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Are there universal attributes for IB World School leaders? Gerard Calnin and Sue Richards consider how leadership skills are developed There is now a large corpus of research which confirms that, of the in-school variables, classroom teaching has the largest impact on student outcomes (Hallinger et al, 2014), while in recent years research has confirmed that, second only to classroom teaching, school leadership also has a significant influence on student outcomes (Louis et al, 2010). Given the importance of school leadership and its relationship to student outcomes, it is essential to understand what effective leaders do and know, and what differentiates them from less effective leaders. One of the key messages from literature is the importance of the leader’s ability to read and understand the context and setting of the school, and to adapt their leadership practices to the needs and expectations of the community in order to be effective: “Their ability to respond to their context Spring
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and to recognise, acknowledge, understand and attend to the needs and motivations of others defines their level of success” (Day et al, 2010, p8). Most literature on educational leadership is derived from research at the national or state levels, while international perspectives are often drawn through comparative studies between countries or across cultures (Bryant et al, 2013). There is little research in international educational leadership that addresses the complex environments of International Baccalaureate (IB) World Schools – those schools that offer one or more of the IB Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme, Diploma Programme and Career-related Programme, including their mix of diverse values, cultures and histories. Given the importance of effective leadership and the particular characteristics of IB World School contexts,
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