The European context of school leadership – current trends,

innovations and international

initiatives   „School Leader Competences: the Driving Force behind Teacher Motivation and

Student Outcomes ”

TEMPIS PF conferenceBudapest, 2011 November 24

Gábor Halász ELTE University, Budapest

The „Great Research Question”

„Can we assume that leaders have a significant impact on the process and the outcomes of learning in the school? Is there an evidence-base?” (Quoted from the announcement of the 2010 ENIRDELM conference, Szeged)

Key Stage 2 : Percentage of 11 year olds achieving Level 4 or above

54

58

77

75757575

71

65

63

57

62

69

7271

73 7374

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

English

Maths

There seems to be something new…

• The „great research question” has become an explicit European policy question

• Strong new research evidence is now available

Conclusions/1• The impact of school leadership on

pupil learning outcomes seems now to be proved by strong research evidence (taking into account complexity of the impact-mechanisms)

• Leadership development remains a complex task(there are no simple recipes)

Conclusions/2

• Developing leadership seems to be one of the most efficient ways for countries to improve student learning outcomes(this has serious policy implications)

• The need for policy action seems to be widely recognised at EU level and in several member countries

Conclusions/3• Research should increasingly focus

on identifying the most efficient specific policies for leadership development

• The next „great question”: „What works in SL development policy?”(the implications for defining competences)

OECD (2009): Improving School Leadership The Toolkit

Thank you for your attention!