Leadership

A common theme emerging from the writing about change and improvement is that it seems to be relatively easy to achieve short-term improvements in student achievement. The real challenge is in sustaining improvements, and a key to sustainability is the development of a new kind of leader. ¹ These are leaders whose focus is on building the capacity of schools and other educational institutions to accept, implement, and sustain beneficial educational change (Fullan, 2001a). They are capable of mobilising people to confront the kinds of problems that do not have easy answers (Heifetz and Linsky, 2004). They include ISTEs who may not have formal positions of authority in a school but who do offer “instructional” or “educational” leadership.

Again, different researchers use different terms to describe leaders with similar sets of characteristics. These include “sustainable leaders” (Hargreaves and Fink, 2004), “adaptive leadership” (Heifetz and Linsky, 2004), “distributed leadership” (Spillane et al., 2001), and “balanced leadership” (Waters, Marzano, and McNulty, 2003). All agree that if change is to matter, to spread, and to last, then the systems in which leaders do their work must make sustainability a priority.

The leadership goal is no longer to develop a vision, build a good school–community relationship, or to manage the school or department efficiently. The new goal requires leaders to do all those things in a manner that improves teaching and learning.

Robinson, 2004, page 40

Effective leaders in a culture of change understand the challenges and complexities of learning, change, and improvement. They have a deep and broad knowledge of educational theory. This includes having the curriculum, assessment, and pedagogical knowledge they need to monitor and evaluate the information and advice provided by other people from inside and outside their organisations (Robinson, 2004).

Crucially, effective leaders know which leadership behaviours are important and which are essential to improving student achievement (Waters and Grubb, 2004; Waters et al., 2003). Because of this, they are able to select the behaviours that are appropriate to the order of change they are leading and to understand the way in which change impacts differently on different people. They recognise that change can have an emotional, as well as a cognitive, impact on people. As Heifetz and Linsky (2004) put it, “People do not resist change, as such. People resist loss” (page 34).

Effective leaders understand how to balance pushing for change while at the same time, protecting aspects of culture, values, and norms worth preserving. They know which policies, practices, resources, and incentives to align and how to align them with organizational priorities. They know how to gauge the magnitude of change they are calling for and how to tailor their leadership strategies accordingly. Finally, they understand and value the people in the organization. They know when, how, and why to create learning environments that support people, connect them with one another, and provide the knowledge, skills, and resources they need to succeed. This combination of knowledge and skills is the essence of balanced leadership.

Waters, Marzano, and McNulty, 2003, page 2

Effective leaders seek coherence, but they understand that uncertainty is a necessary component of the change process. They create a “culture of inquiry” (Earl and Katz, 2002) where each individual habitually seeks evidence on which to base decisions. They understand that they themselves will sometimes be challenged and have to accept loss; that the evidence may show that aspects of their own knowledge, beliefs, and practice are wanting (Heifetz and Linsky, 2004).

Effective leaders understand the implications of situated learning theory (see Appendix I). They know that great ideas cannot be imposed on a local context but need to be adapted to the realities of each situation, and that those who implement them need time and support to work through the implications for them and their situation. At the same time, they recognise that leadership practices are distributed across multiple leaders in an organisation or system, each of whom has the power to contribute to change. They know that to survive and succeed against the odds, they need to emphasise building personal relationships and nurture leadership in others (Heifetz and Linsky, 2004).

Finally, effective leaders have a sense of moral purpose or social justice. This drives their vision for improvement in their own context and means that they are interested in, care about, and take some responsibility for schools and students in the wider environment (Fullan, 2005).

Leaders develop sustainability by committing to and protecting deep learning in their schools; by trying to ensure that improvements last over time, especially after they have gone; by distributing leadership and responsibility to others; by considering the impact of their leadership on the schools and communities around them; by sustaining themselves so that they can persist with their vision and avoid burning out; by promoting and perpetuating diverse approaches to reform rather than standardised prescriptions for teaching and learning; and by engaging actively with their environments.

Hargreaves and Fink, 2004, page 13

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