Faculty of Education - Research Publications

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Author: Acquaro, Daniela × Author: Gurr, David ×

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    Challenging Leadership Norms: A New Way of Thinking About Leadership Preparation
    Acquaro, D ; Gurr, D ; English, FW (Springer International Publishing, 2022)
    Images of principals are often of a seasoned educator well into their teaching career, having risen through the ranks, gaining experience in middle- and senior-level leadership, ideally having completed some form of leadership preparation, and given license to lead a school. Their leadership development, most likely self-managed, perhaps including some formal studies, and most certainly including experience in leadership roles, occurs well into their careers as teachers. So, the idea of introducing pre-service teachers to notions of educational leadership in their initial teacher training is far from conventional thinking. This chapter explores new possibilities in leadership preparation arguing that because today’s teacher graduates are entering educational settings that are rapidly changing and increasing in complexity, they need to be prepared for leadership early in their careers. Distributed leadership structures are now commonplace with increasing opportunities and expectations for leadership across all levels. Graduates entering the profession can find themselves leading very early in their careers without any leadership knowledge, experience, or competencies. This chapter challenges leadership norms by rethinking how we prepare teachers for the profession recognizing the need to better equip teacher graduates for the reality in schools, the changing nature of a teachers’ role, and the need to create a pipeline of experienced leaders to lead the schools of the future. After sections describing the changing nature of schools and school leadership, teacher roles, and initial teacher education (ITE), the chapter considers how ITE courses are responding to these pressures through the provision of leadership learning.
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    Leadership Development in Initial Teacher Education
    Acquaro, D ; Gurr, D ; Peters, MA (Springer Nature Singapore, 2022)
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    Leadership Development in Initial Teacher Education
    Acquaro, D ; Gurr, D ; Peters, MA (Springer Singapore, 2022-07-01)
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    Challenging Leadership Norms: A New Way of Thinking About Leadership Preparation
    Acquaro, D ; Gurr, D ; English, F (Springer International Publishing, 2022)
    Images of principals are often of a seasoned educator well into their teaching career, having risen through the ranks, gaining experience in middle- and senior-level leadership, ideally having completed some form of leadership preparation, and given license to lead a school. Their leadership development, most likely self-managed, perhaps including some formal studies, and most certainly including experience in leadership roles, occurs well into their careers as teachers. So, the idea of introducing pre-service teachers to notions of educational leadership in their initial teacher training is far from conventional thinking. This chapter explores new possibilities in leadership preparation arguing that because today’s teacher graduates are entering educational settings that are rapidly changing and increasing in complexity, they need to be prepared for leadership early in their careers. Distributed leadership structures are now commonplace with increasing opportunities and expectations for leadership across all levels. Graduates entering the profession can find themselves leading very early in their careers without any leadership knowledge, experience, or competencies. This chapter challenges leadership norms by rethinking how we prepare teachers for the profession recognizing the need to better equip teacher graduates for the reality in schools, the changing nature of a teachers’ role, and the need to create a pipeline of experienced leaders to lead the schools of the future. After sections describing the changing nature of schools and school leadership, teacher roles, and initial teacher education (ITE), the chapter considers how ITE courses are responding to these pressures through the provision of leadership learning.
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    The Australian Context: National, State and School-Level Efforts to Improve Schools in Australia
    Gurr, D ; Acquaro, D ; Drysdale, L (Springer International Publishing, 2022)
    Abstract Australia, like many countries, has a history of colonisation and extensive controlled and humanitarian immigration, with this shifting from an Anglo-Celtic emphasis to include, in succession, an emphasis on migrants from Europe, Asia and Africa. This chapter provides several perspectives on evidence-based school development in this changing context. The first focus is on national school-wide improvement initiatives: IDEAS (Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievements in Schools), which utilises professional learning communities to improve student outcomes; and PALL (Principals as Literacy Leaders) which provides principals with literacy and leadership knowledge to support teachers to improve student reading performance. The second perspective explores the state level through considering work at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education in terms of evidence-based teacher training through the development of a clinical teaching model, and evidence-based school improvement through the Science of Learning Schools Partnership. The final perspective is at the school level, where the development of two schools in challenging contexts are described: the first a school formed from the closure of three failing schools; the second a school that was at the point of closure when the current principal was appointed to turn-it-around.
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    The strategic role of leadership in preventing early school leaving and failure
    Gurr, D ; Acquaro, D (Ufficio Stampa della Provincia autonoma di Trento, 2018)
    The retention and success of all students in education systems are a global imperatives. However, the number of students disengaged from mainstream education suggests a need to take a closer look at the role school leaders play in improving educational outcomes for students and decreasing the number of early school leavers. In this article, we explore how school leadership can create a culture of success to improve student achievement, progress, and retention. Three cases from the International Successful School Principalship Project are presented of the leadership of a primary school and two secondary schools from Melbourne, Australia. Understanding the needs of the school, working with students, staff and the greater community to effect change was a crucial starting point for each leader. Strong principal leadership, high expectations, a clear vision for change, and a commitment to success were all critical elements for reform.
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    Australian Examples of Evidence-based School Development
    Gurr, D ; Drysdale, L ; Acquaro, D (European Educational Research Association (EERA), 2019)
    Australia, like many countries, has a history of colonisation and extensive controlled and humanitarian immigration, with country prosperity partly tied to continued population growth. The last seventy years has seen migration move from an Anglo-Celtic emphasis to include, in succession, an emphasis on migrants from Europe, Asia and Africa. In this presentation we provide several perspectives on evidence-based school development in this changing context. The first focus is on national school-wide improvement initiatives and two programs are described. IDEAS (Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievements in Schools), is an extensive and on-going school improvement project that has developed a framework for establishing professional learning communities to improve school outcomes (e.g. Crowther, Ferguson & Hann, 2009). PALL (Principals as Literacy Leaders) is an on-going research, school improvement and professional learning program focussed on improving literacy in schools through providing principals with literacy and leadership knowledge to support teachers to improve student reading performance (Dempster, Townsend, Johnson, Bayetto, Lovett & Stevens, 2017). The second perspective explores the state level through considering work at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education in terms of evidence-based teacher training through the development of a clinical teaching model, and evidence-based school improvement through the Science of Learning Schools Partnership Initiative which utilises a cycle of inquiry approach to develop an important learning focus; in 2019 the focus is on using student voice to inform school improvement (solcnetwork.com/solnos2019). The final perspective is at the school level, where the development of a school formed from the closure of three failing schools is explored, with particular attention paid to the role of critical friends in this improvement process (Gurr, Drysdale, Longmuir & McCrohan, 2018). A flier describing the programs will be provided to session participants so that the presentation can focus on the key ideas arising from consideration of these programs.