1. The Professional Development of School Leaders
eTwinning – the opportunities

2. Background N Ireland 1.5 million population
0.3 million school age students
Schools:
nursery
primary
secondary 164
grammar
special
20,000 teachers

3. Background – the RTU A professional development and
training organisation for the Northern Ireland education service covering all stages of school leadership
Centrally funded
An entitlement but not compulsory
Core staff and associates
Building communities of reflective practitioners

4. Characteristics of the school leader (Official)
National Standards for School Leaders (N I) six key areas:
Shaping the future;
Leading Learning and Teaching;
Developing Self and Working with Others;
Managing the Organisation;
Securing Accountability;
Strengthening Community.

5. Characteristics of the school leader (Personal)
Risk taker
Curious
Competitive
Pro-active
Entrepreneurs
Responsible
Reflective
Synergizers
Connected
Isolated

6. What we have been doing Annual Conferences in Boston
Exchanges with Montgomery County - Maryland USA
P2P – Finland, France, Netherlands
Within the UK and Ireland

7. What do they say? What did I get out of this?
Mrs Anne Scott - Principal
An insight into a another school whose schooling system
is different
I had the opportunity to broaden my thinking about uses of ICT as a Teaching and Learning tool
The project presented an opportunity to challenge my thinking and afforded me the opportunity to benchmark the practices in my school against those in Molière.

8. What do they say? What impressed me? – Mrs Anne Scott
The enthusiasm of the staff with whom I worked.
Whilst the pedagogy was quite different to my experience it
was impressive to observe the individual drive of the staff to develop ICT for teaching and learning.
The culture of independence of teachers tested staff to be creative and proactive about their style of teaching and personal development.
The desire to make ICT a part of student centred learning on part of the teacher and to be able to exploit its use as a management tool.

9. What do they say? What did I get out of this?
Mrs Rosie Brittain - Principal
Laid the foundations for future international collaboration
Reinforced existing good practice
Challenged chosen direction and priorities
Gave a good example of children being responsible for their own learning
Created a desire to continue this initiative

10. What do they say? What did I get out of this?
Mrs Kathleen Gormley - Principal
Schools which develop their own systems e.g. VLEs or Management Information Systems tend to have more ownership of these
Development of initiatives especially with regards to ICT should be considered more in a European forum – together we can do much more
Other visits between the schools would be essential to widen and deepen the experience and result in more valuable learning.

11. Why do it? Develops critical professional friendships
Promotes professional and personal reflection
It is good for morale
Networking for staff and students as well
Ideas
Enjoyment

12. What works it is all about relationships
eTwinning is only a start - face to face meetings are vital
involve other staff
plans need to be flexible but a specific focus for an activity/link is vital
information pre a first visit is never enough
first contact/round of visits is really only the start