Abstract:
Two prominent themes in recent discussions of school leadership have been a renewed emphasis on leadership to improve student learning (educational leadership) and a move away from single ‘heroic leader’ models to recognition that leadership is often shared or distributed. This paper addresses a lack of attention to the role of deputy principals in secondary schools (DPs) who, despite their membership of senior executive teams and potential to be future principals, are rarely included in these discussions. From the limited research evidence available, it is of concern that while many DPs aspire to contribute to whole school educational leadership, they often feel constrained from doing so. This presentation reports on one part of a larger mixed methods study conducted in NSW, which focused on the preparation of government secondary school DPs and their educational leadership practice. In order to explore this practice and factors which may impinge on it, a new self-analysis tool was designed for DPs to assess their own leadership activity.
The Contextual Educational Leadership Self-Assessment (CELSA) tool comprises an 18 item instrument using a five point agreement scale. It reflects contemporary evidence of what types of leadership positively impact on student learning. Factor analysis of responses (n=233) extracted four factors which could be considered to measure a single construct ‘educational leadership’. These factors were: 1. Active engagement with teaching and learning; 2.Resource provision; 3.Shared goals and responsibility and 4.Managing difficult behaviours. This paper argues that CELSA offers a useful, research-based tool for DPs (and indeed other school leaders) to analyse and reflect on their contribution to educational leadership. In addition, it outlines the utility of scores generated by the CELSA scale to examine relationships with other variables which may impact on DPs’ practice, such as elements of personal background, school context and preparation for the role. It thus contributes empirical knowledge about the work of secondary DPs, an under-researched group of influential school leaders.
The Contextual Educational Leadership Self-Assessment (CELSA) tool comprises an 18 item instrument using a five point agreement scale. It reflects contemporary evidence of what types of leadership positively impact on student learning. Factor analysis of responses (n=233) extracted four factors which could be considered to measure a single construct ‘educational leadership’. These factors were: 1. Active engagement with teaching and learning; 2.Resource provision; 3.Shared goals and responsibility and 4.Managing difficult behaviours. This paper argues that CELSA offers a useful, research-based tool for DPs (and indeed other school leaders) to analyse and reflect on their contribution to educational leadership. In addition, it outlines the utility of scores generated by the CELSA scale to examine relationships with other variables which may impact on DPs’ practice, such as elements of personal background, school context and preparation for the role. It thus contributes empirical knowledge about the work of secondary DPs, an under-researched group of influential school leaders.