School Leadership: Personal and Symbolic

School Leadership: Personal and Symbolic

The objective of this work is to compare and contrast the leadership frameworks presented in two separate works. The first of these is a New South Wales, Department of Education and Training publication entitled: "School Leadership Capability Framework" and the work entitled: "Leadership In Catholic Schools: Development Framework and Standards of Practice" a resource that has been developed through a collaborative effort between the Catholic Education Offices of Melbourne and Sale in partnership with the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). This has been endorsed by the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (CECV) and is termed a resource that is "valuable for leadership development in Catholic primary and secondary schools across Victoria." (New South Wales, Department of Education and Training, 2006)

INTRODUCTION

This work intends to examine the two leadership frameworks which have been introduced and to do so from the standpoint of leadership both in terms of the personal perspective and the symbolic representation of leadership that is necessary for consideration. Specifically this will be examined from the relevance of employment in an independent Australian girl's school. Toward this end, this work will first examine the New South Wales publication as well as the resource published by the Catholic Education Offices of Melbourne and Sale and the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). Specifically the two shall be compared and contrasted one with the other followed by a brief summary and statement of findings.

I. NSW & DET SCHOOL LEADERSHIP CAPABILITY FRAMEWORK

The New South Wales Department of Education and Training and the New South Wales Secondary Principals Council report the development of a 'School Leadership Capability Framework' which is stated to describe "...the capabilities that school leaders may use to operate in highly effective ways. School leaders may utilize different combinations of these capabilities at different times depending on the school context or situation." (New South Wales, Department of Education and Training, 2006) It is related by New South Wales Department of Education and Training that the DET School Leadership Capability framework is organized into the domains as follows: (1) Personal Domain; (2) Interpersonal Domain; (3) Educational Domain; (4) Strategic Domain; and (5) Organizational Domain. (New South Wales, Department of Education and Training, 2006)

Personal Domain - The Personal Domain contain the elements of professional values and ethics in school leadership as well as the personal attributes of the school leadership in terms of strength and commitment to personal as well as professional development that is ongoing in nature. Decision-making and judgment are also involved in the leadership capability framework. (New South Wales, Department of Education and Training, 2006, paraphrased)

Interpersonal Domain - The interpersonal domain contains elements relating to effective communication, productive relationships and ability to inspire others in regards to leadership capability in the school. The Team leadership program is reported to be inclusive of an Executive Leadership Development Program "Leading ICT in Learning Self-Paced Module" in what is a course for head teachers and assistant principals with experience and includes the exploration of the lead toward integration of the use of communication technology information in schools. Also reported are resources and training for conflict resolution. (New South Wales, Department of Education and Training, 2006, paraphrased)

Educational Domain - The Educational Domain contains the elements of: (1) Pedagogical knowledge; (2) Pedagogical application; (3) Building an environment that maximizes student learning; and (4) Building learning communities. (New South Wales, Department of Education and Training, 2006, paraphrased)

Common resources are reported to include the Australian Government Quality Teacher Program that focuses on the improvement of the quality of teachers as well as the number of Australian schools deemed to be "highly effective" so that student learning outcomes are maximized.

Strategic Domain - The Strategic Domain includes elements of the building of the vision of the school as well as the school's culture. This domain involves strategy related to planning and to building of leadership capacity. Finally, this domain involves elements related to strategic advocacy. It is reported that professional learning opportunities includes a workshop hat challenges the teams in schools to give consideration to fundamental questions relating to the public education role. Secondly, there is a course 'Leading Change in Schools: Emotional Dimensions Online Courses' that explores theories of change and of emotional intelligence. Additionally the work of Michael Fullan (2006) "Leading in Times of Change" is emphasized towards this end and it is related to Fullan "outlines important lessons for a change, clearly highlighting the importance of learning at all levels, the need for a supportive culture at the system level and the need for a constructive and positive working environment.

Suggested Use: Focus for professional development for quality classroom teaching." (New South Wales, Department of Education and Training, 2006)

Organizational Domain - The Organizational Domain is that which makes provision of a base upon which to structure the learning community and this makes a requirement that leadership possess the skills in management and the necessary knowledge to resource the school adequately and to effectively staff the school and ensure that "all infrastructure is sound and supported." (New South Wales, Department of Education and Training, 2006) Stated as elements in this domain are those of the effective operation within the regulatory and organizational framework, the personnel, management of resources to achieve goals and management of systems and processes. (New South Wales, Department of Education and Training, 2006, paraphrased)

Higher Order Leadership Skills Centric to Five Domains

Centric to each of these five stated domains are three higher order leadership skills including: (1) Emotional intelligence; (2) Way of thinking; and (3) Diagnostic maps. (New South Wales, Department of Education and Training, 2006)

