VODENJE
v vzgoji in izobrazevanju s 12014
3 How School Principals Form Their Leadership Identity Siv Saarukka
19 From Theory to Practice: Understanding Leadership Development as an Iterative Process John West-Burnham and Andrej Koren
37 How Do Local Authorities Prepare Their Headteachers in Taiwan? An Exploration Using Foucault's Disciplinary Power Hung-Chang Chen and Mu-Jin Chen
57 On the Relationship Between Caring and Coaching Leadership Lea Kuusilehto-Awale and Seppo Pulkkinen
71 A Model of Holistic Support to the Schools Implementing Change and Evaluation of Distributed Leadership Effects Tanja Rupnik Vec and Brigita Rupar
85 Towards Professionalization of School Leadership: State of the Art in Macedonia in the Light of the Global Trends Suzana Miovska-Spaseva
97 How to Remain Balanced When Developing a New Kind of Leadership Dan Roger Sträng and Dag Sormo
109 School Inspections and Principals' Leadership: A Swedish Case Study Mats Lundgren and Ina von Schantz Lundgren
125 The Leadership of the Special Educator in the Management of the Inclusive Classroom Zora Jachova and Maja Filipovska
143 'School Ethics' - Responsible School Management:
The Application of Business Ethics to School Management Herman Siebens, Paul Mahieu, andAnnick Van Rossem
leadership in education Special Issue
167 New Challenges for Head Teachers in Hungarian Schools Mária Szabó
181 Curriculum as an Instrument in Developing Leadership in Modern School Practice Rudite Andersone
191 Contemporary Management and the Benefits of Its Implementation in Educational Organizations in the Republic of Macedonia Aneta Barakoska, Vera Stojanovska, and Elena Rizova
203 Abstracts in Slovene
This special issue of Leadership in Education contains a selection of papers presented at the enirdelm 2013 (European Network for Improving Research and Development in Educational Leadership and Management) conference, held in Portorož, Slovenia, 19-21 September 2013.
leadership in education Special Issue
J Ö
PH
Siv Saarukka
Abo Akademi University, Finland
ft
i-fl How School Principals Form Their ^ Leadership Identity
-a
cd
^^ The aim of this study is to discuss how school principals form their leadership identity on personal, professional and positional levels in leadership practice. Aspects about identity are analysed through the outcomes of empirical material from interviews about creating professional school leadership. According to identity theories and ^^ empirical findings, the mutual process of awareness of contents in
leadership and their influences on the principal as a person, the Qfi principalship as a profession and the formal leadership position are ^^ essential elements when forming the leadership identity. To be a
school principal is a complex profession, but creating the leadership ¡^ identity in relation to different aspects in principalship is one way of ^^ developing structure in understanding leadership. Findings show ^^ proof of connections between awareness about identity and success in school leadership. Struggle in the process of identity building was ^^ also recognized, and reasons causing failing leadership was identified as related to undeveloped identity. Forming school leadership identity was identified as a continuing relational process ^^ developed through communication and activities where teachers
confirm the principal as a person, in the professional role, and in the leadership position.
Keywords: leadership in education, identity, profession, principal
Introduction
During the last few decades, numerous research projects conducted by both national and international researchers have focused on different aspects of school leadership. Research has included the substance of leadership, and leadership in various types of schools. Also leaders' activities and tasks have been investigated, while questions related to issues concerning principals' leadership identity seem to be less developed, although some researchers argue that identity is one of the most popular topics in contemporary organization studies (Sveningsson and Alvesson 2003).
School principals' professional role and formal duties connected to the position have changed from focusing on management issues to focusing on areas related to educational leadership. This transformation of professional tasks is highlighted in several doc-
leadership in education Special Issue | 2014 | 3-18
toral dissertations studying leadership in Finnish comprehensive schools (Pennanen 2006; Sanden 2007; Pesonen 2009). In Finnish national legislation, the expectations concerning principals' duties and the contents of work are for the moment expressed in only a few words: 'The principal is responsible for the operations of the school' (Act 628/1998). It is reasonable to assume that such a wide definition of professionalism has implications for both principals' engagement and responsibility for the school as well as the need for continuing awareness about professional identity. Sveningsson and Alvesson (2003, 1163) stress that
Identity themes are addressed on a multitude of levels: organizational, professional, social and individual and sometimes these are linked [...]. Identity is viewed as central for issues of meaning and motivation, commitment, loyalty, logics of action and decision-making, stability and change, leadership, group and intergroup relations, organizational collaborations etc.
The lack of detailed regulations in the statement about principals' duties leads the attention to contents in principalship. As such a definition creates large space for professional intention and action, and a corresponding unlimited responsibility this also, at least implicitly, calls for self-reflection on how the principal is able to meet such expectations. What personal characteristics or abilities are expected from a school principal to fulfill these professional expectations? How then do principals think about the possibilities to reach this ideal of 'being responsible for everything'? The formulation in the Finnish national legislation may operate as a kind of norm for calling upon one's profession and awareness of the school context as a multidimensional arena for leadership. The lack of detailed regulations about the principalship turns the focus to issues related to personal abilities, awareness of the leadership profession and knowledge about responsibility, power and autonomy in the positional role. From these perspectives the leadership identity is one essential object to investigate in order to recognize how school principals form their profession and develop their leadership. In addition, as there are no clear criteria for when these professional expectations are met, a continuous reflection about an ideal is visible here.
Against this background the aim of this article is to bring in to focus how school principals form their leadership identity on personal, professional and positional levels, and through the out-
comes of the empirical study contribute to the understanding of identity as a fundamental element in creating professional school leadership. According to Sveningsson and Alvesson (2003), different levels in defining identity might be linked, so that for example personal identity can be expressed as individual identity, organizational identity and positional identity have similar elements, and social identity can be integrated in professional identity.
Research findings in this article are collected from interviews with school principals. The interviews were performed to investigate different aspects of leadership, and to discover if identity was identified and how it was expressed. The intention was to find out whether the contents of principals' narratives in terms of identity could be identified as connected to personality, the leadership profession and the position as head of the school. Findings from the empirical material are structured in aspects about personal identity, professional identity and identity in the leadership position. Through analyzes of principals' narratives signs of identity struggle will also be exemplified, and some reasons that might cause failing leadership due to undeveloped identity will be discussed.
Identity Theory
The field of identity theory is vast. Organizational identity and personal and social identity are some of the main areas in this research field (Svenningsson and Alvesson 2003). Wise (2008) points out effects of our emerging global society on identity, and she also relates to identity in virtual spaces. As the aim of this study is to find out how school principals form their leadership identity, theories according to identity in human development as well as identity in social interaction are of special interest and will be in focus in this study.
Aspects about the formation of personal identity and identity according to human development are well documented in both psychological and sociological research (Erikson 1994; Mahoney 1991; Joseph 2004; Ivanic 1998). Personal identity is identified as a process where a person integrates personal identifications, genetic abilities and social roles. It is also claimed that identity is to be created in a process where a person evaluates herself in a way she assumes other people evaluate her. Erikson (1994) underlines the ongoing process in human life as 'the feeling of identity,' and he also states that creating identity is a lifelong process and a dy-
namic whole with consistence of needs, abilities, beliefs, and individual history.
Beside our personal identity, we are also participants of a social identity; our social identity is part of belonging in one or more groups (Wise 2008, 2):
In these groups our identity is either affirmed or contradicted, and research indicates our personal identity will actually change over time to meet the affirmations of a group, depending on how much feedback we receive and how much value we place on the source of the feedback.
The principal is a member of the school staff, and his or her social identity will develop either through affirmations or contradictions in practicing the principalship. As the leadership role is conquered, the professional identity will be a developmental process, related to the group of school staff or other groups connected to school. Legacy in the position confirms the formal duty as school principal, and creates a fundament for the personal leadership identity. Essential elements in building the leadership identity are the cultural norms in the school and the language spoken in the contextual environment (Ylimaki 2011).
As identity in the field of research is defined as a process including personal identifications, genetic abilities and social roles, statements about school principals' identity have to be given by the person him- or herself. According to Erikson (1994), the identity is not given once and for all, it is a process which also changes over time. Wise (2008, 12) stresses that interaction between people all over the world affects both social and personal identity:
All of us have multiple role-based identities, depending on our activities and associations, and these identities can be salient and exist in harmony with each other, or be in opposition to our roles, depending on our interactions. At any time, one identity can demand priority over another and the identity that demands priority may or may not be the identity that holds the most personal value.
Sveningsson and Alvesson (2003, 1188) contribute to the understanding of identity constructions in a managerial work context, and use the metaphor of identity as struggle:
Individuals are assumed to strive for comfort, meaning and integration and some correspondence between a self-defini-
Person
Profession
ID
Position
FIGURE 1
Identity As a Fundamental Structure in Leadership
tion and work situation. Discourses, roles and narrative self-identities are all involved - they fuel and constrain identity work.
In light of the aim for this study, a statement of Ylimaki (2011, 18) 'identity is the way we see ourselves in relation to others' is adopted as a descriptive expression of identity according to leadership.
Against the background of research and identity theory it can be stated that it is essentially important for a school principal to form a leadership identity. Even if it can be experienced as a struggle when building identities on different levels, creating personal, professional and positional identity is like building fundaments for how to lead a school. This process is even more important when providers permit very broad frames for the occupation.
How Do School Principals Form Their Leadership Identity?
In this section I will present findings from school principals' narratives about forming their leadership according to my empirical research. The findings are structured in two parts, consisting of general findings and findings about situations of struggle.
As a separate discussion under its own headline I will also pay attention to identity and social interaction, as the interaction process between leader and staff members in schools has an obvious influence on the development of leadership identity.
The Empirical Study
The structure for my interviews was formed to be able to identify statements about principalship as a whole according to personality, the leadership profession and the principal's position. One part of the interview focused on identity, and how school principals form their leadership identity.
In my research group eight school principals participated. The average number of staff for each principal was 45, and the number of pupils was 240-1200. The schools are located primarily in the bilingual or Swedish-speaking area of Finland. Each meeting took part in the school, and the discussion was taped and transcribed into narrative form by me as the researcher. All participants were given a pseudonym, and the narratives were sent back to each principal for approval.
Findings
The principals' statements about their leadership identity are organized in relation to (1) person, (2) profession and (3) position. According to the principals' narratives, struggling situations also occurred, mainly in the first years of the principalship. Some examples of identity struggle will be discussed as separate findings.
Findings about identity related to the principal as a person are classified as follows:
1.	The leadership identity according to person:
•	Is formed through the profession and confirmations from colleagues.
•	Is constructed on identified personal traits.
•	Is expressed as awareness of necessary knowledge for the competence.
•	Is grounded on personal ambitions to fulfill expectations on leadership.
Most of the principals' statements about identity were recognized as related to the leadership profession, and the comments are presented under three headlines: (a) leadership abilities, (b) human resource management, and (c) professional skills.
2.	The leadership identity according to profession is formed by a) Leadership abilities, expressed as
•	Clear leadership, in terms of being a strong character and practicing the leadership with a clear policy. A principal has to work for good conditions in the school, be credible and fair.
•	Strategic leadership in terms of how to develop a strategic outlook, being aware of the right moment when initiatives and development plans can be accepted by the staff, and having the courage to make initiatives. The strategic ability also includes diplomacy.
•	Democracy, participation and engagement, in terms of being aware of a policy based on participation and collaboration for the goal, to involve the staff and strive for educational development in the school.
•	Ability to look ahead, stress that leadership identity according to the profession is formed by the ability to make long term plans, including development needs as well as present realities and the curriculum framework.
•	Being present, expressed as importance of being present in the school and taking care of daily issues also stresses the aspect of responsibility in leadership
b) Human resource management, expressed as
•	Awareness about personality issues and professional development among the staff; connections between the ability to identify personal traits and take into account professional skills about members of the staff, and to recognize teachers' educational identity.
•	Clear communication; communicative abilities are identified as key components in building the professional identity. This process is noticed as a double connection: When the professional identity is formed the communication about professional issues and goals is easy. On the other hand, when communication abilities are well developed, they are vital in identifying the leadership identity.
•	Cooperation in order to create educational development; the outcomes of common responsibility for educational development in the teaching staff. When the principal's professional identity is stable, the awareness of motivating professional development for the staff is a natural part of leadership responsibility and school development.
c) Professional skills, expressed as
•	Credibility; an expression for the connection of reliability between the principal's 'being' and 'doing.'
•	Confidence, expresses the importance of trust between the principal and the staff.
•	Responsiveness is one of the highly prioritized abilities in leadership identity according to profession, and explained in terms of ability to listen to nonverbal messages as well as verbal communication.
3. The leadership identity related to position is formed by
•	Trust and respect from the staff and from the providers, as well as from pupils, parents and politicians.
•	Independence and autonomy in activities and daily decision-making situations, but with respect to instructions from the providers and frames in the curriculum.
•	The public position, as representative for a public school.
Discussion About General Findings
Principals' identity according to the position is highly related to structures in the school organization. Principals are well aware of responsibility, power and autonomy in the formal position of school leadership. In the leadership position the principal is responsible for managerial as well as educational issues.
Leadership identity is very much affected by personal traits. According to the principals' narratives, awareness of individual abilities was expressed and related to leadership issues. Creating a personal leadership identity is also a mutual process between the leader and the staff:
My profession as principal has affected my personal identity.
The public position as principal has affected my personality. I can't separate the principal's identity from me as an individual.
My personal traits are fundamental for my leadership identity.
My leadership identity is closely connected to my personal values.
The findings confirm the essential issues about personal and social identity as expressed in theories about identity. When transforming theories into practice it can be verified that Finnish school principals have developed multi-level awareness about how to be able to meet the expectations about school leadership as formulated in the legislation act. A contributing issue in developing fundaments to meet the expectations is awareness of identity and ability to express identity on different levels of the principalship.
Struggling Situations According to Leadership Identity
When analyzing principals' narratives, examples of undeveloped identity processes could be identified. These situations and experiences mostly occurred during the first years of the principalship, as in the following three examples of identity struggle and signs of failing leadership:
In Ellen's first time as new principal, she wasn't aware of common rules and earlier habits among members in the school staff. Her intention was to create her own practice and build her own systems and routines; create her leadership identity grounded on her own principles. The atmosphere in the school was not supportive, and Ellen's intentions were knocked down. Resistance from staff members had a negative influence on her professional identity, and she had to work hard to find the acceptance to her professional intentions. Step by step she worked out her social strategies and was able to build a solid leadership identity. Ellen commented on her experiences by relating the process of forming her professional identity to the complexity in the school culture.
In a public situation Louise was asked to give a statement about an educational issue on behalf of the staff. Louise knew that the teaching staff had another opinion than her, but she spontaneously expressed her personal opinion. This situation caused conflicts among the staff, and Louise had to admit that her position demands the role of her being the representative for the school. Her leadership identity had to be developed in terms of positional and organizational needs.
When Albert became principal in the same school where he had worked as teacher, he had to create the first steps in his leadership identity on the personal level. A very challenging
situation occurred when Albert arranged for individual development discussions with the staff. The oldest teacher of the staff had been Albert's teacher and colleague and now Albert was his leader. The situation affected both personal and professional relations, but as Albert expressed it, his new identity in the leadership position gave him strength to fulfill the leadership duty, and supported his personal and professional identity.
A school principal's identity is reflected in each of the three levels, person, profession and position when principalship is practiced as a whole. If identity on any of the levels is failing, it affects practicing of the leadership. As school is a knowledge-based organization, with a certain mission, the importance of a developed identity on all levels is obvious. The narratives about Ellen, Louise and Albert are empirical examples of school principals' developmental processes according to identity, when some pieces of the whole are still failing or undeveloped.
Ellen's story represents a leadership identity (c) where she as a person and the new position are in focus, yet without awareness of the professional identity; to be sensitive to the existing school culture. Louise's story (a) tells about strength in personal and professional identity without awareness about positional duties as representative for the school and staff. Albert's story (b) is about leaving the personal identity aside in order to be able to act professionally in a certain positional role. In Albert's example, the awareness of keeping a low profile concerning the personal identity can be seen as a strength when struggling with personal emotions in a certain situation (see figure 2).
The process of creating and developing leadership identity in a school is addressed on a number of levels: organizational, professional, social and individual, as well as in principals' perspectives analyzed in this study. Struggle in creating the identity stresses the awareness of continuous development of school leadership on different levels, and the need for adapting leadership behavior according to relations and interaction (Wise 2008; Ylimaki 2011).
Leadership Identity and Social Interaction
It is obvious that school leadership identity is formed as a result of social interactions as much as based on personal abilities and traits. Individuals constantly strive to shape their personal identity in organizations, and are being shaped by discursive forces (Sven-
Person
A
Profession
figure 2
Position
Differencies in Leadership Practice Related to Developed and Undeveloped Identity
(a)	Personality influenced professional behavior; the position is unidentified
(b)	Professional behavior, awareness of the position, avoiding personality related influences
(c)	Personality influenced positional behavior, undeveloped professional behavior
The Self
The Leader
Leadership identity
Leadership
Interaction
Leadership
Staff member personality
Followership identity
The Self I /
✓
figure 3 Leadership in Social Interaction
B
c
ingsson and Alvesson 2003; Meller 2004). School as a knowledge-based organization offers various situations for social interaction among teachers and students in relation to the principal.
Principalship consists of many dimensions. The concept of self, identity and personality open up possibilities for a multilevel analysis (Saarukka 2012), and a structure for identifying interactions among leaders and 'followers' related to aspects of identity can be visible. In this study focus is given to identity, but a broader view including The Self contributes to forming a deeper understanding of leadership in social interaction (figure 3).
Related to the three levels person, profession and position, questioning about what signs of the self are visible in school prin-
cipals' profession is a way of identifying a person's self. As behavior is the most obvious component of the self (Branson 2010), and identity is identified as a process where a person integrates personal identifications (Erikson 1994), it is appropriate to analyze how well school principals are able to express traits in their personality and identify their behavior. As awareness of traits will develop through interaction, similarities to processing the self in order to develop identity can be noticed. A human can develop the human dynamic only in interaction with other humans. Self-identification needs communication preferences to be able to develop self-awareness (Seagal and Horne 1997). The process of interaction can be seen as crucial in forming the identity. The leadership identity according to personality issues will be expressed in terms of self-identification telling how the leader reacts in line with his or her personality, and furthermore, what abilities should be developed.
Statements in school principals narratives verify personal awareness and increased self-knowledge:
I'm multilateral, good in imagining the whole, impatient and competitive.
I'm good in communication, need to be a better listener, em-pathetic, emotional and selective.
I'm positive, trustful, vivid, good in prioritizing, able to deal with stress and patient.
I'm introvert, calm, practical, objective, responsive, patient, analytical and factual.
To view the whole theoretical landscape about the multi-dimensional field of human identity is a challenging issue, and demands a distinct focus before it can be 'painted' sufficiently and with objectivity. Awareness about identity, the self and personality will facilitate our understanding of the complexity in human personality. According to Ivanic (1998, 10-11), the concepts of'identity,' 'self' and 'person' can be analyzed as follows:
[...] my 'self' is who I feel myself to be, emotionally and affectively, while 'person' is the identity I project to others in my socially defined roles, and [. . .] 'persona' is an objective self that we create in order to position ourselves within the context of those around us, as opposite to ethos, the self that consists of our inner qualities.
Personal identity is strongly connected to the development of the self, and the language process is essential for this development (Mead 1934). School principals' professional role and formal duties connected to the leadership position is transformed from prioritizing management issues to focusing on areas related to educational leadership. This process is mirrored in their communication. Concerning the expression 'educational leadership,' Ylimaki (2011, xi) prefers to use 'curriculum leadership' instead of'educational' or 'instructional' leadership, and stresses that 'curriculum leadership identity can be defined as a sense of self in relation to others and the meanings people attach to curriculum-related roles in schools and society.'
The common denominator conceptualizing leadership according to the three levels person, profession and position can be identified in terms of communication and relationship as essential elements in leadership when creating and developing identity. 'Leadership doesn't occur in a social vacuum [...] Leadership emerges as a set of social relationships' is a statement by Svedberg (2000, 226), when analyzing school leadership. The tool for building relations in an organization is the contextual language and communication, as it includes information, thoughts, feelings and a way to confirm the identity (Nilsson and Waldemarsson 1990; Ylimaki 2011). To be a human with a personal identity requires relations with other humans. To be able to develop personal and professional identity there is a need for a context of relationship and interaction, or as one principal expressed it:
My leadership identity is relational and emotional. I must have confidence in my staff members, and receive confirmation for my way of leading from them.
In order to become an individual a person must be together with other people and be seen by them (Sandvik 2009; Jacobsen 1998; Karterud 1997). Awareness about abilities in human personality can be of essential value for a principal in the multidimensional task of contradictory expectations from groups of colleagues in school. Self-awareness and self-knowledge open up the human mind and contribute to processes of developing identity on different levels. According to school principals' duty, to operate the school, developing self-awareness is an essential element in leadership identity and an important issue in developing the leadership profession.
Conclusion
The aim of this study was to bring in to focus how school principals form their leadership identity on a personal, professional and positional level under the 'umbrella' of autonomy to implement the outcome of governmental assignments in leadership practice. By presenting results from an empirical study I also wanted to contribute to the understanding of identity as a fundamental element in creating professional school leadership.
Questions were raised in relation to the lack of regulations according to Finnish school principals' duties, and what consequences these facts have for creating a successful school leadership. As identity is multidimensional and functions on both organizational, personal and social levels, it is a demanding task to collect essential knowledge about it.
The empirical study analyses principals' narrated leadership about recognized behavior concerning the three domains in school leadership. The findings are structured in relation to person, profession and position, in order to clarify how principals are able to express themselves about leadership identity.
Findings in principals' narratives indicate how they are able to express a correspondence between identified progress in forming identity and work situations. The mutual process of awareness of contents in leadership and confirmations from colleagues are essential elements in the creation of leadership identity. To be a school principal is a complex profession, as expressed in several interviews, but developing leadership identity in relation to different leadership arenas is one way of finding structures in the profession. Self-awareness concerning personal traits and communicative abilities was identified as an essential element in understanding relational processes in school. In some cases the principal as a person and leadership as a profession were almost impossible to separate. The leadership profession was identified as an integrated whole with the principal as a person, and identity was recognized as the common connecting element.
Struggle in identity building was also found, and in this article is exemplified by three short narratives expressing personal challenge when developing professional identity. As a caution conclusion reasons behind failing leadership could be identified as related to undeveloped identity, but in this study only glimpses of this complicated process were possible to recognize.
When a principal has developed equal awareness about iden-
tity according to person, profession and position, he or she has optimal opportunities to act in order to fulfill the leadership duty. As forming identity is a continuing process and human identity is identified as the way we see ourselves in relation to others, the relational process in school leadership is obvious. A statement by one of the principals in the research group is a well formulated definition for identity among Finnish school principals:
Identity is created by multidimensional knowledge and social and individual abilities. Staff members in my school need a mother stature, a leader and a professional manager. In my daily leadership activities all these elements are creating my identity.
The contribution of this study in developing a deeper understanding of school leadership is that identity is an essential and common element in forming school leadership. Through ability to recognize personal, professional and positional identity the complexity in principalship could be understood.
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Pesonen, J. 2009. Peruskoulun johtaminen: aikansa ilmio. Joensuu: Joensuun yliopisto.
Saarukka, S. 2012. 'Principal's Leadership through Perspectives on Person, Profession and Position.' In Teacher Education Research between National Identity and Global Trends: nafol Yearbook 2012, edited by A.-L. 0stern, K. Smith, T. Ryghaug, T. Krüger and M. B. Postholm, 215-236. Trondheim: Akademika Publishing.
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Barnträdgärdslärares professionella självutveckling genom ett pedagogisk-psykologiskt interventionsprogram. Abo: Abo Akademis Förlag.
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Sveningsson, S. and M. Alvesson. 2003. 'Managing Managerial Identities: Organizational Fragmentation, Discourse and Identity Struggle.' Human Relations 56 (10): 1163-1193.
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ft
i-fl	From Theory to Practice:
^	Understanding Leadership Development
0	as an Iterative Process
^	John West-Burnham
^	St Mary's University, United Kingdom
J Ö
ft
CG ÎH
ft
Andrej Koren
National School for Leadership in Education, Slovenia
The purpose of this paper is to explore the conceptual issues in ^^ reconciling theory and practice in leadership development. The
central concern of the study is the perceived issue that there is ^^ limited confidence that the prevailing orthodoxies influencing ^^ leadership development programmes actually translate into changed behaviour. The paper explores the epistemological issues in analysing the interaction between theory and practice and then ^^ reviews the evidence for the relative impact of different approaches ^^ to leadership development. A central theme of the discussion is the ^^ nature of personal constructs and how they relate to personal learning and professional development.
Keywords: leadership in education, leadership development, theory and practice, personal constructs, learning strategies
'An Ounce of Action is Worth a Ton of Theory'
This quotation, variously attributed to both Friedrich Engels and Ralph Waldo Emerson captures one of the key tensions and dilemmas in any form of social engagement - how to be sure that theory or principle is translated into practice, how to ensure the abstract becomes concrete and how the ethical proposition becomes the moral act.
This paper will explore the issues in translating the intangible into the tangible by focusing on the relationship between theory and practice in designing leadership development strategies. Most education systems invest heavily in developing their school leaders; there is now substantial and significant evidence about the nature of leadership development practice - it remains a disputed point as to the relative success of different development strategies. In other words do they actually make a difference in terms of school improvement, securing success or creating a high performance education system based on equity? Some leaders, successful
leadership in education Special Issue | 2014 | 19-35
by a range of criteria, appear to emerge without the benefit of programmes and courses. Other people attend every course and programme available and consistently fail to become effective leaders. Kellerman (2012, xix) captures the tension perfectly:
[...] most of those who engage in leader learning do testify, albeit subjectively, to the efficacy of their experience. Still, if Americans are so good at developing leaders, why is America in such a mess? Why are our politics so ineffectual and why is our economy so resistant to resilience? Can those of us in the leadership industry honestly say that, in the last several decades, we have had the impact we wanted and intended?
For most education systems the key focus of policy for a generation has been the various permutations of school improvement of which leadership development has been a central, if not dominant, feature. While accepting the enormously complex variables influencing the success of any improvement strategy there does seem to a mismatch between the investment in leadership development and the commensurate level of improvement. There are numerous practical examples of the tension between theory and practice at work - for example the relationship between the intentions of the architect and the work of the structural engineer, the composer and the performer the teacher and the student. There is a seductive appeal about working with theories - the conversation is essentially speculative and without the need to demonstrate, justify and, most significantly, prove that the theory actually works in practice. Theoretical language can be essentially normative - the expression of power or status or, it is directly linked to practice, in other words the essential precursor to application.
For those involved in leadership development the problem is often presented in terms of impact - just how much impact in terms of leadership effectiveness does a particular strategy make? Is it possible that investment in leadership development is subject to a number of mistaken assumptions?
We think that leadership can be taught - which given the paucity of objective evidence, might be true or might not. We think that leadership can be learned quickly and easily and that one form of leadership can be taught, simultaneously, to different people in different situations - a stretch at best. We think of context as being of secondary or even tertiary importance - which is wrongheaded. We think leader - cent-
rically - that being a leader is better and more important than being a follower. Wrong again. [Kellerman 2012, xx]
Another way of understanding this is to think in terms of the conversion ratio between intended and actual outcomes. There is often what might be described as an implementation gap between what was intended and what was achieved. This is both a very practical problem in terms of designing processes and activities that might make an impact and is also a philosophical problem in terms in terms of the epistemological relationship between the abstract and the concrete and the nature of the interaction between them.
Aristotle was the first philosopher to identify and explore this topic. He argued that praxis (the ability to act appropriately) is not just about the ability to act but is about the ability to apply understanding in individual situations - it is not enough to be able to act, the important thing is to act well:
The virtue of a thing is related to its proper function. [Aristotle 2004, 146]
Aristotle distinguishes between eupraxis (good praxis) and dys-praxia (bad praxis). Praxis is essentially moral - it is not only action, it is morally appropriate action which therefore can be seen as translating theory into practice.
But no process is set going by mere thought - only by purposive and practical thought, for it is this that also originates productive thought. [Aristotle 2004, 146]
Being moral, and acting morally, requires the intention to translate principle into practice - 'purposive and practical thought.' Marx made virtually the same point in the 'Theses on Feuerbach' (1845, Thesis 11):
The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.
Marx's proposition might be extended to say that interpretation is a necessary precursor to action. There is a very strong attraction to engaging in theoretical debates and developing critiques of alternative models. Such recondite activity has its adherents and may have a place in educational debates but:
While criticism remains essentially a theoretical enterprise, it remains divorced from the fortunes of practice. It can no
longer be judged in terms of the practical resolution of contradictions but only in its own terms as theoretical discourse. At worst, it becomes an exercise in erudition which requires no practical transformations of social reality to demonstrate its power, it speaks to practice entirely from without. [Carr and Kemmis 2006, 208]
The obvious cliché here is the notion of 'paralysis by analysis' where the focus on the theoretical is so strong that it precludes engagement with actual practice. The issue is one of moving from the process of analysis and explanation to action that is logically derived, and morally consistent with that analysis. What is significant is the extent to which there is logical coherence and internal consistency between the abstract and the concrete. In another sense that any activity is 'fit for purpose' or, from another design based perspective that form follows function i. e. the outcome is logically derived from its originating conceptual framework.
This is reflected in a specifically educational perspective in Giroux's (1997, 71) commentary:
Educational theory and practice stand at an impasse. Despite the important outpouring of work [...] educational theorizing remains trapped in a dualism that separates issues of human agency from structural analyses.
This insight captures the tension at the heart of this discussion -for many, theory and practice are, in fact quite distinct rather than elements on the same continuum. This dualism is made graphic and real by Freire's [2001, 88] view that has strong echoes of Aristotle:
Here we are engaged in an effort to overcome debilitating dualisms because we are talking about the impossibility of separating the teaching of contents from ethical formation [...] Of separating practice and theory, authority and freedom, ignorance and knowledge, respect for the teacher and respect for the students and teaching and learning. None of these terms can be mechanically separated one from the other.
The challenge in educational leadership development is to find strategies that integrate and reconcile the need for a critical and analytical perspective with the ability to inform and influence practice. To extend Bennis' dictum, if leadership is about doing
the right things then it is not enough to debate the nature of the right things - an equal responsibility is to consider means of securing the appropriate practice.
The unity of a critical theory and a critical practice is not, therefore, the unity of a theory of education on the one side and a practice of criticism on the other. It is the unity of an educational theory with an educational practice [...] The nature of educational values must be debated [...] not only as a theoretical question, but as a practical question of finding forms of life that express them. [Carr and Kemmis 2006, 208-209]
Heck and Hallinger (2005, 232) identified:
[...] the need to shift inquiry from descriptions of educational mangers' work and explorations of the antecedents of their behaviour to the effects and impact of what they do in managing and leading schools.
Personal Constructs and Change
Teaching and learning are in a symbiotic relationship, the function of teaching is to enable learning, there cannot be an activity called teaching that has no relationship to learning. It is also important to recognise that teaching is only one of the variables that enables learning. Equally leadership has to be defined in terms of action and behaviours, it cannot be seen in terms of positional status, experience or knowledge. Although education, like most human activities is beset by 'debilitating dualisms' the development of educational leaders seems to be a particularly significant area for concern as there is no consensus as to how to educate educational leaders and there is relatively low confidence that the strategies that are employed do actually make any difference.
Leadership development is essentially about helping people change - and that is no different to changing as a person. As Ben-nis and Goldsmith (1997, 8) express it:
[...] the process of becoming a leader is much the same as the process of becoming an integrated human being [...] leadership is a metaphor for centeredness, congruity and balance in one's life.
Senge et al. (2004) reinforce the relationship between the personal and the professional:
[...] if you want to be a leader, you have to be a real human being. You must recognize the true meaning of life before you can become a great leader. You must understand yourself first. [p. 186]
That's why I think that cultivation, 'becoming a real human being,' really is the primary leadership issue of our time, but on a scale never required before. [p. 192]
This focus on personal change and the process of learning, growth and development is fundamental to becoming a person.
Leadership is increasingly defined in terms of abstract and complex qualities that have very practical manifestations for example the focus on trust in schools growing out of the work of Bryk et al. (2010). The growing emphasis on learning centred leadership, the interpersonal, moral and spiritual and futures orientation of leadership has led to increased complexity and elusiveness in defining the characteristics of leaders. Leadership development might be seen to have two dimensions - the process of becoming a leader and learning the behaviours and knowledge necessary to translate generic theory into personal practice.
In many ways leadership development can be seen as reconfiguring mental maps - the movement from manager to leader is very much a matter of rethinking the maps and models that are used to make sense of the world. Sergiovanni (2005, 24) talks of mindscapes rather than mental maps. For him mindscapes are:
[...] implicit mental frames through which reality [...] and our place in this reality are envisioned. Mindscapes provide us with intellectual and psychological images of the real world and boundaries and parameters of rationality that help us to make sense of this world [...] mindscapes are intellectual security blankets [...] and road maps through an uncertain world [...]
Mindscapes 'are assumed to be true' (p. 25) and are thus powerful determinants in how we behave. I would suggest that it is our mindscapes that determine our engagement with the landscape; our mental maps determine how we construct reality and so inform the nature of our personal and professional journeys. Each leadership mindscape is unique, the product of all that makes us who we are. Effective leaders understand their mindscapes, work to systematically enrich and deepen them and use them to navigate their world. Individual mindscapes are often microcosms
of what is described as a social imaginary - the dominant understanding across society, a moral hegemony. Taylor (2004, 23) defines a social imaginary as:
[...] the ways people imagine their social existence, how they fit together with others, how things go on between them and their fellows, the expectations that are normally met, and the deeper normative notions and images that underlie these expectations.
As with any social phenomenon there will always be multiple interpretations and perceptions of the nature of an educational institution - in other words many competing imaginaries. Much of our understanding of leadership tends to be based is confined within what Taylor (2007, 539) calls the immanent frame, i. e. the dominant modern assumption that 'all thought, feeling and purpose, all the features we normally ascribe to agents, must be' in the mind and inside human beings. People are seen as having inner, psychological properties (which include cognitive, emotional and aesthetic capacities), as well as being social agents. For any learning or development to take place the internal mindscape has to change in order to enable action in the world to change in a way that is appropriate and consistent.
Human growth and development can in many ways be seen as a process of modifying and developing mindscapes through the key transitions in human life. So from child to adolescent to adult, from single to married from novice to master all involve reorienting personal mindscapes. In many ways the apprentice model of learning and development shows how, with support, knowledge and skills can help develop confidence and capability over time. In the context of this discussion the key challenge is what are the most effective ways of changing and developing mindscapes or how best to convert theory into practice.
Our social imaginary at any given time is complex. It incorporates a sense of the normal expectations we have of each other, the kind of common understanding that enables us to carry out the collective practices that make up our social life [...] Such understanding is both factual and normative; that is, we have a sense of how things usually go, but this is interwoven with an idea of how they ought to go. [Taylor 2004,
24]
This takes us back to the key issue in translating theory into
practice - it is not enough just to act, action has to be morally consistent and translate aspiration into actuality. This has to be seen as a learning process, one of growth and development and engaging with the interaction of beliefs and practice. For Dewey (1933, 23) the pivotal component of this learning process is reflection which is an
Active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and further conclusions to which it leads [...] it includes a conscious and voluntary effort to establish belief upon a firm basis of evidence and rationality.
If it is accepted that leadership can be learnt - rather than inherited genetically - then a central concern become the identification of those strategies that are most likely to help individuals change their personal constructs. Moon (2004, 14) summarises the perspective that Habermas (1971) brings to the debate about the relationship between theory and practice. It is not enough to rely solely on evidence - what is required is:
[...] the development of knowledge via critical or evaluative modes of thought and enquiry so as to understand the self, the human condition and self in the human context. The acquisition of such knowledge is aimed at producing a transformation in the self, or in the personal, social or world situation or any combination of these.
For both Dewey and Habermas the emphasis is on developing modes of thought, central to which are the various manifestations of reflective practice. Their work influenced the central insights of Argyris and Schön (1974). The crucial relationship in any model of professional work is the development of the relationship between theory and practice and seeing that relationship as essentially iterative - i. e. each informs the other. It is the success of this mutual influencing that determines the integration of theory and practice. The following model shows the dynamic relationship between theory and practice and how in a learning environment there is a process of mutual influencing for which the key mediating influencing process is reflection.
