DELPHI

SCHOOL LEADERSHIP ST FOR THE 21 CENTURY This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

Project number: 141838-LLP-1-20081-CZ-COMENIUS-CMP. This booklet reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

www.iDelphi.eu

DELPHI is a Comenius multilateral project aimed at the development of materials, strategies and professional development activities.

Project goals  Continuing professional development of head teachers  Acquiring and developing management and leadership competences  Enhancing the quality of learning experiences

Project partners     

Aisis, o. s. (Czech Republic) , www.aisis.cz CECE – The Spanish Confederation of Education and Training Centres, www.cece.es DCU – The School of Education Studies, Dublin City University, www.dcu.ie NEI – National Education Institute of Slovenia, www.zrss.si VSKO – Vzw Nascholing in het katholiek Onderwijs (Belgium), www.internationalisering.be

DELPHI – is there an Oracle?

Located about one hundred miles northwest of Athens is the ancient site of the Pan-Hellenic sanctuary of Delphi. The complex of buildings, which includes the Temple of Apollo where sat the famous oracle, the sacred Corycian Cave and the Castalian Spring, is nestled in the forested slopes and rocky crags on the south side of the sacred mountain called Parnassus. The site has been sacred since at least the Bronze Age. According to legend, the shrine was originally guarded by the she-dragon Pytho. She was killed by Apollo who then took over the oracle. In antiquity, Delphi was regarded as the centre of the world.

In many countries these days, the centre of attention in education is educational leadership, which is crucial for sustainable development of school systems around Europe. This project gathered knowledge and, based on needs analysis, identified six areas of leadership where leaders need to be provided with more training and support. Unfortunately, there is no oracle in this book, but we

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

Project number: 141838-LLP-1-2008-1-CZ-COMENIUS-CMP. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

hope you will find the information and resources provided a source of inspiration and guidance in managing the complicated life of the school leader. We believe that reflective practice, together with the socio-constructivist approach presented in this book, will advance your professional development. Our recommendation is to combine in-service training with coaching to get the best results for your personal and professional growth as a leader.

The areas that are covered are as follows 1.

Personal Leadership

2.

Learning Organisation

3.

Evaluation/Self-Evaluation

4.

Change Management

5.

Creating A Culture of Inclusion

6.

Leadership and Communication

How to use this Handbook Each area is divided into sections, and each section consists of: Theory – description and definition of successful practice Reflection and coaching – ideas and questions for reflection and future planning Case Study – A practical example providing evidence of the above mentioned theory

Ways of using the Handbook 1. As resource material for continuous professional development – for reading and reflecting about concepts and practice mentioned in the handbook 2. In professional development planning – self evaluating your competences in each area, finding resources and making plans for continuous professional development (CPD) 3. As part of a joint planning session – with your staff evaluating and planning in each area the professional development needed for successful leadership in your school 4. In assisting the development of a leadership portfolio to reflect on and make a record of your. Leadership style and its consequences for the management of your organisation and for professional development.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

Project number: 141838-LLP-1-2008-1-CZ-COMENIUS-CMP. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Contents Personal Leadership...............................................................................6 Learning Organisation.........................................................................13 Evaluation/Self-Evaluation...................................................................20 Change Management.......................................................................... 27 Creating a Culture of Inclusion.............................................................33 Leadership and Communication...........................................................44 Worksheets ........................................................................................ 49

Personal Leadership What is Leadership?

Depending on national context, school culture and education level, the realities of school leadership can vary considerably. Also, in the leadership literature may be found a multitude of models and concepts. In a review by the National College for School Leadership, a typology of eight leadership concepts is introduced.

1. Instructional leadership typically assumes that the critical focus for attention by leaders is the behaviour of teachers as they engage in activities directly affecting the growth of students.

2. Transformational leadership occurs when one or more teachers engage with others in such a way that administrators and teachers encourage one another to higher levels of commitment, dedication, motivation and morality. Through the transforming process, the motives of the leader and follower merge.

3. Moral leadership assumes that the critical focus of leadership ought to be on the values and ethics of leaders themselves: inclusivity, equal opportunities, justice, high expectations, engagement with stakeholders, co-operation, teamwork, commitment, understanding, etc.

4. Participative leadership assumes that the decision-making processes of the group ought to be the central focus of the group.

5. Managerial leadership assumes that the focus of leaders should be on functions, tasks and behaviours, and that if these functions are carried out competently the work of others in the organisation will be facilitated.

6. Post-modern leadership celebrates the multiplicity of subjective truths as defined by experience. It is characterised by the loss of absolute authority.

7. Interpersonal leadership concerns itself with the authentic range of intuitive behaviours derived from sophisticated selfawareness and facilitates effective engagement with others.

8. Contingent leadership recognises the diverse nature of school contexts and the advantages of adapting leadership styles to the particular situation rather than adopting a ‘one size fits all’ stance. Different contexts require different leadership responses.

Peter Gronn (2003) believes that in recent years leadership has been transformed into an over-indulged and greedy concept. Its conceptual and explanatory space has now become unduly stretched, inflated and bloated. In a certain way society has imposed far too heavy a burden of expectations on it. Despite the plea for a more distributed leadership the dominant contemporary conception of leadership remains the doctrine of ‘exceptionalism’ of the leader.

School leadership In talking about school leadership it is essential to have a definition of contemporary leadership. What does it mean to be a school leader today? What distinguishes real leaders from non-leaders? What kind of leaders do our schools need?

In many definitions of leadership the central element is that leadership always involves a process of influence. OECD (2008) and NCSL (2003) refer to the explanation of G. Yukl in his book, ‘Leadership in Organisations’: ‘Most definitions of leadership reflect the assumption that it involves a social influence process whereby intentional influence is exerted by one person (or group) over other people (or groups) to structure the activities and relationships in a group or organisation.’

 Yukl uses the term ‘person’ and ‘groups’ as interchangeable terms.

By doing this he emphasises that leadership may be exercised by teams as well as individuals. The construct of leadership is not necessarily restricted to one person in an organisation.  Yukl talks also about an intentional influence. Power is applied to attain some goals and objectives, embedded in a vision (= a mental picture of the preferred future).

The concept of school leadership is sometimes mingled with the terms ‘school management’ and ‘school administration’.

There is indeed an overlap between these three concepts.

In the most common interpretation, leadership involves the steering of organisations by shaping other people’s attitudes, motivations and behaviours. School management is more closely associated with routine maintenance of current operations. School administration refers generally to lower order duties. Nevertheless, school leadership encompasses all three concepts.

Reflection What is going well? What is difficult?

The following list of leadership tasks can help you to reflect on the development of your own competences in these areas.

You can exchange your findings with a colleague(s). Among the issues you may wish to consider are the following.

1. Enabling a smooth administration 2. Developing a solid financial situation 3. Providing an effective IT environment (policy, infrastructure) 4. Setting up a safety/health/environment/prevention policy 5. Learning to cooperate effectively with the school board (setting up effective communication with…)

6. Learning to cooperate effectively within the school community 7. Getting acquainted with basic educational law 8. Getting acquainted with the external educational environment 9. Developing a practice-oriented and inspiring school vision together with all the team members 10. Translating school ethos and identity effectively in daily practice 11. Creating opportunities to discuss the underlying principles of educational practice (double/triple loop learning) 12. Using the developed vision as a beacon in parent-school communication and in communication with other (internal/external) parties 13. Stimulating authentic and open communication

Resources: BUSH, T. ; GLOVER, D. School leadership: concepts and evidence.

Nottingham : NCSL, 2003, 42 p.

GRONN, P. School Leadership & Management : Routledge , 2003.

Leadership: Who needs it? , pp. 267–291.

YUKL, G. A. Leadership in Organizations : Prentice Hall, 2005. 560 p.

14. Providing constructive feedback, being open to feedback from others 15. Mediating in conflict situations 16. Setting up an effective ‘flow’ of communication and information within the school 17. Setting up an effective ‘flow’ of communication and information outside the school

Personal Leadership

Two remarks may be made:

18. Investing in team building and cooperation, drawing on familiarity (increasing/ever-growing) with group dynamics 19. Creating opportunities for team members to participate structurally in school policy 20. Creating opportunities for parents to participate structurally in school policy 21. Creating opportunities for pupils to participate structurally in school policy 22. Being open to questions, demands and expectations with regard to the school, without losing one’s grip (losing control) 23. Selecting impulses for innovation from within and from outside the school 24. Setting priorities together with the team members in order to draw up a feasible course of action 25. Introducing (and following up on) innovations in a strategic and systematic way 26. Preserving (cherishing) the school’s strong points, in order to facilitate sustainable development 27. Creating a safe learning environment for team members 28. Scheduling learning moments and moments of reflection for oneself 29. Planning/organising learning moments and moments of reflection together with one’s team (looking back, forward, setting goals) 30. Differentiating learning styles and pace with regard to individual team members and groups 31. Stimulating/organising professionalisation, taking into account school priorities 32. Stimulating/encouraging continuous professional development (CPD) of individual team members 33. Being aware of and keeping in touch with external CPD initiatives, and communicating this to the team 34. Drawing from existing know-how in order to set up professional training for the team 35. Drawing up a practical plan for (additional) professional training and an overview of all initiatives in CPD 36. Setting up and using clear job/task descriptions for each team member 37. Offering constructive feedback on team members’ performance on a regular basis 38. Working on a practical outline of all school activities and processes 39. Ensuring a satisfactory balance between professional and personal life, by means of effective time management 40. Setting up a network among fellow principals in order to ensure support throughout the process of becoming an effective school principal.

Choose three priorities to begin with.

What you plan to change?

Where you can seek support?

For the DELPHI project we developed a Common Frame of Reference for leadership capacities/competences. Below is an overview of our sources of inspiration.

1. A process view in growth of on organisation from EFQM (European Foundation of Quality Management) Stages

Conditions

Results

1.

Individuals – Activities

Data: same data are available

2.

Groups – processes

Trends: Comparison with previous years; More and better data

3.

Organization – system

Internal indicators: data compared with internal norms, goals

4.

Chain – Systematic evaluation

External indicators: data compared with external norms, goals

5.

Total quality

Benchmarking: comparison with the best in an area

This EFQM-model provides a mirror so that school leaders can diagnose the stage at which their school finds itself. Therefore they can start their interventions or policy from that level,. so that they don’t overestimate the capacity of the school.

2. A container concept on supporting aspects of policy making capacity in schools (Flanders Government advisory group,Vlor)

From a search conducted in the relevant research and literature, the following elements that impact on the success of schools were seen to be crucial and were found in high levels in these schools.

1. A goal-oriented approach 2. Involvement of participants with leadership (empowerment) 3. Cooperation and Communication 4. Responsiveness 5. Processes of implementation 6. Reflection and self-evaluation 7. Continuous Professional Development (CPD) 8. Consistency in task description 9. The total quality of focus on education and on the learning process of the pupils and its sustainability

Personal Leadership

Leadership Competences

3. Devoloping Professional Learning Communities

(PLC) (Eric Verbiest)

To develop a learning community you must develop capacity at individual, group and organisational levels. Each capacity can be subdivided into a number of dimensions.

Dimensions of a professional learning community Personal capacity 1. (Re)constructing knowledge, actively, reflectively and critically 2. Currency Interpersonal capacity 3. Shared values and a common vision of learning and of the teacher’s role 4. Collective learning and shared practices Organisational capacity 5. Supportive conditions: resources, structures and systems 6. Supportive conditions: culture 7. Supportive, stimulating and shared leadership

4. 7 principles of sustainable leadership

(Hargreaves)

As a kind of triple loup we tried to combine this with the Hargreaves’ ‘7 principles’.

Resources: HARGREAVES, A.; FINK, D. The Seven Principles of Sustainable Leadership : Educational Leadership, 2003. 12 p. Article can be found in pdf, cpd area personal leadership, section 1 [online]. WWW: <iDelphi.eu>. .

BINON, K.; BASTIAENSEN, L. Zelfevaluatie in de zone van de naaste ontwikkeling. Kwaliteitszorg in het onderwijs. Mechelen : Plantyn, 2003. afl.

3, p. 69.

Beleidsvoerend vermogen van scholen ontwikkelen: een verkenning. Apeldoorn : Vlaamse Onderwijsradd & Garant-Uitgevers. n. v., 2005. 282 p.

