Leading Innovative Schools
Anne Tonkin
ACEL Conference
Sydney. 2015
What will you get from this presentation?
´ Key considerations: q What is the place of creativity and innovation in creating ‘fit for
purpose’ 21st century schools?
q Are there leadership practices common to innovative and successful principals that would provide others with a model for personal reflection?
q Is there a model for school success common to innovative and successful schools?
q What is the reciprocal influence of one’s leadership story on their professional growth?
Research Outline
In schools that are regarded as innovative, well led and which have excellent student outcomes, what
leadership and management practices of principals promote a culture of
innovation?
1. What are the contexts and cultures of innovative schools?
2. Are innovative schools seen as successful schools by stakeholder groups in each school?
3. What are the specific behaviours, skills, knowledge and dispositions of principals that create innovative school cultures?
continued….
4. From a life history perspective, what influences have shaped the work of these principals?
5. What other factors might have helped to create innovative school cultures?
6. Do stakeholders see their school’s success and innovative culture as sustainable beyond the leadership of the current principal?
Selection of the schools
q Researcher Positionality
q Guiding Criteria for DOE selection
Breadth of Context:
´ School type
´ Age of the school
´ Distance from Melbourne CBD
´ Number of students
´ Socio economic status
´ Years as principal in the school
´ Organisation for learning
´ Multicultural history and current situation
What were the schools known for?
Innovation and Success Focus Crossroads PS
Breezes PS
Woodside PS Links SC Parkview
SC
• Use of technology
• Learning programs
• Flexible learning spaces
• Local community partnerships
• Global partnerships
• Personalised learning
• Professional learning community
• Improved student outcomes
• System leadership • Awards
Curriculum Innovation
Curriculum Innovation
Curriculum Innovation
Outstanding Leadership
Outstanding Leadership
Methodology
´ Multiple case studies across the school sites
´ Multiple perspective interviews of the school and the principal’s leadership:
q Principal
q Regional Network Leader
q School Council President
q Leadership Team members
q Staff Group
q Parent Group
´ Semi-structured individual and group interviews
Data analysis:
RAW DATA: Transcripts èSummaries
ORGANISED DATA: Matrix èCase findings
REDUCED DATA: Develop 5 categories
& apply to cases
INTERCONNECTED DATA: Compare cases
using categories
THEMATIC DATA: Emerging themes of principal leadership
and innovative schools
THEORETICALLY MEANINGFUL UNDERSTADING: Ch. 5 - leadership perspectives & associated key behaviors èCh. 6
Model of school & principal innovation & success
Immersion
Immersion
Rigour & trustworthiness 1. Research questions were based on research and knowledge of
educational leadership
2. A pilot interview was conducted to refine questions and process
3. A consistent approach was used across schools and in data analysis processes
4. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and checked by individual participants
5. Triangulation of data was achieved through multiple perspectives of the school and the principal’s leadership, researcher notes, observations and secondary data
6. Data from different sites was compared to illuminate or substantiate the question
7. A chain of evidence was developed using sound research practice
Some ‘No Surprises’ Research Findings:
1. Principal was a key influence (Beare, 2006; Caldwell & Harris, 2008; Elmore, 2000; Fullan, 2002; Hargreaves, 2009; Hattie, 2009; Leithwood, 1994; Mazano et al., 2005)
2. Principal demonstrated a ‘restlessness for improvement’ (Drysdale et al., 2009)
3. There was a shared risk taking school culture and pride in doing things differently - ‘bias towards innovation & action’ (Dinham 2005)
4. School context didn’t pre-determine its culture or success (Drysdale & Gurr, 2011, Gurr, 2014)
5. Leadership was broadly distributed and schools had highly skilled leadership teams (Harris, 2008,2009; Spillane, 2006 )
continued….
Some ‘No Surprises’ Research Findings: 6. Presence of whole school, research based learning - ‘developing
people’ (Gurr, 2014)
7. Each school had established a ‘type’ identity which was broadly shared across the school community
8. Principal influence was seen both in the school and the broader context - ‘embracing their influence’ (Gurr, 2014)
9. Principal knew about and directed what was happening in the school but relied on others for the ‘nuts & bolts’ leadership (Day & Gurr, 2014)
10. There were common success elements across schools (Zbar, Kimber & Marshall, 2008)
Principal Types:
q the Global principal
q The Networking principal
q The Wellbeing principal
q The Coaching principal
What is innovation?
´ Creativity has been described as defying basic definition, and indeed, it is often not defined:
Plucker, Beghetto and Dow (2004) analysed
ninety articles appearing in the top two creativity
journals or peer reviewed journals with the word
‘creativity’ in the title. Only 38% explicitly defined
creativity, while 33% of non-creativity journals
provided a definition.
Definition of Innovation
And why would schools want to be innovative?
