Learning for Leadership: Building Evaluative Capability through Professional Development for School Leaders

BUILDING EVALUATIVE CAPABILITY IN SCHOOLING IMPROVEMENT POSITION PAPER 9 Learning for Leadership: Building Evaluative Capability through Professional Development for School Leaders D. Le Fevre Why a Focus on Professional Learning for Principals and Other School leaders? This position paper promotes the importance of focusing on professional learning for principals and other key school level leaders of schooling improvement. Findings from the inventory and Phase One stages of the BECSI research support international research suggesting there is a need to prioritise professional learning for principals and other key school leaders e.g. Deputy, Assistant Principals and Heads of Departments. School leaders are key to building evaluative capability in schooling improvement. The task of building professional capacity and distributed leadership requires principal support principal leadership remains a key factor in school improvement (Hallinger & Heck, 2009, p.114). Professional learning is key to building evaluative capability in schooling improvement. It is positioned at the core of school improvement and needs to hold as its central purpose the improvement of student achievement (Elmore, 2004). Teacher professional development is essential to efforts to improve outcomes for student learning (Borko, 2004) and has been the focus of considerable schooling improvement work in New Zealand (Inventory & Phase One data supports this claim). Receiving less attention is the professional learning of school leaders. Inventory findings reveal that just over 70% of principals report having any professional learning targeted to their leadership needs. Of those who reported having some targeted professional learning for leadership, most reported that it was minimal. Professional development that targets teachers only is not enough to change instructional practice, particularly at a systemic level. Rather, principals and other key school leaders 1

need to engage in ongoing professional development for their own practice in addition to providing professional development for teachers in their schools (Stein & Nelson, 2003). One could argue that there are many leaders in schools and that from a distributed leadership perspective, schooling improvement had focused on building leadership capacity within a school across a large number of people (e.g. literacy leaders, lead teachers). While the distribution of leadership within a school is believed to be beneficial (Harris, 2005) it is important to recognise and also support the key positional leadership roles of the principal and senior management in leading schooling improvement. Indeed, the implementation of policies designed to foster distributed leadership do not appear to lessen the importance of the principal s own leadership role (Hallinger & Heck, 2009, p. 114). How does Leadership Professional Learning fit within Schooling Improvement? Figure 1. Locating Leadership and Professional Learning within Schooling Improvement A helpful place to begin is to locate professional learning for leaders within the larger context of schooling improvement. Figure 1 is a simplified representation of the complex levels of learning in schooling improvement. Within the smaller triangle we have the instructional 2

triangle representing the work of teachers in classrooms. Represented here is the student as learner as the core focus of schooling improvement. Facilitating learning in the classroom context is primarily the role of classroom teachers (Top apex of red triangle). The content is a way of saying there is stuff that teachers focus on. Another way of looking at the content might be to call it the focus of learning. Moving the lens out from here to the next circle (orange) we have the professional learning of teachers. The orange triangle represents the instructional triangle for teacher learning. Here, the teacher is the learner. Key facilitation at this point is provided by both external (e.g. professional developers) and internal expertise (e.g. principal, teacher leaders/professional learning networks). At this level the content or focus for professional learning becomes the work of classroom teaching (represented inside the orange circle). Moving out now to the largest triangle, we have the whole school context of schooling improvement. Within this largest triangle the school leader is located as the learner. Again, facilitation of learning is the responsibility of both internal and external expertise to the school. However, we can see that the content or focus of professional learning now becomes everything in the yellow circle. This diagram might serve as a useful tool in terms of identifying the connection (or lack of) between student learning needs, teacher learning needs and school leaders learning needs. The bottom line in Figure 1 represents a focus on student learning needs, however this is connected to learning needs of both teachers and leaders. Figure 1 symbolises the embedded nature of learning within schooling improvement and the significance of connected and coherent learning for everyone involved. What does Professional Learning for Leaders Currently Look Like? Just over half of all school principals involved in the schooling improvement research reported that they participated in the professional development of teachers. In Figure 1, the participation of principals in the professional development of teachers locates leaders alongside teachers as learners on the orange triangle. Research (Robinson, 2009) indicates that it is important for principals and other school leaders to participate as learners alongside teachers. Effective leaders actively support the professional learning of their staff and this includes participating in professional development themselves (Timperley, Wilson, Barrar, & Fung, 2007). While professional development is a major focus of schooling improvement in New Zealand, the target audience has traditionally been teachers and teacher leaders. In comparison, 3

