Half-day Conference on

Meeting the Challenges

of Change – Leadership for Learning

11th June 2010

Education Bureau – Quality Assurance Division

ProgrammeProgrammeTime Content Speakers

08:45 – 09:00 Registration

09:00 – 10:00 Keynote Speech:Meeting the Challenges of Change – Leadership for Learning

Professor John MacBeath

10:00 – 10:20 Experience Sharing (1) Mr Lin Man Sheung(Headmaster of Pui Kiu Primary School)

10:20 – 10:40 Break

10:40 – 11:00 Experience Sharing (2) Sister Agnes Law(Principal of Sacred Heart Canossian College)

11:00 – 11:30 Leadership for Learning in the Local Context: Reflections and Recommendations

Professor John MacBeath

11:30 – 12:00 Panel Discussion Professor John MacBeathMr Lin Man SheungSister Agnes LawMr Hui Chin Yim, Stephen

12:00 – 12:30 Open Forum

The three questionsThe three questions

What do we understand by effective What do we understand by effective leadership?leadership? What do we understand by effective What do we understand by effective leadership?leadership?

How does it contribute to learning How does it contribute to learning for all?for all?

What is the role of self-evaluation What is the role of self-evaluation in addressing these questions?in addressing these questions?

HOW WE SEE OURSELVES

The way we see leadership, learning and the quality of our school is ultimately a product of how we see and think about ourselves

The hero rescuer

The dutiful manager

The orchestrator

The intermediary

The innovator

The team player

The risk taker

Who am I?

Flying below the radarFlying below the radar

An extra-ordinary generation of school leaders who have bucked the trend, who are not intimidated and oppressed by ‘the centre’ because with imaginative leaders and committed creative teachers they follow their best professional instincts, who don’t say I’d love to do innovation but I can’t afford to because of ……..

They’ve just got on innovating, or should I say, transforming, doing exciting things and running very good schools - exciting places for teachers and kids to be in.

(David Hargreaves, 2009)

An extra-ordinary generation of school leaders who have bucked the trend, who are not intimidated and oppressed by ‘the centre’ because with imaginative leaders and committed creative teachers they follow their best professional instincts, who don’t say I’d love to do innovation but I can’t afford to because of ……..

They’ve just got on innovating, or should I say, transforming, doing exciting things and running very good schools - exciting places for teachers and kids to be in.

(David Hargreaves, 2009)

School leadership is often taken to mean headship. Such an outlook limits leadership to one person and implies lone leadership. The long-standing belief in the power of one is being challenged. Today there is much more talk about shared leadership, leadership teams and distributed leadership than ever before. (Southworth, 2002)

THE POWER OF ONE?

GREEDY WORK

The task of leading a school in the twenty first century can no longer be carried out by the heroic individual leader single-handedly turning schools around. It is greedy work, all consuming, demanding unrelenting peak performance from super-leaders and no longer a sustainable notion.

Peter Gronn, The New Work of Educational Leaders: Changing Leadership Practice in an Era of School Reform, 2003

THE DILEMMAS OF LEADERSHIP

1. Unrelenting change

2. Stress

3. Workload

4. Social factors

5. Accountability

6. Bureaucracy

7. Teacher recruitment

8. Salary

9. Lifestyle balance

10. Intensification

(MacBeath and Galton, 2002,2004, 2006, 2008)

‘It’s a great idea but it wouldn’t work here’

‘There simply isn’t the time in the day, or week’

‘If we just had the resources….’

‘There’s no room in an overcrowded curriculum’

‘Yet one more initiative for an already overstretched staff’

‘Not this year, perhaps next year’

ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING DISABILITIES

• Seeks out opportunities to learn

• Acts with integrity

• Adapts to differences

• Is committed to making a difference

• Seeks broad based knowledge

• Brings out the best in other people

• Is insightful - sees things from new

angles

• Has courage to take risks

• Seeks out and uses feedback

• Learns from mistakes

• Is open to criticism

11 KEY FACETS OF LEADERSHIP

COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP

Leadership is exercised not at the apex of the organisational pyramid but at the centre of the web of human relationships

(Joe Murphy 1996)

OR

Mediated effectsMediated effects School leaders improve teaching and learning indirectly and most

powerfully through their influence on staff motivation, commitment and working conditions

School leadership has a greater influence on schools and students when it is widely distributed

Collaborative patterns beyond the school strengthen the quality of teaching(Leithwood, 2006, Mulford, 2003, Carmichael, 2006)

Leithwood et al.

