Great principals attract great talent. They nurture that great talent and they develop that great talent.

1. The relationship among the adults in the schoolhouse has more impact on the quality and the character of the school and on the accomplishment of youngsters than any other factor Roland Barth 2001

2. Great principals attract great talent. They nurture that great talent and they develop that great talent. Bad principals are the reverse: bad principals don’t attract good talent, they run off good talent. They don’t find ways to improve those that are trying to get better. They don’t engage the community. U.S. Education Secretary Arne L. Duncan, addressing The Wallace Foundation’s National Conference on Education Leadership, October 2009.

3. Children: the new commodities We no longer look at children as children with all their quirks, idiosyncrasies, and all the things that make them unique human beings. We see them as grade enhancers and grade detractors. Will they add value or lower our scores? (David Berliner, AERA, 2006)

4. Managing paradox avoid mistakes deliver results now follow the rules compete retain control assess individuals specialise innovate think long term be flexible collaborate delegate encourage teamwork promote generic approaches

5. Leadership as a subversive activity (re) focus on learning (re) create conditions for learning Foster the dialogue Share leadership Strengthen internal accountability

6. The Vise Principal - Fullan What’s new for the principal? Powerful changes forces have certainly bombarded the principalship, making life more onerous, but also containing glimpses of new interdependent components. 1. Initiativitis 2. High-stakes vulnerability 3. Managerial diversions 4. Unfit for purpose 5. Strategies with potential 6. Recruitment and succession 7. Clusters, networks, and partnerships 8. International benchmarks

7. Eight high-magnitude change forces Initiativities: In Change Without Pain, Abrahamson (2004) calls this the “repetitive change syndrome”: The symptoms? Initiative overload, change-related chaos and widespread employee anxiety, cynicism and burnout” (p. 2). .

8. Eight high-magnitude change forces High stakes vulnerability: One culprit in initiativitis is the accountability scheme that is externally imposed, ill-conceived, and punitively driven. Richard Elmore (2004) has made the case more than once that no amount of external accountability can succeed in the absence of internal-to-the-school accountability. Otherwise external intervention by itself will result in pro forma compliance and, if anything, spawn practices that prop up short term test scores in ways that actually harm schools in the mid- to long-term. .

9. Eight high-magnitude change forces Managerial Diversion: Some school leaders are more comfortable doing the paperwork first, and strategic direction second (if they have time for it, which of course they never do). (PWC, 2007, p. vii).

10. Eight high-magnitude change forces Unfit for Purpose: Ken Leithwood and colleagues’ (2004) description of the basic core of the work of school leaders (“building strategic direction, understanding and developing people, redesigning the organization, and managing the teaching and learning program”), or PWC’s big six (“strategic direction and ethos, teaching and learning, developing and managing people, networking and collaboration between schools and with other agencies, operations, and accountability”), or PWC’s portrayal of “the changing landscape of schools includes: new relationships with schools, the learning environment, the learning and social agency agenda, personalized learning, and partnerships”.

11. Eight high-magnitude change forces • Strategies with Potential: Most systemic change has not worked. It is a time for radical experimentation. • Voluntary participation • Networks of schools • Mentor schools and heads • Inspirational PD and project leadership • Share practical strategies • Incentive participation through funding

12. Eight high-magnitude change forces Recruitment and Succession: As the Wallace Foundation (2003) leadership report argues, part of the solution involves role clarity and better preparation. Success in Finland is being attributed to teachers being required to have master’s degrees prior to entering the teaching force. It starts with a foundational bedrock of quality teachers across the board. Hargreaves and Fink (2006) found that episodic, unplanned succession was the norm.

13. Eight high-magnitude change forces Clusters Networks and Partnerships: The networks or partnerships we envision must be powerful. 1. Improvement by schools, with schools, and for schools 2. Being driven simultaneously by research-based evidence and professional experience and wisdom 3. Engage in iterative cycles of research and development and vice versa 4. Use and value outside-in leadership and expertise, as well as inside-out

14. Eight high-magnitude change forces • International Benchmarks: Jurisdictions should compare themselves in 3 ways: • Themselves with themselves over time. What is the extent of progress relative to previous performance? • 2. Apples with apples. How are they doing in comparison with other schools facing similar circumstances? • 3. To some absolute standard. What is the % of students achieving proficiency, both within the local system and compared to international standards?

15. Highlights Complex Challenges are Resisting Solutions and Driving the Need for New Approaches • More than 40% of respondents noted that their organizations have been facing a complex challenge for two years or more, which shows the challenges are either resisting solutions or morphing into new challenges. Further, these challenges are affecting organizations by forcing leaders to create more innovative solutions and work more collaboratively.