there are somewhat limited opportunities targeted at school principals/senior management and their specific role in leading schooling improvement. Stein & Nelson, (2003) maintain that professional development targeting teachers only is not enough to change instructional practice, particularly at a systemic level. Principals and other key school leaders need to engage in ongoing professional development for their own practice in addition to participating in professional development for teachers in their schools. The professional learning of school leaders is located in the largest yellow triangle. The focus of their learning is everything encompassed within the orange circle. Assuming the need to provide an increased focus on providing professional learning opportunities for school leaders, what in particular should we be paying attention too? The C s: Coherence and Continuity, Critical Community, Connection and Change Figure 1 represents a model in which there is connection and coherence across the learning needs of students, teachers, and leaders (the bottom line!). This figure represents the ideal in terms of coherent and connected relationships of learning throughout a school. Currently, there are many options available for school leaders professional learning. Perhaps the first task is to work towards increasing connection and coherence both with regards to the professional learning leaders themselves focus on and how it relates to the learning needs of students and teachers in their organisation. There exists a tendency for leaders learning to be accessed through a smorgasbord of unrelated topics provided by a range of providers. While individual opportunities may be high quality and offer important learning, effective leaders require more than this. School leaders need targeted and coherent professional learning opportunities that can support them in learning to lead school change and improvement. It is essential to develop a more coherent planned approach to professional learning for leaders in relation to leading schooling improvement. This is in keeping with recommendations for teacher and student learning (Le Fevre, in press). Given the range of topics and opportunities available to leaders, it is important to identify priorities for leaders learning and to provide a focus that is meaningful and useful to leaders. The work of leadership is complex and leaders deserve the same level of professional learning targeted at their key role in leading schooling improvement as teachers have in leading learning and teaching within their classrooms. However, multiple professional learning initiatives for principals and other school leaders are likely to be problematic in 4

terms of dispersed focus, risk of overload, and the superficial level able to be attained when focus is thinly spread. Effective professional development for school improvement requires a long term commitment to consistency and focus (Elmore, 2004) and this applies to students, teachers and leaders alike. Increasing coherence involves clearly identifying priorities for leaders professional learning. In a position paper discussing the importance of change knowledge it was identified as crucial not to have numerous different initiatives for professional learning occurring simultaneously as this can result in multiple goals for teacher learning being pursued at the expense of enabling deep learning to occur in a connected and focussed way (Le Fevre, 2009). It is important to pay attention to the need for coherence and continuity in providing professional learning opportunities for school leaders. Critical Community The provision of professional development communities for teachers is a common aspect of schooling improvement. Tensions and challenges in leading effective schools can be high and leaders deserve the same level of professional community and support around their work as teachers receive. Data from New Zealand principals indicates prioritising the development of supportive communities for professional learning could be an important area to focus on. Building on the idea of critical friends (Lord, 1994) the concept of a critical community encompasses the importance of a community or web of relationship that support leaders in their work. These relationships provide more than collegiality or even collaboration. While these are important first steps, the goal is for school leaders to have critical communities where it is safe to challenge and be challenged about beliefs and practices of leadership. A critical community might consist for example, of principals and school leaders, from both within and outside the school, and external professional developers. What makes the community critical is the role of members in challenging each other s assumptions and asking difficult, important questions that are driven by theories of practice. One might also ask why a critical community and not just a critical friend? Surely a critical friend might be more realistic given the hectic lives of school leaders? First, it is important to have a number of people in terms of increasing capacity for support and thus the sustainability of support. Second, there can be value in having different perspectives and expertise on a problem. 5