The precise model that builds upon this framework can be visualized as follows:

Figure 1

New South Wales School Leadership Capability Framework: Conceptual Model

Source: Adapted from the work of ( )

Referenced in the work of the NSW DET is the work of Kimball, Milanowski, and McKinney (2009) entitled: "Assessing the Promise of Standards-Based Performance Evaluation for Principals: Results from a Randomized Trial" and stated is that since principal performance is being used as a measure more than ever before of the "...school outcomes, standards-based approaches to evaluating principals' performance have become more common..." (Kimball, Milanowski, and McKinney, 2009)

Reported is a study in which 76 primary and secondary principals from the same school district underwent evaluation through use of the old evaluation system of the district and a new "standards-based system.' (Kimball, Milanowski, and McKinney, 2009)

Reported are findings that include that both of the groups of principals "saw improving student achievement as the main expectation of them, but principals evaluated under the new system also identified instructional leadership as a district expectation, reflecting the more specific guidelines of the new system." (Kimball, Milanowski, and McKinney, 2009)

Findings in this study who that standards-based evaluations for principals should be implemented properly and given recognition as being "only one evaluative influence in a larger context, and to be aligned with performance and accountability expectations." (Kimball, Milanowski, and McKinney, 2009)

II. CATHOLIC EDUCATION COMMISSION OF VICTORIA (2005)

It is stated by the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria that the 'Leadership in Catholic Schools: Development Framework and Standards of Practice' has as its aims the: (1) The description of complex work of Catholic school leaders; (2) The support of leaders and aspiring leaders; (3) The provision of teachers with a professional learning guide as they work towards formal leadership positions; and (4) The forming of the basis for a system of assessment against the standards. (Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, 2005) The Catholic Education Commission of Victoria states that the 'Framework' has two facets as follows: (1) A guiding conception of leadership; and (2) Areas of leadership action. (Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, 2009)

The following diagram of the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria lists the guiding conceptions of leadership as well as the areas of action for leadership.

Figure 2

Framework Diagram

Source: Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (2005)

The Catholic Education Commission of Victoria states that the Catholic school leader receives guidance from "religious, professional and ethical principles and purposes" and that leadership is "not confined to management roles; any individual may demonstrate leadership." (2005) In fact, schools that are effective are those who "foster leadership initiatives from all members of the professional community." (Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, 2005)

Five Key Principles -- Five key principles on leadership primarily adapted from the work of Elmore (2000) and Fullan (2001, 2004) are stated to be those deemed critically important by the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (2005).

Those five key principles include the following: (1) The need to have a clear purpose drive by ethical standards and a stated need; (2) Building and maintaining relationships; (3) Understanding and managing the complexities of the change process and most particularly changes in attitudes and teaching practices; (3) The creation of shared knowledge; and (4) Ensuring alignment of the structures and coherence. (Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, 2005)

Leader Characteristics - The Catholic Education Commission of Victoria additionally relates that there are certain dispositions "that serve to inspire and motivate others in their pursuit of improved student learning." (2005) Stated to be inclusive in these are the following characteristics:

risk-taking;

open-mindedness; optimism; confidence; decisiveness; reflectiveness; enthusiasm; perseverance; respect; courage; integrity; resilience; empathy. (Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, 2005)

The Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (2005) states that specific knowledge that is required to be in the repertoire of the school leader are those listed as follows: (1) the capacity to think creatively, build and communicate effective concepts that serve to inform actions; (2) the ability to think creatively and build and communicate concepts that inform action; (3) the ability to understand, rationalize and defend a point-of-view; (4) The ability to draw connections between the practical knowledge of experience and research-based, theoretical knowledge; and (5) The capacity to share and create knowledge with colleagues. (Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, 2005)

The Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (2005) states that the school leader requires a "bond of understandings that will inform their actions in all areas of the school's work' which includes knowledge of the following: (1) the core beliefs, understanding and principles of Catholic education; (2) the contribution of Catholic education to society; (3) the political, social, economic, legal and cultural contexts of learning; (4) pedagogy and educational theory; (5) curriculum planning and development; (6) the links between curriculum and formative and summative assessment; (7) evidence-based processes to support improvement; (8) modern technologies, their use and impact; (9) change processes and management; (10) school governance at various levels; (11) policy creation, consultation and review; (12) use and management of resources; and (13) environmental issues. (Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, 2005)

The development of the 'Framework' is stated to have had two primary purposes: (1) to encourage classroom teachers to consider movement into leadership positions; and (2) to make the provision of some insights into the "next stage of investigation which is concerned with judging the evidence against a standard of performance." (Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, 2005) The standards provide teachers "with a bridge from the classroom to school leadership" and as well as providing a guide to "areas of school life where they can provide teachers with leadership opportunities." (Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, 2005)