The aim of this paper is to propose a new model of successful school leadership based on an open systems model. The paper is based on an article to be published in the Journal of Educational Administration (2022).

The new model draws on 13 previous models of successful school leadership published under the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP). The ISSPP was first established in 2001 when a group of international scholars, representing eight countries (Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, England, Norway, Sweden and United States), established an international project to explore the work of successful school principals. The research has grown to include research from twenty countries. The project has produced more than 300 journal articles and book chapters. ISSPP member regularly present at all the major international conferences. The research findings consistency shows the significant contribution that successful school principals make to the success of their school. One important aspect of the research has been to develop several models that attempt to explain how successful leaders contribute to student outcomes. Models are important because they help our understanding of theory and practice by making sense of complex data.

The distinguishing feature of the new model is that we have used an open systems perspective. It builds on the common elements of the other models and attempts to include the latest findings from the research. In the presentation, we show how the new model has evolved, outlining three models to show this transition. All the models are available in the article.

The new open systems model depicts successful principal leadership as a continuous cycle of input-transformation-output with feedback loops that inform each stage in the process. The input stage includes what the principals, staff and families bring to the school. For example, the principal’s characteristics, skills, and qualities; the staff capacity, professional knowledge and professional identity; and the family education and socio-economic status. 

The transformational stage shows how the principal integrates many of the processes, interactions, and interventions that help to build school and professional capacity. It identifies the leadership practices that lead to improvement, such as setting direction, creating a positive school culture, constructing enabling school structures, and improving teaching and learning. In this stage principals engage with their constituents and networks in meaningful ways to leverage support. The output stage shows the range of tangible and intangible outcomes for the school and students.  Student outputs include traditional academic achievement; spiritual, social, well-being outcomes; citizenship and lifelong learning. School outputs include reputation, improved learning environment, community empowerment, increased resources, and improved teacher quality.

A key feature of the model are feedback loops derived from the output stage that can inform the inputs and transformation processes. Feedback is the essential process that allows organisations to self-correct and facilitate informed change.

A feature of an open systems models is that it acknowledges there are multiple layers of environment. Schools do not work in a vacuum and neither do leaders; they work within multiple internal and external contexts. Successful leaders and the schools they lead are part of the larger community, society, and world. In the model we include technological, political, economic, and socio-cultural forces, and show they work in a larger education system and are accountable to other institutions. The model attempts to show the dynamic nature of successful principal leadership.

Principals and schools have been predominantly selected using one or more of the following methods: - Evidence of student achievement beyond expectations on state or national tests, where this evidence exists. - Principals' exemplary reputations in the community and/or school system. This could be gained through consultation with system personnel or other principals, school inspection reports, and so forth. - Other indicators of success that are context-specific, such as the overall reputation of the school, awards for exemplary programs, etc. The multiple perspective approach to conducting the cases means that there are individual interviews with the principal, senior staff and school board members, group interviews with teachers, parents and students, and collection of appropriate documents to inform the cases. For the schools that were revisited to explore the sustainability of success, observation of the work of the principal and the functioning of the school was also included. Methodologically the ISSPP relies on a relatively open and grounded approach to constructing interview protocols. Whilst no protocol is a-theoretical, the ISSPP has not relied on a theoretical foundation for the questions, with interview questions covering areas such as: the school ethos and context; principal’s vision, leadership priorities and plans for the school; challenges for the school; defining school success; measuring success; accounting for school success; principal role in school success and how they know they are successful; leadership strategies; handling complex issues; principal relationships with members of the school community; non-professional sources of support for the principal; principal succession. ISSPP Models Thirteen models that were published from the ISSPP research project were analysed. Common features were identified as well as inconsistencies between models. For example, the common feature in most of the models was that they showed stages in the process of explaining successful school leadership. The stages follow a somewhat linear path from ‘why’ a leader acted to improve student outcomes; ’how’ they went about achieving this through interventions and strategies; and ‘what’ were the outcomes achieved for students and the school. Inconsistences were identified. Some elements were noted as part of the transformation process while in others they were counted as outcomes. For example, ‘teacher quality’ was identified as an input in one model, a part of the transformational process in five models and an output in three models. A systems model allows for this because it is a continuous cycle that is informed by feedback loops.

Models are important for several reasons. While they are an abstraction of reality and a simplified representation of a real-world phenomenon, they can contribute to our understanding of theory and practice because they can make sense of complex data. Models are useful ways of visualising relationships and connection. They can act as a guide for practitioners and provide a point of reference for academics who are exploring a particular area or topic. One of the challenges in developing models is that they can be too simple and fail to address reality by ignoring important aspects of the context or key variables that impact on the outcome of the phenomenon being studied. Alternatively, models can be so complex that they are difficult to follow and utilise when seeking to change policy and practice. The value of a model is it level of usefulness, veracity, and capability to identify and demonstrate relationships between variabilities. Essentially models need to represent reality but remain useful to practitioners and scholars. In the new open systems model we show the dynamic process of successful principal leadership. The model provides a balance between being too simplistic and over complicated; it incorporates the key feature of previous models and includes our latest understanding of the accumulated research findings from the ISSPP. Finally it visually shows the relationship and connections between the key variables that generate success. As with all models it does not include every variable; however, because it draws on 13 previous models, the new model shows a pathway to success that is useful for both practitioners and academics.

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