LEADING EDUCATION SYSTEMS This page intentionally left blank LEADING EDUCATION SYSTEMS EDITED BY STEPHEN BROWN The Brown Collective, Australia PATRICK DUIGNAN Australian Catholic University, Australia United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India Malaysia – China Emerald Publishing Limited Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK First edition 2021 © 2021 Emerald Publishing Limited. Reprints and permissions service Contact: [email protected] No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the text, illustrations or advertisements. The opinions expressed in these chapters are not necessarily those of the Author or the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-1-80071-133-4 (Print) ISBN: 978-1-80071-130-3 (Online) ISBN: 978-1-80071-132-7 (Epub) CONTENTS About the Editors vii About the Contributors ix Foreword xiii Introduction to the Book xxiii Stephen Brown and Patrick Duignan Praise for Leading Education Systems xxxi 1. System Leaders Scaling Successful Educational Reforms in an Uncertain Future 1 Stephen Brown and Patrick Duignan 2. Leading Education Change Internationally: Towards a New Approach 37 Beatriz Pont 3. Quality Leadership for Learning Systems 59 Bill Maxwell 4. System Leadership for Promoting Collective Responsibility and Communities of Learners: Insights from China 87 Haiyan Qian and Allan Walker 5. System Leadership for Future-ready Learners in Singapore 111 David Ng Foo Seong 6. Leading School Districts for Improved Student Success 133 Kenneth Leithwood and Catherine McCullough vi Contents 7. Leading a Connected and Partnership-based System 157 Maggie Farrar 8. Sharing Our Story: One Approach to School and System Improvement 179 Anne Ryan and Prue Horan 9. System Leadership – Human Flourishing through Building Trust 201 Philomena Billington 10. Leading Successful Systems in a VUCA World: Advice from Our Contributing Authors 221 Stephen Brown and Patrick Duignan Index 235 ABOUT THE EDITORS Stephen Brown is an internationally renowned thought leader, scholar practitioner and a well-regarded former education system and school leader. He is at the cutting-edge of research, practice and development of educational leaders, with special expertise in system leadership. Patrick Duignan has been involved in education for over 50 years, having worked in numerous positions across education levels. He has a distinguished reputation for cutting-edge research and development in the areas of school and system leadership. This page intentionally left blank ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS Philomena Billington was a System Leader in Catholic Education from 2002 until the end of 2014 when she retired as the Director of Catholic Education in the Sandhurst Diocese in Victoria. She is currently Deputy President of Edmund Rice Education Australia a national system of 54 schools and Chair of the Committee of Religious Institute and Ministerial Public Juridic Persons School Authorities Australia. Maggie Farrar lives in Oxford, England. She has held a number of senior leadership positions in schools and local authorities. She was the Director for leadership development, research and succession planning at the National College for School Leadership in England and interim Chief Executive. She now works internationally on supporting collaborative and partnership-based approaches to school improvement. Prue Horan is the Assistant Director of Educational Services, Catholic Education, Diocese of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia. An educator with over 30 years’ experience, she has worked in rural and remote areas of New South Wales in both school and system roles. Her current work is leading a system-wide focus on improving literacy and numeracy outcomes for students. Kenneth Leithwood is an Educational Researcher and Emeritus Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in Toronto, Canada. His research has focussed on school leadership, processes of school reform and assessment of educational policy. His most recent research studies concern leadership in both highly accountable policy contexts and schools with diverse student populations. Through several large-scale, longitudinal studies, he has focussed on a better understanding of the complex practices