Professional information: Leadership capability framework

"This is the heart of effective leadership. High-trust relationships exist when leaders are respected for their deep educational knowledge, their actions and values, and the way they engage respectfully with others with empathy and humility, fostering openness in discussions. Leaders have good emotional intelligence and self-awareness." (Educational leadership capability framework, Education Council, 2018, p. 5) 

The content in this section summarises some thinking and research related to this capability. It is not a comprehensive or definitive background on the capability.

Why trust is important  

School leaders have a strong indirect influence on student achievement. One of the factors influencing that influence is trust. 

Bryk and Schneider (2003) and Megan Tschannen-Moran (2015) commented about the relationship between levels of trust among members of a school community and the degree of improvement in learner outcomes. Research shows teachers’ trust in their leaders influences their trust of their colleagues, which is significantly related to learner achievement (Handford, 2013). Moreover, teachers’ trust in the principal and their colleagues makes it more likely they will trust their learners (Tschannen-Moran, 2015). 

Building relationships 

"Trust motivates individual behaviour, shapes social exchanges, and influences collective performance." - Noonan, 2008

Trust requires confidence in a leader’s character and competency. Bryk and Schneider identify four facets that underpin trust, and Tschannen-Moran five:

• Bryk and Schneider: respect, personal regard, competence, and integrity.
• Tschannen-Moran: benevolence, honesty, openness, reliability, and competence.

When moving into a new leadership position, use the first months to build relationships. This is the period when staff, ākonga, and families are watching you and making up their minds about trusting you. Don’t be too impatient to get other elements of your agenda underway until you’ve built trust and relationships. Building trust in school communities may require a new leader to address problems in relationships or performance and encourage a more collaborative way of working.

Strategies 

Louise used these strategies to build relational trust: 

• Face-to-face discussions – with kaiako and support staff, board members, ākonga, and parents to identify priorities and what matters most. These discussions explored: 
  • why are we here? 
  • what are our school's successes? 
  • what do we value? 
  • what are our aspirations? 
  • what are our suggestions for improvement? 
• Surveys – completed by ākonga and kaiako. 
• Being visible – in the grounds, at the gate, and by attending sports and cultural events.  
• Demonstrating competence – when leading change, and accessing and interpreting evidence of learners’ achievement. 
• Demonstrating respect – through genuine listening and preparedness to take views into account. 
• Demonstrating personal integrity – through: 
  • committing to what’s best for learner success 
  • showing belief in ākonga capability and potentia 
  • being willing to walk the talk.  

Sustaining relationships

Leaders see maintaining trust as a greater challenge than building it. In fact, they consider it one of the most challenging parts of leadership.  

Two competencies crucial for maintaining trust are: dealing with emerging challenges in a timely manner and being able to ask the right questions (Noonan, 2008).  

Viviane Robinson's research programme has analysed conversations that leaders believe will create a sense of threat or embarrassment – emotions that could damage trust. 

The problem of how to balance being honest about issues and maintaining trust is never easy. But commonly observed behaviours such as being brutally frank or circling the issue using leading or loaded questions do not generally work well. What is needed in these situations is collaborative problem-solving. To do this effectively, leaders need to examine and drop the prejudgments they have about the issue (Robinson 2017). 

Viviane Robinson: Relationships and trust 

Viviane Robinson highlights the importance of building effective relationships and trust to overcome day-to-day challenges. 

Open-to-Learning Conversations - Relationships and Trust 

In this video, distinguished Professor Viviane Robinson highlights the importance of building effective relationships and trust to overcome day-to-day challenges in an educational context. She answers the question, "How do you effectively and proactively use trust to build strong working relationships?" 

Video courtesy of the Bastow Institute, Victoria, Australia (YouTube)

Relational trust as a resource for school improvement

Relational trust is one of the four broad areas of expertise that underpin the leadership dimensions identified in the 2009 School Leadership and Student Outcomes Best Evidence Synthesis (BES). Bryk and Schneider's research is extensively used in this synthesis. 

The BES describes relational trust as:

• integrating the needs of adults with advancing the best interests of learners, not just meeting the needs of adults
• putting the needs of learners first when their needs and the needs of staff are in conflict – not putting the needs of staff before those of learners 
• making critical decisions collectively based on a unifying focus on what is best for ākonga – not staff doing their own thing with mutual indifference or tolerance  
• giving transparent explanations of reasons for differential treatment of staff – not giving similar affirmation and voice to staff, regardless of their commitment or breaches of trust 
• explaining respectfully what is and is not acceptable and why – not tolerance of and collusion with a negative status quo (for example, high rates of staff or student absence). 

(Robinson, 2009, p. 190) 

Reflective questions 

• What influences teachers to trust their principal may be different from what influences them to trust their colleagues. Leaders need to reflect on this as they move into new roles in the school. Are people going to expect something new from you to trust you in this role? 
• Fostering trust is now seen as a professional responsibility for leaders. It is especially important as collaboration becomes increasingly vital to tackling complex change. How much time and effort are you putting into fostering trust? What is your strategy?

"Valuing what each learner brings with them, a strengths-based inclusive approach ensures that learners feel they belong in the early childhood education service, kura, or school. Leaders take responsibility for growing their own and others’ confidence in culturally responsive practice, and for genuinely involving Māori whānau in the identification of the organisation’s vision and goals, both anchored in a thoughtful understanding of the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. They also take responsibility for ensuring that all learners know and can honour our country’s cultural heritage." (Educational leadership capability framework, Education Council, 2018, p. 5) 

The full title for this capability is Ensuring culturally responsive practice and understanding of Aotearoa New Zealand’s cultural heritage, using Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the foundation. 

