Title: Role of Instructional Leadership
1Role of Instructional Leadership
2Purpose of Session
- Explore the term Instructional leadership and
what it means to our roles - Examine research of what is effective
instructional leadership - Link instructional leadership to the current
agenda regarding improvement, improvement
improvement ..
3What is it?
- Educational leadership
- Curriculum leadership
- Leader of learning
- Transformation leadership
- Transactional leadership
- Its whats behind the title that matters!
4Background
- Most popular theme in leadership over the last
two decades - Origins in Northern America
- Despite its popularity it is often not clearly
defined
5 Instructional leadership
- Instruction the process or act of teaching
education - Leadership a person who rules, guides, or
inspires others - Collins Dictionary
6Leadership Matters!
- A highly effective school leader can have a
dramatic influence on the overall academic
achievement of students. - Michael Fullan 2005
7Leadership Matters even more!
- It is now more than 20 years since leadership was
identified as one of the key components of good
schools by HMI, who stated that, without
exception, the most important single factor in
the success of these schools is the quality of
the leadership of the head. - Dept of Education Science
8Why the importance of this type of leadership?
- Improved classroom instruction is the prime
factor to produce student achievement gains - Odden Wallace
9Why the importance of this type of leadership?
- Another great irony of public schooling is that
the office of curriculum and instruction
traditionally has so little influence on.
curriculum and instruction. Results Now M
Schmoker - Too much of the educational leadership
literature is long on harmony, consensus and
sentiment, feel good pressures that float high
above the hard fundamental necessities of school
leadership. Most especially, leaders need
practical ways to monitor and require-effective
instruction and high quality curriculum.
Results Now M Schmoker
10Why the importance of this type of leadership?
- When leadership is focused on results, on urging
a formal, frequent review of the impact of
instruction, teaching improves. Results Now
M Schmoker - For school improvement to occur instructional
leadership needs to be in existence. - A Mission of the Heart, Public Agenda
11What are the elements of Instructional Leadership
- Resource provider, instructional resource,
communicator and visible presence (Smith and
Andrews) - Encourager, facilitator of the study of teaching
and learning, facilitator of collaborative
efforts amongst teachers, establishing coaching
relationships with teachers, using research to
make instructional decisions using adult
learning principles (Blasé Blasé)
12What are the elements of Instructional Leadership
contd
- Direct assistance to teachers in their day to day
activities, development of collaborative groups
amongst staff, designing effective staff
development, curriculum development, use of
action research - Glickman, Gordon and Ross-Gordon
13What are the elements of Instructional Leadership
contd
- Defining schools mission, managing curriculum and
instruction, promoting a positive school
climate - Hallinger, Murphy et al
- Understands effective practices in curriculum,
instruction and assessment and the ability to
work with teachers on the day to day problems
that relate to these topics. - Elmore
14Process
- Define Instructional Leadership
- Share with partner
15Leadership Matters!
- Sustainable leadership doesnt equivocate. It
puts learning at the centre of everything leaders
do. Students learning comes first, then everyone
elses in support of it. - Stoll, Fink and Earl 2003
16Instructional Leadership Practice Viviane
Robinson 2007
- Establishing goals and expectations
- Strategic resourcing
- Planning, coordinating and evaluating teaching
and the curriculum - Promoting and participating in teacher learning
and development - Ensuring an orderly and supportive environment
17Instructional Leadership characteristics David
Hopkins
- Ability to articulate vision and values about
student learning and achievement, and to make
connections to behaviour - Understanding of pedagogy
- Understanding of development and maintenance
- Strategic orientation and to plan medium term
18Instructional Leadership characteristics contd
David Hopkins
- Understanding capacity and its role in sustaining
change - A commitment to promoting enquiry the how rather
than the what - Commitment to professional development and
managing a teachers life cycle - Ability to engender trust and provide positive
reinforcement
19Connections to DIAf
20What does instructional leadership look like?
- If you were to go into a school /preschool where
there is effective instructional leadership what
would you see, feel, hear? - Make a list of 8-10 concrete bits of evidence?
- Would it look different in the different sectors
ie preschool, primary, secondary?
21- School improvement is most surely and thoroughly
achieved when teachers engage in frequent,
continuous and increasingly concrete talk about
teaching practices... capable of distinguishing
one practice and it's virtue from another. - Judith Warren