Spotlight on Leadership
This spotlight outlines the important findings of the Leadership BES and provides links to resources to help educational leaders solve problems and accelerate learning for diverse learners. It provides a quick way in to a key resource for those responsible for raising achievement and reducing disparity in primary and secondary schools.
Introduction/Whakataki
- System Leaders
- Senior and Middle Leaders
- Promoting and participating in teacher professional learning and development
- Building relational trust
- Engaging in constructive problem talk
- Planning, coordinating and evaluating teaching and the curriculum
- Establishing goals and expectations
- Leading teacher appraisal
- Teacher Leaders
Why a spotlight on leadership?
Recent TIMMs and PISA results show a significant decrease since 2002/3 in our mathematics and science scores at Years 5, 9, and for our 15 year old students as demonstrated by the graph below. This is particularly true for our Māori and Pasifika students as the equity gap continues to be a significant problem for our education system. Within school variance in outcomes for students, rather than between school variance, also continues to be a significant factor accounting for differences in student outcomes.
Government has set ambitious targets for our education system including the Better Public Service target that 'In 2017, 85% of young people will have achieved NCEA Level 2 or an equivalent qualification.' Effective leadership practices are required at all levels of our schooling system if we are to reach these targets.
The OECD acknowledges the importance of developing effective school leaders if governments are to achieve their educational goals and targets, "As more countries grant greater autonomy to schools in designing curricula and managing resources to raise achievement, the role of the school leader has grown far beyond that of administrator. Developing school leaders requires clearly defining their responsibilities, providing access to appropriate professional development through-out their careers, and acknowledging their pivotal role in improving school and student performance." (Preparing teachers and developing School Leaders for the 21st Century, Andreas Schleicher, Editor)
The Leadership BES found that pedagogically focussed leadership has a substantial impact on student outcomes – for instance, the impact of pedagogical leadership was found to be nearly four times that of transformational leadership. Education leaders, including system leaders and policy makers, need quick access to what works best, while avoiding what is less effective or potentially harmful for students.
System Leaders
To be effective, system leaders need access to understandings about the complex relationship between educational leadership and student outcomes and the particular leadership dimensions that are crucial for improving student outcomes in both English and Māori medium schools. The primary conclusion is that the more leaders focus their influence, their learning, and their relationships with teachers on the core business of teaching and learning, the greater their influence on student outcomes.
Senior and Middle Leaders
Principals are tasked with demonstrating:
- A school culture focussed on enhancing learning and teaching
- Learning environments in which there is an expectation that all students will experience success in learning
- Management systems to support and enhance student learning
- Communications and relationships to enhance student learning.
Senior and middle leaders are tasked with demonstrating:
- Professional leadership
- Policy and programme management
- Relationship management
- Financial and asset management.
The School Leadership and Student Outcomes: Identifying What Works and Why | Best Evidence Synthesis identifies 8 leadership dimensions.
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The Educational Leaders website explains that "the changing demographics of our schools are reflected in the increasingly diverse mix of students who attend them. Our students are from a variety of cultural backgrounds, and come with a range of experiences and needs. This means that schools have to respond to different and greater challenges than ever before. The principals who lead our schools need to have the personal and professional qualities, knowledge, and leadership skills required to meet these challenges."
Promoting and participating in teacher professional learning and development
Of all the dimensions derived from the meta-analysis, in the high impact areas of principal practice, Dimension 4 "Promoting and participating in teacher learning and development" produced the largest estimated effect size.
BES Case 29: Use pedagogical leadership to enable more equitable and effective teaching for all learners
[PDF 429KB]
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Building relational trust
In the context of a school, gaining significant shifts in student achievement and wellbeing requires the collective efforts of all members of the school community. Building relational trust is critical to harnessing the collective will, energy and skill of the school community.
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Engaging in constructive problem talk
When NZ school leaders were asked in a recent study to identify the issues that challenged them, they nearly always indicated people problems. Leaders indicated that many of their people problems were long-standing, difficult to resolve, and had negative consequences that spilled over into other areas of school life.
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Watch Distinguished Professor Viviane Robinson discuss building effective relationships and trust to in an educational context.
Creating educationally powerful connections
Research analysis has shown that particular kinds of school-family connections can have large positive effects on the academic and social outcomes of students, especially those who are under-served or at risk. Schools can also invest considerable time, energy and resources in activities that end up having minimal or even negative impacts on student outcomes.
Planning, coordinating and evaluating teaching and the curriculum
Leaders in high-performing schools are distinguished from their counterparts in otherwise similar, low-performing schools by their personal involvement in planning, coordinating, evaluating teaching and the curriculum.
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Establishing goals and expectations
Goal setting is a powerful leadership tool. How does goal setting work?
In addition, check out the table below, which outlines common problems you might encounter during the goal setting process and ways you might overcome them.
| Problem | Strategy |
|---|---|
| People lack the skills and knowledge to achieve the goal. | Set relevant learning rather than performance goals |
| Individuals' goals may be in conflict with others' goals. | Set team or superordinate goals. |
| Failure to achieve goals is seen as a risk. | Encourage and reward learning from mistakes. |
| Successful goal attainment can reinforce old strategies that are inappropriate in a changing environment | Invite robust critique and review of goals and strategies for reaching them. |
| Accountability for goal attainment can lead to biased and inaccurate reporting. |
- Check validity of a small sample of reports. - Leaders model an ethical culture to show no tolerance for deviations. |
| Important outcomes that are not set as goals may be ignored. |
- Set more inclusive goals. - Set goals for all critical outcomes. - Inquire into goal interrelationships. |
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Leading teacher appraisal
Senior and middle leaders play a crucial role in determining whether teacher appraisal is used as a tool for improving the quality of teaching and learning or not.
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Planning, coordinating and evaluating teaching and the curriculum
Leaders in high-performing schools are distinguished from their counterparts in otherwise similar, low-performing schools by their personal involvement in planning, coordinating, evaluating teaching and the curriculum.
Teacher leaders
Teachers are tasked with demonstrating:
- Professional knowledge
- Teaching techniques
- Motivation of students
- Classroom management
- Communication
- Support for and cooperation with colleagues
- Contribution to wider school activities (Education Council: Practising Teacher Criteria).
Teacher leaders "show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning (and):
- actively contribute to the professional learning community
- undertake areas of responsibility effectively" (Education Council: Practising Teacher Criteria).
Teacher and student use of learning goals
We hear a lot about the use of learning goals and success criteria. But what do we know about what makes these practices effective and ineffective?
Teacher and student use of learning goals
[PDF 4.1MB]
BES Exemplar 3 | Ngā Kete Raukura He Tauira 3 (Refer to Appendix B)