LEADERSHIP IN A CHANGING SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT By: Caswell McLeish & Heather Murray Principal Principal...
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LEADERSHIP IN A CHANGING SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT By: Caswell McLeish & Heather Murray Principal Principal Knox Community College Hampton School 1
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Transcript of LEADERSHIP IN A CHANGING SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT By: Caswell McLeish & Heather Murray Principal Principal...
LEADERSHIP IN A CHANGING SCHOOL
ENVIRONMENT
By: Caswell McLeish & Heather Murray Principal Principal
Knox Community College Hampton School
1
Acts of Parliament addressing the Education Sector in Jamaica
1. Financial Administration and Audit Act (1959)2. Education Act (December 16, 1965)3. Education Code of Regulations (1980)4. National Council on Education Act (1993)5. Jamaica Intellectual Property Office Act (2002)6. Access to Information Act (2002) Regulation 37. Early Childhood Commission Act (2003)8. The Child Care and Protection Act (2004) 9. Sexual Offences Act (2009)
THE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT
Marx & Wooley (1999) opine that a school’s environment is the thread that connects the multitude of activities on a campus. In many respects this thread is almost invisible, yeteveryone experiences its influence. Positive social relationships and attitudes about school are as important to the environment as are safe and well-kept buildings and grounds.
SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT CONT’DMarx & Wooley (1999) further state; A safe, clean, and well-maintained school with apositive psychosocial climate and culture can foster school connectedness, which in turn boosts student and staff health as well as students’ educational achievement. The psychosocial school environment encompasses the attitudes, feelings, and values of students and staff.
SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT CONT’D
Physical and psychological safety, positive Interpersonal relationships, recognition of theneeds and success of the individual, and supportfor learning are all part of the psychosocial environment.
SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT CONT’D
Other factors that can affect a school’senvironment include: the economy; social, cultural, and religious influences; geography; socioeconomic status of students’ families; tax bases; legal, political, and other social institutions.
SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT CONT’DMathew (2006) states; School administrators have the overallresponsibility for a school’s physical and psychosocial environment. Thus, a school’s attention to the healthfulness of its environment will evolve and adapt to changing circumstances, while never losing sight of educating their students.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Kotter (1990) states that -• “Management is about producing order and
consistency”– Minimum operating standards?
• “Leadership is about generating constructive change”– Raising expectations; improving quality and
effectivenessCited by Mathew (2006)
LEADERSHIP IS NECESSARY TO:
• Ensure focus on the progress and development of individual students:
• Identify and reduce barriers to learning• Assure the quality of learning and teaching• Get the best from teachers:
LEADERSHIP IS NECESSARY TO:
• Create a learning culture• Build a relationship with the community• Provide vision, inspiration and strategic
coherence• Raise expectations
Characteristics of outstanding headteachers as school leaders
Matthews (2006) speaks of the characteristics of theoutstanding headteacher - • Clear vision and purpose , very high expectations• Gets the best out of people Motivating: Providing
opportunity; Promoting professional development; Encouraging initiative; Showing interest and being generous with praise; Building teams and empowering them.
Characteristics of outstanding headteachers as school leaders
Mathew (2006) Cont’d• Leading by example• Approachable• Innovative • Enthusiastic • Determination and decisiveness• A focus on quality• Sharing consideration for staff
A TAXONOMY OF LEADERSHIPMathew (2006)
1. Leaders as managers; administering; assuring compliance; taking responsibility for buildings and day to day organisation
2. Leaders as leaders of people; the school community
3. Pedagogical leaders, taking responsibility for pedagogy and shaping the curriculum
4. Accountable leaders, taking responsibility for the educational performance of the school and standards reached by students
5. Community leaders, working with and involving parents,
other agencies and the community
A TAXONOMY OF LEADERSHIP
6. Distributive and developmental leaders, delegating responsibility and accountability, challenging and supporting, and developing leadership potential.
7. Leaders of learning, developing the skills of staff and students and parents as a learning community and networking with other schools to share best practices.
8. Executive leaders, taking responsibility for more than one school
9. System leaders; schools leading schools; caring for the education and well-being of students in other schools as well as one’s own
THE THREE THINGS THAT MATTER MOST IN HIGH PERFORMING SCHOOL SYSTEMS
McKinsey (2007) opines that the three things that matter most in high performing school systems are:
1) Getting the right people to become teachers
2) Developing them into effective instructors
3) Ensuring that the system is able to deliver the best possible instruction for every child
The only way to achieve this is through effective and determined school and system leadership.
THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT ROLES OF THE PRINCIPAL IN RAISING PUPILS’ ACHIEVEMENT ARE:
Robinson (2007) opine that:i) Promoting and participating in teacher learning and
development – through leadership that not only promotes, but directly participates with teachers in, formal or informal professional learning.
ii) Planning, coordinating and evaluating teaching and the curriculum – through direct involvement in the support and evaluation of teaching through regular classroom visits and the provision of formative and summative feedback to teachers. Direct oversight of curriculum through school-wide coordination across classes and year levels and alignment to school goals.
1. CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE FIRST
• Re-professionalising teaching; – sharing good practice, – monitoring and evaluation, – opening classrooms to other teachers
• Personalising learning– relevant and enriched curriculum– formative assessment, progress
monitoring, target-setting, support and intervention
– independent learning
• Linking education and care– Removing barriers to learning
2. WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY• Community representatives on school
boards• Raising parental aspirations and involving
parents in learning• Reducing barriers to learning• Co-operating with other services: health,
social, police, community organisations, religious leaders etc.