School leaders improve teaching and learning indirectly and most powerfully through their influence on staff motivation, commitment and working conditions

School leadership has a greater influence on schools and students when it is widely distributed

Collaborative patterns beyond the school strengthen the quality of teaching(Leithwood, 2006, Mulford, 2003, Carmichael, 2006)

Leithwood et al.

Making the Making the connectionsconnectionsMaking the Making the connectionsconnections

Leadership and managementLeadership and management

Learning and teachingLearning and teaching

Ethos and cultureEthos and culture

“School is a house of

learning. It is a place

where diversions and

mistakes are allowed, but

where evaluation in the

form of feedback gives

you a sense of direction”

“School is a house of

learning. It is a place

where diversions and

mistakes are allowed, but

where evaluation in the

form of feedback gives

you a sense of direction”

Human capital (OECD)Human capital (OECD)International Best PracticePrincipals who enjoy continuous professional development empowered, accountable and learning centred

Attracting, recruiting and providing excellent ongoing CPD for prospective teachers from the top end of the graduate distribution

Incentives, norms and funding encourage a fair distribution

of teaching talent

The past

Principals who manage ‘a building’, who are accountable but not empowered

Attracting teachers from the bottom third of the graduate distribution and offering training which does not relate to real classroomsThe best teachers are in the most advantaged communities

Human capital (OECD)Human capital (OECD)

The past

Seniority and tenure matter more than performance; patchy professional development; wide variation in quality

Wide achievement gaps, just beginning to narrow but systemic and professional barriers to transformation remain in place

International Best Practice

Expectations of teachers are clear; consistent quality, strong professional ethic and excellent professional development focused on classroom practice

Teachers and the system expect every child to succeed and intervene preventatively to ensure this

FROM SINGLE LOOP TO.......

measure progress

set targets

assess

DOUBLE LOOP LEARNING

measure progress

set targets

assess

Evaluate learning

Create and share knowledge

Build capacity

SMC: from single to double loopSMC: from single to double loop

Set school goals and performance targetsSet school goals and performance targets Ensure smooth operation in schoolEnsure smooth operation in school Prepare annual school plan & budgetPrepare annual school plan & budget Pilot & evaluate educational initiativesPilot & evaluate educational initiatives Promote education to pupilsPromote education to pupils Establish effective channels of Establish effective channels of

communicationcommunication Plan professional development of teachersPlan professional development of teachers Evaluate school effectivenessEvaluate school effectiveness

Set school goals and performance targetsSet school goals and performance targets Ensure smooth operation in schoolEnsure smooth operation in school Prepare annual school plan & budgetPrepare annual school plan & budget Pilot & evaluate educational initiativesPilot & evaluate educational initiatives Promote education to pupilsPromote education to pupils Establish effective channels of Establish effective channels of

communicationcommunication Plan professional development of teachersPlan professional development of teachers Evaluate school effectivenessEvaluate school effectiveness

Appreciative inquiryAppreciative inquiryAppreciative inquiryAppreciative inquiry

Protected learning time at meetingsProtected learning time at meetings Story telling sessions from invited Story telling sessions from invited

guestsguests Participation in lesson studyParticipation in lesson study Shadowing a classShadowing a class Shadow a School Review TeamShadow a School Review Team Consultancy on OLEConsultancy on OLE Focus group with studentsFocus group with students Co-teachingCo-teaching

Protected learning time at meetingsProtected learning time at meetings Story telling sessions from invited Story telling sessions from invited

guestsguests Participation in lesson studyParticipation in lesson study Shadowing a classShadowing a class Shadow a School Review TeamShadow a School Review Team Consultancy on OLEConsultancy on OLE Focus group with studentsFocus group with students Co-teachingCo-teaching

WHAT IS THE CAPACITY OF YOUR SCHOOL?

