EDUC6353

Topic 6: Components of Sustainable Change LeadershipAcknowledgement: Jennifer Clement

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Purpose• To present a synthesis of the readings on the

components of sustainable change leadership and relate them to the findings of the Sustainable Whole School Renewal and Innovation Pilot Project. This is the project referred to in this presentation and where the paprticipant quotes come from.

• Relating theory to practice – this presentation switches from theory; relating to leading educational change and, practice; providing insider perspectives from practitioners in the process of a change project

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Components of sustainable Change LeadershipQualities Characteristics Components

• “Leadership is not trait theory” (Lambert, 2007, p. 312)

• “Leadership is about learning that leads to constructive change.”

Sustainable• “Sustainability is a function of leadership.”

Leaders Leadership (Fullan, 2002; Lambert, 2007)

• “Everyone has the potential and right to work as a leader… Leading is a shared endeavor.”

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OutlineSome characteristics of sustainable change leadership:

• Shared vision• Understands change• Builds relationships• Fosters continuous learning• Promotes coherence• Responsive to external demands

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Shared VisionPromote shared vision (Holmes, Clement & Albright, 2012, p. 271)

• Shared purpose (Lambert, 2007)• Moral purpose

• “To make a difference in the lives of students” (Fullan, 2002, p. 19)

• In own schools and other schools• Clear goals kept in forefront of school’s attention

• A clear vision or mission (Williams, 2008, p. 47)

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Shared Vision – The Project“I don't think that making goals and having a goal just for the sake of having a goal is – I think that's a bit pointless, but I think if the goal is something that we’ve identified as a staff, have identified as a real need, then yeah, I definitely see the value in that, absolutely.”(Primary school teacher)“For me the extra interaction and communication between myself, our school and the high school have been invaluable, absolutely surpassed any expectations I actually had… The communication with the high school and those networks with people that are now working not just down there and up here, but together to improve student learning outcomes.” (Primary school Year 6 teacher)

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Understands ChangeUnderstanding of change (Fullan, 2002)

• Complexity • Help others find meaning• Listen to resisters• Transform the culture

Awareness of how staff are likely to react (Wiggins & McTighe, 2007; Williams, 2008)

Uses multiple sources of information to solve complex problems (Holmes, Clement & Albright, 2012, p. 272)

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Understands Change – The Project“But I think, even the way it is delivered…..it hasn’t been [the principal] saying, right, we are doing this, this and this. It’s been a collaboration. What do you think about this? Let’s have a look at it. Do you want to try it? Go away, have a think, come back, let’s talk about it.”(Primary school teacher)“…people tell me it’s a lot to do with my leadership. But it’s a lot to do with my belief that if you have people on board and going in the same path, you’ve got to give them the respect and the opportunity, and allow them to be involved in all the processes and have that openness and transparency, and that’s something I really, I believe I’ve done pretty well…Yes, something I’ve consciously worked at.”(Secondary school principal)

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Builds Relationships The most common factor in successful change is improving

relationships (Fullan, 2002, p. 18)Develop the collective efficacy of staff (i.e. their belief that, as a group, they can bring about student learning) (Ross & Gray, 2006) foster the growth of individuals increased teacher commitment to school mission and

to community partnerships Development of relational trust with staff (Holmes, Clement & Albright,

2012, p. 272) Emotional intelligence (Fullan, 2002; Williams, 2008)

Self-management of emotions Empathy for others

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Builds Relationships – The Project“They’re more inclined to actually be honest and open in their opinions. They’re able to, through focus groups, give feedback, good and bad, knowing that it will be listened to and it will be responded to and it will be acted upon, and I think that’s probably the most important part of it.” (Secondary school principal)When asked how the principal made the changes happen a Primary school teacher responded: “Oh, through discussions, staff meetings, always asking staff for their input and taking it all on board and giving us feedback and asking us personally… it's been so nice to be treated as a professional and, sitting down, "You're not having a good day. What's the problem?" You can always go and see [her] whenever.”

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Fosters Continuous Learning Information becomes knowledge through a social

process • Professional learning communities• Lead learner who models lifelong learning (Fullan, 2002)

Teamwork and collaboration foster group learning and further the improvement agenda (Williams, 2008) “When learning is continuous and participation in

that learning is broad-based and skillful, we find the potential and the reality of sustainable, lasting school improvement” (Lambert, 2008, p. 322).

