Session Information
26 SES 03 A, School Leadership Training Programs for School Leaders’ Professional Development
Symposium
Contribution
Ever since the start of the national school leadership programs in 2009 in Norway, there has been an expectation from the Directorate of Education that the programs should involve school owners in their students' education (Hybertsen et al., 2014). However, evaluation reports from the national school leadership programs show that the principal's leaders, the school director at the municipality named school owner, are not included in the student's work. Most students experience the school owner as not very supportive, and the providers find it demanding to involve them (Caspersen, Aamodt, Stensaker, & Federici, 2018). Effective school research emphasizes the importance of school owners and principals working systemically with leadership learning and curriculum (Leithwood, Harris, & Hopkins, 2020) and school owner support (Aas & Paulsen, 2019). In addition, research shows that school leadership programs must respond to the schools' societal-, personal- and system challenges (Dempster, Lovett, & Fluckiger, 2011). As the student's leader, the school owner plays a central role in these practical challenges. In many countries, coaching is part of national school leadership programs (Lumby, Crow, & Pashiardis, 2008; Robertson & Earl, 2014). Nevertheless, involving the student and their school owner in coaching is yet to be tried in Norway. This paper reports from a study of coaching integrated into the National Principal Training Programs in Norway (15 credits). The coaching is linked to the student's tasks: they shall develop and lead school development work related to the curriculum in their organization. The students' work is anchored in one of the school owner's focus areas. The research question is: How can the school owners' participation in a digital guidance meeting in a national school leadership program contribute to learning for students and school owners? The study has been carried out in an action research design involving collaboration between the researchers and the practitioners (Carr & Kemmis, 1986; Stenshorne & Ballangrud, 2014). The three supervisors from the university conducted the coaching interviews with 26 students and their leaders, and they answered anonymous questionnaires. Using Wells' categories of meaning as analyzing tools (Wells, 1999), we find that the students developed their leadership role and practice, professionality, understanding of the societal challenges, and collaboration, with implications for the knowledge of the school owners. In addition, the conversation can contribute to learning and development. A prerequisite is that the meeting is well prepared.
References
Carr, W., & Kemmis, S. (1986). Becoming critical: education, knowledge, and action research. Falmer Press. Dempster, N., Lovett, S., & Fluckiger, B. (2011). Content and strategies to develop school leadership: A select literature review. The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. Leithwood, K., Harris, A., & Hopkins, D. (2020). Seven strong claims about successful school leadership revisited. School Leadership & Management, 40(1), 5-22. Lumby, J., Crow, G., & Pashiardis, P. (2008). International Handbook on the Preparation and Development of School Leaders. Taylor and Francis. Robertson, J., & Earl, L. M. (2014). Leadership learning: Aspiring principals developing the dispositions that count. Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice, 29(2), 3-17. Stenshorne, E., & Ballangrud, B. B. (2014). Ledelsens muligheter og utfordringer i skolen som demokratisk organisasjon. In J. Madsen & H. Biseth (Eds.), Må vi snakke om demokrati? Om demokratisk praksis i skolen (pp. S. 101-117). Universitetsforlaget. Wells, G. (1999). Dialogic Inquiry. Towards a Sociocultural Practice and Theory of Education. Cambridge University Press. Aas, M., & Paulsen, J. M. (2019). National strategy for supporting school principal's instructional leadership. A Scandinavian approach. Journal of Educational Administration, 57(5), 540-553.
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