Leadership and Management Development in Education (Education ...

114LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT IN EDUCATIONdesign and delivery processes and not thrust to the margin. Commenting onthe ‘new model’ NPQH, the NCSL (2007: 3) states that ‘NCSL aims to ensurethat those recruited as trainee headteachers are representative of the diverseworkforce and school population’. While this is welcome, equal attentionneeds to be given to content and delivery if such programmes are to besuitable for minority candidates.Evaluation and impact modelsThe purpose of this section is to examine impact models to assess their saliencefor leadership development. There is ample evidence that programmes are subjectto evaluation but the approaches often employed are subject to two mainlimitations:1. They rely mainly or exclusively on self-reported evidence. Participants are askedabout their experience of the activity and, more rarely, about its impact ontheir schools. This is a weak approach because it is not subject to corroboration,for example by colleagues, and because it is inevitably subjective.2. The evaluation is usually short term. Participants’ views are often sought duringand/or at the end of the development activity. It is widely recognised thatthe impact of interventions, such as a leadership programme, takes time. It isunlikely that significant changes in leadership practice will have occurredduring the training period.Even where these two pitfalls are avoided, there is still the problem of attributingbeneficial effects to the development activity when there are likely to bemany other contemporaneous events that could also contribute to change.However, addressing these two limitations would produce more credible, if nottotally reliable, findings.Huber (2004a: 92) sets out four questions designed to establish whether programmes‘meet expectations’:• Do they reach the goals established by their providers?• Do they meet state requirements?• Do they meet the expectations of the participating school leaders and theprofession as a whole?• Do they meet the expectations of the wider community?(Adapted from Huber 2004a: 92)In assessing responses to his international enquiry, Huber (2004a: 93) concludesthat evaluation data mainly relate to: