Professional learning is more than a linear process leading to pre-determined outcomes (Boylan et al, 2018, Strom and Viesca, 2021). There can be no single way that education leaders can determine the best or most effective approaches. McMillan and Jess (2021) argue that teachers need to move towards adaptive classroom practice, “…moving beyond the simplistic transmission of knowledge by developing the ability to respond to, and influence, the dynamic and ever-changing environment in which they work” (p276). In the same way, education leaders need to be developing strategies of complex adaptive leadership to address this ‘complex turn’ rather than restricting their actions to outcome-focused approaches (Daly et al, 2020).

In complex education environments, professional learning must be the responsibility of individual professionals. Much professional learning is implicit and highly personal (Evans, 2019). What works in one case may not be effective or relevant in another. However, many aspects of professional learning need to be managed and led to ensure equity and opportunity. Leaders build communities of learning, enabling everyone to achieve, and this includes professional learning. Leaders oversee professional working relationships; they intervene when necessary and always support the professional learning of others. They create and sustain cultures of critical enquiry. With others, they ensure that professional learning is active, collaborative, inclusive and not insular. So, multi-dimensional strategies are needed if leaders are to guide and support their professional colleagues most effectively (Jones, 2020), and these need to be enacted through a variety of approaches, referred to in Wales as ‘the professional learning blend’ (Jones et al, 2019).

The research evidence base on leading professional learning is wide and growing (Hallinger and Kulophas, 2020). Much of it has only marginal relevance to individual school contexts and, being international in its scope, it carries with it cultural characteristics which make direct transferability tricky. Just because it worked there, it may not work here. There is also a tendency to focus on ‘what works’, identifying examples of ‘most-effective practice’ and implying that leaders should aspire to emulate these ways of doing things successfully. Much of this research is very helpful (see, for example the paper by Cordingley et al (2020) on “Developing great leadership of CPDL”.  Their report identifies the kinds of support school leaders must provide to maximise the benefit of high-quality professional learning and they highlight key priorities for effective school leaders to help them link this effectively with school improvement. Occasionally we see research which throws light on less-effective practice, and this may be just as helpful to education leaders when working with their teams to confront the realities of highly complex situations. The article by McChesney and Aldridge (2019) looks at “What gets in the way” and identifies obstacles facing education leaders in implementing strategies for professional learning.

If accepted for ECER 2022, this paper will focus on the implications for school leaders in Wales of the new National Approach to Professional Learning. It will resonate with professionals in other European countries and internationally beyond Europe. It is intended to raise questions and stimulate discussion on the appropriate use of linear models and effectiveness criteria in setting out strategies for leading professional learning.

There is a significant body of international literature exploring models of educational leadership (Bush, 2020) and an increasing literature on the leadership of professional learning (Swaffield and Poekert, 2020), but to discover how these two come together we need to look closely at practice in schools. That was the key purpose of this research, undertaken in Wales, commissioned by the National Academy for Educational Leadership, Wales, and carried out in 2021. The research was undertaken in two parts: a desk-based review of relevant international literature and a qualitative process of gathering views and evidence from education leaders. The work by Hallinger and Kulophas (2020) goes some way to providing a review of the literature but the definition of professional learning in their study is seen to be too narrow. For the purposes of the Wales study, the intention was to identify “hallmarks” of leading professional learning and look critically at the ways in which these could be applied in practice. The literature review identified key models in the leadership of professional learning. This was accompanied by an analysis of current policy documents relating to education in Wales which have a bearing on both leadership and professional learning (for example, the Welsh Government’s “Education in Wales: Our National Mission: Action Plan 2017-2021” (Welsh Government, 2017). Qualitative research was then carried out to gather views and evidence from a cross section of professionals to provide an insight into how leaders at all levels shape professional learning practice. Interviews were held with leading professionals including policy makers in national government, regional professional learning coordinators, providers from higher education, and with school leaders and teachers themselves. Focus groups consisting of school senior leaders were used to gather cross-Wales perspectives of practice. In addition, a sample of 12 schools (three schools in each of the four regional consortia in Wales, identified as demonstrating good practice in leading professional learning) was used to provide coverage of primary, secondary, Welsh medium and additional learning needs settings.

The interim findings of this research formed the basis for a paper presented in ECER 2021, but at that time the Covid 19 pandemic had delayed the conclusion of the study. The literature review had been completed but the perspectives of many of the leaders who had formed the original research sample could not be obtained. This was due to school closures and the more pressing need to deal with pupil learning during the pandemic. The delay did, however, enable a new dimension to emerge: the impact of the pandemic on leadership practice and the new professional learning priorities facing teachers and other classroom practitioners. Highest of these was the urgent need to use online learning for those pupils and staff working from home. The report was able to conclude that a number of “hallmarks” were evident in schools which placed a high priority on professional learning, that teacher leadership was paramount in building close-to-practice learning communities, and that new strategies to support individually-focused professional learning needed to be considered. Discussion of the research findings will help to show the necessary balance between the need for professional learning to be ‘led’ and for it to be ‘supported’ in complex environments.

Boylan, M., Coldwell, M,. Maxwell, B. and Jordan, J. (2018) Rethinking models of professional learning as tools: a conceptual analysis to inform research and practice Professional Development in Education 44.1 120-139 Bush, T. (2020) Theories of Educational Leadership and Management (5th Edition) London: Sage Cordingley, P., Higgins, S., Greany T., Crisp, B., Araviaki, E., Coe, R. and Johns, P. (2020) Developing Great Leadership of CPDL, CUREE http://www.curee.co.uk/node/5214 Evans, L. (2019) Implicit and informal professional development: what it ‘looks like’, how it occurs, and why we need to research it Professional Development in Education 45.1 3-16 Hallinger, P. and Kulophas, D. (2020) The evolving knowledge base on leadership and teacher professional learning: a bibliometric analysis of the literature, 1960-2018 Professional Development in Education 46.4 521-540 Jones, K. (2020) Multi-dimensional professional learning: a leadership perspective European Educational Research Association https://blog.eera-ecer.de/multi-dimensional-professional-learning/ Jones, K., Humphreys, R., Lester, B. and Stacey, B. (2019) National Approach to Professional Learning: Research Report. The Professional Learning Blend 2.0 https://www.ewc.wales/site/index.php/en/statistics-and-research/research-and-policy/published-research.html McChesney, K. and Aldridge, J.M. (2019): What gets in the way? A new conceptual model for the trajectory from teacher professional development to impact, Professional Development in Education, DOI: 10.1080/19415257.2019.1667412 Swaffield, S. and Poekert, P.E. (2020) Leadership for professional learning, Professional Development in Education, 46:4, 517-520, DOI: 10.1080/19415257.2020.1793500 Welsh Government (2017) Education in Wales: Our National Mission: Action Plan 2017-2021 Cardiff: Welsh Government Welsh Government (2017) Professional standards for teaching and leadership Cardiff: Welsh Government Welsh Government (2018) An introduction to the professional standards for teaching and leadership Cardiff: Welsh Government