Conducting a knowledge audit

Where does the knowledge lie as to:Where does the knowledge lie as to:

What motivates and engages students?What motivates and engages students? The effectiveness of teaching?The effectiveness of teaching? Uses and impact of assessmentUses and impact of assessment The value of homework?The value of homework? Learning in home and community?Learning in home and community? Other Learning Experiences?Other Learning Experiences? Agency and change agents?Agency and change agents? Qualities of leadership?Qualities of leadership?

Evidence from the Impact Study Evidence from the Impact Study

In schools where SSE is more strongly embedded: Membership of the team covers a cross-section of staff with high credibility among their colleagues.

The School Improvement Team enjoys scope to exercise initiative and creativity. There is a willingness and capability to ask hard questions and to instil an ethos of accountability. 

In schools where SSE is more strongly embedded: Membership of the team covers a cross-section of staff with high credibility among their colleagues.

The School Improvement Team enjoys scope to exercise initiative and creativity. There is a willingness and capability to ask hard questions and to instil an ethos of accountability. 

Evidence from the Impact Study (2)Evidence from the Impact Study (2)

Teamwork exceeds and synergises the professional capacities of all its members.

Initiative and ownership create confidence and shared leadership throughout the team.

There is a vision as to what SSE can achieve and how it can feed into school improvement.

Teamwork exceeds and synergises the professional capacities of all its members.

Initiative and ownership create confidence and shared leadership throughout the team.

There is a vision as to what SSE can achieve and how it can feed into school improvement.

DEVELOPING THE INNER EYE

Leadership acts are most likely to occur when

attempts are made to understand the circumstances

of teachers’ work. This means starting with the

practicalities of teaching, developing a language for

talking about teaching, and assisting teachers to

collect evidence about the contradictions, dilemmas

and paradoxes that inhere in their work. This

consciousness raising amounts to developing an

inner eye so as to penetrate accepted assumptions

and, in the process, isolate viable ways in which

transformation might occur.

(Smyth, 1986, p. 3)

The task of leadership is to make visible the how, why and where of learning. It achieves this by conversations and demonstrations around pupil learning, professional learning and learnings which transcend the boundaries of the school. The challenge for leadership is to nurture the dialogue, to make transparent ways in learning interconnects and infuses behaviour. It promotes a continuing restless inquiry into what works best, when, where, for whom and with what outcome. Its vision is of the intelligent school and its practice intersects with the wider world of learning.

Leadership for Learning – making learning visible

Leadership for Learning – making learning visible

OECD’s PISA assessment of the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds

Every three years, OECD tests roughly half a million of children in the principal industrialised countries, and that’s not simply about checking whether students have learned what they were recently taught, but we examine to what extent students can extrapolate from what they have learned and apply their knowledge and skills in novel settings.

Extrapolating learningExtrapolating learning

How the demand for skills has changedEconomy-wide measures of routine and non-routine task

input

How the demand for skills has changedEconomy-wide measures of routine and non-routine task

input

(Levy and Murnane)

Mean t

ask

inp

ut

as

perc

enti

les

of

th

e 1

960 t

ask

dis

trib

uti

on

LEARNING IN THE UNFAMILIARLEARNING IN THE UNFAMILIAR

tasks/problems

contexts/situationsfamiliar

unfamiliar

familiar problems infamiliarcontexts

novel problems infamiliarcontexts

unfamiliar problems inunfamiliarcontexts

familiar problems innovelcontexts

LEARNING IN THE UNFAMILIARLEARNING IN THE UNFAMILIAR

tasks/problems

contexts/situationsfamiliar

unfamiliar

familiar problems infamiliarcontexts

novel problems infamiliarcontexts

unfamiliar problems inunfamiliarcontexts

familiar problems innovelcontexts

Learning Science in Informal Environments

Learning Science in Informal Environments

There is mounting evidence that structured, nonschool science programs can feed or stimulate the science-specific interests of adults and children, may positively influence academic achievement for students, and may expand participants’ sense of future science career options….. Many academic achievement outcomes (1) do not encompass the range of capabilities that informal settings can promote; (2) violate critical assumptions about these settings (3) are not designed for the breadth of participants. Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits, National Research Council, Washington.

