Abstract:
This paper is about school leadership and its role in creating the conditions for continuous improvement in schools. More specifically, it investigates the actions of school leaders that lead to continuous improvement in teaching and learning. The proposition is that school leaders can influence teachers’ commitment to continuous pedagogical improvement, and therefore improve student outcomes.
School leaders achieve this through a focus on developing teacher capability and commitment to change processes. Commitment solely cannot result in improvement, especially when the focus is misaligned or not pedagogically sound. Without such commitment, systems, policies and procedures for continual improvement will not impact pedagogical practice and reach students. Likewise developing teacher capability, through professional learning and development, is not sufficient without the commitment to effectively implement newly acquired knowledge.
The paper outlines a proposed doctoral study in which the problem explored is related to what specific actions school leaders can take that increases teacher commitment to continuous capability development and therefore improvement.
The aim of the study is to identify key actions that school leaders perform that contribute to teachers’ increasing commitment to continual improvement. This knowledge will allow others to implement and embed these in schools attempting to improve teacher commitment to continuous improvement.
The study has two Research Questions 1) How can school leaders identify and measure teacher commitment to continuous improvement? And 2) What actions of school leaders positively influence teacher commitment to continuous improvement?
School leaders achieve this through a focus on developing teacher capability and commitment to change processes. Commitment solely cannot result in improvement, especially when the focus is misaligned or not pedagogically sound. Without such commitment, systems, policies and procedures for continual improvement will not impact pedagogical practice and reach students. Likewise developing teacher capability, through professional learning and development, is not sufficient without the commitment to effectively implement newly acquired knowledge.
The paper outlines a proposed doctoral study in which the problem explored is related to what specific actions school leaders can take that increases teacher commitment to continuous capability development and therefore improvement.
The aim of the study is to identify key actions that school leaders perform that contribute to teachers’ increasing commitment to continual improvement. This knowledge will allow others to implement and embed these in schools attempting to improve teacher commitment to continuous improvement.
The study has two Research Questions 1) How can school leaders identify and measure teacher commitment to continuous improvement? And 2) What actions of school leaders positively influence teacher commitment to continuous improvement?