Culturally responsive practices support all learners in understanding their cultural heritage. 

This capability links closely to Embodying the organisation's values.

The content in this section summarises some thinking and research related to this capability. It is not a comprehensive or definitive background on the capability.

Nature of cultural relationships 

Mere Berryman and colleagues (2018) say they have come to understand the concept of culturally responsive pedagogy as grounded in cultural relationships. They have also observed over the years working with schools that many teachers talk about the importance of relationships for learning but focus more on aspects of the pedagogy that they find more familiar and accessible.

"Shifting the focus from being responsive to the culture of others to developing and being part of cultural relationships with others legitimates the aspects of culture that are less tangible but fundamental to the identity and wellbeing of all people." (p. 6) 

Cultural relationships require trust, respect, time, and commitment. They acknowledge the interdependent relationship established in the Treaty of Waitangi, in which Māori and Pakeha maintain the mana of the other – mana ōrite. 

Defining diversity activities 

These activities for Boards, senior management, teachers, and parents deepen understandings of cultural diversity and encourage culturally appropriate responses.

What leaders need

Culturally responsive practices require a deep moral commitment to equity and a willingness to exercise agency and advocacy, and at times to be an activist. 

Rigby and Tredway (2015) suggest these key factors to help a school community achieve greater equity:

• Reflect deeply on your role in historically inequitable structures.
• Understand how issues around equity show up in school structures and classrooms.
• Learn about the history and culture of the members of your school community.
• Always convey a commitment to equity in everything you do.
• Connect to a larger community of like-minded leaders. 

You also need to develop your ability to:

• get others to examine their roles 
• facilitate complex conversations using tools and protocols 
• support others to examine the structural causes of instructional and achievement concerns 
• bring together families and school staff of distinct cultural and educational backgrounds.  

Leaders need to gain a deep understanding of "how class, race, stereotype threats, and cultural discontinuity ... undercut the ability of students and families to engage in schools." (pp. 9, 10) 

Māori Achievement Collaboratives

To connect with like-minded principals, check your eligibility for Māori Achievement Collaboratives (MACs). This collaboration between Te Akatea Māori Principals’ Association, the New Zealand Principals’ Federation, and the Ministry of Education provides a professional learning pathway by principals for principals focused on changing education outcomes for ākonga Māori.  

For more information about MACs visit the New Zealand Principals’ Federation website.

A just society

Leading for social justice involves leadership behaviours such as actively sharing power and thinking and acting in non-judgemental ways. (Murfitt, 2015). 

Grogan (2014) says the leadership of change to achieve social justice is a three-part process of raising consciousness: 

• Leaders' worldviews become more critically aware.
• Leaders help cultivate a similar critical awareness in school staff.
• Learners have opportunities to develop their own consciousness and play a legitimate role in shaping school policy and practice.

"There are ample opportunities within schools to develop the kind of political emotions that will get us further toward a just society." (p. 14) 

Kia Eke Panuku resources  

The leadership brochure (Poutama Pounamu, nd) developed for Kia Eke Panuku emphasises that “school leaders need to understand the implications for social change and accept their role in driving the moral imperative for equity within their school”. 

The Kia Eke Panuku change process involves leaders in: 

• understanding and analysing their school’s current position 
• aligning and focusing actions to disrupt the status quo 
• gathering data in an iterative manner to monitor effectiveness 
• re-imagining and embedding more equitable opportunities for Māori to excel. 

The resources in the Kia Eke Panuku programme, which ran in secondary schools from 2013 to 2016, are available at Poutama Pounamu publications.

Reflective questions  

• What conversations have you had about your own social identity? Have they helped you reflect on your own perspectives and biases? 
• What do you know about the historical, economic, and political factors that have formed the social identity of different groups in Aotearoa New Zealand? 
• How do you understand Berryman's words, "being part of cultural relationships with others"?

Effective learning happens when the teachers responsible for it work together to share their knowledge and enquire into their practice. Leadership attends to the conditions and practices that are needed for this to occur, enhancing a strong sense of an engaging, active, and achieving community that sees itself involved in ongoing learning, innovation, and improvement for the benefit of each and all of its learners. (Educational leadership capability framework, Education Council, 2018, p. 5) 

The full name of this capability is Building and sustaining collective leadership and professional communities. This capability is about establishing the culture and structures that will build knowledge and leadership in your organisation, team, or group. It involves drawing on collective strengths and providing meaningful opportunities to contribute.  

The content in this section summarises thinking and research related to this capability. It is not a comprehensive or definitive background on the capability.

Professional community  

Professional communities are "a set of social relationships that create a culture of shared responsibility for student learning." (Louis, 2006)

Professional communities are closely associated with ideas of organisational learning. This association has led to the term professional learning communities. 

DuFour (2004) sets out three big ideas within professional communities:

• ensuring that students learn
• creating a culture of collaboration
• focusing on results

In schools that are working as professional communities:

• leaders are dedicated to growing the agency and efficacy of teachers 
• teachers are committed to being learners, innovators, and contributors 
• leaders and teachers have a coordinated approach to responding to learners’ needs. 

Louis (2006) argues: 

• professional communities are cultures based on shared values. They cannot be quickly implemented. 
• Setting aside time and setting out expectations is necessary but rarely sufficient to develop the culture and trust needed for deep collaboration.  
• Developing cultures and trust takes time and will "create conflict as well as success" along the way. 

Professional conversations

Focusing conversations on teachers' reasoning for doing something rather than the actions themselves is an important skill to develop in a professional community (Swanson, 2018). 