There is mounting evidence that structured, nonschool science programs can feed or stimulate the science-specific interests of adults and children, may positively influence academic achievement for students, and may expand participants’ sense of future science career options….. Many academic achievement outcomes (1) do not encompass the range of capabilities that informal settings can promote; (2) violate critical assumptions about these settings (3) are not designed for the breadth of participants. Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits, National Research Council, Washington.

PLUS CA CHANGE?PLUS CA CHANGE?In the job I’ve just left I got the chance to go to ministerial meetings in so many places, from America to Australia, to China to India, to Egypt to Scandinavia, where Ministers would unfailingly stand up and talk about how the world is changing, its uncertain, technology, global sustainability, rich and poor, economic challenge, movement of people, threats to our civilisation, etc. Then they all say, therefore, what youngsters need to be is adaptable, flexible, ever to cope with change, and words like that. Then, within an hour, all of them are marching to another drum which is about how we hold on to tradition and how we don’t let things that we have traditionally tested drift away because they’re fearful of their electorate thinking that they’ve lost what they thought the electorate matters.

(Mick Waters, Former Director, The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority)

In the job I’ve just left I got the chance to go to ministerial meetings in so many places, from America to Australia, to China to India, to Egypt to Scandinavia, where Ministers would unfailingly stand up and talk about how the world is changing, its uncertain, technology, global sustainability, rich and poor, economic challenge, movement of people, threats to our civilisation, etc. Then they all say, therefore, what youngsters need to be is adaptable, flexible, ever to cope with change, and words like that. Then, within an hour, all of them are marching to another drum which is about how we hold on to tradition and how we don’t let things that we have traditionally tested drift away because they’re fearful of their electorate thinking that they’ve lost what they thought the electorate matters.

(Mick Waters, Former Director, The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority)

Archbishop of Canterbury's Christmas sermon Friday 25 December 2009

Archbishop of Canterbury's Christmas sermon Friday 25 December 2009

In the case of children, we shall do our level best to turn you into active little consumers and performers as soon as we can.  We shall test you relentlessly in school from the word go; we shall do all we can to make childhood a brief and rather regrettable stage on the way to the real thing - turning you into a useful cog in the social machine that won't need too much maintenance.

The Children's Society's Good Childhood report or the Cambridge Review of primary education.  There has at last been a wake-up call about the ways in which we are crushing and narrowing children's experience; and there is a long and significant agenda there for debate in the months ahead.

In the case of children, we shall do our level best to turn you into active little consumers and performers as soon as we can.  We shall test you relentlessly in school from the word go; we shall do all we can to make childhood a brief and rather regrettable stage on the way to the real thing - turning you into a useful cog in the social machine that won't need too much maintenance.

The Children's Society's Good Childhood report or the Cambridge Review of primary education.  There has at last been a wake-up call about the ways in which we are crushing and narrowing children's experience; and there is a long and significant agenda there for debate in the months ahead.

Entre les mursEntre les murs

‘ its naturalistic portrayal of the energy and high tension of the classroom’

the chaos, the challenges to, and idle assertions of authority, the clashes and power struggles, and, the tedium, a wholly absorbing microcosm of human interaction.

‘ its naturalistic portrayal of the energy and high tension of the classroom’

the chaos, the challenges to, and idle assertions of authority, the clashes and power struggles, and, the tedium, a wholly absorbing microcosm of human interaction.