While the ultimate goal might be for principals to be involved in collaborative relationships of challenge and critique, the first step for many is to establish collegiality and a leadership community. We might hypothesise that a lack of professional community for leadership is only a problem to school leaders in geographically isolated areas of New Zealand. Indeed, teaching principals of small geographically isolated schools report feeling professionally isolated, however, so do principals in large urban schools that are in close proximity to other schools. The development of collegiality, collaboration and ultimately critical community to support leadership are identified as a priority for some principals in city contexts with competition between schools cited as a perceived barrier to collegiality and community. Participation in critical communities is a potentially valuable source of professional learning. While the term community generally raises images of collegiality and togetherness the reality is that a critical community does not involve comfortable collaboration. Rather, it demands the deep probing of issues of leadership, teaching and learning (Fullan & Hargreaves, 1996). Through diversity and conflict learning occurs. Phase One data in the BECSI project indicate positive reports of learning for leadership wherein principals have the opportunity to work on challenges of leading schooling improvement within clusters of schools through collaboration with one another. Collaboration beyond the cluster was also viewed as valuable wherein principals had opportunities of exposure to effective practices outside their cluster. Perhaps the next step is to build into this effort the important aspect of challenge or critique. It is in the questioning of one s own and others existing theories, assumptions and practices that reasoning can be surfaced and challenged. A role of members in a critical community is to provide high expectations of each other in terms of capacity to both change one s own belief and practices and to bring about change in others. Holding high expectations of teachers to change was identified as a key aspect of effective change (Le Fevre, 2009). So too is the importance of holding high expectations of leaders capacity to change. However, just as for teachers, it is neither sufficient nor reasonable to hold high expectations for leaders to change in the absence of active support for this change. From this perspective, the critical community holds a dual function in terms of holding high expectations for change while also supporting this change. 6

Connection and Change The ultimate goal of professional learning at any level within the organisation should be to change beliefs and practices in ways that result in improved valued learning outcomes for students (Elmore, 2004). In terms of building evaluative capability, it is important that leaders develop an awareness of what they need to learn, the impact of their learning on their leadership practices, and the influence of changed leadership practices on valued outcomes for teachers and students. In other words it is important for leaders to have support that enables them to analyse their learning needs in connection to the needs of students and teachers, to have opportunities to meet these needs, and to be able to examine the impact of their learning. Overwhelmingly, principals reported that their professional learning opportunities within schooling improvement had not caused them to change their leadership practices. Just as it makes sense to evaluate professional learning for teachers on the basis of student outcomes (Le Fevre, in press), so too should be the ultimate focus of outcomes for leaders learning. A principal could build evaluative capability by asking, How might I monitor and check for change in my own practice? How might I evaluate the effectiveness of changes to my practice in terms of outcomes for students and teachers? In addition to asking What have I learned? they might ask What have I changed? and What effect do I think this change has had on teachers? What effect do the teachers think this change has had? It is easier to ask the question, What has been the impact of my professional learning? than it is to respond. The framework of this position paper could be used to begin to evaluate outcomes of professional learning for school leaders. For example: To what extent are professional development opportunities coherent and connected to student, teacher, and principal learning needs? Where are principals situated on the continuum from isolation to collaboration and ultimately critical community? What evidence is there of changes made to leadership practices? How are these changes connected to teacher and student outcomes? The question of how we know if the professional development provided was effective is important to ask. This can be difficult to do but is a task worthy of attention in terms of supporting leaders and schools in building evaluative capability. Supporting principals to engage in the inquiry cycle (Figure 2) in relation to their own professional learning may be an 7

important part of developing evaluative capability. This inquiry cycle (adapted from Timperley, Wilson, A., Barrar, H. & Fung, I. 2008) illustrates the key position of inquiry into outcomes of leaders learning in relation to outcomes for teachers and students. What educational outcomes are valued for students and how are students doing in relation to these outcomes? What understandings, skills & practices do teachers need to enable students to achieve valued educational outcomes? What has been the impact of changed understandings, skills & practices on student outcomes? What knowledge, skills & practices do school leaders need to support teachers in meeting student needs? What has been the impact of professional learning experiences on leaders/teachers knowledge, skills and practices? Adapted from Timperley, H., Wilson, A., Barrar, H., & Fung, I. (2008) Figure 2. Inquiry cycle into outcomes of leaders learning in relation to teachers and students 8