VERBIEST, E. Scholen duurzaam ontwikkelen. Bouwen aan professionele leergemeenschappen. Apeldoorn : Uitgeverij Garant, 2008. ISBN 9789044123739.

At the heart of the training stands the participant, the school leader, the learner, as the dynamic multiplication of his developmental history and his context factors.

He/she is not an empty vessel but rather has developed a variety of competences in different aspects of school life.

However, to become an effective school leader, he/she needs additional competences.

In-house training Training and indoctrination are a means of designing individual positions within an organisation.

Training is the process of learning the necessary skills and knowledge for the job, indoctrination is the process of integrating the norms and values of the organization.

In both processes we speak of ‘internalization’ of accepted or standardized behavioral patterns (Mintzberg, 2003, p. 41).

In the case of middle and strategic management, Mintzberg emphasises the complexity of the job and how, therefore, formal training may not be the most appropriate way forward.

Inner Focus of Control in an ongoing learning process Vandenberghe defines professional development as a complex process with continuous interaction between activities, experiences, developing insights, attitudes, opinions and competences.

The effect of these interactions is the realisation of the participant that he/she has changed (Vandenberghe, 2008).

Our main goal is to form a school leader with a better understanding of the job and in his/her own functioning, possessing the necessary competences to lead a school in an ever changing environment, to develop the policy making capacity of the school, and who is able to learn continuously in an ongoing interaction between action and reflection.

From this vision of professional development (Kelchtermans and Ballet, 2008) we want to realise an optimal interaction between the individual learner, the professional context (school practice) and training input.

In this scheme we draw this continuous interaction with in the end the optimized practice.           

   



11

Personal Leadership

Developing Leadership

Indoctrination is the method the organisation uses to formally socialise its members. Its characteristic mode is informal. Mintzberg emphasises the importance of ‘in-house’ socialisation in enhancing the effectiveness of positions with relative autonomy and significant responsibility. This is relevant to the role of the school leader: the leader’s role is relatively autonomous and he/ she is immersed in the local context, the macro situation and the purpose of his/her own organisation. (Mintzberg, 2003, p. 45)

Constructing a unique identity as school leader In this way the participant builds up his unique identity as a school leader in relation with the unique school context.

Vandenberghe indicates: ‘A beginning school leader has to construct a new identity. From daily practice and experiences he has to decide what he considers as part of his job.’ (2008, p. 281).

Identity development is a complex and dynamic process, a psycho social relativity routed in the essence of the individual and the essence of culture and community. (Erikson, 1977, pp. 19–20) The professional self esteem as a novice school leader is under pressure because he starts in a new job situation. What are the referent individuals and groups and their values and norms about how a competent school leader has to perform? (Katrijn Ballet (2007, pp. 239–240) And how importent are they for the social recognition as a school leader?

School internal sources as teachers, parents, children and school board are directly involved: what is their image of a school leader and what do they expect? School external reference groups can be regional colleagues, members of the school community, educational consultant, inspectors of the government.

 The dialogical, participative and learning culture that we want to model in the way we try to develop this training.

This identity growth isn’t finished after three years . An ‘ex’ participant testifies that after seven years of school leadership he feels comfortable in his role and position.

Leading a school means that you have to continue working on your professional development. (Vandenberghe, 2008, p. 288).

‘Continuity in evaluation, supervision, coaching, a never lasting investing in professional development are crucial strategies to insure that schools are led by effective school leaders. The role socialization from teacher to school leader demands a long term investment in time, energy and motivation...’

(De Maesschalck, 2007) From this point of view we want to situate ProfS in a continuum of professional development The steering comity supports initiatives in the field of continuous professional development (ProfS +) that stimulate competences in the field of policy making.

We start thinking about initiatives how to prepare people better on the job of school leadership. (Pre-ProfS): how can people form a correct image on the job, and the necessary competences.

In this perspective is a training for novice school leaders a crucial point of reference.

The personal frame of interpretation with images about leadership gathered from his own biographic perspective, subjective theories of actions developed in leading and organizing experiences (teaching, family, friends…) comes in interactions with the following points of reference within the training:  The other participants with recognizable concerns, with a diver-

sity of coping mechanisms, of values and norms behind their image of ‘a good school leader’, of starting situation towards the curriculum. During these three years a meaning full peer group will develop. Therefore we chose to go through this training with the group as a whole and not to differentiate in the curriculum to fast.

 The trainers and educational consultants modeling a dialogical – emancipator style of facilitating and training, using methods to facilitate communication in the group, and giving input with practice oriented content.

 The way the local ProfS- Organizers act: how they welcome the

participants, the attention they pay for the needs and concerns of the participants ( coffee and copies..), the ability to participate in the curriculum development, the learning attitude (what can we improve), facilitate group dynamics, clarity in information, the way to deal with organo technical matters.

Resources: BALLET , K. Worstelen met werkdruk. De ervaring van intensificatie bij leerkrachten in het basisonderwijs. Leuven : Universitaire Pers., 2007.

DE MAESSCHALCK, K. De ontwikkeling van schoolleiderschap : masterproef. Gent : Universiteit Gent, Faculteit pedagogische wetenschappen, 2007.

ERIKSON, E. Identiteit, jeugd en crisis. Utrecht : Het Spectrum, 1977.

KELCHTERMANS, G.; BALLET, K. Nascholing voor professionele ontwikkeling en schoolontwikkeling : Wolters Plantyn, 2008. Personeel en organisatie, pp. 15–45.

MINTZBERG, H. Organisatiestructuren. Schoonhoven : Academic Service, 2003.

VANDENBERGHE, R. Beginnende directeurs Basisonderwijs : een follow-up onderzoek. Apeldoorn : Garant, 2008. 305 p.

Learning Organisation The key ability of a learning organisation is not to strive to learn more, but to continually expand individual and organisational capacity for learning and creativity

Learning Organisations

Characteristics of a Learning Organisation A Learning Organisation exhibits five main characteristics: systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, a shared vision and team learning.

Systems thinking

Senge defines Learning Organisations as: ‘...organisations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to learn together.’

(Senge, P. M. 1990)

Benefits for schools of being a Learning Organisation There are many benefits to improving learning capacity and knowledge sharing within an organisation. The main benefits are:  Maintaining levels of innovation and remaining competitive  Being better placed to respond to external pressures  Having the knowledge to better link resources to learners’ needs  Improving quality of outputs at all levels  Improving school image and culture by becoming more people oriented  Increasing the pace of change within the school

The idea of the Learning Organisation originally developed from a body of work known as systems thinking. This is a conceptual framework that allows the study of businesses as bounded objects. Learning Organisations employ this method of thinking when assessing their company and will have developed information systems that measure the performance of the organisation as a whole and of its various components.

Systems thinking also provides that all the characteristics listed must be apparent at the same time in an organisation for it to be a Learning Organisation. If one or more of these characteristics is missing then the organisation will fall short of its goal.

However O’Keeffe believes that the characteristics of a Learning Organisation are factors that are gradually acquired, rather than developed simultaneously.

Personal mastery Personal mastery is the commitment by an individual to the process of learning. There is a competitive advantage for an organisation whose workforce can learn more quickly than the workforce of other organisations. Research has shown that most learning in the workplace is incidental, rather than the product of formal training; therefore it is important to develop a culture where personal mastery is practiced in daily life.

A Learning Organisation has been described as the sum of individual learning, but it is important that there are mechanisms by which individual learning is transferred into organisational learning.

13

Learning Organisation

How the Schools Learn

Mental models Mental models are the terms given to ingrained assumptions held by individuals and organisations. To have become a Learning Organisation, these mental models must have been challenged. Individuals tend to espouse theories, which they intend to follow, and theories-in-use, which is what they actually do. Similarly, organisations tend to have ‘memories’ which preserve certain behaviours, norms and values. In the creation of a learning environment it is important to replace confrontational attitudes with an open culture that promotes inquiry and trust. To achieve this, the Learning Organisation will have mechanisms for locating and assessing organisational theories of action. If there are unwanted values held by the organisation, these need to be discarded in a process called ‘unlearning’. Wang and Ahmed refer to this as ‘triple loop learning.’

Shared vision The development of a shared vision is important in incentivising the workforce to learn as it creates a common identity that can provide focus and energy for learning. The most successful visions build on the individual visions of the employees at all levels of the organisation and the creation of a shared vision is likely to be hindered by traditional structures where a company vision is imposed from above. As a result, Learning Organisations tend to have flat, decentralised organisational structures. The aim of shared vision is often that of succeeding against a competitor; however, Senge states that these are transitory goals and suggests that there should also be long term goals that are intrinsic within the company.

Team learning Team learning is the accumulation of individual learning. The benefit of sharing individual learning is that employees grow more quickly and the problem solving capacity of the organisation is improved through better access to knowledge and expertise. Learning Organisations have structures that facilitate team learning with features such as boundary crossing and openness. Team learning requires individuals to engage in dialogue and discussion, therefore it is important that team members develop open communication, shared meaning and understanding. Learning Organisations also have excellent knowledge management structures, which allow creation, acquisition, dissemination, and implementation of this knowledge throughout the organisation.

How do schools learn?

What is the difference? When developing the school as a learning organisation, we see change: the movement from the traditional school to a new, flexible model. The process of becoming a learning organisation promotes development of the contemporary school where we reflect changes in society in the twenty-first century and provide a basis for lifelong learning for all.

Traditional school

Learning school

Schools provide formal education programs which students attend for a certain minimum amount of time

People have access to learning 365/24 from a variety of sources, of which some will be school-based

Schools offer broad range of curriculum to prepare students for many varied life situations

Schools offer a competence-based, narrow curriculum focusing on literacy, numeracy and generic technological and vocational skills

Teachers are employed to ‘know”: the learner fits in with the teacher

Teachers are employed to match teaching to the needs of the learner

Learning school

Schools are communities of learners where individuals are helped to reach their potential

Schools are learning communities where everyone (students, teachers, administrators, parents) is both a learner and a teacher, depending on circumstances

The information to be learned is graded in a specific way and is learned in a particular order. Everyone gets a similar content, with only limited differentiation based on interest

Information is accessed according to the learner’s capability and interest. The information will vary greatly after basic skills are learned

Schools are still much the same in form and function as they were first developed

Schools as we know them have been dramatically altered in form and function, or have been replaced

Schools have limited or no interactions with those who will employ their students or with other community

Communities will be responsible for the education of both students and adults. Business will be actively involved in school development.

Schools are successful if they fit their students into a range of possible futures, from factory hand to tertiary education for training as professionals

Schools will only be successful if all students have skills required to work within, and adapt to, a rapidly changing employment, social and economic climate

Formal education institutions are protected from the ‘market”

Formal education institutions are subject to ‘market” forces

Conditions that support the development of schools as learning organisations      

Effective staff development Involvement of students and community Enquiry and reflection Leadership Coordination Collaborative planning

Resources: PEDLER, M.; BURGOYNE, J.; BOYDELL, T. The Learning Company: A Strategy for Sustainable Development : McGraw-Hill Professinal, 1996. 243 p.

O’KEEFFE, T. Journal of European Industrial Training : MCB UP Ltd, 2002. Organisational learning: a new perspective, pp. 130–141.

SENGE, P. M. The Fifth Discipline : Doubleday Business, 1990. 432 p.

ARGYRIS, C. On Organizational Learning. 2nd edition. UK : Blackwell Publishing, 1999. 465 p.

MCHUGH, D.; GROVES, D.; ALKER, A. The Learning Organization : MCB UP Ltd, 1998. Managing learning: what do we learn from a learning organization?, pp. 209–220.

Free Management Library [online] WWW: <www.managementhelp.org>.

WANG, C. L. ; AHMED, P. K. Organizational learning: a critical review : MCB UP Ltd, 2003. The Learning Organization, pp. 8–17.

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Learning Organisation

Traditional school

Reflection Write down three pieces of evidence from your school for each of Senge’s principles of learning organisation:

   

What does your CPD and innovation plan look like?

What is your competitive advantage and risk?

How do you plan and support innovation at classroom level?

How do these innovations respond to the needs of the community?

 How is learning organised with regards to the needs of the learners?  How do you get feedback from external bodies and what are the procedures?  How does your school curriculum respond to learners’ needs?