The tyranny of being rightThe tyranny of being right

What we do know is if you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original. And by the time they get to be adults most kinds have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong. We stigmatize mistakes and we’re now running educational systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make. (Sir Ken Robinson, Chair of Government Task Force on Creativity, 1997-2001)

What we do know is if you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original. And by the time they get to be adults most kinds have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong. We stigmatize mistakes and we’re now running educational systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make. (Sir Ken Robinson, Chair of Government Task Force on Creativity, 1997-2001)

Children come into the classroom to be taughtChildren come into the classroom to be taught

Children come into the classroom to learn

Children come into the classroom to learn

from individualism to professional community

from teaching at the centre to learning at the centre

from technical and managed work to inquiry and shared leadership

from prescription of curriculum to capacity-building of teachers (Liebermann and Miller, 2003)

Learning teams as initiators in discussion of ‘tough problems and deep mysteries of teaching and learning’. (Mitchell and Sackney, 2000)

from individualism to professional community

from teaching at the centre to learning at the centre

from technical and managed work to inquiry and shared leadership

from prescription of curriculum to capacity-building of teachers (Liebermann and Miller, 2003)

Learning teams as initiators in discussion of ‘tough problems and deep mysteries of teaching and learning’. (Mitchell and Sackney, 2000)

REFRAMINGREFRAMING

Individualised learning instruction

Personalised inquiry construction

Personalised community

co-construction

Surface passive Deep activeView of learning

View of person

Social and relational

Individualdetached

Who assesses the quality of learning?

Others assess student learning

Students self assess

Teacher assessment is final and definitive

Self assessment is final arbiter

Teacher and student assessment coincide

Others assess

Students self assess

There is little or no formative assessment

Teacher assessment is final and definitive

Self assessment is final arbiter

Teacher and student assessment coincide

Others assess

Self assess

There is little or no formative assessment

Observing learningObserving learning

What are they doing?

What are they

learning?

What am I learning?

What will I do next?

What are they doing?

What are they

learning?

What am I learning?

What will I do next?

What combination of experiences best promote the learning of different people?

What combination of experiences best promote the learning of different people?

Knowledge in the head

Knowledge in the world

Pure and useless

Vulgar and useful

The singular fallacyThe singular fallacy

Learning and development are frequently presumed to be the result of individual effort and accomplishment, rather than the product of communities, groups, and families. What is all too commonly framed as individual accomplishment is better understood as the result of the coordination and strategic use of learning resources. (Lauren Resnick, 1987)

Learning and development are frequently presumed to be the result of individual effort and accomplishment, rather than the product of communities, groups, and families. What is all too commonly framed as individual accomplishment is better understood as the result of the coordination and strategic use of learning resources. (Lauren Resnick, 1987)

Children and young people live nested lives, so that when classrooms do not function as we want them to, we go to work on improving them. Those classrooms are in schools, so when we decide that those schools are not performing appropriately, we go to work on improving them, as well. But those young people are also situated in families, in neighbourhoods, in peer groups who shape attitudes and aspirations often more powerfully than their parents or teachers.

(David Berliner, 2005)

Children and young people live nested lives, so that when classrooms do not function as we want them to, we go to work on improving them. Those classrooms are in schools, so when we decide that those schools are not performing appropriately, we go to work on improving them, as well. But those young people are also situated in families, in neighbourhoods, in peer groups who shape attitudes and aspirations often more powerfully than their parents or teachers.

(David Berliner, 2005)

NESTED LIVES NESTED LIVES

The nesting of school performance

The nesting of school performance

The ‘family’ and neighbourhood context

The social and economic context

The national cultural context

The global policy context

The school context

The ‘family’ and neighbourhood context

The social and economic context

The national cultural context

The global policy context

The school context

Measuring what we value?Measuring what we value?

We couldn’t find a mechanism to show we valued the things we didn’t test. That was the problem. We always valued the other things but we couldn’t find a way of showing it, that’s the problem. We need to get to a situation where there’s a way of showing how much we value dancing, music, sport and PE; how much we value how much improvement children make in the widest sense and that really gets into the public consciousness.

(Estelle Morris, Secretary of State for Education, 2001-2002)

We couldn’t find a mechanism to show we valued the things we didn’t test. That was the problem. We always valued the other things but we couldn’t find a way of showing it, that’s the problem. We need to get to a situation where there’s a way of showing how much we value dancing, music, sport and PE; how much we value how much improvement children make in the widest sense and that really gets into the public consciousness.

(Estelle Morris, Secretary of State for Education, 2001-2002)

Synergy or compromise?Synergy or compromise?

