Evaluating The National Headteachers’ and Deputies In-Service Training Programmes in Cyprus: A Move towards Leaders and Leadership Development.

Author(s):

Maria NicolaidouAlexandra Petridou

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

1. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations

Format:

Paper

Session Information

01 SES 11 A, School Climate

Paper Session

Time:

2009-09-30

16:45-18:15

Room:

NIG, HS I

Chair:

Ene-Silvia Sarv

Contribution

Internationally research evidence supports professional development as a key component in school effectiveness and improvement, as staff engage with research and professional development activities, support collaborative practices and share examples of best practice. Societal and educational challenges make imperative the need of assuring greater professionalism of school leadership (improving quality and standards of practice), but also improving status and standing (stronger professionalisation) through developing various forms of professional learning activities. School leadership professionalisation, was expressed in the Anglo-American world as a movement advocating for and defending the professional interests of school leaders. Corresponding to leader and leadership development approaches, provisions are made in various countries through a number of preparation, and CPD programmes. Although leader and leadership development is high on the agenda of countries of the western world, in other countries, the emphasis still remains on the development of managers rather than leaders and leadership, and in a number of other countries preparation and CPD programmes for school leaders have been slower to emerge. Comparative studies outline that in many countries preparation is not an essential requirement for appointment to the leadership posts, building on an assumption that a good teacher can become an effective headteacher/leader. Cyprus is amongst the latter group. In Cyprus the introduction of leader and leadership development programs in education is still at an embryonic stage. The national in-service training programmes at the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute (CPI) remains far from addressing real learning and practice needs of Cypriot headteachers.Moreover, internal evaluation attempts at the CPI appear to be weak to elicit useful and valid data in order to inform improvements (quality and context) of these programmes. This is partly due to the nature of the evaluation processes used corresponding only to Level 1 as proposed by Guskey (2000). This procedure is also problematic in terms of the content of the instrument used, as well as in terms of the analytic procedure employed, supported by reliability and validity problems. The research reported in this paper addresses two main challenges: a) a conceptual, and b) a methodological. The aim of the conceptual challenge is to evaluate the current national in-service training programmes in Cyprus, and provide meaningful data for programme development and improvement impacting on educational policy on CPD. The aim of the methodological challenge is to develop a scale to be used in studies of leadership development using a combination of Stake’s and Guskey’s frameworks.

Method

This project evaluates the National In-Service Training Programmes for School Leaders (HTs and 2ndary DHTs) of the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute by employing the hierarchical framework proposed by Guskey and Stakes countenance model. A mixed methods approach was used. The first phase involves eliciting the participants’ views at the beginning and at the end of the programme by employing two questionnaires (quantitative phase). The first questionnaire aimed to gather data regarding participants’ expectations from the programme, and the latter gathered information regarding all different levels on Guskey’s framework (except level 5). The second phase are qualitative follow-up focus group interviews at the end of the program, to elicit participants’ reflections on levels 3 and 4 of Guskey’s framework, exploring the impact of the training in supporting organisational support and change. Rasch modelling was used to analyse the quantitative data, and a content analysis approach will be used for the qualitative data.

Expected Outcomes

It is anticipated that this study will lead to a professionalisation of leadership practices and have a major impact on policy and planning in terms of leader and leadership development. The study also attempts to develop a scale to be used in studies of leadership development internationally using a combination of Stake’s antecedents and Guskey’s hierarchy, employing a mixed methods research design.

References

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Author Information

Maria Nicolaidou

Centre for Educational Research and Evaluation

Limassol

Alexandra Petridou

Cyprus Centre for Educational Research and Evaluation

Nicosia

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