Transformational school leadership effects on student achievement

Este estudio, basado en la síntesis de una investigación inédita sobre liderazgo transformacional en la escuela (LTE) realizada en los últimos catorce años, aborda la naturaleza del LTE y sus efectos sobre el logro de los estudiantes empleando métodos de revisión que incluyen un meta-análisis estándar y técnicas de recuento. Los resultados muestran un amplio espectro de prácticas de LTE que han sido medidas en investigaciones previas, sugieren que el LTE tiene un pequeño pero significativo efecto en el logro de los estudiantes y que algunas prácticas de LTE son explicaciones poderosas de estos efectos. También se ha demostrado que un número importante de variables hacen de moderadores y mediadores de los efectos del LTE sobre los estudiantesBased on a synthesis of unpublished transformational school leadership (TSL) research completed during the last 14 years, this study inquired into the nature of TSL and its effects on student achievement using review methods including standard meta-analysis and vote-counting techniques. Results identift a wider range of TSL practices than typically has been measured in previous TSL research. Results also suggest that TSL has small but significant efli!cts on student achievement, some TSL practices are especially powerful explanations of these effects, and a large handful of variables both moderate and mediate TSL effects on student

¿Cómo liderar nuestras escuelas? Aportes desde la investigación

Liderazgo directivo y mejor educación van de la mano. El libro plantea que la educación chilena requiere urgentemente un poderoso impulso de liderazgo en sus directivos si se quiere dar un salto en los resultados de aprendizaje de los alumnos. No es que los directores puedan reemplazar el trabajo cotidiano de los docentes de aula, pero pueden potenciarlo y cualificarlo, ayudando a que cada profesor realice mejor su compleja tarea, así como a que se cree una verdadera comunidad de profesionales en la escuela. De ahí que lograr mejores directivos equivale a alcanzar más calidad en la enseñanza. Pero esta convicción mayor no basta. Para avanzar en las políticas educacionales y en la acción de sostenedores, universidades y ministerio, la pregunta persiste: ¿cómo mejorar la dirección escolar? Más precisamente, ¿cómo lograr atraer y retener a los mejores candidatos en la difícil posición directiva? ¿qué características debe tener una buena carrera directiva? ¿cómo y dónde formar a los nuevos y actuales directivos en las competencias requeridas? ¿cuáles son las atribuciones que los sostenedores deben delegarles? ¿qué modos de organización conviene darle a los equipos directivos? ¿cuánto pueden y deben distribuir internamente el poder los directores? ¿cómo pueden construir una relación productiva con los padres y la comunidad?

Research into the Impact of School Leadership on Pupil Outcomes: Policy and Research Contexts

This paper extends the introduction to the authors’ study of successful school leadership and how it influences pupil outcomes begun in the Editorial introduction. Critical to an appreciation especially of the external validity of their results is an understanding of the policy context in which the English leaders in their study found themselves; this is a policy context dominated by concerns for external accountability and increases in the academic performance of pupils. In addition to describing this context, the paper summarises the conceptual and methodological framework that guided the early stage of their research and outlines their mixed-methods research design

Cascading training down into the classroom: The need for parallel planning

Cascade models of in-service training are widely considered to be a cost effective means of introducing educational change to large numbers of teachers. Data from 511 teachers completing a cascade training programme that introduced current ideas about and procedures for teaching English to young learners, suggests that provision of training alone is no guarantee that cascade training aims will actually be applied in classrooms. The paper considers implications for cascade projects, suggesting that planning needs to be a parallel process if an adequate return on outlay, in the sense of teachers applying skills introduced in training in their classrooms, is to be achieved

Under-representation of males in the early years: the challenges leaders face

This article investigates why there appears to be an under-representation of males in comparison to their female colleagues in the Early Years (EY) sector, and the perception of male teachers progressing more quickly to leadership positions when they do enter this context. Using case studies of final year male students on an Initial Teacher Training (ITT) undergraduate degree course at one university, we attempt to analyse data on male under-representation in Early Years against contemporary theories of identity, power and leadership. Questionnaires and interviews were conducted with the male sample group and male senior leaders in primary schools to gain an overview as to the leadership support they needed and provided. Our tentative findings suggested that male trainees are happy to work in an Early Years context and take leadership positions, but the challenge for leaders is that male trainees require strong leadership mentoring processes to help overcome perceived contextual barriers

The relation between school leadership from a distributed perspective and teachers' organizational commitment: examining the source of the leadership function

Purpose: In this study the relationship between school leadership and teachers’ organizational commitment is examined by taking into account a distributed leadership perspective. The relation between teachers’ organizational commitment and contextual variables of teachers’ perceptions of the quality and the source of the supportive and supervisory leadership function, participative decision making, and cooperation within the leadership team are examined. Research Design: A survey was set up involving 1,522 teachers from 46 large secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium). Because the data in the present study have an inherent hierarchical structure, that is, teachers are nested into schools, hierarchical linear modeling techniques are applied. Findings: The analyses reveal that 9% of the variance in teachers’ organizational commitment is attributable to differences between schools. Teachers’ organizational commitment is mainly related to quality of the supportive leadership, cooperation within the leadership team, and participative decision making. Who performed the supportive leadership function plays only a marginally significant positive role. The quality of the supervisory leadership function and the role of the leadership team members in this function were not significantly related to teachers’ organizational commitment. Conclusions: The implications of the findings are that to promote teachers’ organizational commitment teachers should feel supported by their leadership team and that this leadership team should be characterized by group cohesion, role clarity, and goal orientedness. Recommendations for further research are provided