This is very much the action learning process and the basis of most models of coaching and models that require learners to reconfigure their mental models of themselves and their practice (1974, 4):
Theory A informs practice A through reflection in practice
Reflection on practice leads to theory B that informs
revised practice B that enables reflection in practice
Reflection on practice leads to theory C that informs revised practice C
figure 1 How Theory and Practice Exercise Mutual Influence
All human beings - not only professional practitioners - need to become competent in taking action and simultaneously reflecting on this action to learn from it.
On the basis of this discussion so far it becomes possible to offer a series of propositions about the nature of the relationship between theory and practice:
1.	Theories, models and constructs are essentially personal mental models of the world (mind maps) that are often shared (the social imaginary.
2.	These theories may be very simple, when and what to eat, or very complex, particle physics. The important issue is that there is no behaviour or body of knowledge that does not have a relevant personal construct.
3.	Learning can be seen as the process of understanding personal theories and relating them to other theories and choosing on the basis of the most apt or appropriate.
4.	Converting an espoused theory into desired outcomes through action requires a commitment to action that is then mediated by review and reflection
5.	Theories are constantly modified and adapted to suit changing contexts or on the basis of feedback 'critical and evaluative modes of thought' - what works or does not work.
6.	The process of review, in Schon's model, can be understood as reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action.
7.	Translating theory into practice is an iterative process in which both change and develop.
Authentic action
Review and reflection
Theory
figure 2 Theory, Practice and Authenticity
Learning and Leadership Development
Although the following discussion focuses on leadership development the principles identified apply to all forms of professional learning in education.
If leadership development is about helping individuals to understand their personal constructs in terms of their mindscapes or mental maps then the key issue is what are the strategies that are most likely to help translate the theoretical model of effective leadership into actual, consistent, authentic practice.
Figure 2 shows that it is only in the balance of theory and practice that effective, appropriate and authentic action is possible. A high emphasis on practice leads to personal experience that might be valid but is often idiosyncratic and inconsistent and, crucially, may not reflect the most effective practice. Equally a high emphasis on theory leads to high levels of review and reflection but has no engagement with action. A low emphasis on theory and practice results in routinized working - what might be described as managerialism.
Effective professional development integrates theoretical principles and practical applications. Professional development by bullet point does not work because it leaves teachers without the knowledge of underlying principles that enables them to create the conditions in their own classrooms that are the key to improved student learning. However, theoretical content that is not linked to practical applications and rich illustration is also ineffective. [Robinson 2011, 112]
McGilchrist (2009) has explored how the two hemispheres in our brains influence how we perceive and engage with the world. In broad terms the left-brain is perceived as the logical rational dimension of our engagement with the world, the right brain
Personal experience
Routines
the social and emotional response to the world. This coincides with many definitions of the differences between different types of learning experience and reinforces the importance of balancing and reconciling the rational and the emotional (p. 174):
The world of the left hemisphere, dependent on denonative language and abstraction, yields clarity and power to manipulate things that are known, fixed static, isolated, decon-textualised, explicit, disembodied, general in nature but ultimately lifeless.
This is very much the world of 'doing things right.' The right hemisphere in a very different, it (p. 174):
[...] yields a world of individual, changing, evolving, interconnected, implicit, incarnate, living beings within the context of the lived world, but in the nature of things never fully graspable, always imperfectly known - and to this world it exists in a relationship of care.
These elements capture the reality of life in organisations - they are messy, full of contradictions, emotions and ambiguities. This is the world that leaders need to inhabit not an artificially neat, rational and controllable world. For Morrison (2002, 116)
It is no longer possible to rely on linear models of management. Linear models of management, which underpinned the simple linear causality of the command and control mentality of hierarchical, bureaucratic organizations, have to be replaced with networked, nonlinear, emergent, mutually informing groups.
What would happen if the left hemisphere became dominant in the world?
In fact more and more work would come to be overtaken by the meta-process of documenting or justifying what one was doing or supposed to be doing - at the expense of the real job in the re1al world. [McGilchrist 2009, 429]
In many ways effective leadership development is about enabling leaders to do the 'real job in the real world.' If this is to be achieved then leadership development has to focus on strategies that will help individuals to firstly understand their personal constructs, secondly to identify alternative approaches when appro-
Mentoring/coaching Action learning Facilitation
Teaching
Training
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figure 3 A Typology of Helping Strategies
Personal
priate and thirdly to embed these different approaches into their habituated practice.
Figure 3 offers a hypothetical model of the potential impact of different learning strategies in terms of engaging with personal constructs, enabling change and increasing the potential for improving practice and so performance. The central proposition is that people are more likely to change if the strategy is personal to them and the approach is non-directive i. e. negotiated and personalized.
Therefore generic training activities are least likely to bring about real change in the sense that they are, usually, directive and generic - i. e. focused on the 'right answers' that can be applied by everyone. While quality teaching and facilitation are significantly more likely to enable change it is action learning and coaching and mentoring that are most likely to make an impact in terms of reconciling theory and practice and leading to morally appropriate action.
Action learning has a wide range of meanings and applications - action research and action inquiry are common manifestations. The following definition of action inquiry provide a very clear definition of the scope of the approach (Torbert 2004, 1):
Action inquiry is a way of simultaneously conducting action and inquiry as a disciplined leadership practice that increases the wider effectiveness of our actions. Such action helps individuals; teams, organizations and still larger institutions become more capable of self-transformation and thus more creative, more aware, more just and more sustainable.
Action learning is a practice orientated problem-solving model that works through collaborative approaches. It is based on the principle of 'learning by doing.' It combines a focus on shared
problem solving, personal and group learning and is a powerful vehicle for improving performance, developing practice and supporting innovation. Because it works through genuine issues it perceived to be both relevant and developmental. It requires a systematic and disciplined approach and, most distinctively, the active intervention of a coach/adviser to provide support and insure the integrity of the learning process.
The key characteristics of the action learning approach are:
•	Working in real time on genuine problems or issues.
•	Observing, reflecting on and understanding the implications of behaviour, actions and strategies.
•	Analysis, drawing conclusions and planning the next stage of the process.
•	Designing the next appropriate strategy and implementing it.
•	Team based working-balanced teams of four to eight people.
•	Genuine and challenging problems.
•	Working through questioning and listening.
•	Creating time and space for reflection on task and process.
•	Supported by mentoring and coaching.
•	Shared commitment to action.
•	Celebration, consolidation and preparation for the next stage.
Mentoring and coaching are, perhaps, the most 'natural' of learning relationships. They are also, probably the most cost effective in terms of time and impact. In their various guises they appears throughout history and across cultures as the optimum means of enhancing individual learning. Most of us develop language as small children through an intensive one-to-one relationship; we learn to drive on the same basis. The greatest artists and musicians have usually had their innate ability developed in the same way. The concept of apprenticeship was central to most trades for centuries. My ability to produce this text and your ability to read it is largely a result of mentoring and/or coaching.
Mentoring and coaching have enormous potential to secure deep learning through the process of the internalisation of ideas and theories leading to understanding and so to appropriate action. There is also a clear link with individual performance and mentoring and coaching. Sports' coaching has become a highly sophisticated set of techniques that are as much concerned with self-image and personal efficacy as with the technical skills needed for success in a given event. There is an almost theological
dispute about the relationship between mentoring and coaching with fierce ideological stances being adopted.
This discussion follows classical usage in defining mentoring, the role of Mentor in the Odyssey in guiding Telemachus, Aristotle mentoring Alexander the Great etc. However it is important to recognise that mentoring and coaching are part of a helping relationship and the boundary between them may be blurred and often they will reflect the changing priorities in a helping relationship. For example a new headteacher may be offered broad support through mentoring but may need coaching through specific challenges e.g. a performance management issue.
According to Goleman (2002, 62):
Coaching's surprisingly positive emotional impact stems largely from the empathy and rapport a leader establishes with employees. A good coach communicates a belief in people's potentials and an expectation that they can do their best. The tacit message is, 'I believe in you, I'm investing in you, and I expect your best efforts.' As a result, people sense that the leader cares, so they feel motivated to uphold their own high standards for performance, and they feel accountable for how well they do.
Mentoring and coaching have the potential to enhance personal relationships that in turn enables a clearer focus on performance that is demonstrated very powerfully in the increasingly significant area of sports coaching (Grout and Perrin 2006, 150):
The athlete certainly needs technical coaching and it is primarily up to the coach to establish a productive relationship. However success depends on the initial relationship developing into that of a two-person high performing team. This means reaching the stage where that are able to challenge each other. When challenges are well expressed and well timed, they allow the relationships potential to emerge as together they find new ways of doing things that neither of them might haive discovered alone.
This model drawn from athletics has precise parallels in the field of education; it is all about 'finding new ways of doing things' through challenge and with shared understanding emerging. The impact of coaching/mentoring can be demonstrated by reference to the detailed analysis of Joyce and Showers (1983, 9):
•	5% of learners will transfer a new skill into their practice as a result of theory.
•	10% will transfer a new skill into their practice as a result of theory and demonstration.
•	20% will transfer a new skill into their practice as a result of theory, demonstration and practice.
•	25% will transfer a new skill into their practice as a result of theory, demonstration, practice and feedback.
•	90% will transfer a new skill into their practice as a result of theory, demonstration, practice, feedback and coaching.
Joyce and Showers show how the potential for transferring an abstract concept into actual practice is significantly enhanced by the extent to which the theory is mediated through a range of strategies that enhance the potential for personal understanding and successful application.
One of the most important insights in learning theory is Benjamin Bloom's (1984) discussion of solutions to what he calls 'the two sigma' problem. Bloom shows that students provided with individual tutors typically perform at a level about two standard deviations (two sigma) above where they would perform with standard group instruction. This means that a person who would score at the 50th percentile on a standardized test after regular group instruction would score at the 98th percentile if personalized tutoring replaced group instruction.
Joyce and Showers and Bloom all point to one central and fundamental theme - coaching and mentoring are about learning and, most importantly, they are about securing personal change to help translate theory into practice through changing behaviours. From the development of key management skills, e.g. managing a meeting to higher order leadership development e. g. creating a high performance culture the chances are that the one-to-one relationship is the best way to bring about deep and sustainable change.
In summary it seems that a number of propositions can be identified in developing a model of leadership development that integrates theory and practice and meets the criteria for ensuring appropriate, i. e. morally valid, action:
•	Leadership development needs to be work based and focused on the actual job.
•	Effective leadership practice needs to be analysed and under-
stood in the context of alternative theoretical and research based perspectives.
•	Learning needs to be seen as an iterative, cumulative, process in which the learner is able to develop a personal construct that is relevant to their situation and stage of development.
•	Personal engagement through coaching and mentoring in order to provide feedback and focused interventions.
•	Collaboration with peers and different contexts is fundamental to securing feedback developing reflexivity i.e. critical awareness of self and practice.
•	Opportunities to take risks and to practice key behaviours and skills.
•	Recognition of successful learning and reinforcement of personal change.
References
Argyris, C., and D. Schön. 1974. Theory in Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Aristotle. 2004. Nicomachean Ethics. London: Penguin.
Bennis, W., and J. Goldsmith. 1997. Learning to Lead. London: Brealey.
Bloom, B. 1984. 'The Two Sigma Problem: The Search for Methods of Group Instruction as Effective as One-to-One Tutoring.' Educational Researcher 13 (6): 4-16.
Bryk, A. S., P. B. Sebring, E. Allensworth, S. Luppescu, and J. Q. Easton. 2010. Organizing Schools for Improvement. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Carr, W., and S. Kemmis. 2006. Becoming Critical. Abingdon: Routledge.
Dewey, J. 1933. How we Think. Buffalo, ny: Prometheus Books.
Freire, P. 2001. Pedagogy of Freedom. Oxford: Bowman and Littlefield.
Giroux, H. 1997. Pedagogy and the Politics of Hope. Oxford: Westview.
Goleman, D. 2002. The New Leaders. London: Little and Brown.
Grout, J., and S. Perrin. 2006. Mind Games. Chichester: Capstone.
Habermas, J. 1971. Knowledge and Human Interests. London: Heinemann.
Heck, R. H., and P. Hallinger. 2005. 'The Study of Educational Leadership and Management: Where Does the Field Stand Today?' Educational Management, Administration and Leadership 33 (2): 229-244.
Joyce, B. R., and B. Showers. 1983. Power in Staff Development through Research on Training. Alexandria, va: ascd.
Kellerman, H. 2012. The End of Leadership. New York: Harper Collins.
Marx, K. 1845. 'Theses on Feuerbach.' https://www.marxists.org/ archive/marx/works/1845/theses/theses.htm
McGilchrist, I. 2009. The Master and his Emissary. London: Yale University Press.
Moon, J. A. 2004. Reflection in Learning and Professional Development.
London: RoutledgeFalmer. Morrison, K. 2002. School Leadership and Complexity Theory. London:
RoutledgeFalmer. Robinson, V. 2011. Student-Centred Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Senge, P., C. O. Scharmer, J. Jaworski, and B. S. Flowers. 2004. Presence.
Cambridge, ma: Society of Organizational Learning. Sergiovanni, T. J. 2005. Strengthening the Heartbeat: Leading and
Learning Together in Schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Taylor, C. 2004. Modern Social Imaginaries. London: Duke University Press.
Taylor, C. 2007. A Secular Age. Cambridge, ma, and London: Belknap Harvard.
Torbert, B. 2004. Action Inquiry. San Francisco: Berett-Koehler.
i-fl	How Do Local Authorities Prepare
^	Their Headteachers in Taiwan?
0	An Exploration Using Foucault's
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^	Hung-Chang Chen
University of London, United Kingdom
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Mu-Jin Chen
National Chengchi University, Taiwan
This study examined the emerging workplace training approach for Qfi school leadership preparation in Taiwan, namely aspiring
headteachers' administrative placement in education departments (ap), through the lens of Foucault's notion of disciplinary power, using case-study methodology with semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Findings indicate that aspiring headteachers in the ap programme were not only developed as effective school leaders but were also disciplined. The prevailing ap programme across local governments represents a new disciplinary technology used by local governments to make school leaders not only ^ productive and efficient but also obedient and docile. This paper
therefore contributes an alternative theoretical perspective to school leadership preparation.
Keywords: school leadership preparation, administrative placement, Foucault, disciplinary power, Taiwan
Introduction
Interest in school headship preparation and development has long been a global trend (Huber 2004b; 2008; Bush 2009; 2012; Eacott 2011). It is also increasingly recognised that leadership is a specialist occupation that requires specific preparation (Bush 2012). Many countries across the world place headship preparation as a high priority on their policy agendas (Bush and Jackson 2002; Huber 2004a), Taiwan is no exception (Chen 2009; Chen and Chen 2006). While there is a growing interest driving headship preparation and development due to global forces, local traditions ensure that these processes play out differently in each national context (Brundrett and Crawford 2008; Crow, Lumby, and Pashiardis 2008; Müller and Schratz 2008; oecd 2008). This is indeed the case in Taiwan. Recently, the Taiwanese local governments responsible
leadership in education Special Issue | 2014 | 37-56
for headship preparation created a training approach known as aspiring headteachers' administrative placement in education departments (a?). Unlike the school placement in other countries where aspiring headteachers [aspiring heads] are placed in school settings (Huber 2004a), a? headteachers [a? heads] in Taiwan are placed into local Department of Education for one-year a? training in order to enhance their policy sensitivity and administrative capacities through workplace experiential learning.
To date, there is very limited literature that has attempted to apply Foucault's ideas to an analysis of school leadership preparation and training, particularly in the context of Taiwan. We note this limited focus on disciplinary process and subjectivity formation of aspiring heads relative to other research and also the limited work that presents the views and experiences of aspiring heads themselves. It is this gap that we aim to contribute to filling. Our analysis applies Foucault's notion of disciplinary power in theorising the workplace training process of participating in a? leadership preparation training. Anderson and Grinberg (1998) have argued that Foucault's concepts are powerful tools for helping to understand the dangerous characteristics of educational administration which can result in more effective technologies of control. Niesche (2010; 2011) also presents very convincing evidence that headteachers' subjective views are normalised through the disciplinary power of grants and submission writing. Acknowledging disciplinary power as a technology of control, this paper seeks to uncover the power relations within the preparation of school leaders and the way in which these relations are exercised. We argue that the prevailing a? programmes across local government represent a new disciplinary technology used by local authorities to make aspiring headteachers not only productive and efficient but also obedient and docile.
The paper begins by introducing the context of school headship preparation in Taiwan. The next section briefly reviews the concepts of workplace learning for school headteachers. Following this we will then present the theoretical concepts of Foucault's disciplinary power. The remaining sections offer an analysis of the data from three selected cases woven together with Foucault's notions of disciplinary power.
School Headship Preparation in the Taiwanese Context
Since the mid-1980s, education reform in Taiwan has pushed very strongly toward democratising education, mainly through
devolving decision-making authority to the local and school levels (Walker, Chen, and Qian 2008, 415). As a result, school-based management or decentralised power has become a predominant feature of current reforms in Taiwan. The democratising education reform movement led to two main changes related to the practice of headship: firstly, the policy and practices of school headship preparation have been decentralised, becoming local district-level affairs (Chan 2009). Secondly, the method of headteacher designation has been transformed from being 'appointed' by the government to being 'selected' by a participatory headship selection committee at the district-level (Hsiao, Lee, and Tu 2012; Lin 2003). Meanwhile, the roles of school headteach-ers have expanded to accommodate new demands for developing staff and increasing schools' capacity for change (Pan and Chen 2011). As Chen (2004) claims, the role of headteachers has become complex and paradoxical as they are charged with responsibility for curriculum, personnel and budget, but are also expected to share decision-making power with parents, teachers and other community members. The current approach also calls for the professional preparation of school leaders and their continuous professional development.
The Reform of School Headship Preparation
Since 1965 school headship preparation in Taiwan has been mandatory by law and was conducted mainly by the central government. After the decentralisation movement in the 1990s, it has been implemented at the district level within a centralised regulatory system (Walker, Chen, and Qian 2008). Local government takes charge of the headship examination, headship pre-service training, headteachers' induction and professional development in order to meet their local needs (Chen and Chen 2006). The process of headship preparation consists of three steps: first, in order to be considered for the pre-service headship training courses required in order to be to able to apply for a headship, leaders must qualify to sit and pass the headship examination. The examination is set by the local Department of Education within central guidelines, and includes written and oral components. Second, aspiring headteachers who successfully pass the examination are required to attend official government-subsidised pre-service training. This eight-week official training aimed specifically at headship preparation is similar across all local government Third, if candidates successfully complete this course they will be certi-
fied as qualified reserve headteachers who may be considered by a headship selection committee held by local government when positions become available.
The Transformation of Headteacher Selection
In the past, after headteachers took up their position, the full responsibility of the headteacher appointments and transfers belonged with the local Department of Education. Headteachers could keep the position as long as they wished, barring serious mistakes and failure to observe procedures (Lin 2003). In !999, the 1999 Education Fundamental Act radically changed the headteacher selection and tenure mechanisms. Since then, headteachers have been selected and contracted for four year terms by district-level committees composed of administrators, parents, teachers, headteachers and other educational experts (Walker, Chen, and Qian 2008, 414). The headship is no longer 'life-long tenure' for every headteacher (Lin 2003, 192), but instead, depends on their performance, as judged by the selection committee. This introduces a competitive component into the headship role definition and at the same time places more pressure on the headteachers' shoulders.
The Emerging Administrative Placement (AP)
In addition to the above reforms, recently more and more Taiwanese local governments have introduced the 'administrative placement in the education department (a?)' as a core feature to the headship preparation programme. After pre-service training, qualified reserve heads are then placed into local education departments, rather than school settings, to undertake administrative work for between six months to one year, depending on the districts' requirement. After the a? has concluded, a? heads are eligible to apply for certain headship positions. According to the documents in this study, almost every local government has introduced the a?, and since 2007 more than half of the local governments have made the a? compulsory. As one official document explains, 'the aspiring headteachers have to attend the a? in the Department of Education for at least one academic year in order to understand policy and policy-making and prepare their administrative abilities' (New Taipei City Government 2011). These a? programmes are created as a training approach for aspiring
headteachers to strengthen their readiness for headship, and to meet local needs.
Workplace Training for School Leadership Development
There is a global trend of more and more leadership programmes abandoning the workshop model and turning to the authentic workplace, using the school as a clinical faculty (Huber 2004a). School internship, or placement, is viewed as a critical and effective method in the literature of school leadership development (Earley 2009). Internships at one school or various schools are organised within leadership preparation programmes and provide an opportunity for aspiring heads to shadow experienced headteachers (Huber 2004a) or to play the role of headteacher. Crow (2006) argues that internships may improve aspiring headteachers' professional socialisation in post-industrial society. Huber (2004a, 64) claims that school-based internships may be viewed as 'the authentic workplace' to assure 'adequate complexity and authenticity leading to the learning process required' and may also be considered as 'an integrating factor' which make it possible to achieve a more 'holistic learning process.' The redesigned npqh (National Professional Qualification) for Headship programme in England also includes a school placement in another school context, for a minimum of nine days (see ht-tps://www.gov.uk/national
-professional-qualification-for-headship-npqh). An evaluation study on the npqh by Crawford and Earley (2011) reveals that the trainee heads receive benefits from the school placement which inform their future work as a headteacher. These benefits include establishing communication skills, personal development, community engagement and developing leadership strategies. These school-based activities are designed to enable participants to develop their leadership qualities and skills in the 'real' contexts of their own schools (Simkins, Close, and Smith 2009, 392) so as to reduce the possibility of reality shock (Clayton 2012).
From the above literature review, the internship or placement very often highlights the relevance of workplace learning to the real headship. Thus, to gain the 'authentic experiential learning;' aspiring heads are placed in school settings during a period of time shadowing successful heads. As Huber (2004a, 64) points out, schools are used as the 'authentic workplace,' a 'clinical faculty' for headship preparation. However, recently the trainee heads of
the ap in Taiwan are not placed in school settings; instead, they are assigned to bureaucratic departments, the local Department of Education, a setting which does not represent their future workplaces. Therefore, the main focus of this paper is on the ap heads' practices during their ap in government departments, with the aim of examining whether the ap training represents 'authentic headship learning.'
A Foucauldian Toolbox: Disciplinary Power
In this paper we draw upon Foucault's notions of disciplinary power to understand what occurs and is being exercised in the ap process. Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (1977) contains his most famous and elaborate exposition on disciplinary power (Hoffman 2011). Discipline, Foucault says, is a 'technology' aimed at (O'Farrell 2005):
[...] how to keep someone under surveillance. How to control his conduct, his behaviour, his aptitudes, how to improve his performance, multiply his capacities, how to put him where he is most useful: that is discipline in my sense.
The target of individual bodies is always the main concern of disciplinary power. Disciplinary power strives to make the body 'more obedient as it becomes more useful, and conversely' (Foucault 1977, 138). As Gillies (2013, 52) argues, the net effect of discipline is to maximise the productivity and potential of the learner, while at the same time, through a highly structured regime, to increase obedience and minimise deviation. In this paper, the learner (i. e. the 'body') would be the aspiring heads in the ap.
Foucault uses disciplinary power to refer to a range of techniques aimed at controlling behaviour, surveillance and improving performance (O'Farrell 2005). Such techniques include Bent-ham's Panopticon; distributing individuals, controlling activities and organising geneses; hierarchical observation, judgment and the examination (Foucault 1977). This paper draws specifically on the notions of hierarchical observation, normalisation and examination. Foucault uses the term hierarchical observation to refer to 'a dense network of multi-directional gazes' (Hoffman 2011, 31) on highly visible individuals that causes disciplinary power to appear simultaneously ubiquitous and inconspicuous. As Foucault writes, hierarchical observation is used 'to act on those it shelters, to provide a hold on their conduct, to carry the effects of power
right to them, to make it possible to know them, to alter them' (1977, 172).
Foucault terms normalising judgement 'a small penal mechanism' that functions at the heart of all disciplinary systems (1977, 177). Normalisation is a particular form of judgement that differentiates individuals through a range of practices, rituals and regimes of truth (Niesche 2010). It aims at conformity (Foucault 1977, 183):
[...] the perpetual penalty that traverses all points and supervises every instance in the disciplinary institution compares, differentiates, hierarchies, homogenises, excludes. In short, it normalises.
Its function is to reduce gaps, and so is essentially collective (1977, 179). The examination that is able to combine the techniques of an observing hierarchy and those of normalising judgement is a particularly effective technique (O'Farrell 2005). Foucault (1977, 184-185) regards the examination as:
[. . .] a normalising gaze, a surveillance that makes it possible to qualify, to classify, and to punish. It establishes over individuals a visibility through which one differentiates them and judges them [...] the examination is highly ritualised. In it are combined the ceremony of power and the form of the experiment, the deployment of force and the establishment of truth. At the heart of the procedures of discipline, it manifests the subjection of those who are perceived as objects and the objectification of those who are subjected.
Through the examination each 'case' is individualised so as to uncover specific abilities and features while at the same time it allows for a comparative mechanism to be established through documentation. This written data and documentation can be established with the resultant knowledge being used to tighten control over both populations and individuals (O'Farrell 2005, 105). Foucault emphasises that this 'power of writing' (1977, 189) forms an essential part of the mechanisms of discipline.
Methodology
This paper draws upon data collected from a comparative case study of three local governments with their school headteachers and educational officials in Taiwan. Three local governments with
varying ap approaches were selected as research cases. One of the cases has the optional ap approach and the other two cases have a compulsory ap design that requires that every qualified reserve head has to complete the ap before becoming a headteacher. Using Yin's (2009) notion of case study, the aim was to examine the ways that the ap headteachers practice their ap in three local education departments. In particular, the focus was on the power relations exercised at the level of the ap heads' day-to-day practices and the resultant relationships between ap headteachers and local governments.
Data collection occurred through intensive, semi-structured interviews and analysis of relevant documents. In order to acquire an extensive understanding, three groups of participants in three cases were selected who met a range of selection criteria. This includes headteachers with varying ap training experiences and from different geographical locations; education officials who have worked with ap heads; and school inspectors who have interacted with headteachers with varying ap training experiences. The participants comprised 22 headteachers, 4 division chiefs and 3 school inspectors in three local governments.
The focus of the questions was on the ap heads' experiences and practices during the ap and the subsequent effects on their school leadership and management. Data were analysed through the lens of Foucault's notion of disciplinary power (1977) with the aim of exploring the ways that the discourses and power relations are exercised in the process of the ap.
Controversies with the AP
The ap literally means an experiential training approach that benefits aspiring heads in experiencing day-to-day operations in authentic settings. Following this, the ap could be one of the elements within headship preparation. The research found that there is a contradiction between the officials' and ap heads' perceptions about the ap. As the division chief explained, the ap is viewed as a part of headship training. However, in this study most of the ap headteachers stated that the purpose of the ap is for solving the understaffed problem of the department, rather than preparing the aspiring heads:
In my view, I think the ap is one part of the headteacher preparation. So, the aspiring headteacher has to fulfill their obligation to do the ap. [Division Chief C2-1]
Several heads revealed that they were aware of their role as equal to case officers and civil servants. This might be because they were deployed and 'used' as civil servants by the education department, rather than deployed as 'trainee heads' in schools. They were mainly in charge of specific educational projects and also administrative routines within local education departments. Most of them had to deal with official documents, accounting and mechanical bureaucracy, and worked as if civil servants in the local government department. The data showed that some of the ap headteachers were aware of the ap's distance from the authentic practice of school-centred headship. As one head noted:
As you ask about what is my opinion of the ap approach, my answer of course is very positive to it. But, we also nurse a grievance for some of its details. For example, we are like the case officers or the civil servants because we have to cope with and be responsible for the official documents and paper work. We have to do all of these [...] [Headteacher C44-17]
Developing the Headteachers
Nevertheless, all participants viewed the ap as a necessary and valuable process for aspiring heads benefiting their subsequent school leadership and administration. It was positively recognised by officials, inspectors and headteachers. Several headteachers reported that they learned a lot from the workplace administrative training and saw it as headship preparation or induction in a positive way, although they also felt their duties in that period of time to be painstaking. They viewed the ap as a unique opportunity to develop their own administrative capacity and broaden their horizons for their future headship career. Several headteachers in the study felt a gratitude for having the experience of the ap.
I think that there are more advantages than disadvantages in terms of the ap. Although you were very tired during that period of time, you could benefit a lot by the ap when you become the school headteacher. So, it's worth it. [Headteacher C41-20, 28]
The data indicated that the ap heads were able to provide examples of benefits to them from the ap experiences. The range of benefits for ap heads identified in the study included: administrative and leadership capacity building; resource accessing; bet-
ter policy implementation; wider networks; various experiences of school cases.
Improving Administrative and Leadership Capacities
During the a? training, a? heads mainly had to take charge of the administrative paperwork, sharing that duty with full-time civil servants, while also taking responsibility for some professional education projects. The majority of a? heads were required to deal with official documents, accounting and routines; in other words, the typical mechanistic bureaucracy. Through taking charge of high-stakes work for one year as a sort of preparatory training, the majority of headteachers reported that their administrative capacities improved in the aspects of efficiency, effectiveness and coordination, and they also had better understandings about how to cooperate with the education department. Moreover, the data showed that the a? heads also had the opportunity to team up with experienced headteachers to run educational initiatives during the a?. The collaboration with and then the learning from experienced headteachers were also highlighted as important in developing a? heads' leadership capacities. The a? heads could learn how to interact with the department from those headteach-ers:
I also learned a lot from [...] I had collaborated with some experienced headteachers for running the educational activities during the a?. I saw how they lead and manage their schools. And I think, from the collaboration, you can see the abilities of a headteacher and then you will try to prepare yourself more. [Headteacher T42-36]
During the a?, the a? heads had time to 'shadow' experienced heads (Huber 2004b), and learned from the school heads. It is undeniable that the a? could provide a stronger learning opportunity, as professional socialisation (Crow 2006), for aspiring heads to develop the context-specific knowledge and skills, notwithstanding the fact that the context is an education authority.
Understanding the Department and Accessing Resources
Headteachers reported that they could have better understandings of the operation of the education department as a whole, such as administrative procedures and educational affairs and projects in department divisions. They could also get familiar with the department superiors and thereby expand their networks. It was
evident that through these stronger networks and their better understandings of the education department, school headteachers had the advantage of accessing resources, applying projects, receiving funding and information. They reported that they had better ideas about how to apply for funding and projects and who can help them to solve problems. Going beyond schools and understanding the department organisation, to some extent, contributes to headteacher's 'learning capacity' and strengthens their 'organisational socialisation' as well (Crow 2006, 318). To this point, the functioning of socialisation of the ap rightly accord with what Crow termed 'expanded notion of organisational socialisation' (2006, 318):
Broadening the notion of organisational socialisation to include not only a particular school, but also social, mental, and health agencies; community religious and governmental entities; and other schools with similar and different demographics, can strengthen the learning of beginning principals.
Understanding and Implementing Policies
Headteachers also noted that they had better understandings of the gist of a policy and the process of policy-making by situating themselves in the policy-making authority. The evidence showed that ap heads' participation in the policy formulation and their better understandings of administrative operations in the education department would subsequently not only reduce their resistance of policy implementation but also more clearly 'deliberate the policy to school colleagues' (Headteacher T45-9). This would enable them to deliver or to transform the policies at the school level, as the following comments reveal:
After the ap, as a headteacher in school, I can understand the main points of policies from the department more precisely. Once I catch the points, I am more likely to transform the policies into feasible strategies and steps. [Headteacher T41-34]
Widening Networks
The research also found that ap heads would have unique opportunities to interact with various public officials, to attend district and national-level meetings and to contact with city councilors and the media during the ap. Headteachers reported that
this could broaden their horizons, expose them to the wider networks and thereby enrich their social capitals which would benefit their subsequent school management. The general aspiring heads would not have this kind of widening experience if they did not go through the ap. As several participants reported, they had the opportunity to attend national-level meetings of the Ministry of Education on behalf of their local education department.
Although I was overworked, I found that I had wider horizon and vision through the interaction with the Ministry of Education. So, I think I have the better understanding of the education as a whole. So, I never regret going through the ap and I recognise it [...] [Headteacher C44-28]
Various Experiences of School Cases
In general, school middle leaders only experienced a few different schools in their teaching and leading careers in Taiwan. Many of them stayed in the same school for their whole school career. However, the majority of headteachers in the study reported that they could see plenty of school cases, which included positive and negative examples during the ap, and thereby that experience widened their knowledge base of school leadership and management. As one headteacher notes:
The more schools you contacted with, the more you learnt from that. You could transform more cases into your personal experiences. In my view, that is quite beneficial to headship. [...] If headteachers have more experiences to support their decision-making, the decisions will be more robust. For me, it was a great harvest that there were more contacts with other schools during the year in the education department. [Headteacher T41-6]
Similarly, school-based placement in various schools could benefit the aspiring heads in a similar way (Huber 2004a) so as to reduce the reality shock (Clayton 2012). For the case in this study, ap heads got the opportunity to shadow officials or inspectors getting into schools to deal with school problems, and thereby they learnt how to avoid negative events by closely and practically observing schools. They viewed this experience as a great benefit to their subsequent school headship.
Disciplining the Headteachers
Besides the efficient preparatory function of the ap, the research also found that the ap heads were under surveillance at all times, assessed and examined by the rules, standards and norms of the department and superiors through the daily practices in the ap. Therefore, their performances were improved and at the same time they seemed to be more obedient and adherent to the department. As Foucault (1977, 138) aptly says, disciplinary power strives to make the body 'more obedient as it becomes more useful, and conversely.'
Enclosure Space, Observation and Panoptic Effect
Headteachers reported that they were aware that the open-plan office in the education department made them visible which was different from their offices in school. The data showed that the highly visible ap heads that worked in the open-plan office were 'closely observed' and 'examined' at all times by various department officials (Headteacher T62-18). The open-plan office forced the ap heads to expose themselves to the officials' observation in that 'enclosure of space,' as headteachers note:
But the office environment of our department, it is a big open-plan. The big office is divided into several compartments for divisions. Divisions are allocated into the units without panels. Yes, every division is inside the open plan [...] Furthermore, when we talk in that office, I never get any privacy. When the superior blamed someone, everyone could hear that and see that. Then we felt, [...] we don't get the privacy there, and everyone could see what you were doing there. [Headteacher C43-5, 6]
In fact, your every behaviour was seen there as if you were naked. Everyone there would see what you were doing and how you were acting. You were almost examined. [Headtea-cher C42-78]
It was particularly the cases where the headteacher selection was more competitive in certain districts, such as the Case A and B, where the headteachers were more aware of the strong surveillance from the officials who might influence the result of headship selection. Therefore, a connection between ap heads' performance and their headteacher selection was strengthened. In order to be successful in the headteacher selection, ap heads have
to maintain their best performance in order to win the final headship selection. On the one hand, they sought to perform well and expose themselves to the officials' observation; on the other hand, they had to behave with exceptional caution because they were always on view, although they were not sure who exactly was observing them.
Here, an unfolding visibility of a? heads' abilities, dispositions and skills was established through the a? daily practices in front of the official, the observer. Foucault uses Jeremy Bentham's architectural design for a prison, the Panopticon, as an 'ideal type' of a totally disciplinary society. The design of the Panopticon makes it possible for the observer to 'see constantly and to recognise immediately' (Foucault 1977, 200). Conversely, the observed are routinely viewed and adjust their actions, as Gillies (2013, 62) notes, 'the "gaze" causes the prisoners to comply.' Headteachers reported 'they did their a? cautiously and carefully' and were 'more afraid to make mistakes' as they were surrounded and 'gazed' at by governmental officials. This was illustrated as follows:
Because everyone in the education department is our superior, I was always cautious and conscientious while working there. I was nervous and afraid of making mistakes. [Headteacher, T42-32]
It is this panoptic effect, as they revealed, that they had to learn how to do things right; how to behave right, and meanwhile they had to present themselves at their best to make a good impression on officials - in other words, they 'self-discipline' themselves. This normalizing observation combined with 'the small penal mechanism' in headteacher selection causes the a? heads to behave as if under constant inspection, which marks what Foucault (1977) terms 'self-discipline.'
