1. View of Durham Cathedral from Owengate

2. Debrecen – SLT4AA Conference
Developing the School Leadership Toolkit for Accelerating Achievement - A Research Perspective
Professor Carl Bagley and Dr Stephen Clough

3. The SLT4AA Project
Addresses the EU Erasmus+ Priorities of improving the leadership and management of schools and developing new training resources.
A European consortium of four countries (Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary and Portugal) working with schools to develop and test training packages in cultural context.
Involves not just principals but extended leadership teams

4. Bulgaria - Estonia - Hungary - Portugal
Contexts and Cultures
Bulgaria - Estonia - Hungary - Portugal
History
Demographic
Economy
Regionalism
Structure
Governance
Pedagogy
Curriculum

5. A Model for Cross-Cultural Comparison in Educational Leadership and Management (adapted from Dimmock and Walker, 2000, p.148)

6. Challenges in Developing the School Leadership Toolkit
Acceptance of changes by teachers (e.g. lesson planning)
Motivation of the teams/results come slowly so easy to give up
Finding common time for all schools to attend meetings
Achieving change in schools – why change from previous 10years?
A school may talk about changes but not really doing it
Lack of autonomy in schools
Schools are overburdened/too much administration
Not easy for schools to talk about their problems
How to draw up a plan (schools)
Coherent strategic thinking in schools but need to organise their work to achieve their goals
Keeping schools on board with the project

7. School Leadership Interviews A SNAP SHOT!
Key Issues:
Need for greater autonomy and adequate budgets
Centralisation versus decentralisation
Influencing skills/the decision making process/training staff
Problems with Ministry (what and when to do)
Staff mobility/new staff every year
Always looking for new solutions is the main challenge
Autocratic or democratic continuum?/final decisions?/staff meetings?
Socio-economic battle/student dropout
Staff and students are overburdened
Leaders and followers

8. Lessons Learned & Future Agenda
Common issues:
Balancing school, regional-local, and national-societal cultures
Understanding school leadership in a global world
Improving motivation and the willingness to change in schools
The need for greater autonomy in schools (curriculum and resources)
Increased training on strategic and business planning for leaders
Opportunities:
SLT4AA follow-ups
Local, regional, national and international networks
Creating and delivering the school vision