• Public accountability for the educational performance of the school and standards reached by students
• Using the community as a resource for learning, e.g. Education-business partnerships
• Opening the school as a community resource
3. THE BENEFITS OF INTER-SCHOOL NETWORKS
• Schools sharing expertise– Joint planning– Inter-school visits– Across school collaboration– Advanced skills teachers– Joint projects– Broader experience– Peer mentoring– Web-based links
4. EXECUTIVE AND SYSTEM LEADERSHIP
• Executive principals– Take responsibility for more than one
school– Inject effective leadership– Build leadership capacity
• System leaders– Feel responsibility for pupils in the
system, not just their own schools– Use the resources of their school to help
improve less effective schools– Schools leading schools
7. ENGLAND: LEADERSHIP OF AUTONOMOUS SCHOOLS
• Schools can appoint their own staff• Fully delegated budgets• Powers to innovate• Responsibility and accountability –
through performance tables and published inspection reports
• Leaders set the direction for the school• Leaders leadership capacity and develop
leadership talent• Leaders ensure quality of teaching and
learning• Educators do not do basic administration• Leaders are trained and supported by
National College of School and Children Leadership
8. NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR HEADTEACHERS
Six areas:• Shaping the future (strategic
vision)• Leading learning and teaching• Developing self and working with
others• Managing the organisation• Securing accountability• Strengthening community
9. LEADING LEARNINGTwo political aims:• World class schools• Raising achievement and closing
the gap
Increased performance
Time
Increase the top through effective learning partnerships – mainly external
Reduce disparity through effective internal learning partnerships
10. WORKFORCE REFORM
Allow educators to educate by:• Giving planning and preparation
time to class teachers• Supporting teaching with teaching
assistants• Removing administration from
teachers• Identify leaders for learning from
middle managers cohort• Create school business managers
CHALLENGES
• Good teachers must be good learners • Good school leaders must be good teachers
(and lead by example)• Good school leaders must be good learners
Leaders who are reluctant learners will never inspire others.
Mathew (2006) Pg. 27
WHAT THE MOST EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS DOi. To procure high quality teachers
• Schools have autonomy to recruit teachers• They advertise for and appoint the best• They train their own, where they can, in
partnership with higher education
Mathew (2006) Pgs. 28 - 32
WHAT THE MOST EFFECTIVE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT PROVIDES
i. High quality teachers
• They induct, mentor and support new teachers
• They provide professional development pathways and career opportunities
ii. Facilitates an improvement instruction, by..........
• Providing a stimulating learning environment• Providing rich, well-planned curriculum• Having high expectations of teaching and
learning
ii. Facilitate improvement of instruction, by..........
• Monitoring the quality of learning and performance of teachers
• Focussing on professional development by constantly improving teaching
• Seeking the views of students and parents
iii. The environment ensures that every child is successful, by.......
• Creating a culture of expecting success• Personalising learning • Assessing and tracking the progress of every
child, with targets for learning and providing support or intervention where needed
• Continuously evaluating the quality and effectiveness of everything the school does
• Working as a consistent team• Learning from others
Aesthetics of the Learning Environment
• Science Laboratory • Computer Laboratory • Library• Administrative Block• Classrooms
Interconnectivity of Campuses at Knox Community College to Facilitate Learning
• The administration of Knox Community College sees it necessary to refocus on skills.
• With e-Learning we can overcome the twinchallenges of time management and geography
in order to reach our dispersed audience at our four locations – (Spalding, Cobbla, Mandeville and May Pen).
Interconnectivity of Campuses at Knox Community College to Facilitate Learning
• Whether staff, stakeholders, students, clients, or potential clients – with important training; education or information, can be available online, at the point of need.
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ob LEGEND
Spalding Campus
(blue)
Cobbla Campus
(green)
Mandeville Campus
(red)
May Pen Campus (purple)
CONCLUSION
School is a very important element of society. Students and teachers learn many lessons, academic and otherwise, that influence their personal well-being and academic success. Often, however, school does not provide the positive learning or working environment that is most beneficial for our students , teachers or administrators.
Conclusion Cont’d.
A transformational leader will have a morepositive effect on the learning and working environment. A change in leadership style and guidance, with input from teachers, staff, students, parents, and community members, will result in the school becoming a more positive, caring place to learn and work for everyone involved.
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White Marl Primary & Junior High
Ardenne High
Excelsior Community College Knox Community College
Denham Town
Basic
References
Hopkins, David (2008). Every school a great school: Realizing the potential of system leadership. Journal of Educational Change, 9(2),
Kotter, J. P. (1990). A force for change: How leadership differs from management. NY: Free Press.
References McKinsey & Company (2007), How the world’s
best-performing School Systems come out on top. Retrieved from http://www.mckinsey.com/App_Media/Reports/SSO/Worlds_School_Systems_Final.pdf
References
Robinson, Viviane (2007). School Leadership and Student Outcomes: Identifying What Works and Why. Draft Findings from Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration: Educational Leadership-Schooling, New Zealand Ministry of Education.
Marx, E. & Wooley, S. F. (Eds.) (1999). Health Is Academic: A Guide to Coordinated School Health Programs. New York: Teachers College Press.,
References
Matthews, Peter (2006). Trends, Perspectives and Changing Roles in School Leadership [email protected].
