Instructional Leadership in Three Australian Schools

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Instructional Leadership in Three Australian
Schools

• Presenters Dr David Gurr, Dr Lawrie Drysdale, Ms
  Helen Goode, The University of Melbourne
• In absentia Professor Bill Mulford, The
  University of Tasmania

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A brief history of

• North America, the 80s. The instructional leader,
  a principal who is actively/directly involved in
  shaping and monitoring the instructional program.
• Not many principals do this.
• Most principal impact on instruction is indirect.
• The principal can not do this alone.

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Australia

• Instructional leadership seldom used
• Educational leadership more appropriate
• An focus on teaching and learning but working
  with and through others.
• Usually indirect
• Principal educational leadership is important
  (essential?) for successful schools.

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International Successful School Principalship
Project

• Eight countries
• 64 case studies
• Common survey across six of the eight countries
• To come observational case studies of some of
  the original case study principals/schools

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Today, we present three of our case study
principals

• We argue that the educational leadership of
  principals is largely indirect, although isnt
  always, and even when it is, it is far more
  influential than some would expect.
• Central to their educational leadership clearly
  articulated values, beliefs and visions
  fostering of good relationships developing
  staff and, understanding the broader context
  surrounding their schools.

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Number 1 Vicki Forbes

• Polishing the silver
• Learning community ethos and belief that it is
  possible to integrate a focus on high academic
  achievement with a caring and trusting
  environment.
• Getting into the classroom to change teaching and
  learning through peer observation, establishing
  professional learning communities, challenging
  staff to reflect on current practice, debating
  issues in staff forums, and reading and
  exchanging new ideas.
• Developing staff was a crucial strategy. While
  she believed the school was underperforming she
  recognised that there were talented teachers
  whose potential was untapped. She commented that
  it was like finding the silver in the cupboard
  and polishing it. She consistently challenged
  staff to be their best.
• Relationships with teachers, students and the
  community are a cornerstone to Vickis
  leadership.
• Consultative, people oriented, shared leadership

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Number 2 Margaret Church (pseudonym)

• Daring to be different
• Social justice, empathic, school as a means of
  building social capital - I love kids, I want
  them to do well. I can show them how to get there
  if they dont know the rules of the game.
• Building relationships, individual support and
  commitment, high expectations.
• Unwavering focus and belief on what the school
  does.
• Developing a culture of learning, trust and risk
  taking.

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Number 3 John Fleming

• Hands-on and direct instructional leadership
• Clearly articulated beliefs - expectations,
  pedagogy, relationships, structure, alignment
  with vision.
• Direct influence on instruction, curriculum and
  assessment.
• Developing people
• Four pillars teacher directed learning explicit
  instruction moving knowledge from short to
  long-term memory good relationships with kids.

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A model of educational leadership from an
Australian perspective
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(No Transcript)
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Summary

• Focussed energy on level 2.
• The principals values, beliefs and vision were
  clear, understood and supported by all in the
  school community and used to drive improvement.
  John had perhaps the most clearly articulated and
  integrated view of teaching and learning, whilst
  Margaret had very strong social justice values,
  and Vicki saw the need to work with and through
  staff.
• They emphasised the importance of developing
  relationships, particularly the interactions they
  had with students as this sent important messages
  to the students about the sort of values, beliefs
  and behaviours that would help them succeed. John
  had a more direct influence on students within
  classrooms than the other principals. The three
  principals worked well with staff, understanding
  them as individuals and helping them to develop
  their personal and professional capacities.
• John seemed to have a more direct impact on
  classroom instruction in that he spent a lot of
  time in classrooms working with teachers and
  students to improve the teaching and learning,
  yet both Vicki and Margaret were effective in
  improving the quality of instruction, curriculum
  and assessment.

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Summary continued

• Margaret worked well within the broader context
  (level 3), especially in buffering the staff and
  students from anything that did not fit her and
  the schools clearly articulated and communicated
  objectives.
• All three principals were clearly influential
  (indeed, most in the school communities believed
  that the success of these schools was largely due
  to the efforts of the principals), yet Vicki and
  Margaret worked more through others to influence
  teachers, student and parents to influence
  student outcomes, whilst John was more directly
  involved, working in classrooms often.
• For those that are, or aspire to be, principals
  it is clear that there are many pathways to
  attaining outstanding student outcomes -
  educational leadership makes a difference in
  different ways.

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Educational Leadership is like managing a mobile
direct and indirect interventions
Student Outcomes
Assessment
Student Learning
Curriculum
Community Capacity
Quality Teaching
Personal Capacity
Professional Capacity
Organisational Capacity