Careful attention to what enables group dialogue and activity helps to achieve this.  

Enablers of professional conversations: Helen Timperley  

Helen Timperley, Professor of Education at the University of Auckland, conducted a literature review of the research on professional conversations in schools. 

Effective professional conversations: Helen Timperley
Helen Timperley, Professor of Education at the University of Auckland, has undertaken a literature review examining the research on professional conversations in schools. In this video, she discusses enablers and their impact on professional conversations.
Video courtesy of AITSL on YouTube 

Enablers for professional conversations summary (.pdf) 
These enablers are the conditions and processes that support professionals in examining the effectiveness of their practice and being committed to make appropriate changes for improvement.

Collective leadership 

Collective leadership refers to the extent of influence school staff and the community have on school decisions. Research shows that leadership practices that share power generate greater motivation, increased trust and risk-taking, and a sense of community and collective efficacy (Louis, 2008). 

Wahlstrom and Louis (2008) investigated instructional behaviours and found that shared leadership and professional community together were highly associated with effective teacher practice. The contribution of the professional community varied across different instructional practices, but the contribution of shared leadership was a constant and strong factor across all. Their findings suggest that when teachers are involved in making decisions that affect them, they tend to strengthen their teaching practice. They suggest leaders should look at ways to expand shared decision-making, as it is an important tool for improving instruction over the long term.

Models of leadership  

Bierly, Doyle, and Smith (2016) believe that schools need leadership models that will help them develop a group of “talented educators who have end-to-end responsibility for the development of the teachers on their teams”. 

They suggest these five principles to achieve that goal: 

• Principle 1: Make a bet on a leadership model 
• Principle 2: Create and strengthen leadership capacity 
• Principle 3: Focus leaders on improving teaching and learning 
• Principle 4: Create teams with a shared mission 
• Principle 5: Empower leaders with the time and authority to lead 

Features of shared leadership  

Allison, Misra, and Perry (2018) report on a project to build shared leadership in non-government organisations.

"We came to understand shared leadership as encompassing a spectrum between models that focus on one leader and models that focus on the leadership of many."

They found that organisations adopted different approaches to sharing leadership, but the approaches all had three characteristics:

• Adaptability: knowing when a particular expression of leadership is appropriate and being able to shift on the spectrum as needed.
• Orientation: expanding the problem-solving capacity of an organisation without giving up the option of top-down approaches when necessary.
• Culture of trust: developing the relationships needed to shift on the spectrum, when necessary, without any negative impact or mistrust.

"Improving collective leadership and maintaining the right balance of decision influence among stakeholders and across decision zones have the potential to create a harmonious and high-functioning school environment."
- Ni, 2018

How leaders share leadership  

Shared leadership is built on top of existing sound management and leadership practices. It requires some trust and then tends to increase trust.

The most successful participants reported on by Allison, Misra, and Perry (2018) started with:

• an explicit commitment by senior leadership to change 
• an up-front investment of time to educate and plan 
• fundamental management practices in place 
• engagement and accountability. 

Helpful practices for building shared leadership include aligning values, clarifying accountability, explicitly supporting experimentation, and consistently working towards clear communication (Allison, 2018).

Reflective questions  

• When do you involve others in making decisions for your school? What areas don’t you know about? Why? 
• How are you building a culture where staff aren't depending on leaders but work collectively to lead?  
• What area of your practice or leadership could you redesign to be more collaborative?

"Leaders ensure that the organisational vision, goals, and expectations of staff, learners, and whānau are shaped in ways that engage the organisational community (staff, learners, whānau, and community stakeholders) in a meaningful way. This will mean that what is constructed is shared, will motivate, and will keep the organisation improving in line with a strong moral purpose, desiring the success of each one of their learners.

They keep abreast of both emerging ideas and new evidence, as well as changes in policies and legislation that have a bearing on what the organisation can do and bring that knowledge into their strategic thinking. They provide insightful reports of progress and identification of any problems that enable candid discussion to inform changes in practices or resources as needed." (Educational leadership capability framework, Education Council, 2018, p. 6)

This leadership capability and a second in the framework – Adept management of resources to achieve vision and goals — are closely linked to two of the dimensions of leadership practice that most impact learner outcomes identified in Robinson (2009): establishing goals and expectations, and resourcing strategically. 

School leadership best evidence synthesis

The content in this section summarises thinking and research related to this capability. It is not a comprehensive or definitive background on the capability.

Strategic cultures

Strategic leaders realise that what is good enough for now will not remain so. They are forward-looking and future-oriented (Davies, 2006, p. 63). 

A multi-year research project in the UK in the early 2000s (Davies, 2006) looked at schools whose success was attributed to a culture based around strategic management practices. 

It found that these strategically focused schools strive to: 

• develop a short-term and a strategic perspective 
• enhance their strategic processes 
• deploy a variety of strategic approaches 
• enhance strategic leadership throughout the school 
• define strategic measures of success. 

They have a culture that learns from mistakes and collaborates to design its direction. People think and talk strategically about what they see and do. They share an understanding of the strategic frameworks and models they act within and look out for problems and opportunities that arise.

What strategic leaders do  

Strategic leaders enable short-term objectives to be met while concurrently building capability and capacity for the long term. (Davies, 2006, p. 11)

Leaders make strategic choices 

Leaders:

• reflect on the information, insights, and inspiration they have gained 
• think about possible future scenarios   
• assess all the options and their risks 
• determine what is the right thing at the right time. 

Choosing when to make a significant strategic change is as critical to success as choosing what change to make. Leaders balance what is desirable with what is possible. This is a highly challenging area of decision-making for leaders, one that is further complicated by having to abandon other areas of activity to create the capacity needed. Leaders make these decisions by examining the choices through the lens of their values and principles (Davies, 2006). 

