboriginal students, and challenge other educators to realise that we do have the knowledge and potential to make profound change in Indigenous education.

Leaders Acting To Improve Outcomes For Indigenous Students, Paul Hughes, Susan Matthews, Gavin Khan

2007 - The Leadership Challenge - Improving learning in schools

This paper is by three educators who are Indigenous people with extensive experience in Indigenous education. They discuss the actions of school leaders needed to address the limited outcomes being achieved by the majority of Indigenous school students. A feature of this paper is the reflections of Gavin Khan and Susan Matthews on their experiences as Principals of schools with majority Aboriginal student enrolments. The paper takes the Australian Principals Association Professional Development Council - ‘L5 Frame for School Leadership’- and adds an Indigenous focus to the L5 Frame from their ‘Dare To Lead’ project. The L5 states: • Leadership …

Leadership For Radical Transformation In School Education, Brian Caldwell

2007 - The Leadership Challenge - Improving learning in schools

There are now high expectations in Australia and comparable countries for the reform of school education. Change on the scale of transformation is required, that is, significant, systematic and sustained change that secures success for all students in all settings. It is evident that such an outcome can only be achieved if there is a dramatic increase in resources, but this does not mean an exclusive reliance on more money (financial capital), although this is important. Intellectual capital, social capital and spiritual capital are also important. Building strength in each and securing their alignment have profound implications for leadership and …

The Leadership Challenge : Improving Learning In Schools (Conference Proceedings), Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

2007 - The Leadership Challenge - Improving learning in schools

This conference addressed key issues related to building leadership in schools that makes a difference to student learning outcomes. It provided news about the latest research on leadership practices that enable conditions for quality teaching and student learning. It also stimulated discussion about the resources and conditions that need to be in place if effective forms of leadership are to flower and be sustained in our schools.

The proceedings from the conference can be downloaded from thsis page. The slides accompanying the papers presented by various guest speakers are presented as Related Documents (below).

Moral Purpose And Shared Leadership: The Leaders Transforming Learning And Learners Pilot Study, Michael Bezzina

2007 - The Leadership Challenge - Improving learning in schools

Shared leadership in education has been the focus of a great deal of activity, but less attention has been paid to shared moral purpose and to the connection between it and shared leadership in the pursuit of learning. The Leaders Transforming Learning and Learners (LTLL) pilot program set out to explore this gap. This paper presents some of the emerging understandings from the pilot, drawing in particular on focus group interviews, journals and web-based discussions as a source of data. The study reinforces the importance of shared moral purpose, but emphasises the need for explicitness which is supported through a …

The Impact Of Leadership On Student Outcomes: Making Sense Of The Evidence, Viviane Robinson

2007 - The Leadership Challenge - Improving learning in schools

Published empirical research was used to synthesise the evidence about the impact of different types of leadership on students’ academic and non-academic outcomes. The first analysis involved a comparison of the effects of transformational and instructional leadership on student outcomes. The second involved the inductive development of five sets of leadership practices and the estimation of the magnitude of their effects. The comparison of the effects of instructional and transformational leadership indicated that the effect of the former is consistently and notably larger than the effect of the latter type of leadership. The second analysis revealed five leadership dimensions that …