LDS & RTU NORTH-SOUTH SUMMER SCHOOL 20 & 21 AUGUST 2008 FÁILTE Good morning everyone and you are most welcome to Cavan to the annual summer school hosted jointly by LDS and our colleagues in the RTU 21st Century Leadership 1

A NOBLE PROFESSION “There are few professions other than teaching where gaining personal meaning through improving the lives of others for years and even generations to come is so palpable and so profound” (Fullan, 1999:82). “We are coming to believe that leaders are those people who ‘walk ahead’, people who are genuinely committed to deep change in themselves and in their organisations. They lead through developing new skills, capabilities and understandings. And they come from many places within the organisation” (Senge, 1996:45)

Leading the Learning Centred School 21st Century Leadership Leading the Learning Centred School “Walk the Talk” Courage to Act Sustainability: sharing leadership Situational Awareness The core principles of LDS: particularly here looking at situational awareness; understanding, respecting and responding to contet Moral Purpose LDS LDS 3

SCHOOL LEADERSHIP School leadership is second only to classroom teaching as an influence on pupil learning. The ways in which leaders apply these basic leadership practices – not the practices themselves – demonstrate responsiveness to, rather than dictation by, the contexts in which they work. Leithwood et al 2006

‘outstanding leadership is exquisitely sensitive to the context in which it is exercised’ (Leithwood, Jantzi, & Steinbach, 1999). In our own strategic plan: we have identified a core strand of Context Matters and outlined very tangible directions in terms of context. In the Irish landscape we hae identified three very distinct contextual cohorts: Teaching Principals Special Schools (COTHÚ) DEIS Schools (CUMASÚ)

Little Zachary was doing very badly in maths Little Zachary was doing very badly in maths. His parents had tried everything... Tutors, Mentors, flash cards, Special learning centres. In short, everything they could think of to help his maths. Finally, in a last ditch effort, they took Zachary down and enrolled him In the local Catholic school. After the first day, little Zachary came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn't even kiss his mother Hello. Instead, he went straight to his room and started studying. Books and papers were spread out all over the room and little Zachary was hard at work. His mother was amazed. She called him down to dinner. To her shock, the minute he was done, he marched back to his room without a word, and in no time, he was back hitting the books as hard as before. This went on for some time, day after day, while the mother tried to understand what made all the difference.

Finally, little Zachary brought home his report Card. He quietly laid it on the table, went up to his room and hit the books. With great trepidation, his mother looked at it and to her absolute surprise, Little Zachary got an 'A' in maths. She could no Longer hold her curiosity. She went to his room and said, 'Son, what was it? Was it the nuns?' Little Zachary looked at her and Shook his head, no. 'Well, then,' she replied, Was it the books, the discipline, the structure, the Uniforms? 'WHAT WAS IT ?' Little Zachary looked at her and said, 'Well, on The first day of school when I saw that guy nailed to The plus sign, I knew they weren't fooling around.'