Leaders involve others in strategy  

Leaders:

• conceptualise what a new way of operating would look like 
• create rich pictures of the future that energise people 
• use frameworks, maps, or models to build understanding and commitment 
• lead the school community in processes to define how to get there 
• help others become more strategic. 

Leaders use formal and informal strategic conversations throughout the school community and encourage a strategic perspective. They show appreciation for strategic ideas, plant seeds, and identify individuals’ passions to build and distribute strategic leadership. They keep everyone aware of emerging trends.

Leaders set goals

The Best Evidence Synthesis on School Leadership and Student Outcomes (Robinson, 2009) concluded that principals can influence achievement through establishing goals and expectations. Appendix 8 sets out the knowledge, skills, and dispositions implied by and embedded in this leadership dimension.

In summary, leaders can:

• set goals: knows of goal-setting theory
• identify what goals to set: makes decisions about the relative importance of various learning outcomes and envisages and expects the achievement of more challenging goals
• gain commitment to goals to ensure a coordinated teaching approach: demonstrates how goals are credible, timely, and attainable, identifies and listens to barriers, and strategizes solutions. 

Leaders link strategy and action  

Leaders:

• spend as much time on the "how" as the "what"
• link the desired outcomes to the moves required to realise them 
• identify the best thing to do now given the capabilities and constraints to advance the strategy 
• focus on strategic ends but adapt when circumstances change 
• address barriers. 

Leaders don’t just look at where the organisation needs to head, they also know where it is now and where it was in the past. This enables them to identify the actions needed and take wise risks, avoiding previous mistakes (Davies, 2010). They think through what needs to happen to achieve organisational and instructional coherence. They have a documented theory for improvement that links the goals and strategies (Robinson, 2017). 

"I think at different levels.  My levels are: 

• the moral purpose that informs why we actually do the things that we do 
• visionary thinking, which I define as being long-term and idealistic, that’s where we would like to head for 
• strategic, which is more medium-term realistic steps towards that vision 
• school development planning, which are short-term operations for specific events and activities." 

(Secondary headteacher, cited in Davies, 2006, p. 7) 

Examples of planning 

Developing skills of strategic thinking

There are many definitions of strategic thinking. One that seems particularly relevant for schools is:  

"Strategic thinking focuses on finding and developing unique opportunities to create value by enabling a provocative and creative dialogue among people who can affect a company’s direction." (Center for Applied Research, cited in Haycock, 2012) 

Strategic thinking involves continuous learning. Here are some ways to develop your skills.

Broaden your perspective  

• Make time for strategic thinking: time where you put your thinking cap on.
• Watch the trends and anticipate how they could affect your context.
• Question assumptions, yours and others: why is it like this? 
• Seek people, tools, and interactions that can help you think differently.
• Explore alternative arguments and positions so you understand the whole picture and see specific projects and ideas more holistically.

Connect the dots

• Observe your organisation to understand how things fit together in practice.
• Look for the interrelationships between different parts of the whole.
• Look at how your plans or ideas fit into the bigger picture.
• Clarify your decision-making criteria so you can manage ambiguity.

Communicate well  

• Listen empathetically to different views and suspend judgement.
• Ask others to explain their thought processes.
• Shape your verbal and written communications around the strategic message.
• Use face-to-face for higher level discussions, leave operational issues to email or other forums.

Reflective questions 

• Have you tried asking someone about what they see as your strategic strengths and weaknesses? Whom might you ask? 
• What do you have in place to grow your staff's or team's strategic capability? Is it making a difference? How? 
• How prominent is developing and implementing strategy in the way you prioritise and plan your time?  

"Leaders are skilled at evaluating the organisation’s collective and individual staff practices in relation to learning outcomes and wellbeing. They use high levels of quantitative and qualitative data literacy. They are curious about patterns and practices. They can describe and identify problems or challenges in ways that open up real discussion and identification of needs and solutions." (Educational leadership capability framework, Education Council, 2018, p. 6)

Evaluating practices in relation to outcomes underpins other leadership capabilities, for example, strategic thinking and planning and adept management of resources.

The content in this section summarises thinking and research related to this capability. It is not a comprehensive or definitive background on the capability.

Assessment, evaluation, and inquiry 

"Systems that perform better are systems in which assessment, inquiry, and evaluation information is used effectively to inform learning." (OECD, 2013)  

In New Zealand, the Education Review Office's School Evaluation Indicators include Domain 6: Evaluation, inquiry, and knowledge building for improvement and innovation (see pp. 40-41). 

Evaluation means making a judgement about the quality, effectiveness, or value of a policy, programme, or practice in terms of its contribution to the desired outcomes (ERO, 2015a). 

Professional inquiry is an integral part of the evaluation process. Evaluation, inquiry, and knowledge building processes work together to foster the use of relevant information at student, classroom, teacher, and school levels to promote improvement  (ERO, 2015a).

Evaluative thinking  

Evaluating practices involves thinking about: 

• what evidence will be useful to demonstrate success 
• what range of objectives and targets make sense to determine progress 
• what processes will build knowledge and develop practical uses for it. 

At the core of evaluative thinking is a process of considering the evidence, in relation to the questions that prompted its collection, and engaging in careful inquiry and interpretation (Earl and Timperley, 2015).  

Using evidence 

School effectiveness is associated with effective use of evidence at student, teacher, classroom, and school levels. Leaders play a key role in this. Where leaders do not make evidence use a priority, teachers are less likely to use it (Louis et al, 2010, in Ontario Ministry of Education, 2013). 

