1. 19th UNESCO-APEID International Conference, Thailand
Awareness-based Systems Leadership: Unleashing Collective Creativity for Innovation and Improvement in Schools
19th UNESCO-APEID International Conference, Thailand
Effective School Leadership for the 21st Century:
Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals
Dr Richard Owens and Mignon Weckert

2. Awareness-based Systems Leadership
About us
Dr Richard Owens
Director - Woodleigh Institute
Head of Teaching and Learning - Woodleigh School
Specialises in professional and organisational learning, leadership development, school and system innovation and improvement, and teacher collaboration
Mignon Weckert
Educational Leadership Director Lutheran Education South Australia, Northern Territory, Western Australia
Focus on building leadership capacity and networks to support excellence in learning, improvement and innovation, Lutheran identity, community building and effective management and organisation 

3. Reimagining and renewing schools for 21 C
New forms of leadership
Leadership promoting self-awareness, creativity, collective action, and systems thinking
Building personal and collective leadership capacity for sustainable innovation and improvement

4. Introduction Case study
Study of a multi-year research and development project focused on the renewal of a subsystem of 140 schools and early childhood centres in Australia.
Responding to the challenge of school improvement through an explicit focus on building individual and collaborative capacity for leading change at a school, network, and regional level.
It seeks to help develop an understanding of the role that such capacity building can play as a key design element for approaching sustainable innovation and reform.

5. Literature review School effectiveness and improvement
David Hopkins et al. 2014

6. School effectiveness and improvement
A key question
How we can build the capacity of educational leaders to practically apply this body of knowledge for sustainable reform in their own contexts?

7. Literature review System Leadership District leadership
Principal Leadership
Mid-level school leaders
Influence on instructional practices and student achievement across a region
e.g Leithwood et al. 2004
Leading reform and improvement within and across the boundaries of their schools
e.g. Matthews et al. 2008
The role they play in the collective development of teacher practice.
e.g. Stoll 2015

8. System Leadership A key question
How can we better understand these leader’s learning experiences, how they apply their learning in practice, and their impact on school improvement?

9. Awareness-based Systems Leadership
Definition
Awareness-based Systems Leadership as the capacity to foster effective collaboration for innovation and improvement, within and across multiple layers of a defined system.

10. Awareness-based Systems Leadership
Consciousness-Based Leadership & Systems Change
Scharmer 2008

11. Awareness-based Systems Leadership
Systems Thinking and Learning Organisations
Senge 1990

13. Lutheran Education Australia
Project overview
National Strategic Projects
Prototypes of system development
Evaluation and development system for principals
Career continuum PL for leaders
Communication strategy
2016
2017
2018
Learning Hubs
Centralised system for localised innovation and disruption
Principal Learning Hubs
School innovation and improvement
National Leadership Team
Executive Learning Lab - strategic planning, leadership development, and school effectiveness and improvement

14. Awareness-based Systems Leadership
Practices
Circle Work
Journalling
Case Clinics
Dialogue Walk
Prototyping
Scharmer 2018

15. Awareness-based Systems Leadership
Alignment - LEA Growing Deep

16. NLT Leadership Matrix
What does an effective system leader look like?

17. National Leadership Team Lab
Findings
Leadership learning
Develop their ability to critically reflect upon their mental models, as a way of exploring and extending their professional practice
Shifted participants’ focus from reactive problem-solving in their immediate area of responsibility toward the investigation or systemic approaches for long-term improvement
Lab was seen as providing an important forum to surface and articulate concerns, access the views and expertise of others, and consider alternate solutions to the challenges being presented

18. National Leadership Team Lab
Findings
Team learning
Deepened leader’s appreciation of team learning and the importance of adopting a more collaborative approach to the leadership of large-scale change
Shift in collaborative practice from initial emphasis on exchanging briefings about regional initiatives and collegial support towards the development of shared national projects and collective work products
Sustained attentions to team learning was seen as not only important for the group’s efficacy, but also for improving the quality of their engagement with system stakeholders and the overall impact of their leadership practice.

