School leadership is key to shaping inclusive quality public education

In a world where education faces unprecedented challenges, school leaders emerge as the pivotal force driving quality and inclusivity in schools. This was at the heart of discussions during the webinar “Strengthening School Leadership: Insights from the 2024/5 GEM Report” organized by Education International (EI).

School leadership, the cornerstone of educational success

Opening the meeting on March 13th, EI President Mugwena Maluleke, a school leader himself, addressed the audience who joined from different regions around the globe: “It is an honour to address such a dedicated and passionate group of individuals who play a pivotal role in shaping the future of education.”

He also emphasised that “school leadership is the cornerstone of educational success,” and highlighted the critical yet often neglected role of school leaders, saying: “Every educator, when they close the classroom door, becomes a leader. However, school leaders are a critical and often neglected group.”

He further added that “your guidance and vision are essential in fostering an environment where both teachers and students can thrive, especially when faced with a such a severe shortage of teachers.”

Empowering school leaders, teachers and education support personnel to exercise leadership

Dennis Sinyolo, Director for EI Africa region, underscored the importance of school leaders in fostering a positive school climate: “School leaders play a pivotal role in the provision of quality education and in ensuring equity and equal educational opportunities for all children, pupils, and students.” He stressed the need for governmental support, noting that “school leaders can only be able to do this if they are empowered and given full support by the government, education authorities, parents, and other key education stakeholders.” Sinyolo also emphasised the collective responsibility of leadership, saying: “Leadership is critical to learning, and school leaders must be pedagogical leaders, too.”

GEM Report: Four pillars of leadership

The GEM Report, presented by its Director Manos Antoninis, offered a broad conception of leadership, encompassing school, system, and political levels. Antoninis remarked that “school leaders are always first and foremost teachers.” He further elaborated: “Our conception is broad, and by that we mean the school level, and not only the principals themselves, but all those actors that are inside the school that the vice principals, the teacher leaders, the teachers in the classroom. And also the union leaders.”

Antoninis went on presenting the four pillars developed in the GEM Report:

Setting expectations: Leaders need to have a clear vision and be able to communicate and share this vision about the educational and social outcomes they aim to achieve. This involves focussing on long-term goals and ensuring that everyone involved understands and works towards these objectives.
Focussing on learning: The primary goal of leadership should be to enhance learning in a broad sense, not just focussing on measurable outcomes, but also on broader educational goals. This shift from administrative tasks to a focus on learning is crucial for effective leadership.
Fostering collaboration: Effective leaders recognise their strengths and weaknesses and seek help where needed. They promote a collaborative and participatory approach, involving various stakeholders such as teachers, students, parents, and the community in decision-making processes.
Developing people: Leaders should focus on developing their teams by recognising and nurturing talent. This includes supporting teachers to improve their teaching practices and fostering an environment where both students and staff can thrive.

Different regions, common challenges

The challenges faced by school leaders were vividly described by regional representatives. Kate Gainsford, Chair of the New Zealand Secondary Principals' Council, shared that “teacher shortages are a big part of what we are all concerned about, and that has an effect on what is happening in leadership.” She also explained that “we do not have a really strong, coherent system of preparation for principalship.” Gainsford also pointed out the need for collaboration, saying: “What I do think is important is the opportunity and the potential that we have just from this meeting to collaborate around some of those ways of supporting principals.” She also mentioned her surprise, when she was President of the Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA), to learn how little new Ministers of Education knew about education: “I found particularly fascinating the tenure of ministers, and how we are put in the position of needing to be educators, not just in our schools. We need to be educators beyond our schools and with our politicians and often with our civil servants.”

Rebecca Ocran Abaidoo, National Gender Desk Coordinator of Ghana’s National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), echoed these sentiments, emphasising the lack of training for school principals: “Training is a big issue when it comes to the Ghana education service and then leadership.” She also pointed out the political challenges, noting: “We even have cases of unnecessary curriculum changes just because one political party had a certain agenda in their manifesto and immediately after they come to power, they want to implement their manifesto against the general good of education, and in most instances school managers are not involved. Even the Education service itself has little or no role to play.” Abaidoo further highlighted the gender and cultural stereotyping challenges, because “for us as women, it is even critical, because already there are communities where there is gender stereotyping, and a woman will have to be taken through a lot of preparation to be able to face that sort of resistance.”

Ilja Klink, principal of a Dutch municipal secondary school and member of the Algemene Onderwijsbond (AOb), highlighted the autonomy of schools in the Netherlands is historically high, but also pointed out the challenges posed by political interference: “Although the Netherlands is a quite small, safe, and wealthy country, we also have a dangerous Parliament right now, which I would say go far right, and they are not interested in making people smarter.” Klink also mentioned the teacher shortage, acknowledging: “We have a teacher shortage. We have massive cuts all over the spectrum, in higher education, lower education, etc.” She also insisted on the fact that “we don't really have a coherent system for principals' training,” and that “over the last couple of years the role of the unions has become stronger, they demand more, and they really insist on the type of information they want to have from the government,” for example on salaries.

Sandra Patricia Moresco, representative of the Sindicato Argentino de Docentes Privados (SADOP), discussed the precarious conditions faced by teachers in privately managed schools: “Teachers in privately managed schools often face difficult working conditions. There are situations where their remuneration is not sufficient, they have precarious contracts.” She also emphasised the role of unions in supporting school leadership, stating that “on leadership in public education provided by privately managed institutions, the union has a key role to play.” For instance, the union supports “training of the union representatives, so they can face diverse situations preventing good leadership. Each trade union representative is elected by the rest of the teachers by democratic election complying with a series of conditions, with clear functions to conduct.”

Dennis Sinyolo called for continued advocacy and support for school leaders: “We need to continue agitating or pushing for more resources for our schools, to continue pushing for systematic organised training for school leaders as well as strengthened standards for school leaders.” He emphasised the importance of unity, noting: “We are always stronger together. So, it is better to organise them, to unite with them and to continue to advance leadership.”