School Leadership for Learning

1. eTwinning: Leading 21st Century Schools
School leadership
for learning
Prof. Jan Fazlagić
(Poznan Universyty of Economics, Poznan, Poland)
Berlin, 10-12 November 2011

2. Workshop agenda:
1. Why school leadership matters?
2. Competing for student attention – the
leadership challenge
3. How to let school leaders lead (and achieve
results)?
4. Summary.
Please note: the participants of my workshop will
receive a one-page questionnaire for the assessment of
their level of readiness for the 21c school leadership.

3. Why school leadership matters (1)
• School leadership has become a priority in
education policy agendas internationally!
• It plays a key role in improving school
outcomes by influencing the motivations and
capabilities of teachers, as well as school
climate and environment.

4. Why school leadership matters? (2)
The legacy of the Industrial Era still present in
education systems:
1.Planning: deciding what needs to happen and
generating plans for action.
2.Organizing: (Implementation) including staffing.
3. Leading/directing: Determining what needs to be done in a
situation and getting people to do it.
4.Controlling/monitoring:checking
progress against plans.

5. Why school leadership matters? (3)
"Leadership and learning go hand in
hand and we are just beginning to
persuade people that leadership is
something you learn throughout your
life.„
John Adair

6. Why school leadership matters? (4)
• Industrial-type management is mostly about
processes.
• Leadership in 21c schools is mostly about
behaviour

7. Why school leadership matters? (5)
How to improve the quality of leadership in education
(according to theOECD recommendations)?
1. (Re)define school leadership responsibilities
(Research has shown that school leaders can make a difference in
school and student performance if they are granted autonomy
to make important decisions).
2. Distribute school leadership
(distributing leadership across different people)

8. Why school leadership matters? (6)
How to improve the quality of leadership in education
(according to OECD Recommendations)?
3. Develop skills for effective school leadership
(Initial leadership training (national programmes, collaborate with
local level governments); organise induction programmes: a
combination of theoretical and practical knowledge and self-
study; in-service training to cover need and context)

9. Why school leadership matters? (7)
How to improve the quality of leadership in education
(according to OECD Recommendations)?
4. Make school leadership an attractive
profession
(Professionalise recruitment including - succession planning –
proactively identifying and developing potential leaders; focus on
the relative attractiveness of school leaders’ salaries;
acknowledge the role of professional organisations of school
leaders)

10. 2. Competing
for student attention
(This part of presentation inspired
by Bartek Rycharski of Filmpoint.pl,
a young Polish entrepreneur who
„looks at the education system in a reflexive way …”

11. 2.Competing for student attention –
the leadership challenge
The monopoly
is
over!

12. Competing for student attention:
entertainment

13. Edutainment

14. Competing for student
attention: support

15. Competing for
student attention:
social
interaction

16. Competing for student
attention: evaluation of
learning outcomes

17. 3.How to let school leaders
lead (and achieve results)?

18. The new leadership:
You need to be a conductor –
someone who knows how to orchestrate
their talents and bring them together in a
beautiful symphony.

19. Leading creatve people is like herding monkeys

20. What Creative workers love:
• Having clear direction,
• Knowing what the rules of the game are and
what boundaries to play within.
• Freedom to figure out how to get it done.

21. School leaders of yesterday
(and today?) …
• Have become the Principlas because they „fit
the criteria”
• Are under pressure to „influence the
teachers”
• Work hard on their own (and desperately
seek for allies)

22. cel spotkania
Przywódcy klasy kreatywnej
22
What kind of leaders do creative
class need?
• Providers of ideas
• Content is the King!
• Leadership as a rebellion
• Leader enables leadership in employees

23. Part of the school leader’s job is to
be very clear in setting those
guidelines and establishing the
vision.

24. The leader also has to be brave enough and
smart enough to let their Creative teams do
what they do best without getting in their way
– just steering and guiding them occasionally
when they get off- track.

25. Nigel Collin, HOW TO LEAD YOUR CREATIVE PEOPLE
N=182 from a variety of creative industries, comprising both business leaders and creative people

26. How to lead 21c teachers?
• Care for the school environment
• Provide challenges (gamification of life)
• Provide time and space for creative sessions
• Always respect the employees
• Evaluate the teaching outcomes results – not
the process
• Limit the bureaucracy

27. cel spotkania
The School Leader for Gen-Y
27
DO’s DON’T s
Present ideas Focus on the end result
Look for leaders around Tell who the leader is (=YOU)
Free creative thinking Playing a role
Inspirations Using tried-and-true methods

28. How to let school leaders lead
(and achieve results)?
• Become an ideas person –”A daily delivery of
fresh ideas from the school leader”
• Become an architect of an condusive
environment
• Make list of the most popular ideas on
school leadership you have herad in the last
10 years – try to forget them (unlearn)!

29. Summary
1. Traditinal school culture does
not accept leadership
2. The monopoly is over!
3. Provide ideas to the teachers –
many new ideas!

30. Thank you for you attention!
Prof. Jan Fazlagić
(Poznan Universyty of Economics, Poznan, Poland)
e-mail: jan.fazlagic@ue.poznan.pl