What Might Professional Learning for Leaders Look Like? Based on the recommendations made in this position paper, here is a hypothetical situation of what professional learning for leaders might look like: Coherence Principal A chooses to attend a small number of one-day workshops provided by a range of providers. She intentionally selects options that are related to her self- identified need of providing constructive and honest feedback. She has identified this focus for her professional learning on the basis that she feels she often avoids talking about the difficult issues with staff. She doesn t get to say what she really thinks needs to be said and she has noticed teachers continuing with classroom practices that she thought she had communicated were inappropriate. This need is also identified by comments from a small number of trusted colleagues who have said she should be more forthcoming in communicating with teachers about long-standing issues in their classrooms. Rather than pursuing this goal alone Principal A has raised the issue at her local principals network and has two colleagues who have also identified this as a self-learning need. They will attend the professional development sessions together to enable them to continue to discuss and work with ideas surfaced in the one-day workshops in their own contexts in the following months. In addition, she has set up an hour every two weeks for one-to- one coaching from the school s external professional developer on providing feedback. Principal A has made providing honest and productive feedback her main professional learning goal for the entire year. While it means she may miss several other opportunities, her intention is to really get some depth and skill in this as she sees it as underlying the potential improvement of many of her everyday leadership practices. Critical Community Principal A has created a small professional learning community of principals (just the three of them at this stage) but they have agreed they will commit a regular meeting time (one x 90 minute session each month) to discussing their progress and challenges. In addition, they have contracted an external professional developer to meet with them for this session every second month. The role of the professional developer is to support them in developing their theory of understanding effective feedback and in connecting this with their own practice. During this meeting the professional developer will facilitate the principals learning in viewing a video of themselves giving feedback within their school. Principal A has 9

communicated her focus for her own professional learning within the school and has initially invited two particularly trusted members of the staff to give her feedback on how she is going. They are trusted in the sense that they will challenge her and surface the difficult issues rather than just saying oh- I think everything is going well. The goal is to include all staff once she has gained some further knowledge and confidence. A further goal is to create a larger group of school leaders and include other senior management in the professional learning once the group is underway and others can begin to see the benefits. Change and Connection Principal A s main goal is to improve the way she gives feedback so that classroom teaching practices might improve and ultimately, student learning outcomes. Rather than assessing the quality of her professional learning on her enjoyment or satisfaction (she isn t expecting to enjoy watching video of herself with colleagues!) she is interested in the effect her learning has on the school. She understands this may be challenging to assess and will take time. However, she is determined to find out how teachers are experiencing the ways she gives feedback and what impact this has on their classrooms. Conclusions Principal A is focusing on creating coherence in her professional learning, building in a critical community, and focusing on changes to her leadership practice that are connected to teacher and student learning needs. This is a hypothetical case, however, keeping the C s in mind might assist school leaders in ensuring they experience professional learning opportunities that support them in developing effective leadership practices in leading school change and schooling improvement. Current notions of leadership as distributed are an important focus and increase capacity for leadership within schools. However, they may underestimate the significance of positional leadership of the principal and other key school leaders in effecting change that has positive outcomes for student learning. Principals may be under-recognised as key players in schooling improvement and could benefit from specifically targeted professional learning opportunities to meet their needs in leading schooling improvement. Identifying learning needs for leaders should include consideration of the bottom line in Figure 1. In other words, consideration of student and thus teachers learning needs should influence the focus of professional learning for school leaders. The development of a critical 10

community is key to providing sustainable professional learning for leaders that has the capacity to change beliefs and practices. Finally, the effectiveness of professional learning should be judged in relationship to capacity to change the beliefs and practices of school leaders in ways that have a positive impact on teachers beliefs and practices and ultimately student learning. 11

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