British Council Masterclass on Education Standards for School Excellence

1
British Council Masterclass on Education
Standards for School Excellence

• Break-out Group 1 Standards of leading the
  leaders
• Pat Collarbone and Anthony Spooner
• Thailand, 2 February 2006 13.00 16.00

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Objectives for this session

• To consider standards of leading the leaders
• What roles could a leader or leaders take?
• What competencies are required in those roles?
• How can we develop leaders of leaders?

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Agenda
Welcome and introduction What are the different
roles for a leader of leaders? BREAK (15
minutes) Competencies and development of leaders
of leaders Close
Start 13.00
Approx 14.15
Close 17.00
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• To go further, we need to develop a new kind of
  leadership what I call system thinkers in
  action or the new theoreticians. These leaders
  work intensely in their own schools or districts
  or other levels, and at the same time connect
  with and participate in the bigger picture. To
  change organisations and systems will require
  leaders who get experience in linking to other
  parts of the system. These leaders in turn must
  help other leaders with similar characteristics.
• Fullan, 2003

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Headteachers/principals as system leaders

• In the past experienced headteachers in the
  United
• Kingdom have always contributed to the system as
  a
• whole
• appraising and mentoring other headteachers
• training future headteachers and other school
  leaders
• leading schools in a fresh start scenario
• advising local and central government
• but this has tended to be planned in a random
  way.

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Headteachers/principals as system leaders

• Since the opening of the National College for
  School
• Leadership (NCSL) and greater expectations from
  the
• government
• consultant leaders
• School Improvement Partners (SIPs)
• London Leadership Strategy
• remodelling and extended schools consultants
• leading federations and collaborations
• opportunities and planning have been more
  systematic
• with appropriate training and development
  programmes and
• activities available .

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Consultant leaders competencies and skills

• Accurate Self Assessment
• Self Confidence
• Self Management
• Empathy
• Partnering
• Pattern Recognition

• Developing Others
• Non Possessive Warmth
• Group management
• Enquiry Strategies
• Programme/session design

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School Improvement Partners person specification

• 1. Essential skills
• Performance improvement
• Analytical ability
• Judgement evaluation of performance and
  potential
• Judgement decisions about how to improve
• ICT
• 2. Personal qualities
• 3. Experience and record of achievement
• 4. Knowledge
• 5. Special requirements serving leadership team
  members

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Lessons from the London Leadership Strategy

• The skills and attributes of Leadership are best
  developed through partnership leader with
  leader school with school
• Consultant support rather than external direction
  will promote appropriate cultural change
• Successful leaders in successful schools welcome
  the challenge of supporting their peers, and that
  process, carefully managed, will be mutually
  beneficial
• Schools such as those classified as Keys to
  success deserve a bespoke and coordinated
  support package
• The skills fostered through the NCSL Consultant
  Leaders course are those which enable Headteacher
  consultants to be effective in mentoring,
  coaching and challenging their peers.

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Designing the learning experience

• Self-directed and learner-driven
• Interpersonal and collaborative
• Team and organisational learning
• Creating and sharing knowledge through learning
  networks
• Support and challenge
• Needs assessed
• Problem-shaping and problem-solving
• E-learning
• Celebration and acknowledgement
• Accreditation and graduation

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Agenda
Welcome and introduction What are the different
roles for a leader of leaders? BREAK (15
minutes) Competencies and development of leaders
of leaders Close
Start 13.00
Approx 14.15
Close 17.00
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Exercise 1 Different roles for leaders of leaders

• In your table groups, appoint a timekeeper. You
  may also want to appoint a facilitator who will
  keep the group on task.
• As an individual, consider what are the various
  roles of leaders of leaders consider both roles
  which you know already exist and roles which you
  aspire to instigate. Write your ideas down on
  post-it notes (writing only one role on each
  post-it note and using the thick pens supplied),
  considering
• Formal roles (appointed)
• Informal roles (assumed by individuals without
  formal appointment)
• When everyone has written down their ideas, look
  at all the roles and group similar roles
  together, placing the post-it notes on a
  flipchart in their groups. Discuss what are the
  emerging themes.
• Prepare a 2 minute feedback on the key points
  arising from your discussions. Decide who will
  present the feedback.

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Agenda
Welcome and introduction What are the different
roles for a leader of leaders? BREAK (15
minutes) Competencies and development of leaders
of leaders Close
Start 13.00
Approx 14.15
Close 17.00
14
Agenda
Welcome and introduction What are the different
roles for a leader of leaders? BREAK (15
minutes) Competencies and development of leaders
of leaders Close
Start 13.00
Approx 14.15
Close 17.00
15
Example key role Consultant Leaders in England

• Consultant Leaders are normally serving
  headteachers
• They aim to develop the skills and attributes of
  leadership through partnership leader with
  leader school with school
• They support and challenge - rather than provide
  external direction
• They challenge beliefs, values and perceptions to
  facilitate cultural and behavioural change and
  promote continuous improvements
• The NCSL Consultant Leaders course fosters
  effective mentoring, coaching and challenging
• Consultant Leaders are supported by
• Regular peer meetings
• Peer review framework
• Continuing Professional Development
• 11 coaching with a senior Consultant Leader

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Consultant Leaders competencies and skills

• Accurate Self Assessment Being aware of own
  strengths and limitations
• Self Confidence Belief in ones own ability
• Self Management Ability to keep ones own
  disruptive emotions in check
• Empathy The ability to sense others feelings
  and concerns
• Partnering The ability to work collaboratively
  with others
• Pattern Recognition Ability to identify themes
  and patterns of behaviour and interactions

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Consultant Leaders competencies and skills

• Developing Others The desire to help others
  develop their capabilities and realise their full
  potential
• Non Possessive Warmth The caring for an
  individual without taking ownership of the
  problem or the solution
• Group management The ability to manage group
  process
• Enquiry Strategies The skill of having a
  portfolio of questions to engage the group in
  dialogue
• Programme/session design The ability to design
  programmes that create a learning environment
  conducive to behaviour change

Each of these competencies and skills is assessed
on a 1 to 4 scale.
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Competency framework extract
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Exercise 2 Competencies and development

• In your table group, select one of the Consultant
  Leader competencies, or choose another competency
  which would be more appropriate to a key role for
  leaders of leaders in Thailand.
• In your table group, please complete together a
  competency framework proforma for your selected
  competency.
• After completing the proforma, please discuss in
  your group what are the development
  opportunities which could be offered to ensure
  that novices can move to being experts in
  their competency area? You may wish to consider
• formal training
• on the job development
• action research
• etc
• Write the key points from your discussions on a
  single flipchart sheet. Decide who will give the
  3 minute present-back.

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Proforma for Exercise 2
Complete the proforma what do you expect Novices
and Experts to think, feel, say, do in their
leading leaders role?
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Agenda
Welcome and introduction What are the different
roles for a leader of leaders? BREAK (15
minutes) Competencies and development of leaders
of leaders Close
Start 13.00
Approx 14.15
Close 17.00