The document summarizes the components of sustainable change leadership based on readings and findings from a sustainable whole school renewal and innovation pilot project. It identifies six key components of sustainable change leadership: shared vision, understanding of change, building relationships, fostering continuous learning, promoting coherence, and being responsive to external demands. It provides examples from participant quotes in the pilot project that illustrate how these components were demonstrated in practice to bring about sustainable change.

1. EDUC6353
Topic 6: Components of
Sustainable Change
Leadership
Acknowledgement: Jennifer Clement
1

2. Purpose
• To present a synthesis of the readings on the
components of sustainable change leadership and
relate them to the findings of the Sustainable Whole
School Renewal and Innovation Pilot Project. This is the
project referred to in this presentation and where the paprticipant
quotes come from.
• Relating theory to practice – this presentation switches
from theory; relating to leading educational change
and, practice; providing insider perspectives from
practitioners in the process of a change project
2

3. Components of
sustainable Change
Leadership
Qualities Characteristics  Components
• “Leadership is not trait theory” (Lambert, 2007, p. 312)
• “Leadership is about learning that leads to constructive change.”
Sustainable
• “Sustainability is a function of leadership.”
Leaders  Leadership (Fullan, 2002; Lambert,
2007)
• “Everyone has the potential and right to work as a leader…
Leading is a shared endeavor.”
3

4. Outline
Some characteristics of sustainable change leadership:
• Shared vision
• Understands change
• Builds relationships
• Fosters continuous learning
• Promotes coherence
• Responsive to external demands
4

5. Shared Vision
Promote shared vision (Holmes, Clement &
Albright, 2012, p. 271)
• Shared purpose (Lambert, 2007)
• Moral purpose
• “To make a difference in the lives of students” (Fullan, 2002, p.
19)
• In own schools and other schools
• Clear goals kept in forefront of school’s attention
• A clear vision or mission (Williams, 2008, p. 47)
5

6. Shared Vision – The
Project
“I don't think that making goals and having a goal
just for the sake of having a goal is – I think that's a
bit pointless, but I think if the goal is something that
we’ve identified as a staff, have identified as a real
need, then yeah, I definitely see the value in that,
absolutely.”(Primary school teacher)
“For me the extra interaction and communication
between myself, our school and the high school have
been invaluable, absolutely surpassed any
expectations I actually had… The communication
with the high school and those networks with people
that are now working not just down there and up
here, but together to improve student learning
outcomes.” (Primary school Year 6 teacher)
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7. Understands Change
Understanding of change (Fullan, 2002)
• Complexity
• Help others find meaning
• Listen to resisters
• Transform the culture
Awareness of how staff are likely to react (Wiggins &
McTighe, 2007; Williams, 2008)
Uses multiple sources of information to
solve complex problems (Holmes, Clement &
Albright, 2012, p. 272)
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8. Understands Change –
The Project
“But I think, even the way it is delivered…..it hasn’t
been [the principal] saying, right, we are doing this,
this and this. It’s been a collaboration. What do you
think about this? Let’s have a look at it. Do you
want to try it? Go away, have a think, come back,
let’s talk about it.”(Primary school teacher)
“…people tell me it’s a lot to do with my leadership.
But it’s a lot to do with my belief that if you have
people on board and going in the same path, you’ve
got to give them the respect and the opportunity,
and allow them to be involved in all the processes
and have that openness and transparency, and
that’s something I really, I believe I’ve done pretty
well…Yes, something I’ve consciously worked
at.”(Secondary school principal)
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9. Builds Relationships The most common factor in successful change is improving
relationships (Fullan, 2002, p. 18)
Develop the collective efficacy of staff (i.e. their
belief that, as a group, they can bring about
student learning) (Ross & Gray, 2006)
 foster the growth of individuals
 increased teacher commitment to school mission and
to community partnerships
 Development of relational trust with staff (Holmes, Clement & Albright,
2012, p. 272)
 Emotional intelligence (Fullan, 2002; Williams, 2008)
 Self-management of emotions
 Empathy for others
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10. Builds Relationships –
The Project
“They’re more inclined to actually be honest and
open in their opinions. They’re able to, through
focus groups, give feedback, good and bad, knowing
that it will be listened to and it will be responded to
and it will be acted upon, and I think that’s
probably the most important part of it.” (Secondary
school principal)
When asked how the principal made the changes
happen a Primary school teacher responded: “Oh,
through discussions, staff meetings, always asking
staff for their input and taking it all on board and
giving us feedback and asking us personally… it's
been so nice to be treated as a professional and,
sitting down, "You're not having a good day. What's
the problem?" You can always go and see [her]
whenever.”
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11. Fosters Continuous
Learning
 Information becomes knowledge through a social process
• Professional learning communities
• Lead learner who models lifelong learning (Fullan, 2002)
 Teamwork and collaboration foster group learning and further the
improvement agenda (Williams, 2008)
 “When learning is continuous and participation in that
learning is broad-based and skillful, we find the potential and
the reality of sustainable, lasting school improvement”
(Lambert, 2008, p. 322).
 Develops other leaders (Fullan, 2002; Lambert, 2007)
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12. Continuous Learning –
The Project
“We’re doing a lot. We sit around and
discuss things quite a bit in our faculty. ‘I've
got a problem with this. How do I better
teach this to my students at this particular
level?’ I've got to say, the people in our
faculty are quite supportive and quite willing
to discuss different ways of doing things.”
(Secondary school maths teacher)
“I know it will make quite a difference to the
way the numeracy is being taught… So it's
been learning on both sides.” (High school
principal)
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13. Continuous Learning –
The Project
Developing the leadership of others:
• “I had the opportunity to just go around and have a look,
poke my head in classrooms and see what sort of things
are happening, what people are doing…how they were
teaching, basically, what their pedagogy style was, what
they preferred to use in terms of resources – so textbooks
or interactive whiteboards, or hands-on activities. So that
was a real eye-opener for me, and how I can better
support, not just the teachers that I supervise, but as a
numeracy leader at our school, how I can better support
our entire staff.” (Primary school Year 6 teacher)
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14. Promotes Coherence
Coherence (Fullan, 2002; Lambert, 2007)
• Necessary in a context of overload and fragmentation
(Fullan, 2002)
• Schools moving toward high leadership capacity reveal a
striking internal cohesion (Lambert, 2007)
Focus on the core business of teaching and
learning (Holmes, Clement & Albright, 2012, p.
272)
• “Concentrate on student learning as the central focus of
reform and keep an eye out for external ideas that further
the thinking and vision of the school” (Fullan, 2002, p. 19).
14