 How does the CPD reflect the current situation and learner outcomes?  How much time does your staff devote to colleague learning and curriculum preparation?  How do you evaluate quality of outputs at all levels?

Based on your answers to previous questions, what is your next step?

Tomorrow: Next month: Next year:

Motivation

sharing and living your leadership One of the greatest assets a school can have is motivated people. The question for many leaders is, ‘What turns on motivation in people?’ Unfortunately, there is no simple ‘on’ switch. Motivation comes from within, but a leader can help to create a learning organisation that encourages high energy levels and motivated members.

Teachers’ needs A person joins an organisation because they believe they will gain from being there. They have asked themselves the question, ‘What’s in it for me?’ and found a positive answer. The opportunity to fulfill personal needs gives the member a reason to join and stay with an organisation. If the leader understands the personal needs of each member they will be on their way to understanding what motivates that member.

Each of us has needs. Abraham Maslow developed a theory related to an individual’s needs known as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This summarises in triangular form the needs found in each person. At the base of the triangle are located the highest priority needs (those relating to physical needs and security, i.e.food, clothing, shelter and safety). A person is first motivated to fulfill these high priority needs before moving on to consider the remaining three needs in the upper levels of the triangle..

Most members join an organisation to fulfill a need in the upper levels of the triangle – that is, social, ego or self actualisation needs. Some members may be involved because they want to be with friends, the social level. Others may be involved because of the recognition they receive, the ego level.

Members with a self actualisation need are those concerned to develop themselves, to learn something new or to reach their potential by using a hidden skill or talent.

Consciously or unconsciously, we set priorities to fulfill these needs. Once a need is met, it is no longer a motivator and our motivation shifts to another need. If an organisation is not

Be aware that there are some individual needs which cannot be met by the organisation. The school should stay focused on its purpose and not exist to meet the individual needs of one or two members.

In the very flat structure which characterises schools as organisations, you can find basically two dominating motivational types: these are, those motivated to hold a meaningful job (helping children), and those motivated by certainty. Leaders should reflect these conservative types in order to motivate or guide through change.

Role of the Leader in motivation  Be a FAN of your team with authenticity, integrity

and autonomy

 Be a personal MODEL for others and live what you

lead for

 Always keep in mind the question everybody is asking

– ‘WHY and WHAT is in it for me?’

Procedures or practices can either help or hinder motivation Are your meetings interesting?

Interesting meetings help create a motivating environment. Ask your staff for ideas on how to create meetings that are right for them. Read about ways to improve meetings. Have a guest speaker provide new ideas to make meetings more stimulating for all those attending.

Involve members in goal setting Review the organisation’s goals and curriculum regularly.

Teachers are more motivated and committed to achieving goals if they participate in creating them.

Use job descriptions and roles – develop a horizontal career system Written job descriptions and functions are an excellent tool.

If members see what is expected of them, they are clear about the job they are undertaking. A job description helps the leader match the right person to the task.

Modify tasks The tasks may need to be changed or modified to accommodate what members are looking for. Even the job of ‘cleanup’ can be changed to involve socialising. This may help to motivate volunteers.

Provide variety A new task, or working with someone new, can be motivating for an experienced volunteer.

Give recognition Make sure members are appropriately recogniSed for their contributions. Recognition is a need and a motivator for many individuals. Be creative in your recognition and match it to the needs of the members.

Be flexible Ask if the organisation can provide the environment or facilities to accommodate the volunteer’s needs and schedule. For example: child care, wheelchair access or car pooling.

Figuring Out What Motivates Others  Talk to your employees not about what motivates them – because they may not realiSe it themselves – but what they value. This will give you insights into which of the seven motivational factors might be high on their list.  Test out a particular factor on an employee. For example, if you think that recognition might help motivate an employee then try using that factor.  Check in with employees about their feelings. It is always a good idea to get feedback from your employees. Make sure you are getting the reaction you are looking for.  Be on the lookout for signs of de-motivation. Make sure you are not inadvertently introducing something into the work environment that is counter-productive to goal-motivated employees.

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Learning Organisation

filling the needs of the member, then the member may become dissatisfied and ultimately leave the organisation. It’s an ongoing leadership task to stay in touch with members’ needs and to see that the organisation is meeting these needs.

Reflection What and who motivates you?

Where you seek your motivation?

How do you motivate others?

What did you discover were internal/external motivators?

Describe the type of motivator and needs your team expressed?

How do you evaluate the needs or motivations of others?

How did you get feedback on your work?

Make a list of three successes of your own and why they happened.

Which one of your needs or motivators helped you?

Now, make a plan as to how you will improve your leadership motivation Tomorrow:

Next month:

Team Learning Team learning is one of the five major characteristics of the Learning Organisation. It facilitates the accumulation of individual learning. The benefits of sharing individual learning are that learners grow more quickly and that the problem solving capacity of the school is improved through better access to knowledge and expertise. Learning Organisations have in place structures that facilitate team learning, with features such as boundary crossing and openness. Team learning requires individuals to engage in dialogue and discussion, therefore it is important that team members develop open communication, shared meaning and understanding. Learning Organisations also have excellent knowledge management structures, which allow creation, acquisition, dissemination, and implementation of this knowledge throughout school life.

Continuous professional development, together with utilisation of internal resources, transforms school culture into a professional learning community with the following characteristics:      

Shared mission, vision and values Collective inquiry Collaboration between teams Action and problem solving orientation, experimentation Continuous improvement Results orientation

Professional development based on the principles of the Learning Organisation, together with the use of team learning, will include the following elements: Theory – Individuals need to know why they are doing what they are doing. Without an understanding of theory, people give up more quickly when they encounter problems Modelling – It is useful to know what the innovation looks like in practice. It can be beneficial to see examples, role playing, different modes of instruction, and so on Simulated practice – Opportunities to practice new techniques in small groups greatly improve implementation

Next year:

Mentoring – Positive and corrective feedback is important.

Mentoring systems within the school can come from peers, trainers or other expert practitioners

When supporting and realising these principles in practice, we see these activities being undertaken by teachers:  Using shared planning to develop lessons, activities and the curriculum as whole  Learning from one another by watching each other teach (giving and receiving feedback)  Sharing articles or other resources for professional development for ideas and insights, developing books and portfolios of projects and materials  Talking with one another about what and how to teach and the results of one’s teaching practice

Reflection Using the characteristics of successful team learning, make a list of activities which support these characteristics in your school:      

Shared mission, vision and values Collective inquiry Collaboration between teams Action and problem solving orientation, experimentation Continuous improvement Results orientation

How well are you satisfied with the results and effectiveness of these activities?

 Providing moral support, and professional support and encouragement  Jointly exploring a problem, including data collection and analysis, conducting action research  Attending training sessions together and helping each other by providing internal mentoring support to implement training content  Participation in CPD activities

Where do you see room for improvement?

What concrete steps might be taken to improve each of these characteristics in your school?

 Using collective decision making to reach decisions that produce collective actions  Providing support for ‘help-seeking’ as well as ‘help-giving’

Where you can see hidden resources?

 Maximising use of local and already existing resources  Sharing responsibility for making and collecting materials

Make a plan - how you will use team learning in your school: Tomorrow:

Next month:

Next year:

19

Learning Organisation

How is my school like a learning community?

Evaluation/Self-Evaluation Concepts and Contexts School evaluation and school self-evaluation are concepts that have become increasingly important in education systems throughout the EU and beyond. Based as they are on a desire for different stakeholders to assess quality within our education systems, the reality of evaluation is one that faces school leaders at many levels in all EU member states.

These terms are defined by Janssens and van Amelsvoort (2008). School evaluation is defined as ‘the process of periodic, targeted scrutiny carried out to provide independent verification and to report on whether the quality of schools is meeting national and local performance standards, legislative and professional requirements and the needs of students and parents’. School self-evaluation is defined as ‘a procedure involving systematic information gathering that is initiated by the school itself and intends to assess the functioning of the school itself and the attainment of goals for purposes of supporting decision making and for fostering school improvement’. (pp. 15–16) Inspection and self-evaluation are seen as being both interrelated and integral to school improvement and reform policies in most countries. By and large, self-evaluation is perceived as being about the internal identification of ways to improve quality while external evaluation is about monitoring quality and ensuring that internal evaluation is effective and leading to change. However the emphasis placed on each varies considerably depending on national contexts and particularly on the balance between school accountability (which the policymakers are trying to achieve) and teacher empowerment.

Internationally, there is increasing evidence of a shift from confrontational forms of school evaluation primarily concerned with accountability toward systems more focused on capacity building for self-evaluation and professional development (MacBeath, 2006; McNamara and O’Hara, 2005; Nevo, 2006). For example, a recently completed research project on school evaluation in 11 European countries, entitled SYNEVA,

showed a striking convergence toward models emphasising self-evaluation (Patscheider, Turra Rebuzzi, and McGinn, 2006).

These models of school evaluation display several discernable common characteristics:

1. Emphasis on self-evaluation with light touch external inspection; 2. Respect for many forms and sources of data and knowledge, and not just quantified student attainment data that informs improvement; and 3. Prioritisation of organisational and professional capacity building over monitoring and control (McNamara and O’Hara, 2008).

However, while educational evaluation – which focuses on professional autonomy, professional development and capacity building – may arguably be beneficial to the empowerment of teachers and the promotion of genuinely educational values, such an approach to educational evaluation raises significant questions. Of particular interest is the question of how, if at all, self-evaluation can be operationalised effectively in schools and in such a way as to contribute to enhancing student achievement. Indications to date suggest that this is a difficult and complex task. Guidance, support and even ‘steering’ need to be provided to schools by external agencies such as education authorities, inspectorates and so on. Janssen and van Amelsvoort,, reporting on research in 7 European Union countries, suggest that ‘optimal outcomes can be achieved if the inspectorate provided guidelines, instructions and examples to schools’, and suggest that training in self-evaluation should be given to ‘enhance control over the self-evaluation documents produced by schools’ (2008, 16).

Resources: PATSCHEIDER, F.; TURRA REBUZZI, L.; MCGINN, M. Examples of interesting practice of internal and external evaluation of schools. Bozen : Comenius 3 Network Syneva Net Project/Socrates Programme, 2006. 136 p.

PEDDER, D.; MACBEATH, J. School Effectiveness and School Improvement : Routledge , 2008. Organisational learning, approaches to school leadership and management: Teachers’ values and perceptions of practice, pp. 207–224.

REEVES, D. Accountability for Learning: How Teachers and School Leaders Can Take Charge. Alexandria, US : Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2004. 160 p.

SCHMOKER, M. Results: The key to continuous school improvement.

Alexandria, US : Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1996. 121 p.

SCHWARTZ, C.; STRUHKAMP, G. Does evaluation build or destroy trust? . Berlin : Paper presented at the 6th Conference of the European Evaluation Society, Sept. 30th – Oct. 2nd.

SIMONS, H. School-based evaluation: An international perspective.

London : Elsevier Science, 2002. School self-evaluation in a democracy.

SMYTH, E. Do Schools Differ?. Dublin : Economic and Social Research Institute, 1999.

Reflection When approaching the question of self evaluation, school leaders might ask themselves the following questions from the perspective of their own particular educational context: Why should we engage in evaluation?

How do you do it? Do you

1. Is it mandatory in your region/country?

2. Do you wish to find out something specific?

3. Have you been asked to do so by your staff/parents/other stakeholders?

1.

2.

3.

4.

What are the stages resulting in you as a school leader deciding to evaluate?

Who do you involve and who will be involved?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Do you consult?

Do you impose?

Who do you engage with?

Why? How?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Your colleagues?

Parents?

Pupils?

Regional/national authorities?

Others?

What elements do you need to look at?

What will you produce?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Will you look at the whole school?

Will you look at individual subject areas?

Will you look at individual subject teachers?

Will you examine documentation?

Will you examine academic outcomes and results?

Will you look at areas outside the school – e.g. parental involvement etc.?

Evaluation

Observe Gather data by talking to stakeholders Use a questionnaire Ask colleagues to self-evaluate

A report?

A series of reports?

A statement as to the quality of the school?

Details of the strengths and weaknesses of each teacher?

Details of the strengths and weaknesses of the school as a whole?

