DOES LEADERSHIP MAKE A DIFFERENCE

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The importance of school leadership on the
quality of schools and the achievements of
pupils England

• DOES LEADERSHIP MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

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1. WHERE HAVE WE COME FROM?
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20 years of education reform in England

• 1988-1997

• 1998-2008

• Financial delegation to schools - autonomy
• New powers for governors
• National curriculum
• Assessments at 7,11,14,16
• Parental choice of school
• Regular inspection
• Annual published results
• Freedom from local authority

• National literacy and numeracy strategies
• Zero tolerance of failure
• Benchmarking and value added
• National leadership college
• School partnerships
• Qualification for principals
• Every Child Matters integration of services

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20 years of education reform in England

• 1988-1997 Rhetoric

• 1998-2008 Rhetoric

• Zero tolerance of failure
• Reliance on better managed schools
• 15,000 teachers are not doing a good job

• Challenge and support
• Raising the baseline and reducing the achievement
  gap
• Governments New Relationship with Schools
• Personalised learning
• Leadership development

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The quality of schools in England 2007/08
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PISA 2006 Results (57 countries)
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2. LEADERSHIP MANAGEMENT
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Difference between leadership and management

• Management is about producing order and
  consistency
• Leadership is about generating constructive
  change.
• (Kotter 1990)

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20 years of education reform in England

• 1988-1997

• 1998-2008

• Financial delegation to schools - autonomy
• New powers for governors
• National curriculum
• Assessments at 7,11,14,16
• Parental choice of school
• Regular inspection
• Annual published results
• Freedom from local authority control

• National literacy and numeracy strategies
• Benchmarking and value added measures
• National leadership college
• School partnerships
• Qualification for principals
• School diversification
• Every Child Matters integration of services

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3. WHAT RESEARCH SUGGESTS
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The three thing that matter most in high
performing school systems

• 1) Getting the right people to become teachers
• 2) Developing them into effective instructors
• 3) Ensuring that the system is able to deliver
  the best possible instruction for every child
• (McKinsey 2007)

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The effect of teacher quality
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The effect of continuous professional development
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The two most important roles of the principal in
raising pupils achievement are

• Promoting and participating in teacher learning
  and development through leadership that not
  only promotes, but directly participates with
  teachers in, formal or informal professional
  learning.
• Planning, coordinating and evaluating teaching
  and the curriculum through direct involvement
  in the support and evaluation of teaching through
  regular classroom visits and the provision of
  formative and summative feedback to teachers.
  Direct oversight of curriculum through
  school-wide coordination across classes and year
  levels and alignment to school goals.
  Robinson 2007

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4. WHAT THE MOST EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS DO
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i.To procure high quality teachers

• Schools have autonomy to recruit teachers
• They advertise for and appoint the best
• They train their own, where they can, in
  partnership with higher education
• They induct, mentor and support new teachers
• They provide professional development pathways
  and career opportunities

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ii.To improve instruction, the best schools

• Provide a stimulating learning environment
• Provide rich, well-planned curriculum
• Have high expectations of teaching and learning
• Monitor quality of learning and performance of
  teachers
• Focus professional development on constantly
  improving teaching
• Seek the views of students and parents

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iii. Success for every child? The best schools

• Create a culture of expecting success
• Personalise learning
• Assess and track the progress of every child,
  with targets for learning and support or
  intervention where needed
• Continuously evaluate the quality and
  effectiveness of everything the school does
• Work as a consistent team
• Learn from others

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5. The role, expectations and development of
school leaders
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National Professional Qualification for Headship
(NPQH)

• Six areas
• Shaping the future (strategic vision)
• Leading learning and teaching
• Developing self and working with others
• Managing the organisation
• Securing accountability
• Strengthening community

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Characteristics of outstanding headteachers as
school leaders

• Clear vision and purpose , very high expectations
• Gets the best out of people Motivating Providing
  opportunity Promoting professional development
  Encouraging initiative Showing interest and
  being generous with praise Building teams and
  empowering them.
• Approachable
• Innovative
• Enthusiastic
• Determined and decisive
• Focused on quality and every pupils
  achievement Matthews 2006

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Structure and principles of school leadership in
England

• All leaders must be responsible and accountable
• Every teacher is a leader
• Middle leaders have responsibility for the
  quality and effectiveness of their areas
• Senior leaders have corporate and distributed
  responsibilities
• The principal has ultimate responsibility for the
  effectiveness of the school

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System level support for school leadership

• Development programmes available for middle and
  experienced leaders National College for School
  Leadership
• Assessment instruments for student progress
• Data for school benchmarking
• Encouragement of innovation and diversity within
  national Framework
• Cross-provider work to ensure that Every Child
  Matters
• Encouragement of networks, partnerships and
  federations of schools
• Highly autonomous schools and school boards, with
  rigorous accountability systems

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6. POWER TO PRINCIPALS FROM SCHOOL TO SYSTEM
LEADERSHIP
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CHARACTERISTICS OF HEADS WHO BECOME SYSTEM
LEADERS

• They are committed to young people achieving
  their potential.
• They know how to improve schools
• They lead very good or excellent schools
• They are influential beyond their schools and
  communities
• They see the benefits of partnering and
  networking with other schools
• They seek new challenges

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The quality of schools in England 2007/08
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THREE CHALLENGES FOR SYSTEM-LEADING SCHOOLS 1.
ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE

• Leadership with vision, courage and conviction
• High expectations and ambitions for children
• Staff consistency
• Personalised learning
• Tracking learners progress
• Distributing leadership
• Constantly reflecting on what they do and
  analysing impact
• Investing in professional growth
• Recognising everyone as a learner

Next aspiration To be consistently outstanding
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2. SUSTAINING EXCELLENCE

• Seeking to improve further
• Raising attainment reducing the gap
• Growing leaders
• Systematically improving teaching and learning
  be a training school
• Researching and innovating
• Opening their doors to other professionals
• Systematically reducing barriers to childrens
  learning and wellbeing
• Extending their frontiers in the community,
  nationally and internationally

Next aspiration To help other schools improve
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3. SHARING EXCELLENCE, THROUGH

• Active school partnering
• Assessing need and engaging with purpose
• Strategic clarity and setting high expectations
• Injecting commitment and expertise
• Addressing underperformance
• Modelling principles
• Earning trust
• Challenging and supporting
• Monitoring progress
• Building capacity

Next aspiration To become World Class
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The three core beliefs

• The quality of an education system cannot exceed
  the quality of its teachers
• The only way to improve outcomes is to improve
  instruction
• High performance requires every child to
  succeed
• (McKinley/Barber 2007)
• The only way to achieve this is through effective
  and determined school and system leadership.