This paper adresses professional development (PD) of school leaders and its impact on practice. First, it presents a theoretical model for professional development for school leaders which can be used to guide evaluation and empirical research investigating the quality and impact of professinal development for school leaders. Second, using this model as a framework, results from evaluations of school leadership programs from four states in Germany are presented. The focus of the evaluation is on the participants perceptions of quality of the programs offered and the extent to which they experience that what they have learned has had an impact on their daily work as school leaders. Finally, the model and the empirical results are discussed in relation to international trends for PD.

In view of the ever-increasing responsibilities of school leaders for ensuring and enhancing the quality of schools, school leadership has recently become one of the central concerns of educational policy makers. In many countries, the development of school leaders is high on the agenda. There seems to be a broad international agreement about the need for school leaders to have the capacities required to improve and support teaching practices and learning processes. In their leadership responsibility, they are in charge of providing learning opportunities and of creating a supportive learning environment for all stakeholders. In this respect they are serving the core purpose of school and schooling and of leadership of professionals, school leaders are “leaders for learning”.

This means that the issue of the quality and effectiveness of professional development (PD) for school leaders has been brought to the forefront. How is it possible to move from knowledge to action (see Huber, 2001; Huber & Hader-Popp, 2005; Wahl, 2001), to carry out the transfer from theory to praxis, and to transfer what has been learnt into one’s teaching? To achieve that, practice-orientation plays an important part. Research into the quality, impact and sustainability of PD, and also how PD is organised and coordinated with respect to responding to the needs of schools as well as implementing policy strategies of educational authorities, is urgently needed.

Hallinger, P. & Bridges E.M. (2009). A Problem-based Approach for Management Education: Preparing Managers for Action. Dordrecht : Springer Huber, S. G. (2008). School Development and School Leader Development: New Learning Opportunities for School Leaders and their Schools. In J. Lumby, G. Crow & P. Pashiardis (Eds.). International Handbook on the Preparation and Development of school leaders, 173-175. New York: Routledge. Huber, S.G. & Hader-Popp, S. (2005). Lernen mit Praxisbezug: problemorientiertes Lernen. In A. Bartz, J. Fabian, S.G. Huber, Carmen Kloft, H. Rosenbusch, H. Sassenscheidt (Hrsg.), PraxisWissen Schulleitung (32.41). München: Wolters Kluwer. Wahl, D. (2001). Nachhaltige Wege vom Wissen zum Handeln. Beiträge zur Lehrerbildung, 19 (2), S. 157-174.