To become competent and confident at interpreting and using evidence, leaders need to develop an inquiry habit of mind, become data literate, and create a culture of inquiry in the school (Earl and Katz, 2003).   

An inquiry habit of mind

Earl and Katz (2003) describe the inquiry habit of mind as: 

• valuing deep understanding 
• reserving judgement  
• tolerating ambiguity 
• taking a range of perspectives 
• posing systematically more focused questions. 

Data literacy 

Data literacy is not just about numbers. It is a process of: 

• standing back and deciding what you need to know and why 
• collecting or locating the necessary data 
• finding ways to link key data sources, ensuring that the data are worth considering 
• being aware of the limitations of the data 
• thinking about what the results mean 
• systematically considering an issue from a range of perspectives so that you feel you have sufficient evidence to explain, support, and challenge your point of view (Earl and Katz, 2006). 

A culture of inquiry and evaluation  

School leaders create an inquiry culture when they: 

• make evidence use a priority 
• establish the purpose(s) for collecting and using evidence 
• use data in non-threatening ways 
• provide planned opportunities and time for working with evidence 
• engage staff in collaborative interpretation and decision making (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2013). 

Wendy Kofoed shares key messages from her experience building inquiry approaches into school practices. 

Setting up a school-wide inquiry  

When implementing an inquiry approach in your school consider the following advice: 

• Know what you are doing. Understand the theory and practice of teaching inquiry. You may need to engage in further professional learning to lead the process. Or there may be someone in your school community who can help you to lead inquiry.
• Aim to build inquiry about teaching and learning into the day-to-day work of your school. Don’t think of teaching inquiry as an add-on. 
• Set up systems to support this way of working. Remember that it will take time to learn how to inquire effectively. It’s not a quick fix. It’s a slow, considered process that uses evidence every step of the way.
• Not all teachers learn the same way and at the same rate. They bring different experiences and expectations and require differentiated support. Some may be able to support other teachers, while others will need much more targeted support and guidance.
• Follow-up. Don’t inquire in a vacuum. Use the inquiry process to: 
  • encourage teachers to share their practice with others 
  • generate meaningful opportunities for teachers to observe others and provide feedback
  • build a culture where conversations about problems are as valued as conversations about what is working well 
  • help teachers focus their discussions on evidence rather than assumptions 
  • demonstrate how changes in practice can be linked to changes in learner achievement.

Making sense of evidence  

While data provides lenses for looking at a situation, it doesn't generate questions, answers, or solutions. Leaders and teachers interpret what the data might be signalling in their context. They learn to uncover patterns, generate hypotheses, and systematically test these in a range of ways with a range of audiences. It is not an easy job, and involving a range of voices and expertise helps avoid the cognitive biases that can limit how well people respond to new information.

Cognitive biases include: 

• not thinking through all possibilities 
• focusing on confirming existing hypotheses, not challenging them 
• paying too much attention to things that are vivid 
• considering the information to be an exception or an anomaly 
• hesitating to take action in a new direction 
• not wanting to expose vulnerabilities. 

(Katz and Dack, 2013, in Earl and Timperley, 2015)  

Collaborative sense making also involves drawing on research and using suitable frameworks or indicators to analyse data. It requires that we know what good looks like, so we can recognise our strengths and areas for improvement (ERO, 2015b). 

For more information refer to Te Ara Huarau | School evaluation for improvement.

"Leaders understand the information they have in order to make decisions on how best to use resources of money, time, and space and gain support for their learners and staff. They ensure they have the right information when making financial, human resource, and property decisions, and they seek specialist advice to assist their decision-making if needed. They prioritise seeking and allocating resources that match the organisation’s strategic plan." (Educational leadership capability framework, Education Council, 2018, p. 6)

The full title for this capability is: Adept management of resources to achieve vision and goals. 

This leadership capability and a second in the framework – Strategically thinking and planning – are closely linked to two of the dimensions of leadership practice that most impact learner outcomes identified in Robinson (2009): establishing goals and expectations, and resourcing strategically. 

The content in this section summarises thinking and research related to this capability. It is not a comprehensive or definitive background on the capability.

Resourcing strategically 

Organisational management skills are a key complement to the work of supporting curriculum and instruction (Grissom, 2011).

Resourcing strategically means mobilising resources to make the most difference to learners. The Best Evidence Synthesis on School Leadership and Student Outcomes (Robinson, 2009) concluded that principals can influence student achievement through decisions about staffing, and teaching and learning resources. In Appendix 8, it sets out the knowledge, skills, and dispositions embedded in this leadership dimension as: 

Alignment of staffing resources  

• Can determine the type of expertise required to achieve particular goals. 
• Can transparently and fairly recruit such expertise from within or outside the school and openly explain the choices made. 
• Can develop relationships with the community, universities, professional developers, and other schools that widen the networks of strategic expertise available to the school. 

Alignment of teaching resources  

• Evaluates the effectiveness of alternative teaching/programme resources in terms of intended learning outcomes for learners. 
• Develops the school timetable to reflect pedagogical priorities. 
• Develops, or advocates for developing, resources essential to achieving school goals. 
• Ignores or defers funding opportunities that overload teachers and detract from priority goals. 
• Recruits and inducts staff into school/department/syndicate-wide assessment and pedagogical procedures. 

The synthesis noted that we need to understand more about this dimension and the knowledge and skills leaders need. Other researchers have found that school leaders' impact on learning is through organisational management: who they hire; how they motivate, assign and create opportunities for teachers to improve; and how they influence the working conditions. 