Normalising Judgment
The research found that the a? heads in the open-plan office were not only observed but also judged by the officials in relation to the range of personality and performance that a potential leader is expected to have. The officials in the study all had their criteria as to 'good and bad headships' that were embedded in the bureau-cratically administrative organisation where both obedience and productiveness were stressed at the same time. The data also in-
dicated that a discourse of 'headteachers as policy implementers' seemed to be taken-for-granted by both heads and officials. The ap heads' practices of behaviour were required unconsciously to conform to the 'norms,' in terms of rules, regulations and expectation (Gillies 2013) and that discourse which seek to normalize the individual. By prioritising the good and bad subjects in relation to one another, the department ranked the ap heads by their performance that was mainly judged by their abilities of 'execution' and 'implementation' of assigned tasks. As a division chief expressed:
What is a good headteacher? I think it is easy to see, to observe in the office. For instance, if I have something urgent that needs to be completed today. I see at a glance that one is a good head whom I dare to ask for help. Why? [...] Because that one has good execution and understands my administrative language. [Division chief t22-42]
As Foucault (1977, 179) noted, 'the function of disciplinary punishment is to reduce gaps, and so is essentially corrective.' In the study, the function of the ap training could shorten the gap between what heads do and what the department expects. The norms and rules in the department penetrate and normalise the ap heads' behaviour. As a result, the ap heads seem to become more 'coordinated, efficient and productive.' A school inspector in the study summed this up:
It is because they have gone through the ap, so they know how the department operates and what we expect, such as the precision and the speed. [School inspector c3-26]
Under the normalising judgment, headteachers are disciplined to become aligned with what is expected of them; what does not conform to the expectation or the rule is excluded, rejected and punished. As Gillies (2013, 59) noted, 'the adherence to norms, in terms of rules, regulations and expectations is rewarded and any breaches face sanctions.' The research found that while the department supported the 'good' ap heads in the headteacher selection committee to larger schools as a sort of reward, the department may not endorse the 'bad' ones, or simply appoint them to remote and smaller schools as a sort of punishment (142-42). This was evidenced in cases a and b.
I knew that Julia's (pseudonym, ap head) performance did not satisfy the superiors. They didn't like her performance.
The unsatisfactory impression she made impacted her final headteacher selection. [Headteacher T42-32]
If the ap heads were not good enough and not endurable, then she/he may not get full respect. If the selection is not competitive, fortunately, they will be appointed to headship in a small and remote school. [Headteacher N46]
The Examination
We have already discussed how ap heads are subjects in their own ways to hierarchical observation and normalising judgment. In addition, they are subject to examination in a variety of ways. As Foucault warns, 'we are entering the age of the infinite examination' (1977, 189), and he refers to a meticulous archive so that
'the examination that places individuals in a field of surveillance also situates them in a network of writing; it engages them in a whole mass of documents that capture and fix them.'
Thus, the 'power of writing' establishes a discipline instrument. And the examination, as Foucault (1977, 191) notes, makes each ap head a 'case' which can be 'described, judged, measured, compared with others, in his very individuality; and it is also the individual who has to be trained or corrected, classified, normalised, excluded, etc.'
The evidence underlines the fact that the documentation the ap heads were required to undertake was used to judge them in their daily ap practices. This documentation that included a considerable number of official documents and educational projects, was drafted initially by ap heads, and examined by superiors. Very often, ap heads were required to redraft for several times until superiors were satisfied with the document. The data revealed that the majority of ap heads had to take charge of official documents and many of them spent considerable amounts of time on document production. They also revealed that it was through the examination of their writing of official documents that their efforts, abilities and potentials were judged, compared, and also corrected by superiors. For example:
Actually the vice-commissioner must have seen my efforts on the daily official documents, news releases and the reply to the councilor's interpellations. You have to prepare those documents carefully. But the officials in the department will
see your efforts, your abilities and your strength through this. So, that would definitely influence your selection. [Headtea-cher C44-15]
We have to remember that documentation is just one of the various forms of the examination that a? heads were subject to. In order to demonstrate their qualifications for a headship, they would have to be subject to the 'gaze' across a range of their emotions, attitudes, abilities and personality: they are continuously being examined, judged, and then rewarded and punished. The asymmetric power relations between a? heads and officials and the resultant judgments that occur in the a? head selection process could, as a consequence, promote a dangerously conformist culture in education.
Docile Bodies
The data has shown that the real-world practical a? training informs a? heads' administrative and leadership capacities, policy understandings, leadership knowledge bases, and widening networks, particularly resource accessibility. The a? heads experienced the ways in which the local education authorities assist and monitor schools. All of these were reported to reduce the 'reality shock' (Clayton 2012) for the aspiring heads and could benefit their own professional socialisation (Crow 2006). In other words, the placement improves the a? heads' productivity, efficiency, capacity and coordination. In Foucault's words, it increases the forces of the body (i.e., the a? head). On the other hand, however, the research also found that a? heads were observed, judged, examined and rewarded and punished at the same time and thereby they became more obedient, close to, and coordinated to the authorities. a? heads become more likely to be aligned with what is expected of them. This accords with what Foucault terms 'docile body,' 'a body is docile that may be subjected, used, transformed and improved' (Foucault 1977, 136). He (1977, 138) goes further to say:
Discipline increases the forces of the body (in economic terms of utility) and diminishes these same forces of the body (in political terms of obedience).
Using Gillies's (2013, 52) explanation, the net of this disciplinary power through the practices of the a? is to maximize the productivity and potential of the a? heads, while at the same time
through this highly structured regime to increase obedience and minimise deviation.
Conclusion
This paper provides an alternative theoretical perspective in order to better understand how the ap heads are developed and disciplined by local governments through the newly emerging Administrative Placement in the education department (ap). The specific focus relates to how the ap approach maximises the ap heads' administrative and leadership capacities, and at the same time increases their obedience and minimises deviation. Although the forms of the ap have slight difference among selected local governments, the ap heads' practices all inform the analysis of power relations within the ap design. The paper has shown how the ap heads in three cases are subjected to as what Foucault terms 'docile bodies' - they are developed and disciplined at the same time. Consequently, the ap, deep-rooted in the local contexts, cannot be simply regarded as an experiential learning approach (Ear-ley 2009) or a socialisation process (Crow 2006) for preparing effective school leaders. The distinction of the ap also represents a new disciplinary technique used by local governments to make school leaders not only productive and efficient but also docile and obedient. The paper also shows the relevance and importance of Foucault's work for education leadership preparation to unpack how power relations are exercised and how school leaders are disciplined to be docile. The field of school leadership preparation should be a space, as Anderson and Grinberg (1998, 347) argue, where 'problematisation, rather than normalization, can take place.'
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i-fl On the Relationship Between Caring ^ and Coaching Leadership
-a
cd J
o 0
Lea Kuusilehto-Awale
University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
Seppo Pulkkinen
University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
This first attempt to map the territory between caring and coaching leadership posits that they share a common basis. A human-centred leadership philosophy of the educational leader and the sports coach is vital to the relationship between the educator/educatee and the ^ coach/coachee, and leads to a socio-constructivist and experiential concept of knowledge and learning, where leading learning consciously takes place through interaction and sharing. Caring and coaching leadership are realized in a relational interaction based on ' ^H mutual consent and trust which generate self-confidence, respect
and commitment, a circumstance for learning and working devoid of intimidation, humiliation and oppression.
Keywords: caring leadership, coaching leadership, human-centred leadership philosophy, relationality
&
Introduction
Working and recreational life as well as leadership approaches align to the transformation of society. New visions and strategies are being built and implemented by new and younger recruits, but also by experienced experts reflecting the new dimensions against the past. Transformation and development require a combination of both resources (Kaski 2006, 25-26). This paper emerged from theoretical dialogue between two experienced educators, one of whom also with a long career in sports coaching, the other with a long career of engaging in leaving no learner behind through an administrative and leadership commitment for which the definitions are found in the field of ethical, especially caring, leadership.
In Finland the terms coaching or a coaching leadership approach originating from the sports world has gained fairly common ground in leadership discourse. Both are used to denote management and leadership through people. In the world of sports the older managerial coaching of giving orders and the current more humanistic and participating approach both have their supporters.
leadership in education Special Issue | 2014 | 57-70
Coaching leadership requires from leaders the ability to engage in human encounters and understanding of the whole personality of the other, communication skills and ethically acceptable and sustainable actions. However, the concept of ethical leadership is vaguely voiced in the Finnish management and leadership discourse of any field, and that of caring leadership is unknown. This is not to say that they would not be exercised, but that they are not voiced in the discourse. Ethical leadership and caring leadership are realized with the human being in focus, via and with them for the benefit of not only the human being but also our entire habitat. In this regard they are very holistic concepts and commitments to action.
In the following chapters we will introduce the core contents of both coaching and caring leadership and their relationship so far detected by us in our comparative discussions and in analysing our practical work in sports coaching and in leading educational organizations, of which we have rich auto-ethnographic data.
On Coaching
Knowing Yourself and Self-Confidence
Leaders are guided by their values and their concept of the human being, on the basis of which they form their own concept about the objectives and methods of their work. In coaching leadership for example taking other people into consideration and respecting them, healthy values and tolerance are of essential importance. Coaching leadership is based on the interaction between the leader and the employee, which forces the leader to observe his/her own concept of the human being (Heikkila 2009, 96; Nik-ander 2007, 13) The concept of the human being combines the moral and ethical values that guide the leader in action either consciously or unconsciously. It brings into light the multidimension-ality of the human existence and answers the question about what the human being is.
Self-confidence, experiencing certainty and confidence and believing in one's capacities is important to a leader. It is healthy pride that guides both the leader's and the employee's action in almost all their tasks. On the other hand, the task of every leader is to continuously engage in healthy self-criticism as well as reflection and renewal of his/her own chosen methods. A good support facility is to work not only with a leadership team but also with a network of peers, with whom one can openly discuss also the
tricky issues (Salmi, Rovio and Lintunen 2009; Kaski and Kiander 2007, 187; Edwards 2005, 17-21).
The most important person to be led in a leader's work is the leader him-/herself. To be able to lead others, one must first know oneself. In the coaching leadership approach leadership is based on the leader's own leadership philosophy, where the leader defines his/her own values and world-view. A leadership philosophy assists the leader in his/her daily work by guiding the action, by directing how to set the objectives and by defining the work culture of the work community. The leader must be conscious of his/her own knowledge and skills as well as his/her areas of lesser quality and therefore in need of support from others, in order to be successful. The development of leadership skills is equivalent to the growth of one's own self-knowledge (Pulkkinen, Korsman and Mustonen 2013, 35-36; Loko 2007, 162).
Trust
In addition to self-confidence, leadership must be based on trust between the various parties in action. Trust should be shown to the employees and the leader, and also other parties in the organization. The leader is the flagship of the work community, whose leadership style and way to lead have a big effect on the work and on generating an atmosphere of trust (Salmi, Rovio and Lintunen 2009, 113; Nikander 2007, 101; Hershey and Blanchard 1988, 8788).
Trust shown to the leader can be discussed from two perspectives: from trust inside one's own community and trust in external parties of the work community. Creating an atmosphere of trust in one's own community is a precondition to quality work in the work community as well as in any entity surrounding it. To generate trust inside one's own community four factors need to be in place: 1. the role of the leader in building trust, 2. trust in others, 3. openness, and 4. giving responsibility (Pulkkinen, Korsman and Mustonen 2013, 35).
Seeing the Big Picture
A cornerstone of a good leader has proved to be the ability to see the so-called big picture. A leader is expected to be conscious of the wide range of factors affecting work, and to possess the means of being the master of these factors. Being insufficiently aware of the big picture may cause illogical outcomes and decisions made
at a moment's whim (Drucker 2006, 1, 37; Fullan 2005, 90-92). Often too quick a reaction to one single factor or a possible error may lead into an even bigger damage and to changing an entire entity (Heino 2000, 149-150). Awareness of the big picture provides the leader with understanding conducive to problem solving. Understanding the meaning of the big picture is supported not only by one's own self-confidence, but also by one's belief in the goal. (Maxwell 2002, 52-57, 103; Puhakainen and Suhonen 1999, 70-71; Singer 1984, 79).
Team Building
Each leader should aim at having the chance to choose their team. The most important condition for team building is the golden motto that has spread widely from the American coaching tradition into the world of leadership, Surround Yourself with Good People (Edwards 2005, 118; Miettinen 1992, 183). The leader shall select into the team people he/she can cope with well, who like him and share the same world of values (Edwards 2005, 18). Good people can in this context be interpreted to be masters of their own sectors. The most essential message, however, is connected with the collaboration of the team. To be successful the members must have perfect trust in each other and the possibility to be themselves and to disagree with the team members without fearing that the team might dissolve due to diverse views. A team must be capable to operate, respect their team members and allow living space to each member (Pulkkinen 2011, 62; Adair 2009, 91-102).
Teamwork also involves taking joint responsibility for the given tasks and also for achieving success, led by the person in charge (Heino 2000, 16). A good attitude and the will to work together are the cornerstone of teamwork. One of the gurus in educational leadership, Andy Hargreaves (2011), has said, Get rid of negativity. This is an important principle to follow in any teamwork. Excessive negativity kills enthusiasm efficiently and ends at destroying the good team spirit. Negativity and being critical are not synonyms. There must always be space for critical observations, but a basic negative attitude is comparable to a cancer keeping growing and ultimately destroying the whole organization (Pulkkinen 2011, 62; Adair 2009, 91-102).
In addition to teamwork, coaching leadership consists of shared leadership and several diverse working methods based on inter-
action. However, the leader must be conscious of his/her own responsibility at all times. He/she must dare take responsibility for the work and the partners at work and meet the demands of the chosen tasks. Pressures are an inseparable part of leadership work, and one also learns to work under pressure. Pressure can also be seen as a force triggering action (Pulkkinen 2011, 139). The ability to work under pressure is characterized by peaceful reaction to different, quick and also sudden outbursts of emotions. It is important not to respond with strong emotional outbursts to issues causing strong emotions (McGowan and Bouris 2005, 340354; Korpi and Tanhua 2002, 135-137).
Pedagogical Leadership
Pedagogical leadership is strongly connected to the world of school. In leadership discourse at large, pedagogical leadership is mostly overlooked, though it entails a great number of factors conducive to leadership. Often the inadequate leadership features are visible also in the basic daily work, where better outcomes could be achieved if leadership and pedagogy would be based more onmas-tering the theories of human behaviours and leadership (Gordon 2006, 387-398; Dyson, Griffin and Hastie 2004; Mustonen 2003, 61) Leadership can also be increasingly considered to be action comparable to teaching, and therefore the pedagogy of leadership should be discussed more widely. This approach could be supported especially in leading the young generation, but it expands also the leadership of adults into the educational direction and life-long learning. Pedagogical leadership also involves that the leader possess good manners and teach them to the whole work community. (Pulkkinen, Korsman and Mustonen 2013, 44-45; Makela 2007, 199-200).
Guided Discovery
One of the classic conceptrs in the teaching of physical education is the systematic classification of teaching methods developed by Mosston and Ashworth (1994, 251-256) or the 11-tier spectrum of teaching styles. The classification functions also in the field of leadership, especially in the pedagogy of leadership (Pulkkinen 2011, 61).
Amongst Mosston and Ashworth's (1994) methods, a leader is best challenged by guided discovery. It is a method developing both
the leader and the employee, containing problem solving and producing diverse solutions. In this method the leader gives the task, and the employees search for diverse solutions. The leader's task is to guide the employees with the help of questions and interaction to invent the right answer applicable to the case in question. It is the leader's task to guide the employee with questions and interaction to realize the correct and desirable solution to the situation. Guided discovery consists of four main principles: (1) Do not tell the answer. (2) Always wait for the reaction of the employee. (3) Give immediate feedback. (4) Maintain a patient and accepting atmosphere.
The guided discovery method is very applicable in particular when new solutions need to be found, and new modes of action need to be created. Guided discovery can be used in wide assignments involving decisions on the direction to take, where hearing the views of the employees is important. It also works in smaller everyday situations, for example in staff meetings or when planning a thematic day, a Christmas party for staff or any other event deviating from the ordinary. Guided discovery benefits the entire work community because it enhances the employees' commitment to engage in planning for the entire community. It has a strong motivating effect, with which the leaders can gain valuable information and diverse views from their staff. Giving responsibility to the staff is an important factor in guided discovery (Pulkkinen, Korsman and Mustonen 2013, 124-126).
On Caring Leadership
The call for ethical leadership has become increasingly voiced in the past few years due to the many disappointments in the inappropriate behaviours of financial, religious, political, industrial, media, environmental leaders, news of which reach us in regularly. Ethical leadership is basically defined as a moral philosophy that respects the rights and dignity of others (Trevino, Brown and Hartman 2003, 7). Much of the research has been about the behaviours and personal characteristics ethical leaders should have, and ethical leaders are defined as fair and principled decision makers who take care of people, pay attention to the broader society, and behave ethically in their personal and professional lives. However, attention should be paid to analyse also the background and the consequences of ethical leadership (Brown and Trevino 2006, 598-603).
Place of Caring Leadership and Ethic of Care
in Ethical Leadership
The definition of the key concept of this paper is based on the model of the three ethics advocated by Starratt (1994), the ethic of justice, critique and care. In this paper the terms care and caring are used interchangeably. The ethic of justice requires the leader to know the rights, laws, policies and rules pertaining to the situation in question, and the ethic of critique means that the leader should be responsive to redefining and reframing prevailing circumstances of inequality, privilege, power, culture, or language to provide advocacy for the disadvantaged.
This paper posits that amongst the three ethics, that of care is of a predominant importance. It must be a consciously made decision. Once made, and the structures and follow-up systems thoroughly discussed and agreed on by all the stakeholders, the ethic of justice and critique result in practice. Care in this view is not confined to the concept of pastoral care, but it consists of the conscious decision to care, and of creating an administrative and social system and work culture negotiated and accepted by all stakeholders, which ensures that no one party is left behind, and that the decision made does not impose adverse consequences to any party (Kuusilehto-Awale in print).
To give an example of how the ethic of care and caring paves the way to the ethic of critique, improving the performance of the disadvantaged, a research into the difference of the Finnish basic education performance compared to the other, similar Nordic countries indicate that in the school context the explanatory factor may exist in the classroom management where the pedagogical communication and relations between the teacher and the pupils, and between the pupils was strong, with the teacher having a very important leader role. The Finnish teachers paid more attention to the learning outcomes and to the class as a well-functioning unit than the Danish counterpart. (Andersen 2010) This is in line with e.g. Darling-Hammond's (2000, 169) view that caring is one of the key factors in getting the classroom fully functioning for learning. Students who have good, caring relationships with their teachers pay more attention to studies than students who do not. This view shows also in Gamerman's (2008, 2) finding that Finnish teachers focus attention on weaker students rather than only on capable ones, and create an equal, relaxed study environment that makes the students more self-reliant, less pressured and more passionate to study.
Relationality and Interaction
The above example is about functioning relationally in school. However, school as an establishment is facing a true challenge from the learner experience of nobody caring (Noddings 1992; 2005). Our schools are too much factories tuned in to produce cognitive outcomes. We educators try to transforma by developing our curricula, methodologies and learner centred pedagogical approaches, and with immense investments in evaluating the outcomes and ranking the schools and the teachers. This has not erased the perception of nobody cares amongst our learners, or enhanced leading and teaching the big picture. On the contrary, regardless of these efforts, individualization, alienation from the community, fragmentation of realities and the sense of meaning-lessness are on the increase and the importance of school as a centre of learning is seriously challenged.
The problem is that we are oriented to singular outcomes, whereas we should reformulate our answer to Noddings' (2005) question, 'What should the schools be accountable for?' According to Noddings, schools should be offering their students a diversity of opportunities and choices, to better prepare them to cope with deep social change. She claims that many of us are alienated from the practical realities of our students' lives and teach compartmentalized disciplines packed with 'methodolatry.' Many of us use the means of the industrial era to respond to the demands of post-industrial social change, which as e.g. Hargreaves (2006) posits, requires an education that provides the learners with skills in multi-literacies and skills to learn them, creativity, ict, teamwork, lifelong learning, adaptation, change, and environmental responsibility. Still, the key is missing.
This is where the relationality of caring leadership enters into the picture. Offering a diversity of opportunities and choices for our learners to acquire state of the art skills, knowledge and love for learning takes place in a relation. The basis of caring leadership is the relation between two parties, the one who cares and the one who is cared for. Noddings calls these parties the carer and the cared for. True relationality must be based on mutual consent and accepted by the cared for. Mutual, respectful and consistent relationality is a guarantee for true accountability, as it provides space to perceive the individuality of the learner, the individual expressed and inferred needs, talents and aspirations. In a school where learning takes place in relationality, everyone counts and matters, and they are not only cared for but they learn to care
through the behavioural examples around them and through the themes of care that they study. Noddings' advocacy is for the following themes of care to be studied: caring for the self, the inner circle, the distant others, the earth, the man made environment and ideas (Noddings 1992; 2005). Other voices, such as Caldwell and Spinks (2008) challenge us to rethink teaching, learning and administration for the learners to become the focus.
Relationality takes place in interaction, and learning relies on social interaction and dialogue both for individuals and for organisations. As Collinson and Cook (2007) state, the social system influences the process of learning, and the relationships between the members of the organisation are the essential parts of this system. Dialogue, i. e. questioning, advising, deciding, arguing, and conversation bloom in positive relationships where mutual respect and responsibility are shared experiences (Brown 1994). Interaction and relationships are in the heart of socio-constructivist learning, which is a human centred learning concept. The quality of relationality, interaction and dialogue are all decisive factors also in the organisational culture and working climate.
Sharing Expertise, Leadership and Team Work
Relationality, interaction and every party having a voice in the work environment promote the sharing of expertise and leadership, and hence learning as the classroom research example above demonstrates. In regard to bigger organisational entities, the same applies for organisational learning in an inclusive culture and work atmosphere. Instead of hierarchical, top down governance, the governance is lateral through team work and division of work through shared responsibilities and sharing experiences. A caring school leader endeavours to ensure that the teachers engage in sharing their expertise to develop their professional capacity together, and that the students are inculcated in the skills of sharing and team work as well, learning from experience how knowledge and understanding increase, reshape and diversify in the exchange, as do the interaction, intra- and interpersonal skills. This enhances the self-knowledge and self-esteem of the involved (Collinson and Cook 2007). This kind of leadership is in the core of pedagogical leadership, which empowers and enables instead of only instructing, ordering, assessing and evaluating (Caldwell and Spinks 2008; Müller and Hernandez 2010).
However, shared leadership does not remove the overall re-
sponsibility of the leader. The leader remains accountable for creating and maintaining the work culture and atmosphere conducive to the tasks in question and enhancing the big picture, in interaction with the members of the work community. Mosston's guided discovery method referred to above is an excellent tool for a leader engaging his people in shared leadership.
Multidimensional, Morally Responsible Leadership
Being responsible has a moral dimension because a responsible leader cares about the outcomes of their actions on the lives of others and our habitat. According to Starratt (2005), as the world is globalising, and we are challenged to decide whether we educate our children to be spectator tourists or proactive citizens of the world, a multidimensional leader is needed. S/he understands the various dimensions of the learning tasks that the schools inevitably face. This kind of leader has a moral vision of what is required from the whole community, and they are proactive in making multidimensional learning take place.
Starratt (1994; 2005) provides a five-tier model for development into a morally responsible leadership, those being (1) a human being; (2) a citizen and a public servant; (3) an educator; (4) an educational administrator; and (5) an educational leader. Each of them affects one another, but the two most important domains in developing into morally responsible leadership are the growth as a human being, and as a citizen and a public servant. It is only thereafter that the other domains can be reached. As stated earlier, the most important focus for the leader to develop into leadership is the leader him-/herself (see also Fullan 2005; Collinson and Cook 2007) This tenet is enriched by Starratt's three ethics, those of justice, critique and care providing depth to the development into moral responsibility, and as posited in this paper, the prerequisite is the conscious decision to care.
Passion and Emotions
Hargreaves (2005) says that caring and emotions are aspects of hope empowering both teachers and students, and that caring is to bring passion into the classroom and to change the structures in such a manner that every teacher can engage in caring. Structures are indicative of our values. It is for the caring school leader to ensure that every teacher engages in caring in the way they teach and in the way they relate to others.
table 1 On the Relationship between Coaching and Caring The common basis: The leadership philosophy of the leader's own growth and development.
Coaching leadership:
Know yourself, self-esteem, see the big
picture.
Conscious decision to take and to give responsibility; to engage in own growth, to relate to the other with mutual consent.
Interaction, relationality with the other(s), mutual consent, trust, everyone counts and matters, full involvement = human being in centre. Presence, positive drive, inclusion.
Emotions, passion.
Caring leadership:
Know yourself, self-esteem, see the big picture
Conscious decision to care, to take and give responsibility, to engage in own growth, to relate to the other with mutual consent.
Interaction, relationality with the other(s), mutual consent, trust, everyone counts and matters, full involvement = human being in centre. Presence, positive drive, learning how to care, experience how to be cared for. Emotions, passion.
The common outcome: Coaching and caring leadership based on humane behaviors, relationality, trust, empowerment and sharing responsibility engender creativity, innovativeness, situational intelligence, problem solving intelligence, environment free of intimidation, humiliation and oppression.
A caring school leader recognises the emotional dimension of schooling, as emotions are essential human qualities, and emotional learning is necessary for cognitive learning. The caring, emotional aspect of relationships provides feelings of safety, security, and meaningfulness, and a sense of worth and happiness (Coleman 1995; Noddings 1992; 2005).
On Similarities between Coaching and Caring Leadership
Table 1 compiles similarities between coaching and caring leadership, with their common basis and common outcomes. The common basis is the leadership philosophy that the leader's own growth and development are the basis of leading people. The similarities consist of strong identity building, and of seeing the big picture, of conscious decision making on how to engage in this work, of interaction and relationality, of presence and positive drive, and of emotions and passion. The outcome is a working and learning environment devoid of intimidation, humiliation and oppression.
Conclusion
In conclusion, modern coaching leadership and caring leadership have much in common. Their basis is the humanistic concept of
the human being, and hence the concept of knowledge and learning is socio-constructivist and experiential.
Human-centeredness comes first, attention to knowledge acquisition and transfer comes second, but with a natural flow thanks to the mutual consent and trust in the relationality and interaction. The absence of intimidation, humiliation and oppression generates enthusiasm, innovation, commitment, meaningful-ness and self-esteem, and flexible problem solving skills.
This paper was based on auto-ethnographic data in the fields of modern coaching leadership and caring leadership, as well as comparative discussions of the two researchers, and was the first attempt to map the similarities in this leadership territory. As the results of these approaches for organisational well-being and achievement are remarkable, the issue merits further research.
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fC	A Model of Holistic Support
^	to the Schools Implementing Change
0	and Evaluation of Distributed
'"O	Leadership Effects Cd
^	Tanja Rupnik Vec
^^	National Education Institute, Slovenia
a
o
>
O 0
0
Brigita Rupar
National Education Institute, Slovenia
This paper describes an innovative approach to change Qfi implementation into school communities developed by The National ^^ Education Institute (nei) in Slovenia from 2003 to 2006. The model of holistic support focuses on supporting organizational learning and improvement of practice through distributed leadership. With the help of leadership team plan the principals provide direction and monitor the work teachers do with their students. The authors conducted a study (semi-interviews) on what strategies of distributed leadership are used by principals to support the change process, and how members of school teams experience some aspects of team ^ dynamics (survey). The results show that with this approach
principals can influence school climate and enhance the quality of teachers' work with students. Quality of communication and cooperation in the leadership teams were good due to systematic
teambuilding activities, which were focused on group dynamics.
Keywords: distributed leadership, leadership teams, change process, holistic model
Introduction
A Model of Holistic Support to Schools Implementing Change represents a multi-dimensional and systemic way to support schools in exploring their own practice. In the project of didactic reform 10 schools at general secondary level were involved. The project focuses on supporting organizational learning and improvement of practice by applying new theoretical paradigms to ensure high quality education. One of the basic strategies used for working with teachers was action research. In the process of doing action research, teachers systematically explored their own beliefs, feelings, and behaviour in the classroom, and their influence on their students' thinking, feelings, and behaviour. They also tested al-
leadership in education Special Issue | 2014 | 71-84
ternative approaches and explored their effects. After two years of cooperation with the schools the nei evaluated some effects of the project: the meaning of the action research for the teachers and their subjective assessment of the effects on their everyday practice. The results show that two thirds of teachers experienced action research as an opportunity and stimulation of their creativity and progress in their practice. They experienced it as a profit and a support to their cooperation with colleagues.
In this paper we present the leadership style used by principals and the role of the leadership team. The analysis of semi-structured interviews with principals shows that systematic change affecting the core processes in school is impossible without distributing the responsibilities among members of the community.
General Goals of Implementation of Change and Didactic Reform
Teachers Explore Their Instruction Methodology to Ensure That it Provides High Quality of Learning Opportunities for Students
In a series of general training workshops organized for school communities teachers explored patterns of their own thinking and behaviour in the classroom to find out if their prevailing approaches to teaching and the strategies that they were using really provided opportunities for their students' optimal development and personal growth, i. e., for their in-depth understanding of the subject matter, development of complex and critical thinking, information processing skills, self-reflection skills, and collaboration skills.
Teachers Develop Professionally and Personally
The workshops organized by the nei's advisors for school communities and for subject specific teams of teachers, as well as the action research collaborative work and other forms of collaboration used by individual schools, encouraged teachers to develop awareness of their own preconceptions, beliefs, and attitudes that shaped their instructional decisions, and to compare their current understanding with relevant theoretical conceptions to identify similarities and differences, and to find out their weaknesses. The aim was to support teachers to build new knowledge on the basis of understanding their existent knowledge. By experiencing the
process they became more competent, more efficient, and more satisfied with their work.
Schools Develop into Learning Communities
Senge (2001) defines learning schools as the communities characterized by (a) personal excellence and clear vision of its employees; (b) shared vision; (c) individual awareness of one's own mental models; (d) collaborative learning, and (e) systems thinking or understanding of the interdependency between the elements of the system. In the Holistic Model that we implemented special attention was given to the development of the above five dimensions of organizational learning. Building awareness about basic conceptions and values helped to build awareness about the school culture (Schein 2004), which in turn led to its transformation.
Theoretical Foundations and Basic Assumptions
Behind the Holistic Model
Our thinking about how people learn and change and how organizations learn and change was based on various theories, the strongest being the current cognitive theories of learning and individual development (Senge 2001; Basile, Olson, and Nathenson-Mejia 2003, Caluve and Vermaak 2002; Frost et al. 2000; Hare-graves and Hopkins 2001). The following is a short description of the basic principles that served as the theoretical background of the model.
Cognitive - Constructivist Theory of Learning and Development
Our understanding of the nature of learning and individual professional development that shaped the strategies of our work with schools was predominantly grounded in the current socio-cognitive-constructivist conception of learning, development, and knowledge. The basic assumptions of varied social-cognitive-constructivist conceptions about the nature of the individuals and their learning that have important influence on teachers' instructional decisions could be summarized as: (1) cognition (thinking processes and thinking structures) influences individual feelings and behaviour; (2) mental capabilities (problem solving, decision making, memory, etc.) can be improved (Tavris and Wade 1997), and (3) knowledge is an individual construction, and as such it is a relative category that does not exist independently from the
individual that constructs it. Children are viewed as 'naive scientists' (Fulgosi 1985) that continuously strive to make sense of the events: in this process they form hypotheses and test them to either refuse or accept them based on the evidence. The process of learning and development is never finished.
The goal of schooling is to provide opportunities for students to develop deep understanding of the world in accordance with the current scientific concepts. Effective instruction should help students effectively 'loosen' their inaccurate and naïve beliefs that they may bring into the classroom, and direct them toward the construction of a more accurate understanding. The above can be realized only when students are actively involved with the content, i. e., when they solve problems, explore their current beliefs, seek for alternative interpretations, form hypotheses and either confirm or refuse them, etc.
The learning principles used in the projects Didactic Reform and Implementation of Change were aligned with the principles that we expected the teachers to use in their instructional delivery: while we provided opportunities for the teachers to acquire new knowledge and skills, we also challenged their current naïve conceptions about knowledge, teaching, and learning, and thus supported their 'replacing' of inaccurate conceptions with more accurate understanding that was in compliance with the current state of pedagogical-psychological science.
The Concept and Model of Action Research
One of the basic strategies used for working with teachers in the Holistic Model was action research. In the process of doing action research, teachers systematically explored their own beliefs, feelings, and behaviour in the classroom, and their influence on their students' thinking, feelings, and behaviour. They also tested alternative approaches and explored their effects. Action research as a method of intensive professional development and growth (Carro Bruce 2000; McKernan 1991; Holen 2000) focuses on critical reflection to develop teachers' awareness of their systems of beliefs and values that shape their behaviour in the classroom, which enables them to assess their value and gain better insight into their own practice. In this way teachers can develop more effective strategies for problem solving, and at the same time systematically monitor the effects of the changes they are implementing, which provides a firm foundation for sustained improvement of instruction.
The Concept of a Learning Organization
The project design and our work with schools were based on the concept of a school as a learning organization (Senge 2001). The learning organization is characterized by its ability to elicit information from its environment, and transform it into useful organizational knowledge internalized by its members. Such an organization supports the learning of all its members and continuously transforms itself in the process. The vision of such an organization is based on mutual values that are at the core of organizational culture.
Change is implemented in schools in different ways ranging from 'bottom up' to 'top down' implementation (Fullan 1993). The majority of research states that the most effective way is combining the two approaches. However, implementation of change cannot be successful if it does not entail changing the organizational culture represented on the most basic level by the preconceptions and beliefs of all the members in an organization.
Role of Leadership Teams
Initially, members of leadership teams helped each other with the new terminology and new concepts presented to them during professional development, and discussed how to put all that they learned in the nei's seminars and workshops into practice. Some teams were more sensitive to the needs of their teachers than the others, and different team leaders had different agendas. Some teams saw their primary role in helping teachers implement new approaches to teaching. They described themselves as 'the engine' of the instructional reform. They tried to simplify the material from the nei and adapt it to make it more suited to their teachers' needs. The opportunity to discuss innovation in leadership teams before going in front of teachers gave them confidence, and helped them stand firmly behind their decision to continue on the path toward instructional change. In all the schools teachers had doubts about more active methods of teaching because they believed that direct teaching was more efficient. They were afraid that they were wasting time by giving students time to work in groups and discuss the material, and that they would not be able to prepare them for final exams. Some leadership teams soon realized that they had to work on changing teachers' mental models, and going through the vision building process with the nei's experts equipped them to implement the same process with their faculties. By creating the space for teachers to voice their con-
cerns, ask tough questions and discuss advantages and possible traps of innovation helped challenge established practices and reframe individual and collective mindset. Those teams that did not invest in building climate, but rushed teachers to produce results for the nei experienced a lot of resistance and a status quo.
Some leadership teams felt the need to discuss their role and define individual responsibilities from the start. These teams were more effective than those that failed to do so. Without clear understanding of the team's and individual members' roles and responsibilities nobody was responsible. While at the beginning leadership teams relied heavily on the nei, they gradually became more selective, tailoring the nei's incentives to the needs of their faculties. The teams that felt that they were successful saw their role at the end of the third year of the project in just 'enabling teachers to put their ideas in practice and making sure that the school stays on course.' In these schools, 'the reform was taking care of itself.'
Presentation of the Model
The Model of Holistic Support to Schools Implementing Change (Rupar and Rupnik Vec 2006; Rupnik Vec 2005; Rutar Ilc 2005) addresses all the levels of school functioning: (a) the level of school principal, b) the level of entire school community, (b) the level of leadership teams. The following is the presentation of the activities at each level from the perspective of the nei.
The Level of Work With School Principals
When working with the principals, we followed the recommendations by Marzano (2005) who specifies the following steps for the efficient organizational leadership:
•	develop a strong leadership - development team,
•	delegate the responsibility among the team members,
•	select the right work,
•	identify the scope of change required by the selected work,
•	adapt the leadership style to the scope of change.
We advised the principals to select members of the leadership team according to whether they were open to learning and welcomed the change, were willing to invest additional energy in their work, and possessed the capacity to be good team leaders.
