Erasmus+ Project: EVALUATION OF SCHOOL
LEADERSHIP AND TEACHING PRACTICE:
Working Session 5: Searching for the right
leadership cocktail mix across Europe
Petros Pashiardis
Professor of Educational Leadership
Open University of Cyprus
email: [email protected]
Cumbria University
April 12, 2016
Structure of the Presentation
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•
•
•
•
The International Context
The Role of School Leaders
The LISA Project
Findings
Conclusions
Leadership is like falling
in Love.
It should be
approached with
passion or none at all.
General Context
We live in a world which is:
• More turbulent and less predictable
• Where paradox, ambiguity, and uncertainty are becoming
the norm
• Where the only constant is change
• Nation-states, in order to be internationally present and to
avoid marginalization, have to create alliances and start
forming regional and international networks in order to
survive
• Educational leaders need to think globally, but, at the same
time, they need to act locally in an ever increasing tension
between these two tendencies which exist in a continuum
The context factors define the leadership radius. But these
depend on…
Historical Traditions
Outer Limits
Inner Limits
Social Structures
Economic Conditions
School Leader
and vary from country to
country, from school to school…Remember ACTS
(Schwarz & Brauckmann 2015; Brauckmann & Schwarz 2014)
The Role of School
Leaders
School Leaders have to be…
•
•
•
•
professional
adaptable
responsible
accountable
School Leader as a System Leader
School Leaders have a Mediated* Impact on
Student Achievement
School Leader
Teacher
Student
Achievement
Motivation
Working Conditions
Capacity Building
* e.g. Hallinger and Heck 1998
The LISA Project
School leaders in 7 different EU countries
Germany
Great Britain
Hungary
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Slovenia
face the same glocal challenges
Core question: Which role do principals’
leadership styles, attitudes and practices play in
contributing to the improvement and effectiveness
of the school?
contextual
patterns?
perception of roles
and leadership styles?
intermediary
variables?
Findings?
Which Leadership Style is the most common?
Entrepreneurial
NE
Structuring
3.7 (1)
Personnel
Instructional
3.6 (2)
NO
3.6 (2)
IT
3.8 (1)
GE
3.7 (1)
HU
4.0 (1)
4.0 (2)
SL
3.9 (1)
3.9 (2)
EN
3.7 (2)
Organization of
instruction
Participative
3.6 (1)
3.6 (2)
3.4 (2)
3.8 (1)
Resources
Integration of findings based on Leadership Styles
• In 5 out of the 7 LISA countries the Entrepreneurial style
came first irrespective of the degree of total autonomy at the
single school level
• In 5 out of the 7 LISA countries the Structuring style came
second irrespective of the degree of total autonomy at the single
school level
• More variation across the LISA countries with regards to other
leadership styles, e.g., personnel development style,
participative style
Why is there a general trend towards
the Enterpreneurial Style?
Strategic Reasons:
response to limited resources
building up other support systems
Increase Influence
Why is there also a trend towards the
Structuring Style?
Might enable the restructuring of the
school by establishing clear roles, responsibilities,
and goals
Internal Organizational Stability
Why are the Entepreneurial and the
Structuring styles perceived as the
predominant leadership styles?
Increased awareness regarding the expanded
responsibility
Internal organizational stability is necessary in
order to cooperate with leaders outside the
school at an equal footing
Stimulation of the school development process
So what about
the Leadership
cocktail mix?
The Instructional, Structuring, and Entrepreneurial
Styles of leadership are essential components of this
cocktail blend irrespectively of context
The Participative and the Personnel Development Style are more
situational and contextual
Will we ever reach a formula about what is the
best Leadership Mix?
Conclusions
In conclusion,
The fact remains that Situational
Leadership exists within Situational
Governance in a world where we need
to learn to live with each other in a
shared interdependency through the
respect of biological as well as cultural
diversity.
What remains to be seen is if we will ever
reach a formula about what the best
leadership styles cocktail mix looks like or if
it will remain a secret recipe for every
individual principal who should be made
aware of the necessary ingredients, but, in
the end, the creation is unique and only
his/her own
Brauckmann, S. & Pashiardis, P. (2011)
Pashiardis, P. (2014). Modeling School Leadership across
Europe: In Search of New Frontiers. Dordrecht:
Springer Publications.
A Leadership Thought
The concept of Leadership is a complex
mixture of the five styles explored in our
LISA research project, but the sum of the
component styles does not really constitute
the essence of Leadership as a construct. On
the contrary, it seems that the concept of
Leadership is more than the sum of its
constituent parts and should be investigated
further bearing this fact in mind
In view of mostly output oriented governance school systems across
Europe, the question of school leadership effectiveness has so far not
been resolved. However, to sum up, it seems that the following are
some of the most important practices for successful and effective
school leaders around Europe:
• Create a vision which is values-driven and can be shared with all
stakeholders inside and outside the school in order to commit
everybody towards its achievement
• Become the best teacher and the best student in the school-exercise
pedagogical/instructional leadership and lead by example that we
are all eternal students who constantly fight for professional
growth
• Create alliances with other stakeholders outside and around the
schools they lead, that is, make the education of our children
everybody’s work and responsibility, remembering the proverb,
that it takes a whole village to educate a child.
“Τον άρχοντα τριών δει μεμνήσθαι:
ότι ανθρώπων άρχει· ότι κατά νόμους άρχει και ότι ουκ αεί
άρχει”.
Αγάθων, αρχαίος τραγικός, 5ου π.Χ. αιώνα
Ο ηγέτης οφείλει να θυμάται τρία πράγματα:
ότι κυβερνάει ανθρώπους·
ότι κυβερνά σύμφωνα με τους νόμους
και ότι δε θα κυβερνά για πάντα.
The leader needs to remember three things:
That he governs humans
That he governs according to the laws
And that he will not govern for ever
(Agathon, Greek tragic poet, 5th century BC)