AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x:AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x 30/7/09 4:16 PM Page E A dite ustralian school lea Eddit edb byy NNeil Ce. iCl raCnst.o nC andr Laisna Csatthoernine aEhnricdh Lisa C. de Ehri rs ch h i p t o d a y N Australian eil C . C ranston and Lisa C leadsecrhshooipl , Ehrich today AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x:AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x 30/7/09 4:16 PM Page First published in 2009 Australian Academic Press 32 Jeays Street Bowen Hills Qld 4006 Australia www.australianacademicpress.com.au © 2009. Copyright for each contribution in the book rests with the listed authors. Copying for educational purposes The Australian Copyright Act 1968(Cwlth) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10% of this book, whichever is the greater, to be reproduced and/or communicated by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or the body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. For details of the CAL licence for educational institutions contact: Copyright Agency Limited, 19/157 Liverpool Street, Sydney, NSW 2000. E-mail [email protected] Production and communication for other purposes Except as permitted under the Act, for example a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Title: Australian school leadership today / editors Neil Cranston and Lisa Ehrich. ISBN: 9781921513336 (pbk.) eISBN: 9781921513343 Subjects: Educational leadership--Australia. Educational leadership--Social aspects--Australia. Other Authors/Contributors: Cranston, N. (Neil), 1950- Ehrich, Lisa Catherine, 1964- Dewey Number: 307.2011 AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x:AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x 30/7/09 4:16 PM Page Contents Preface ..................................................................................vii Neil Cranston and Lisa C. Ehrich Introduction and Chapter Summaries......................................1 Bill Mulford, Neil Cranston and Lisa C. Ehrich The Authors ..........................................................................12 SECTION ONE Context and Challenges Facing School Leaders Chapter 1 Confronting Leadership Challenges: Major Imperatives for Change in Australian Education ......................................21 Karen Starr Chapter 2 Examining the Issues and Dynamics of Ethical Dilemmas Faced by School Leaders............................39 Lisa C. Ehrich, Megan Kimber and Neil C. Cranston Chapter 3 School Leaders: Issues of Policy, Practice and Professional Formation..........................................................57 Pam Matters SECTION TWO Leadership Issues and Approaches Chapter 4 Intercultural Leadership: Strengthening Leadership Capabilities for Indigenous Education ..................................85 Nereda White, Robyn Ober, Jack Frawley and Melodie Bat iii AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x:AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x 30/7/09 4:16 PM Page Chapter 5 Spiritual Leadership in Australian Schools: Can it Enhance School Leadership Today? ..........................104 Helga Neidhart and Paul Carlin Chapter 6 Leading Genuine Parent–School Partnerships......................123 Gayle Spry and John Graham Chapter 7 Parallel Leadership: Changing Landscapes for Principals........................................................................141 Marian Lewis and Dorothy Andrews Chapter 8 Coming to Terms With Emotions in Leaders: From Stress to Strength ......................................................165 Sandra Sytsma Chapter 9 Toward an Emotional Understanding of School Success: Connecting Collaborative Culture Building, Principal Succession and Inner Leadership..........................................187 Brenda Beatty Chapter 10 Middle-level School Leaders: Understanding Their Roles and Aspirations ..........................................................217 Neil C. Cranston Chapter 11 Technology and the Principal: Implications for Leadership......................................................................242 Michael Hough SECTION THREE Professional Development and Learning for Leaders Chapter 12 The Preparation of Principals of Small Schools: Learning From the Debutantes............................................267 Helen Wildy and Simon Clarke iv AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x:AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x 30/7/09 4:16 PM Page Chapter 13 Preparing Aspiring Leaders Within Faith-Based Education Systems: Two Models..........................................288 Tony d’Arbon, Annette Cunliffe, Kelvin Canavan and Adrienne Jericho Chapter 14 Professional Learning for Experienced Educational Leaders: Research and Practice..........................314 Neil Dempster, Jan Alen and Ruth Gatehouse Chapter 15 Principals as Architects of Formal Mentoring Programs in Schools............................................................................333 Lisa C. Ehrich Chapter 16 Enhancing Leadership Density Through Effective Senior Management Teams (SMTs)......................................348 Neil C. Cranston and Lisa C. Ehrich SECTION FOUR Leading in and for Successful Schools Chapter 17 Successful School Leadership in Australia ............................369 David Gurr Chapter 18 Leadership for Student Achievement....................................395 Steve Dinham SECTION FIVE Summary and Conclusions Chapter 19 Australian School Leadership Today: Conclusions................417 Bill Mulford, Neil Cranston and Lisa C. Ehrich v AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x:AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x 30/7/09 4:16 PM Page AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x:AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x 30/7/09 4:16 PM Page Preface There is little doubt that educational leadership, and school leadership in particular, now hold centre stage in discussions about schools, their performance and student learning. Indeed, in this regard a recent Organisation for Economic Development and Co-ooperation (OECD) report (Pont, Nusche, & Moorman, 2008) noted that ‘[s]chool leader- ship is now an education policy priority around the world. Increased school autonomy and a greater focus on schooling and school results have made it essential to reconsider the role of school leaders’ (p. 3). Echoing this in Australia, at the most senior governmental policy level, the 2008 Melbourne Declaration of Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA, 2008) noted principals and other school leaders as playing a critical role in leading their schools and shaping learners for the future. This focus on leadership in schools is not new. Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing interest in the area evident in research, academic writings and policy statements and directives from education systems across the world. In some countries, for example England, specialised institutions such as the National College for School Leadership have been established to develop excellence in lead- ership through professional development programs, strategic initiatives, support and networking opportunities for school leaders. Some Australian states such as Victoria have attempted similar initiatives, albeit on a much smaller scale. Such is the plethora of material now available that some writers have attempted to synthesise out the key learnings about school leadership to make these more accessible to researchers, policymakers and practitioners. Leithwood and colleagues (2006) synthesised the key literature in the area to what they saw as seven strong claims about successful school leadership. Mulford and colleagues (2007) also focused on successful school leadership drawing on Australian research. The National College for School Leadership (NCSL, 2007) in England endeavoured to answer the question, ‘what do we know about school leadership?’, arriving at a position similar to that of Leithwood et al. These researchers are not alone in their efforts to seek a better understanding of school leadership today. vii AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x:AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x 30/7/09 4:16 PM Page While Australian researchers have made significant contributions to the scholarly output on school leadership via important national and international journals, there have been few examples of collected pieces of writing from Australians focusing on school leadership. This edited collection is a response to this dearth. Our collection is distinctly Australian and focused on school leadership within an Australian context. It meets a growing interest among Australian education leader- ship scholars for relevant writing and research that is reflective of the social, historical and cultural contexts within which educational leader- ship is understood and enacted in Australia. The contributors to this collection are Australian academics who draw on their expertise, experi- ences and research to provide a diverse and rich set of chapters. In reflecting on these themes and locating them in the realities of schools today, it is apparent that the complex and changing milieu in which leaders now work is fraught with paradoxes and tensions. As the reader engages with the ideas in the chapters in this book, it is impor- tant to keep these in mind so that the real-life dynamics of schools, and the challenges of leading them, are not forgotten. We have identified some of these in earlier work (Cranston, Ehrich, & Morton, 2007) where we argued that leaders needed to: (cid:129) respond to both local and system level demands/priorities when they might not always be compatible (cid:129) be seen and act as the leader while empowering others for distrib- uted, shared, multiple leadership roles (cid:129) achieve work–life balance when the professional and personal demands of being an educational leader are significant (cid:129) drive a future-oriented sustainable vision for their schools in dis- continuously changing and challenging times while managing the reality of ‘the now’ of schools (cid:129) continue their professional learning journey, keeping abreast of educational and related developments and trends while managing the significant competing demands on educational leaders (cid:129) allocate limited resources in effective, efficient and equitable ways to maximise the learning of all students. As one journeys through the chapters in this book, these six paradoxes and tensions provide stark reminders of the complexities and challenges facing contemporary school today. viii AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x:AustSchoolLeaderToday_finaltext.x 30/7/09 4:16 PM Page The book is structured around four sections: (cid:129) Section 1: Contexts and challenges facing educational leaders (cid:129) Section 2: Leadership issues and approaches (cid:129) Section 3: Professional learning and development for leaders (cid:129) Section 4: Leadership in and for successful schools. While the book is organised around these sections, readers will soon note that many of the chapters make contributions to more than just the section to which they have been allocated. This is not surprising given the complexity and diverse nature of educational leadership and its surrounds; it is not possible to write in particular areas without being drawn into and across others. Chapters may be selected and read as stand-alone pieces, or as whole sections that provide different per- spectives on the four overall themes that constitute this book. The contributions in this edited collection provide a contemporary snapshot of writings by Australian school leadership academics. We believe they represent an excellent source of ideas that are likely to stimulate thinking and raise debate about contemporary issues relating to leadership in and of schools. Collectively, the evidenced-based find- ings contained within the chapters paint a picture of the Australian landscape that reveals school leadership, while not without its chal- lenges, is a rewarding and ongoing journey. Finally, we believe the writings in this volume should be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate university students of school leader- ship, current teacher and leader practitioners, system-level educational leaders and policymakers. Our hope is that our collection of Australian writings will make a positive contribution to both school leadership thinking and practice. Neil Cranston Lisa Catherine Ehrich The University of Queensland Queensland University of Technology References Cranston, N., Ehrich, L., & Morton, L. (2007). Current issues in educational leader- ship: What is the literature saying? Australian Educational Leader, 29(2), 10–13. Leithwood, K., Day, C., Sammons, P., Harris, A., & Hopkins, D. (2006). Seven strong claims about successful school leadership. Nottingham, UK: National College of School Leadership & Department of Education and Skills. ix