It is important that the team members are prepared to work constructively and help the school leader to provide direction to the school community. The development team meets regularly to plan and evaluate the work in the project. In order to be a driving force of the leadership team, the principal has to know the curriculum very well, be committed to change, encourage teachers' inquisitive attitude and exploration of their practice, carefully evaluate the effects of innovation, and be flexible in leading the school. Above all, the principals have to be ready to vouch for the success of the project. In addition, they have to take into account the opinion of the team members and teachers, and look for the sources of support in the wider community. The principals have a key role in encouraging and directing the change in school. They are responsible for transforming the school into a learning community that enables teachers to broaden their horizon and develop a better understanding of the complexity of change, as well as develop a common vision and improve their work. Successful principals know how to think strategically, they follow school values and vision, and are consistent in their school practices, as well as open to a life-long learning (Sentocnik 2005).
The Level of Work With Leadership Teams
Leadership teams play a key role in the implementation of change. Their main responsibility is to provide encouragement and direction to the processes that are connected with change, and in particular to create the conditions for teachers' critical reflection (Rupnik Vec 2006).
In our model, we decided to invite teachers to undertake action research carried out in relation to a specific context. Teachers were encouraged to identify the topics related to teaching and learning that they wanted to explore, e.g., how can I motivate my students? How can I make students write homework? How can I implement interdisciplinary connections? How can I encourage the development of responsibility in students? After the topics were defined, teachers of individual schools were grouped into action research teams based on the similarity of the topic that they had identified. Leadership of the teams was entrusted to the members of the leadership teams. Regular monthly meetings of the action research teams were an opportunity for thinking together about their action research discoveries and for exchanging experience, as well as for offering each other support and crit-
ical friendship. The goal of action research teamwork was to develop teachers' problem solving skills and establish networks of critical friends to facilitate their learning with each other. In order to make action research work as efficient as possible, we organized a training of leadership teams to achieve the following goals:
•	Equip leadership teams with the knowledge and skills to create conditions and incentives for the implementation of didactic reform changes in their schools: through their effective leadership of action research (Ar) teams; through the evaluation of the effectiveness of project goal achievement.
•	Enable experiential learning of the teams.
The training was on-going and organized for the teams from each circle of schools regularly at the end of the year; the work of the leadership teams was concluded with a two-day workshop introducing the participants' complex methods of building school vision presented below. The workshop gave them an opportunity to experience each step, with the aim of enabling them to implement a similar process with their school communities on their own or with the help of an expert from the nei, thus forging a vision of school development.
In the second year of the project we provided a two-day workshop on evaluation and self-evaluation for the members of the leadership teams from each year project schools, where we introduced different models of evaluation and self-evaluation to them, and provided opportunities for them to develop the skills of planning different methods of self-evaluation.
Between the meetings, leadership teams were provided with a support in a form of consulting that they themselves had to initiate, or in a form of an on-going supervision support provided by an external expert assigned to the school at the beginning of the project, and who played the role of a liaison between the school and the nei.
Evaluation of two Aspects of the Holistic Model
In evaluation we focused on two things: firstly what the changes that have been introduced through the project in the schools were and which strategies principals used to support this process. Beside these we wanted to get an insight in team processes within members of leadership teams.
We articulated two research questions:
1.	What are the main findings of the project from the perspective of the principal? What leadership style did they find as most appropriate?
2.	How do members of leadership teams experience and evaluate some aspects of team dynamics?
Evaluation of Leadership Style
Principals are invited to join the teaching reform project perceived as an opportunity to modernize the school, the introduction of new, different and more learner-centred methods of teaching. Principals did not know how to implement change; they did not have enough knowledge and time to introduce changes by themselves. Working on this project has been a complex and multiform job, and principals soon began to share their work with the members of leadership teams. At the beginning principals did not know what to expect from the leadership team and how to include them in the project. They realized that the team can be very relieved, it is more efficient and the work is done faster. The team members have established a more personal and confidential relationship with colleagues than the principals did. Eventually, principals realized that team members performed some tasks better than them. Principals got critical feedback on their proposals from the members and their decisions have been considered more carefully and appropriately.
Some principals stressed that their most important role was at the start of the project in setting the tone and getting teachers' engagement. They invested a lot of energy into making people see that they did not join the project from any other reason but to improve the opportunities for their students to have better access to knowledge. Some principals felt that it took a lot of skill to persuade people, and the majority saw their most important role in opening the channels of communication and letting people voice their concerns.
While before principals were responsible for observing each teacher's instruction at least once a year, they began to share this task with leadership team. They particularly valued the opportunity to discuss their observations and compare notes with their leadership team members. They felt that under the influence of working in the team they changed personally and professionally:
While I have always supported team work, I have never been part of a team. I learned how to listen and be open to sug-
gestions from other team members, which I did not practice before. I've become more democratic while previously my style was more authoritarian.
Before the project, I was doing what was expected of me, primarily organisation, budget, human resources management, and classroom observations. I didn't do much for my own development and growth. Forme, the project was an opportunity to develop professionally. It helped me strengthen the pedagogical part of my role. Now it is much easier forme to observe teachers and discuss instructions.
Principals became more opened and tolerant in the communication with colleagues. It was found that this way of communication increases the quality of the tasks teachers do. They also highlighted new findings in the area of teaching methods, which help them to have a wider range of expertise in monitoring and observing lessons. There have been reports of an increased level of active forms of work with students on a large number of object-derivative hours of new organizational forms of work such as block periods, project weeks and others. Principals have also greatly increased the number of classroom observations compared to previous years.
At the level of climate and culture an encouraging change occurred. Teachers have begun to cooperate more with each other, classroom observations became more frequent. Principals reported a more relaxed relationship between teachers and students. Some schools have introduced consultation hours for students, which they did not have before.
The weakest point of the project was the evaluation of the effects. Each school has tried to somehow evaluate their work at the end of the school year. Teachers, students and parents replied the questionnaires and results were presented at the final conference. Only one school has carried out continuous evaluation in the middle of the year. We estimate that the principals and teachers did not have enough knowledge to carry it out professionally.
Evaluation of Group Dynamics in the Leadership Teams
We developed a survey about different aspects of group dynamic (Rupnik Vec 2009) with 47 items, grouped on eight dimensions: aims, tasks, rules, time, criterion of efficiency, communication, leading and decision making, circumstances. 170 respondents
table 1 Average Scores and Standard Deviations on Survey Items
Scale	m sd
Goals Our goals are clear. Our goals are realistic We have a vision. Tasks Motivate us. Are clearly defined. Responsibilities are shared. We have all skills we need for work in sdt Rules Are defined.
We discuss if rules are violated Time
Our meetings are regular. We use our time effectively. We have enough time.
We also take time for building the group dynamic Criteria of effectiveness I grow in this team, personally and professionally We realize all the decisions. Our results are impressive and visible. We have evidence of effects on students. Our activities are based on theory. Communication
We discuss the content of our work.	4.2	0.67
We discuss the processes of our work.	3.9	0.85
We have high level of trust in the team	4.3	0.80
Comm. is open and relaxed.	4.5	0.77
We exchange all relevant information.	4.4	0.74
We exchange feedback.	4.3	0.87
We are respectful and empathetic with each other.	4.5	0.72
We influence positively each other.	4.0	0.88
We manage conflicts effectively.	4-o	0.92
Continued on the following page
answered the survey. The majority of average grades are approximately 4.00 and that tells us that the prevailing experience of team members is positive. The grades on communication and leadership items are even higher, for example: 'We communicated openly and in relaxed way' (m = 4.5, sd = 0.77) or 'We are
4.1 0.72 4.3 0.71
4.0 0.74
3.8	0.80 4.0 0.85
3.9	0.95 4.0 0.78
3.7 1.22 3.3 1.28
4.1	0.96
4.2	0.83 3.8 0.93 3.6 1.01
4.0	0.94 4.2 0.74 4.2 0.79 3.8 0.93
4.1	0.83
tABLE 1 Continued from the previous page
Scale	m sd
Leading and decision making The leader is sensitive to ideas of group members.
All group members cooperate in the process of decision making spontaneously The leader invites all members to express their opinions and ideas. All who are influenced by decision cooperate. We use systematic methods of problem solving If results are negative we feel a new impulse to deal with the issue. Members are devoted to decisions.
Circumstances of teamwork
We have clear organization vision.	4.1	0.98
We have all resources for task completion.	3.9	0.92
We confront with resistance.	3.3	0.85
We have knowledge about the theory of implementing change.	3.7	0.81
Our planning is based on theory of implementing changes.	3.7	0.83
We regularly reflect on our work in team.	3.8	0.93
We defined criteria of team effectiveness.	3.3	1.09
We systematically evaluate our work regarding these criteria.	3.4	1.09
We have a plan of team development.	3.8	1.19
SDt is accepted in organization.	3.5	0.94
A lot of people want to be members of SDt.	2.5	0.96
I'm proud of my membership in SDt.	3.9	1.08
4-5	0.73
4.3	0.82 4.0 1.00
4.4	0.84
3.8 0.94 4.0 0.88 4.2 0.80
respectful and empathie toward each other' (m = 4.5, sd = 0.72), 'The leader is attentive to ideas of team members'(m = 4.5, sd = 0.73). We conclude from these evaluations that the quality of communication, cooperation and leadership in team were quite high in the project, which is probably partially due also to some of our training activities, focused on group dynamics.
A little bit lower were the average grades on these items: 'There is no time for group building activities'(m = 3.6, ds = 1.01), 'We use systematic methods to solve problems'(m = 3.8, sd = 0.4), 'We set the criterions of team effectiveness' (m = 3.3, sd = 1.09), 'We systematically evaluate our work along these criterions' (m = 3.4, sd = 1.09). The results on these items, even though still on the positive side of the dimension, suggest that we should focus our interventions on team self-evaluation, teambuilding activities and methods of systematic problem solving and support them with new knowledge and skills on those fields.
There were also some open-ended questions at the end of the survey:
•	What did you personally benefit from the cooperation in the school development team?
•	How important is for you personally the membership in the school development team?
•	What did you expect from National education institute in the future? What are your learning needs?
The most frequent answer to the first question (What did you personally benefit from the cooperation in the school development team?') was the cooperation and socialising with colleagues (n = 63) and the second regarding frequency was new knowledge about change implementation. (n = 57). For members the membership is quite important (n = 87) or extremely important (n = 22), because it enables them to work in a team and to gain new knowledge and skills. In the last question we wanted to test their wishes and expectations about further cooperation with the nei. The most frequent answer (n = 51) was that we, as an institution, should provide more training and consultations for leadership teams.
Conclusion
In the model of holistic support to the schools implementing change principals have used some strategies of distributed leadership style that caused a new dynamic in the schools. With distributed leadership style they influenced school climate, relationships between teachers and students have become more frequent and friendly. Principals support teachers to introduce new didactic strategies in their work with students. Leadership teams provide conditions for teachers' critical reflection and help principals to direct the changes. The evaluation study shows that changed work conditions require a new leadership style. The nei should provide more training for leadership teams on self-evaluation, teambuilding activities and problem solving methods.
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Frost, D., J. Durrant, M. Head, and G. Holden. 2000. Teacher-Led School Improvement. London and New York: RoutledgeFalmer.
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i-fl	Towards Professionalization
^	of School Leadership: State of the Art
0	in Macedonia in the Light of the
■"d	Global Trends Cd
^	Suzana Miovska-Spaseva
^^	Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Macedonia
0The article examines the issue of school leadership development as one of the key priorities of the educational policy agendas throughout ^^ the world. The main attention is given to the global trends defined by the oecd for professionalization of school leadership: (Re)defining school leadership responsibilities, Distributing school leadership, ^^ Developing skills for effective school leadership, Making school
leadership an attractive profession. Within this general framework of expectations the current situation of school leadership in Macedonia is presented. The analysis is focused on the compatibility of the ^^ theory and practice of educational leadership in Macedonia, the challenges of the sustainability of the planned and implemented activities and the further possibilities for developing the school leadership in the country. Keywords: leadership in education, school leadership, ^H professionalization of school leadership, school leadership in ^^ Macedonia
ft
l>
ft
Introduction: Importance of School Leadership
In recent years school leadership has become a key educational policy priority around the world. There are mainly two reasons that explain its importance. One refers to the crucial role that school leaders have in improving school and student achievements as confirmed by research findings (Teddlie and Reynolds 2000; Leithwood et al. 2006; Townsend 2007). Since the expectations for the school have been increased and schools become more accountable for the results, school leaders are seen as vital and integrating component of the school life: a good principal means a healthy school culture and climate, competent and motivated teachers, efficient teaching, improved student learning. Therefore school leadership is essential for improving teaching and learning in the school and raising school efficiency.
On the other hand the importance of school leadership de-
leadership in education Special Issue | 2014 | 85-96
rives from the fact that it is the link that connects the school to the outside world, which is rapidly changing. The globalization, demographic and labor market changes, new technologies, reflect in schools in a way that they need leaders that will lead 'out there' beyond the school, as well as within it, in order to influence the environment that influences their own work with students (Hargreaves, Halász, and Pont 2008). Thus, school leaders have a pivotal role and responsibility in building strong ties between the school and the community and integrating the school's work with the community.
School Leadership Priorities
The importance of school leadership today stresses the need to reconsider its role. It is no doubt a complex and demanding role that combines managerial and leadership skills, resource management (human and financial) and leadership for learning. The successful school leader is the one who can establish a balance of these two components, can 'integrate the soft human elements with the cruel business behaviours' (Joiner 1987, 128). So, the main question for the policy makers today is how to develop this super school leaders, how to help and support their professional-ization. In this article an attempt is made to address this question in global context and discuss the situation in Macedonia regarding those global trends. The starting point is the four main policy levers identified by the oecd as key factors for improving the school leadership practice (Pont, Nusche and Moorman 2008):
•	(Re)defining school leadership responsibilities
•	Distributing school leadership
•	Developing skills for effective school leadership
•	Making school leadership an attractive profession
Without going into in-depth analysis of these global policy priorities (since this kind of information is easily accessible in the oecd publications (Pont, Nusche and Moorman 2008), some key elements of each of the four levers will be drawn and used as a referential framework for discussing the current situation of school leadership in the Republic of Macedonia.
(Re)defining School Leadership Responsibilities
The first lever refers to three not only European trends in education that shape the school leadership role and responsibilities:
(1) Current decentralization processes in education and the greater autonomy that schools gain today calls for clear definition of school leaders' core responsibilities. The research results have shown that high-performing and equitable school systems tend to grant greater autonomy to schools in formulating and using curricula and assessments (oecd 2010).
Decentralization in education is one of the most important systemic changes in Macedonian education in the last decade. Its implementation meant allocation of power and responsibilities for the major educational issues (improvement of education quality, professional development of the teaching staff, financing, appointment of school principles) from state to local and school level. That marked the initiation of the following processes:
•	Reorganization of the education administration and management through the new laws on local self-government and financing of the local self-government;
•	Improvement of the management and administration of education including the strategic capacities on central level;
•	Development of a more efficient system financial planning and financial management;
•	Improvement of the management on a local and school level, as well as of the professionalism and effectiveness of the school and local self-government staff;
•	Creation of a system of school self-government and facilitation of training in school management for school principals;
•	Evaluation-utilization of the capacities of administrative institutions for school monitoring and assessment ('The Education Modernization Project' 2004).
In this direction, amendments have been adopted of the Laws on Primary ('Zakon za izmenuvanje i dopolnuvanje na Zakonot za osnovnoto obrazovanie' 2004) and Secondary Education ('Zakon za izmenuvanje i dopolnuvanje na Zakonot za srednoto obrazovanie' 2004), which provided a legal framework for the start of this process. Within these regulations the tasks and responsibilities of school leaders (principals) in Macedonia are clearly defined. They can be divided into two sets: pedagogical and managerial (organizational). The first one includes, among others:
•	organisation and monitoring of the implementation of curricula;
•	preparation of annual workplan of the school;
•	preparation of programme for school development;
•	monitoring and assessment of teachers' work.
The other set of managerial tasks consists of those responsibilities that relate to the:
•	organisation and coordination of the work of all school staff;
•	care for the material condition of the school;
•	participation in negotiations with the Ministry regarding staffing and financial needs of the school;
•	selection of teaching and administrative personnel, its distribution and the termination of the employment;
•	collaboration with the local community, the social, state, business, professional and scientific organisations, institutions, associations, etc. ('Zakon za osnovnoto obrazovanie' 2008, Art. 130).
Since the effective school autonomy depends on effective leaders, the question of relevance for Macedonian context is: Do the principals in practice have a capacity, motivation and support to use the autonomy, is the school leadership a decision making power regarding the curriculum, assessment, teacher recruitment, resource allocation? Regarding many of these components of school leadership in Macedonia the answer would be negative. Even though the state initiated a process of decentralization of education that was legislatively supported and enabled redistribution of competences and responsibilities between central, local and school-based level, there is still no clear picture in this area, and what is more important, there is a discrepancy between the theory and practice, between the regulations and documents and school principals' everyday work. School leaders' autonomy is often limited by the state and local education authorities whose decisions are usually with a strong political background. Therefore, it is necessary to develop mechanisms and instruments that will guarantee the national interest but also give the schools and their leaders autonomy in managing and adapting the school work to the local needs.
(2) The second element that contributes to the redefinition of the role of school leaders is the improvement of students' achievements. To realize this goal the emphasis is given on:
•	Supporting, evaluating and developing teacher quality through teacher monitoring and evaluation, teacher professional development, promoting team work and collaboration;
•	Strategic planning;
•	Strengthening strategic resource management (human and financial);
•	System leadership (collaboration with other schools and the local community).
In the educational policy agenda of the Macedonian Ministry of education and science improving of teaching and learning is regarded as one of the most important determinants of the students' performance. Therefore, several steps on a national level were undertaken to improve the quality of teaching:
•	Revision of curricula based on the implementation of the Concept of Learning Outcomes;
•	Promoting modernization of teaching methodology by implementing several projects that enable teachers to encourage their students to think critically and creatively;
•	Legally based obligation for professional development of teachers and school principals;
•	Introduction of teacher portfolio as an instrument for stimulating teacher promotion and professional development;
•	Legally based introduction of four levels of teachers' professional career (teacher-beginner, teacher, teacher-mentor and teacher counselor) as an instrument for assessment of teacher's work and career development;
•	Introduction of external students' assessment as a tool for measuring the 'objectivity and professionalism' of teachers regarding student assessment;
•	Insuring quality of teaching through the preparation of the programme for school development (every 4 years) that includes the results of the school self-evaluation (every 2 years), recommendations of the evaluation report of the State Educational Inspectorate, as well as the opinion of the Bureau for the Development of Education ('Zakon za osnovnoto obrazovanie' 2008).
One of the recent important changes aimed at improving teacher quality is teacher professional development that is made compulsory and prescribed in the Laws on Primary and Secondary Education.
There are currently several modes of provision of in-service programmes for teachers and school staff in the country. The first involves a systemic approach, usually organised by the Bureau for
the Development of Education, which is a body of the Ministry, designed to reach all the schools in the country and ensure they are all provided with the same materials and instructions. However, the role of the Bureau is usually heavily linked to current curricula issues, so there is little space for introducing different topics.
The other way of professional development is provided by a considerable number of domestic and international organizations that over the last two decades have organized trainings on various issues that responded to the local school needs. Even though the national education system has benefited from contributions from these non-governmental and international initiatives this mode of in-service training has a major disadvantage to be limited only to the selected teachers and schools thus not providing dissemination and institutionalization of the offered activities on a system level.
The implementation of the teacher professional development in Macedonia is closely connected to the introduction of teacher promotion and teacher portfolio. Yet, the planned model of teacher promotion is still theory. At the moment there are no divisions for teachers by levels based on teacher portfolio and in-service trainings requirements. On the other hand, teacher monitoring and evaluation is one of the important pedagogical tasks of school principals, which is regulated by the law, and every school principal decides his/her criteria who will be a teacher-mentor. Even though teachers' levels still don't exist, most schools/principals are assigning mentors to teacher-beginners because it is required by law. However, the collaboration and support between teacher-mentor and teacher-beginner is often poor and done more on a formal level.
(3) Another trend that contributes to the improvement of definition of the school leaders responsibilities is developing standards or frameworks for the profession of school leaders. It should be done by joint efforts of the national policy makers and representatives of the school leadership profession and based on effective leadership practice and the needs of national education systems.
In the Republic of Macedonia the principal tasks and responsibilities are defined in the law regulations. However, there are no standards created by the policy makers and the representatives of the school leaders, which will be used as a basis for recruitment, training and appraisal of school leaders.
Distributing School Leadership
Regarding the second lever three oecd recommendations are crucial:
•	Encourage distribution of leadership by creating formal teams or informal ad hoc groups based on expertise and current needs;
•	Support distribution of leadership;
•	Support school boards in their tasks.
In the Republic of Macedonia the distributed leadership 'across different people and organizations' in general is limited to the school boards that are bodies of administration of each primary and secondary school and consist of representatives of teachers, parents, local authorities and central government. The roles and responsibilities of the school board members, as well as of the principals, are defined in the legal regulations but there are no recruitment criteria based on the candidates' skills and commitment. The Law also permits appointment of an assistant principal that would be 'responsible for managerial and pedagogical matters' ('Zakon za osnovnoto obrazovanie' 2008, Art. 131), but in practice this position is rarely implemented. Although in many schools there are teams of teachers responsible for different tasks, inclusion of larger group of professionals in and outside the school is often not supported. Usually the school principal has the main power and influence in the school, he/she shares the same political interest with the local authority (municipality) and implements decisions 'from above' without much space for maneuver.
Developing Skills for Effective School Leadership
School leadership development is the crucial factor for successful leader's performance. This issue became a reality since the beginning of the new millennium and the focus today is given on developing the following school leadership skills:
•	Guiding teaching and learning by enhancing teacher quality that will lead to improved learning outcomes;
•	Managing resources;
•	Setting goals and measuring progress;
•	Leading and collaborating beyond school borders.
The school leaders' formation is seen as a lifelong learning process in which skills and competencies are to be developed through
a comprehensive training that is based on pre-service qualification programmes, induction programmes and professional development programmes for established school leaders.
The leadership skills development in Macedonia in general mostly takes place in the initiating stage of the school principal career. There is no undergraduate study in school leadership, but since 2008 a compulsory and law-regulated training programme for school principals was introduced for candidates for principals in primary and secondary schools. This training enable them to pass the formal examination that is one of the legally prescribed conditions, beside higher education diploma and five years of working experience, to apply for the position of school principal ('Zakon za osnovnoto obrazovanie' 2008, Art. 128). The Law, nevertheless, gives the possibility to become a principal without passing the exam, but it should be done within a year since the date of employment.
The training programme for principals is delivered by the National Examinations Centre, a body within the Ministry of Education and Science, which is the only institution in the Republic of Macedonia authorized for qualifying candidates for principals in primary and secondary schools. The programme consists of six modules:
•	Introductory module
•	Theory of organization
•	Communication in educational institutions
•	The school principal as pedagogical leader
•	Planning and decision-making
•	Legislation and finance ('Programa za polaganje na ispit za direktor na osnovno uciliste' 2005).
The training is carried out by elected professional trainers and it is followed by an exam that is held in front of an examination committee established by the director of the National Examination Centre. Candidates who passed the exam are issued a certificate for completion and are qualified to apply for the position of a school principal.
The aim of this training programme is to improve the professional competencies of school principals. Nevertheless, the evidence from the practice shows that there is a significant number of school principals that are insufficiently prepared to do their job. This situation put forward the question of quality of the offered
training as well as the trainers' competences, but also actualizes the need of establishing clearly defined criteria for selection of future principals and strengthening their initial education and professional development. The current practice shows that there is no systemic approach in providing organized forms for professional development of principals, but it is a result of the individual principal's initiative and motivation to improve the competencies. Also, there are sporadic cases, even though recently increasing in number, of school principals, or school principals' candidates, that continue their education on Master level in teacher faculties that offer courses in Management of Education.
A significant contribution to strengthening the school leadership capacities in Macedonia was recently given by the implementation of the Balkan Project Development Educational Leadership Trainings Project that was organized by the Dutch School for Management in education in Amsterdam in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Science in Macedonia and the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje (Miovska-Spaseva, Andonovska-Trajkovska, and Selimi 2013; Miovska-Spaseva and Andonovska-Trajkovska 2013). The project aims were to improve the quality of education in participating countries through the professionalization of their school leaders. In the period 2011-2013, 25 participants from six countries in the Balkan region were having intensive two-year trainings on capacity building for educational management training. The training consisted of the content of 10-12 modules and the methodology of modern training methods to apply in educational management training. Whether (if at all) the benefits of the project activities will be institutionalized and will result with the desired quality effects, and to what extent it will impact the quality of school principals' preparation, should be assessed in the years to come.
Making School Leadership an Attractive Profession
There are four main recommendations regarding this oecd policy lever:
•	Focusing on leadership succession planning through identification and development of future leaders with high potential early in their careers.
•	Professionalizing recruitment procedures and eligibility criteria that should address a wide range of candidates' know-
ledge, skills and competences (pedagogical as well as managerial).
•	Making school leaders' salaries attractive, which means significantly higher than the ones of teachers and other members of school leadership teams.
•	Acknowledging the contribution of professional associations as an important instrument that enables school leaders to be actively involved in policy formulation and implementation.
If we take these recommendations as criteria for the current situation in Macedonia, we can say that school leadership is not regarded as attractive profession. Several indicators support this conclusion:
•	There are no developed strategies for identifying talented candidates nor for supporting and developing their leadership skills.
•	There are no selection criteria that will address wide range of skills and competences (pedagogical, communication and managerial), The current eligibility criteria (5 years experience in an educational institution and compulsory training for principals) are more or less formal norms that do not provide comprehensive picture of the candidates' profile. Therefore, systematic, objective and effective recruitment process is missing.
•	There is no attractive school leaders' salary. It is about 100 Euro more that the average net wage in the country (approximately 340 Euro in June 2013 (State Statistical Office of the Republic of Macedonia 2013)) and about 60 Euro more than the average teacher salary. So many principal candidates with high potential do not apply for this position because the financial reward does not correspond to the enormous workload, responsibilities and pressures they will face with.
•	There is no active professional association of school leaders in Macedonia that will enable them to be actively engaged in the process of policy making, thus contribute to shaping the conditions in which they work
These indicators shows that this lever is weak element in the process of school leadership professionalization in Macedonia and there is an urgent need for envisioning strategies, programmes and incentives that will make school leadership more attractive profession.
Conclusion
School leadership development is one of the key priorities of the educational policy in Macedonia. It is acknowledged that 'new times require new principals - managers, who are able to develop real and quality developmental plans of the educational institutions, who are good organizers, communicators, motivators, decision makers and executers, team leaders and evaluators.' (National Programme for the Development of Education in the Republic of Macedonia 2006, 338). During the past few years the legislative foundation of school leaders' professionalization is established. But, the results of various research, analyses and insight from observation of the work of school principals point to their inadequate preparation for the performance of this complex and responsible assignment. Therefore 'the theory' needs to be reexamined and further developed by coordinated action of the policy makers, higher education institutions and school leader themselves in order to create a system of efficient initial education and professional development of school leaders. It should be based on the general trends, but also on the in-depth analysis of the current situation in the country in order to avoid the risk of rushed, partial and inefficient changes and bridge the gap between the education policies and practices.
On the practical level the main issue of Macedonian school leadership as well education in general is its politicization. The school leaders' selection and work needs to be based on effective, objective and transparent criteria, and not on political membership and/or suitability. The school principals have enough complex professional burdens to carry; they don't need political issues as well. Acting in a changing environment they need to stay committed with their primary task, namely enabling students to learn. And they can do that only with professional leadership.
References
Hargreaves, A., G. Halasz, and B. Pont. 2008. 'The Finnish Approach to System Leadership.' In Improving School Leadership, vol. 2, Case Studies on System Leadership, edited by B. Pont, D. Nusche and D. Hopkins, 69-102. Paris: oecd.
Leithwood, K., C. Day, P. Sammons, A. Harris, and D. Hopkins. 2006. Successful School Leadership: What It Is and How It Influences Pupil Learning. Nottingham: ncsl.
Joiner, C. W. 2008. Leadership for Change. Cambridge, ma: Ballinger.
Miovska-Spaseva, S., and D. Andonovska-Trajkovska. 2013. Vodstvo vo
obrazovanieto: priracnik za obucuvanje vodaci vo obrazovanieto. Amsterdam: Nederlandse School Voor Onderwijsmanagement; Skopje: Faculty of Philosophy. Miovska-Spaseva, S., D. Andonovska-Trajkovska, and N. Selimi. 2013. Vodstvo vo obrazovanieto. Amsterdam: Nederlandse School Voor Onderwijsmanagement; Skopje: Faculty of Philosophy. National Programme for the Development of Education in the Republic of Macedonia 2005-2015 with Accompanying Programme Documents. 2006. Skopje: Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Macedonia.
oecd. 2010. pisa 2009 Results: What Makes a School Successful?
Resources, Policies and Practices. Vol. 4. Paris: oecd. Pont, B., D. Nusche, and H. Moorman. 2008. Improving School
Leadership. Vol 1, Policy and Practice. Paris: oecd. 'Programa za polaganje na ispit za direktor na osnovno uciliste.' 2005.
Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, no. 36. State Statistical Office of the Republic of Macedonia. 2013. News Release,
27 September. http://www.stat.gov.mk/pdf/2013/4.1.13.82.pdf Teddlie, C., and D. Reynolds. 2000. The International Handbook of School
Effectiveness Research. London: Falmer. 'The Education Modernization Project and Strategic Priorities in the
Education System.' 2004. World Bank, Washington, dc. Townsend, T., ed. 2007. International Handbook ofSchool Effectiveness
and Improvement. Dordrecht: Springer. 'Zakon za izmenuvanje i dopolnuvanje na Zakonot za osnovno
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i-fl How to Remain Balanced When ^ Developing a New Kind of Leadership
-a
cd J
o 0
Dan Roger Sträng
0stfold University College, Norway
Dag Sormo
0stfold University College, Norway
In this paper we will discuss the process of creating and implementing an efficient dialogue between educational leaders and researchers in a collaborative relationship. The dialogue was originally intended to help the leaders find new and effective ways to ^ improve their leadership through reflective practice. A way of doing this was implementing a mentoring leadership which eventually ended up with a frustrated staff and questions of how educational leaders can attach to a new kind of leadership without losing their ' ^H identity. Reflective practice may lead to learning and growth for the whole organization, but changing an organizational culture is complex and challenging for those involved. Keywords: collaborative dialogue, reflective practice, educational leadership
&
Introduction
Organizations are always looking for ways to improve their performance in order to maintain a more competitive edge (Asplund and Blacksmith 2012). A popular way of improving is introducing new forms of leadership. In this chapter we will present a minor research project, focusing on the process of creating and implementing an efficient dialogue about reflective practice between a group of educational leaders and researchers in a collaborative research relationship (Fox and Faver 1984; Ley and Gentry 2000). The dialogue was originally based on mutual beliefs of the potential of reflective practice, independent of professional differences and individual standings. Collaborative working relationships help the sharing of successful practices and the provision of support (Fullan 1991; Hargreaves and Dawe 1990; Little 1990). Communication and joint work provide required pressure and support needed for getting things done.
In our dialogue we wanted to reconcile and challenge existing conditions at the educational leader's workplace, a cooper-
leadership in education Special Issue | 2014 | 97-109
ative preschool. We expressed the importance of reflective practice by discussing and evaluating what to do and which changes that eventually could be made. Establishing reflective practice is, however, complex, because the participants have to reflect both on different aspects of daily work and their own cultural identity (Thorsen and DeVore 2013). Aware of this we tried to find an effective strategy for promoting reflection, irrespected of representation and authority in different contexts. In our dialogue we searched for themes that would reassure the educational leaders to explain and understand amendments of their daily work. As researchers with limited knowledge of educational leadership in preschool, we looked for useful approaches of compatible understanding (Sträng 1997) to attain excellence and flow in our research relationship. Csikszentmihalyi (1997) points out that flow is likely to occur when an individual is faced with a task that has some clear goals that require specific responses. Flow also may appear when a person's skills are fully involved in overcoming a challenge that is just about manageable, so it acts as a magnet for learning new skills and increasing challenges. If challenges are too big, one can return to the flow state by learning new skills. For an effective dialogue our collaborative research relationship had to be balanced and well-reasoned, involving all members in a respectable way.
Constructive Orientation
Every complex system depends on clear communication. Communication skills allow leaders to perform their role more effectively, but worldwide surveys confirm that prospective and current employees do not always meet the expected standards of communication within the organization (Buhler and Worden 2013). Integrative communication is positive but will maybe not lead to improve the activities of the system. A challenge for leaders is the ability to create an effective dialogue about the need for constant change adaptation and flexibility, whilst remaining faithful to the overall goals and everyday planning. A way of facing this challenge is to develop leadership skills built on regular and purposeful reflective practice (Bell and Mladenovic 2013). In literature there is an agreement of reflective practice as a good measure of development, however there are different ideas of how this should be undertaken. Schön (1973) argues that social systems must learn to become capable of transforming themselves without an inap-
propriate threat to the essential functions, but with steady focus on their ability to support the self-identity of those who belong to them. As defined by Schön (1983), reflective practice involves thoughtfully considering one's own experiences in applying knowledge to practice, while being mentored by professionals in the discipline.
Reflective practice has become a common term used to describe a variety of activities in order to transform an organization into a learning system. A general view is that reflective activities will not be successful if the participants do not view them as important enough to assimilate into their practice. Accordingly where reflective practice is being newly implemented it is important for leaders to ensure that consideration is given to how activities are received by staff and stakeholders (Ledvinka 2006; Burton and Mc-Namara 2009). The organization must learn to create effect of the transformation and diffusion of the whole system (Schön 1973). With this in mind our dialogue over time focused on a constructive orientation, with the participants making their contributions solution more focused, future oriented and collaborative (Browning, Morris and Kee 2012).
Educational Leaders in Reflective Practice
Educational leaders engage in reflective practice for distinct purposes. Among these are the wish to adjust their methods of leadership and finding better ways to understand and meet the needs of their staff and stakeholders. Within their sphere of influence on how to affect change and development, they can pursue areas of great impact and better communicate up, down and sideways (Gore and Zeichner 1991; LaBoskey 1994; Thorsen and DeVore 2013; 2013; Van Manen 1977). An important dimension of educational leadership can be understood as participating in everyday work-activities, rather than seen as distinct from these (Larsson and Lundholm 2010). Organizational learning requires strategies for making systematic analysis and reflection more likely throughout different levels of the organization. The leaders must learn to effect the transformation and diffusion of the system in applying knowledge to practice, while being mentored by professionals. Bascia and Hargreaves (2000) emphasises that traditional hierarchical notions of leadership will not succeed, because the understanding and commitment of everyone involved is fundamental to what happens, regardless of policies and plans. Reflective practice
as a communication process also means that organizational members will need increased dialogic skills (Levin and Riffel 2000).
The presumed impact of mentoring on organizational learning made us ask ourselves how our research dialogue could be designed to facilitate educational leaders implementing reflective practice as method for communication (Bell and Mladenovic 2013). Research indicates that time and opportunities to reflect and ensuring access to a mentor for continuing professional development are important steps for promoting reflective practice. The mentor will challenge the thinking of educational leaders and encourage them to look at things from multiple perspectives instead of repeating old standpoints and habits (Colmer 2008; Kin-sella 2009). We believed that our relationship had the ability to engage the educational leaders in effective communication, emphatic listening, personal learning and self-reflection (Kram and Ragins 2007). Relational mentoring characterized of members influence and influenced by each other (Ragins 2005) was a possible move forward to reflective practice.
In a collaborative relationship the members will participate through available modes of relating. If the relationship is enough safe and interesting, mutual exchanges of new ideas may lead to new modes of relations and motivations for change. A high-quality mentoring relationship is the result of individual, relational and organizational factors (Hall and Las Heras 2012). We considered that the frequency and depth of mentoring episodes with reflecting teams would strengthen the relational trust and make for a high-quality work relationship (Pratt and Dirks 2007; Wieselquist etal. 1999).
The Start of Our Dialogue: CARIB
Our relationship started with the educational leaders searching for new ways of developing their leadership and thus asked us, as experienced mentors, for assistance. As researchers we had a professional interest in the methodological challenge as an alternative to traditional leadership development and agreed to the suggested dialogue. The frame of a collaborative research relation was an opportunity to get a closer look on something new and exciting. Gjedde and Ingemann (2008) talk about the pre-reflexive experience, which has not reached the realm of conscious expression and might not even do so. To capture the complexity of experience and handle the experimental processes we had to design a suitable processual methodology. The outcome was a minor re-
search and development project 'Culture Analysis and Reflective Processes in Preschool (cArib),' a play on words, born out of the Norwegian word for preschool, 'Barnehage.'
