Where Do We Go From Here

1
Where Do We Go From Here?

• A Response to the OECD Report on Improving School
  Leadership

2
THINGS IM NOT TOUCHING (NOT EVEN WITH A 10-FOOT
POLE)

• Integrated schools
• The general state of cross- community
  relationships
• Relative stability of policy environment
• Declining enrolments (total numbers) leading to
  more competition
• Increasing diversity of families and students
  being served
• The tremendous amount of adjustments in resource
  allocation necessary (Odden Archibald, 2001)

3
MY MAIN WORRIES

• What are distributed and collaborative
  leadership?
• Teacher training
• Selection of teachers and leaders
• Gaps between training organizations
• That we might be kidding ourselves by not giving
  enough weight to culture and social norms in
  education
• A special bonus worry to be shared later

4
DISTRIBUTED/COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP

• Multiple definitions of both concepts (Firestone
  et. al, 1996 Ogawa et. al Leithwood Jantzi,
  2000 Spillane, Halverson, Diamond, 2000, 2001)
• These are not necessarily related concepts
• They require different skills and structures
• Members of schools must understand and be able to
  use more than one model
• When, where, who, how, how much
• Enormous challenge in building sufficient
  facility to monitor and adapt to local needs

5
TRAINING OF TEACHERS FOR NEW DEMANDS/REALITIES

• Building leadership training into teacher
  preparation programs (Smylie et. al., 2002
  Follett, 1926)
• General leadership concepts
• Collaborative models (intra- and inter-school
  collaboration)
• Distributed models
• Training in data analysis, research methods, and
  use of research
• Making it clear that there is a marked change in
  conceptions about what schools can and should do
• How do we fit all of these extra components into
  existing training structures?
• Do we replace courses or expand programs?

6
MORE EFFECTIVE TRAINING

• Chances for supervised practical experience
• Teachers-in-training have time in schools
• Do we need to change the way these are
  supervised?
• Do we need to change the structure to provide
  more time or access to differing areas
• Time in schools should not just be based on
  pedagogy, but also leadership activities (Smylie
  et. al., 2002)
• Increased support mechanisms attached to assuming
  new roles (leaders and teachers)
• We know a great deal about how to help adults
  learn
• Zenger, Ulrich, Smallwood, 2000 London
  Smither, 1999 Bransford, Brown Cocking, 2000
  Broad Newstrom, 1992

7
SELECTION OF TEACHERS AND LEADERS

• Baseline eligibility criteria is the same for
  teachers and leaders! Teaching is different than
  leading (Hill, 2007)
• Who selects and how are they trained?
• Effective selection depends on attracting
  candidates with ideal characteristics for that
  particular school/situation
• Then, who is the best of the best? Based on...?
• Perception of hiring process is just as important
  as actual process

8
GAPS BETWEEN TRAINING ORGANIZATIONS

• Currently, the structures are very complex
• Efficiency?
• Redundancy?
• Gaps in training?
• Are there ways to bring RTU, Universities, ESA,
  Boards of Governors, school leaders, etc.
  together?
• Improvement of supervision, tapping into multiple
  areas of expertise, training tailored to specific
  contexts, improved efficiency and effectiveness

9
ARE WE KIDDING OURSELVES?

• Assessing formal structures and measuring
  summative outcomes is not a full picture of the
  reality in schools
• Larger data sets reduce the delicacy and
  sensitivity of results
• Changing large-scale policy does not
  automatically uproot and change practice

10
INFORMAL AND FORMAL STRUCTURES

• Organizational learning and social/cultural
  norms
• Leithwood, Leonard, Sharratt (1998) Trice
  Beyer (1993) Cook Yannow (1993) Blau Scott
  (1962) Schein (1985) Murphy et. al. Martin
  (2002) Marks Louis (1999) Scribner, Hager,
  Warne (2002)
• Analysis of how organizations function
• Selznick (1948) Etzioni (1965) Hersey,
  Blanchard, Natemeyer (1979) Randall, Copper,
  Speakman, Rosenfield (1998)

11
THE BONUS WORRY

• My real fear is that
• we will talk ourselves into complacency
• we will equate talk and research with change
• we will remain academics or practitioners and
• we will all be back here next year, or the year
  after, talking about these same issues for the
  same reasons.