21

Theory and Practice The emphasis is on holistic or student centred accountability (Reeves, 2004), as opposed to a simple response to government mandate. This means that school leaders are encouraged to look for answers to their own specific questions on how well they are doing in selected areas of schoolwork, in order to be able to change what they see needs to be changed. And, as educational changes must take place in schools and classrooms, the emphasis is on self evaluation.

However, a common theme throughout Europe is the fact that schools experience problems doing self-evaluations. When the shift in international evaluation practice converged toward models emphasising self-evaluation (Patscheider, Turra Rebuzzi and McGinn, 2006), the pressure on schools to do such evaluations made it mandatory for them to do so, with differing results. Geert and Verhoeven (2003) have found that schools have great difficulties in deciding which data are relevant for school improvement, then in collecting them, and even greater difficulties in putting them to use.

Schools have a wealth of data that is not extensively used in evaluations, neither by the schools themselves nor by external inspectors. Many schools, alongside their self-evaluation interventions, have collected huge amounts of additional data. The common complaints of school leaders when faced with all this data and the demands on the schools of using them was that they were simply not in a position to deal with this, lacking both manpower and necessary skills. Even worse was the realisation that notwithstanding the quality of the data available, there was little or no evidence that it would help them decide on strategies for real school improvement.

However, when school leaders and teachers are coached to decide for themselves which data would enable them uncover the answers to relevant questions to help modify leadership and classroom practice, remarkable changes take place within the schools and in the school ethos in general.

Central to the development of this culture of meaningful selfevaluation is the school principal. A key part of his/her role is the provision of skills and structures that allow individual teachers to make comprehensive, meaningful and actionable judgements about their professional practice. In the context of the wider orthodoxy (McNamara and O’Hara, 2009), which argues for the centrality of the external inspectorate, this is a comparatively radical position.

In general terms, then, while at times educational evaluators have been accused of playing a role as an instrument to maintain bureaucratic control (Johannesson, Lindblad and Simola, 2002; Schwartz and Struhkamp. 2004), arguments of researchers (Fullan, 2001; Reeves, 2004; Schmoker, 1999; Simons, 2002) who have asserted that it is possible to use evaluation as a tool to obtain changes in schools seem to be gaining ground.

Teachers are trained mainly to teach, not as much to do research. It seems that when schools are mandated to do self-evaluations, it is assumed that the teachers are either born with the knowledge of how to do this, or that they have the necessary skills from their training. Neither is true. They need support. The support does not have to be extensive, expensive, or time consuming, but it has to be there. And when this support is provided, some of those teachers are able to turn the mandated job of self-evaluating their work into an exciting project that could help them make their own classroom experience more satisfying and effective in the long run.

Resources: CHATTERJI, M. Evidence on “What Works”: An argument for extended-term mixed-method (ETMM) evaluation designs : Ducational Researcher, 2004. 33(9), pp. 3-13.

CREEMER, B. P. M.; KYRIAKIDES, L. Critical analysis of the current approaches to modelling educational effectiveness: The importance of establishing a dynamic model : School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 2006. 17(3): 347-366.

A guide to whole school evaluation in primary schools. Dublin : Department of Education and Science, 2006. 30 p.

FETTERMAN, D. M. Foundations of empowerment evaluation. Elsevier : Thousand Oaks, Sage, 2001.

FETTERMAN, D. M. Empowerment evaluation: Knowledge and tools for self-assessment and accountability. Newbury Park, CA : Sage, 1996. Empowerment evaluation: An introduction to theory and practice, pp. 3-48.

FULLAN, M. The new meaning of educational change. New York : Teachers College Press, 2001. 272 p.

GEERT, D.; VERHOEVEN, A. School self-evaluation – conditions and caveats: The case of secondary schools. Leuven : Educational Management & Administration, 2003. p. 31(4); 403-420.

Reflection Engaging with school self-evaluation requires training and support. Please complete the following two exercises, having discussed with colleagues the importance, as you see it, of these inputs.

1.

Complete the following table:

The difference between external inspection and internal evaluation for me and my organisation External Evaluation

Self-evaluation

The Purpose The Process The Evaluators The Effect The Outcome

What supports are the most valuable to help us evaluate our schools performance?

Evaluation

1.

Rate each of the following items from 1â&#x20AC;&#x201C;5 with 1 being very important and 5 being of little importance Identification of areas to be evaluated

Training on collecting and analysing data

1

1

2

3

4

5

2

3

4

5

Identification of criteria against which we evaluate

Identification of audiences for our evaluation

1

1

2

3

4

5

2

3

4

3

4

5

Training on ways of reporting evaluation

Links to literature on evaluation 1

2

5

1

2

3

4

5

Training on models of evaluation

Linking our evaluation to an action plan for improvement

1

1

2

3

4

5

2

3

4

5

23

Learning to Evaluate Theory and Practice

from a European Perspective

Critical to the process of establishing evaluation systems in schools is the approach taken to engaging participants. Each school appoints an evaluation team that includes school administrators and teachers, and gives it responsibility for the evaluation process. It is important that the teams engage in some form of capacity building professional development. Such capacity building workshops should include, for example, inputs on the design of evaluation projects, action research, working with existing data, and so on.

The importance of team building The use of teams is a relatively new norm in schools. Best practice suggests that school leaders should initiate the process by establishing school evaluation teams comprised of between two and ten teachers. The principal and assistant principals of the school should be members of the team, though not necessarily the team leaders. As a team, teachers and the leaders should start from the same point (lack of knowledge) and contribute equally to the development of the process.

Use of data to guide decision-making The emphasis should from the beginning be on student centred accountability (Reeves, 2004), as opposed to a simple response to a government mandate. This means that schools should be encouraged to look for answers to their own specific questions on how well they are doing in selected areas of schoolwork, in order to be able to change what they see needs to be changed. Moreover, as educational changes must take place in the classrooms, the emphasis should be on action research (Lisi and Davidsdottir, 2008).

When asked to engage in this process, schools at times appeared to approach the development of evaluation systems in a fairly simplistic way. They tended to rely on one primary data collection method (questionnaire or survey) and develop multiple forms. The in-school response often suggested that

teams found they were not getting useful information. Teachers who were recipients of numerous questionnaires began to tire of this approach. Evaluation teams started to realise that they needed better quality of information and began to look elsewhere for useful data collection methods and evaluation designs. Rather than circulate a questionnaire and assume it would “do the trick”, in one study an evaluation team member stated, “We are becoming aware of the fact that we constantly need to evaluate ourselves and what we plan for our students.” Teams in many schools are now beginning to consider how they can collect data that is more meaningful, particularly related to addressing school capacity to support student learning. Another evaluation team member in the same study stated, “We are working to make this (evaluation) part of everyday life.”

One example of the evolution of the use of data is the process by which data is shared in schools. In many schools, one important means for collecting evaluation data has been the use of course evaluations completed by students. In these schools the evaluation data is summarised in a report and shared with the school as a whole at the end of each year. The evaluation team facilitates a discussion of the data. The school leaders then provide the time for teachers to discuss the data and the report, by department. Finally, individually, the principal meets with each teacher to review the results of course evaluations for that teacher, asking what goals the teacher would like to set for the following year. The teachers clearly appreciate this approach.

Teachers in numerous studies have reported their comfort with this process and believe that the principal appears to use the data to encourage, not mandate, improvement in teaching.

The principal uses the survey data to ask the teachers what they want to do next. The school leaders do not ever enter classrooms for the purpose of observations. Teachers indicated that this would not be professional behaviour. In fact, one assistant principal tried to walk by classrooms, but this was viewed with suspicion and he stopped.

Reflection When undertaking school self-evaluation we must start somewhere.

Designing a limited self-evaluation tool Please carry out the following tasks: 1. Identify an area which you can evaluate with your colleagues here and now, e.g. leadership philosophies and styles, attitudes to external and self-evaluation, approach to staff relations, school discipline, planning etc.

2. Brainstorm around your chosen area

3. Decide on a research instrument (e.g. questionnaire, Likert scale or short interview schedule)

National College for School Leadership [online]. UK : Available from WWW: <http://www.nationalcollege.org.uk>.

Office for Standards in Education [online]. UK : Available from WWW: <http://www.ofsted.gov.uk>.

HARDINGHAM, A. Working in Teams. London : Institute of Personnel and Development., 1995. 34 p.

HARDINGHAM, A.; ROYAL, J. Pulling Together, Teamwork in Practice.

London : Institute of Personnel and Development, 1994. 200 p.

HARGREAVES, A. Radical Collegiality: Affirming Teaching as an Inclusive Professional Practice : Australian Educational Researcher, 1992.

Cultures of teaching: a focus for change, s. 26 (2).

JARZABKOWSKI, L. The social dimension of teacher collegiality : Journal of Educational Enquiry, 2002. 3 (2).

KNIGHT, P. Learning from Schools. 0 : Higher Education, 2002. p.

283-298. [Online]. Available from: http://links.jstor.org [Accessed 19 January 2007].

4. Each group member completes the research instrument individually

5. Each group analyses the data and discusses the outcomes

6. The process of engaging in this type of investigation is evaluated.

Share results with your colleagues and get feedback

School Development Planning Initiative. 2001a. Curriculum Planning.

[Online]. Available from WWW: <http://www.sdpi.ie> School Development Planning Initiative. 2001b. Subject Plan Template.

[Online]. Available from WWW: <http://www.sdpi.ie>

25

Evaluation

Resources:

School Evaluation –

Case Study

Background Mary has been Principal of an 800 pupil school on the outskirts of a large city for the past five years. The school caters for both male and female students of all abilities and is committed to inclusion as a core principle. There are 74 teaching staff, 6 administrative staff, 4 ancillary staff and 26 assistants for students with disabilities.

The school is highly unionised and has clearly defined roles based on longstanding industrial relations agreements. Teachers feel a sense of ownership of the school ethos but are also quick to differentiate between “management” and “teaching” tasks.

School Evaluation The system of evaluation that is in operation in this particular member state is a combination of external evaluation and internal or self-evaluation. The external evaluation is carried out by a designated state agency whose only task is to visit schools and evaluate educational quality. This agency is under the control of the national department of education. In parallel to this, the school is expected to engage in a process of “self-evaluation” and to gather material that will be of use both to the school community and to the visiting evaluators. The requirement to engage in this type of self-evaluation is comparatively new and few schools have had training in gathering information and materials that might be useful for the purposes of judging quality in their schools.

Current situation a)

Mary has been informed that the school is to undergo an evaluation in six months’ time. As part of this, she has been requested to Ensure that the school has a range of internal evaluation structures in place

b)

Gather data and information

c)

Make sure that this information is available to the visiting evaluators

This will be the first evaluation carried out during Mary’s period as Principal, and despite being aware, in theory, of the requirements of the system, she has done very little to establish the internal structures required. This is largely due to the very formal and at times confrontational industrial relations environment in the school.

Tasks Mary must: a)

Provide a rationale to the rest of the staff for the type of evaluation that is about to take place

b)

Establish working groups to begin the process of data gathering for self-evaluation

c)

Support the process of data gathering through training and other inputs

d)

Begin the process of recording school policies across a range of areas

How Teachers Change Korthagen and Lagerwerf (1996, in Valenčič Zuljan, 2000) studied a teacher’s professional development and defined three levels in the development process of a teacher’s personal teaching theory: a)

Gestalt formation: It is developed at an early stage and content-wise remains closely connected to the concrete experience in which it was formed. In the process of Gestalt formation, language does not have a central role. It occurs on a more emotional level.

b)

Schematisation: It is a long-term process during which more and more elements are differentiated, named and connected to a schema.

c)

Building a theory: An individual with a rich schema feels the need to explain its structure and wants to ascertain that it is logical.

With the described model in mind, it is possible to conclude that a teacher’s professional development actually signifies broadening of the complexity of his mental models. However, it is quite often necessary to change the already developed mental models, or to establish balance between explicit and implicit personal theories. The process of changing mental models occurs in three phases (West, 1988, in Valenčič Zuljan, 2002): a) b) c)

Diagnosing or developing awareness of one’s conceptual framework Imbalance phase or cognitive conflict Reconstruction phase and formation of a new conceptual framework

Such changes are referred to as “second or higher order changes” by systems theorists (Watslavik, 1967; Schollaert, 2006). Each transformation of the teacher’s existing mental models for understanding situations and behaving in them requires a second order change. This is a very sensitive and complex process. It will be described from four aspects:

a)

Motivational aspect: The key motivational factors which influence the level of teachers’ active participation in the process of change are the personal sense and their involvement in all process phases.

b)

Emotional aspect: Each change is stressful for the teacher.