16. Highlights Talent and Talent Development is a Top Priority • Respondents placed talent acquisition/talent development and believe there will be a talent crisis in the next five years. ACEL 9 11 22 12 1 15 1 2 2 - 3

17. ACEL: Organisational Challenges

18. ACEL 36 31 55 21 38 26 31 19 21 14 18 14 13 12 10 10 8 21 To Be Effective in the Future, Leaders Will Need to Develop New Skills • Future leadership skills will focus on collaboration (49 percent), leadership change, building effective teams, and influence without authority.

20. Highlights Complex Challenges are Resisting Solutions and Driving the Need for Ne Rewarding Leaders in the Future Will Require a New Approach • Most organizations currently reward their employees based almost entirely targets (33 percent) and individual performance (24 percent). However optimal scenario, developing others, collaboration, and innovation rose significantly.

22. Seven strong claims about successful school leadership Kenneth Leithwood, Christopher Day, Pam Sammons, Alma Harris and David Hopkins Seven strong claims School leadership is second only to classroom teaching as an influence on pupil learning. Almost all successful leaders draw on the same repertoire of basic leadership practices. The ways in which leaders apply these basic leadership practices – not the practices themselves – demonstrate responsiveness to, rather than dictation by, the contexts in which they work. School leaders improve teaching and learning indirectly and most powerfully through their influence on staff motivation, commitment and working conditions. School leadership has a greater influence on schools and students when it is widely distributed. Some patterns of distribution are more effective than others. A small handful of personal traits explains a high proportion of the variation in leadership effectiveness.

23. Fundamentals These fundamentals of succession planning include: Support from the principal; Build a development mindset in the organization; Approach should not be just top-to-bottom but also bottom-to-top and cross-functional; Align succession plan with the overall strategy of the company; Ensure data-driven decision-making; Develop a “learning organization”; and Assess

24. Overall, the pressures reveal that companies are struggling with all three components of succession planning:“Identifying” (difficulty finding successful management candidates, identifying high potential talent early and devising strategies to retain talent)“Developing” (improving the company’s bench-strength in key positions, need to evaluate top talent)“Retaining” (unexpected loss of key leaders, reducing the cost of replacing employees)

25. In order to be robust enough to meet these demands, the process needs to be an organization-wide approach. • In response to these pressures, companies are taking the following actions: • Position succession planning as a key retention strategy 50% • Acquire automated tools to track high achievers 9% • Offer external leadership development programs 28% • Offer executive coaching 34% • Move employees laterally across the organization 28% • Offer mentorship programs 23% • Deploy internal leadership development tools 51%

26. Integrating succession planning with other processes is not the only challenge facing companies. While 74% of companies implement or plan to implement a succession planning program, these companies still confront several challenges to making it work.

27. Best versus Laggards In the succession planning process, there are several distinguishing factors between Best in Class companies and Laggards that are enabled by technology: • 87% of Best in Class companies are implementing or planning to implement a succession planning initiative compared to 64% of Laggard companies • 93% of Best in Class companies are knowledgeable about their succession planning programs compared to 79% of Laggard companies • Strategic actions include the following: 39% offer executive coaching compared to 25% of Laggard; 52% offer internal leadership development programs compared to 45% of Laggard; 32% offer mentorship programs compared to 15% of Laggard companies • 60% of Best in Class companies are using automation compared to 28% of Laggard Companies

30. Recommendations for Action In addition to the Best in Class actions, companies should also evaluate their processes to ensure they effectively accomplish the following: Educate your school on the new trends in succession planning and instill a strong process to build succession bench strength; Ensure that succession planning is integrated with other processes of talent management including performance management, training and development, compensation, and assessment; Link succession planning to competency management and include a reporting and analytics component; Integrate with career development tools; Automate the succession planning process for greater efficiency and less operational risk; and Develop both a top-to-bottom approach and also a bottom-up approach for succession planning

31. The report summarizes the main findings from the review and describes international evidence and practices relating to: • The importance of school leadershipƒƒ • The role of school leadersƒƒ • The identification and development of ƒƒpotential leaders • The selection and placement of school leadersƒƒ • The development and opportunities available to serving school leaders • The role and development of middle-tier leaders

32. The Transition to Middle Leadership 75% of middle leaders stated finding time management a challenge/ very big challenge in their first six months as a middle leader. Participants stated that “feeling emotionally drained at work” and “having the time to do the work that must be done” were the two biggest challenges when joining the Teaching Leaders Programme.

33. Intervention • Contextualizing • Sustaining • Ignition

34. e HeadeACEL Leadership Capability Frameworkr