The importance of school leadership
on the quality of schools and the
achievements of pupils: England
DOES LEADERSHIP MAKE A
DIFFERENCE?
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1. WHERE HAVE WE COME
FROM?
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20 years of education reform in
England
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1988-1997
Financial delegation to
schools - autonomy
New powers for governors
National curriculum
Assessments at
7,11,14,16
Parental choice of school
Regular inspection
Annual published results
Freedom from local
authority
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1998-2008
 National literacy and
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numeracy strategies
Zero tolerance of failure
Benchmarking and value
added
National leadership
college
School partnerships
Qualification for principals
‘Every Child Matters’:
integration of services
20 years of education reform in
England
1988-1997 Rhetoric
 Zero tolerance of failure
 Reliance on better
managed schools
 15,000 teachers are not
doing a good job
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1998-2008 Rhetoric
 Challenge and support
 Raising the baseline
and reducing the
achievement gap
 Government’s ‘New
Relationship with
Schools’
 Personalised learning
 Leadership
development
The quality of schools in England: 2007/08
Secondary schools
Primary schools
17
40
13
Special schools
50
26
Outstanding
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34
9
33
54
Good
Satisfactory
4
18
Inadequate
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PISA 2006 Results (~57 countries)
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
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Outperforming
England
Not significantly
different
Significantly below
2. LEADERSHIP &
MANAGEMENT
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Difference between leadership and
management
 “Management is about producing order and
consistency”
 “Leadership is about generating constructive
change.”
(Kotter 1990)
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20 years of education reform in
England
1988-1997
 Financial delegation to
schools - autonomy
 New powers for governors
 National curriculum
 Assessments at
7,11,14,16
 Parental choice of school
 Regular inspection
 Annual published results
 Freedom from local
authority control
9
peter@apmatthews.com
1998-2008
 National literacy and






numeracy strategies
Benchmarking and value
added measures
National leadership
college
School partnerships
Qualification for principals
School diversification
‘Every Child Matters’:
integration of services
3. WHAT RESEARCH
SUGGESTS
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The three thing that matter most in
high performing school systems
1) Getting the right people to become teachers
2) Developing them into effective instructors
3) Ensuring that the system is able to deliver the
best possible instruction for every child
(McKinsey 2007)
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The effect of teacher quality
100%
90th percentile
Student with high
performing teacher
Student with low
performing teacher
50th percentile
37th percentile
0%
Aged 8
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Aged 11
The effect of continuous professional
development
100%
?th percentile
Teacher with high
quality CPD
50th
Teacher with low
quality CPD
percentile
?th percentile
0%
New teacher
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After 3 years
The two most important roles of the
principal in raising pupils’ achievement
are:
i)
ii)
Promoting and participating in teacher learning and
development – through leadership that not only
promotes, but directly participates with teachers in,
formal or informal professional learning.
Planning, coordinating and evaluating teaching and
the curriculum – through direct involvement in the
support and evaluation of teaching through regular
classroom visits and the provision of formative and
summative feedback to teachers. Direct oversight of
curriculum through school-wide coordination across
classes and year levels and alignment to school goals.
Robinson 2007
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4. WHAT THE MOST
EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS DO
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i.To procure high quality teachers
 Schools have autonomy to recruit teachers
 They advertise for and appoint the best
 They train their own, where they can, in partnership
with higher education
 They induct, mentor and support new teachers
 They provide professional development pathways
and career opportunities
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ii.To improve instruction, the best
schools…
 Provide a stimulating learning environment
 Provide rich, well-planned curriculum
 Have high expectations of teaching and learning
 Monitor quality of learning and performance of
teachers
 Focus professional development on constantly
improving teaching
 Seek the views of students and parents
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iii. Success for every child? The best
schools…
 Create a culture of expecting success
 Personalise learning
 Assess and track the progress of every child, with
targets for learning and support or intervention
where needed
 Continuously evaluate the quality and effectiveness
of everything the school does
 Work as a consistent team
 Learn from others
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5. The role, expectations and
development of school leaders
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National Professional Qualification for
Headship (NPQH)
Six areas:
 Shaping the future (strategic vision)
 Leading learning and teaching
 Developing self and working with others
 Managing the organisation
 Securing accountability
 Strengthening community
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Characteristics of outstanding
headteachers as school leaders
 Clear vision and purpose , very high expectations
 Gets the best out of people Motivating: Providing
opportunity; Promoting professional development;
Encouraging initiative; Showing interest and being generous
with praise; Building teams and empowering them.
 Approachable
 Innovative
 Enthusiastic
 Determined and decisive
 Focused on quality and every pupil’s
achievement
Matthews 2006
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Structure and principles of school
leadership in England
 All leaders must be responsible and accountable
 Every teacher is a leader
 Middle leaders have responsibility for the quality and
effectiveness of their areas
 Senior leaders have corporate and distributed
responsibilities
 The principal has ultimate responsibility for the
effectiveness of the school
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System level support for school
leadership
 Development programmes available for middle and
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experienced leaders; National College for School
Leadership
Assessment instruments for student progress
Data for school benchmarking
Encouragement of innovation and diversity within national
Framework
Cross-provider work to ensure that ‘Every Child Matters’
Encouragement of networks, partnerships and federations
of schools
Highly autonomous schools and school boards, with
rigorous accountability systems
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6. POWER TO PRINCIPALS: FROM
SCHOOL TO SYSTEM
LEADERSHIP
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CHARACTERISTICS OF HEADS WHO
BECOME SYSTEM LEADERS
 They are committed to young people achieving
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their potential.
They know how to improve schools
They lead very good or excellent schools
They are influential beyond their schools and
communities
They see the benefits of partnering and
networking with other schools
They seek new challenges
The quality of schools in England: 2007/08
Secondary schools
Primary schools
17
40
13
Special schools
50
26
Outstanding
26
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34
9
33
54
Good
Satisfactory
4
18
Inadequate
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THREE CHALLENGES FOR SYSTEM-LEADING
SCHOOLS:
1. ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE
•Leadership with vision, courage and
conviction
• High expectations and ambitions for
children
•Staff consistency
•Personalised learning
Next aspiration:
•Tracking learners’ progress To be consistently outstanding
•Distributing leadership
•Constantly reflecting on what they do and
analysing impact
•Investing in professional growth
•Recognising everyone as a learner
2. SUSTAINING EXCELLENCE
•Seeking to improve further
•Raising attainment; reducing the gap
•Growing leaders
•Systematically improving teaching and
learning; be a training schoolNext aspiration:
•Researching and innovatingTo help other schools improve
•Opening their doors to other professionals
•Systematically reducing barriers to
children’s learning and wellbeing
•Extending their frontiers; in the community,
nationally and internationally
3. SHARING EXCELLENCE, THROUGH
•Active school partnering
•Assessing need and engaging with purpose
•Strategic clarity and setting high
expectations
•Injecting commitment and expertise
Next aspiration:
•Addressing underperformance
To become ‘World Class’
•Modelling principles
•Earning trust
•Challenging and supporting
•Monitoring progress
•Building capacity
The three core beliefs:
“The quality of an education system cannot
exceed the quality of its teachers”
“The only way to improve outcomes is to
improve instruction”
“High performance requires every child to
succeed”
(McKinley/Barber 2007)
The only way to achieve this is through
effective and determined school and
system leadership.
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