International Confederation of Principals

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International Confederation of Principals
www.icponline.org
Activities in School Leadership
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Who are we?

• The Global Umbrella Organisation for National
  Principal Associations in
• Singapore Australia Iceland Nigeria
• England Ghana Scotland PR China
• Israel Uganda Ireland India
• Korea Kenya Zambia Zimbabwe
• USA Canada Germany New Zealand
• Finland Tanzania Japan South Africa
• Switzerland Netherlands
• ESHA COBISEC

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Our Organisation
President Kate Griffin (UK)
Executive Andrew Blair (Australia) Virginia
OMahony (Ireland) David Wylde (South Africa)
David Vodila (USA) Executive Secretary Ted
Brierley
ICP Council Up to 3 members from each member
association. Each member association has one
vote.
In 2009, the ICP will form 4 Regions to
facilitate closer interaction of member
associations. The 4 Regions are Africa
Asia/Oceania America and Europe
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What do we do?

• ICP aspires to encourage a sense of belonging to
  the world-wide community of school leaders by
• Encouraging closer relationships among
  principals of all nations.
• Promoting and enhancing the image and
  professionalism of the
• principalship.
• Promoting the exchange of people and
  professional publications
• among the constituent groups and encouraging
  participation in
• meetings and conferences across national
  boundaries.
• Fostering school curricula that encourage
  international understanding
• and good will and a respect for human rights
  and dignity across all
• races and cultures.
• Promoting the rights and responsibilities of
  principals and also their
• professional organisations and the material
  and ethical interests of the
• education profession.
• Promoting and encouraging equal opportunities
  for all young persons to
• learn and develop to their fullest potential
  in achieving a respectable
• and productive quality of life.
• Developing a program of activities consistent
  with the purposes of the
• organisation.

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Current Issues

• We are a professional, issues based
• organisation. We are currently actively
• interested in-
• School Resourcing
• Devolution of resources and authority
• Teacher and Principal Recruitment, Retention
• (including wellbeing) and Development
• School Accountability and operational flexibility
• Regionalisation and support

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What is our interest in this Activity?

• The recruitment, retention and training of
  principals is a world-wide issue
• As is the professional and policy context in
  which they work
• The ICP has commissioned papers on this issue
  eg The Challenge of Recruiting and Retaining
  School Leaders prepared by the IPPN in 2006,and
  has access to others
• We have suspended other research activities,
  preferring to collaborate with the OECD Activity

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Our involvement

• We have encouraged the relevant national
  associations to seek a place on the National
  Advisory Committees
• We will be encouraging national associations to
  critically review their CBR
• The CBRs will be a very important document for
  national principal organisations. They will form
  one of the foundations for future internal
  national discussions on education policy

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We believe that the key to improving student
outcomes is improving teachingWe believe that
effective school leadership is focused on
creating a school environment which delivers
excellent teaching and learning We believe that
more research is needed on the issues which
inhibit the achievement of such an environment
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Issues and Tensions
System Accountability Frameworks High Stakes
Accountability Vs Intelligent Accountability High
stakes student testing Vs Self assessment and
external verification Data Driven Decision
Making Data collected for external uses Vs Data
collected supporting teaching and learning School
Resourcing School based funding Vs Student needs
based funding Devolution of decision making Low
local flexibility high central control Vs High
operational flexibility and school self
governance Limited leadership distribution Vs
Highly devolved leadership Highly directed
pedagogy Vs Pedagogical professional flexibility
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Issues and Tensions
Building professional capacity and managing
performance Professional Development of teachers
haphazard Vs PD nested within support structures,
linked to appraisal, the identification of school
needs, and within learning networks of
peers Narrow appraisal processes Vs The
development of performance and development
culture Recruitment, skills development and
support for school leaders Non-existent or low
level frameworks Vs Coherent, rigorous,
longitudinal, site based, project oriented,
mentored and coached programs of support The work
of school leaders School management and
administration Vs School leadership School
leadership Vs School and community
leadership Resourcing of leadership teams based
on yesterdays expectations Vs Resourcing levels
required to meet tomorrows (and todays) demands
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One approach to support
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The APAPDC L5 Frame - the work of leadership

• Leadership starts from within
• Leadership is about influencing others
• Leadership develops a rich learning environment
• Leadership builds professionalism and management
  capability
• Leadership inspires leadership actions and
  aspirations in others

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Our intentions

• A report of progress in this activity will be
  made to the ICP Council in April (Auckland) and
  October (Washington DC)
• ICP members would also be interested in learning
  more about TALIS
• We will be very interested in forging a closer
  relationship with the OECD to support the
  implementation of policies beneficial to the
  improvement of schools

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Thank you for your attention and interest
www.icponline.org
Ted Brierley Executive Secretary International
Confederation of Principals
brierted_at_optusnet.com.au