Coordination and coherence

Coordination theories today emphasise persistent interaction, through which shared meanings evolve. In research looking at the coordination and coherence of a school improvement initiative, Robinson (2017) finds that effective leaders: 

• maintain a continuity of focus from year to year, incrementally pursuing long-term goals 
• systematically monitor progress towards goals and how effectively they are resourced 
• create space for teacher learning and buffer staff from distractions 
• listen to reports of, and look out for, obstacles and barriers 
• resolve problems that span organisational units quickly and respectfully.

There are studies that reinforce the importance of focus. One recent five-year study, which looked at 5000 leaders across a range of organisations, found focus was the most influential factor in leaders' performance. The study also found that leaders who focused intensely on a small number of goals experienced better work-life balance, greater job satisfaction, and less burnout (Schmoker, 2019).

Talent management

"You need the capacity and the capability in the school to seize opportunities to realise your strategy as they arise." (Secondary headteacher, in Davies, 2006, p. 11.)

Capacity means having the appropriate level of resources. Capability refers to the quality and skills of those resources. Adept managers ensure they have the right number of people with the right skills and competencies. This talent management role is a key part of principal work; the decisions taken to ensure teacher quality and provide professional growth opportunities can influence learner achievement. Attracting talented people is essential, but you also need a systematic approach to using their abilities and building their skills. Without this, you will soon lose their commitment.

Having a coherent plan and processes for developing a pool of talent in your school will make you are better placed to meet likely future demands (Davies, 2010). Part of a plan might look at how you get the information to make good decisions about your staffing. For example, how you will: 

• identify critical roles and scarce skill sets early 
• keep abreast of the skills of your teachers 
• differentiate high- and low-performing teachers (Grissom, 2018).

Strategic talent developers

Davies (2010, p16) suggests that strategic leaders have the following roles:   

• Talent spotter: What talent do I need, and how can I spot it?
• Talent coach: How can I bring out the best in people when it matters most?
• Talent blender: How can I blend the available talent to get maximum performance?
• Talent conductor: How can I create a flow of talented people?
• Talent management: What will attract talented people and keep them for longer?

Mobilising staff

A research study into leadership practices in Canada (Bouchamma, 2012) found that effective school leaders focused significantly more on mobilising staff by using four levers: 

• information  
• power  
• knowledge   
• recognition 

They communicated transparently and respectfully about every aspect of teachers' work, responded to staff needs, demonstrated appreciation, and encouraged staff to grow and pursue relevant professional development.

Effective staffing practices

The effectiveness of principals is associated with rates of teacher turnover. The more effective principals, in situations that allow for it, typically succeed more often in retaining high performers and letting go of low performers. (Grissom, 2018)

Some principals choose to assign fewer effective teachers to lower-stakes classrooms. But Grissom (2017) warns that these decisions can have a lasting negative impact on learners. Assigning the best teachers to ākonga who need them most won't always be a straightforward decision.  

The essence of professional capital 

Andy Hargreaves explains the essence of professional capital. If you want to have the benefit of high levels of professional capital among teachers in your school/system, you have to invest. 

Andy Hargreaves on the essence of professional capital 

Video courtesy of Conexus Education on YouTube. 

Time management

Effective principals focus their time on the highest impact areas, help teachers prioritise their time, and create learning environments that maximise high-quality student learning. (The Wing Institute)

Grissom, Loeb, and Associates have been using large-scale data sets to investigate how effectively principals use their time. Their recent findings include: 

• building time management capabilities may be a worthwhile strategy for principals wanting to increase their time on high-priority tasks and reduce stress (2015)
• spending time on some instructional functions predicts student achievement growth. The most effective uses of time they found were teacher coaching, teacher evaluation, and developing the school’s educational programme (2013).

Reflective questions

• Are time and energy diffused across several initiatives in your school? How would you know?  
• What channels do you have for investigating the effectiveness of resourcing in your school? How do you respond when middle leaders report obstacles they see staff encountering? 
• As a leader in your school you have dual goals – ensuring teacher quality and providing opportunities for professional growth. What challenges have you experienced in meeting these goals? What skills or knowledge do you need to develop further?  

"Leaders ensure that they challenge their own thinking and keep growing their knowledge. They actively search for new information and knowledge and ideas. They also actively attend to their own wellbeing." (Educational leadership capability framework, Education Council, 2018, p. 6) 

The full title for this capability is: Attending to their own learning as leaders and their own wellbeing. The content in this section summarises thinking and research related to this capability. It is not a comprehensive or definitive background on the capability. 

Leadership learning is “about me”  

Leadership learning is personal, individual, and recursive. In fact, "it seems professional expertise cannot be developed unless personal, psychological, and social development take place." (Robertson, 2005, p. 5)

While there are patterns, each leader’s development pathway is unique (Poekert, 2016). Research recognises the importance of leaders identifying the skills they need to develop and reflecting critically on their current practice. Affirmation and validation of a leader’s practice play an important part in their development, alongside challenge and careful probing of gaps between their espoused theories and theories-in-use. This typically requires professional relationships with critical friends or a skilled coach. 

There is little research on how leaders construct their professional leadership learning pathways. Certainly, leaders need to think about learning the knowledge and skills their systems expect of them and balance those considerations with what will enable them to bring about change in their unique circumstances (Dempster, 2012). 

Learning leadership is a process

Robertson and Earl (2013, pp. 14-15) summarised their findings from several years of delivering leadership development programmes for aspiring principals in four key messages: 

• Learning leadership is complex and requires a combination of coordination and planning, with flexibility and tolerance for ambiguity. 
• Leadership learning is dynamic, evolutionary, and sometimes revolutionary. 
• Leadership learning is both personal and collective. 
• Leadership learning is driven by purpose – For what? 