We decided to use mentoring with reflective teams (Andersen 1991) as work tool, manifested by a series of internal mentoring episodes for the educational leaders. The idea of reflective teams was originally developed within the therapeutic field. The concept of reflective teams has spread from the original therapeutic context and is nowadays applied in a wider organizational context. Reflective teams have been a common method in connection with team mentoring and team appraisals (Hornstrup and Loehr-Petersen 2003). The implicit value of a reflective team is to provide new information. Andersen (1987) notices that reflective teams allow an increased exchange of pictures and explanations. By sharing their views, each participant receives different interpretations of reality. These differences will add new perspectives to each person's picture, as an ecology of ideas. In this process all participants must respect that everyone has the right to remain the way that they are. This applies as well to the relationship between and within groups, where group members have to acknowledge other members need to retain their patterns as an autonomous system, with only themselves knowing how and when they are ready to change its structure.
In the project we were supposed to mentor the educational leaders, as well as develop the ongoing collaborative research dialogue. Andersen (1987) concludes that each new way might come from not being able to continue any longer in the same way, and being a participant is better than remaining an observer. This convinced us of the potential of our strategy, despite its complexity. Nonetheless we discovered rather soon that mentoring was not enough for the educational leaders to change their daily work in preschool. Skills and knowledge had to be distributed to all personnel. The emphasis was that staff needed mentoring from their leaders who consequently would have to mentor their staff. All personnel would thus benefit from leadership mentoring and supposedly learn mentoring skills for developing their own team and work more effectively (Tolhurst 2006).
To launch these extended activities we needed a clearer view of what was going on in preschool, from another perspective than the leaders. In order to get this knowledge we decided to begin our project with a culture analysis, according to the 'scope for action' school development strategy (Berg 2003) among all staff members.
Cultural Analysis
The 'scope for action' strategy comprises identifying the salient features of a current culture of a given school, as well as the limits determined by policy documents regulating daily work. This enables those involved to discover the existing, but maybe not visible, scope for action within the prevalent culture. In the cultural analysis, the dialogic interaction progresses simultaneously on several levels, partly between texts in the form of letter statements and the concepts of the scope for action model. The existing cultural features are discovered by asking all staff members to write an open and free letter in which they express how they experience their daily life at school (Berg, Namdar and Sträng 2011). Generally the model can be seen as a dialogue within the text of letters by writers with similar voices (Sträng 2011).
This dialogue promotes a collective study of phenomena in everyday work life, in which different perspectives and aspects are being visualized. The varied contexts, frameworks and processes indicate that cultural analyses sometimes need to be balanced with a more thorough and detailed situation analysis. The purpose of the cultural analysis is not primarily to achieve a mutual understanding, but to maintain a broader understanding of everyday life from the individual's point of view. The facts and findings of the cultural analysis can lead to different understandings of what actually happens in daily work and give us important knowledge of the values and motivations among the individuals in the organization. The scope for action is defined by Berg (2003) as a strategic process, enclosing the relations between how the activities of school as both an organization and an institution imposes on schools daily work. Berg emphasizes that how the thoughts of a scope for action is received depends on the knowledge, skills and attitudes of the individual school actors.
The use of cultural analysis as an analysis instrument from school research to examine daily life in preschool was somewhat questionable. We realised that we could end up off the edge, but we found the outspoken points of language and terminology as generally conservative influence on creative thinking. Gjedde and Ingemann (2008) express that in order to explore the hidden undertones when concepts are transplanted from one arena to another there is a need of an experimental methodology.
In the project we performed three rounds of cultural analyses among preschool staff. The results were perceptibly different. The initial analysis gave us a shattered impression of a preschool cul-
ture with opposite views of relations between leaders and staff. Some informants were saying that their leaders wanted everyone to be happy and took a motherly care of all staff members. Others were openly critical and mentioned that there was a big distance between the two groups. When we discussed the result with the educational leaders they were astonished and critical to the relevance of our analysis. This discussion was a crucial moment of our research relation, where our mutual understanding of a collaborative dialogue was threatened. One year later we launched a second round of letter writing. In most of these letters one could find proposals of critical but constructive ways of how to strengthen the relations between leaders and staff, in order to adopt the available scope for action. The previous dialectic polarity had almost vanished.
After participating in a series of mentoring sessions, the educational leaders were at last ready to mentor their personnel and continue the reflective processes that according to the letters obviously had started. We designed a model of reflecting groups to embrace a mentoring leadership as an outcome of our research dialogue. The first months with this 'new' kind of leadership were non-problematical, but occasionally things started to go wrong. Intensive mentoring from the educational leaders, aiming at reflection rather than traditional leadership brought to confusion and anger. Staff members experienced how their scope for action decreased whilst the distance between staff and leaders once again was increased. To examine this alarming tendency we decided to perform a third round of letter writing. This time the letters told us stories of an almost farcical leadership, without neither goals nor methods for developing. The overall wish of educational leaders as persons with abilities of exerting influence over others and inspire, motivate and direct their personnel to reach organizational goals was far away. The new mentoring leadership emerged all in all as a contra productive obstacle to prosperity and development in preschool.
Concluding Remarks
A theme of our dialogue was how the educational leaders would confront the different views of their staff how their leadership should be maintained. We focused on leadership legacy as a way of increasing the relational and communicative skills among leaders and staff. We also had to increase our knowledge of cultural
understanding both in theory and practice. Our initial belief in the importance of reflective practice remained, but we noticed there were more difficulties of implementing a new leadership in a preschool culture than we had presumed there would be. Schein (2006) concludes that leadership and culture must be looked at collectively, neither can be understood by itself. Leaders must be conscious of culture, otherwise it will manage them. Cultural understanding is essential if leaders are to lead. In our project we discovered that the initial discourse of learning from experience was primarily transformed into learning about experience (Williams 2013).
Professional groups seldom have similar cultures, although the organizational culture as a whole can be a cohesive element. Developing staff and leaders from a cultural perspective can be hazardous activities. Schein (2006) tell us that attempts to change organizational culture from the inside can be harmful, especially in a context where cultural aspects are taken for granted. Emotional investments make people defensive or aggressive. In our project we also found that the factors of structure and function across the differing cultures of staff members were specular to executive stress and the moral dilemmas among the leaders (Hodgkinson 1996). In our dialogue we proceeded from a holistic view on staff and leaders in preschool, not as isolated parts, but as members of the same organizational context. A closer look on the real interplay between formal steering and informal influences would likely have given us a deeper cultural understanding (Sträng 2011).
After the latest round of letters our dialogue turned into a discussion of how educational leaders can attach to a mentoring leadership without losing their identity as leaders. Sundström, De Meuse, and Futrell (1990) argue that when boundaries become too lose, teams get overwhelmed and might even lose their identity. Movement across boundaries and traditions create challenges as the need to redefine one's identity. A particular problem is when one's skills become less relevant or salient to the actual needs of collaboration (Dibble and Gibson 2012). In recent years there has been a growing understanding of the importance of the relationship between the leader and follower (Kark 2012). The focuses on relationships in leadership theories have become more explicit. Tolhurst (2006) speaks of a distributed leadership structure, where more staff will be taking on a leadership role.
In our collaborative dialogue we had designed and implemented a strategy of leader education and development, including cultural analysis and mentoring of leaders and staff. The outcome 104
was undoubtedly an increased reflectiveness among the participants, but also an increasing malaise and disturbance. We knew in advance that changes of cultures require a major investment of time and resources. A challenge for all embedded in a certain culture is to recognize the self-constructed parts and what is taken for granted.
In the end of the project we tried to define the reality of implementing mentoring leadership in preschool. According to Tolhurst (2006) we had succeeded in involving all staff from the beginning and how to investigate their knowledge of mentoring in organizations. At the same time we had failed to proper explain the aim of our project to all actors. Within our dialogue we had also failed in creating a shared definition of mentoring.
Developing leadership is a question of reciprocity, including the important obligation of sharing knowledge. In our dialogue we did share knowledge and experience, but we failed to create a mutual understanding of the complex process of change. Ful-lan (2004) says that if knowledge is not mutually shared, it will not be adequately developed and thus not fully available to the organization. Inspite of our failings we ended up with a continuing will to create an adequate strategy for mentoring leadership. We did not primarily search for an expandable scope for action (Berg 2003), only how to find and create new ways of including all staff members in a collaborative dialogue. The use of reflecting teams helped us with the possible dilemma of both-and and neither-nor (Andersen 1987).
The educational leaders are once again located in a culture of change, facing all its challenges. A possible clue to success is the establishment of a more mutual, collaborative and fluid relationship between the leader and follower (Fletcher 2007; Kark 2012). According to Fletcher (2007) relational leaderships may result in outcomes of positive learning and growth for the people involved, as well as the organization. Research on reflective practice has shown that effective practice is connected to critical thinking and reflection that is beneficial for professional development (Blaik Hourani 2013).
An important question both for us and the educational leaders is how to remain balanced when developing a new kind of leadership? To answer this question we wish to continue our dialogue, this time focusing on how to create and re-establish the organizational balance that was interrupted, while we were all occupied by implementing mentoring leadership as reflective practice in preschool.
References
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i-fl School Inspections and Principals' ^ Leadership: A Swedish Case Study
-a
cd J
0
Mats Lundgren
University of Dalarna, Sweden
Ina von Schantz Lundgren
University of Dalarna, Sweden
This article is about how criticism from the Swedish Schools Inspectorate affects principals' leadership. The result builds on experiences from an on-going case study that started in the beginning of 2011 and that will be finished in 2015. We present two ^ examples where the local school management and principals try to improve the activities on the basis of the Schools Inspectorate's report. The first example consists of a so called research circle where we as researchers together with a principal and a group of teachers ^H try to develop instruments to meet criticism of shortcomings in an
unsafe school environment and poor study environment. The second ^^ example describes how the municipality initiated a development ^^ project (prio) where schools chart their own needs of development
and how they are supposed to take action in order to respond to ^J criticism from the Schools Inspectorate.
^^ Keywords: leadership in education, Schools Inspectorate, principals' leadership
Introduction
By all accounts, national education systems are becoming increasingly similar. This is often referred to as the Global Education Reform Movement (germ) (see, for example, Sahlberg 2011). It is reasonable to assume that a driving factor behind this is the results from international tests like timss, pirls and pisA. The results of these tests also reinforce the image of the central role that education is supposed to play in the prosperity and future development of a country, and perhaps also in the national self-image. Ball (2003; 2004; 2006; 2008) has described how this has come to dominate educational discourse, both globally and nationally. It is becoming likely that as a result, governments would like to tighten their control over their respective national education system. A means of dealing with this is to establish a Schools Inspectorate, which presumably would affect the local school management and the measurements taken by principals to address detected defi-
leadership in education Special Issue | 2014 | 109-123
ciencies. When the outcome of an inspection is made public, it is also expected to result in indirect effects because of the pressure that the surroundings put on the principals to take action (de Wolf and Janssens 2007). Case, Case and Catling (2000) describe this as a way to show educational accountability for the potential scrutiny of a wider audience. Publishing the results also gives the impression that national politicians have control over schools and that can legitimize inspections.
Lindgren et al. (2012) argue that inspections force individual schools to take responsibility for their own successes and failures. Ehren and Visscher (2006) claim that the effects of school inspections present a mixed picture and generally bring little improvement in the quality of teaching and learning (see, for example, Earley 1998; Gray and Wilcox 1995; Kogan and Maden 1999). However, events and processes that continuously take place in organizations are complex and uncoordinated, and managers are not always able to oversee and control these processes (Bolman and Deal 2005). As early as the mid-1900s, Simon (1945) told us that our knowledge of and ability to predict human behaviour is limited and that individuals do not always act in a rational and predictable way (see also Bolman and Deal 2005). Ehren and Visscher (2006, with reference to Wilcox and Gray 1996) maintain that principals rarely convert recommendations from inspections into broader visions or strategies. Instead, they use the results for their own purposes. It is, accordingly, difficult to know what effects school inspections have because, among other things, they can be difficult to ascertain or they occur long after a measure has been implemented, so-called dynamic complexity (see, for example, Senge 1990). However, it is nonetheless likely that inspections affect the actions principals take. It seems possible to detect that school inspections do have some short-term effects. Immediately after an inspection, school managers assign principals the task of drawing up action plans, which are subsequently reported to the Schools Inspectorate (see, for example, Lundgren and von Schantz Lundgren 2011; Lundgren, von Schantz Lundgren and Nytell, 2012). However, we know little about how these plans are implemented. There is a lack of knowledge as to what long-term effects the proposed measures give rise to. Furthermore, it is unknown just how long principals believe they have to take action as a response to the findings by the Schools Inspectorate.
The purpose of this article is to describe and discuss how the local school management and principals within a municipality
Teachers
Ml
Principals	g
figure i	'Middle layer'
System Improvement Requires	(3
Integration and Coordination
across Every Level (adapted from	Centre
McKinsey&Company 2010, 92)
have dealt with the deficiencies that were revealed when their schools were visited by the Schools Inspectorate.
Inspection of Schools Puts the Principal in Focus
Organizational models, management and controls used in the private sector are now being used in the public sector. This movement is known as known as New Public Management (npm). A prominent characteristic of npm is that superordinate levels are thought to be able to influence the actions of subordinates through sanctions and rewards (Christensen et al. 2005).
Two reports by McKinsey (McKinsey&Company 2007; 2010) describe the structure of national education systems that have been successful for many years as well as the way they are managed and checked. One of these reports (McKinsey&Company 2010) presents a model on how to understand the way successful education systems work. The model (see figure 1) describes how an educational system consists of four levels: centre, 'middle layer,' principals and teachers.
The state (centre) has the overall task, based on the ideal image of the school as it is described in official policy documents, to check the way in which schools function. In education systems where there is a national Schools Inspectorate, the inspectorate has the responsibility for the control of school activities. Bolman and Deal (2005, citing Mintzberg 1979) distinguishes between control of performance and control of activity plans. The Swedish Schools Inspectorate focuses on four areas: 1) efficiency and results, 2) educational leadership and school improvement, 3) the school environment, and 4) pupil rights (sou 2007). The Schools Inspectorate only reports deviations from the ideal image, whereas what is perceived to work is not of interest.
Initiating	Implementing Institutionalization
Time
figure 2 Processes of Change in Organizations (adapted from from Ekholm 1990)
When there is a national middle level,1 the duty of this level is to act as a link between the state and the local level. At the local level, the responsibility is put on the local school management and the principals. Within the school, it is the principals who are responsible for addressing the shortcomings. However, it is well-known as a result of implementation research (see, for example, Ekholm 1990) that processes of change take time and undergo several phases, which more or less overlap (see figure 2).
When a process of change is initiated, established patterns of behaviour already exist that are institutionalized, or 'anchored' by the operators concerned. The time to initiate and implement organizational change depends, among other things, on how extensive and profound the changes referred to are and to what extent the current changes lie with the times, for example, in line with current educational policy discourse. Processes of change can last for a number of years before the planned changes have been institutionalized (Ekholm 1990). In reality, planned changes happen rarely in the way that the initiators intend as organizations are complex. There may also be actors who oppose the planned changes. Institutionalized behavioural patterns are accordingly resistant to change and thus create stability.
Collection of Data
This article is based on a case study which is a part of the research project 'What makes a difference, 2.0?' in a Swedish municipality. The research project started in January 2011 when the Schools Inspectorate reported the results from a 2010 inspection. The project intends to study how schools successfully deal with the deficiencies as noted by the Schools Inspectorate and will continue until the end of 2015. The results build further on what we pre-
1 In Sweden, there is no 'middle layer' connected to a regional level.
viously reported in two papers (Lundgren and von Schantz Lun-dgren 2011; Lundgren, von Schantz Lundgren. and Nytell 2012). Since the case study was initiated, data have been continuously collected using several different methods, so-called triangulation (Cohen, Manion, and Morrison, 2007). We have carried out observations in a series of meetings during the almost three years that have passed since the Schools Inspectorate visited the studied municipality. We have conducted school visits and studied both the Schools Inspectorate's reports, as well as the municipality's response to these. The first response from the municipality was delivered in April 2011 and then a second response came after the Schools Inspectorate had carried out a further visit in March 2012. Data have also been collected through three surveys conducted during this time period, as well as through interviews and informal conversations with principals, teachers, and the school management in the municipality.
Results
The results are presented in relation to two of the three phases, initiation and implementation, as described in the implementation model (see figure 2). Firstly, we briefly discuss what happened when the Schools Inspectorate presented its feedback; after this we give two examples of measures that have begun to be initiated and implemented.
The Results from the Inspection Are Reported
A fundamental criticism from the Swedish Schools Inspectorate (Skolinspektionen 2010, 5) was that 'all pupils are not given the opportunity to achieve their educational goals' and they urged the municipality to take action. One reason for the critique was that only 70 percent of the pupils in primary schools achieved the learning goals in all subjects in year 9 in 2010 compared with a national average of 77 percent. Another reason was that the rating average merit score for the schools was in this case lower than the national average. The results had also deteriorated over the previous five years. The Schools Inspectorate made the following remarks, among others, about actions that the local school management had to take (Lundgren and von Schantz Lundgren 2011).
The municipality must take measures to ensure that the principals are taking even more responsibility for carrying out its
mission. The municipality needs to improve monitoring and evaluation at a municipal level. [Skolinspektionen 2010]
The municipality responded that its intention was to carry out a review of the organization and also to introduce a quality management system that was supposed to create better opportunities for the principals. In turn, the principals responded that they already more or less knew what they would be criticized for. However, a majority of the principals said that the report would be of great value for the development of their schools. They also saw this as a good opportunity to be able to correct the detected deficiencies (Lundgren and von Schantz Lundgren, 2011). Three years after the inspection was carried out, the majority of principals stated that new inspections in the future would affect their everyday actions.
Two Examples of Development Activities
The following section presents two examples of initiated development projects, which are stated to be a result of the Schools Inspectorate report. The first example consists of a research circle, where we, together with two principals and a group of teachers, try to develop measures in order to study and to counter criticism of shortcomings such as an unsafe school environment and the absence of a quiet study environment. The second example is a project, which was initiated by the local school management as part of a national project (prio)2 in which the studied municipality is one of the participants.
The Research Circle
A research circle consists of a group that collaborates with researchers in order to process a problem that the participants collectively have decided on (see, for example, Lundgren 2000; Lundgren et al. 2013). A research circle may initiate processes of change in the everyday work. The outcomes can be studied and corrected while these processes take place. The activities can also be seen as micro-research that is being conducted as a means of studying a phenomenon as a way to attain new knowledge and understanding.
2 The PRio model (Planning, Result, Initiative, and Organization) was initiated by the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (salar) and the City of Stockholm in cooperation with McKinsey&Company.
A research circle affords participants the opportunity to take part in 'educational dialogues,' where they can create a common frame of reference using and discussing literature. The free working form of the research circle allows the participants to choose problems and theoretical approaches as based on their everyday work (see, for example, Lundgren 2000). The school where the research circle is held has a principal, one of two, who has worked there for 14 years, which, according to our experiences, is quite unusual for a Swedish school. The school is situated in an area of low socioeconomic status, and more than half of the pupils in this school have a mother tongue other than Swedish. Many of these pupils are recent immigrants to Sweden. The school has some areas of specialization: sport, science and technology. The research circle started in autumn 2012 and will continue until spring 2014. Participation is voluntary and provides no special benefits in either assigned time or pay.
It was not that I was looking for anyone in particular, but it turned out that those who are often interested in other things also participate in this group. [Principal]3
The school principal describes those included in the circle as follows:
The research circle includes the principal, the assistant principal, five teachers and a local politician who has a connection to the school. [...] He is a retired teacher and runs a homework project at the school together with a Somali teacher. [Principal]
It is natural that the conditions that apply to participating in the research circle attract teachers who are interested in development. The group risks being seen as a threat by the other teachers, but perhaps some also see the importance of their colleagues being actively involved in the development of their school. The research circle meets on a regular basis every four to six weeks.
For these sessions, we write our reflections on the books used in the research circle. This is very interesting because you learn to understand how others think and how others express themselves. What we think we have in common, we
3 Our translation of all quotes in interviews.
may not have in common, while the things we express in different ways may instead be understood during our discussions. [Principal]
The principal also describes how teachers in the research circle have started reading books again, which many teachers do not have time to do (Lararforbundet 2013), but this also gives space to talk about their own activities in relation to the literature.
I see it as competence development for the teachers involved. [...] We jointly select the literature that we will use. It is a pretty democratic way to work. [Principal]
The principal believes that his participation in the research circle is necessary. As he puts it: 'I believe that as principal, I will better understand how teachers understand their mission.'
I have interviewed the participants. The first reflection I had was when one of the teachers said, 'I think the idea with the research circle is a good one, as everyone has to ask the question: Are we doing what we think we are doing?' It is not until one examines what one does that one can be sure that this is the case. [Principal]
The principal believes that another important function that the research circle fills is that it exposes problems in everyday life and thus creates space to reflect on and discuss possible measures to solve these problems.
We have chosen to study different things. We received, for example, remarks from the Schools Inspectorate stating that we lacked a quiet study environment for the pupils. [Principal]
The various problems that the participants in the research circle tackled may be seen as concrete examples of what the Schools Inspectorate describes as an unsafe school environment and a study environment lacking serenity, as perceived by the pupils. This resulted in a decision on the part of two teachers and the assistant principal to map areas outside the classroom, such as the hallways and public areas, and to consider, by extension, what could be done to improve safety for pupils. A retired teacher who works with homework help for pupils during their free time at school aimed to investigate the effect of the disruptive study environment, as perceived by pupils. A teacher aimed to study how
pupils understand the targets set for each lesson in the school, a routine that is part of a model that this school has used for a long time. The principal, along with a teacher, is interested in how pupils perceive their future prospects by examining how they talk about their prospective career choices and what they need to do to achieve these.
The PRIO Model: An Attempt to Work on a Broad Front
prio started in Sweden in early 2012 with two pilot schools and at the turn of 2012/2103 joined nine other Swedish municipalities. The municipality in this case study was one of those. The prio model is based on the results of studies of successful school systems made by McKinsey (McKinsey&Company 2007; 2010), as already mentioned, in some 20 countries around the world. One of the conclusions of the reports was that national school systems can be developed to work significantly better regardless of where they are at the moment. Another conclusion was that there must be balance between support and capacity-building measures and controls, as well as that the school itself must be responsible for its own development. The general goal of the prio model is to help raise the level of achievement results in Swedish schools through the initiation of processes and work methods that result in the school evolving into an organization of learning. This is supposed to be achieved by working to strengthen collegial collaboration and by school management directing resources to where they will do most good. The fact the municipality in this case has chosen the prio model can be seen as a broad attempt to face and deal with the shortcomings, often described in general terms and supported by legal text, that the Schools Inspectorate has highlighted. Examples of such shortcomings are as follows:
•	All pupils are not given the opportunity to achieve their educational goals
•	The municipality must ensure that all activities are goal-oriented to pre-empt and prevent unfair treatment
A 'project cycle,' according to the prio model, is implemented for 20 weeks, where the first five weeks are devoted to identifying and analyzing how the activities are conducted and communicated to the principal. The next five weeks are used to form working groups that develop a local working schedule. During the following 10 weeks, the teachers work, in collaboration with the
school principal, to implement the development plan the development plan that they have drawn up. The development work is generally focused on six areas of improvement:
1.	Goals and priorities
2.	Collaboration and team development
3.	Competence development
4.	Management
5.	Organization and resources
6.	Culture and attitudes
The development work is based on five basic principles:
•	The individual school 'owns' the project together with the local project management
•	The development processes should be based on facts
•	The focus is on the organization and on developing processes that enable the creation of good teaching opportunities
•	The teachers have the educational responsibility
•	The work should be characterized by openness and transparency
The first school started its development work in the spring semester 2013 and in the autumn semester 2013 another school joined. The long-term goal is that all schools in the municipality will eventually use the prio model. The responsibility for the project lies with a steering group consisting of an education committee chairman and senior officials responsible for school issues in the municipality. To run the project, there are two project managers, both of whom have previously worked as principals in the municipality, which they see as valuable experience for the carrying out of this task. The two project managers say that they have the necessary conditions to carry out the project successfully (meeting was held on 2 May 2013). 'It feels like this is a tool, an approach, a process that we have long sought' (Project Manager A). One of the two project leaders feels that the mapping that has already been carried out in one of the schools managed to identify key problems, which will help to create real changes in activities.
This tool is developed for schools, as a foundation in development processes. [...] Now we are suddenly talking about tangible things. [Project Manager B]
The fundamental idea is that a principal knows only a few of the problems that exist in operations, problems which in turn can be part of a larger number of complex issues.
The feeling you have as a principal is that you may not have enough time to do this mapping, the analysis you would need to do on your own school. If they use this tool, it will create a systematic quality improvement process based on the situation and needs of each unit. We think this would be interesting. [Project Manager A]
By having staff identify and visualize specific problems, based on their own perspectives, it will also be possible to discuss how these problems can be resolved.
The individuals do the development work, without any rules from above, other than the legal requirements and the rules that the governing documents impose on us. [...] It sends signals, not only to the unit, but it gives signals and requirements at all levels, from top to bottom throughout the organization. [Project Manager B]
This way of working places the responsibility for the development work on the individual school and its staff. The role of the principal becomes that of an 'enabler' who creates opportunities and supports the development work.
Discussion and Conclusions
The purpose of this article, which is based on an ongoing case study, has been to describe and discuss how local school management and principals are able to deal with the deficiencies that are revealed after their schools are visited by the Schools Inspectorate. The result is interpreted in relation to the fact that the Swedish government, in recent years, has undertaken a series of reforms in the school system based on npm. In this case study, the focus is on the re-establishment of the Schools Inspectorate in 2008 (sou 2007) and the possible effects of this for principals. The Schools Inspectorate is supposed to verify that schools are meeting formal requirements and that the pupils are performing in relation to the curriculum. Our interpretation also relates to McKinsey's two reports (McKinsey&Company 2007; 2010), which describe functioning school systems from around the world (see figure 1). The results of these reports have had a wide impact in Swedish schools.
The results show how the state (the centre), indirectly supported by the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (salar), tries to control and develop schools by NPM-inspired means, for example, by using objectives, results and inspections. This form of governance is based on, as McKinsey (McKinsey &Company 2007; 2010) has shown, the fact that the different parts of the school system have to support each other. From the way that the Swedish school system is governed conducted, it is obvious that the principals will be in focus, as they are the ones who under the Education Act are responsible for operations. Principals are, as a result of this, exposed to pressure from many different directions, such as the state (the centre) and school management ('the middle layer'). Inspections also affect the role of principals in relation to teachers, not least because a commonly recurring criticism from the Schools Inspectorate is that principals do not follow up pupils' performance and hence do not take necessary measures when the pupils' results are poor. How this affects the principals' relationship to teachers is unclear, but it could conceivably have a negative impact if the teachers feel that they are being more controlled rather than supported. Principals are also subjected to pressure from parents and the public. As there are only deviations that are reported, there is risk if a school appears to be functioning poorly, this may also affect the perception of parents and the public. This could have negative consequences for a single school as pupils in Sweden can choose freely between schools.
The requirement of principals to address the deficiencies found can thus be seen as far-reaching. In the first phase, after the inspection was made, the school management in the municipality asked principals to describe why there were deviations and also to create action plans in order to answer the Schools Inspectorate. In the next phase, when the action plans were completed, the principals were supposed to act in order to remedy the deficiencies. Two examples of actions were selected to illustrate this. In the first example, the research circle, the interest was directed towards specific problems in a school, pupil safety, and the atmosphere inside and outside the classroom. Some effects were immediately visible. The most obvious was that the research circle had created a place where principals, teachers and researchers could come together to define problems and study how the problems manifested themselves. It was then also possible to formulate a picture of the situation, communicate this to colleagues and also initiate concrete actions. It could be said that this school had started to create an internal development organization. According to 120
our experience, this is lacking in many schools, as focus is usually on dealing with the problems that crop up in everyday work. The second example describes a broader effort, undertaken on the initiative of school management, using the prio model. The idea is that all schools in the municipality will be covered at a later stage. However, there is for the moment only one school that has implemented a project cycle and one that has started. The presumption was that in this way, schools would be able to develop an ability to develop on their own.
A conclusion from this case study is that local school management and principals tried to develop tools that would engage the staff so that they could process the problems that the Schools Inspectorate had pointed out. However, it is reasonable to assume that schools will always face new problems, which need to be addressed, and that principals accordingly must focus on how their school is able to continuously improve. It is also known from previous research (see, for example, Ekholm 1990) that it may take several years from the time an action is initiated until it has been implemented for lasting effects to be detectable. The formal deficiencies, such as plans that do not meet the formal legal requirements, will, in most cases, be resolved as will the minor deficiencies. The fact that schools better comply with formal requirements for documentation purposes may be viewed as an improvement. However, how this correlates with a better education for pupils or improved results in tests like pisa, timmss or pirls remains an unanswered question. It is also an open question whether it is possible to solve, even in the long term, problems that are related to the fact that a school is a complex organization with a complex mission. As we see it, there is a risk that this will lead to increased emphasis from the centre on aspects that are possible to document, while elusive processes in the school are only described in general terms. Such a development would lead both to increased administrative control of principals as well as to principals themselves increasing their administrative control of teachers instead of focusing on their own pedagogical leadership. This raises a still unanswered question, that being, do inspections of schools contribute to development or do they maintain the current situation instead?
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i-fl	The Leadership of the Special
^	Educator in the Management
0	of the Inclusive Classroom
^	Zora Jachova
^	Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Macedonia
J Ö
ft
cc
ÍH ft
Maja Filipovska
Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Macedonia
The specific nature of the education for hearing-impaired children ^^ requires implementation of support models within the learning
process. This indicates the need of providing training for the teachers ^^ and leadership of special educators in the inclusive classrooms. Our ^^ aim was to determine if the leadership of the special educator affects
the management of the inclusive classroom where a hearing-^^ impaired student is included. Our quantitative-qualitative research ^^ showed that the support model provided by a peripatetic support ^^ teacher proved to be a theory that appropriately functions in real ^^ practice, according to the improvements in all the examined areas following the special educator's advising.
Keywords: classroom management, inclusion, hearing-impaired student, leadership in education
Introduction
All teachers are challenged when it comes to managing an entire classroom filled with variety of characters, needs and ways of learning of the students. However, being an effective teacher implies having good classroom management skills. Yet the situation slightly changes when a regular classroom becomes an inclusive classroom. Then the teacher has the need of upgrading his/her skills in order to maintain the classroom as a place suitable for learning. In such teaching scenarios the special educator leads the regular teacher through the specifics of hearing-impaired students' knowledge acquisition.
Taking into account that inclusive education is now established as the main imperative intended for the children with special needs (Geoff 2003), we wanted to address the role of special educators in the process of including a hearing-impaired student. Therefore we firstly elaborate the concept of inclusion and explain the theoretical support models for students with hearing impair-
leadership in education Special Issue | 2014 | 125-141
ments and present our case study in all of its phases and results that we gained.
The inclusion of children with special educational needs in regular schools confronts society with serious requirements. It can be said the inclusion is technically simple, but socially complex (Jachova 2011, 451). The complexity of inclusion is fundamentally related to the reality of schools and other educational environments, especially the dimension of inclusion called 'culture.' Even though inclusion as a philosophy has existed for many years, today we still talk about the development of an inclusive culture.
It is a fact that the inclusion is a process (Jachova et al. 2002) that requires time and series of changes. According to this, we define inclusion as transformation of us, of the schools, the system and of the societies (Jachova 2004).
Some educators think that the terms inclusion and integration refer to the same concept however they are often used incorrectly. The concept of inclusion was drawn from the concept of integration when in the 1990s both, a new term and a new agenda were adopted (Lise 2003). In that time the advantages of the new concept were recognized.
Inclusion is a postmodern concept where the person is in the center of the system, due to the network structure of the institutions. In addition to being a modern concept, integration establishes a hierarchically connected base of institutions. When a person is integrated it means that s/he is assimilated in the new environment. That requires the person to change in order to match the setting. Inclusion, however, is not trying to achieve normalization, but respects the individuality of the person. It maintains the identity of the individual that means that the environment changes to meet the needs of that individual (Jachova 2008).
In summary, inclusion means (unesco 2000, 35):
•	more than 'being there;'
•	taking part;
•	valued for what you are;
•	a process, not a state;
•	involving everybody;
•	efficient and effective;
•	more than integration;
•	participation and learning;
•	identifying barriers in and out of school;
•	mobility and human resources;
•	network;
•	partnerships.
It is a constant challenge applying theory to practice. When it comes to education, the prominent function of theory is providing an orientation base for reflection on practice (Willy 2009). In other words, the theory provides us with a frame for further practical action. The complexity of inclusion is evident, so the connection theory-practice for the children with special needs in regular schools represents an additional problem. The special educator takes the leading role in such situations.
The education of the hard of hearing children is specific. Hearing impairment affects the children's language, speech and communication (Kirk et al. 2009, 338). This has direct impact on their education and ways of acquiring knowledge. The language is always connected to the process of thinking. Because of their incomplete speech foundations, the development of child's thinking is also impaired (Savic and Ivanovic 1994, 73-57). The teaching process is mainly a hearing oriented activity. The constant hypo-acusis during the lessons may cause frustration when the child is unable to hear everything that is said. This indicates that the hearing impairment, besides the other implications, may cause behavioral changes (Wills 1999).
All the stated characteristics of the hearing impaired children suggest the need of change in the traditional way of implementation of the teaching process. In the classroom where hearing-impaired students are included, adjustments should be made according to the needs of the students. The needs of these students should be a base for planning in the teaching process.
In theory, there are 5 possible support models for hearing-impaired students included in inclusive classrooms. The practice of support provision in regular elementary schools coincides with the inclusive practice where every student is fully included in the school setting. The support models exist to enable smooth communication between the hearing impaired student and his/her teachers and peers. The five models, which function in the education for hearing impaired students in the us, are listed below. The applicability of one model over another may vary depending on many factors (age of the student, communication mode, teaching style adopted by the teacher) (Watson and Parsons 1998). Other countries in the world have determined one specific model
of support as a state policy for students with hearing impairments (Pritchard 2005).
•	Support within an oral approach. This type of model enables full access to the curriculum, but the nature of support, the amount and the location should be determined by the teacher, according to the student's abilities and the current situation in the classroom.
•	Support within a total communication approach. The support in this kind of approach is provided by a support teacher or assistant (support includes total communication, sign language, dactylology). The student is able to follow both of the teachers, but most of the time relies on the support of the special educator who provides assistance when explanation of unknown terms is necessary (Jachova 2008, 75).
•	Support in sign language. Same as the previous model, the support provides the support teacher who interprets the lessons. A problem that may occur is the situation when the student follows only the support teacher while the regular teacher is addressing the whole class. Also, beside the interpretation of the lessons, the student may need further explanations during the teaching process.
•	Peripatetic support teacher. The students with hearing impairment are supported by a peripatetic support teacher. Their duty is to provide additional support to these students by prepared activities according to the educational contents. Their visits are arranged together with the mainstream teacher and their collaboration is crucial for this kind of support to work.
•	The teacher of the deaf as consultant and agent of change. The teacher of the deaf provides information to the school staff from all aspects of the deaf education, but according to the needs of the students (Watson and Parsons 1998).
All of the above models of support represent a model that the teachers might implement in their practice. Because of the many decisions that need to be made in order for the models to be properly implemented, it is best for the regular teacher to provide them under the leadership of the special educator. Successful implementation requires commitment, creative thinking and effective classroom strategies (Villa and Thousand 2003, 19) appropriate for hearing impaired students.
Methodology
Our main aim in this research was to determine if the leadership of the special educator affects the management of the inclusive practice in the classroom involving:
•	the participation of the hearing-impaired student during classes;
•	the choice of didactic strategies of the teacher (as basic parameters in choosing the support model);
•	the management of the inclusive classroom. The classroom management skills of the teacher were observed including noise regulation and clear classroom rules for the hearing impaired student.
