Principal’s Involvement in Implementation and Sustenance of the Beginning Literacy program in Iceland and Their Influenced on the Process

Author(s):

Sigríður Margrét Sigurðardóttir(presenting / submitting)María Steingrímsdóttir Eygló Björndsóttir

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

26. Educational Leadership

Format:

Paper

Session Information

26 SES 06 B, Principals' Role to Support and Assess Teachers

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-09

15:30-17:00

Room:

399. [Main]

Chair:

Lars Frode Frederiksen

Contribution

A worldwide emphasis is on literacy where it is seen as a key to personal empowerment, social and human development, citizenship, lifelong learning and academic achievements. This has increased demand for high quality literacy education for all students (Eurydice, 2011; UNESCO, n.d.,) with Iceland being no exception (Halldórsson, Ólafsson, & Björnsson, n.d.; Ministry of Education and Culture, 2012).

Beginning Literacy (BL) is a holistic literacy educational program aimed at the two first years of primary schools in Iceland. It was developed at the Centre for School Development at the University of Akureyri (CSDUA). Since 2006 schools have been able to implement it in collaboration with consultants from CSDUA (Eggertsdóttir, 2013).

The BL educational program is different from the traditional literacy approach used in Iceland (the Phonics approach) and requires different teaching styles and methods (Eggertsdóttir, 2013). To strengthen its induction and support the teachers in its adaptation, a two years professional development program was conducted. The main emphasis of the professional development program is to introduce the methods and work procedures of the BL program, followed by purposeful feedback and consultancy for successful transition (Bartell, 2005; Eggertsdóttir, 2013; Feiman-Nemser, 2001). According to the program the participating schools choose a leader from inside the school who gets a key role in the implementing process in each school and in the professional development of participating teachers (Björnsdóttir, Steingrímsdóttir and Sigurðardóttir, 2013; Eggertsdóttir, 2013).

The role of the principals is to apply for, and accept participation on behalf of their schools. They are responsible for appointing the leaders and teachers participating and are expected to support the implementation, provide resources such as time, money etc. Although, the program expects principals to have an important role in the implementation first research on BL hint towards that their role is in somewhat vague and might need more clarification (Björnsdóttir, Steingrímsdóttir and Sigurðardóttir, 2013, Eggertsdóttir, 2013).

The actions and behaviour of the principal has much influence on the success of school improvement and on the performance of students (Leithwood et al., 2004; Louise et al. 2010; Sigurðardóttir and Sigþórsson, 2012). Actually, so much that it is believed that no improvement or implementation is successful in the long run without a firm and steady support of the principal (Leithwood, Harris and Strauss, 2010; Louise et al., 2010). Research show some core leadership practises that are common among successful leaders (Lambert, 2006; Leithwood, Harris and Strauss, 2010; Sergiovanni, 2009; Sigurðardóttir, 2011; Sigurðardóttir and Sigþórssson, 2012). Those principals build a shared vision, develop people by providing individual support, intellectual stimulation and model what they preach and reconstruct the school by building collaborative culture and restructure roles and responsibilities. Additionally, and not the least important for this study, is that they are focused on improving the teaching and learning programs of their schools for example by choosing the right staff for the programs, provide teaching support, monitor the schools activity and progress and shelter teachers from outside influences that distract them from their goals (Day et al., 2011).

Considering the significance of principals, the importance of student’s literacy and the fact that about 50% of all Icelandic schools have already taken in BL, it is vital to explore the involvement of the principals in the implementation and sustenance of BL and explain how this has influenced the process.

The research question is: What has been the involvement of the principals in the implementation and sustenance of Beginning Literacy in Iceland and how has it influenced the process?

Method

The findings presented in this paper are a part of larger research project on the BL literacy education program, a study with two main researches emphasises. On one hand, the teaching and learning that takes place within the BL literacy curriculum. On the other hand (and which this paper draws from) on the professional development program followed in the implementation. In the latter the focus is on the schools’ conditions for internal learning and development emphasised in the implementation process, such as professional development, leadership and collaborative culture (Hall & Hord, 2011) and how effectively these have been converted to support successful implementation, the school’s corroboration and resources allocated to the BL-programme, and plans and actions that nurture the accomplishments. The research project draws on several sets of data (for further information see Sigrþórsson, Halldórsdóttir and Sigurðardóttir, 2014) : 1) Existing data from teachers’ and leaders’ evaluation of workshops and consultation from the CSD (Björnsdóttir, Steingrímsdóttir and Sigurðardóttir (2013). 2) Available results from regular screening tests conducted six times in each school over the two implementation years. 3) A questionnaire sent in 2014 to all schools that have implemented BL (answered by 571 teacher, 68 BL leaders and 68 principals) and an approximately same number of schools that have not taken on the method (answered by 345 teachers and 53 principals), thus being in total 75% of all Icelandic primary schools. The questionnaire addresses similar issues to the case studies to give a broader perspective on the implementation of BL and allow some comparison with non-BL schools. 4) Case study data from six BL schools conducted in 2012–2014. These comprise: a) Field notes from semi-structured observations of teaching, examinations of teaching plans and other written materials, and b) individual interviews with the observed teachers, pupils and parents about the organisation and nature of literacy education in the same schools, individual interviews with the BL leader/leaders and principal of each school, and a focus group interview with BL teachers in the school to address professional and school development issues. Furthermore the CSD consultant of each school is interviewed. The findings presented in this study are mainly drawn from the case study made in those six schools (4).