19. National Leadership Team Lab
Findings
Identifying and removing barriers to effective leadership
Existing organisational structure, based on regional divisions, was a limiting factor for organisational learning
The structure worked to inhibit the shared development of adaptive learning frameworks, processes and initiatives for improvement
Siloed mindset reinforced traditional power structures and past patterns of behaviour, such as the prioritisation of individually sponsored projects at the cost of more systemic, collaborative approaches

20. National Leadership Team Lab
Findings
NLT Lab helped leaders…
Develop their ability to recognise common challenges, deal with complexity and consider new possibilities for strategic collaboration
Develop a functional focus for their work, that transcended traditional structures - e.g. student learning, leadership development, etc.

21. Strategic Projects Prototypes for system development Prototyping
Each strategic project addressed an important area for national or regional improvement, while applying and testing the NLT’s new practices with ASL
Action learning, as a way of extending learning about ASL, in collaboration with school leaders, while working with stakeholders to change the system

22. Strategic Projects Growing Principals Project Overview
Cross-regional working group of regional administrators, principals and school leaders
Focused on design of a nationally consistent approach to the evaluation and development of principals
Findings
Principals saw the design as highly relevant to their personal and professional needs, addressing own priorities for professional growth (such as instructional leadership), while incorporating the broader aspirations of the system (such as renewing a focus on spiritual leadership)
Practices used to develop the project were powerful in leveraging the strengths and possibilities of existing networks and relationships
Meaningful exchange of regional and school-based knowledge
Deepen professional connections with colleagues

23. Learning Hub LESNW Hub Project Overview
Formed by a group of regional leaders and principals with a common interest in nurturing differentiated, localised approaches to school innovation and improvement
Findings
Hub acted as an accelerator for the development of school-based projects, while nurturing collaboration for leadership development
Focus on co-creating and testing new ways of operating as a region
Next steps
Deepening individual and collective understanding of ASL
Regional projects: Reaching out to support development of new hubs for principals, mid-level leaders and teachers
School-based projects: include the development of a student-driven co-curricular program to promote wellbeing, and the creation of a combined leadership conference for students, teachers and school administrators

24. Conclusion

25. A model for the development of ASL
Capacity Building

26. A model for the development of ASL
Self-awareness and self-development
Build a capacity to…
Question assumptions about the reality of their professional practice for growth in personal mastery
Reflect upon habitual ways of seeing and acting, in order to engage with diverse perspectives about their practice and how to approach its improvement
Through…
The use of dialogue to surface, articulate and test their personal ‘theories of action’ (Argyris and Schon 1978)
Building trust between colleagues to enable experimentation with professional practice and fostering the development of support and knowledge networks.

27. A model for the development of ASL
Collective awareness and team learning
Build a capacity to…
Develop collective awareness
Find alignment among beliefs
Collaborate on common goals
Through…
Dialogue, empathic listening and deep questioning
Expand collective capacity to explore complex problems and pursue systemic solutions
Building a sense of collective wellbeing and belonging to a team

28. A model for the development of ASL
Collective action and systems change
Build a capacity to…
See the complexity and dynamics of the larger system
Appreciate the ways that different parts of the system influence each other and impact on their own area of responsibility
Work with others on projects that target significant systemic change, with the understanding that their own domain will benefit over time
Interesting to note…
Where there was the strongest commitment to collective action, there was the most disruption, with leadership collaboration establishing new spaces for innovation and fresh structures to support systems change

29. Collective Creativity
Developing ecosystems of innovation and improvement
Final thoughts
Promoted transformation at a personal, collaborative and organisational level
Most effective where leaders from different levels of the subsystem were able to work together to develop a shared understanding of the interdependent nature of their roles and create a mutually supportive relationship in pursuit of common goals
Ecosystems were seen to promote creativity, personal wellbeing and a sense of belonging that supported their members to grow by taking risks, publicly reflecting upon their successes and failures, adopt an innovation mindset, and forge new alliances for the future

30. Conclusion Recommendations
More research be undertaken to examine approaches that can help inform the professional learning and practical repertoire of system leaders and those who are interested in supporting their work.
Explore of the nature and impact of collective forms of leadership, alongside of the traditional focus on the individual.
Examine the development of disciplines and practices that build a capacity for adaptive learning at the leadership, school and system level.

31. Thank-you
Contact
Dr Richard Owens, Woodleigh Institute/Woodleigh School
@rjowe1
Mignon Weckert, LESNW
@MignonWeckert