Faculty of Education - Research Publications
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ItemDeveloping Educational Leaders for the Future: New Ways to Consider Leadership Preparation(Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management, 2019)
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ItemPreparing the Next Generation of Educational Leaders: Initiating a Leadership Discourse in Initial Teacher Education(Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management, 2019)Within the context of major international policy reforms impacting on the structure and delivery of initial teacher education, increasing principal attrition, a rise in distributed leadership practice and teacher leadership research, this paper considers the potential of introducing leadership studies to pre-service teachers in their formative education. Utilising a qualitative research design, existing literature is explored which considers the introduction of leadership studies within initial teacher preparation programmes, the prevalence of this practice, and the structure and focus of leadership studies offered. The paper reviews initial teacher education courses offered by top ranking international education universities, revealing a trend in the promotion and attainment of leadership skills and capabilities. The paper also draws upon research within engineering and medicine which have explored the affordances of introducing students to leadership studies prior to entering the profession. It is hoped that this paper will advance educational leadership research by exploring the role of initial teacher education providers in preparing the next generation of school leaders.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableAustralian Examples of Evidence-based School Development(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.
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ItemSpotlight on the Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO): Why Are SENCOs Indispensable in Today’s Schools and How to Support Their Middle Level Leadership(Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management, 2019)Middle level leaders play a key role within school and educational networks. Their function can be more effective if they are enabled to act in a distributed leadership perspective. This is particularly evident with the role of the Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO). The rise and prominence of SENCOs in coordinating whole school approaches to support students with special needs has resulted in their visibility as leaders. The evolution of the SENCO role has seen the need to recognize their unique position as middle level leaders in developing and overseeing special needs care. A proposition which remains largely foreign in many countries. What remains undeniable is that a SENCO’s positioning within a school can significantly impact on their legitimacy and effectiveness. This paper examines the results of a qualitative research project, aimed at reconstructing an interpretative framework of the SENCO’s middle level leadership functions. The study highlights on the one hand their management and leadership functions, and on the other, the elements that facilitate or hinder their role. The study also highlights the emergence of widespread leadership through the creation of a third space where SENCOs join together through the creation of networks which function as communities of practice.