He/she can experience it in two ways: as a challenge or as a threat. Teachers will see change as a challenge, if they estimate that they are up to the task. That is why it is important that changes are implemented in small steps, being thoroughly supported (by outside experts and fellow teachers) and surrounded by a safe environment.

c)

Cognitive aspect: Learning from experience (a reflection) is the most important process.

d)

Social aspect: When a teacher becomes part of a staffroom, he/she also becomes part of school culture. That is why it is necessary to function at both levels – the school culture level and the individual level – when implementing changes.

Building a school culture which will be able to adapt to environmental changes on its own is probably the vision of every headmaster. But the bonus question is how to achieve it.

Resources: KORTHAGEN, F.; VASALOS, A. Teachers and Teaching : Routledge , 2005. Levels in Reflection: Core reflection as a means to enhance professional growth, s. Vol. 11, No 1, pp. 47–71.

SCHOLLAERT, R.; LEENHEER, P. Spirals of Change : educational change as a driving force for school improvement. Lueven : Lannoo Campus, 307. 2006 p.

SERGIOVANNI, T. J. The Principalship. A Reflective Practice Perspective.

5th edition. Needham : Pearson Education Company, 2006. 373 p.

VALENČIČ ZULJAN, M. Konstruktivizem v šoli in izobraževanju učiteljev. Univerza v Ljubljani : Center za pedagoško izobraževanje Filozofske fakultete, Slovensko društvo pedagogov, 2002. Pojmovanja učiteljeve in učenčeve vloge kot pomemben del učiteljeve profesionalne opreme.

27

Change Management

Change Management

Reflection Who has played an important role in your professional development?

Leadership for Change during the Initiation Phase

How did they influence you? What did they do?

Fullan (1999) divides the process of change implementation into three basic phases:

What have you learnt from them?

 Initiation: preparation for the change

Write down your personal theory of change management:  What role does a head teacher play in stimulating teachers’ professional growth?

 Implementation of the change  Institutionalisation: preserving the change

During the initiation phase there are four important steps.

1.

Making decisions about the change: The head teacher has the important task of assessing how many projects the teachers are capable of handling and which projects to choose. In order for head teachers to make that type of decision, schools must have in place a complete school policy on school development (school development plan).

2.

Understanding the nature of change:

 List three goals which are important for the development of your school?

 How do teachers learn?

 How should a head teacher encourage an efficient teacher’s professional growth? Be as concrete as possible.

 How would you recognise a good head teacher?

 What does a school culture in which teaching and learning is effective look like?

 How would you build it?

 What progress do you expect from your teachers this year?

How are you going to stimulate them?

It is important that head teachers assess the nature of the problem correctly, since different types of problem have to be solved using different strategies. Experts in the field of systems theory divide problems into simple and complex.

When handling simple problems it is usually possible to make a fairly detailed plan of the solution in advance and there is no need for the spiral technique in the change implementation process. However, if we engage in solving a complex problem, we should expect and plan for the spiral process of problem solving.

The other important distinction is between first and second-order changes. First-order changes are focused on improvement and growth of existing models of reflection and behaviour where the basic principles remain unchanged.

Second-order changes are focused on altering the basic relations between different system elements such as basic values, beliefs, understandings and behaviour principles.

A head teacher should therefore be able to perceive when the nature of the problem requires only improvement and growth of an existing procedure, or when it is necessary to start building something new.

4.

Acquiring a critical mass of people: If we attempt to change the school culture, it is important that a critical mass of teachers cooperates in the process of achieving the common goal. A critical mass is the number of teachers that will be able to implement key changes in the school culture. Teachers need time, quality information, and the possibility of discussing their questions and dilemmas to make a final decision for or against participation in a project.

The key features in the process of gaining a critical mass of people are flexibility and adaptability.

Forming a leadership team: A head teacher can implement distributed leadership for managing the processes which are required for change implementation. Besides unburdening the head teacher, such leadership has many other advantages. The more project responsibility is distributed among numerous leaders, the higher is the sense of project ownership which results in a better stimulation for success. A leadership team should consist of teachers who are favourable to changes and are highly respected by colleagues who also value their opinion.

The leadership team can be appointed either by the head teacher or by the teaching staff.

Reflection  How do you decide which project are you going to implement?

 What are the differences between managing lower order changes compared to higher order changes?

 How do you mobilise teachers to take part in the project?

 What criteria do you use in forming the leadership team?

 Which is better: that the head teacher forms the leading team, or that teachers choose colleagues for the leading team?

Please explain your answer.

Find out which motivators drive your teachers to implement change. Is there any benefit to initiation?

Resources: FULLAN, M. Change Forces: The Sequel. London : Falmer Press, 1999.

87 p.

What is your next change project and how do you plan to initiate it?

FULLAN, M. The New Meaning of Educational Change. New York : Teachers College Press, 2001. 297 p.

HOPKINS, D. Spirals of Change. Leuven : Lannoo Campus, 2006.

Vsaka šola odlična šola: Razumeti možnosti sistemskega vodenja.

29

Change Management

3.

Leadership for Change during the Implementation Phase Managing change is a very sensitive and complex process. It will be described from three aspects: motivational, emotional and cognitive.

1. The Motivational Aspect The key motivational factor which influences the level of teachers’ active participation is the personal sense. Teachers can see personal sense in changes that they alone can choose to make. Usually, schools have to consider the requests and needs of different stakeholders, while at the same time many prepared projects are offered to them by outside institutions which are in charge of school development. In such cases, schools should carefully carry out the processes in which teachers can find personal sense in selected changes.

The way of managing that change also influences the degree of teachers’ motivation. The most important thing is for the teachers to be involved in all process phases: setting goals, planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the project.

2. The Emotional Aspect Every change is a new experience for teachers. Complex second-order changes lead to the destruction of existing and well-known patterns of understanding and behaving. Experts say that this type of change is formed on the verge of chaos. That is why each change is stressful for teachers. Teachers will see a change as a challenge, if they estimate that they are up to the task. That is why it is important that changes are implemented in small steps, being thoroughly supported (by outside experts and fellow teachers) and surrounded by a safe environment where mistakes and temporarily lower efficiency are not seen as a threat to the process of finding new solutions.

3. The Cognitive Aspect a) Planning a change:    

Clear and concrete definition of the change/problem Description of a desired state Defining the indicators of achieving the desired state Monitoring and evaluating the project

 Planning the path towards the desired state

b) Implementing the change: Performing complex changes is never a linear process. Firstly, ideas on how to achieve a desired state are only rarely the ones that lead to a solution. The process of deepening understanding of the problem, solution planning, testing and evaluating should on an average basis be repeated three to five times in order to find an efficient path to the desired state. Experts usually present that process in the form of a spiral. What is important is that the process is managed in a way that supports teachers’ learning.

Reflection  What motivates teachers to be fully engaged in the project?

c) Learning from experience: Experiences become a learning tool when the expert is determined and able to analyse them and use the findings in his/her further work. Reflection makes it possible for teachers to verbalise concrete experiences that are unclear, that they are only partly aware of, or have experienced intuitively. Only when experiences are verbalised can teachers contemplate them clearly. The most common methods of stimulating reflection include questions, a journal or/and a portfolio.

Most of those processes can be led and directed by a leadership team; however, there are certain tasks which a head teacher as a rule cannot distribute among the teaching staff.

The first one is that of ensuring the conditions for implementation of all processes. The other significant task is providing a secure environment where teachers will not hesitate to take risks by venturing into the unknown.

 How do you try to motivate them?

 How do you understand teachers who resist change: what do they want, how do they feel, what do they think, what do they do, how do they resist?

 How do you cope with their resistance?

 How do you encourage learning from experience?

Resources:

 How do you see your role as leader in this stage of implementing change?

ALTRICHTER, H.; POSCH, P.; SOMEKH, B. Teachers Investigate their Work. New York : Routledge, 1996. 222 p.

ELLIOT, J. Action Research for Educational Change : Developing Teachers and Teaching. Philadelphia : Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1991.

 Where do you seek support for yourself?

KORTHAGEN, F.; VASALOS, A. Teachers and Teaching : Routledge , 2005. Levels in Reflection: Core reflection as a means to enhance professional growth, Vol. 11, No 1, pp. 47–71.

SERGIOVANNI, T. J. The Principalship. A Reflective Practice Perspective.

5th edition. Needham : Pearson Education Company, 2006. 373 p.

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Change Management

 How do you plan the project?

Leadership for Change during the Institutionalisation Phase Preservation of change According to past experience, it often occurs that a new change developed by teachers within a certain project is forgotten soon after the project is formally finished. There is a smaller chance of that happening if the following recommendations are followed.

Resources: ALTRICHTER, H.; POSCH, P.; SOMEKH, B. Teachers Investigate their Work. New York : Routledge, 1996. 222 p.

ELLIOT, J. Action Research for Educational Change : Developing Teachers and Teaching. Philadelphia : Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1991.

KORTHAGEN, F.; VASALOS, A. Teachers and Teaching : Routledge , 2005. Levels in Reflection: Core reflection as a means to enhance professional growth, s. Vol. 11, No 1, pp. 47–71.

SERGIOVANNI, T. J. The Principalship. A Reflective Practice Perspective.

5th edition. Needham : Pearson Education Company, 2006. 373 p.

A project should be led so that it touches the deepest layers of a teacher’s professionalism: his/her values, beliefs, and personal teaching theory. During project implementation teachers should not only contemplate the “how?” question, but also the “why?” and “for what purpose?” questions. High quality reflection plays an Important role during that stage.

Agreement to introducting a change by a critical mass of teachers brings about changes in school culture – change of understanding, quality criteria, (unwritten) rules of behaviour, etc.

When a project comes to an end, teachers should make the effort to include the new change in the school system, and in public regulations, and to support it by adapting the organisation of the school’s operation. A head teacher has the leading role in that. He/she cannot delegate this role to anyone else.

Change can be preserved and strengthened by spreading new ideas to others, by school networking, teacher cooperation, and exchange of examples of good practice. The development of the school as a continuously learning organisation, and of teachers as students for life, is an important warranty for the preservation of change.

Reflection  Which factors influence sustainable improvement?  Think about the last project which you successfully implemented in your school? What did you do to sustain the results of the project?  How does your implementation strategy influence preservation?  How do you celebrate and evaluate the completion of change projects?  What will you do differently next time?

Creating a Culture of Inclusion Inclusion has rapidly gained international prominence in the last decade and appears regularly in policy documents produced by international bodies, governments, disability service organisations and representative groups of disabled people.

However, despite this prominence, inclusion remains a contested term and there is no agreed definition of its meaning. This is partly explained by the variety of influences, social, political and economic, that combined to produce the idea of an inclusive society: ‘Inclusion, it transpires, represents the confluence of several streams of thought, social and political as well as educational.’ (Thomas and Vaughan, 2004:1).

There is general agreement that policy making in the area of special education can be divided into three phases: segregated provision, integration/mainstreaming and inclusion.

Segregated provision was developed for various categories of disabled children from the end of the eighteenth century and was generally viewed as a humanitarian response to a particularly marginalised group. However, more recent commentators have adopted a less benign view and Mc Donnell (2003), for example, notes that: ‘During this period special schooling constituted one element in a more general process involving the regulation and institutionalisation of ‘anomalous’ populations in society’ (p.33). Within wider society many inter-related factors began to have an impact on social poicy.

An inclusive, welcoming school will have three central and overlapping components:  Acceptance  Belonging  Creating community

The practical application of these elements, driven by the school leadership, will be as important for staff and parents as well as for children. In particular, these principles will be of the greatest importance for children who have differences or special needs of any kind.

Acceptance will mean:  a climate and environment where every child will feel safe and welcomed for who they are, and where the expression of  feelings is accepted and taken seriously.

Parents, staff and pupils need to be orientated on the ways they can help make the school a welcoming yet safe place.

This will involve procedures such as:  explaining security measures; why some doors need to be locked  explaining how the school responds to illness or accidents  explaining why some items cannot be brought to school: expensive toys/games; items resembling weapons, etc.  alerting school staff if strangers are in school grounds  speaking positively about the school and everyone in it

Acceptance, safety and issues of security require a delicate balance of emphases so that children are reassured and not made more anxious.