Set as a case study, the research sample consists of a student with moderate hearing loss, 2nd grade in regular elementary school in Skopje. The hearing loss of the student is congenital, since birth, and causes the student to miss speech sounds at normal conversational level (Kirk et al. 2009, 331). This is very important considering the school setting and the way the student receives information during lectures.
In order to have a broader insight into the research phenomenon, we decided that the research would have a quantitative-qualitative character. Using the mixed method, the quantitative data were enriched with qualitative interpretation (Koller-Trobovic and Zizak 2008). Such a complex phenomenon, as a part of the inclusion process of hearing-impaired student, will not be fully covered if only numerical data are involved.
Our effort in finding solution for applying a complex theory to a practical problem in the field of inclusive education makes the research applied. We followed the direction of determining the current classroom situation and trying to improve it by proper implementation of the before mentioned models of support.
This is also an action research, due to the observation of the phenomenon in its natural context (in the inclusive classroom) (Angeloska-Galevska 2003). We used participative observation as a research technique. We obtained the data through observation, but we as researchers and special educators had an active role in the observed phenomenon and influenced it (Angeloska-Galevska 1998).
Two video cameras were used as technical resources. The first one had a closer focus on the examined hearing-impaired student,
and the second one had a broader focus on the classroom as a whole. The student was observed from December 2011 to May 2012. During a period of six months we made two observations in the classroom. We observed all the lessons (total six) that the subject has in the classroom twice.
Phases of the Research
In order to start our research, first we solved all the ethical issues concerning the video recording of minors. After the gained written consent of the subject's parents and the parents of all peers, the preparation phase began. This was an inevitable part especially because the researchers were in close contact with the examined subject and the other individuals included in the teaching process. The aim of this phase was for the subject and the teachers to get used to the researchers' presence and avoid seeing them as strangers who assess the teaching process and to encourage all the participants to act freely and naturally.
Next was the initial observation. After we collected the data, analyses were made according to all indicators contained in the research instruments. Next and very important phase was the instructional work with the teacher. Considering that a period of three months is sufficient for the teacher to incorporate the given advices into his/her work, the second observation occurred. Then analyses were made of both observations and again instruction work with the teacher was conducted.
Instruments
For the purpose of the research we used two instruments. The first one is a checklist for observing classroom participation of hearing-impaired students. That is a standardized test that enables researchers to observe the academic and the social behavior of hearing impaired student in regular classrooms (Nevins and Chute 1996, 199). It also assists in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of particular students in their educational settings. Each test question consists of several possible options of student's performances that gradually change from worst to best. Questions from the test considered for the research which gave answer to the research questions regarding the student's reactions in the inclusive classroom were the following three: general response to environmental sound, general response to speech and attention to classroom instructions.
As a second instrument we used the indicators for video guidance. For obtaining the data, we considered only a part of the didactical indicators and the indicators for classroom guidance. The level of difficulty and the differentiation of the teaching were examined as didactical indicators. Indicators considered for the classroom guidance were the silence in the classroom, clear and in sight rules and the mingling during lessons.
Research Questions
We set six research questions as guides in reaching our aim. The questions were the following:
•	To determine whether the general reaction of the student to environmental sounds is improved, after the provided advices to the regular teacher;
•	To identify the student's general response to speech;
•	To determine the amount of time the student pays attention to classroom instructions in both observations;
•	To determine whether the regular teacher changed the teaching preparation, regarding usage of differentiation and level of difficulty of the contents;
•	To determine if the regular teacher manages the classroom noise better in the second observation;
•	To recognize if the regular teacher gives clearer and more evident rules than before and how he managed the mingling in the class.
The hypotheses of the research were set following the research questions:
h 0 The leadership of the special educator affects the management
of the inclusive practice. h 1 The hearing impaired student will recognize familiar sounds
more frequently in the second observation. h2 The student's general response to speech will be improved. h3 The student's attention to the instructions will increase in the
second observation. h4 The teacher will use the differentiation strategies more often
and appropriately. h 5 The regular teacher will provide more silent environment for the hearing-impaired student in the classroom.
table 1 General Response to Environmental Sounds
Observation	(1)	(2)	(5)	(4)
First	13	6	6	2
Second	5	9	13	5
notes Column headings are as follows: (1) appears unaware of environmental sounds, (2) responds to some sounds, (3) looks for source of sound, (4) appears to recognize familiar sounds.
h6 In the second observation, the classroom rules will be clearer and in sight and the mingling during the lessons will be reduced.
The data that we obtained were presented graphically where we made comparison between the results from the two observations. They represent the situation in the inclusive classroom before and after the special educator's advising. All the results are represented in frequencies. The use of chi square as a statistic measure, as planned before, was impossible due to the nature of data we gained. This is the reason why we do not talk about statistically significant difference between the results of the two observations. Anyhow, we as researchers and direct participants in the process, can indentify when the increased frequency of the indicators represent significant improvement.
Results
Table 1 matches the first research objective. In this research question we wanted to identify if the student reacts appropriately to sounds that are significant for the school life. For example, school bell, door knocking, public speaker, falling of writing tools, accidental sounds meant to attract attention and etc. The improvement in this indicator is evident. The most important change is that the frequency of the best option, when the student recognized the familiar sounds, rose from 2 to 5 in the second observation. It is also important to note that the second best option, looking at the source of sound, is more than doubled from that in the first observation (f1 = 6, f2 = 13). It is also very important that the frequency of the worst option, when the student is unaware of the environmental sounds, is significantly lower in the second observation in the classroom (f = 13,f = 5).
In table 2 the results for the indicator 'General response to speech' are represented. This indicator helps us to determine in which situations the student reacts to speech and in which he has
table 2 General Response to Speech
Observation	(1)	(2)	(5)	(4)	(5)
First	7	14	8	7	10
Second	1	5	9	12	15
notes (1) no apparent response to speech, (2) occasional response to speech, (3) must be prompted to listen, (4) understands when able to look and listen, (5) understands speech through hearing alone.
table 3 General Response to Speech by Subjects: First Observation
Subject	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Language	3	3	3	1	3
Math	2	3	1	0	0
Science	1	3	0	2	1
Art	1	1	1	2	1
Music	0	1	0	1	0
English	0	3	3	1	5
notes (1) no apparent response to speech, (2) occasional response to speech, (3) must be prompted to listen, (4) understands when able to look and listen, (5) understands speech through hearing alone.
difficulties. Here improvement also exists, due to the fact that the frequencies in the second observation rise gradually and the best option has the highest frequency. In the second observation there were 15 situations when the hearing-impaired student understood the speech through hearing alone, and only 10 in the first one. The worst option, when the student had no apparent response to speech, from frequency 7 fell to frequency 1 in the second observation.
In table 3 the results from the first observation about the indicator 'General response to speech' are represented. From the table we can see that both, the best and the worst options, appeared in 4 out of 6 lessons. The highest frequency of the worst option, when the examined student had no apparent response to speech, is 3 and happened in the Language lesson.
If we compare these results with the results from table 4, we can see where the improvement on this indicator happened. The worst option in the second observation appeared only once, again in the Language lesson. But the best option, when the student understood the speech through the hearing alone, happened in all the subject lessons. Also the frequencies for this option rose in classes of Math and Art (Math f = 0, f2 = 4; Art f = 1, f2 = 5).
In figure 1 the results from the first observation about the indicator 'Attention to classroom instructions' are presented. This
tablE 4 General Response to Speech by Subjects: Second Observation
Subject	(1)	(*)	(5)	(4)	(5)
Language	i	2	3	2	i
Math	0	i	i	0	4
Science	0	0	2	3	i
Art	0	0	0	i	5
Music	0	i	i	2	i
English	0	i	2	4	3
notes (1) no apparent response to speech, (2) occasional response to speech, (3) must be prompted to listen, (4) understands when able to look and listen, (5) understands speech through hearing alone.
Language	75 %
Math	25 %
Science	25 %
Art	25 %
Music 0%
English	25 %
figure 1 Attention to Classroom Instruction by Subjects: First Observation (amount of time the student pays attention to the instruction)
Language 0 %
Math	25 %
Science	75 %
Art	75 %
Music	50 %
English	50 %
figure 2 Attention to Classroom Instruction by Subjects: Second Observation (amount of time the student pays attention to the instruction)
indicator shows the amount of time the student pays attention and also helps in spotting the differences in his attention on different subjects. From the figure it is evident that in the first observation the student paid most attention to the lessons Language and English. The attention in the other classes is very low (less than 25% or 0%).
The situation on figure 2, where the results for the same indicator from the second observation are presented, shows some differences. In the second observation the student paid most attention in Science and Art, 75% and half of the time in Music and English.
In table 5 the differences about the same indicator between the two observations are represented. In three out of six lessons the amount of time the student paid attention to the classroom instruc-
table 5 Attention to Classroom Instruction: Comparison First and Second
Observation (%)
Subject	First observation	Second observation
Science	25	75
Art	25	75
Music	0	50
table 6 Didactical Indicators		
Observation	Level of difficulty	Differentiation
First	0	2
Second	2	3
tions rose. The best option, that of students paying attention 100% of the time, did not appear, but we did not expected this option to be present, due to the student's age and his condition.
Table 6 shows the results on the didactic indicators for both observations. The didactic indicator 'Level of difficulty' indicates if the teacher adapts the tasks for the hearing-impaired student according to the difficulty level. This is a traditional view of differentiation where every student gets a task according to own abilities. The second indicator from the same group is 'Differentiation.' We observed if the tasks were adapted according to the speed level of the student.
It is evident that in the first observation the teacher did not adapt the tasks according to the level of difficulty. But in the second observation, after the given instructions, this indicator appears twice. There is also a slight increase in the indicator for differentiation, from frequency 2, to frequency 3 in the second observation.
When using differentiation strategies in the teaching process, it is very important where these strategies are used. The student may not have the need for differentiated tasks in all the subjects, but only in some which require greater competencies. That is why the use of didactical strategies by subjects is represented in the table 7 and table 8. In the first observation, the lessons where the teacher used differentiation of tasks according to the speed level of the student are Language and Math, and as mentioned above, there is no differentiation on the basis of level of difficulty. But, when it comes to the second observation (table 8), it is clear that the teacher not only started using the indicator 'Level of difficulty,' but she also knew how to implement it appropriately. In the second observation, tasks were adapted twice by the difficulty level (in Language and Math) and three times by the speed level (in Lan-
table 7 Didactical Indicators by Subjects: First Observation
Subject Level of difficulty	Differentiation
Language 0	i
Math 0	i
Science 0	o
Art 0	o
Music 0	o
English 0	o
table 8 Didactical Indicators by Subjects: Second Observation	
Subject Level of difficulty	Differentiation
Language 1	i
Math 1	i
Science 0	i
Art 0	o
Music 0	o
English 0	o
table 9 Classroom Guidance	
Observation Silence Clear and insight rules	Allowed mingling
First 11 16	14
Second 15 21	12
guage, Math and Science). The last indicators presented are for classroom guidance (table 9). For these indicators we observed if the classroom is silent or noisy, if the classroom rules are clear and in sight and if mingling is allowed during the lessons.
According to the obtained results, there is improvement in all the three indicators. The classroom was silent more often in the second observation (f = 11, f2 = 15) and the rules were clearer as well (f = 16, f = 21). The frequency of the mingling indicator slightly decreased (f = 14, f = 12) which represents a mild improvement.
Shown separately by subjects, the result indicate that in the first observation (table 10) the Silence indicator does not have a frequency higher than 3 and the rules were never clearer than 4 times in one class. But, the table 11 outlines the improvement in relation to these two indicators. In the second observation, the frequency of the Silence indicator is 4 in two different classes (Science and English). The highest frequency about the indicator for clear rules increased to 6.
table 10 Classroom Guidance by Subjects: First Observation
Subject	Silence	Clear and insight rules Allowed mingling
Language	2	2 1
Math	2	3 5
Science	2	1 3
Art	3	2 4
Music	0	4 o
English	2	4 i
TABLE 11	Classroom Guidance by Subjects: Second Observation	
Subject	Silence	Clear and insight rules Allowed mingling
Language	2	3o
Math	2	31
Science	4	25
Art	2	44
Music	1	41
English	4	6 i
Verification of the Hypotheses and Discussion of the Results
h 0 The leadership of the special educator affects the management of the inclusive practice - confirmed. All the areas that we examined have improved in the second observation. h j The hearing impaired student will recognize familiar sounds
more frequently in the second observation - confirmed. h2 The student's general response to speech will improve - confirmed.
h3 The student's attention to the instructions will increase in the
second observation - confirmed. h4 The teacher will use the differentiation strategies more often
and appropriately - confirmed. h 5 The regular teacher will provide more silent environment for
the hearing-impaired student in the classroom - confirmed. h6 In the second observation, the classroom rules will be clearer and in sight and the mingling during the lessons will be reduced - confirmed.
Conclusions
Trying to find a way to make the inclusive process of a hearing-impaired student more effective, we researched the role of the special educator in the successful teacher's management of the
inclusive classroom. In other words, we wanted to explore which one is the best model to be implemented for this student in order to facilitate his participation in the teaching process.
According to the results presented here, the model where a peripatetic support teacher provides the support, proved to be a theory that functions in actual practice. According to this model, the special educator has the leading role in the realization of the inclusive practice with hearing-impaired students. This type of model does not only provide support to the student, but to the regular teacher as well. The special educator guides the regular teacher on how to manage situations in the inclusive classroom where the needs of the hearing-impaired child should be met. In order to achieve that, the communication between the special educator and the regular teacher is crucial. All the improvements that appeared in the second observation represent the smooth communication that we had with the teacher in implementing such a complex theory. The importance of communication and establishment of good relationship between special educators and teachers has been confirmed in the research of Antia (1999). In the same research it was also stated that the special educators had the role of advisors or demonstrators of all adaptations needed for the hearing-impaired children. The teachers were supposed to implement those adaptations in their teaching, the same as our advisory function in our research.
The main outcomes of the longitudinal case study conducted by Jachova and Karovska (2009) overlaps with our research findings. In their study, a student with cochlear implant was examined over a period of three years in the inclusive classroom. Many different aspects of the student's participation in the classroom were examined, including those that we examined as well. Even though in their research they were not trying to implement a specific support model, their presence and teacher advising during the period of three years showed improvements in the overall process of inclusion for the particular subject.
Appropriate management of strategies in the teaching process requires construction and implementation of Individual Educational Plan (iEP) for the student with hearing impairment. The iep represents an action plan and gives the teacher a short overview of the student's abilities. This plan should contain all the strategies that the teacher will use in the teaching process for the specific student, including differentiation. In this research, the teacher was advised when and how to use differentiation strategies for the subject. What is more important, he/she started planning the 138
strategies for the purposes of the iep. Constructed together with the special educator, the regular teacher with the iep will also have a plan for evaluation.
Regarding the classroom management, we indicated to the teacher the importance of acoustics in the education of hearing-impaired students. An acoustically good environment is crucial for effective classroom listening (Maltby and Knight 2000, 54). Inadequate acoustics affects the speech perception, attention, concentration and academic achievement (Doyle and Dye 2002). Noise in the classroom affects the intelligibility of the speech of the teacher. Unintelligible speech causes frustration and affects the process of knowledge acquisition. The special educator should introduce the regular teacher with the basic strategies for management of the acoustic environment. Those strategies include:
•	Removal of all noise-making machines in the classroom;
•	Carpet placement on the floors;
•	Limitation of movement during lessons;
•	Constant wearing of the hearing aid and use of amplification systems; the teacher should check if the aid is working appropriately.
Whether the classroom will be a comfortable place for listening depends also on its physical organization. The special educator provides the mainstream teacher with information about:
•	Best location of the hearing impaired student in the classroom. The student should always sit near the teacher;
•	Removal of all visual barriers between the student and the teacher. It is very important for the student to see the face of the teacher while she is talking;
•	Semicircular way of sitting in the classroom during discussions; this way it is easier for the hearing-impaired student to follow all the participants in the discussion.
For the proper functioning of the inclusive classroom with a hearing impaired student, the communication strategies that the teacher uses are of great significance. The special educator gives advices about which strategies the teacher can use to facilitate the communication with the student with hearing loss. These strategies include:
•	Usage of visual support in instruction giving;
•	Gaining of student's attention by auditory means. Not by tapping or waving;
•	Establishment of eye contact;
•	Standing still when talking;
•	Introduction of buddy system, if necessary;
•	Writing of keywords, dates and homework assignments on the board;
•	Communication with the parents of the student (Graber and Nevins 2009).
Taking into account all the results, the research raises the question of national policy creation regarding the hearing-impaired children included in the regular education system. The number of students with some kind of hearing loss in the regular schools is increasing. We are obligated to provide them education with high quality and full access to the learning contents. Existence of a national policy will ensure successful inclusion of these children by giving them the appropriate support and defining the professionals who will provide it.
References
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Angeloska-Galevska, A. 2003. 'Research Methodology in Special Education and Rehabilitation.' Mimeo, Skopje.
Antia, S. D. 1999. 'The Roles of Special Educators and Classroom Teachers in an Inclusive School.' Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 4 (3): 203-214.
Doyle, M. and L. Dye. 2002. 'Mainstreaming the Student Who is Deaf Or Hard-of-Hearing.' http://www.handsandvoices.org/pdf/mainst _cal.pdf
Geoff, L. 2003. 'Inclusive Education: A Critical Perspective.' British Journal of Special Education 30 (1): 3-12.
Graber, A. S., and M. E. Nevins. 2009. 'Hope Tips: Time for School!'
http://www.cochlearamericas.com/PDFs/HOPE_Tips_for_School.pdf
Jachova, Z. 2004. 'Inclusive Education of Children with Special Educational Needs in Republic of Macedonia.' Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation 1 (2): 35-46.
Jachova, Z. 2008. 'Inclusive Education of Children with Impaired Hearing.' Journal of Social Politics 1:68-75.
Jachova, Z. 2011. 'The Role of Parents in the Building of School Inclusive Culture.' In The Modern Society and Education: Proceedings of the 6th Balkan Education and Science Congress, edited by T. K. Mojsovska, 451-456. Skopje: Ss. Cyril and Methodius University.
Jachova, Z., L. Samardziska-Panova, I. Leshkovski and M. Ivanovska. 2002. Manual for the Project Inclusion ofthe Children with Special
Needs in the Regular Schools in Republic of Macedonia. Skopje: Bureau of Education Development.
Kirk, S., J. J. Gallagher, N. Anastasiow, and M. R. Coleman. 2009. Educating an Exceptional Child. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning.
Koller-Trobovic, N., and A. Zizak. 2008. Qualitative Approach in Social Sciences. Zagreb: University of Zagreb.
Lise, V. 2003. 'From Integration to Inclusion: Focusing Global Trends and Changes in the Western European Societies.' European Journal of Special Needs Education 18 (1): 17-35.
Maltby, M. T., and P. Knight. 2000. Audiology: An Introduction for Teachers and Other Professionals. London: Fulton.
Nevins, M. E., and P. M. Chute. 1996. Children with Cochlear Implants in Educational Settings. San Diego, ca: Singular Publishing Group.
Pritchardt, P. 2005. 'Provision for the Education of Deaf Pupils in Norway.' http://www.batod.org.uk/index.php?id=/international/models/ norway.htm
Savic, L. M., and P. M. Ivanovic. 1994. Surdopedagogy. Belgrade: Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation.
unesco. 2000. 'Sub-Regional Workshop Central and Eastern Europe.' unesco, Bucharest.
Villa, R. A., J. S. Thousand. 2003. 'Making Inclusive Education Work.' Educational Leadership 61 (2): 19-23.
Watson, L., and J. Parsons. 1998. 'Supporting Deaf Pupils in Mainstream Settings.' In Issues in Deaf Education, edited by S. Gregory, P. Knight, W. McCracken, S. Powers and L. Watson, 135-142. London: Fulton.
Wills, R. 1999. 'Children with Mild and Moderate Hearing Losses.' In Hearing Impaired Infants: Support in the First Eighteen Months, edited by J. Stokes, 80-97. London: Whurr.
Willy, O. 2009. 'Theory-Enriched Practical Knowledge in Mathematics Teacher Education.' PhD dissertation, Leiden University, Leiden.
i-C	'School Ethics' - Responsible School
^	Management: The Application
0	of Business Ethics to School
""Ö	Management (and Governance)
cd
^ Herman Siebens
^^ General of School Group 9 'Ringscholen,' Belgium
Ö o
OJ
o
ft
&
Paul Mahieu
University of Antwerp, Belgium
Annick Van Rossem
Catholic University Leuven, Belgium
School leaders need to adapt to a new image of school as an
^^ organisation and also have to be aware of stakeholders and the ^H demands and needs of these stakeholders. So, the pressure on school boards and school principals to perform 'well' and to be 'well organised' has increased. But what does this mean? In addressing
^^ these questions, the purpose of this article is to share the key
outcomes of new research and to propose a conceptual framework for ethics in school management. The basic methodology for the basic survey is mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) aligned to the Repertory Grid Technique (rgt), based on Kelly's (1955) Personal Construct Theory. In Flanders school principals base their professional responsibility on the ethical concepts of stakeholder management (and care), corporate governance, interests and rights and duties, effectiveness and efficiency, and norms and regulations.
Keywords: professional responsibility, ethics and educational concepts school management, school leadership, leadership in education
Introduction
School leaders need to adapt to a new image of school as an organisation with a new approach to public administration (known as NPM, New Public Management). They also have to adapt to what could be called the 'ethical Panopticon' of society and media. At the same time school leaders have to be aware of stakeholders and the demands and needs of these stakeholders. The pressure on school boards and school principals to perform 'well' and to be 'well organised' has increased. Related to stakeholder perceptions and leadership behaviour there are some questions to
leadership in education Special Issue | 2014 | 143-165
be raised, such as: 'What is "good" school management?' 'What is an effective or responsible school?' 'How can the responsibility of school boards and their principals be conceptualised?' and 'How can school boards and their principals achieve a (more) responsible organisation?'
In addressing these questions, we see the function of 'school ethics' as being reflective of responsible school management. So we may ask the question what can school boards and principals learn from already established academic disciplines within applied professional ethics, such as business ethics, administrative ethics (for civil services) and care ethics for organisations of health care; and what can school boards and principals learn from applications in these specific sub-disciplines to apply to their specific educational needs and their school.
Situated within this broad context, the purpose of this article is to share with you the key outcomes of new research and to propose a conceptual basis for ethics in school management - one which fully recognises and builds upon current and established academic theory and practice. We will also present a conceptual model for 'school ethics' that may be validated upon a customised approach that developed a qualified lens and applied it to Flemish secondary school principals; this paper will focus upon the gained data.
The scope of current academic literature on business ethics and school management is referenced in order to present and communicate the most relevant concepts within both academic disciplines. Review of best practice academic literature led to the identification and selection of nine key concepts for both disciplines, which we then used to construct a custom-made survey for principals of Flemish secondary schools. The basic methodology for this survey is mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) aligned to the Repertory Grid Technique (rgt), based on Kelly's (1955) Personal Construct Theory.
The third part of this article will present the overall results of this survey, questioning whether our basic conceptual model can stand. This survey will be concluded with some remarks about school management, especially in connection with school leadership.
A New Social Context for Education and School
Stating that schools and their principals have to live up to new expectations means stating that the social context in which they
have to function has changed (Douglas 2001; Vriens 2007; Ballet and Kelchtermans 2009). Over a decade society has changed and schools have to live up to some new contextual phenomena. The traditional and fixed relationship between school and its social surroundings, including that of the school's relationship with parents, is a shifting dynamic. It is appropriate to state that, within a new loosening social fabric (Taylor 1989; Wickert 1994; Leenheer and Schollaert 2006), the traditional 'organisation-environmentfit' has been lost.
Therefore, as is the case in the private business sector, the changing strategic importance of stakeholders influence the world of schools, although it is still ambiguous which stakeholders are involved and what this could imply for the day-to-day organisation of a school. Western society also moves towards a pluralistic world (Opdebeeck 2004; Jones, Parker, and Ten Bos 2005), in which respect for and active dialogue with other persons, cultures, languages, religions and habits are seen as a fundamental necessity for its survival.
The result of the changing social fabric and growing pluralism is that schools are no longer closed entities but are subject to the same level of scrutiny adopted by media when monitoring companies and public administrations: the 'ethical Panopticon.' In turn schools must be more transparent and held more accountable for what they do and need to become 'self-renewing schools' (Ainscow, Hopkins, and West 1994; Verwey 2005; Hopkins 2009; Wagner 2011). Society, including media, demands more 'horizontal' accountability (Bousché 2008). New Public Management (Lobel 2004; Hess 2007; Verbiest 2009) introduced a new approach for public administrations in the world of public services, i. e. more governmental subsidiarity, easier structures, more client-oriented focus, more internal competition, more public-private partnerships (e.g. consultants), and more attention to quality care. This new approach has introduced real management into the world of education. As in private companies, teachers and other employees in the school are changing their attitude towards their employer. A new psychological contract is coming into existence. Vandenberghe (2005) determines the overall situation as 'a turbulent environment for policy,' also pushing schools to enhance their 'license to operate' by creating an optimal school-environment-fit.
Given this new, dynamic social environment, in which schools operate, they must adhere to to the following rationale for ethics in an organisation (see the self-determination theory: Deci et al.
1982; Deci and Ryan 1985; Deci and Gagné 2005; Van den Broeck, Vansteenkiste, and De Witte 2008):
1.	Economic value: schools with a clear and distinct policy on ethics realise more educational quality than others. So they become more attractive for pupils and their parents (reputation). This is the strategic heart of the school policy and the school management;
2.	Legal necessity: schools (as do private companies) have to align to a number of laws, as much about education itself as about organisational issues, such as human resources or safety. In case of non-compliance the school may face penalties and this may damage its reputation;
3.	Social assignment: schools aiming for ethical governance and management have to realise high-level social educational assignments, including those educating responsible young citizens. They have to be more transparent and accountable in society and its government, which finances the school. Therefore they become socially more acceptable and improve their reputation;
4.	Ethical duty: a more ethical governance and school management responds better to the basic ethical duties, expectations, interests and needs of all stakeholders. When this includes being more reliable in terms of integrity, this in turn supports the economic, legal and social profits of being ethical.
In addition, this rationale reflects the multitude of intentions behind decisions, evaluations and policy-making by school principals, board members and school teams, changing the strategy, policy and management of the school into an ethical issue.
According to Ouali and Tilman (2001) three domains are subject to significant change: the mission of the school, the pedagogical practice and the organization of practices. This means that all schools have to change very profoundly. Today schools are confronted with concrete issues and questions that are common in well-known business and administrative ethics and in ethics of care. This implies that the school organisation must take a stance considering the fundamental constructs (Kelly 1955; 1963) behind applied professional ethics and its concepts, amongst others items such as common interest vs. individual needs and interests, direct vs. indirect policy and management, short-term vs. long-term
policies, top-down vs. bottom-up management (high vs. low road), outside-in vs. inside-out policy, technical vs. cultural management (cold vs. warm), reactive vs. proactive management (negative vs. positive), instrumental vs. holistic policy and management (management vs. leadership), hierarchical control, social control and self-control. Every school has to consider which leadership style is most appropriate to realise a responsible school management (Conley and Goldman 1994; Covey 1989; 1992; 2004; Eynikel and Thompson 2011; Greenleaf 1977; 1991; Hord 2004; Maak and Pless 2006; Senge 2005; Siebens 2005a; 2007a; 2011; Smith 2003; Verstraeten 2003) and what the consequences of a responsible school management imply for school governance (Siebens 2003; 2007b; 2007c). As for companies, non-for-profit organisations and public administrations the ethical issue, involving transparency and accountability, integrity, sustainability or social responsibility, has become crucial for schools too. In equal measure, ethics in schools are becoming an integral issue that cannot be solved by simple, traditional morals.
Now that schools and their educational leaders are confronted with ethical expectations and questions, they have to work on 'school ethics' as the application of ethics to the management of schools. This includes the leadership style of the school leader, the way (s)he treats his/her colleagues (people management), the importance and role of participation, integrity in all relationships and communication, and quality care. How to apply the basic principles and rules of participation in a school culture and organisation aiming for efficient and effective educational quality? What to decide when students or teachers do not co-operate or do not perform to the norms? How to realise the equilibrium between care and output? How to implement a culture of change and innovation? How to initiate policies relating to anti-stress and positive well-being?
All of the above clearly implies that school ethics are no longer limited to the traditional question as to how schools implement values and norms in their education (Starrat 1994; Haynes 1998; Leleux and Rocourt 2010). School ethics cover a much wider area than only the curricula. Integrating the issue of responsible behaviour in courses can be one of the objectives of education in general and for a school in particular. School ethics also have to embrace the integration of ethics into policymaking and management in the school itself. After all, the ethical message of the school must be visible to and experienced by staff and students. In par-
allel to ethics-related education - e. g. through courses in religion - ethics on a school organisational level are pivotal to the thinking of young citizens, their decision-making and ethical behaviour. The mission for a school to be an ethical organisation itself includes much more than realising a legally correct, effective and efficient use of the available means and avoidance of some very specific ethical hot items like unfair competition, political messages into the classroom and activities for profit, sponsoring and advertising. School ethics focus upon the relationship between the school and its social and ecological environment - an issue already well-known in Flemish education as the 'broad school,' and which is broader than csr. With school ethics, we aim to support a new sub-discipline within applied professional ethics that is policy and management oriented as concerns the individual school as an organisation.
This raises some questions: to what extent do we currently relate or even reduce this sub-discipline of academic research to parallel issues and opinions in the other sub-disciplines of applied professional ethics in profit and social-profit organisations as well as in civil services (see Fink and Hargreaves 2006)? To what extent are and should school ethics be a completely separate ethical discipline? Do we really need a new sub-discipline for this research issue?
Before simply inventing a brand new discipline, based on brand new concepts, we extensively studied existing academic and best-practice literature on ethics and on school and educational management to identify where and how we can or cannot realise a transfer of insights, concepts, models and theories from business ethics, administrative ethics and ethics of care to the world of managing the education of young people.
Exploring the Intuition of Flemish Principals
Within the context of school ethics our research aimed at a description of the conceptual framework in which school leaders think intuitively about the ethical dimension of their organisation and their management. However, building a cluster of concepts from literature on ethics may be one thing (theory-espoused), but what about the real thing (the theory-in-use), e.g. the intuition of principals in Flemish secondary schools? Among others the intuition of the school leader(s) determines the interest in and the content of ethics in the school and in its team. Therefore, this re-
search was specifically designed to confront theory with practice and to render a targeted approach to research the intuition of principals of Flemish secondary schools.1 Using the Repertory Grid Technique (rgT) (Kelly 1955; 1963) a selection of 35 principals from all types of secondary schools, different genders, and different backgrounds, were interviewed.2 rgT consists of a qualitative interview technique, designed in such a way that respondents cannot predict answers preferred by the interviewer. The research approach respected all formal technical and ethical requirements of the Repertory Grid Technique.
This is unique research. No other research has been performed in the world of education to determine the conceptual basis of professional responsibility amongst school principals.
Ethical Concepts and Basic Constructs
Before applying Repertory Grid Technique, one has to determine those concepts and constructs with which the researcher will confront his/her respondents. Our preparation phase included an extensive, thorough and in-depth review of academic literature focussing upon the central sub-disciplines within applied professional ethics: business ethics, administrative ethics and the ethics of care. Additionally, academic literature on school management was screened to focus upon the central concepts and constructs expressing the professional responsibility of school leaders.
Throughout history, a multitude of classic and new concepts have tried to formulate the core question and core content of responsibility in individual, collective and organisational decisionmaking and handling. This is already case in work in the form of values, virtues, stakeholders, deontological principles, utilitarian longing for efficiency and effectiveness, sustainability, needs, interests, care, rights and duties, legacy, integrity, norms etc. In the course of time each of these concepts has proven to be worthwhile, but also to be limited, a reason as to why so many concepts came into existence. Research by Siebens (2005b; 2006) also
1	As is was the initial limited goal of this research to understand the intuitive meaning of professional ethics amongst principals in Flemish secondary education, the results are only significant for this target group. Whether or not the results can be extrapolated to other target groups at other levels of Flemish education or other regions may be subject of future research.
2	Principals with a soft, basic or hard degree of discipline; small and large schools; grammar schools; technical or vocational schools; catholic, community or Go!-school.
revealed how people in day-to-day practice combine single concepts into complicated clusters, e. g. ethics of care and the stakeholder approach, the concept of social responsibility with the idea of sustainability and the concept of quality care with notions of efficiency and effectiveness (output, profitability). Year reports, leaflets, websites and other non-academic documents reveal a clear link between the concepts of csr, sustainability, stakeholder approach and profitability.
The description and analysis of the history and the specific meaning of concepts used in applied ethics results in a list of essential constructs about professional ethics (Kelly 1955). By means of a preliminary survey with 8 respondents the list of essential constructs was limited to a list of 18 constructs:
•	Classic vs. hype;
•	Pro-active vs. re-active;
•	Significant/necessary/essential vs. irrelevant/free of obligations/marginal;
•	Concept vs. instrument;
•	Long vs. short term;
•	Addressing many stakeholders and the common good vs. exclusively one, individual interest;
•	Broad vs. small range of action;
•	Objective vs. means;
•	Towards the maximum vs. the optimum;
•	Output vs. process;
•	Explicit vs. implicit policy;
•	Bottom-up vs. top-down;
•	Self and social control/internal evaluation vs. control/external evaluation;
•	Theoretical/cultural/reflection vs. operational/instrumental/ action;
•	Innovation vs. gradual improvement;
•	Care vs. effects;
•	Addressing inwards oriented change vs. outwards oriented accountability.
This list of essential constructs can be summarized as the fundamental construct 'warm' vs. 'cold' approach or 'soft' vs. 'hard' approach, such as care vs. quality. Both poles of this fundamental
ethical construct are actually inherent in each other: care for quality vs. qualitative care. To take care of the efficiency and effectiveness in one's school implies that the principal takes care of both care for quality and qualitative care in his school - the so- called 'educational quality' - and at the same time it is necessary to be efficient and effective in one's care - for students and their parents, for the personnel and for society at large.
With this fundamental construct of care and quality in place, other ethical concepts may come into play and may be positioned around the core concepts of care and quality. However the fundamental construct must be sustainable for all stakeholders in the long term. For a responsible school principal or member of the school board it must be obvious that school governance and school management implies a distinct, careful, efficient and effective use of the available means, keeping in mind the needs and interests of all stakeholders in the long term.
Educational Concepts
During the last decade much has been published about the discipline of school management, within a broader European movement of academic research on (non)-effective, 'good' vs. 'bad' schools and school management practices (Dang Kim et al. 2005; Vermaas 2010; Siebens and ten Have 2012; Deneire, Vanhoof, and Van Petegem 2011).
The aim in schools nowadays is to become a 'broad school.' This way schools express their will to create active and constructive links between the school and its environment, such as neighbourhood, environment, and youth work. When schools adopt social responsibility they aim for good communication and a positive relationship with the neighbourhood and therefore they establish and nurture a good reputation. In this respect the idea of a good school runs parallel to the well-known concept of csr in the private business sector.
According to the results of pisa research, Flemish Education aims for educational quality (Van Petegem 1992; 1998) in an international context. Mensen (2007) described educational quality as 'the sum of personal qualities of the teachers, the quality of the educational context and the quality of the educational content.' Siebens (1997) defined quality care as 'the continuous, integral care of all personnel for all aspects, in all the stadia of the creation of a product, a service or a relationship of care, in order to
meet the needs and expectations of all stakeholders as much as possible, first of all the clients.' All in all, educational quality care is about meeting the expectations of clients: pupils and their parents, government, economy and society as a whole.
Literature in Flanders' education promotes the idea of an effective school 'that actually realises what it aims for' (Van Petegem 1991; 1998; Vanhoof and Van Petegem 2006). Vanhoof and Van Petegem mention the following aspects for a school in order to be effective, and place emphasis upon 1-3:
1.	effective communication;
2.	supportive professional and personal relations;
3.	shared leadership;
4.	collective purposefulness;
5.	the competence to start a dialogue with the environment of the school: 'responsiveness;'
6.	competence to innovate;
7.	an integrated policy;
8.	competence of reflection to learn from mistakes.
To date, the policymaking competence of schools - and their principals - is the most powerful concept about school management (Jongmans and Sleegers 2000; vlor 2005; Dang Kim et al. 2005; Deneire, Vanhoof, and Van Petegem 2011). It may be defined as a condition with a lot of internal tuning, coordination and constant adjusting - although so far a clear definition does not exist. Policymaking competence implies openness towards the dynamic world outside the school, with its ever-changing expectations, needs and interests. So this notion aims for a continuous process of change, focusing on the quality of educational processes.