´ Creativity …
is the interaction of person and process to produce a product or idea that is useful and novel as defined by the social context of the time
´ Innovation …
is the implementation of that novel idea or application of the product.
Why might schools want to be innovative?
1. The current system is not working well for many people …
Today’s education system is inadequate for preparing tomorrow’s citizens. That is the consensus across the world.
International organisations, national and local governments, educational institutions, business enterprises and the public all
over the world have put forth tremendous efforts with unprecedented courage, to improve education for their children.
Zhao (2013: 3)
Why innovate?
2. The future requires a different skillset to the past
The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind … But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind
of mind – creators and empathisers, pattern recognisers and meaning makers.
Pink (2006: 1)
Innovation is the key …
Enterprises which thrive in the information-rich economy tend to image their personnel in new ways. The enterprise and its members are flexible, they can make quick and strategic
decisions, they encourage innovation and entrepreneurship; they value creativity rather than conformity, they give members the power to take local decisions and to exercise initiative, and they regard the people in the organisation as partners rather
than property. (Beare 2006: 29)
Leading the innovative school
Innovative companies are almost always led by innovative leaders … innovative founders often imprinted their
organisations with their behaviours … innovative people systematically engage in questioning, observing, networking and
experimenting behaviours to spark new ideas.
Dyer, Gregersen and Christiansen (2011: 7-8)
But how much change will be needed?
Incremental improvement
V
Large scale change?
But take heart…
Many change agents, from thought leaders and policy makers, to principals, teachers and parents as well as students … are creating the types of schools and other learning environments
that will equip today’s students to become future leaders, citizens and lifelong learners.
Their work at the edges of the current school system is gradually moving to the centre.
Yet progress has been slow to achieve scale, especially with the pace of technology and global change.
Chen (2010: 242)
The power of life stories
´ The life experiences of each of the innovative school leaders were central to their leadership style and moral purpose
´ While the backgrounds of the innovative leaders were vastly different, each had been influenced by personal experiences which shaped their leadership styles to be manifested in ways not dissimilar to each other.
Who am I?
q the Global principal
q The Networking principal
q The Wellbeing principal
q The Coaching principal
Five Perspectives of Innovative Leaders:
Growth Perspective
Collaborative Perspective
Business Perspective
Change Activist Perspective
Moral Purpose Perspective
Principal
Life Stories
Growth Perspective:
Adopting an inquiry learning
approach to school leadership in order
to deepen understanding and
continually pushing the boundaries of
what is possible for themselves, the
school and its community.
Collaborative Perspective:
Working collaboratively across the
school, system and possibly global
communities to connect, engage with,
learn from and influence others.
Business Perspective:
Implementing a vision, strategic
direction and business principles across
the school and to compete with others
if necessary, to obtain advantage for
the school.
Change Activist Perspective:
Understanding change as a continually
evolving process and taking responsibility
to actively engage with and lead others
in school improvement processes.
Moral Purpose Perspective:
Being driven by a strong personal sense
of what is right and using this to shape
their leadership and the school.
School Success Framework
Focus on improving teacher & leader
expertise
PRE CONDITIONS
Unified & Positive Whole School
Culture
Strong community connections &
external partnerships
Flexible & personalised learning
environments
Broad & long term view of success
Improved learning outcomes
Culture of High Expectations &
Success Significant &
Strategic Whole School Change
Aspirational school promotion
Trusting & stable principal leadership
Doing Things Differently
Continual Reflection & Improvement
INNOVATIVE & SUCCESFUL SCHOOLS SUCCESS ELEMENTS CORE DRIVERS
School Transformation
´ Expanded goals, new metrics
´ New landscapes of providers, from multiple sources
´ Disruption – a decisive shift away from the factory based model to highly personalised approaches
´ Emergence – not a fixed ‘reform plan’ but an adaptive set of change processes
´ Growing evidence, not being dependent on it – new approaches cannot be wholly evidence based
´ Openness – to multiple and diverse platforms and influences
Hannon (2014)
A Model for School
Innovation and Success
PRINCIPAL LEADERSHIP: Five Perspec5ves
Principal's Life Story
SCHOOL SUCCESS: Preconditions, Core Drivers & Success Elements
SCHOOL & PRINCIPAL Innovation and Success
PRINCIPAL LEADERSHIP: Associated Behaviours
Finally … Some Key Points: ´ Innovation is a mindset that permeates the culture of some schools.
´ Creating and leading innovative and successful schools holds opportunities for society to understand and seek new solutions in a more systematic way, one that can be shared with other schools and education systems.
´ The innovative principals in this study, understood and directly and indirectly manipulated their school’s innovative capacity to promote and sustain school success.
´ Innovative leadership can be understood and learned when the five perspectives and associated behaviours are applied to self and context in a model of reciprocal influence.
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