1. Learning-centred Leadership
LDS/RTU SUMMER SCHOOL 2008
Leading Learning in Diverse Contexts
Learning-centred Leadership
Leadership which really makes a difference
August 2008

2. Learning-centred Leadership
Growing amount of research and evidence to support this thinking
My work began in small schools and then large ones
NCSL’s research took the ideas forward in primary and secondary schools
International studies also provide support
Geoff Southworth

3. How leaders influence what happens in classrooms
Direct effects
Indirect effects
Reciprocal effects
Indirect effects are the largest and most common
Effective leaders work directly on their indirect influence
Geoff Southworth

4. How leaders influence what happens in classrooms
3 strategies
1. Modelling
2. Monitoring
3. Dialogue
Geoff Southworth

5. Modelling
Geoff Southworth

6. 25 years of research School-based
Interviewing and observing leaders at work
Found 2 things:
1. Never found a teacher with nothing to say about her headteacher!
2. When they talk about school leaders they usually talk about what they do
Geoff Southworth

7. Modelling Leading by example Walk the talk
Actions speak louder than words
The walk is the talk
Behaviour really matters… it’s what we do
Every action is a chance to lead
You are closely observed – you are watched
Geoff Southworth

8. Example is not the main thing in
Modelling
Example is not the main thing in
influencing others,
it is the only thing.
Albert Schweizer
Geoff Southworth

9. Monitoring Knowing what is going on Using data Observing classrooms
Using leaders’ classroom practice
as an example for other teachers
Action research
Geoff Southworth

10. Monitoring – what it is not
Not surveillance
And it is important to establish
what it is and isn’t to avoid
mis-understanding,
defensiveness or even threat.
Geoff Southworth

11. Monitoring – Reflections [1]
Monitoring is a challenge in your schools
Q1 - What data do you or might you use?
Q2 - Are there ways of observing teaching
and learning?
Q3 - What is the place and role of self-
evaluation?
Geoff Southworth

12. Modelling and monitoring pedagogy
What we know about high performing school
systems and those that close the achievement
gap.
They get the right people to become teachers
2. They develop them into effective instructors
3. They ensure the system is able to deliver the best possible instruction for every child
Geoff Southworth

13. (Michael Barber & Mona Mourshed 2007)
The quality of a school system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers
(Michael Barber & Mona Mourshed 2007)
Geoff Southworth

14. The quality of a school cannot exceed the quality of its teachers
Therefore the task of learning-centred
leaders is to improve the quality of
teaching in their schools.
Geoff Southworth

15. Monitoring Monitoring should therefore include identifying
teachers’ pedagogic strengths and development
needs.
Who could mentor whom?
Who could coach whom?
Subject knowledge
Teaching strategies and tactics – open
questions; group work; AfL; plenary sessions
Geoff Southworth

16. Monitoring – Reflections [2]
Q1. How is teachers’ craft knowledge shared
and transferred in your schools?
Q2. How might this be strengthened and improved?
Q3. What are the obstacles to teachers
sharing and developing their pedagogy?
Q4. Which of these can you do something
about and will you?
Geoff Southworth

17. Dialogue Opportunities to talk about learning and teaching
Sharing craft knowledge
Transferring - reinvesting intellectual capital
Geoff Southworth

18. Dialogue
Describing
Analysing
Reflecting
Articulating
Geoff Southworth

19. Dialogue Conversation Co-construction of professional knowledge
Constructivist professional learning
Geoff Southworth

20. Reflections and questions [3]
What do staff in your school talk about?
How much professional conversation is there?
Who provides stimulus to these conversations?
Geoff Southworth

21. 3 strategies = one powerful effect
Geoff Southworth

22. Modelling Monitoring Dialogue
Geoff Southworth

23. What do leaders in high performing schools with lots of disadvantaged pupils do?
#1. They focus on what they can do, rather than what they can’t.
Geoff Southworth

24. #2. They don’t leave anything about teaching and learning to chance
An awful lot of our teachers – even brand
new ones – are left to figure out on their
own what to teach and what constitutes
‘good enough’ work [US Study]
Geoff Southworth

25. #3. They set their goals high.
Expectations matter – behaviour, attendance, effort, attainment
Geoff Southworth

26. #4. Higher performing secondary. schools put all pupils – not just
#4. Higher performing secondary schools put all pupils – not just some – in a demanding, high core curriculum
Geoff Southworth

27. #5. Principals are hugely important, ever present, but NOT
the only leaders in the school
Geoff Southworth

28. High performing schools… Teachers regularly observe other teachers;
Teachers have time to plan and work collaboratively;
New teachers get generous and careful support & acculturation;
Teachers take on many other leadership tasks at the school
Geoff Southworth

29. #6. In good schools, leaders know how much teachers matter and they act on that knowledge
Geoff Southworth

30. Good teachers matter a lot
But some don’t get their fair share of quality
teachers
Low-performing students of all races most
likely to be assigned to least effective teachers.
Leaders in high performing schools don’t let
this happen
Geoff Southworth

31. Nearly there…!!
Good schools are nice places to be – both for students and for teachers.
Geoff Southworth

32. Saying that they are nice doesn’t mean they are easy places to work.
Principals and teachers work hard.
But there is also a kind of shared sense
of mission and camaraderie.
Geoff Southworth