Comenius: Future School Leaders

Looking Ahead

Raphael Wilkins

Sub-brand to go here

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Leadership?Leadership?

Is ‘leadership’:

Making marginal operational adjustments to an inherited system to Making marginal operational adjustments to an inherited system to achieve small efficiency gains, as externally prescribed?achieve small efficiency gains, as externally prescribed?

OR:OR:

Deciding what needs to be done, and designing systems to achieve Deciding what needs to be done, and designing systems to achieve it?it?

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The rising global importance of school leaders The rising global importance of school leaders as a professional groupas a professional group

NUMBER: More young people + more of them in schools + leadership more widely distributed within schools = exponential growth in the number of school leaders.

CAPACITY: More recognition of impact + more knowledge of ‘how to’ + more autonomy (from governments and because of rising private sector) + more professional networking = increased potential influence.

NUMBERS + INFLUENCE = OUTCOMES

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The English Scene: Opportunity The English Scene: Opportunity

Headteachers in England are set to have more autonomy than in any other state education system.

So they have the potential to reclaim professional leadership of education, and to use that to design schooling for the future: for the benefit of the local population, and contributing to global knowledge of school leadership.

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The English Scene: ConstraintsThe English Scene: Constraints

BUT many headteachers in England are beset by heavy workloads dominated by short-term operational demands, in fragmented systems in which there is diminishing support and continuing political interference in professional matters. Meanwhile business and other interests will get control of chains of schools and turn headteachers into branch managers.

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The English Scene: Solution (i)The English Scene: Solution (i)

True autonomy is taken, not given.

It derives from a combination of:

KNOWLEDGE (including choices) +

SPACE IN WHICH TO GENERATE AND APPLY IT +

COLLABORATION

Driven by a VISION which will evolve as knowledge grows.

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The English Scene: Solution (ii)The English Scene: Solution (ii)

1. Research engagement for school development

2. Global perspective (‘goodbye LA; hello world’)

3. Leadership of spaces and networks

4. Replace managerialism with professionalism

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Leading learning for public valueLeading learning for public value

• Ecological value: promoting sustainability• Political value: democratic dialogue, public and civic

engagement• Economic value: generating enterprise and employment• Social and cultural value: social capital, community

cohesion, cultural identity, well-being

(Bennington 2009, quoted in Mongon and Leadbeater 2012)

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Technical v Adaptive SolutionsTechnical v Adaptive Solutions

• Technical solutions’ - apply current known good practice, eg ‘school effectiveness’, and push harder: tighter management, more pressure, more accountability.

• ‘Adaptive solutions’ - new situation requires new approaches, eg urbanisation required municipalised infrastructures. What is the equivalent needed for new educational challenges?

(Mongon and Leadbeater 2012

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Components of educational innovationComponents of educational innovation

Activism + Advance in + Management = Innovation

professional

practice

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Activism for educational innovationActivism for educational innovation

• Philanthropic drive and motivation• Co-option of stakeholders and power-holders• Identification of problem and potential solution

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Standards for School LeadersStandards for School Leaders

Some examples:• UK National Standards for Headteachers (2004)• National Board (USA – non-governmental)• Alberta School Leadership Framework• Qatar Standards for Teachers and School Leaders (2012)• Australian Charter for the Professional Learning of

Teachers and School Leaders (2012)

Strengths and limitations

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Evolving assumptions (i)Evolving assumptions (i)

OLD:• Leader is concerned with own school and its parental

community unless given a system leadership role• System leadership concerns other schools in the local area• School-to-school support is mainly where a proven expert

applies a ‘tried and tested’ method to a closely comparable problem

• Leaders and system leaders rely on managerial authority

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Evolving assumptions (ii)Evolving assumptions (ii)

NEW:• All professional educators have a moral obligation towards

the educational well-being of humanity generally• System leadership can be practised internationally as well

as locally• School-to-school support, whether local or international,

involves mutual learning and development, and context-specific co-created solutions

• Leaders and system leaders rely on professionalism in their interactions

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A spatial reconceptualisation of school A spatial reconceptualisation of school leadership: 7 aspirationsleadership: 7 aspirations

1. School leadership understands starting points, making discerning and empathetic assessments of contexts.

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2. School leadership involves space-making:

• The leader’s own personal space• The spaces in the institution they manage• The networks with which they have links

Leaders’ values guide how they want to change how each of these spaces is experienced

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3. School leadership is cosmopolitan, promoting global citizenship, multi-layered affiliations, and respect for and understanding of others’ spaces.

4. School leadership addresses humanitarian needs, using activism to impact on spaces of exclusion and disconnection.

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5. School leadership creates infrastructures for capacity-building, including by connecting homes, workplaces and civic spaces through the school’s networks.

6. School leadership designs pragmatic solutions in specific contexts, to co-create new spaces and mobilities.

7. School leadership engages critically with imposed values, and transforms spaces of prescription into spaces of negotiation.

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Aspects of school system leadershipAspects of school system leadership

1. Combine knowledge of global, national and local productive practices in the most effective combinations

2. Act with deep understanding of the processes through which professional practice evolves and spreads, within lateral relationships which are professional rather than managerial

3. Support worthwhile innovation locally and globally

4. Nest actions to address short-term needs within a long-term vision

5. Generate evidence and share the journey

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Elements of leadership developmentElements of leadership development

1. From early leadership onwards, extensive exposure to a broad range of external experiences including international links

2. Opportunities to create new business models and new organisations

3. Short secondments, eg to work with international aid agencies, or multi-national companies providing schools

4. Executive coaching

5. Lead own development projects eg action research

6. Strategic and visionary intellectual stimulation