Session Information
01 SES 06 C, Research Perspectives on Leadership (Part 2)
Paper Session continued from 01 SES 04 B
Contribution
Professional school leaders are indispensable for the quality of schools and for continuous development (Sammons et al. 1995; Huber, 2010; Huber & Mujis 2010). Therefore, adequate qualification offers and measures of continuing education are necessary for the function of school leadership. In this way, school leaders can further develop their professional competencies and reflect on their job-related values and attitudes (Huber, 2003, 2005, 2012).
The various design of the didactic framework of such qualification and continuing education offers is discussed in the relevant literature. The focus is no longer only on classic courses or seminars. Multiple learning occasions (Huber, 2013; Huber & Schneider, 2013) include cognitive-theoretical forms of learning (lectures, presentations), but also cooperative and communicative-process-oriented procedures (e.g., project work) and reflective methods (e.g., self-assessment, feedback, supervision, coaching).
The aim of the present study is to identify important process characteristics for the quality assurance and further development of qualification offers for school leaders. For the study, which was conducted in a mixed-methods design, 782 participants could be queried about the process qualities and outcome qualities of a preparatory national qualification offer for school leaders.
The interrelationships of different process and outcome qualities were analyzed on the basis of the offer-use-impact model for education and training (cf. Fend 1987, 1998; Helmke, 2003; Huber et al., 2008; Huber, 2011). This integrates the evaluation levels according to Kirkpatrick (1994) and divides process and outcome qualities into offer characteristics, offer perception, offer use, and offer effects. These are influenced by the offer evaluation and general conditions.
The results of the quantitative evaluation of the present study show that the better the survey participants evaluate the micro-didactic offer characteristics of the practical implementation and the process design of the courses, the greater are the offer benefit and the offer effects (the self-assessed competence development and the increase in motivation). The better the perception of the offer (satisfaction with the lecturers and the organization of the seminars, the overall satisfaction and the relevance of the learning content) of the survey participants is, the greater are the estimations of the benefit of the offer and the development of competencies. Also, correlations of offer effects among each other can be identified. The better the personal development is assessed, the greater the survey participants' assessment of their competence development and behavioral change. If the development of competencies and the increase in motivation are rated as better, the change in behavior is also rated as greater.
According to the designs of the BIO strategy model (Huber, 2020), it is presented which process features of the qualification offer should be preserved, innovated and optimized from the point of view of the participants (qualitative analysis). Here, it stands out that the survey participants particularly benefited from networking and exchange with other participants. Group work, practice-based project work, and specialist lectures are positively highlighted by the survey participants in terms of micro-didactic features. In terms of content, the greatest benefit is seen in dealing with topics related to service and school law.
Selected results of the survey of the participants were compared with a survey of the lecturers of the qualification program, whereby the lecturers assessed it consistently better than the participants. Selected results of the survey of the participants were compared with a survey of the lecturers of the qualification offer, whereby the lecturers assessed it consistently better than the participants.
Method
The present study was conducted using a mixed-methods design. 782 participants, which corresponds to a response rate of 51.79%, were queried about the process qualities and outcome qualities of qualification offer for school leaders using an online questionnaire with closed and open questions. The survey participants came from 11 national implementing organizations, which offer the national qualification. The quantitative evaluation was conducted within the framework of correlations and linear regression analyses. For the evaluation of open questions qualitative methods were used in addition to quantitative methods of data collection and analysis.
Expected Outcomes
The present study aimed at identifying which process characteristics are important for the quality assurance and further development of qualification offers for school leaders. Several process features were found, which are interrelated with good offer effects of the qualification offer. The better the practical implementation and the process design of the courses are, the greater are the self-assessed competence development and the increase in motivation. Better evaluations of the satisfaction with the lecturers and the organization of the seminars, the overall satisfaction and the relevance of the learning content are interrelated with greater estimations of the benefit of the offer and the development of competencies. Further, the participants of the qualification offer benefited especially from networking and exchange with other participants, from group work, practice-based project work, and specialist lectures. The results of the study make it possible to identify important process features for the quality assurance and further development of the qualification offers for school executives.
References
Fend, H. (1987). „Gute Schulen – schlechte Schulen“ – Die einzelne Schule als pädagogische Handlungseinheit. In U. Steffens & T. Bargel (Hrsg.), Erkundungen zur Wirksamkeit und Qualität von Schule (Beiträge aus dem Arbeitskreis Qualität von Schule, Heft 1 (S. 55–80). Hessisches Institut für Bildungsplanung und Schulentwicklung. Fend, H. (1998). Qualität im Bildungswesen. Schulforschung zu Systembedingungen, Schulprofilen und Lehrerleistung. Weinheim: Juventa. Helmke, A. (2003): Unterrichtsqualität erfassen, bewerten, verbessern. Seelze: Klett Kallmeyer. Huber, S.G. (2003). Qualifizierung von Schulleiterinnen und Schulleitern im internationalen Vergleich: Eine Untersuchung in 15 Ländern zur Professionalisierung von pädagogischen Führungskräften für Schulen. In Wissen & Praxis Bildungsmanagement. Wolters Kluwer. Huber, S.G. (2005). Schulleitungshandeln als pädagogisch orientiertes Handeln verstehen. In A. Bartz, J. Fabian, S. G. Huber, C. Kloft, H. Rosenbusch, H. Sassenscheidt (Hrsg.). PraxisWissen Schulleitung (10.12). München: Wolters Kluwer. Huber, S.G. (Hrsg.). (2010). School Leadership – International Perspectives. Springer. Huber, S.G. (2011). The impact of professional development: a theoretical model for empirical research, evaluation, planning and conducting training and development programmes. Professional Development in Education, 37(5), 837–853. Huber, S.G. (2012). Aufgabe von Schulleitung: Gelingensbedingungen für ein erfolgreiches Qualitätsmanagement schaffen. In S.G. Huber (Ed./Hrsg.), Jahrbuch Schulleitung 2012. Befunde und Impulse zu den Handlungsfeldern des Schulmanagements. Wolters Kluwer, S. 301–307. Huber, S.G. (2013). Lernmodelle für Erwachsene: multiple Lernanlässe nutzen. In S.G. Huber (Hrsg.), Handbuch Führungskräfteentwicklung. Grundlagen und Handreichungen zur Qualifizierung und Personalentwicklung im Schulsystem (S. 649-657). Carl Link. Huber, S.G. (2020). Responsible Leaders entwickeln Schule in der Balance von Bewahren, Optimieren, Innovieren. In S.G. Huber (Hrsg.), Jahrbuch Schulleitung 2020. Impulse aus Wissenschaft und Praxis (S. 3–14). Wolters Kluwer Deutschland. Huber, S.G., & Muijs, D. (2010). School Leadership Effectiveness. The Growing Insight in the Importance of School Leadership for the Quality and Development of Schools and their Pupils. In S.G. Huber (Ed./Hrsg.), School Leadership – International Perspectives (S. 57–78). Huber, S.G., Schneider, N. & Radisch, F. (2008). Wirksamkeit von Fort- und Weiterbildung: Zum Stand der Forschung und Evaluation von Qualifizierungsmaßnahmen. Interner Projektbericht. Zug: IBB. Huber, S.G., & Schneider, N. (2013). Merkmale guter Fort- und Weiterbildung. SchulVerwaltung spezial 3, 8–10. Kirkpatrick, D. L. (1994). Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Sammons, P., Hillman, J., A., & Mortimore, P. (1995). Key Characteristics of Effective Schools: A Review of School Effectiveness Research. Institute of Education, University of London, and Office for Standards in Education.
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