Session Information
26 SES 07 B, Diverse Settings and Challenging Cirrcumstances
Paper Session
Contribution
This study is based on the project “New requirements for school management in Primary Education: Analysis and proposals” (2014LINE-09), financed by the Universitat Rovira i Virgili and Banco Santander (Spain). The aim of this project is to analyze the general trends in school management in a Spanish province in order to contrast them with the Spanish regulations on the management of centers and also with the international theoretical recommendations on school leadership.
In this study, we present the analysis of the functions and actions that principals perform in order to involve different groups of the educational community into school success. We try to shed light onto the professionalization of school principals in Spain in a moment when laws and policies are being promoted towards it. Essentially due to historical and ideological reasons, there is a unique “no professionalization” of the profession and a low level of availability to occupy managing positions (Aramendi, Teixidó and Bernal, 2010). Knowing on what school principals base their management and how they achieve to implicate the learning community can show the strengths and weaknesses of the school management models currently developed in Spain.
Educational management is considered as crucial for both school success and the quality of the education system as long as management teams can influence the contexts and the conditions in which teaching and learning develop (Waite and Nelson, 2005; Bolívar, 2010; Leithwood et al. 2008; Gairín and Castro, 2010; Mckinsey Report, 2010). Even so, it is assumed that not much is known about the relation between leadership and increment in student learning, especially in contexts that are marked by socio-economic and cultural difficulties (Ainscow and West, 2008).
In any case, the international scientific community backs the professionalization of school management. The OECD (2009) identifies four priority lines of action: to redefine the responsibilities and functions of leaders to improve school outcomes; to distribute school leadership;to develop skills for effective leadership; and to increase the attractiveness of school leadership as a profession.
The theories and models of leadership are evolving from isolation and survival to networks of leaders that cooperate and develop managerial competencies, being committed with the society and the learning community (Hargreaves and Fink, 2005; Macbeath, 2005; Spillane, 2006; Hopkins and Higham, 2007; Sammons and Bakkum, 2011).
Due to the interest in how principals achieve to engage multiple educational agents into educational success, recent studies were found that focus on the impact of invigorating school boards (Collage Board, 2009; Armstrong, MacDonald and Stillo, 2010; Wilkerson, 2010; Cisler and Bruce, 2013); on engaging teachers into improving their teaching labors, giving special support to inexperienced teachers, i.e. those who are more influenced by the school context and environment and who need bigger support (Richards, 2004; Dee, Henkin, and Singleton, 2006; Cherian and Daniel, 2008; Hulpia and Devos, 2010). With regard to the participation of families in schooling, Hiatt-Michael (2006) states that teachers, especially in urban areas, are more concerned about the lack of parental involvement in their children’s education and school. In disadvantaged contexts known as “urban contexts” or “contexts at risk of marginalization, ghettoization and social exclusion”, the exercise of the managerial function may contribute to school success and inclusion and lessen the disadvantage of the context, thus increasing teachers’ and families’ participation and collaboration (Murillo, 2006; Ainscow and West, 2008; Iranzo et al., 2014)
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Ainscow, M. & West, M. (2008) Mejorar las escuelas urbanas. Madrid: Narcea.Aramendi, P., Teixidó, J. & Bernal, J. (2010) Evaluación del acceso a la dirección escolar en los centros públicos del País Vasco. Revista Educación,11:119-136.Armstrong, S.A., MacDonald, J.H. & Stillo, S. (2010). School counselors and principals. Journal of School Counseling,8:1-27.Bolívar, A. (2010) ¿Cómo un liderazgo pedagógico y distribuido mejora los logros académicos? Revista Magis, 3(5):9-106.Cherian. F. & Daniel, Y. (2008) Principal leadership in new teacher induction. International Journal of Education Policy & Leadership,3(2) In: http://journals.sfu.ca/ijepl/index.php/ijepl/article/view/97/35.Cisler, A. & Bruce, M.A. (2013) Principals, What are their roles and responsabilities?. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1012313.pdf.College Board Advocacy. (2009). Finding a way: Practical examples of how an effective principal-counselor relationship can lead to success for all students.In: http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/finding-a-way.pdf.Dee, J.R., Henkien, A.B., & Singleton, C.A. (2006). Organizational commitment of teachers in urban schools. Urban Education,41:603-627. Gairín, J. & Castro, D. (2010) Situación actual de la dirección y gestión de los centros de enseñanza obligatoria en España. Revista Española Pedagogía,247:401-416.Hargreaves, A.& Fink, D. (2005). Estrategias de cambio y mejora en educación caracterizadas por su relevancia, difusión y continuidad en el tiempo. Revista Educación, 339:43-58.Hiatt-Michael, D.B.(2006) Reflections and Directions on Research. Related to Family-Community Involvement in Schooling. In: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ794802.pdf .Hopkins, D. & Higham, R. (2007). System leadership: mapping the landscape. In: http://www.davidhopkins.co.uk/articles/systemleadership.pdf.Hulpia, H. & Devos, G. (2010) How distributed leadership can make a difference in teachers’ organizational commitment? Teaching and Teacher Education, 26:565-575.Iranzo, P., Tierno, J.M. & Barrios, C. (2014) Autoevaluación institucional y dirección de centros inclusivos. Teoría de la Educación. 26(2):229-257.Leithwood, K., Harris, A.& Hopkins, D. (2008) Seven strong claims about successful school leadership. School leadership &Management: Formerly School Organization, 28(1):27-42.Macbeath, J. (2005). Leadership as distributed. School Leadership and Management, 25(4):349-366. McKinsey&Co (2010) How he world’s most improved school systems keep getting better.In: http://wwwdavidhopkins.co.ul/articles/systemleadership.pdf.Murillo, F.J.(2006) Una dirección escolar para el cambio. Revista Electrónica Iberoamericana sobre calidad, eficacia y cambio en educación,4(4e):11-24.OECD (2009) Mejorar el liderazgo escolar. In: http://www.rinace.net/arts/vol4num4e/art2.pdf.Richards, J. (2004). What new teachers value most in principals. Principal,83(3):42–45.Sammons, P. & Bakkum, L. (2011). Effective Schools, Equity and Teacher Effeciveness. Revista Profesorado,15(3):9-26.Spillane, J.P. (2006). Distributed leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Waite, D. & Nelson, S. (2005) Una revisión del liderazgo educativo. Revista Española Pedagogía,232:389-406.Wilkerson, K. (2010). School counselor reform and principals’ priorities. American School Counselor Association,131(2):419-436
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.