Though in one way or another (social) responsibility must be the final answer to the question (see rationale under New Social Context for Education and School) as to why a school has to build this policymaking competence, why effectiveness and quality in education are crucial and urgent, why a school has to be broad to be good, none of these concepts directly mention responsibility - nor integrity nor a value-based attitude etc. Though all educational concepts seem to be based on an intuitive emotion and an intention of responsibility, up until now there has not been an academic answer to the issue of ethical meaning and content in educational concepts. This is one of the objectives of our research.
Methodology of the Research
Based upon the review of academic literature two main hypotheses were presented. Management in whatever organisation demands professional responsibility by the manager. This aspect of management has been adequately articulated in a multitude of concepts and clusters of concepts.
1.	Management in education is based on educational concepts that intuitively, albeit indirectly, reveal certain opinions about professional responsibility. The (intuitive) preference for ethical concepts correlates with the (intuitive) preference for educational concepts. So both can be linked, while respecting their content.
2.	Professional ethics in school management, as an academic discipline as well as day-to-day practice, are based on a cluster of educational and ethical concepts, defined in our research.
All school principals were confronted with nine ethical concepts and nine educational concepts.
1. 35 principals of Flemish secondary schools were interviewed, which is above the methodological norm of 15 to 25 respondents considered to be significant. This group included:
•	17 men and 18 women;
•	12 from a school with a small number of pupils (<300), 8 with a medium number of pupils (300-600) and 15 with a great number (>600) of pupils;
•	10 with less than 4 years and 25 with 4 years and more of seniority;
•	20 with a Degree in Science and 15 with a Degree in Human Sciences;
•	12 working in a non-denominational school, 7 in a community school and 16 in a Catholic school.
Each principal was confronted with two overviews of exactly nine concepts, one being ethical concepts and the other being educational concepts (from school management).
Ethical concepts:
•	Values and virtues;
•	Interests; rights and duties;
•	Norms; regulations;
•	csr;
•	Sustainability;
•	Stakeholders; needs;
•	Care;
•	Integrity; conscience; spirituality;
•	Effectiveness; efficiency. Educational concepts:
•	School culture;
•	Participative and communicative people management;
•	Open/broad school;
•	Good reputation;
•	Job satisfaction;
•	School leadership;
•	Policy-pursuing competence; educational quality; the effective school;
•	Safety and health;
•	School governance.
These concepts are the outcome of the preliminary research with 8 respondents that required their analysis of a broad range of concepts referred to within academic and best-practice literature. This preliminary phase entailed the identification of those concepts that were almost synonymous to theirs together with those which were clearly not important to them.
In conformity with the Kelly Repertory Grid Technique (1955) both overviews of concepts were simultaneously presented to the interviewees.
2.	The chosen concepts were noted on identical separate cards.
3.	In both interviews, the interviewees made a blind choice of three cards/concepts (cards face down) out of a total of nine. After turning them and reading the concepts, the interviewees made a choice as to which two concepts they intuitively considered to belong together and which one did not. During this decision-making process the researcher did not so much focus on the two 'united concepts,' but upon how the third concept card differed from them. All the differences were plotted on a custom-made structural format, e.g. small against large, white against black, etc.
4.	After three rounds, the whole procedure was repeated, but this time one concept card out of every trio of the first three rounds was chosen. And again the answers were plotted on a custom-made structural format. Some of these constructs appeared to be similar to the constructs in the studied academic literature (see figure 1), but some were completely new and were a welcome addition to the first. From then on both lists were treated equally.
5.	In a third phase, the interviewee had to evaluate both lists of concepts on a scale from 1 to 7 (Likert scale). When a concept scored a '1' it was bound to belong to the left pole of the construct, in case of a '7' a link with the right pole of the construct was assumed.
The data illuminated the amount of intuitive content in professional responsibility amongst the selected sample of principals. With the help of Idiogrid software (see www.idiogrid.com) and spss (15), information was collected about the constructs and the concepts: i. e. which are the most important constructs, which are the favourable concepts, how do these concepts link together (cluster of concepts), if a link exists between the favourite ethical concepts and the favourite educational concepts, and what could be the id of each of these concepts in ethical terms.
Overall Data and Analysis
Analysis of the overall data, gathered from all the principals, results in the following conclusions:
1.	Eighteen constructs from literal reviews in ethics were chosen by 83.25%. Only 16.75% of the respondents reported new constructs, that is a ratio of 5.05:1. As a conclusion, the principals of Flemish secondary schools recognise the constructs as their own intuition in the professional responsibility of their job. In other words, the constructs correctly articulate the ethical intuitions of the respondents.
2.	Out of 18 constructs, selected from academic literature, the following 6 constructs represent the parameters of the research project within which the concepts were plotted (see figure 1):
•	manifold stakeholder directed (vs. one stakeholder directed);
•	long term directed (vs. short term directed);
table 1 Scores of the Main ('Core') Constructs
Construct	Educational concepts			Ethical concepts			(4)
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(1)	(2)	(3)	
Directed to the common good and/or	164	1.876	1.200	109	2.114	1.171	1.61
a multitude of stakeholders vs.	(1st)	(1st)	(2nd)	(2nd)	(2nd)	(2nd)	(1st)
directed towards the interests of a							
sole stakeholder							
Relevant vs. irrelevant	119	2.079	1.162	114	2.054	1.093	2.17
	(2nd)	(2nd)	(ist)	(ist)	(ist)	(ist)	(3rd)
Intrinsic (personal) conviction vs.	80	2.724	1.445	105	2.797	1.257	2.70
influence and pressure from outside	(4th)	(4th)	(5th)	(3rd)	(6th)	(4th)	(6th)
Proactive vs. reactive		2.737	1.231		2.696	1.221	
		(5th)	(3rd)		(4th)	(3rd)	
Wide area action vs. narrow	97	2.410	1.533	82	2.575	1.529	2.70
(specific) area of action	(3rd)	(3rd)	(11th)	(5th)	(3rd)	(15th)	(5th)
Long vs. short term	78	2.822	1.745	90	2.587	1.372	2.57
	(5th)	(6th)	(16th)	(4th)	(5th)	(6th)	(4th)
Inclusive vs. exclusive							2.13
							(2nd)
notes Column headings are as follows: (1) number of scores, (2) average score, (3) standard deviation, (4) preference score.
•	wide-action radius directed (vs. narrow-area action directed);
•	relevant (vs. irrelevant);
•	intrinsic element (vs. extrinsic element)
•	basic (vs. secondary).
The first three combinations can be linked to one basic construct: inclusive, that is integral and integrated (vs. exclusive, that is specific and specialised).
3. Two new constructs, collected from the respondents, appear to be relevant:
•	basic, goal, condition (vs. result, effect, consequence);
•	warm, emotional, human, social (vs. cold, business-like, technical).
•	The more the average score of a concept or construction approaches score '1,' the more the meaning of the concept or structure of the interviewees coincides with the preferences in existing academic literature.
Keeping in mind that these findings do not automatically imply the interviewees' personal preference for this meaning, it became obvious that double-checking their personal prefer-
Manifold stakeholders
Wide action range J- Inclusivity • Long term
}
-• Essential
Relevance
Intrinsic and warm
figure 1 Cluster of Basic Constructs
Values and virtues
Integrity, conscience and spirituality
0.61
Stakeholders and needs
0.80
Care
figure 2 Cluster of Ethics Concepts
ence on both poles was equally important. The results convincingly prove their preference for pole 1. And so they confirm the existing ethical theory on school management. See table 1. How a set of 6 score constructs coincide with their findings can be seen in figure 1.
4. From the correlating data we can also induce a core conceptual cluster including 4 of the 9 ethical concepts (see figure 2):
•	values and virtues;
•	integrity, conscience and spirituality;
•	caring;
•	stakeholders and their needs.
Flemish principals of secondary schools therefore seem to have a rather traditional - within the specific Flemish cultural context even to be considered as being catholic - view of their professional responsibility, stressing the individual and intrinsic aspects; neither the formal organisational nor the social aspects.
A very strong correlation exists between the concepts of values, virtues, integrity, conscience and spirituality. As is also the case between the concepts of stakeholders, needs and care. Furthermore there is a very strong correlation between
Policy-pursuing competence annex effective school
i
and educational qual
School leadership
Corporate governance
Communicative and participative hrm
School culture
0.74
Job satisfaction
figure 3 Cluster of Educational Concepts
the csr concepts and sustainability (very strong correlation of .93) and between the concepts of interests and duties and of norms and regulations (strong correlation .96).
5.	From the data of correlations we can induce a core educational conceptual cluster including 3 (even 5) of the educational concepts (see figure 3):
•	school leadership;
•	competence, annex effectiveness and educational quality;
•	communicative and participative personnel management;
•	school culture;
•	job satisfaction.
These educational concepts can also be situated on the individual and intrinsic level, except for the policy pursuing competence.
The strong correlations between the concepts of main importance (with very strong correlations) in the cluster of educational concepts imply that the principals of Flemish secondary schools are strongly convinced of the importance of their autonomy and leadership in their school management.
6.	Based on the correlation data of the concepts in both conceptual clusters in the research, we can induce a core conceptual model for the intuitive professional ethics of Flemish school leaders in secondary schools (figure 4). Basically the intuitive opinion of the interviewees can be analysed on two axes:
•	intention and motivation (an intrinsically vs. extrinsically determined opinion on responsibility);
u
C
Intrinsic
Intention and motivation
(Integrity, conscience, spirituality i Values and virtues
Participative and communicative people management
»Sch001 culture	. School leadership
are ^
1
t Stakeholders and their needs
a Policy-pursuing competence
• -
Interests, rights
Managerial approach	\Schoo1 governance and duties 6
Norms and regulations *
, Sustainability
Effectiveness and efficiency *
Care Job sati
O The broad school ( Good reputation ^csr
Safety and health
Extrinsic
figure 4 Visual Representation of Overall Ethical Clusters and Educational Concepts
•	managerial approach (an opinion stressing the cultural/ ideological dimension vs. the political/pragmatic/technical dimension of the school organisation).
This model confirms the basic model soft/warm vs. hard/cold in academic literature. Also the concept of governance takes a central position in the overall representation, though it is not equally crucial to the respondents. In addition three other clusters appear to be important:
•	The concepts of care and of job satisfaction (very strong correlation .89). This reveals that, according to the school principals, the concept of job satisfaction correlates with the notion of care. To the respondents this cluster is an intrinsic and cultural aspect of their professional responsibility;
•	The concepts of policy pursuing competence and of effectiveness and efficiency (very strong correlation .85);
•	The concepts of interests, rights and duties and of norms and laws. This cluster is situated entirely on the pragmatic side of the representation (with an equilibrium between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation).
7. There are no significant differences between the several examined subgroups (male vs. female, small vs. high seniority, small vs. big schools, basic degree in human sciences vs. basic degree in technology).
Except however for the ideological subgroups Catholic vs. pluralistic and so non-denominational (former state-owned, but nowadays free) schools: the Catholic schools articulate a somewhat more individual and intrinsic interpretation of responsibility - this may be identified as a classic approach - vs. pluralistic schools who are more supportive of external interpretation and the expectations of the school's environment and society.
Overall Conclusions
The data in the research drives the conclusion that the principals of Flemish secondary schools have a very consistent opinion of their professional responsibility, with little to no difference between the analysed subgroups.
Secondly the respondents in the research agree with the point of view that responsibility is:
•	an essential and relevant issue;
•	must be inclusive (to all stakeholders and the common good, in the long term and within a wide action range) and intrinsically motivating.
Finally, for those principals who have a more traditional opinion, their responsibility is essentially an individual and intrinsic matter (values and virtues; integrity, conscience and spirituality).
Most of these ethical concepts can be situated in the intrinsic-cultural quadrant (see figure 4), but also some other very strong clusters find their place in the extrinsic practical fields of the model. Among the essential educational concepts only the policy-pursuing concept is - more or less - a stand-alone on the edge of the extrinsic field.
All of this means that Flemish principals understand their professional responsibility first of all as a personal, intrinsically motivated phenomenon, and in second order a duty of transparency and accountability to the external society and school environment. Their construction of responsibility ensures taking care of all stakeholders and the common good, in the long term and oriented towards all aspects of their school organisation and management. For the majority of the principals this intuition of responsibility is anchored in their values and virtues, their integrity, conscience and spirituality.
Added Value and Discussion
This new research into the conceptual basis of professional responsibility in school management - 'school ethics' - and into the intuitive experience of principals of Flemish secondary schools about their professional responsibility underpins the basic conceptual clusters found in literary reviews, in particular the set of basic constructs. Also awareness of the multi-stakeholder principle and the concept of care, as well as the ethical content in concepts such as policy pursuing competence and effective school are receiving increased recognition.
Additionally school ethics give a specific impetus to government policy about quality in education. A decade ago the government decided to withdraw as a regulator in the New Public Management Approach in the ethical principle of subsidiarity - amongst others, the inalienable responsibility of a school (and its principal). However, it remains the duty of the government to act firmly in facilitating and stimulating schools, their principals and board members to accept this responsibility. Therefore an added-value of school ethics is to serve both as a confirmation and as a correction of the new role and relationship between the government and individual schools.
In connection with the training and development of school principals we conclude:
•	That as it cannot be contested that school principals must reflect upon their opinions and the basis of their professional responsibility, training and development should familiarise school principals with the concepts and insights of (school) ethics and upon how they can be recognized in their educational concepts;
•	Considering the intrinsic complexity and the multi-layered
character of professional responsibility of school leaders, their teams and schools, it is highly important that principals understand this complexity and how to deal with it in concrete situations and discussions;
• As principals regard their professional responsibility rather traditionally, stressing the intrinsic and individual aspects somewhat more than the managerial and extrinsic aspects, training and development should pay more attention to the formal, structural and the extrinsic, social aspects of school responsibilities.
Acknowledgment
With the appreciated help by Mrs. Annick Van Rossem, professor at the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School, considering the analysis of the data.
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ft
Maria Szabo
Hungarian Institute for Educational Research and Development, Hungary
i-fl New Challenges for Head Teachers ^ in Hungarian Schools CD
-a
cd
After a period of twenty years, when shared responsibility and local autonomy characterized Hungarian educational administration, the
0 government decided to improve the quality of education by
strengthening the role of the state. Since the end of 2011 several ^^ actions have been taken to attain this purpose. This article draws a parallel between the role of head teachers in the decentralized and that of the centralized system of educational administration, and it ^^ gives an overview of the activities of the present government of
education. It sums up the main elements of the triangle of support, #	assessment and qualification, focusing on the possible new roles of
^^ head teachers in it.
^^ Keywords: head teachers' role, assessment, qualification, and support
Significant changes have taken place in Hungarian education system in the last 3 years. The system of educational administration, ^	which was based on local autonomy and shared responsibility,
could not close the gap in the learning outcomes of children. Students, living in big cities in the Western part of the country, with good socio-economic backgrounds produced significantly higher learning achievements than those who live in small villages in Northeast Hungary. The new government decided to bear responsibility for the quality of education by strengthening the role of the state in education. It is now the policy that education is not a market-based delivery but a service, which has to be based on general human values and not on local needs. Actually, in the centralized educational administration system schools have less autonomy and head teachers have less responsibility, but they are declared professional leaders of the schools. This paper overviews the most important elements of the theory of effective 21st century education, summarizes the main elements of the changes of educational administration which mean real challenges for head teachers to become the bridge crossing the gap between theory and practice and it gives a picture about the survey which aimed at gathering information about Hungarian teachers' and head teachers' attitude to the present changes in education.
leadership in education Special Issue | 2014 | 167-180
Some Elements of the Theories on Effective Education
in the 21st Century
Schools are the elements of post-modern society that have to reproduce the human capital and ensure well-being of people as well. One of the biggest challenges for the 21st century schools is the realization of efficient personalized education for each student in the system of public education. This means that an effective school has to improve each and every student's learning capabilities and learning performance. Even in the 21st century school the classroom is the most important place of learning and teachers plan and manage the learning activities in it, the quality of teachers has the strongest influence on the learning effectiveness of the students. After the teachers, school leaders have the second strongest impact on the learning achievements of students (Pont, Nusche, and Moorman 2008). They have to create a learning community and improve the innovative learning environment of the school, they have to motivate, support and evaluate teachers.
A relatively autonomous school can learn to deal with the fast changing environment focused on continuous school improvement, which means not only never-ending cycles of planning, doing, controlling and acting, but clear goals of direction for improvement, pressure and support to act for change (Creemers, Peters, and Reynolds 1998). We have to keep in mind that improvement in a complex system of education is not a linear process and it is impossible to predict the results of an intervention. Several interventions even in the three different levels of a system should be carried out and the reaction of the system to them has to be detected and analysed in each case (Fullan 2003).
The Main Characteristics of the Hungarian Educational
Administration between 1993 and 2011
The Act of Public Education declared Hungarian schools professionally autonomous institutions in 1993. After then Hungarian schools had a greater level of professional autonomy while the tasks and responsibilities of educational administration were shared among national, regional, local and school levels, and several agencies. The idea that schools and education - especially on the basic level - has to serve local communities was the basis of decentralized educational administration. While local governments had to provide basic education for their citizens, each and every local authority had to maintain kindergartens and basic schools
table 1 The Main Fields of Leader Training Programmes, by the Ministerial Decree
Theme	Ratio within training period
Strategy	25-	-30%
Education	20-	-25%
Organization	15-	-20%
Human factor	15-	-20%
Economy and law	10	-15%
notes Adapted from Schratz et al. (2010a).
(in the beginning of the period several general secondary schools were maintained by local authorities, but later they were given to the county authorities, which were responsible for providing secondary education).
The legislation has been regarding school leadership as a teachers' position, which can be held for only a five-year period. But several applications can be made. Head teachers were responsible not only for effectiveness of teaching and learning, but for each element of operating of the organisation, e. g. staff, budget, safety, communication with the partners (local community, the maintainer, parents). While small villages are typical elements of the Hungarian settlement-structure, more than 3000 local government units had to maintain as few as one elementary school. While educational administration was not separated from the local authorities, there was not enough professionalism for educational administration in some small settlements. The huge differences in professionalism, school improvement notion, and the funding possibilities of different types of settlements resulted in great differences not only in the achievements of schools, but even in the physical environment of education and the incomes of teachers.
The Roles and Tasks of School Leaders between 1993 and 2011
In the decentralized educational administration system school heads were responsible almost for everything in their school. The most important tasks of school leaders in that period could derive from the main topics of school leadership training programmes, which were regulated by a ministerial decree. The topics and their ratio in the leadership training programmes are summarized in table 1.
The data show five topics of school leadership. Strategy had the highest ratio in the leadership training. Education was in the
second place; organisation and human factor had the same ratio on the third place 'economy and law' was the less important topic in the training of head teachers. It is remarkable that such a characteristic element of a 21st century school leadership as leading and managing change was not present in the topics of official leadership training. The most important fields of educational leadership according to the experts' opinion were the following: strategic leadership and management (1), instructional leadership and management (2), law, hr management and organisational development (3), administration (4), and the management of changes and aspects of lifelong learning (5) (Schratz et al. 2010a, 84).
Hungary has not had professional standards for head teachers, but some Hungarian experts participated in the Central European Project that aimed at creating a common professional competency framework on school leadership (Schratz et al. 2010a; 2010b; 2013.). In the frame of these international activities a group of Hungarian head teachers, representatives of local and national level of educational administration and experts of leadership training programmes worked together to create a professional profile of a Hungarian head teacher using the rda (Role Diagrammatic Approach) method in 2010.
An average head teacher is a pragmatic and loyal person and a good organiser. From the deeper analysis of the results some more characteristics of this head teacher can be seen. The completion of tasks is important for him/her, he/she likes to know what he/she can expect from whom, and can operate in an environment where rules are clear. S/he is a good co-operator, task-oriented, who likes stability, safety. Mutual trust is important for her/him. We can say that a typical Hungarian head teacher in 2010, in the decentralized system of educational administration, where schools and head teachers had a great level of professional autonomy, was stronger.
Significant Changes after 2011
Policy makers are not satisfied with the quality of the Hungarian education system. The learning achievements of Hungarian students are under the average in most international assessments and these assessments show the high gaps between schools. The Hungarian education system cannot reduce the students' socio-cultural differences. Hungarian schools are traditionally very se-
lective, so the gaps are not inside, but between schools. The goal of the government is to improve the quality of education and closing the gap.
A New Act of Public Education was accepted at the end of 2011. On the basis of this regulation, a state centre for maintaining schools ('Klebelsberg' Institution Maintenance Centre) and a national network system of educational authorities (school districts) was established and started to operate on 1st January of 2013. So thus most of the schools have been maintained by the state, which has become the employer of all Hungarian teachers and school heads.
There are also changes in the regulation of the curriculum. A revised national core curriculum was launched in the summer of 2012, and by the end of the year the so-called frame curricula came out, which represent the second level of content regulation. These documents were created for each type of schools and subjects by several groups of subject experts. They are based on the national core curriculum. They contain the purpose of teaching and learning of the given subject and its different parts. They prescribe for each topic the 90% of the number of lessons for the whole academic year and they suggest methods of teaching and contain the attained results in two-year periods. Some subjects have two or three parallel framework curricula for the same type of schools. Schools have to select from the framework curricula and then they have control over 10% of the total sum of lessons to add to the framework and create their own local curriculum. As the framework curricula contain only 90% of total sum of lessons, schools can use other 10% of lessons for their own ideas or needs. Schools had to choose from the frame curricula and to create their local curriculum by completing the teaching time and contents.
There are several new elements of legislation concerning the teachers' training and carrier system. From the 2012-2013 academic year there is a compulsory aptitude test for the candidates to teachers' training institutions. The Education Secretariat published the Training Output Requirements for Teacher Training in March of 2013 and at the end of August a government decree came up with the operational tasks of introducing the new systems of teachers' evaluation and support. Both of these documents contain the eight professional competencies of teachers; the last one prescribes the method and topics of teachers' qualification and the professional assessment of institutions.
The main idea behind the changes is the fact that teachers have
National Professional Assessment
Professional Advisory


Professional Standards for Teachers
Qualification for Teachers
figure 1
The Triangle of Assessment, Support, and Evaluation
key role in assuring the quality of education (McKinsey&Company 2007). Several political decisions and actions have taken place to make teacher profession an attractive job and to encourage talented secondary students to choose it. Typical elements of the strategy are the aptitude test and the special scholarship for the students who participate in teacher training. The teachers' qualification/carrier system has great importance not only in making the teaching profession an attractive job, but it also shows a professional perspective for teachers, and abolishes the wage differences among teachers who work in remote and poor settlements. This qualification system is strongly connected to the professional assessment of education, and the professional support for the progress in the professional promotional system. The three elements of support and evaluation can be summarized in the diagram that is shown in figure 1.
The three vertexes of this 'triangle' are the 'qualification' of teachers, the 'professional advisory system' for teachers, and the 'national professional assessment.' The goal of this system is to raise the quality of education by increasing the quality of the teachers' work. The most important element of this system is the newly established promotion system of teachers, which is based
on their system of qualification. Teachers who start their career are employed as full-time workers in a school, but they have fewer lessons than their more experienced colleagues. During this two years long period trained mentors support their professional socialization and their daily professional work. At the end of the second year of teaching, the young teacher has to take a qualification exam. After a successful exam he/she becomes a qualified teacheri. After six to nine years working in this stage, it is compulsory to apply for a qualification for the second level of the qualified teacher status (teacher 2). Who have reached this level of professional promotion system can stay in this stage till the end of their career, but there are two different branches for those who want to step forward.
The 'national professional assessment,' which has to be realized in each five years in each school, is the second element of this new system. The complex process of this professional assessment contains the assessment of each teacher of the school, the assessment of the head teacher, and the assessment of the school as organisation. The third element of this triangle is the 'professional advisory' system of teachers. Its main role is to support teachers in their continuous professional development and making progress in their career. This system has two different elements. One of them is a subject-based advisory, which supports teachers' work with the help of yearly-organised visits of advisors. Advisors are teachers who are prepared to support others. Working in a school, they have living experience on the practice of teachers and one day a week they visit other schools to work with their colleagues. They help teachers to reflect on their professional work, to realize their professional needs and plan the activities of their personal professional improvement. This professional support could achieve its mission and could be effective and sustainable only if the external support is closely connected to the schools' internal support system, which has to be created and improved by the school heads. To be an instructional leader who supports not only individual teachers, but fosters schools to become a learning organisation should be a real challenge and an important role for the head teachers in this new situation.
On the centre of the triangle we can find 'professional standards for teachers.' This is a newly improved document, which contains the eight competences of teachers, declared by a government decree. Each competence has two or three sub-competencies. The document describes the main characteristics of each of the
five stages of professional promotion of teachers. These descriptions show the typical characteristics and important virtues (good characteristics) and tolerable weaknesses of the teachers in the given stage. Typical knowledge, skills, and attitudes are described at each sub competences. This document can inform teachers about the expectations of the topics and the levels of their professional development. It gives background information for subject advisors, who have to support teachers' continuous development in each competence. This is the basis of the teachers' assessment in the frame of the 'institutional professional assessment' and the 'qualification of teachers.' The arrows of the figure show the connections among different elements of the triangle and it is clear that several connections exist. Advisors support teachers using the experiences of assessment, helping teachers to reach a successful qualification, while qualification is based not only on the experiences of their experts, but on the results of assessment, too. An important element of this system will be the teachers' portfolio, which will be used in all of the three activities.
Requirements for Head Teachers after 2011
In the centralized system of the educational administration the less professional autonomy of the schools can be strongly felt in the reduced freedom in creating the school level local curricula. Head teachers do not have a right to select the members of the teaching staff; do not have to deal with budget and the problems of technical staff. Their main and most important duty is instructional leadership. Head teachers should become professional leaders of teaching staff. They have to take part actively in the process of this centrally organised national system of assessment, evaluation, and support. They have to motivate and support their teachers to prepare for the process, to create and use their professional portfolio, and to create a culture of reflection, as the basis of continuous professional learning. The target of the reports, professional plans and feedbacks of the experts of evaluation and assessment and of the advisors is to promote a positive change in the daily professional work of the interested teachers, head teachers and schools. It could happen if only head teachers and leadership of the schools can lead a continuous school improvement process on the basis of the data of these documents. Schools could become learning organisations by enhancing peer learning and mentoring, building a learning culture, evaluating teachers, and using
some other methods. Some head teachers know these techniques, but each of them has to learn to build this work into the results of the new system of evaluation, assessment and support.
Unfortunately there is no professional standard for head teachers in Hungary. In the actual situation the areas of the newly introducing assessment system of head teachers could give information on the tasks end expectations of them. As mentioned earlier, the system of institutional assessment contains three main areas: the assessment of teachers, head teachers, and schools. It is going to take place in every five years. The planned areas of head teachers are the so called 'Central 5,' which were improved in the framework of the International Co-operation for School Leadership involving Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden (Schratz et al. 2013).
The 'Central 5' are the main elements of leadership tasks, and each of them is interpreted by the competence elements of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Only the main topics, without the detailed competence descriptions of 'Central 5' are involved in the new system of assessment of head teachers. In the planned assessment system some elements of the head teachers' activities are connected to each topic. There are good examples when an output regulation influenced the earlier process positively. So the defined elements of the assessment of Hungarian head teachers are the following: (1) 'Leading and Managing Teaching and Learning,' (2) 'Leading and Managing Change,' (3) 'Leading and Managing Self' (4) 'Leading and Managing Others' (5) 'Leading and Managing the Institution' and this approach could improve the process of profes-sionalization of head teachers' work in Hungary.
The Voice of Head Teachers
In the framework of the improvement of the new system of assessment, evaluation and support, a survey on experiences of the earlier advisory system and expectations for the renewed system of assessment and support of different professional actors of education system was carried out the beginning of 2013. All of the Hungarian head teachers were invited to take part in this survey by fulfilling an online questionnaire. 553 persons (about 10% of the total sum of active head teachers) filled in the questionnaire. Their experiences on professional advisory mostly connects to the realization of National School Improvement Programmes, in which the 53% of the represented schools participated (the coun-
table 2 The Support Needs of Head Teachers (%)
Type of support	(1)	(*)	(3)	(4)
Advisory support	39.1	28.4	23	9.2
Training	27.3	38.9	27.7	6.0
Information	77.8	12.7	9.4	0.2
Professional forums	77.8	12.7	9.4	0.2
Professional organisations	32.9	34.2	29.8	2.9
Evaluation	19.5	40.9	34.9	4.3
Help desk service	23.1	30.0	28.8	13.0
notes Column headings are as follows: (1) yes, immediately, (2) yes, in a near future, (3) yes, in a future, (4) no.
try level average is less than 20%). The questionnaire investigated the support needs of head teachers. The respondents were expected to estimate the urgency of their professional support needs, choosing from seven different types of professional support: 'advisory support,' 'training,' 'information,' 'professional forums,' 'professional organisations,' 'evaluation' of their work and 'helpdesk service.' They were able to choose from four categories of urgency: 'immediately,' 'in the near future,' 'in the future' and 'never.' The composition of the answers is shown in table 2.
It is obvious that in the time of data collection the head teachers' biggest problem was the lack of information. The strongest (almost 80%) need of the respondents were the urgent need of information and the professional forums, where the information can be collected. Looking at the near future needs of the respondents, a limited balance of needs can be identified in the needs of evaluation and training (about 40%). The need of professional organisations, which can be the forums of peer learning, is on the third place of head teachers' needs of professional support. In the fourth place we can find a helpdesk service, which is a typical self-activity to get urgent operational help, and the need for advisory support is only in the fifth place from the seven possibilities. On the basis of these results, we can say that evaluation means more for Hungarian head teachers in their professional development than support. It is in strong correlation with the government activities, summarized above. Actually realization of a support system for head teachers is not planned, but their assessment in the frame of institutional professional assessment in each five years; in the second or third year of their five-year period of employment.
While in the new, centralized system of educational administration the head teachers' most important role should be the instruc-
table 3 Head Teachers' Opinion About a Good Teacher (%)
Category	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
Subject knowledge	71.0	25.0	3.0	0.4
Methodological variegation	72.0	24.0	2.0	0.2
Supporting each student learning abilities	38.0	42.0	14.0	3.0
Support of peer learning	25.0	54.0	17.0	2.9
Creating an adaptive learning environment	35.0	49.0	12.0	1.2
Effective communucation	66.0	28.0	4.0	0.6
Co-operation with parents	45.0	41.0	10.0	1.8
Co-operation with different partners of the school	21.0	48.0	21.0	8.0
Teacher cooperation	62.0	33.0	3.0	0.0
Assessment of students	45.3	45.2	6.3	0.7
Experience based learning	44.8	45.0	7.7	0.9
Peer mentoring	38.3	47.7	11.6	0.5
Enquiry	13.5	40.3	32.7	10.1
Creating and operating professional teams	25.6	40.0	23.8	4.2
Leadership	28.3	45.7	19.5	3.4
Self-knowledge and self-development	56.2	33-9	74	0.9
notes Column headings are as follows: (1) very Important, (2) Important, (3) not so important, (4) not important.
tional management, the survey aimed to collect data on the head teachers' idea of a good teacher. The results of this question can be seen in table 3.
The respondents had to give their opinion on the most important characteristics of a good teacher in a 21st century school. The four judgements for each characteristic were 'very important,' 'important,' 'not so important,' and 'not important.' Some of the characteristics came from the professional standards for teachers and some from the international examples. Looking at the results, for to five main characteristics of a good teacher can be detected. The highest scores (more than 70% of 'very important' answers) were given to the subject knowledge and methodological variety. In the third and fourth place (66% and 61% of 'very important' answers) are the effective communication and teacher co-operation. On the fifth place, a bit less than 60% of 'very important' respondents are self-knowledge and self-development. At the last places of the rankings of the respondents there are such important characteristics of a 21st century teacher as leadership (28% of 'very important,' but 46% 'important' answers), creating and operating professional teams (25,6% of'very important,'but 40% of'important' answers) support of peer learning (25% of 'very important,'
but with the 54% of 'important' answers), and the absolute last is enquiry (13,5% of 'very important,' but 40% of 'important' answers, and highest score in the 'not so important' category).
Summarizing the results of the survey, we can say that head teachers' view on teachers' job is based on the traditional view of teacher' job, but there are some elements of the modern ideas, too.
The most important requirements formulated by school leaders for a good teacher are 'subject knowledge' and 'methodological diversity.' 'Effective communication,' which is the third in the ranking of importance, could indicate either a traditional or a modern view of the role of teachers, as we are not in the position to know what the respondents understood by 'effective communication.' Namely, in this summary statement can be included both the ability to lecture professionally (a characteristic of the traditional role of teachers) and a modern image of a teacher, who can strike the right tone with various partners (parents, colleagues, and pupils). Besides the great importance of the 'cooperation with teachers' the ranking of 'working together in professional teams' at a lower level may indicate that the respondents attribute a great importance principally to the harmonization of the knowledge and requirements of the school subjects, and that they attached less importance to the focusing of the learning requirements of each pupil. This supposition can be confirmed also by the fact that among the less important elements we can find the improvement of the learning abilities of each student and the development of the adaptive learning environment. It is encouraging that among the most important characteristics we can see self-knowledge, but it needs further reflexion that the respondents do not attach importance to the leadership capabilities of the teachers. In connection with the implementation of the new assessment, evaluation and support system, the results draw our attention to the question how remarkably important it is to reflect collectively at institutional and national levels about the role of teachers. They also promote the collective interpretation of professional requirements, which are formulated also in provisions of law.
Summary
The Hungarian system of education has been passing through significant changes to improve the learning outcomes of children. The most typical characteristic of these changes is the
centralization of educational administration. In this new situation schools, teachers and school heads have less professional autonomy than they had in the previous 20 years. But this new situation provides some new possibility for better professional work. The head teachers of the schools are not expected to employ teachers now and they do not have to manage the finances of the school, nor the technical duties of the schools. They can become really responsible for the professional leadership and management of the schools but there is a danger that they will perform only the administrative duties.
It is important that to attain the purpose of raising quality of education, educational government of Hungary has taken several interventions in the education system. The first interventions have been place on national level and concerned different elements of the system of education. The newly improving system of the national professional assessment of institutions, that of teachers' support, and that of qualification are expected to reach the classroom level in the near future. Hopefully, this system is a good tool to make classroom level management more effective for each student.
Legislation in itself is not a proper and sufficient tool to create the professional environment that is necessary to change the classroom-level activities. Continuous professional dialogue in each level of the system of education can indeed result in building a well-operating professional environment. Head teachers should play an important part in the realization of this influence by becoming professional leaders of the teachers.
Actually, as the process is only at the very beginning, there are no data available on its real influence. Being conscious of typical characteristics of complex systems, where the development is not linear and the impacts of the interventions cannot be predicted, educational government and researchers have the responsibility to investigate and analyse the impacts of these interventions and plan new interventions on the basis of data.
References
Creemers, B., T. Peters, and D. Reynolds, eds. 1989. School Effectiveness and School Improvement. Amsterdam: Swets and Zeitlinger.
Fullan, M. 2003. Change Forces with a Vengeance. London: Falmer.
McKinsey&Company. 2007. 'How the World's Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top.' http://mckinseyonsociety.com/ downloads/reports/Education/Worlds_School_Systems_Final.pdf
Pont, B., D. Nusche, and H. Moorman. 2008. Improving School Leadership. Paris: oecd.
Schratz, M., M. Hartmann, E. Krizkova, A. G. Kirkham, E. Keclikova, T. Barath, M. Szabo, E. Abari-Ibolya, A. Haskova, A., V. Lassak, J. Erculj, and P. Pecek. 2010b. Improving School Leadership in Central Europe: Final Report of the Project School Leadership for Effective Learning Involving the Countries of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia 2010. Budapest: Tempus Public Foundation.
Schratz, M., A. Laiminger, F. MacKay, E. Krizkova, A. G., Kirkham, T. Barath, G, Cseh, T. Kigyos, M. Chrappan, E, Kovacs, N. Revai, A. Haskova, V. Lassak, M. Bitterova, J. Erculj, P. Pecek, K. Malmberg, and T. Soderberg. 2013. The Art and Science of Leading a School: A Central European View on Competencies for School Leaders: Final Report of the Project International Co-Operation for School Leadership Involving Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden 2013. Budapest: Tempus Public Foundation.
