Year: 2024
Author: Joan Conway, Dorothy Andrews, Cheryl Bauman, David Turner
Type of paper: Individual Paper
Abstract:
School principals face increasing expectations for enhancing student outcomes, responding to community needs, and implementing a range of policy reforms. There is a growing disquiet with current practices demanding a rethink of the narrative of leading schools. Such changes demand education research as prompted by one principal professional organisation to join with members of a university research team in exploration of the contribution of school leadership to the achievement of quality primary school student outcomes.
A three-phase research project was collaboratively designed. Phase One comprised an extensive literature review of national and international literature about primary school leadership, the outcome of which developed a framework of 12 hypothesised capabilities and their associated indicators. Phase Two involved a survey of measures to empirically test the 12 factors (capabilities) and indicators of the hypothesised framework. Participants were principals of public and independent primary schools in the State of Queensland. Principal axis factoring and confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a refinement of the School Community-Oriented Leadership Framework with eight defined capabilities: Agility, Relational Collaboration, Advocacy, Visionary Commitment, Creative Innovation, Life-long Learning, Critical Decisiveness, and Courageous Communication. Phase Three of the research comprises two steps: a) an invitational workshop of leaders from the field; and b) purposive sampling of principals for individual interviews.
This paper focuses on the first step of Phase three. Principals and other school leaders were invited to reflect on their individual experiences in relation to the eight capabilities, followed by small group discussions related to implications for this framework in practice. This step was extended with an invitation for data to be collected from other contexts/countries and this paper includes findings from Australia, Canada, and United States. It is anticipated that these findings will guide the purpose and conduct of the individual interviews which form the basis of the second step of Phase Three. It is proposed that the interviews will explore a deeper understanding and contextual applicability of the School Community-Oriented Leadership Framework as a new narrative for primary school leaders. Ultimately, the goal of this research partnership is that the findings will provide a capabilities framework for primary school principals that could assist system policy and leadership development designers with a point of reference for ongoing dialogue on leadership effectiveness for now and into the future.
A three-phase research project was collaboratively designed. Phase One comprised an extensive literature review of national and international literature about primary school leadership, the outcome of which developed a framework of 12 hypothesised capabilities and their associated indicators. Phase Two involved a survey of measures to empirically test the 12 factors (capabilities) and indicators of the hypothesised framework. Participants were principals of public and independent primary schools in the State of Queensland. Principal axis factoring and confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a refinement of the School Community-Oriented Leadership Framework with eight defined capabilities: Agility, Relational Collaboration, Advocacy, Visionary Commitment, Creative Innovation, Life-long Learning, Critical Decisiveness, and Courageous Communication. Phase Three of the research comprises two steps: a) an invitational workshop of leaders from the field; and b) purposive sampling of principals for individual interviews.
This paper focuses on the first step of Phase three. Principals and other school leaders were invited to reflect on their individual experiences in relation to the eight capabilities, followed by small group discussions related to implications for this framework in practice. This step was extended with an invitation for data to be collected from other contexts/countries and this paper includes findings from Australia, Canada, and United States. It is anticipated that these findings will guide the purpose and conduct of the individual interviews which form the basis of the second step of Phase Three. It is proposed that the interviews will explore a deeper understanding and contextual applicability of the School Community-Oriented Leadership Framework as a new narrative for primary school leaders. Ultimately, the goal of this research partnership is that the findings will provide a capabilities framework for primary school principals that could assist system policy and leadership development designers with a point of reference for ongoing dialogue on leadership effectiveness for now and into the future.