INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

Leading & Managing International Schools



Leading & Managing International Schools

Abstract

This paper examines the significance of leadership and management in enhancing classroom practice and improving learner outcomes of International. It is increasingly recognised, internationally and in International, that managing teaching and learning is one of the most important activities for principals and other school leaders. Managing teaching and learning is one of the core modules in International's new national qualification for school principals. Drawing on case studies of eight schools, mostly in disadvantaged contexts, the paper shows that managing teaching and learning are often inadequate, and largely fails to compensate for the social and educational problems facing learners and their communities.

Introduction

There are three fundamental requirements for developing effective teaching and learning in schools:

Sound classroom practice from specialist educators.

Sufficient and suitable learning materials.

Sound and proactive leadership and management of learning ([Bush and Glover, 2009], [Spillane, 2004] and [Taylor, 2007]).

This paper examines the significance of leadership and management in enhancing classroom practice and improving learner outcomes in two provinces of International. There is very limited research and literature on managing and leading teaching and learning in International. A systematic review of the literature on school management in International (Bush et al., 2005) found very few sources on this topic and none that offered a comprehensive view based on empirical work. The limited literature base was further stressed by Hoadley (2007). Moloi (2007) also notes this problem but adds that there is developing awareness of its significance for Internationaln schools. This paper aims to make an important contribution to addressing this limitation.

It is increasingly recognised that managing teaching and learning (MTL) is one of the most important (if not the most important) activities for principals and other school leaders. The Internationaln Standard for School Leadership, for example, in setting out the core purpose of principalship, focuses strongly on the need to manage teaching and learning effectively:

The core purpose of principalship is to provide leadership and management in all areas of the school to enable the creation and support of conditions under which high quality teaching and learning take place and which promote the highest possible standards of learner achievement.

The international literature mainly refers to 'leadership' of teaching and learning, or 'instructional leadership' (e.g. Leithwood et al., 1999) but 'management' is widely used in International ([Bush and Glover, 2009] and [Bush et al., 2008]). While we acknowledge differences between these concepts (see Bush, 2003), a discussion of these terms is beyond the scope of this paper and we use both terms, as appropriate, in our discussion and analysis.

There is not a single documented case of a school successfully turning around its pupil achievement trajectory in the absence of talented leadership (Leithwood et al., 2006, p. 5).

The international literature on the role of principals (e.g. National Assembly for Wales, 2005, p. 3) stresses that one of their major functions is 'leading learning and teaching'. The headteacher, working with the staff and governors, creates the conditions and structures to support effective learning and teaching for ...