Develops other leaders (Fullan, 2002; Lambert, 2007)

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Continuous Learning – The Project

“We’re doing a lot. We sit around and discuss things quite a bit in our faculty. ‘I've got a problem with this. How do I better teach this to my students at this particular level?’ I've got to say, the people in our faculty are quite supportive and quite willing to discuss different ways of doing things.” (Secondary school maths teacher)“I know it will make quite a difference to the way the numeracy is being taught… So it's been learning on both sides.” (High school principal)

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Continuous Learning – The Project

Developing the leadership of others:

• “I had the opportunity to just go around and have a look, poke my head in classrooms and see what sort of things are happening, what people are doing…how they were teaching, basically, what their pedagogy style was, what they preferred to use in terms of resources – so textbooks or interactive whiteboards, or hands-on activities. So that was a real eye-opener for me, and how I can better support, not just the teachers that I supervise, but as a numeracy leader at our school, how I can better support our entire staff.” (Primary school Year 6 teacher)

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Promotes CoherenceCoherence (Fullan, 2002; Lambert, 2007)

• Necessary in a context of overload and fragmentation (Fullan, 2002)

• Schools moving toward high leadership capacity reveal a striking internal cohesion (Lambert, 2007)

Focus on the core business of teaching and learning (Holmes, Clement & Albright, 2012, p. 272)

• “Concentrate on student learning as the central focus of reform and keep an eye out for external ideas that further the thinking and vision of the school” (Fullan, 2002, p. 19).

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Coherence – The Project

“I think the staff are working quite cohesively now over the last couple of years as well, they seem to be communicating a lot better, and they’re on the same page, and they have, you know, common goals and they're working towards the same direction… and I think that's good… Earlier on they were a bit sort of working towards different things.”(Primary school parent)

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Coherence – The Project

The primary school principal identified the major changes as:

• “Teaching and learning, the pedagogy; scope and sequence, like follow-through, so that everyone knows what everyone else is doing; consistent teacher judgement days, where teachers are working together to look at kids within a grade to look at how they're going and where they fit, and what's been missed out on what we need to catch up on; whole school assessment strategies K-6 and tracking and monitoring student progression; and working with the high school.”

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Responsive to Wider communityAware of and responsive to the broader context, beyond the school walls, within which they operate (Holmes, Clement & Albright, 2012, p. 272)

• The results that we are achieving is hastening a lot of positive talk within the community and there is a real positive vibe.

• We’re part of the local business community now. We’ve joined the Chamber of Commerce and had conversations about how we can support each other with our career and transition projects and having our kids out in the community more. (Secondary school principal)(p. 279)

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Works Towards SustainabilityLeadership that has the characteristics discussed here is likely to bring sustainable change (Fullan, 2002; Lambert, 2007).

• Has a sense of purpose• Understands change• Builds relationships• Fosters continuous learning• Promotes coherence• Responds to wider community

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Sustainability – The ProjectGetting out to the partner primary schools has been a really positive link, and people are looking at how we can build on that in the future, to maintain it, to continue it (High school principal)Continuation of working with the high school. I'd like to see it not just with maths, but across other areas… So I can see that the stuff that we've started is spilling out to… the other schools, so people are wanting to come on board. (Primary school principal)I think even, you know, in the future, project or no project, those communication links will be further developed with those teachers and myself and our committee up here. (Primary school Year 6 teacher)

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Sustainability (cont’d)Primary school Year 6 teacher was keen to continue using the planning process:

• “I think we need to keep doing what we've been doing – setting these goals, how are we going to achieve them? What are our areas of need as a staff? And identifying what our staff want from our committee, or whatever it may end up being (laughs), and addressing it in that way…

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ReferencesFullan, M. (2002). The change leader. Educational Leadership, 59(8), 16-20.

Holmes, K., Clement, J., & Albright, J. (2013). The complex task of leading educational change in schools. School Leadership & Management, 33(2), 270-283.

Lambert, L. (2007). Lasting leadership: Toward sustainable school improvement. Journal of Educational Change, 8(4), 311-322.

Ross, J. A., & Gray, P. (2006). Transformational leadership and teacher commitment to organizational values: The mediating effects of collective teacher efficacy. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 17(2), 179-199.

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2007). Schooling by design: Mission, action, and achievement (pp. 227-241). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

Williams, H. W. (2008). Characteristics that distinguish outstanding urban principals: Emotional intelligence, social intelligence and environmental adaptation. Journal of Management Development, 27(1), 36-54.