15. Coherence – The
Project
“I think the staff are working quite
cohesively now over the last couple of years
as well, they seem to be communicating a lot
better, and they’re on the same page, and
they have, you know, common goals and
they're working towards the same direction…
and I think that's good… Earlier on they were
a bit sort of working towards different
things.”(Primary school parent)
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16. Coherence – The
Project
The primary school principal identified the
major changes as:
• “Teaching and learning, the pedagogy; scope and
sequence, like follow-through, so that everyone knows
what everyone else is doing; consistent teacher judgement
days, where teachers are working together to look at kids
within a grade to look at how they're going and where they
fit, and what's been missed out on what we need to catch
up on; whole school assessment strategies K-6 and
tracking and monitoring student progression; and working
with the high school.”
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17. Responsive to Wider
community
Aware of and responsive to the broader
context, beyond the school walls, within
which they operate (Holmes, Clement &
Albright, 2012, p. 272)
• The results that we are achieving is hastening a lot of
positive talk within the community and there is a real
positive vibe.
• We’re part of the local business community now. We’ve
joined the Chamber of Commerce and had conversations
about how we can support each other with our career and
transition projects and having our kids out in the
community more. (Secondary school principal)(p. 279)
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18. Works Towards
SustainabilityLeadership that has the characteristics discussed here is
likely to bring sustainable change (Fullan, 2002; Lambert,
2007).
• Has a sense of purpose
• Understands change
• Builds relationships
• Fosters continuous learning
• Promotes coherence
• Responds to wider community
18

19. Sustainability – The
ProjectGetting out to the partner primary schools has been
a really positive link, and people are looking at how
we can build on that in the future, to maintain it, to
continue it (High school principal)
Continuation of working with the high school. I'd
like to see it not just with maths, but across other
areas… So I can see that the stuff that we've
started is spilling out to… the other schools, so
people are wanting to come on board. (Primary
school principal)
I think even, you know, in the future, project or no
project, those communication links will be further
developed with those teachers and myself and our
committee up here. (Primary school Year 6 teacher)
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20. Sustainability (cont’d)
Primary school Year 6 teacher was keen to
continue using the planning process:
• “I think we need to keep doing what we've been doing –
setting these goals, how are we going to achieve them?
What are our areas of need as a staff? And identifying
what our staff want from our committee, or whatever it
may end up being (laughs), and addressing it in that way…
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21. 21
References
Fullan, M. (2002). The change leader. Educational Leadership, 59(8), 16-20.
Holmes, K., Clement, J., & Albright, J. (2013). The complex task of leading
educational change in schools. School Leadership & Management, 33(2), 270-283.
Lambert, L. (2007). Lasting leadership: Toward sustainable school improvement.
Journal of Educational Change, 8(4), 311-322.
Ross, J. A., & Gray, P. (2006). Transformational leadership and teacher
commitment to organizational values: The mediating effects of collective teacher
efficacy. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 17(2), 179-199.
Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2007). Schooling by design: Mission, action, and
achievement (pp. 227-241). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development
Williams, H. W. (2008). Characteristics that distinguish outstanding urban
principals: Emotional intelligence, social intelligence and environmental adaptation.
Journal of Management Development, 27(1), 36-54.