Session Information
26 SES 06 B, Principals' Role to Support and Assess Teachers
Paper Session
Contribution
A worldwide emphasis is on literacy where it is seen as a key to personal empowerment, social and human development, citizenship, lifelong learning and academic achievements. This has increased demand for high quality literacy education for all students (Eurydice, 2011; UNESCO, n.d.,) with Iceland being no exception (Halldórsson, Ólafsson, & Björnsson, n.d.; Ministry of Education and Culture, 2012).
Beginning Literacy (BL) is a holistic literacy educational program aimed at the two first years of primary schools in Iceland. It was developed at the Centre for School Development at the University of Akureyri (CSDUA). Since 2006 schools have been able to implement it in collaboration with consultants from CSDUA (Eggertsdóttir, 2013).
The BL educational program is different from the traditional literacy approach used in Iceland (the Phonics approach) and requires different teaching styles and methods (Eggertsdóttir, 2013). To strengthen its induction and support the teachers in its adaptation, a two years professional development program was conducted. The main emphasis of the professional development program is to introduce the methods and work procedures of the BL program, followed by purposeful feedback and consultancy for successful transition (Bartell, 2005; Eggertsdóttir, 2013; Feiman-Nemser, 2001). According to the program the participating schools choose a leader from inside the school who gets a key role in the implementing process in each school and in the professional development of participating teachers (Björnsdóttir, Steingrímsdóttir and Sigurðardóttir, 2013; Eggertsdóttir, 2013).
The role of the principals is to apply for, and accept participation on behalf of their schools. They are responsible for appointing the leaders and teachers participating and are expected to support the implementation, provide resources such as time, money etc. Although, the program expects principals to have an important role in the implementation first research on BL hint towards that their role is in somewhat vague and might need more clarification (Björnsdóttir, Steingrímsdóttir and Sigurðardóttir, 2013, Eggertsdóttir, 2013).
The actions and behaviour of the principal has much influence on the success of school improvement and on the performance of students (Leithwood et al., 2004; Louise et al. 2010; Sigurðardóttir and Sigþórsson, 2012). Actually, so much that it is believed that no improvement or implementation is successful in the long run without a firm and steady support of the principal (Leithwood, Harris and Strauss, 2010; Louise et al., 2010). Research show some core leadership practises that are common among successful leaders (Lambert, 2006; Leithwood, Harris and Strauss, 2010; Sergiovanni, 2009; Sigurðardóttir, 2011; Sigurðardóttir and Sigþórssson, 2012). Those principals build a shared vision, develop people by providing individual support, intellectual stimulation and model what they preach and reconstruct the school by building collaborative culture and restructure roles and responsibilities. Additionally, and not the least important for this study, is that they are focused on improving the teaching and learning programs of their schools for example by choosing the right staff for the programs, provide teaching support, monitor the schools activity and progress and shelter teachers from outside influences that distract them from their goals (Day et al., 2011).
Considering the significance of principals, the importance of student’s literacy and the fact that about 50% of all Icelandic schools have already taken in BL, it is vital to explore the involvement of the principals in the implementation and sustenance of BL and explain how this has influenced the process.
The research question is: What has been the involvement of the principals in the implementation and sustenance of Beginning Literacy in Iceland and how has it influenced the process?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Rerferences (400 words) Bartell, C. A. (2005). Cultivating high-quality teaching through induction and mentoring. Björnsdóttir, E., Steingrímsdóttir, S. and Sigurðardóttir, S.M. (2013). Implementation of the Beginning Literacy Program: Attitudes and experiences of teachers. Netla – Online Journal on Pedagogy and Education. University of Iceland – School of Education. Accessible at: http://netla.hi.is/greinar/2013/ryn/011.pdf Day, C., Sammons, P., Leithwood. K, Hopkins, D., Gu, Q., Brown, E and Ahtaridou, E. (2011). Successful school leadership: Linking wiht learning and achievement. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Eggertsdóttir, R. (2013). Starfsþróun og varanlegar breytingar á skólastarfi: Byrjendalæsi í ljósi fræða um starfsþróun [Professional development and sustained change in schools: Beginning Lieracy in light of the professional development literature]. In R. Sigþórsson, R. Eggertsdóttir and Frímannsson (Eds.). Fagmennska í skólastarfi: Skrifað til heiðurs Trausta Þorsteinssyni [Professionalism in schools: Written in honour of Trausti Þorsteinsson]. Reykjavík: University of Iceland Press & the University of Akureyri. Eurydice network. (2011). Teaching reading in Europe: Contexts, policies and practices. Brussels: European Commission, doi:10.2797/60196 Feiman-Nemser, S. (2001). Helping novices learn to teach: Lessons from exemplary support teacher. Journal of Teacher Education, 52(1), 17–30. Hall, G. E. & Hord, S. H. Implementing change: Patterns, principles and potholes (3rd edition). Boston MA: Pearson. Halldórsson, A. M., Ólafsson, R. F. &. Björnsson, J. K. (n.d.). Helstu niðurstöður PISA 2012: Læsi nemenda á stærðfræði og náttúrufræði og lesskilningur [Main results of PISA 2012: Students‘ literacy in mathematics and science and readeing comprehension]. Reykjavík: National Testing Institute. Leithwood, K., Harris, A. & Strauss, T. (2010). Leading School Turnaround: How Successful Leaders Transform Low-performing Schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Louis, K. S., Leithwood, K., Wahlstrom, K. L. and Anderson, S. E. (2010), Learning from leadership: Investigating the links to improved student learning. Final report of research to the Wallace Foundation, July 2010. St. Paul: University of Minnesota. Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. (2012).The Icelandic national curriculum guide for compulsory school: General section. Retrieved from http://brunnur.stjr.is/mrn/utgafuskra/utgafa.nsf/RSSPage.xsp?documentId=C590D16CBC8439C500257A240030AE7F&action=openDocument Sergiovanni, T. J. (2009). The Principalship: A Reflective Practice Perspective (6th ed.) London: Allyn & Bacon. Sigurðardóttir, S. M. &Sigþórsson, R. (2012). A head teacher’s leadership behaviour when developing the lead-ership capacity of a school. Icelandic Journal of Education 21(1): 9–28.Thousand Oaks: Sage. Rúnar Sigþórsson, Halldóra Haraldsdóttir og Sigríður Margrét Sigurðardóttir. (2014). Literacy education through Beginning Literacy: Research and preliminary findings. Paper presented at ECER 2014, Porto: The Past, Present and Future of Educational Research in Europe http://staff.unak.is/not/runar/Rannsoknir_erindi/BL_ECER_14_paper.pdf UNESCO. (n.d.). Literacy. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/education-building-blocks/literacy/
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