Ready to lead? Shifting thinking about leadership of our schools AIS Executive Conference May 2007

1. Ready to lead? Shifting thinking about leadership of our schoolsAIS Executive ConferenceMay 2007 Helen Wildy Murdoch University

2. Overview • Shifts in thinking about leadership • Delegation • Leading or managing? • Standards-based reform • WA Leadership Framework • Summary H Wildy 2007

3. 1. Shifts in thinking about leadership • Trait theory 1900-1950 • Leadership style 1960s • Situational theories 1970s • Transformational leadership 1980s • Distributed leadership 1990s • Sustainable leadership 2000s H Wildy 2007

4. Trait theory 1900-1950 • Assumed leaders were born, not made • Leaders were different from non leaders • Physical traits • Abilities • Personality • Challenge: find the person for the job H Wildy 2007

5. Leadership style 1960s • Background research: Hawthorne studies • Ohio State University studies • 2 dimensions of leadership • Consideration (people) • Structure (task) • Example: Blake and Mouton 1964 (authority, team, country club, impoverished) H Wildy 2007

6. Blake and Mouton 1964 Country Club High Team People Authority Impoverished Low Low High Task H Wildy 2007

7. Hersey and Blanchard 1970s Support Coach High People Direct Delegate Low Low High Task H Wildy 2007

8. 2. Delegation H Wildy 2007

9. Three big concepts behind effective delegation Authority Responsibility Accountability H Wildy 2007

10. Authority • Give authority by ensuring sufficient • Resources esp time, motivation • Skill • Knowledge of context and importance • Understanding of rationale • Discretion • Involve delegatee in making these decisions • Giving appropriate authority shows you value • the work and • the person • Giving authority says I trust you H Wildy 2007

11. Responsibility • Be clear about responsibilities: the buck stops with the delegator but the delegatee has responsibilities eg outcome, timeline, quality • Delegators are responsible for informing others Delegatees are responsible for seeking clarification • Sharing responsibility shows you value • the work and • the person • Sharing responsibility says We’re professionals H Wildy 2007

12. Accountability • Decide on accountability processes in advance • meeting targets • being on time • staying within budget • achieving quality • reporting achievement (when and how) • Accountability relationships show you value • the work and • the person • Accountability says You, and your work, matter H Wildy 2007

13. Transformational leadership 1980s In contrast with transactional leadership (power, position, politics and perks), Transformational leadership assumes people are motivated • by intrinsic factors: shared goals, sense of belonging, identity • by being part of a vision, mission, values Highly popular today as the path to organisational change Deeply embedded in the rhetoric of organisations • Based on the concept of heroic, charismatic,singular,visionary leadership • But can one person do it all? H Wildy 2007

14. Distributed leadership 1990s • Terms also used • Networked leadership • Collaborative leadership • Shared leadership • Team leadership • Assumes • Flatter structures • Decentralised control • Increased ownership • Expanded responsibility H Wildy 2007

15. Sustainable leadership 2000s Leading for sustainability based on three key concepts • Personal resilience • Embedded organisational change • Future orientation H Wildy 2007

16. 3. Leading or Managing • What is the relationship between leading and managing? • Is one a subset of the other? • Or are they different processes? • Do they involve different skills? Draw a diagram to represent the relationship H Wildy 2007

17. Leading Establishing direction Aligning people Motivating and inspiring Producing growth, improvement, change Managing Planning, budgeting Organising and staffing Controlling and problem solving Producing order, predictability, stability H Wildy 2007

18. 4. Standards-based reform Argument • Student performance improves when outcomes of learning are made explicit • Teachers’ performance improves when practices of teaching are made explicit • School performance improves when practices of leaders are made explicit H Wildy 2007

19. Standards for leaders: UK • NSH (National Standards for Headteachers) developed for National College for School Leadership • 6 categories, each with 4 subcategories, each with between 3 and 13 subcategories plus invitation to add your own to reflect their contexts • Total 159 elements (at least) H Wildy 2007

20. UK - NSH: 6 main categories • Shaping the future • Leading learning and teaching • Developing self and working with others • Managing the organisation • Securing accountability • Strengthening community (compare with WADET Leadership Framework) H Wildy 2007