Expected Outcomes

At this point the findings are still emerging. What seems rather clear is that although the six case study schools have gone through the same program each school is unique and tells a different story regarding the success and sustainability of the implementation. What causes it might be explained as combination of situations and actions rather than anything. Nevertheless, and maybe not surprisingly, the findings indicate that the involvement of the principals in the implementation and sustenance of BL differs between the principals and has influenced the process. They indicate that factors such as actions, behaviours, participation, devotion and knowledge of principals in and towards the program and literacy in general, influence how BL leaders and teacher understand the ideology of the literacy program and how well they learn to use its methods. The professional support available for teachers, from inside and outside of the school, the ways of which leadership is practiced at the school and how and by whom decisions are taken together with available resources seem to influence the success of the implementation. The finding suggests that principals need to be sensitive towards the need of leaders and teachers when it comes to implement and sustain BL. The findings also seem to confirm the hints (Björnsson, Steingrímsdóttir, Sigurðardóttir, 2013; Eggertsdóttir, 2013) towards that the role of the principal in the implementation of the program needs to be clarified, taken more seriously and not for granted. The findings should be useful to those who are implementing BL, and others that lead and plan improvement work in schools both in and outside of Iceland. They should also be of use to principals themselves who have or intend to implement BL but also to principals in general who all deal with the challenging task of implementation.

References

Rerferences (400 words) Bartell, C. A. (2005). Cultivating high-quality teaching through induction and mentoring. Björnsdóttir, E., Steingrímsdóttir, S. and Sigurðardóttir, S.M. (2013). Implementation of the Beginning Literacy Program: Attitudes and experiences of teachers. Netla – Online Journal on Pedagogy and Education. University of Iceland – School of Education. Accessible at: http://netla.hi.is/greinar/2013/ryn/011.pdf Day, C., Sammons, P., Leithwood. K, Hopkins, D., Gu, Q., Brown, E and Ahtaridou, E. (2011). Successful school leadership: Linking wiht learning and achievement. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Eggertsdóttir, R. (2013). Starfsþróun og varanlegar breytingar á skólastarfi: Byrjendalæsi í ljósi fræða um starfsþróun [Professional development and sustained change in schools: Beginning Lieracy in light of the professional development literature]. In R. Sigþórsson, R. Eggertsdóttir and Frímannsson (Eds.). Fagmennska í skólastarfi: Skrifað til heiðurs Trausta Þorsteinssyni [Professionalism in schools: Written in honour of Trausti Þorsteinsson]. Reykjavík: University of Iceland Press & the University of Akureyri. Eurydice network. (2011). Teaching reading in Europe: Contexts, policies and practices. Brussels: European Commission, doi:10.2797/60196 Feiman-Nemser, S. (2001). Helping novices learn to teach: Lessons from exemplary support teacher. Journal of Teacher Education, 52(1), 17–30. Hall, G. E. & Hord, S. H. Implementing change: Patterns, principles and potholes (3rd edition). Boston MA: Pearson. Halldórsson, A. M., Ólafsson, R. F. &. Björnsson, J. K. (n.d.). Helstu niðurstöður PISA 2012: Læsi nemenda á stærðfræði og náttúrufræði og lesskilningur [Main results of PISA 2012: Students‘ literacy in mathematics and science and readeing comprehension]. Reykjavík: National Testing Institute. Leithwood, K., Harris, A. & Strauss, T. (2010). Leading School Turnaround: How Successful Leaders Transform Low-performing Schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Louis, K. S., Leithwood, K., Wahlstrom, K. L. and Anderson, S. E. (2010), Learning from leadership: Investigating the links to improved student learning. Final report of research to the Wallace Foundation, July 2010. St. Paul: University of Minnesota. Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. (2012).The Icelandic national curriculum guide for compulsory school: General section. Retrieved from http://brunnur.stjr.is/mrn/utgafuskra/utgafa.nsf/RSSPage.xsp?documentId=C590D16CBC8439C500257A240030AE7F&action=openDocument Sergiovanni, T. J. (2009). The Principalship: A Reflective Practice Perspective (6th ed.) London: Allyn & Bacon. Sigurðardóttir, S. M. &Sigþórsson, R. (2012). A head teacher’s leadership behaviour when developing the lead-ership capacity of a school. Icelandic Journal of Education 21(1): 9–28.Thousand Oaks: Sage. Rúnar Sigþórsson, Halldóra Haraldsdóttir og Sigríður Margrét Sigurðardóttir. (2014). Literacy education through Beginning Literacy: Research and preliminary findings. Paper presented at ECER 2014, Porto: The Past, Present and Future of Educational Research in Europe http://staff.unak.is/not/runar/Rannsoknir_erindi/BL_ECER_14_paper.pdf UNESCO. (n.d.). Literacy. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/education-building-blocks/literacy/

Author Information

Sigríður Margrét Sigurðardóttir (presenting / submitting)

University of Akureyri

Akureyri

María Steingrímsdóttir

University of Akureyri, Iceland

Eygló Björndsóttir