The ‘line of best fit’ – to get as near as possible to everybody, but not too far from anybody. No matter the colour of government, there’s always going to be a concern - what’s your average parent going to think about this? (Mick Waters, ex Director QCA)

The ‘line of best fit’ – to get as near as possible to everybody, but not too far from anybody. No matter the colour of government, there’s always going to be a concern - what’s your average parent going to think about this? (Mick Waters, ex Director QCA)

Self-evaluation: a question of purposeSelf-evaluation: a

question of purpose

As preparation for inspection?

For practitioner professional development?

To enhance student learning?

To build school capacity?

To raise standards?

To encourage pupil voice?

As preparation for inspection?

For practitioner professional development?

To enhance student learning?

To build school capacity?

To raise standards?

To encourage pupil voice?

Measured Attainment

Lifelong Learning

Individual Pupil

Community of Learners

Passive Consumption

Multiple Avenues of Inquiry

The School Day Opportunistic Learning

The Natural and Social World

The Classroom Seat

Learning How to Learn

Reproduction of the curriculum

WHY

HOW

WHERE

WHO

WHAT

WHEN

WHY

WHO

WHAT

WHERE

WHEN

HOW

The playersThe players

Middle managers who act as intermediaries between senior leaders and school staff, encouraging teachers within their departments to step outside of their subject to adopt a commitment to whole-school improvement.  SITs who share leadership, take the initiative in supporting their colleagues and assume responsibility for the successful embedding of SSE practice. Teachers who are the ultimate gatekeepers and champions of SSE, through promoting continuing reflection on the quality of learning and teaching in their classrooms and beyond

The players The players

Parents who are the first and most important educator, have a responsibility to take every opportunity to maintain a liaison with teachers in a joint commitment to support their children’s learning. Students who will only become effective lifelong learners when they are self-evaluators, play a role in constructive critique of school life and contribute to school improvement.

Front line and auxiliary staff who present the school to the outside world, who support the mission and vision of the school and its day to day operations

Seeking external assistance

Seeking external assistance

A sign of vitality (Fullan) Essential for success in school improvement

(Baker et al.) Assistance seeking a sign of intelligence and

strength, not weakness (Louis and Miles) Making use of consultants should be the

norm rather than the exception (Fidler et al.) The school cannot ‘go it alone’ (Stoll and

Thomson)

A sign of vitality (Fullan) Essential for success in school improvement

(Baker et al.) Assistance seeking a sign of intelligence and

strength, not weakness (Louis and Miles) Making use of consultants should be the

norm rather than the exception (Fidler et al.) The school cannot ‘go it alone’ (Stoll and

Thomson)

Schools need critical friends, individuals who, at appropriate times, listen and help them sort out their thinking and make sound decisions, who are not afraid to tell them when expectations for themselves and others are too low and when their actions do not match their expectations. They also help schools raise their expectations because critical friends care about schools and want the best for them.

(Stoll and Thomson, 1996, p27)

Schools need critical friends, individuals who, at appropriate times, listen and help them sort out their thinking and make sound decisions, who are not afraid to tell them when expectations for themselves and others are too low and when their actions do not match their expectations. They also help schools raise their expectations because critical friends care about schools and want the best for them.

(Stoll and Thomson, 1996, p27)

understands your work yet is a little removed and so can offer a different perspective?

Asks questions that make you think, reassess your assumptions, helping you to see things in a new light?

do you trust and know to be on your side, even if they

sometimes present challenging critiques of your actions?

helps you make sound decisions, challenge expectations,

and helps shape, but never determines, courses of action?

alerts you to issues perhaps only half perceived, whilst being sympathetic to you as a person and to the bigger tasks you face?

WHO?

UNICEF 2008UNICEF 2008

The true measure of a nation’s standing is how well it attends to its children – their health and safety, their material security, their education and socialization, and their sense of being loved, valued, and included in the families and societies into which are born. (An Overview of Child Well Being in Rich Countries (2007 p. 3).

The true measure of a nation’s standing is how well it attends to its children – their health and safety, their material security, their education and socialization, and their sense of being loved, valued, and included in the families and societies into which are born. (An Overview of Child Well Being in Rich Countries (2007 p. 3).