Session Information
26 SES 09 B, Key Challenges In Leaders‘ Training and Development. What Is „Really“ Important? (Part 1)
Symposium to be continued in 26 SES 10 B
Contribution
The main question that inspired the group of authors to collectively reflect on leadership training initiatives in four different countries (with attempt to offer broader perspective) was: how to secure relevant and sustainable support to school leaders? The set of papers will not focus only on “technology” of leadership but mainly will allow to empower people and allow students to become self-regulated learners who are responsible for the process of learning and the environment in which it happens?
Educational management theory needs ideas and concepts that can help to better understand, describe, and stimulate the organizational development of schools. The concept of educational leadership is one of such ideas. The attempts to define educational leadership have to reject the simple transfer of theories and concepts from general management theory, starting from core educational values, and build a specific understanding of educational leadership. The individual human development and learning are core values defining educational leadership. It is crucial to identify its’ different understandings among leaders, as those understandings can influence people’s actions. Dorczak in his paper presents the results of the research on the understanding of development and learning, among school heads in Polish schools, showing different perspectives on those values and tries to discuss their practical consequences as well as recommend changes in leadership preparation and training to raise the level of awareness of importance of understanding individual development.
On the other hand, it is clear, that changing landscape for the preparation of school leaders requires also reconceptualisation of the nature and form of professional learning that aspiring leaders need to be able to fulfill the role competently and confidently. MacMahon and Mowat argue that challenge of retaining a focus on learning, while balancing multiple accountabilities, often against a backdrop of more diverse school populations and economic constraints, makes high demands of school leaders who must provide pedagogical and curriculum leadership with well developed interpersonal skills and the capabilities need to lead effective, learning centered organisations.
It is possible to find many leadership models in the literature and many practical constructs, which emerged as a response to unique organizational and social conditions. Additional insight into the purposes and functions allows better understanding of the origins and impact of different approaches to leadership (Leithwood, Jantzi, 2009). The story of leadership is the story of relations between rational and relational (relation between people but also ideas and emotions), between logic and rationality and the recognition of human beings and their construction of reality, as being essentially emotional (West-Burnham, 2013). In the attempts to understand what drives leadership we need to balance focus among administrative, technical and formal competencies, moral approaches, emotions, and hidden assumptions. The key issue in designing professional training and support for leaders is focus on people’s moral choices, values, awareness and understanding of the owned theories. Mazurkiewicz presents results of one hundred participants of the leadership training group discussions and learning logs focusing on the question of awareness and values.
It must be argued that leadership professional development programs must not be limited to preparation and development of headteachers only. Stephens presents a professional development initiative for tutors teaching Masters Programmes for leaders of learning and non-accredited leadership development programmes funded by the Futures Initiative at Canterbury Christ Church University to enable a group of colleagues to work together exploring ways that the profile of sustainability could be raised within their curricula. The initiative resulted in some developments in the offered curriculum, ideas about strategies for teaching and for the development of future professional development programmes, as well as a change in thinking on the part of participants themselves.
References
BRUNILA, K. 2011. The Projectisation, Marketisation and Therapisation of Education. European Educational Research Journal, 10, 421-432. Dumont H., Istance D., Benavides F., (eds.), The Nature of Learning. Using Research to Inspire Practice. OECD Publishing, Paris. Freire, P. (2001) Pedagogy of Freedom. Ethics, Democracy, and Civic Courage, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers GRONN, P. 2009. Hybrid Leadership. In: LEITHWOOD, K., MASCALL, B. & STRAUSS, T. (eds.) Distributed Leadership According to the Evidence. London: Routledge. HARRIS, A. 2010. Leading system transformation. School Leadership and Management: Formerly School Organisation, 30, 197-207. MACBEATH, A. & DEMPSTER, N. 2009. Connecting Leadership and Learning: Principles for Practice, London, Routledge. MCKINSEY AND COMPANY 2010. How the world's most improved school systems keep getting better. MCMAHON , M. 2011. Leaders of learning: accomplished teachers as teacher leaders. In: TOWNSEND, A. & MACBEATH, J. (eds.) International Handbook of Leadership for Learning. Springer OECD, (2013), Leadership for 21st Century Learning, OECD Publishing, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, Paris. SCHLEICHER, A. 2012. Preparing teachers and developing school leaders for the 21st century: Lessons from around the world.: OECD. SMYTH, J. & WRIGLEY, T. 2013. Living on the Edge: Rethinking Poverty, Class and Schooling, Oxford, Peter Lang. TORRANCE, D. 2013. Distributed Leadership: Still in the Gift of the Headteacher. Scottish Educational Review, 45, 50-63.
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