School Leadership for Education Excellence Professor S. Gopinathan The National Institute of Education Nanyang Technological University Singapore 23 January 2008 Bahrain
Leaders of the future will be people who know how to ask (questions) rather than tell (answers). P. Drucker School Leadership for Education Excellence
We are in the 21 century, a new world globally and educationally globally: Economic integration Technology change Global talent flows Hybrid identities Unceasing change
School Leadership for Education Excellence Educationally: Livelong learning Schools as learning organisations Teachers as learning communities Need for new worker-citizens
School Leadership for Education Excellence 21 century skills Learning skills Communication skills Problem solving skills Collaboration skills Innovative and enterprise skills Flexibility and resilience
Are our schools and teachers ready? Is our school system a high capacity system? School Leadership for Education Excellence
Very few systems are good. Finland, Japan, Korea, Singapore are among good ones. Many systems fail their students Underachievement Wasteful Poorly related to economic needs School Leadership for Education Excellence
Some key leadership attributes: Understanding of self, values Belief in collegiality Knowldege of work of teaching and learning Able to build capacity in colleagues
School Leadership for Education Excellence Creating a shared sense of purpose in the school. Focus on developing a climate of high expectations and a school culture focused on the improvement of teaching and learning. Shaping the reward structure of the school to reflect the goals set for staff and students.
School Leadership for Education Excellence Organise and provide a wide range of activities aimed at intellectual stimulation and development for staff. Being a visible presence in the school, modelling the values that are being fosted in the school.
Leadership is about helping people to understand the problems they face, with helping people to get a handle on how to manage these problems, and even with learning to live with problems. T. L. Sergiovanni School Leadership for Education Excellence