21. UK - NSH : subcategories • Knowledge • Knows about • Professional qualities • Is committed to • Is able to • Actions H Wildy 2007

22. NSH example Leading learning and teaching Knowledge Knows about: • Strategies for raising achievement and achieving excellence • The development of a personalised learning culture within the school • Models of learning and teaching • The use of new and emerging technologies to support learning and teaching • Principles of effective teaching and assessment for learning • Models of behaviour and attendance management • Strategies for ensuring inclusion, diversity and access • Curriculum design and management • Tools for data collection and analysis • Using research evidence to inform teaching and learning • Monitoring and evaluating performance • School self evaluation • Strategies for developing effective teachers H Wildy 2007

23. NSH example (Cont) Leading learning and teaching Professional qualities Is committed to • The raising of standards for all in the pursuit of excellence • The continuing learning of all members of the school community • The entitlement of all pupils to effective teaching and learning • Choice and flexibility in learning to meet the personalised learning needs of every child Is able to • Demonstrate personal enthusiasm for and commitment to the learning process • Demonstrate the principles and practices of effective teaching and learning • Access, analyse and interpret information • Initiate and support research and debate about effective learning and teaching and develop relevant strategies for performance improvement • Acknowledge excellence and challenge poor performance across the school H Wildy 2007

24. NSH example (Cont) Leading learning and teaching Actions • Ensures a consistent and continuous school-wide focus on pupils’ achievement, using data and benchmarks to monitor progress in every child’s learning • Ensures that learning is at the centre of strategic planning and resource management • Establishes creative, responsive and effective approaches to learning and teaching • Ensures a culture and ethos of challenge and support where all pupils can achieve success and become engaged in their own learning • Demonstrates and articulates high expectations and sets stretching targets for the whole school community • Implements strategies which secure high standards of behaviour and attendance • Determines, organises and implements a diverse, flexible curriculum and implements an effective assessment framework • Takes a strategic role in the development of new and emerging technologies to enhance and extend the learning experience of pupils • Monitors, evaluates and reviews classroom practice and promotes improvement strategies • Challenges underperformance at all levels and ensures effective corrective action and follow up • Add your own context specific actions H Wildy 2007

25. Standards and accountability • To what extent are such ‘standards’ helpful to school leaders in rendering an account to their line managers and the public at large? • What counts as evidence of meeting these ‘standards’? H Wildy 2007

26. Problems with ‘standards as lists’ • fragmented • leads to checklist • false dichotomies • decontextualised • A fulsome list of duties, but where are the standards? H Wildy 2007

27. Short shrift to long lists which only show • Fragmentation, not interrelationships • Reduction, not complexity • Dichotomous, not variable • Duties, not essential qualities • Descriptions, not standards H Wildy 2007

28. Alternative approach • Research 1996-1997, 2003-2005 funding by ARC and WA DET (Wildy, Louden, Andrich) • Judgements about the quality of performance depicted in 200 narrative accounts of school leaders at work • More than 2 000 ratings and 5 000 descriptions H Wildy 2007

29. 5. Leadership Framework (WA) • Developed over 9 years • Grounded in leaders’ practice • Based in rigorous research • Funded by commonwealth and state grants • Developed collaboratively H Wildy 2007

30. Rasch analysis • Narratives arrayed on continua • Narratives clustered • High, middle, low performance • Three levels of performance i.e. standards H Wildy 2007

31. Qualitative data • Attributes that distinguish quality of performance of leaders • Fair • Decisive • Collaborative • Flexible • Innovative • Supportive • Tactful • Persistence H Wildy 2007

32. Not what but how • Factors that differentiate performance relate not to what leaders do but how they do what they do H Wildy 2007

33. Attributes of leaders • Attributes are how leaders do what they do (competencies) in particular contexts • And we use attributes for • reflection • professional development • selection H Wildy 2007

34. WA Leadership Framework http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/lc/standards.html H Wildy 2007

35. 6. Summary Thinking about leadership has shifted dramatically over the past century. This approach to standards • Based on a few easily remembered attributes • Provides richly illustrated levels • Takes account of variation in context • Acknowledges complexity • Recognises dilemmas • Identifies balance between competing pressures To what extent are you ready to lead and to develop others to lead in your school? H Wildy 2007