Leadership for Learning
practice from macro perspective
Sr Agnes Law fdcc
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Observations

Learning leaders learning staff improving
school (Robinson 2008)
 Leadership & school improvement mutually
responsive – organic (Hallinger 2010)
 Different leadership style adopted in different
stages of school improvement (Day et al., 2010)
 Collaborative (Murphy 1996) & distributed
leadership (Fullan 2001) school improvement
 School capacity building
human capital:
high expectations of teachers, consistent quality, strong
professional ethic & excellent professional development focused
on classroom practice (OECD)
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Learning leaders - learning staff
Leadership Dimension
Effect
Establishing goals & expectations
ES = 0.42
Strategic Resourcing
ES = 0.31
Planning, coordinating & evaluating teaching
and curriculum
ES = 0.42
Promoting and taking part in teacher
professional learning, formal & informal
ES = 0.84
Ensuring an orderly & supportive environment
ES = 0.27
FOR MORE INFO...
Robinson et al, 2008, Leadership for Learning: Results from a
Meta-analysis p. 657
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Leadership School Improvement?

Important catalyst
– Leadership as supporting factor for school
improvement

Contextual impact
– School culture or improvement capacity always
exercises an even stronger influence on
leadership

Implication
– Systemic change in school needed
Hallinger, Mar 2010, HKIEd, Lessons from Research on Leadership for Learning: Yesterday,
Today and Tomorrow
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Stages of School Development

Starting with the turn around phase
Phase 2
Phase 3
Phase 4
Taking Ownership
Developing Creativity
Everyone a Leader
FOR MORE INFO...
Hallinger, Mar 2010, HKIEd, Lessons from Research on
Leadership for Learning: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
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Towards Distributed Leadership?






achievement of a long process of staff
professional development
planning for individual & whole school
professional development – short & long term
with implementation & constant evaluation
(PIE)
and explicit high level of expectation
leadership at all levels – key lever for
academic improvement & for other aspects
including voices of teachers & students
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Staff Professional Development





to reduce gap between highest & lowest
achievers (Ss & Ts)
to ensure structure and system to support
learning & teaching
to ensure organisational culture of learning
to seek external input to further effect
improvement
to groom new forms of leadership to
accentuate collaboration in learning and
distribution of power
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Organising Professional Development
‘Direct’ teaching & practicum
 Learning in school
 Learning out of school

 Motivation
for professional development?
FOR MORE INFO...
Refer to handout ‘Organising Professional Development’ &
‘Professional Life Phases of Educators’
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Professional Life Phases of Educators






0-3 yrs Commitment: support & challenge
4-7 yrs Identity & efficacy in the classroom
8-15 yrs Managing changes: growth tensions
16-23 Work life tensions: career advancement?
24-30 Challenges to sustain motivation
31+ Ability to cope with change, looking to
retirement
FOR MORE INFO...
Day (2006), Notes of seminar on Leadership & the Impact of
Continuing Professional Development of Teachers, Teacher &
Leadership Research Centre, University of Nottingham
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Our Practice in SHCC

3 layers of professional learning
– Learning according to individual
choice/needs, time & interest, respecting
learner diversity (e.g. courses by EdB, online courses from ASCD)
– Departmental staff development
day/sessions
– Whole school staff development
days/sessions
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Our Practice

Leadership in professional learning
– Staff Development Team (with the principal)
for whole school PD planning
– Teachers delivering professional
development sessions to colleagues or
other schools
– Demo lessons to other colleagues &/or
teachers of other schools
– Peer lesson observation for development
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Our Practice

Long & short term planning
– 5 year whole school staff professional
development plan
– Individual professional development
planning for future 1 or 2 years, reviewed
annually in May
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Collaborative Leadership?
Person In C
Dimension of School Development
Principal
Staff Professional Development on L & T,
School Culture, Religious Formation - Ts & Ss
Deputy Principal
Academic Dev (curr, KLA), Timetabling,
Finance, Building, F & E, Resources
Vice Principal
OLE, CCA, ECA, Student Quality – S leaders,
awards & scholarship, extended learning, Ts & Ss
international conference, financial assistance to Ss
Assistant Principal
Life Education – homeroom period, counseling,
discipline, career & further studies, civic & media ed, sex ed,
health edu, student needs, learning support
School Policy &
Improvement Committee
4 Ps, 5 elected staff (2 senior, 2 basic rank, 1 new blood
within 3 yrs in sch.,), 2 appointed staff, 4 elected Ss rep.
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Sacred Heart Canossian College?

…
– We struggle in learning how to learn and teach like
you
– We practise, fail & achieve at times like you
– We have high quality & nasty stakeholders like
you
and
 We care to learn & improve even if the ‘ESR
Team’ or others give a smallest remark…
 We learn rigorously with high energy like…
no one else
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Leadership for Learning
together with all staff in SHCC
Thank You!
9 & 11 June 2010
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