Governance and School Leadership in the Flemish System

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• Governance and School Leadership in the Flemish
  System
• Diversity and Partnerships
• Gaby Hostens
• OECD-workshop
• Brussels, 1-2 February 2007

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• Political context
• Constitutional context
• Educational context
• Governance in education
• Attractive, Developing and Retaining Effective
  School Leaders
• Performances of Flemish schools in international
  surveys (PISA, TIMSS)
• Major challenges for education policies

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• I. Political context
• 1. Belgium a federal country
• 2. 3 Communities
• - Flemish 6 mio Dutch-speaking
• - French 4 mio
• - German 0,1 mio

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• 3. Competencies in education
• Systems have grown apart
• - Governance the role of ministers of
  education
• - Funding mechanisms
• - Curricula
• - Quality assurance mechanisms
• - Teacher salaries
• Performances of the systems

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• II. Constitutional context
• Has impact on governance
• 1. Freedom of education
• a. Freedom for providers freedom to start a
  school
• Great diversity of providers
• Private organisations
• Municipalities, provinces
• State ? Community
• b. Freedom to choose a school free choice for
  parents
• Schools compete for students ! Quasi-market
• Informed choice ? Voice ?
• Equity ?

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• c. How to implement freedom of education ?
• - Providers
• Financial support
• Pedagogical autonomy Obligation to
  enroll students
• Great responsibilities
• - Parents, students
• No fees during compulsory education
• The right to enroll
• Geographical accessibility

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• d. A great diversity of providers. Diversity of
• - Pedagogical projects
• - Denominational, non-denominational,
  official schools
• - Size of school boards
• Impact on governance
• Impact on school leadership

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• 2. The right to education
• a. Entitlement to the school of your
  choice b. Entitlement to high quality education
• a challenging curriculum
• c. The right to enroll
• 3. Equal treatment of students, teachers,
  parents, schools
• But objective differences are allowed

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• Educational context
• Defining characteristics/features of the system
• 1. A large diversity of relatively by
  autonomous providers
• 2. Autonomous providers have networked
• have been networked
• - Catholic schools
• - State, community schools
• - Municipal schools
• - Provincial schools

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• 3. National core curriculum a minimum
• 4. A compulsory schooling period of 12 years
• 5. No national exams (A-levels, Bac, etc.)
• No standardised tests at key stages
• 6. Schools that meet legal criteria issue
  valid diplomas

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• 7. Input funding based on enrolment figures
• No output funding based on performances
• Funding mechanism sensitive to student
  enrolment
• 8. Accountability mechanisms
• - Inspectorate
• - Free choice?

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• Governance in education
• Introduction
• - Many layers of government
• - Involvement of a great many stakeholders
• - Heavily institutionalised
• 1. Different layers
• a. Organising bodies school boards
• ? Bear the full responsibility for operation
  of their schools

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• - Employers
• - Pedagogical autonomy
• - Quality outcomes performances
• - Financial management
• - Infrastructure

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• But organising bodies, school boards
• - For community schools school group
• - For municipality schools municipal
  council - For private schools
• Religious congregations
• Diocese
• Local organisations
• Etc.
• School boards Schulträger
• - Critical in education in Flanders
• - Central role in organisation of schooling

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• b. Communities of schools in primary education
• and
• secondary education
• - Regional networks of schools
• - A limited number of competencies
• - Diversity in communities of schools,
  differences in
• Geographical spread
• Size number of schools, number of
  students
• Impact on individual schools
• - Policy objectives
• Achieve a more rational school landscape
• More rational use of resources
• Better career guidance for students

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• c. National networks of schools umbrella
• organisations
• - Membership voluntary vs compulsory
• - Roles
• Representation
• Capacity building
• Curriculum development
• Professional support
• ? Important actors at macro level

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• 2. Involvement of stakeholders
• a. Teaching unions. Reflecting diversity of
  the schooling system !
• Representative unions are members of
  appropriate committees at every level
• Local Schools
• Regional Communities of schools
• National Umbrella organisation and
• Government
• b. Umbrella organisations (providers)

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• c. Other stakeholders such as parents,
  teachers, students, social partners, etc.
• Well developed legal framework for
  participation at - School level
• - National level
• ? Monitoring by the inspectorate
• 3. Advisory bodies
• a. Flemish Educational Council VLOR
• - Composition all relevant
  stakeholders elected headmasters
• and teachers

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• - Competencies
• Advice
• Consultation
• Study
• ? Involvement of a great many people
• ? VLOR important actor in policymaking
• b. Flemish University Council VLIR
• c. Flemish Council for Colleges for Higher
  Education VLHORA

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• 4. Negotiating bodies
• - Minister of education
• - Umbrella organisations, representing
  the school boards
• - Teaching unions

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• Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective
  School Leaders
• 1. Diversity in school boards, organising bodies
• ?
• Impact on school leadership
• Impact on attracting school leaders
• 2. Differences in challenges and approaches
• a. Size matters
• b. Professional vs less professional approach
  to attracting and selecting headmasters
• - Scouting potential candidates
• - Closed vs open system
• - Assessment mechanisms

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• c. Training and professional development
• - Pre-service training
• Certificate in community education
• No certificate in private or municipal
  schools
• - In-service-training for headmasters
• A wide supply of academic and other
  courses
• Peer learning

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• Performances of Flemish schools in international
  surveys. PISA, TIMSS
• 1. Does the system achieve quality?
• a. Excellent average performances
• b. Consistency of performances across
• - Age cohorts 13 vs 15-year-old students
• - Subjects Mathematical literacy
• Scientific literacy
• Reading literacy
• - Surveys PISA TIMSS
• - Periods 1995 ? 2003

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• c. A large cohort of excellent performances
• 2. Does the system achieve equity ?
• 1. Large gap between excellent and low
  performances
• 2. Large impact of socio-economic background
• 3. Weak performances of first and second
  generation immigrant students

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HighMathematics performance
Bel -Flemish Community
Hong Kong-China
Finland
Korea
540
Netherlands
Liechtenstein
High performance Low social equity
High performance High social equity
Japan
Canada
Belgium
Macao-China
Switzerland
Australia
New Zealand
520
Czech Republic
Iceland
Denmark
France
Sweden
Moderate impact of social background on
performance
Austria
Strong impact of social background on performance
Bel - French Community
Ireland
Germany
500
Slovak Republic
Norway
Luxembourg
Hungary
Poland
Spain
Latvia
United States
480
Low performance Low social equity
Low performance High social equity
Russian Federation
Italy
Portugal
460
Low Performance
Greece
440
0
10
20
30
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• Major challenges for education policies
• 1. Good governance
• a. School leadership effective school
  leaders
• - Shortages
• - Quality of candidates
• - Training and professional development
• - Mandate vs tenure for heads of
  secondary schools
• b. School leadership effective school
  leadership
• One-man show versus team leadership

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• c. Involvement of all stakeholders
• - Participation in elections
• - Genuine involvement in committees
• d. Professional school boards
• - Good pool of excellent candidates ?
• 2. Achieve quality and equity in the system
• - Mitigate impact of socio-economic
  background
• - Raise performances of immigrant students
• - Narrow achievement gap between schools
• ? Effective school leaders