Robertson (2015, p. 18) also identifies four approaches for powerful leadership learning: 

• personalised, self-regulated, reflective, and meta-cognitive learning 
• connected and networked leaders sharing and creating knowledge together 
• coaching leadership capacity in oneself and others 
• inquiry-focused leadership and learning, informed by research and evidence. 

Leadership learning relationships 

West-Burnham and Ireson (2005) list four strategies that are needed for effective leadership learning relationships. The extent to which these strategies are used in any particular relationship will depend on the depth of the relationship, its purpose, and its context.

The four strategies are: 

• challenge 
• feedback 
• reflection 
• developing strategies. 

Of these, he sees critical reflection as the most elusive. If educators have not been taught how to reflect critically on their practice, reading the theory won’t help. Critical reflection becomes a habit only through use and reflection on that use. (Robertson, 2004)

While it is easier for an experienced coach or facilitator to effectively balance and mix the four strategies above, leaders can learn to do this in peer learning relationships with a partner or in a group. These relationships are more effective when at least one participant has experience with reciprocal learning relationships and understands how they can change professional practice. Coaching for educational leaders can have a bigger purpose than individual growth. It can build a foundation for leaders to spread a coaching and learning culture throughout the school. 

Peer coaching 

Tracey Hooker (2013) in her literature review, defined a peer coaching relationship as "a reciprocal relationship based on trust where partners support each other to find solutions." She emphasises that peer coaches need to: 

• uphold respect and confidentiality for their partners 
• commit to the relationship 
• be prepared to overcome barriers, such as time or work commitments. 

Another report (cited in Robertson, 2004) found that for peer groups collaborating on improving their individual leadership practice, three things are important: 

• commitment to colleagues’ growth 
• recognition that participation is expected 
• recognition that colleagues are resources for one’s own learning. 

Peer learning  

Peer learning networks are formed to collaborate around a common agenda. Leithwood (2016) found that principals in Ontario highly rated the principals' learning networks as a means of ongoing professional learning. Leaders reported a range of cognitive and affective benefits. 

Leaders who participate in networks for leadership learning have and continue to develop important mindsets and practices. These include growing a system leadership mindset, being alert to and countering the "dark sides" of collaboration, and being able to build new knowledge with others. (Fullan, 2017; Leithwood, 2016)

Peer learning networks often share the task of leading the network, with formal and emerging leaders changing over time (Leithwood, 2016). Working as a network is a new skill for many participants. It is useful to have an experienced person lead it initially and to build professional learning into work processes.

Iain McGilchrist describes a network learning community he was part of.

Using this case study  

• Iain McGilchrist talks about his success with taking on small challenges and making small changes. With your department or leadership group, agree to make a change in your own class and monitor the improvement it brings. Share the results with your department or group, who might be encouraged to do the same. As well as making changes, build trust with your teaching colleagues.
• Are you part of a learning community network like Iain? Could you become involved, or even start one, perhaps in a subject area across schools, a leadership group within your own school, or with colleagues in similar roles in other schools? 

Learning conversation protocols  

Protocols are valuable tools for enhancing professional learning in peer-learning relationships. Protocols are aimed at giving room for analysis, debate, and challenge.

Taking conversations to the next level 

In this video, the participants discuss ways to move conversations from superficial to deeper levels to support the development of more rigorous discussions.

Andy Hargreaves on Human, Social and Decisional Capital

Your wellbeing affects everyone  

Learning to build relationships with peers and others can help you learn about and maintain your wellbeing. Your wellbeing affects your performance and the wellbeing and performance of everyone in your school. Most leaders have useful strategies for managing stress, such as short renewal breaks, closing the office door for a time, and having walking meetings. But if these are not enough, you need to change what you're doing.

"This means changing work habits: (re)evaluating work practices, keeping the important ones, but letting go of the unimportant." (Riley, n.d.) 

In particular, it means looking at how your activities align with your purpose as a leader. If you're not getting to do the things that are important to your purpose, you need to determine why not and work out how you can focus more of your activity on that purpose.

Reflective questions

• What is the "For what?" of your current learning need? Can you arrange the type/s of learning that will best help you achieve that purpose? 
• Who do you have to support you as you learn? Is this support providing the basis for you to be open and public about your learning? Is it connecting you to other perspectives, new ideas, and knowledge?  
• What strategies do you have for keeping well? Are you applying them consistently? What habits do you need to work on changing? How will you do that? 

"Leaders embody their organisation’s values, carrying out "even the most routine and seemingly trivial tasks in such a way as to nudge their organisations towards their purposes" (Leithwood 2012). They approach the challenges of leadership with moral purpose, optimism, a sense of agency, and resilience. They are able to take thoughtful risks." (Educational leadership capability framework, Education Council, 2018, p. 7)

The full title for this capability is Embodying the organisation’s values and showing moral purpose, optimism, agency, and resilience.  This capability covers concepts of ethical or moral leadership and moral purpose, as well as the psychological resources leaders need to be effective. 

The content in this section summarises thinking and research related to this capability. It is not a comprehensive or definitive background on the capability.

Moral leadership

Research has found moral purpose is essential for every leader to be effective, and that it helps sustain leaders through difficult times and at challenging moments.  

John West-Burnham (2001) explores the relationship between ethics, values, and morals and what moral leadership entails. Ethics are collective social values. Examples of ethical frameworks are the code of ethics for the teaching profession, and the Treaty of Waitangi. Values are the translation of moral and spiritual dimensions into a coherent and meaningful set of personal constructs that inform language and action. Morals are our values in action. 

