Instructional leadership: The role of promoting teaching and learning EMASA Conference 2011 Presentation Mathakga Botha Wits school of Education

Agenda Background Roles of instructional leadership Use of assessment data to improve teaching and learning framework for data-driven decision making Creation of professional learning communities Action to initiate change in schools

Roles of instructional leadership share a common vision and goals to bring about change have a key role to play in increasing the performance of pedagogical leadership practice in their schools focus on activities maximising learning outcomes and learner performance Leadership engage the whole school in conversations concerning meaningful use of assessment data use of data for inquiry and decision making to create professional learning communities and encourage participation and leadership

Use of data to improve teaching and learning a tool to enable school leaders and teachers to implement change in schools promote a culture of high standards and the use of appropriate assessment for improving learning to use data to understand where learners are academically to establish improvement plans that are targeted effective when teacher decisions about instructional effectiveness are based on assessments of learners’ actual proficiencies in various skill areas understand and use of a continuum from data to information, to building knowledge

Collect Organize Analyze Summarize Synthesize Prioritize Impact Implement Decision DATA KNOWLEDGE INFORMATION feed-back Framework for Data-Driven decision making

Challenges of using data problems with the format of the data schools have difficulty analysing and interpreting data teachers not using relevant educational questions to enable them analyse data data not used to understand how learners think schools having difficulties making linkages between data and improvement strategies.

Professional Learning Communities to promote teaching and learning all educators to engage in collaborative discussions shift in schools thinking and the structure of their professional development allows school leadership and teachers to communicate and share their classroom encounters understand issues that need intervention to improve learner achievement

Challenges of professional learning communities vague understanding of a community’s depth of ‘shared beliefs’, ‘interdependency’, and ‘meaningful relationships’ existence of competing tensions uncomfortable critical nature of the communal learning challenging and ambiguous work Teachers’ lack understanding of the nature of the interdependence required

Encourage collaboration towards promoting effective teaching and learning; provide a school culture that aims for high standards of achievement; have common beliefs about reform to improve learner achievement; create capacity building that provides consistency and focuses collectively on learner problems, to find solutions; share teaching practices to promote higher standards of learning. School leadership action to initiate change in schools