Leadership and Management Development in Education (Education ...

THE FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT129Education and Culture deems important for school administration’ (p. 44).In England, there is a tension between the emerging emphasis on personalisedlearning, for example in the redesign of the NPQH, and the need toadhere to National Standards for Headteachers to gain the state licence topractise as a school principal. The central question is ‘what degree of individualisationis consistent with the award of a standardised national qualification?’This should form part of the evaluation of the new programme but an initialhypothesis is that personalisation will be more about the diversity of learningoptions available to candidates than about the formal assessment process leadingto the award.An important dimension of a personalised values-based approach to leadershipdevelopment is the attention given to diversity issues. Lumby and Coleman(2007: 107) claim that ‘the training programmes for all educational leadersboth in the USA and England are unlikely to deal systematically with issues ofdiversity and social justice’. Bush et al. (2007) show that there was no differentiationfor black and minority ethnic leaders within the NPQH and argue for anapproach that recognises and celebrates their culture. As Lumby and Coleman(2007: 63) persuasively argue, ‘the encouragement of diversity amongst leadersmust mean that the training and development is not intended to re-createpotential leaders from BME communities as clones of their white colleagues’.The implication here is that ‘white’ values are privileged over those of minoritygroups. Genuine personalisation requires an approach that respects andencourages ethnic diversity.In South Africa, with its unique history, the language of management developmentis replete with discussion of desegregation and transformation.‘Achieving equitable access to education’ is one of two key priorities outlinedby the Task Team for Education Management Development (Department ofEducation 1996: 13). More recently, the ACE: School Leadership programmestresses the importance of ‘the values of equity, access, transparency anddemocracy’ (Department of Education 2007: 7). This language is aspirationalbut there is only limited evidence of equitable access to education more than adecade after the election of the country’s first majority government. Most blackAfrican children are still educated in schools with poor facilities and undertrainedteachers. This example illustrates the reality that values have to betranslated into policies and practice if real change is to occur.Towards a model for leadership developmentThe research and literature discussed in this book show that the need fortraining and development for heads and other school leaders is gaining wide,even global, acceptance (Watson 2003a). While there is great diversity in the