Leadership and Management Development in Education (Education ...

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THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT31Hallinger (2003a) stresses the importance of developing a carefully groundedrelationship between leadership development, the quality of school leadershipand both school and student outcomes. Earlier, his overview of research onschool leadership development led to this cautious conclusion:Policymakers will be particularly keen to know if these training interventionsmade a difference in the practice of school leadership and school performance.Unfortunately, we cannot be sure since none of the studies weredesigned to address these questions … [We cannot] speak with confidenceabout the impact of the interventions on administrative practice inschools. (Hallinger 1992b: 308)In the 15 years since this significant comment, evidence to support the value ofleadership preparation has been slow to emerge. There is a widespread beliefthat it makes a difference. Lumby et al. (in press), for example, claim that ‘leadershipdevelopment actually makes a difference, be it in different ways, to whatleaders do in schools’. However, empirical support for such assumptions is weakand usually indirect. Heck (2003) uses the twin concepts of professional andorganisational socialisation as a lens to examine the impact of preparation. Professionalsocialisation includes formal preparation, where it occurs, and theearly phases of professional practice. Organisational socialisation involves theprocess of becoming familiar with the specific context where leadership is practised.Leithwood et al. (1992) show that both dimensions of socialisation werehelpful in contributing to principals’ abilities to provide instructional leadership.Heck’s (2003: 246) review of research in one US state shows that ‘thesocialisation process accounted for about one-fourth of the variance in administrativeperformance’.Crow (2006: 321) suggests that ‘a traditional notion of effective socialisationtypically assumes a certain degree of conformity … a “role-taking” outcomewhere the new principal takes a role conception given by the school, district,university or community’. He argues that the greater complexity of leadershipcontexts requires a ‘role-making’ dimension, where new principals acquire theattributes to meet the dynamic nature of school contexts.Bush et al.’s (2006b) evaluation of the National College for School Leadership‘New Visions’ programme for early headship shows significant evidence of itsimpact on the 430 heads involved in the first two cohorts of the programme.Their survey results show high ‘great help’ ratings for four dimensions of personaldevelopment:• Knowledge of educational leadership (48 per cent)• Confidence (44 per cent)• Coping with ‘people’ pressures (31 per cent)
32LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT IN EDUCATION• Ability to influence others (30 per cent).(Bush et al. 2006b: 193)Bush et al. (2006b) also note perceived professional development benefits, including‘a clearer vision’, ‘a more democratic approach’, being more ‘inspiring andcreative’ and ‘enthusiasm for learning’. The authors’ school-based case studiesshow that all stakeholders perceive a shift to distributed leadership and a sharperfocus on instructional leadership as a result of the New Visions experience (Bushet al. 2006b: 194–5).ConclusionEffective leadership is increasingly regarded as a vital component of successfulorganisations. The research shows that new principals experience great difficultyin adapting to the demands of the role. The process of professional andorganisational socialisation is often uncomfortable as leaders adapt to therequirements of their new post. Developing the knowledge, attributes and skillsrequired to lead effectively requires systematic preparation. Recognition of theimportance of specific training and development has grown as the pressures onschool principals have intensified. The greater complexity of school contexts,allied to the trend towards site-based management, has also heightened theneed for preparation. There is also an acceptance of the moral basis for specifictraining and a growing body of evidence showing that preparation makes a differenceto the quality of leadership and to school and pupil outcomes. In thenext chapter, we examine the nature of leadership development programmes,including content and process.
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