The need to feel a sense of belonging is one of the most powerful of human needs. A welcoming school will endeavour to create a climate where children feel a strong sense of identification with the school and a feeling of comfort and belonging as part of the school community. This is no less important for staff members and parents too.

Belonging will mean:  that every child, regardless of ability or other factors, will have the opportunity to be successful  that it is recognised that every child has abilities and can learn.  the cherishing of all forms of diversity as a means of learning about what makes us human

33

Culture of Inclusion

The demand to create an inclusive school has become a common one within the broader framework of European education. Driven on by legislative change, increased cultural awareness, vocal NCOs and rights organisations, and schools themselves, the opening of schools to traditionally excluded groups is an important challenge for school leaders.

Creating community is linked closely to acceptance and belonging. It develops these concepts to give a direct expression of fostering  interdependence as well as independence  the recognition that parents, school staff and pupils are all important components that make up the school community

Reflection The process involved in creating or altering a culture within a school community is a complex one. School leaders seeking to address issues of cultural change are forced to deploy  Leadership Skills  Communication Skills  Change Management Skills  Evaluation Skills

This section will attempt to guide discussion in the area using the issue of inclusion as a case study for cultural change.

Participants should view the first of the associated video clips prior to their discussion.

A) What is an inclusive school?

How does the Irish school principal define the concept of the “Inclusive School”?

Does this make sense to you?

Resources: GALLIS, S. A. Education Policy Analysis Archives [online]. 1995. Inclusion in Elementary Schools: a survey and policy analysis. Available from WWW: <http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v3n15.html>.

UNESCO [online]. Paris : UNESCO , 1994. Salamanca Statement and a Framework for Action on Special Needs Education. Available from WWW: <http://www.unesco.org/education/pdf/SALAMA_ E.PDF>.

UNESCO [online]. Paris : UNESCO , 1995. Welcoming Schools: Students with disabilities in regular schools. Available from WWW: <http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0011/001184/118455Eo. pdf>.

What elements would be similar to those in your own educational context?

What elements would be different?

B) What were the major challenges identified?

What are the major people challenges?

Would these challenges be present in your school?

What are the major physical challenges?

Would these challenges be present in your school?

How would you as a school leader address these challenges?

Have you addressed the issue of inclusion? How?

Creating a Context: Summarising your Reflections

LOWE, T.; MCDONNELL, P. Different Voices [online]. 2003. Available from WWW: <http://www.tinalowe.ie/differentvoices. html#mainContent>.

What do you understand by the term “inclusive”?

Draft Guidelines for Teachers of Students with General Learning Disabilities. Ireland : National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, 2002. 12 p.

Do you feel that your school is “inclusive”?

How would you define an “inclusive school” in your own educational context?

Have you as a school leader addressed the issue of inclusion?

How?

a) b)

Staffing?

Plant?

Applying the Skills of Leadership

3. What stages have you gone through / would you need to go through in order to manage the process of changing the school culture in your organisation to one that prioritises inclusion?

Leadersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Communication 1. What communication challenges would you face / have you faced when attempting to create an inclusive environment?

2. Who would you need to communicate with?

Personal Leadership

3. How would you best communicate with them?

1. What personal leadership skills would you need to apply in order to create an inclusive culture in your school?

4. Would different stakeholder groups have different communication requirements?

2. Which of the elements of personal leadership do you think are most relevant to the creation of a culture of inclusion in your school?

Learning Organisation 1. Does an inclusive school need to be a learning organisation?

Developing a portrait of the School Leader The first stage of creating a Portrait is for you to generate a self-portrait.

2. What benefits does the process of creating a learning organisation bring to the attempt to develop a culture of inclusion in a school?

Using the answers to some or all of the questions set above, please create short pen picture of you as a school leader.

3. How can an inclusive school become a learning organisation?

1. A short description of the school that you lead (name, location, size, type, student numbers, staff numbers etc.)

4. How can a learning organisation become an inclusive school?

2. Recent developments in your school

Evaluation/Self-evaluation

4. How you are seeking to address these challenges

1. How would you measure your progress towards the creation of an inclusive school?

2. What type of evidence would you seek to generate?

3. How would you generate this evidence?

You may wish to include:

3. Challenges that you are currently facing 5. Future opportunities for you as a school leader 6. Skills you will need to develop in future years if you are to continue to excel as a school leader.

4. Who would be likely to evaluate your efforts to create an inclusive school?

5. How would you present your evidence to external stakeholders?

Change Management 1. Are there change management issues associated with an attempt to create an inclusive school in your setting?

2. How would you address these issues?

35

Culture of Inclusion

What challenges would you face if you sought to create an inclusive school/enhance the inclusive nature of your school from the perspective of:

Building Internal Support Building internal support structures is a critically important element of any attempt to create an inclusive school. School leaders must create coalitions within their educational communities dedicated to facilitating access and inclusion.

Developing a supportive school environment means that school leadership will prioritise  the promotion of a culture of shared attitudes and beliefs based on the understanding that differences between pupils are most often socially constructed.  ensuring that fair and transparent decision-making processes are modelled by the principal and teachers together.

Developing a culture of shared decision making lays the foundations for creating and sustaining inclusive school support.

Teachers’ working together and in teams promotes collaboration in solving the challenges associated with making an inclusive school a reality. It allows for:  Teachers working in ways that allows time off for planning together  Sharing the load by occasionally taking a double class or two classes together so that there is time for a teacher to work with one pupil or a group of pupils  Team-teaching pairs sharing observations and suggestions about teaching and learning

It could be said that this in essence is what is being striven for through the process of inclusion: a sense that, given all the ‘differences’ and atypical characteristics among children, education can provide the experience of managing and overcoming these challenges within the context of a natural community. A supportive school environment allows relationships to build and respect to be acknowledged for all human types. However, this can be problematic if all children (or nearly all) are to be integrated into mainstream schools; principals and special education personnel must work co-operatively. The principal is overall director but needs to delegate responsibility and leadership where it is deemed necessary and right to do so.

The principal, with this approach, paves the way towards a merging of expertise, and towards being pro-actively positive rather than merely reacting to external pressures.

Westwood (2003) supports the view that leadership by the school principal embracing positive attitudes, commitment and collaborative team effort in developing whole school policy is instrumental in successfully sustaining inclusion. Comparatively, Dyson and Millward (1997) add that the way educational issues are realised within schools is substantially dependant upon the values, beliefs and attitudes of principals. They state that ‘it is our consistent finding that the response made by a particular school to special needs is intimately bound up with the head’s view of special needs’ (p. 64). In a similar vein, Thomas et al (2000) argue that principals are instrumental in creating inclusive school cultures. They are the catalyst for initiating, directing and maintaining an ever developing collaborative team effort towards meaningful inclusion.

However Bazalgette discerns two further fundamentally important processes, that of ‘initiation and maturation’. Initiation depicts the beliefs, morality and spiritual values of a culture or community. Maturation characterises the physical and emotional growth and development of the community. This is the hidden agenda of schools that principals need to be creatively involved in leading and managing.

Resources: ARMSTRONG, D. Power and partnership in Education: Parents, Children and Special Educational Needs. London : Routledge, 1995.

161 p.

CLOUGH, P,; CORBETT, J. Theories of Inclusive Education : a student’s guide. London : Paul Chapman Publishing, 2000. 168 p.

DAVIS, B. How to Teach Students that Don’t Look Like You: culturally relevant teaching strategies. Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage Publications, 2006. 184 p.

FLETCHER-CAMPBELL, F.; CULLEN, M. A. Schools’ Perceptions of Support Services for Special Educational Needs : Support for Learning, 2003. 15, 2: 90–94.

GALLIS, S. A. Education Policy Analysis Archives [online]. 1995. Inclusion in Elementary Schools: a survey and policy analysis. Available from WWW: <http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v3n15.html>.

Personal Leadership 1. What type of leadership style would you need to adopt if you were to seek to develop an internal coalition within your school?

2. Do you think that this would be appropriate for your school?

3. Would all members of staff respond in the same way?

4. How would this impact on your current style of leadership?

Learning Organisation 1. To what extent is the ability to integrate different staff concerns part of creating a learning organisation?

2. Do you feel that it is possible to create a learning organisation without staff support?

3. What does learning organisation theory have to tell us about the creation of working coalitions within schools?

Evaluation/Self-evaluation 1. How would you evaluate your success at creating a successful internal coalition for change?

2. Who would you involve in this evaluation?

3. What data would you gather?

4. How would you gather it?

5. Who would it be available to?

Change Management

Utilising External Support It is important from the outset that a school community understand where the demand for inclusion has emerged from. It needs to be emphasised that inclusion has rapidly gained international prominence in the last decade and appears regularly in policy documents produced by international bodies, governments, disability service organisations and representative groups of disabled people. However, despite this prominence, inclusion remains a contested term and there is no agreed definition of its meaning. This is partly explained by the variety of influences, social, political and economic, that combined to produce the idea of an inclusive society: ‘Inclusion, it transpires, represents the confluence of several streams of thought, social and political as well as educational.’ (Thomas and Vaughan, 2004:1).

The leader in an inclusive school is also a learner and recognises that professional development for the staff of a welcoming school needs to be broad (i.e. the principles of social justice, inclusion and diversity) as well as specific (i.e. training related to the needs of specific disabilities or special needs).  Professional development can be offered through the expertise of colleagues in conjunction with external support.

1. Is staff support an essential element to support a change management process in a school setting?

2. How do you create staff support for change?

3. Does all staff, in your experience, respond in the same way?

4. How do you address different staff needs and concerns when attempting to manage change?

 Flexible professional development needs to be consistently supported by school management.

Leaders’ Communication

A key part of the process of creating coalitions involves the education of all key stakeholders. One of the more useful educational functions to be engaged in is that of charting the development of the understanding of inclusion in the past decades.

1. As a leader do you feel that you need to communicate in different ways to different staff constituencies in your school?

2. What strategies do you use?

3. Do you feel it necessary to create coalitions among staff?

4. Is communication important to this process?

 Professional development needs to be negotiated with teachers rather than imposed.  Accreditation of professional development should be sought, as far as possible.

In their review of the development of special educational provision in the United Kingdom, Clough and Corbett (2000) outlined five key perspectives: the psycho-medical legacy, the sociological response, curricular approaches, school improvement strategies and disability studies critique. They emphasise that ‘these perspectives are never wholly exclusive of each

37

Culture of Inclusion

Reflection

other, nor are they strictly chronologically sequential’ (p. 8).

This approach avoids the danger of oversimplifying historical developments through viewing them as purely linear. As we explore these perspectives, it will become evident that the psycho-medical legacy, for example, has retained a powerful influence in the existing systems of identification of those who have special educational needs.

Reflection What role do non-school actors play in the creation of an inclusive school environment?

A list of legislation is provided; is there an equivalent in your own country?

Is there a body similar to the National Council for Special Education?

How important are resources to the creation of an inclusive school environment?

What are the dos and don’ts when working with parents as outlined here?

Building External Support Mechanisms: Summarising your Reflections A) Legislative Background Are you aware of specific legislative requirements in relation to inclusion that exist in your education system?

If so, what are they?

Resources:

If not, where would you find out about it?

GLASSER, W. Schools without Failure. New York : Schocken Books, 1969. 235 s.

What would the general tone of education legislation be in the area of inclusion?

GRIFFIN, S.; SHEVLIN, M. Responding to Special Educational Needs – an Irish Perspective. Dublin : Gill and Macmillan, 2007.

B) Working with parents

HEGARTY, S. Inclusive Education. London : Routledge, 1996.

Do parents play a major role in your school?

LOWE, T.; MCDONNELL, P. Different Voices [online]. 2003. Available from WWW: <http://www.tinalowe.ie/differentvoices. html#mainContent>.

How do they play this role?

Draft Guidelines for Teachers of Students with General Learning Disabilities. Ireland : National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, 2002. 12 p.

OSTERMAN, K. F. Students’ need for Belonging in the School Community : Review of Educational Research, 2000. 70, 3: 323–367.

How do you ensure that all parents are included?

What type of issues are they likely to engage with?

Do you see parental involvement as a positive or a negative?

What strategies would you employ to ensure parental support for the development of an inclusive school culture?

