ABSTRACT

Leading School Renewal explores how school principal leadership behaviour impacts on school change endeavours, and in particular pedagogic renewal, which is a form of educational improvement that is primarily concerned with the growing of the knowledge, skills and beliefs of education in a manner that optimises students’ life options. The authors identify attributes of principals who have engaged in school renewal and examine the influences on their leadership behaviours and disposition towards renewing their schools while also acknowledging the influence of site-specific contextual variables. The authors propose that certain leadership behaviours exhibited by school principals are integral with renewing a school’s pedagogic focus. They argue renewal is a preferred form of sustainable educational change because it relates to deep-seated cultural changes in approaches to pedagogy, curriculum and school structures. Whilst also maintaining that leadership is at the heart of school improvement and principal leadership practices which are based on a clear sense of purpose, values and beliefs about learning and teaching can transform a school into a learning organisation.

Including a foreword by Professor John Hattie, this book is appropriate for all school leaders and educators who want to learn more about school leadership behaviours and highly effective school change.

chapter 1|14 pages

Defining concepts associated with school leadership and change

Renewing school renewal

chapter 3|13 pages

School leader efficacy and change

chapter 7|13 pages

Pedagogic leadership

A view of what real school leaders do

chapter 8|11 pages

The pedagogic wars

A challenge for school leaders

chapter 9|8 pages

Distributed leadership in modern schooling contexts

Delegation is not distributed leadership

chapter 10|9 pages

Schools as learning organisations

Growing organisational, professional and personal capital

chapter 11|7 pages

New school leadership

Jettisoning the comfortable present

chapter 12|6 pages

Value-adding and student voice

chapter 16|14 pages

Accountability and public confidence

chapter 18|11 pages

Conclusion

Positioning the future-oriented school