Schratz, M., L. Slavikova, E. Knzkova, E. Keclikova, M. Szabo, E. Revesz, V. Lassak, A. Haskova, J. Erculj, P. Pecek, and G. Halasz. 2010a. The Role of School Leadership in the Improvement of Learning Country Reports and Case Studies of a Central-European Project 2009. Budapest: Tempus Public Foundation.
i-fl	Curriculum as an Instrument
^	in Developing Leadership
0	in Modern School Practice
Rudite Andersone
University of Latvia, Latvia
cd 0
O
0
O
^^ The article addresses one of the objectives of the curriculum
development - the assurance of leadership in the teaching/learning ^^ process in classrooms that is influenced by new technologies
entering both our national economy and school practice, and by changes in the perception and the way of thinking of the young generation. The views of future teachers that were studied show that educational leadership for qualitative teaching/learning is described by the following principles: acknowledging the learners' experience ^^ and learning practices; preparing the learners for life in its broadest sense; recognizing non-formal learning combined with the formal one; promoting the learners' independent and autonomous learning; estimating the learners' needs in compliance with their learning ^^ activities and learning achievements; planning the activities and
managing assistance to encourage learning. ^ Keywords: curriculum, leadership in education, new generation, ^^ modern school
ft
Introduction
Education in school practice takes place in a completely new informative environment (social nets, digitalization) and is oriented towards the future, which cannot be clearly characterized and described. It is also influenced by rapid development of digital economy. Digital economy, which is today's reality, changes convincingly the society's habits and influences its economic and social structure as pointed out in the exploratory opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee 'The Digital Market as a Driver for Growth' (European Economic and Social Committee 2012). It is clear that the future will require people with confidence and skills to meet the challenges posed by fast and far-reaching change (Donaldson 2009). Statistical data from Eurostat reflect digitalization of the young generation. In 2010, more than 91% of 16-24 year old people, 76 % of 25-54 year old people and 40 % of 55-74 year old people were using Internet more than once a week (Eurostat 2011). So, new communication technologies have really
leadership in education Special Issue | 2014 | 181-189
table 1 Use oflnternet for Social Networking, Learning, civic and Political Participation, by Age Group, Eu-27,2011 (% of individuals)
Activity		Age		
1	6-74	16-24 25-	-54	55-74
Participating in social networks	37	78	42	8
Consulting wikis	39	62	44	23
Reading and posting opinions on civic or political issues	12	25	18	6
Taking part in online consult. or voting to define civic or political issues	6	7	7	4
notes Adapted from www.eurostat.eu.
become an essential part of their life. These technologies are also used in learning.
The above mentioned affects the content and implementation of the curriculum as well as the teaching/learning process in the classroom. Prensky (2001) mentions many significant changes in the perception of today's students. These changes include unequal speed of perception compared to the traditional one, parallel processing of data compared to the coherent one, perception of an image before perceiving the text. Children prefer role plays; their fantasy dominates over reality, etc.
School practice has become more modern; it has changed together with the society. At the same time, the teaching/learning process and its management actually have not changed during the last century while the learners' way of thinking and perception have changed and are changing under the influence of new technologies putting forward new approaches in curriculum development and new principles in developing educational leadership in the classrooms.
The previous studies have proved that the basic components of curriculum development are the selection of the content and planning of the process (Andersone 2007) therefore its effective development that corresponds to the development of science and society is very important for qualitative changes in school practice, i. e., the perfection of the teaching/learning process, improvement of teachers' competence, etc. In Latvia, like in many other European countries educational standards and curricula have been reorganized. Digitalization of economy, globalization and re-structuring of economical branches are important factors that challenge the transition in education and emphasize this change as one of the most significant problems of social development. Thus one of the targets of curriculum development is ensuring the effectiveness of the teaching process and by doing so improv-
ing the management as the school managers develop the qualities of leaders.
The goal of the present study is to describe the curriculum development as an instrument in developing leadership in modern school practice. The method used in this study is the analysis of literature and the survey of 24 prospective teachers.
Modern School Practice
The background assumption of the transition of a modern school practice is not only its responsibility for providing the classroom with modern technological equipment but also reaching appropriate achievements in the teaching/learning process which is provided by relevant management - profound changes in education are impossible without profound changes in management. New generation technologies are entering schools. 'Microsoft Surface' and 'smart Table' are two examples demonstrating the future view of a school black-board and desk combination. A computer makes a desk, and a big touch screen makes a table plate. Students can see their tasks for the day and their home tasks on the touch screen; they can draw shapes, do maths tasks, write their comments or play intellectual games with their classmates. These targeted manipulations provide qualitative management of the teaching/learning process as well as effective meeting of the learners' needs. Rapid development of technologies forces teachers to follow their students' digital life style, acquire skills necessary for modern school environment, which make the teaching more effective. Initiatives directed to increase the role of information and communication technologies (ict) in education usually are restricted by the possibility of installing the equipment in the classroom. At the same time their influence on the teaching/learning process and its management is often neglected. To solve this problem, three pedagogical dimensions of leadership can be applied: stimulation of the students' intellectual development; providing the classroom with qualitative and modern learning environment; facilitating the learners' understanding of importance of their activities (Ayers, Dinham, and Sawyer 1998).
Teachers acknowledge that in the modern school learners understand the impact of current changes in the social processes and their importance for the future educational and career opportunities, and it is facilitated by digitalization of the school and society, globalization processes in society and education, challenges
dictated by the necessity to increase competitiveness and sustain-ability not only in the state's economy but also in each person's career.
Leadership for Qualitative Teaching/Learning
The underpinning principles ofleadership in a modern school that provide a qualitative teaching/learning process and that are used in the present study are the ones suggested in theoretical sources (Johnson and Johnson 1991):
•	Clear, positive communication during which a mutual process of information exchange is going on;
•	Mutual trust allowing to manage, establish, and maintain various situations;
•	Constructive management of arising conflicts.
The Internet blog 'Answers' was used for the study. The following question was asked: 'What is your understanding of high-quality teaching and learning?' Byron Samuel (22) answered: What I understand from high-quality teaching and learning is that the students are taught by highly qualified teachers who do not just have appropriate education in the subject they are teaching but they also have a valid experience in that field as well. Only a teacher with such abilities can teach their learners how to acquire the skills they need to compete in their field of career today.
Qualitative teaching/learning is aimed at meeting students' needs and interests therefore appropriate leadership becomes more and more topical.
The survey of 24 prospective teachers indicates which principles of successful educational leadership they consider the most important and which principles are strongly related to a qualitative teaching/learning process. Principles of appropriate leadership in the teaching/learning process suggested by James and Pollard (2006) have been used to identify the views of these teachers. The data are presented in table 2.
Prospective teachers' views on principles for educational leadership for qualitative teaching/learning can be ranged as follows: Acknowledgement of learners' previous experience and learning (the most important - 83%); Preparing the learners for life in its broadest sense (75%).
Respondents have also mentioned: Approving the role of nonformal (out-of-school) learning within the formal learning pro-
table 2 Prospective Teachers' Views on Principles for Educational Leadership for Qualitative Teaching/Learning
Principles	n	%
Prepare the learners for life in its widest sense	18	75
Offer the acquisition of the chief spheres of knowledge	7	29
Acknowledge the learners' previous experience and learning.	20	83
Plan the activities and manage help in order to encourage learning	11	46
The estimate of the learners' needs is in compliance with the learning activity and the	11	46
result		
Promote the learners' independent and autonomous learning	14	58
Facilitate the learners' communication during the learning process, the enrichment	8	33
and exchange of knowledge		
Approve of the role of non-formal (out of school) learning within the formal learning	15	62
process		
The teacher himself keeps learning	9	37
Develop an effective learning environment	9	37
cess (62%); promoting the learners' independent and autonomous learning by creating an effective learning environment (58%) as important principles.
Deeper examination shows that prospective teachers are ready to meet the needs of the younger generation by taking into consideration the peculiarities of their perception and learning habits. Teachers also recognize the vision and traits of a modern school with its changing tools and modern technologies as well as expanding possibilities of learners' non-formal education.
Curriculum as an Instrument in Developing Leadership
Curriculum as a crucial component of any formal educational process addresses the main changes in education such as what students should learn and be able to do; why, how, and how well they should do this. In the past, the curriculum was designed merely from the perspective of its cultural transmission functions with its structure consequently reflecting discrete areas of knowledge. Due to the complexity of today's continuously changing world, the contemporary approaches to curriculum development far exceed the traditional understanding of curricula as merely plans of study or lists of the prescribed content.
So, the principles for educational leadership for a qualitative teaching/learning process are important for modern school practice, thus the curriculum should be developed in accordance with them. The requirements for the principles are imbedded in the
questions suggested by Akker (2003). The answers to the following questions will guide teachers in the curriculum development:
•	Aims and objectives - Towards which goals are they learning?
•	Content - What are they learning?
•	Learning activities - How are they learning?
•	Teacher's role - How is the teacher facilitating their learning?
•	Materials and resources - With what are they learning?
•	Grouping - With whom are they learning?
•	Location - Where are they learning?
•	Time - When are they learning?
•	Assessment - How is their learning assessed?
There are different approaches to the development of curriculum in modern school practice. Here are four of them which are used the most frequently in educational leadership for a qualitative teaching/learning process (Visscher-Voerman and Gustafson 2004):
•	instrumental approach;
•	communicative approach;
•	artistic approach;
•	pragmatic approach.
Instrumental approach is based upon systematic analysis and development of programs. The answers to the following questions are sought (Tyler 1949; Taba 1962):
•	Which objectives should education aim at?
•	Which learning experiences are most suitable for attaining these objectives?
•	How could this learning experience be organized effectively?
•	How can we determine whether the objectives have been achieved?
In communicative approach the emphasis is laid on the involvement of and discussions with all the interested parties concerned -developers of programs and implementers of programs, specialists in the corresponding spheres, parents, school leavers, etc. (Walker 1990). Firstly, the interested parties express their view on the problems, come to an agreement about the most essential things, then they generate ideas concerning the potential solutions and agree
upon the preferable solution, transform it into the description of the final product or a developed curriculum.
Artistic approach requires a creative approach on the part of curriculum developers, which is based more on subjective understanding of the objectives of the curriculum and the learners' needs. The teacher plays the main role in this approach (Eisner 1979). Here emphasis is laid on the creative interaction in a particular context in order to satisfy the learners' needs in a meaningful way by constantly developing the curriculum.
Pragmatic approach is directed to the curriculum product (knowledge, skills, practical availability). Curriculum development takes place in close interaction with the local practice and its users. Formative assessment plays an essential role in attaining the desired result (Goodlad 1979). J. A. Comenius has also drawn attention to the fact that 'it is necessary to teach only things, which bring apparent benefit' (Komenskis 1992) The choice of the approach to curriculum development is determined by many reasons. The more attention is paid to the learners' practice in classroom the broader are the possibilities of the artistic approach. On the other hand, when we think about the context and the final product the pragmatic approach is more suitable. However, on the macro level instrumental and communicative approaches are more frequently used.
The principles for educational leadership for a qualitative teaching/learning process used by prospective teachers to develop a curriculum can be grouped around the four approaches. The analysis of theoretical sources and the exploration of future teachers' views concerning the four approaches to leadership for a qualitative teaching/learning process reflect ways to develop a quality curriculum of a modern school. Effective curriculum planning and development is described in table 3.
Prospective teachers prefer instrumental and pragmatic approaches towards the development of curriculum. Their background knowledge and experience influence their understanding of importance of the curriculum in school practices when the curriculum is used more for students' knowledge and skills' management rather than for the teaching/learning process itself. Certainly, the choice of an approach towards curriculum development is determined by various factors, which are not only the teacher's conception but also a clear vision of the school development, understanding of the needs of the new generation, development of the society, etc. If we pay more attention to the students' prac-
table 3 Connection of Approaches With the Principles for Educational Leadership for Qualitative Teaching towards Development of Curriculum
The name of the Connection to the principles for educational approach	leadership for qualitative teaching/learning
Prospective teachers' opinion
Instrumental To plan activities and to structure assistance approach	to facilitate studying. To offer the acquisition
of the main knowledge areas. To prepare students for real life in its broadest meaning.
To plan activities and to structure assistance to facilitate studying. To prepare students for real life in its broadest meaning.
Communicative To promote students' communication during approach	the learning process, their receiving and ex-
change of knowledge. To recognize importance of informal studying, i.e., of studying outside the school. To facilitate students' independent studying.
To recognize importance of informal studying, i. e., of studying outside the school. To facilitate students' independent studying.
Artistic	A teacher makes effective studying environ-
approach	ment. A teacher studies all the time. To as-
sess students' needs according to studies and their results
To assess students' needs according to studies and their results.
Pragmatic	To recognize students' background. To as-
approach	sess students' needs according to studies and
their results. To recognize the importance of informal studying, i. e., of studying outside the school.
To recognize students' background. To recognize importance of informal studying, i.e., of studying outside the school.
tice in the classroom, then artistic approach and communicative approach give opportunities to use the curriculum as a tool for developing leadership in modern school practice.
Conclusion
Needs of the new digital generation and the management of the teaching/learning process, where the curriculum serves as an effective tool in the hands of a competent teacher characterize modern school practice. Teachers and, even more, future teachers use the previous experience for analysing the curriculum development possibilities and educational leadership for ensuring a qualitative teaching/learning process. So, closer attention is paid to instrumental and pragmatic approaches towards curriculum development. At the same time, students living in the globalized world, using new technologies and sometimes even surpassing their teachers in getting information, are studying at schools. It is essential for today's teachers to manage the teaching process, to assist their students in arranging their knowledge and sifting the information they get. So, artistic and communicative approaches towards curriculum development become more and more popu-
lar. In these approaches students' digital skills are used for getting new knowledge. However, these approaches are especially challenging for teachers.
References
Akker, I. van den. 2003. 'Curriculum Perspectives: An Introduction.' Curriculum Landscapes and Trends, edited by I. van den Akker, W. Kuiper, and U. Hameyer, 1-10. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Andersone, R. 2007. Izglítíbas un mdcibu priekšmetu programmas. Riga: RaKa.
Ayers, P., S. Dinham, and W. Sawyer. 1998. Successful Teaching in the nsw Higher School Certificate. Sydney: nsw Department of Education and Training.
Donaldson, G. 2009. 'Improving Scottish Education.' http://www .educationscotland.gov.uk/inspectionandreview/
Eisner, E. W. 1979. The Educational Imagination: On the Design and Evaluation of School Programs. New York: Macmillan.
European Economic and Social Committee. 2012. 'Opinion of the
European Economic and Social Committee on "The Digital Market as a Driver for Growth (Exploratory Opinion) (2012/C 229/01)."' Official Journal of the European Union c 229/1.
Eurostat. 2011. 'Internet Use in Households and by Individuals in 2011.' Statistics in Focus, no. 66. http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/ cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-SF-11-066/EN/KS-SF-11-066-EN.PDF
Goodlad, 1.1. 1979. Curriculum Inquiry: The Study of Curriculum Practice. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Johnson, D. W. and Johnson, R. T. 1991. Learning Together and Alone. Englewood Cliffs, nj: Prentice-Hall.
James, M., and A. Pollard. 2006. Principles for Teaching and Learning: Improving Teaching and Learning in Schools. London: tlrp. http://www.tlrp.org/pub/documents/TLRP_Schools_Commentary _FINAL.pdf
Komenskis, J. A. 1992. Liela didaktika. Riga: Zvaigzne.
Prensky, M. 2001. Digital Game-Based Learning. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Taba, H. 1962. Curriculum Development: Theory and Practice. New York: Hartcourt Brace and World.
Tyler, R. W. 1949. Basic Principles of Curriculum. Fort Worth, tx: Hartcourt Brace College.
Visscher-Voerman, I., and K. L. Gustafson. 2004. 'Paradigms in the Theory and Practice of Education and Training Designe.' Education Technology, Research and Development 52 (1): 69-89.
Walker, D. 1990. Fundamentals of Curriculum. Fort Worth, tx: Hartcourt Brace College.
i-C	Contemporary Management
^	and the Benefits of Its Implementation
0	in Educational Organizations
""Ö	in the Republic of Macedonia Cd
^	Aneta Barakoska
^^	Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Macedonia
Ö o
OJ >
• I—I
o
Vera Stojanovska
Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Macedonia Elena Rizova
Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Macedonia
Current development and progress of management is not just a trend, but an actual need. New times are demanding new types of schools which demand principals with new competences - management competences, true leadership skills, who will be capable of pursuing the school mission and have a vision for its future develop-^^ ment. The question is: What are the internal relations and concordances between education and management? Which is their alternate bond which is specific for their mutuality? In this paper are presented theoretical and empirical notions from one research about advantages of establishing the contemporary concept of management
ft
&
in primary education in the Republic of Macedonia. For that pur pose, teachers and principals from ten schools in Skopje were asked to give their opinions and attitudes regarding this issue. Through descriptive analyses from the posed questions we got information for positive or negative influence of establishing management in primary education. The conclusions are pointing out that management is not realized fully, but still has its influence and significance and is in function with improving the school work. There are a lot of advantages that are affecting successful functioning of educational institutions, which were pointed out by the principals and teachers in the sample of this research.
Keywords: contemporary management, education, benefits, principals, teachers
Introduction
The beginning of 21th century is marked by deep changes, characteristic for the creation of a new civilization. Facing the present, and especially the challenges that future brings, is people's pri-
leadership in education Special Issue | 2014 | 191-201
ority. Globalization process is actualizing the question of balance between the two basic tendencies in societal life: the effort to keep what once has been created on one side, and the inevitable need for creating something new on the other.
Creating 'knowledge based society' according to the author Peter Draker is one of the biggest changes that intellectual history of mankind has ever faced. He thinks that the change in the dynamics of knowledge can be called revolution of management spread worldwide, and knowledge is one of the most important resources.
The question is raised: What is keeping education and management in interrelation and concordance? What are their common strands and their specifics of togetherness? Education itself as a societal phenomenon and process is influencing people's development and creativity, and management is focused on pleasing people's needs by producing material and spiritual goods.
The last decade of the 20th century was filled with a series of events that will leave a mark on the economic and social relations in general in our country. In the framework of overall changes that have appeared after the constitution of the Republic of Macedonia as an autonomous and sovereign country, special importance has been given to the change of model of the economic system and establishing a new one in accordance with the principles of free market and labor economy. This change imposed adequate reforms on the educational and scientific research area in our country.
From the problem treatment point of view, that means inevitability and necessity of establishing management as a contemporary process in educational, as well as in the scientific research areas.
The aim of this paper is through theoretical and empirical research to gather notions for the benefit of establishing the concept of management in primary education in the Republic of Macedonia. Besides the analyses of the theoretical aspects of the subject of research, we conducted empirical research by questioning opinions and attitudes of teachers and principals for positive and negative gaining from establishing management in primary education. Actually, we wanted to find out how principals and teachers look at establishing management and how they interpret the changes and the innovations of this aspect.
Defining Educational Management
The term management has its origin in the word manage, which means: govern, supervise, handle, succeed, makes decisions for
satisfying some needs (Petkovski and Aleksova 2004, 78) Contemporary theory and practice are treating management from three aspects: as a process, as an institution and as a hierarchy (p. 80).
When discussing about management, we should have in mind some important issues. First of all we think that management should be treated as an activity or a process, and less than a notion or event. One of the most significant barriers for a successful acceptance of the concept of management and managerial behavior in educational institutions is the traditional accessibility to the notion that management refers only to governing structures and not the whole personnel or staff. In that way, management is usually associated with power and high status. Management or governance refers to accomplishing some assignments or making things happen, and that is usually connected with the way or culture of living in some organizations. In other words, management belongs to every organization. Having this in mind, we can say that the process of management or governance can be met in every situation where individuals gather together with one mutual goal of achieving agreed results.
For successful functioning of educational institutions it is crucial to rely on contemporary management and building managers and manager teams in their work, for facing problems in market conditions of working. Managers should be capable for modeling the work of educational institutions, to coordinate the work and relations with the surroundings, to initiate changes that will keep the stability of the institution, to know how to motivate employees for accomplishing better results in educational work, to be able to collect and circulate information, to be capable of playing the role of head of the house, to be capable of negotiating in and out of the company with external partners who are linked with the educational institution, etc. (Gocevski 2003, 301).
Education in the society has become very important. All the analyses imply to the fact that management of the school and managers are successful when they succeed in improving the overall conditions in the school: working conditions, quality of teaching, supply of materials [...] Interesting are the notions of the famous theoretic of organizations Isaac Adizes for the key of success in management. It cannot be accomplished by elimination of all the problems in the organization, but by focusing on the most significant moments vital to the life cycle of the institution. To live means to constantly solve problems. One organization has no problems only when there are no changes, and that happens only when the organization is dead.
Implementation of Educational Management in the Republic of Macedonia
A number of steps have been taken in the Republic of Macedonia so far, that have led to contemporariness of the governing system of educational institutions, a process that has had slow but visible orientation towards contemporary management. This process of establishing management has gone through several phases the most significant of which were: the change of awareness for inevitability of educational management, change of legal and other regulative that provided certain conditions for promoting managers to the position of a key chain in the governance process, educating profiles from this profession, evaluating and stimulating manager's efforts, accepting management as a profession with great importance for the success of educational institutions.
After the year 1991, educational management in the Republic of Macedonia has started to develop through different shapes and contents: projects, programs, schools. Some of them have been thematically directly connected with management while others through different titles included management contents and activities.
Management in the Macedonian society has entered the scientific, vocational and popular literature of foreign authors. Part of this literature has been translated in Macedonian language. Today, this problematic has become immanent for some domestic authors, although their number is very low. It should be appointed that some higher educational institutions have implemented this problematic in their study programs and educational management is studied as an educational subject at graduate and postgraduate level. All of that has created a baseline for producing educated staff trough different institutional and non institutional forms and contents. On a general scale, management has started its implementation through foreign capital and by taking over some capacities from people outside our country. Some foreign experts' visits to the Republic of Macedonia have also influenced management development (Jankoski 1998, 49).
In May 1993, in Ohrid (Macedonia) 'School for Modern Management' was held. This school was realized in the framework of the First Macedonian-American forum, organized by the Institute for Social and Political-Legal Research from Skopje and the Lincoln University from Nebraska, usa (Jankoski 1998, 52). The project 'Transforming the Principals' has been conducted through a donation from the Soros Foundation. Before the start of the 1994/1995
school year a work meeting of the principals of the primary and secondary schools in Macedonia was held in Ohrid. This project had a goal to improve the governing staff from primary and secondary education and prepare them to work in changed social conditions. This project involved around one hundred principals from primary and secondary schools in Macedonia.
These were some of the trainings, seminars, and discussions which served as a starting point for implementing educational management in educational institutions, the benefits, positive sides, meaning and significance of management as a process.
Educational Management Program for Educational Staff
In order to improve professional competences of principals from the schools throughout the Republic of Macedonia, a particular Program was initiated for certification of the educational management programs for professional development of principals in order to upgrade their competences in management with human resources, finances, guidance, organizational and communication skills as well as skills for strategic planning and visioning. Through a transparent procedure run by the Ministry of Education and Science and the sea Project, a group of 13 educators were selected that went through certain selection criteria in close cooperation with the Ministry. This group of educators had an assignment to provide a National Program for Certification of Principals in concordance with the Memorandum for Cooperation signed in the year 2004. The making of the Program for Certification of Principals started in August, 2004 by defining 6 modules of the program. A group of educators defined every module and its contents. Members from the group divided the contents and worked in pairs. sea was facilitating the whole process of writing the Program by organizing sessions for working in small groups for every module. The final version of the Program for Certification of Principals was composed of 6 modules and its contents are listed below:
1.	Introduction module - In this module the following contents were studied: Learning styles; School quality; Teams and team work; Management and governance; Governing changes.
2.	Theory of organization - with the following contents: Theory of organization; Climate and culture; Guidance.
3.	Communications in educational organizations - In the third module the following contents were studied: People in organization; Communication; Meetings; Handling conflicts.
4.	Principal as a pedagogical executive - In this module the following contents were envisaged: Principal as a pedagogical executive, Professional development of employees, Profes-sionalization of teachers; Motivating employees.
5.	Planning and finances - In this module the following contents were studied: Vision and mission; Planning; Decision making; Finances.
6.	Legislation - In the last module the contents that were studied were connected to: Law and legislatives; Principals' responsibilities; Pedagogical records and documentation; Evaluation and progress of students; Law for labor relations and Law on Public Procurement.
In accordance with the Memorandum for Cooperation signed in April, 2005, the sea Project in close cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science organized a cycle of trainings for qualified principals. A total of 268 principals divided into 3 age groups were trained from April 2005 until April 2006. In May 2005, a Rulebook was composed which defined the Program and the principals' final exam.
Also, the Law for primary and secondary education has been changed and supplemented which defined the final principals' exam as one of the criteria for being a principal in educational institutions.
Today, the question that is raised is: Can successful managers (leaders) make our schools more attractive? Science in a wider sense is questioning the forms, the most sophisticated methods of work and the organization of school institutions which can provide effective support in a contemporary society. Are our schools well established, organized for fulfilling this future mission and challenges in the third millennium? Or, are the principals those who initiate changes and plan development of the school with an intention to prepare the children for accomplishing complicated assignments in a knowledge based society.
Research Results
The aim of this paper is through theoretical and empirical research to gather notions for benefits of establishing the concept
of educational management in primary education in the Republic of Macedonia. Besides the analyses of theoretical aspects of the subject of research, we conducted empirical research by asking of teachers' and principals' opinions and attitudes for positive and negative gaining from establishing management in primary education. Actually, we wanted to find out how principals and teachers look at establishing management and how they interpret the changes and the innovations from this aspect.
From the research instruments we used structural interview for the principals of primary education and a questionnaire for the primary education teachers. Research was conducted among 110 subjects from which 10 were principals and 100 were teachers from 10 different schools in Skopje.
Point of View of the Principals in Educational Institutions
The principals' interview was composed of 6 questions, 4 of which were closed type questions (where the answers were divided into 3 categories: I completely agree, I partially agree and I do not agree at all) and 2 open answer questions. We will present the summary of the principals' interview according to the number of questions in the instrument.
The answers to the question for establishing management is in Junction of improving quality of education show that 70% of the principals completely agree that establishing management is in function of improving quality of education. 30% partially agree with this question, and none of them disagree. The results gained for this question imply that establishing management in primary education is providing possibilities for accomplishing higher goals in education, i.e. improving effectiveness and efficiency of educational institutions. We wanted to find out the answer to a frequently posed question, whether the management team successfully handles the changes in the school. Analyzing the results we can conclude that most of the principals agree that the management team successfully handles every day changes in the school, including establishing management. Few of them partially agree with this notion and none of them answered negatively, which is leading to conclusion that the principal together with the management team are always prepared to successfully import changes, innovations and novelties in the school.
Regarding the question of whether passing principal's exam is sufficient for successful school managing, less than half of inter-
viewed principals said that they completely agree with this question. Most of them partially agree that principals should pass only one exam (principal's exam). No one answered negatively to this question. These results show us that school principals are accepting the contemporary tendency of continuous upgrading, following the innovations and novelties in the society and the education. That is in accordance with the results to the question whether participation of principals in trainings and seminars is crucial for a successful establishment of management in the school. Half of the principals answered that they completely agree with the notion that principals should participate more in trainings and seminars which are related to establishing management in schools. The other half claimed that they partially agree with this notion. No one answered negatively.
Positive and Negative Influences of Establishing Management
in Educational Institutions (Principals' Point of View)
In the interview designed for the principals there were open questions where principals could present their opinions and attitudes regarding establishment of management - positive and negative influences.
On the question list some of the gains which are a result of establishing management in your school, principals from primary education gave the following answers: information is easily transferred, everyone can participate in activities of interest, work is documented; better organizational equipment, control and comprise of human and material resources in activities, establishing team work; organizing educational trainings, seminars and projects; better planning, guiding, controlling, decision making, coordinating, motivating; better cooperation with local community, cooperation and communication with nongovernmental organizations and better access to information; improvement of school climate and solving conflicts among students, teachers and parents; following mutual agendas for human rights in the school and wider community, initiatives coming from the teaching staff for improving educational work; managing changes and intervening once in a while; upgrading communication relations and skills, as well as educational processes; transparency and team work; possibility for every teacher of professional development with their own creative, innovative ideas and goals, developing partnerships and team relations; managers are trained to govern the schools,
but still success of the school is dependent on a person's nature.
From the gained data we can conclude that principals pointed out some of the advantages of establishing management in education which lead to improvement of schools' work. Management is establishing a new way of thinking, behaving and working in educational institutions. Activities addressed towards producing management staff are rising as factors that contribute to a faster consolidation of new structures, stabilizing the current state and trace future educational development.
On the question according to you, what are the main disadvantages of establishing management in your school, principals from primary education gave the following answers: some of the teachers are not in financial position to get additional education although they have great potential of being good managers; we cannot expect being ideal in managing; every extra work that comes as initiative from the manager sometimes encounters resistance from the staff, the principal is left alone to solve all the problems of the school.
From all that was mentioned above, we can conclude that principals don't mention any bigger disadvantages from establishing management in their school. But still, we should keep in mind the fact that every school can face certain barriers in implementing management. It is important to mention that management is important, but more important are the managers who should endeavor towards upgrading and raising the quality of education.
Teachers' Point of View
The questionnaire for teachers was composed of 4 questions 3 of which were closed type questions (where the answers were divided into 3 categories: I completely agree, I partially agree and I do not agree at all) and 1 open answer question. Analyses from gathered results are pointing to the following conditions regarding establishing management in educational institutions.
Answers to the question whether establishing management is in function of improving quality of education show that 57 out of 100 inquiries (which is 57%) completely agree with the notion that establishing management is in function of improving quality of education. 39 of the teachers (39%) partially agree with this, and only 4 teachers do not agree at all.
One of the most important things for school success is how the management team is handling innovations, novelties and changes
in education and whether they are all implemented. To find out how the management team is handling the school, we asked the teachers this question since their answers are of great significance to the problem of our research.
Results show that 50 teachers (50%) completely agree that the management team successfully handles changes in the school, 46 teachers (46%) partially agree with this and 4 of the teachers (4%) do not agree at all.
Regarding the question is passing the principal's exam sufficient for successful managing of the school, 17 of the teachers (17%) completely agree that passing principal's exam is sufficient for successful school managing. Most of the inquiries (56%) partially agree with this notion and 27 teachers (27%) do not agree at all. From all of the above we can conclude that most of the teachers don't consider this one exam as the only precondition for successful managing of the school. Maybe trainings and seminars, continuous improvement, following innovations, novelties and changes will lead to successful managing of schools.
Positive and Negative Influences of Establishing Management in Educational Institutions (Teachers' Point of View)
From the data that was analyzed, we can say that 20% of the teachers gave their positive comments about establishing management in the schools, while 80% of them do not have any answer at all. We assume that this is due to insufficient information about establishing management in the schools, accepting its role and function, as well as lack of appropriate literature on this topic.
After analyzing the attitudes and opinions of the teachers we will list some of the positive comments about establishing management, such as: contemporary methods and techniques are used; lots of novelties are accepted about students' needs; teachers are more organized and more informed about the teaching process; the climate of the school is getting better; the quality of education is improved; communication between principal, employees and local community is better; work conditions are improved, teachers are more active and have greater responsibilities towards work; better solving problems if any; planned, organized and coordinated guidance of the school; school is progressing in all areas of educational process and is in step with the demands of the new age.
Let us list the critics which teachers point out after establishing
management in the schools: not sufficient literature and information about management in education; principals do not see the right role and function of management; teachers do not always get in time information about school work; managers get diplomas and knowledge through short courses; political influence is interfering in choosing principals in schools; certain individuals have freedom for decision making because they are close to the principal (manager) of the school.
Conclusions
General conclusions point to the notion that establishing management in educational organizations in our country, besides all mentioned disadvantages pointed out by principals and teachers, has its influence and significance and is in function of improving schools work. There are lots of advantages that are affecting successful functioning of educational institutions, which were pointed out by the principals and teachers in the sample of this research. Improving conditions in the schools certainly giving us hope that young generations will get solid education and a brighter future. At this moment, we should regard schools in Macedonia as schools in a transition period, which we have to pass. All transitions include some losses, but also a challenge for self-actualization and ascent. Management in education is raising societal responsibility which the schools should have. It is giving them the necessary vitality through flexibility and adaptability to answer the demands of the society and labor market.
References
Gocevski, T. 2003. Obrazoven menadzment. Skopje: Kiro Dandaro-Bitola.
Jankoski, D. 1998. Tranzicija, menadzment, obrazovanie. Skopje: Prosveten rabotnik.
Petkovski, K., and M. Aleksova. 2004. Vodenje na dinamicno uciliste. Skopje: Biro za razvoj na obrazovanieto.
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VODENJE s|2014: 143-165
Maria Szabo Novi izzivi za ravnatelje v madžarskih šolah
Po dvajsetletnem obdobju, v katerem sta bili za madžarsko upravo izobraževanja znacilni skupna odgovornost in lokalna avtonomija, se je vlada odlocila izboljšati kakovost izobraževanja. Od konca leta 2011 so bili za doseganje tega namena uresniceni številni ukrepi. Clanek prikazuje vzporednice med vlogo ravnateljev v decentraliziranem sistemu uprave izobraževanja in tisto v centraliziranem ter predstavlja pregled dejavnosti sedanje šolske oblasti. Povzema glavne prvine trikotnika podpore, ocenjevanja in usposabljanja, pri cemer se osredo-toca na možne nove vloge ravnateljev v njem.
Ključne besede: vloga, ocenjevanje, usposabljanje ravnateljev in podpora ravnateljem VODENJE s|2014: 167-180
Rudite Kurikul kot instrument pri razvijanju vodenja Andersone v sodobni šolski praksi
(Clanek se ukvarja z enim od ciljev razvoja kurikula - z zagotavljanjem vodenja v poucevanju in ucenju v razredu, na katerega vplivajo tako nove tehnologije, ki vstopajo v državno gospodarstvo in hkrati šolsko prakso, kot tudi spremembe v zaznavanju in nacinu razmišljanja mlade generacije. Proucevani pogledi prihodnjih uciteljev kažejo, da izobraževalno vodenje za kvalitativno poucevanje in ucenje upošteva nekatera nacela: priznavanje izkušenj ucecih se in njihovih uc-nih praks; pripravljanje ucecih se za življenje v najširšem smislu; prepoznavanje neformalnega ucenja skupaj s formalnim; spodbujanje neodvisnega in samostojnega ucenja ucecih se; ocenjevanje potreb ucecih se glede na njihove ucne dejavnosti in ucne dosežke; nacrtovanje dejavnosti in upravljanje pomoci za spodbujanje ucenja.
Ključne besede: kurikul, vodenje v izobraževanju, nova generacija, sodobna šola
VODENJE s|2014: 181-189
Aneta Barakoska, Sodobni menedžment in prednosti njegove uvedbe Vera Stojanovska v izobraževalnih organizacijah v Republiki Makedoniji
in Elena Rizova
V Republiki Makedoniji je napredek korakov, ki vodijo k sodobnemu sistemu vodenja izobraževalnih institucij, za zdaj skromen, vendar vidno teži k sodobnemu menedžmentu. Ta proces uvajanja mene-džmenta poteka v vec fazah, med katerimi so: spreminjanje zavesti za vključevanje menedžmenta, spreminjanje zakonov in druge zakonodaje za spodbujanje menedžerjev kot ključnih verižnih členov v procesu vodenja, evalvacija in stimulacija dela menedžerjev, sprejemanje menedžmenta kot poklica z velikim pomenom za boljšo uspešnost izobraževalnih institucij. V sestavku so predstavljeni teoreticni in empi-ricni nazori iz ene od raziskav o prednostih vzpostavljanja sodobnega pojmovanja upravljanja v osnovnem šolstvu Republike Makedonije. Raziskava je tako kvalitativne kot kvantitativne narave. Ugotovitve kažejo, da se menedžment ne uresnicuje v celoti, vendar ima vseeno vpliv in je pomemben ter z delovanjem izboljšuje delo šol.
Ključne besede: sodobni menedžment, izobraževanje, prednosti, ravnatelji, ucitelji
VODENJE s|2014: 191-201