Applying the Skills of Leadership Personal Leadership 1. What type of leadership style would you need to adopt if you were to seek to develop external networks of support for your school?

2. Do you think that this would be appropriate for your school?

3. Would different external stakeholders respond in the same manner to an approach by a school leader?

Leadersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Communication 1. As a leader do you feel that you need to communicate in different ways to different external stakeholding groups?

2. What strategies do you use?

3. Do you feel it necessary to create networks of support outside of your school?

4. Is communication important to this process?

4. How would this impact on your current style of leadership?

Learning Organisation 1. Do external stakeholding groups such as parents, NGOs, government departments, etc. have a role in creating a learning organisation?

2. What does learning organisation theory have to tell us about the creation of networks of influence involving groups from outside a school community?

Evaluation/Self-evaluation 1. How would you evaluate your success at creating a successful external coalition for change?

2. Who would you involve in this evaluation?

3. What data would you gather?

4. How would you gather it?

5. Who would it be made available to?

Culture of Inclusion

6. Would there be different access protocols for different external stakeholders?

Change Management 1. Is external support an essential element to support a change management process in a school setting?

2. How do you create an external support network that will seek change?

3. Do all external stakeholders, in your experience, respond in the same way?

4. How do you address different stakeholding groupsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs and concerns when attempting to manage change?

39

Developing a Pedagogy of Inclusion A pedagogy of inclusion essentially involves leaders asking this critical question: ‘Do all students in my school have the opportunity to experience success in some worthwhile aspect of any learning experience?’

School failure is the most pervasive manifestation of children and young people with additional learning needs in the school system. The essential benchmark for the pedagogy of differentiation is whether there are consistent efforts made at creating opportunities for all children.

A more formal definition of differentiation has been outlined as: The means by which a teacher varies the content, activities, methodology and resources in any lesson or activity, when taking into account the range of abilities, interests, needs and experiences of pupils in any ordinary classroom.

Sometimes differentiation is misunderstood as being a method of providing different kinds of teaching/learning for children who are ‘different’. No child or young person likes to be identified as someone who is unable for the ‘real’ work of school.

This may serve only to reinforce a ‘failure identity’. Differentiation then also means protecting the dignity and self-esteem of children who may have difficulty understanding something quickly, who may have problems maintaining attention or who tend to be generally disorganised or unmotivated. A positive and enabling way of considering differentiation is to see it as a means of providing ‘different pathways to successful learning’. The opposite approach to differentiation would be to regard teaching as a motorway with no deviations. There may be fast-lanes for those in a hurry, and lay-bys for those who can’t keep up with the pace – but that is the only concession to the relentless drive ahead.

A differentiated approach to teaching takes account of the destination but maps out different routes and itineraries so that there are alternative ways to reach the same end.

In summary:  Differentiation is not simply about creating ‘easier’ and less challenging work for some children.  It is about providing a wide range of learning approaches that values difference.  Differentiation requires an attitudinal shift away from the teacher being mainly an imparter of information and knowledge to someone who is a supporter of learning.

There is always a danger that differentiation might be viewed as a process of continually ‘watering down’ the curriculum for children who cannot easily meet the solid learning requirements of the mainstream school.

Leadership for inclusion will need to be clear that differentiation is understood to be less about altering the level or type of work set by the teacher and more a means of providing alternative paths and additional supports to enable all students study the same curriculum content and achieve satisfactory outcomes.

Creating a culture of inclusion in schools involves replacing an intrinsic deterministic understanding of learning needs with a more optimistic, enabling and ecological openness to the challenges of the social model. To this end, a culture that welcomes difference and sees it as ‘normal’ will need to creatively exploit collaborative support from within and without the school – most particularly in times of restricted resources.

A culture of inclusion will practice differentiation as a tool for successful endeavour throughout the learning community of the school at every level.

Reflection Personal Leadership 1. What personal leadership challenges are raised by an attempt to change the pedagogic focus of a school?

2. How would you seek to address these challenges?

3. Would you see your colleagues approving of or resisting such changes?

4. Would an attempt to change the way teachers teach be considered part of the role of the leader?

Learning Organisation 1. To what extent does the process of keeping up to date with pedagogic changes have a role to play in creating a learning organisation in your school?

2. Who is responsible for the school community addressing the changing landscape of pedagogic structures in your school?

3. Would you see the development of the use of IEPs as adding to the nature of your school as a learning organisation?

Evaluation/Self-evaluation 1. How would you gather information on the way that you as a school community teach?

2. Would this process pose a leadership challenge for you? How would you address this?

3. What type of data is already available in your school in relation to matters of pedagogy?

4. Are there any internal/external stakeholders with a role in overseeing your approach to pedagogy? If so, how would they address the issue of pedagogic change for inclusion?

Change Management 1. To what extent would the development of a pedagogy of inclusion be a change for your organisation?

2. How would the process of pedagogic change be managed?

4. What concerns would arise and what procedures would you need to put in place in order to address these concerns?

Leadersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Communication 1. How would you communicate the necessity of pedagogic change?

2. What challenges would you face in communicating around the area of pedagogy?

3. Would you feel comfortable communicating about issues such as IEPs, differentiation, etc. or would you need external input?

41

Culture of Inclusion

3. Would all staff react in the same way?

Creating a Culture of Inclusion –

Case Study

This case study will be used as a basis for discussion across all areas. Please use it as a discussion document if it is not possible for you to refer to specific examples from your own experience.

The School The school is a small primary school in a rural town. It is constituted as a co-educational (boys’ and girls’) school for 4 to 7 year old children, and thereafter an all-girls’ school from 8 years to 12 years. Boys leave on completion of second class and normally go to the boys’ school on the other side of the town. Pupils come from the town itself and from the surrounding townlands.

There are approximately 90 pupils in the school. There are 4 classroom teachers, (including the principal) and a learning support resource teacher who shares time with the local boys’ primary school and a school in a nearby town. The principal has a full-time teaching role as well as all the administrative duties pertaining to the role of head teacher.

The Challenge Issues relating to inclusion have become immediately relevant following the decision by the school to enrol a 6 year-old boy with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). The boy’s parents strongly advocated their right to have their child educated in the local primary school with his peers. As a child with assessed SEN in the autism spectrum, he is entitled to a total of five hours’ support from a visiting teacher. A full-time, non-teaching special needs assistant (SNA) has also been appointed to assist the class-teacher with his care needs and to aid his social integration.

The class teacher is cooperative but is acutely aware of her inexperience. She is only 2 years out of college. She is particularly aware of her responsibility to develop a readiness for the child’s projected transfer to the boys’ school in less than 2 years’ time.

She is also nervous about sharing her classroom with a non-teaching assistant. She is somewhat reassured by the availability of a visiting learning support/resource teacher although this teacher’s main expertise is in the area of literacy and mathematics.

Current Situation The principal has been advised by the authorities who sanctioned the child’s placement that she must develop in association with her staff a policy statement on inclusion. This will involve the school developing specific practices that will be appropriate to an inclusive school. In this she discerns an indication that, in the future, more children with SEN will be directed towards the school.

In this regard, the principal has been reminded by the authorities that in an inclusive school it is the responsibility of all of the staff to contribute to the success of the endeavour. This means that all must contribute to supporting an inclusive culture that incorporates collaborative practices, curricular differentiation and pupil involvement. The principal (who is 3 years from retirement) is overwhelmed by this assignment and apprehensive of the wider task involved. She had envisaged that inclusion would be the class teacher’s responsibility with a substantial part of the child’s day involved in withdrawal from the class by the learning support/resource teacher, or if necessary by the SNA.

Problems and Plans The principal has planned to devote a full staff meeting to discussing this challenge. Already one of her teaching colleagues (the vice-principal) has declared an opposition to this so-called inclusive trend. In her opinion, the needs of the child (who has major communication and social skill deficits and exhibits tendencies to have emotional reactions to frustration and inflexibility) would be best served in a special school. Fears have also been expressed by other teachers that a boy with social and emotional disabilities might not be suitably placed in a mainly female school population.

Questions i)

How should an authentic and realistic policy document relating to inclusion be drawn up?

ii)

What should it contain?

iii) How can the school as a whole support the inclusion of this child? iv) How best can the class-teacher be supported? v)

What should be involved in the role of the SNA?

vi) What realistic long and short-term goals can be addressed? vii) How can the pupils be involved in creating an â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;inclusive schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;?

Culture of Inclusion

viii) How can the parents and the local community be involved?

43

Leadership and Communication Definition of Communication This section attempts to help school leaders to understand the importance of communication in their ordinary tasks. People not only communicate when they share information but also when they share common goals. This is one of the most important factors for an academic centre to run smoothly. The word “communicate” comes from the Latin word “comunicare” which means “to share”. Communication implies an exchange of information, data, ideas, opinions, expertise, attitudes and feelings.

According to Isaacs, communication involves a dynamic process whereby a number of exchanges of actions, thoughts and feelings take place among people who belong to the same organisation and who attempt to share, project and reinforce good relationships, increasing their value and quality.. ?Reference Senge points out that “everybody has his/her own way of looking at reality. Each viewpoint constitutes one unique perspective of a wider reality. If I can look through your perspective and you can look through mine, we both will see something which otherwise we will never be aware of”. Reference needed here Communication is a nervous system which joins different organisation components together. Therefore, the environment has to be a suitable one for communication.

One shouldn’t use communication to create states of opinion, i.e. simply to transmit managerial points of view so that everybody can accept them. To communicate is not the same as to convince. Rather, it aims to provide different points of view concerning similar facts. It should act as an agent of change, with the purpose of facilitating improvement at all levels, both personal and educational.

When any change is announced, the spontaneous reaction is a defensive one. There is resistance to modification of a situation already established. This should not consist of a battle

between change and resistance – resistance to change is not a negative attitude and evil in itself. On the contrary, it involves a protective function when facing a threatening situation. One must accept and respect resistance, creating a structure of both understanding and approach. Our intervention should be oriented to modify the communication framework.

It is clear that the communicative process depends on how people contribute and receive throughout the process. It is a process of refreshing. To receive adequate communication, school leaders have to, in the first place, recognise their need for receiving something from the others. School leaders not only need to know what is happening around the learning centre, but they must also hear back from the others to develop as individuals. School leaders will always learn from their collaborators. The same can be said with respect to the relationship with their students. School leaders – but not teachers – may be open to communication. These situations should be examined in detail in order to identify the problem that may be part of either school leaders’ or teachers’ strategy.

In addition, the leader should learn how to obtain information from others. This means that one should be able to recognise different communication systems which could be used to communicate in a variety of situations. For example, a teacher can openly say that he/she doesn’t agree with a decision taken by the management team. On the other hand, another teacher may express his/her disagreement not so openly – he/she may remain silent or use other gestures. In both cases, school leaders should be able to acknowledge their disagreement, and establish a personalised communication method for that particular teacher.

School leaders should also know the best time for them to speak with different teachers by using all the communication channels available, either by paying periodic visits to teachers’ offices, by writing reports or through other less formal situations.

COVEY, S. R. The 7 habits of highly effective people : Simon & Schuster, 1989. 352 p.

COVEY, S. R. First things first : Simon & Schuster, 1994. 384 p.

VINING, L. Smart Ideas for school marketers. Carlingford, NSW : Centre for Marketing Schools, 2003. 128 p.

VINING, L. . Marketing Matters In Schools. Carlingford, NSW : Centre for Marketing Schools, 2000.

ISAACS, D. Ocho cuestiones esenciales en la dirección de centros educativos. Pamplona : EUNSA, 2004. 352 p.

SENGE, P. M. The Fifth Discipline : Doubleday Dell Business, 1998.

432 p.

Key Points on Communication This section attempts to help school leaders identify their main communication needs. Questions such as what, when and how to communicate are raised. Having answered these questions, school leaders will be able to prioritise each objective and decide how these priorities should be made known to the rest of the school community.

‘Mission’ refers to the reason why the school exists, and the main impetus for all of its activities. Corporate mission is the answer to the question, “Why does this school exist?”

Sharing your vision is the key to academic success. The school vision should be based on a strategic plan of what it wants to achieve in the long term. It must cover a significant time span for your school, and convey a sense of direction, discovery and opportunity. The school plan will lead both leaders and collaborators forward. Vision implies the longer-term goals and objectives of the organisation – what it wants to reach IN THE COMING YEARS. By values, we mean the set of principles, beliefs, rules and qualitative goals which the school strives to instil through all of its activities. They constitute the philosophy of the school and its cultural support.