West-Burnham suggests the relationship between ethics, values, and morals can be shown in three questions: 

• What are the principles we should live by? 
• How do those principles become personally valid and meaningful? 
• How should we act? 

He argues that for moral leadership, leaders need to: 

• be deeply knowledgeable about the ethics of education 
• be clear about, and regularly reflect on, their own personal value system 
• lead ethical discussions about fundamental education issues 
• create processes for agreeing ethical principles and moral norms 
• ensure the moral consensus works for all members of the community 
• consistently reinforce and model community values. 

Ethical leadership

Another way to look at how we embody values is Starratt's framework of ethical leadership (2004) which proposes that leaders need to exercise three inter-related ethics when deciding and acting: 

An ethic of care – valuing individuals and bringing out the best in them 

An ethic of justice – dealing fairly and equitably with others and creating socially just and democratic conditions  

An ethic of critique – questioning who holds the power and whose interests are being served 

Later authors have added an ethic of professionalism to these three (Ehrich, 2010).  

Leading with moral purpose

Michael Fullan (2001) states that for leadership to be effective, it has to: 

• have an explicit making-a-difference purpose 
• use strategies to mobilise people to tackle tough problems 
• be accountable through measurable and debatable indicators of success 
• awaken people’s intrinsic commitment, that is, their sense of moral purpose. 

A widely shared moral purpose underpins sustainability and makes it easier to prioritise and focus activity. But moral purpose can’t just be stated, and it can’t just be a broad aspiration. People need to internalise it to change their behaviour.

For this to happen, they need a common language and opportunities for discussion and reflection. "There needs to be clarity and detail in the way the purpose is understood, and in particular the values that underpin it" (Bezzina, 2009).

Strategies 

Louise used these strategies to build and implement a shared vision and action plan: 

• Worked towards agreement on the school’s moral purpose: 
  • Why are we here? 
  • What do we hope to achieve? 
• Analysed data: 
  • NCEA data showed too many learners leaving without the level of qualification they need to succeed in life. 
  • Current data showed that too many learners were short on credits for NCEA levels. 
  • Student attendance needed to be improved. 
• Reviewed key literature about learning and achievement: 
  • Including Ben Levin’s (2008) book How to Change 5000 Schools. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 
• Developed an action plan that included the following goals and actions: 
  • raise expectations and belief in learners’ ability to achieve 
  • create a sense of urgency regarding improving achievement 
  • identify achievable credits 
  • goal setting with learners and families 
  • improve attendance 
  • home visits 
  • additional learning support and intervention for learners not achieving 
  • attention to teaching approaches 
  • emphasis on developing systems for tracking the progress of each learner
• Implemented the action plan 
• Evaluated the action plan. 

Reflective questions  

• How do you make the school's values evident to your community? What is the connection between them and your moral purpose? 
• When would you feel justified in resisting an initiative or idea as a matter of principle? How would you test whether your position was right?

"Leaders bring their knowledge and experience of making improvements to local and national professional networks, as well as exploring opportunities to work with other educational organisations, local communities, government agencies, and others to develop and improve educational provision and policy. They use such opportunities to learn from others and to develop things that are collectively more than the sum of contributing parts, which others can draw from and use to improve educational practice." (Educational leadership capability framework, Education Council, 2018, p. 7) 

The full title for this capability is Contributing to the development and wellbeing of education beyond their organisation. The content in this section summarises thinking and research related to this capability. It is not a comprehensive or definitive background on the capability. 

Systems leadership  

Systems leadership occurs when leaders from different parts of a system work together on a common agenda and build lateral capacity. 

Leaders who partner effectively laterally and vertically across a system see themselves as part of a bigger system, not just responsible for a school (Rincón-Gallardo, 2017). They see the relationships between the classroom, school, and system and understand that to change the larger system, they have to engage with it.  

What is system leadership? 

Leaders from the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia share perspectives on systems leadership.  

What is System Leadership?

Attributes of system leaders 

Robert Hill (2011, p. 13) says that the role of system leader puts a premium on being able to: 

• inspire, persuade, and negotiate with peers 
• challenge the status quo 
• bring about change quickly and effectively. 

He analysed the survey responses of people interested in or undertaking specific system leadership roles in the UK. The three attributes of system leaders rated most highly across all the roles were: 

• leadership experience in a school 
• communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills 
• strategic thinking ability (vision, big picture, etc). 

Hill's report concluded that becoming a professional partner – mentoring or coaching others – provides a good entry into system leadership. 

"Systems leaders develop the ability to see reality through the eyes of people very different from themselves." (Ehrlichman, 2015 p. 18) 

Clusters and networks  

Clusters and networks are important ways of exercising system leadership. To be effective, all the leaders participating in a cluster or network need to: 

• be there because they want to be 
• be committed and willing to share  
• sanction, champion, and support network goals 
• believe they have something to offer others and something to gain from others 
• build relationships on trust 
• understand they won't benefit from everything. 

Social network research also suggests that effective networks need more than one challenger in them, and they need to enable strong teacher collaboration, as the strength of a network is related to the number of cross-school connections (McKibben, 2014). 

Leading a cluster or network of schools has more complexities than leading a school or a team due to the individual contexts, constraints, and priorities of the schools in the network. You need to forge a common purpose; you’ve got to find the need that will get people working together (McKibben, 2014). 

Reflective questions 

• What are the successful and less successful behaviours in networks? How can you influence them? 
• Building and learning about effective networks can build participants' trust as well as their skills. What strategies can you use to do this? 

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