In general terms, school leaders are usually interested in meeting those goals which are closly related to school matters and

in carrying out habitual academic tasks in order to be sure that there is a one-to-one relationship between objectives and what is being done. However, attention should also be paid to academic quality as well as to teachers’ personal development.

When communication is understood as a unified process, school principles will also be met within such a process in an implicit way. When teachers feel more united by common values, communication will make greater sense and will be extended everywhere. This is a two-way communication process between school leaders and teachers, even when teachers come from very different subject areas and are working at very different levels.

It may be that communication is not especially developed in big centres. For example, it is usually the case that there is a lack of communication between teachers of first years and teachers of final years. We should identify these problematic areas and facilitate communication as best as we can.

Obviously, open communication between school leaders and teachers should always be the goal of an effective school organisation.

Resources: ISAACS, D. Ocho cuestiones esenciales en la dirección de centros educativos. Pamplona : EUNSA, 2004. 352 p.

MIDDLEWOOD, D.; LUMBY, J. Strategic Management in Schools and Colleges. London : Paul Chapman, 1998. 208 p.

OWENS, R. G. Organizational Behaviour in Education. 8th edition.

Needham Heights : Allyn and Bacon, 2003. 445 p.

PETERSON, K.; DEAL, T. The shaping of schools. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass, 2002. 267 p.

PROSSER, J. School Culture : Sage Publications Ltd, 1999. 192 p.

BUSH, T.; COLEMAN, M. Leadership and Strategic Management in Education. London : Paul Chapman, 2000. 89 p.

Crick, R.D., Transforming Visions: Managing Values in the Schools, Middlesex University Press, 2002.

DAVIES, B.; ELLISON, L. Strategic Direction and Development of the School. London : Routledge, 1999. 194 p.

FIDLER, B. Strategic Planning for School Improvement Strategic Planning for School Improvement. Edinburgh : Pearson Educational, 1996.

296 p.

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Resources:

Reflection This section is intended to help school leaders become familiar with school mission, vision and values and to discover distinguishing elements with respect to other schools. Similarly, school leaders should reflect on the importance that school principals have, above all other people involved in the education provided by the school.

Exercise 1: Visit the web pages of other schools. School principals should feature on them in some form. Try to become familiar with them, and compare and contrast different schools with respect to their focus on education.

Exercise 2: Examine the educational principles of your own school and review its mission, vision and values accordingly.

After this, you should be able to answer the questions raised in Exercise 3.

Exercise 3: Questions Can you clearly state the mission, vision and values that characterise the educational organisation where you work? Do you usually refer to the mission, vision and values of your school when you speak to the faculty in academic meetings?

Do you regularly think about the decisions you take? Are they coherent with the projects that are carried out in your centre concerning its mission, vision and values?

Do you share the same values as the rest of your colleagues?

Can you identify common styles amongst you as a result of common school principles and values? Can you also find similar styles in both former and present students?

Are school principles and values explained to families that bring their children to the school for the first time? Do you apply any selection process concerning the principles and values that distinguish your school? Which are the most distinguishing elements in your school? What goals does your school have for the coming 5 years? What are they based on?

What is the Main Reason for Leadership Communication?

1. Cohesion Function All collaborators within an educational centre must identify with the mission, vision and values of the centre. The motivation of a person working in a common project depends on his/her identification with its main goals. This generates confidence and a sense of responsibility, which helps meet the objectives of the centre. Furthermore, it stimulates a spirit of service.

2. Clarification Function This relates to collaborators’ expectations and objectives and helps decision taking. It is necessary that employees know what we expect from them. Do our new teachers also know?

Do we have a guidebook for new employees? How do they know about objectives and other information such as the school plan, and guidelines on procedures and tasks? How can we evaluate the information we provide?

3. Control Function Obviously, supervisors have to know what his/her organisation’s rules are and, in addition, they must let employees have this information, especially when they have been hired recently. As a supervisor, you should frequently talk with your employees and compliment them on high quality performance when appropriate, so that you are not only pointing out perceived flaws.

4. Feelings Function People’s work offers excellent opportunities to integrate theory and practice in a real context. However, this context may also work as a restriction, depending on general teacher competence and pedagogic circumstances. Teachers should express feelings through their daily practice in order to show understanding and empathy.

Leaders should be aware of employee problems and demonstrate their concern if teachers experience an illness or are undergoing family difficulties. They also have to ensure that their employees are satisfied with their work. A caring attitude always helps.

5. Personal and Professional Growth Function Managers not only have a mission to meet educational objectives in the most competitive way, they must know how to do it, and this clearly entails a significant amount of motivation. Professional excellence is only achieved when people’s work is measured by its human quality. If we feel empowered by what we are, then we can also be valued by what we produce.

The limit of our personal growth depends on how we are treated as individual persons: managers who wish to be real leaders have to know how to deal with each employee as a unique person. In this way, they can help employees become motivated to produce the best they can.

Communication Plan The goal of this section is twofold. Firstly, it aims to make managers realise that there is a real need for a communication plan and, secondly, it lets managers identify all the main stages of such a plan. Managers are able to set priorities and to control communication in their environment by reaching several educational audiences. They can also evaluate the results of their communication objectives, since they are now measurable, and other new objectives can also be accomplished.

A communication plan within an educational centre has to be well established since the school leader deals with a range of educational sectors. Such a plan cannot be assembled quickly.

In order to guarantee the quality of a communication plan, the leader has to set different objectives along a time line. We will not see some of the results in the short term, but in the longterm it will concern all the different members of the educational community.

In this sense, communication planning cannot be rigid. Rather, it has to be flexible so that it can be adapted to different situations. At any time, changes might be introduced, depending on the different needs arising in the educational environment.

CARDONA, P.; WILKINSON, H. Creciendo como líder. Pamplona : EUNSA, IESE Business School, 2009. 225 p.

COVEY, S. R. The 7 habits of highly effective people : Simon & Schuster, 1989. 352 p.

GOLEMAN, D. Emotional intelligence. USA-Canada : Bantam Books, 1995. 368 p.

HUETE, L. M. Servicios y beneficios. Bilbao : DEUSTO, 1997. 244 p.

ISAACS, D. Ocho cuestiones esenciales en la dirección de centros educativos. Pamplona : EUNSA, 2004. 352 p.

BARNES , L. B. ; WARE, J. P. Managing Interpersonal Conflict : Harward Business Review, 1978. 11 p.

YANKELOVITCH, D. The Magic of Dialogue: Transforming Conflict into Cooperation. London : Nicholas Brealey, 1999. 236 p.

A number of actions should be undertaken in order to develop a flexible communications plan. Taking these decisions will cost us more in the short time but will be more beneficial in the long term.

Some basic criteria to be followed in elaborating a communication plan 1. Analysis of the current situation at school Threats: Those external aspects (including social, economical and cultural) which can impact negatively now or in the near future our school.

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One should be able to foresee changes with a well structured communication plan. That is, we have to look to the future in order to be able to set present objectives which will have a clear influence on future actions.

Strengths: Those potential strengths of our school which can constitute a clear advantage over our competitor educational organisations..

Opportunities: Those external aspects (social, cultural, economical, etc.) which can favour our school in the short, medium and long term.

Weaknesses: Aspects that are liable to lead to failure within our educational centre, and are therefore a clear disadvantage in terms of our competitors.

2. Definition of the communication objectives to be accomplished a)

Objectives of internal communication (ascendant/descendant/horizontal)

b)

Objectives of internal communication (one person and group/ascendant/descendant/horizontal).

c)

Objectives of external communication (one person and group/ascendant and descendant)

3. Selection of internal audiences: Internal collegiated: school boards, teachers, legal agents, class representatives, etc.

One person figures: Head master, deputies, supervisors, head of studies, coordinator, administrator, receptionist, technicians, teachers, etc.

4. Selection of external audiences Externally collegiated: educational council, regional council, school board, school committee, local school district, town-hall, etc.

One-person: journal editors, weekly magazines, journals, local papers, etc.

5. Selection of communication channels: oral,written, online 6. Timing 7. General budget 8. Evaluation of the final communication plan

Resources: ELÍAS, J.; MASCARAY, J. Más allá de la comunicación interna. Barcelona : Gestión 2000, 1998. 306 s.

VINING, L. Smart Ideas for school marketers. Carlingford, NSW : Centre for Marketing Schools, 2003. 128 p.

VINING, L. . Marketing Matters In Schools. Carlingford, NSW : Centre for Marketing Schools, 2000.

SMITH, C. H. . El factor Merlín: liderazgo y propósito estratégico. HARVARD-DEUSTO-BUSINESS-REVIEW. 1994, 61, s. 36–47.

SNYDER, R.; MORRIS, J. Journal of Applied Psychology : American Psychological Association, 1984. Organizational communication and performance, s. 461–465, Volume 69, Issue 3.

Different appproaches to communications plan for schools: National School Boards Associaton [online]. The Communication Plan. Available from WWW: <http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/tcp.html >.

Denton Elementary School [online]. School-Wide Communications Plan. Available from WWW: <http://www.davidson.k12.nc.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=16673>.

Any County Public School System. In Communications Plan [online]. Available from WWW: <http://www.hieran.com/comet/school_system.doc>.

Mountain View Elementary School [online]. Comprehensive Communication Plan 2007–2008. Available from z WWW: <http://www.jcschools. org/MtView/Newsletter/MV%20Communication%20Plan%2007-08.pdf>.

Cannons Elementary School [online]. Cannons Elementary School. Available from WWW: <http://cannons.spartanburg3.org/www/spartanburg3_cannons/site/hosting/Cannons%20Communication%20Plan%2008-09.pdf>.

Worksheets This section provides a selection of materials to enhance and supplement the body of this handbook. Each component of the material can be used along with the various areas or sections to provoke systematic reflection and professional development planning.

The materials can also be used as a basis for your leadership portfolio. a)

Initial Self-Evaluation Profile

b)

Leadership-focused Growth Plan

c)

Reflection Journal

49

Initial Self-Assesment Profile (worksheet) In thinking about my experience, my most vivid recollection/idea/thought is...

Im confident in my ability to...

Critical areas to focus my learning...

During this year, Im looking forward to...

Anticipating this year, Im most concerned about...

Leader-Focused Growth Plan (worksheet) Target Completion Date:

Focus for Growth: What do I want to know/be able to do?

Filling the knowledge gap: How and where will I learn about it?

(readings, videos, talk to experts, etc.) How will I build my competence level?

Implementation steps:

When and how will I use the new competences?

Evaluation/Data Collection:

How will I know that Im appropriately implementing new competences?

To what degree is this new competences producing good results in my practice?

Resources:

What resources might I need? What resources are available to me?

Learning-focused growth plan: Tracking progress (worksheet) Date:

Action:

Key learnings:

New questions:

Reflection Journal (worksheet) Area Focus

Im excited by the opportunity to...

I have noticed that Im doing well with...

Im courious, want to learn...

By end of this .... I want to be able to...

Information needs:

Resources/Material needs:

Contributors: Karel Binon

Gerry McNamara

Cvetka Bizjak

Fani Nolimal

Sean Griffin

Joe Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Hara

Milan Kotik

Brigita Rupar

Nikola Kristek

Vaclav Sneberger

Patricia Ledo

Marc Van den Brande

Nuria Lopez

Marian Villanueva

Delphi is a Comenius multilateral project, aiming at the development of ‘materials’, ‘strategies’ and ‘professional development activities’.

Project goals  Continuing professional development of head teachers  Acquiring and developing their management and

leadership competences

 Enhancing the quality of their learning experiences

This project was planned for 2 years, started October 1st 2008, ended September 30th 2010.

PROJECT PARTNERS Aisis, o. s.

www.aisis.cz

(Czech Republic)

CECE – The Spanish Confederation of Education and Training Centres www.cece.es

DCU – The School of Education Studies, Dublin City University www.dcu.ie

NEI – National Education Institute of Slovenia www.zrss.si

VSKO – Vzw Nascholing in het katholiek Onderwijs (Belgium) www.internationalisering.be

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

Project number: 141838-LLP-1-2008-1-CZ-COMENIUS-CMP.

www.iDelphi.eu

This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.