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Leadership standards the key to preparing better principals Australia must implement school leadership standards if it wants well-prepared principals according to Dr Lawrence Ingvarson and Michelle Anderson of ACER. Dr Ingvarson and Ms Anderson presented the findings of their international review of leadership standards to the ACER annual research conference The Leadership Challenge: Improving learning in schools. Traditional methods for preparing school leaders do not stand up in the changing context within which school leaders work, characterised by increasing complexity in expectations of school leaders and greater demands for accountability, the researchers say. They argue that the quality of school leadership has seldom mattered more, and yet it has been possible to gain school principal positions with little formal training in school leadership, because Australia has no systematic program for preparing school leaders across most states and territories. “Many attempts are being made in Australia, as elsewhere, to use standards to guide professional learning. The challenge is to find methods of professional learning that are effective in helping future leaders develop toward those standards and show that they have met them. To this end, Australia must act urgently if it wants well-prepared principals,” Ms Anderson said. “The teaching profession must play a strong role in not only developing, but operating, a national system for the professional development of its school leaders and principals. The system must be guided by profession-wide standards and it must provide a certification that holds respect and credibility with all education authorities as a valid indicator of a principal’s demonstrated leadership abilities,” Dr Ingvarson said. Dr Lawrence Ingvarson is a Principal Research Fellow, and Michelle Anderson is a Senior Research Fellow, in the Teaching and Learning Program at the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER). Download the conference paper. « Back to eNews
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Australia must implement school leadership standards if it wants well-prepared principals according to Dr Lawrence Ingvarson and Michelle Anderson of ACER.

Dr Ingvarson and Ms Anderson presented the findings of their international review of leadership standards to the ACER annual research conference The Leadership Challenge: Improving learning in schools.

Traditional methods for preparing school leaders do not stand up in the changing context within which school leaders work, characterised by increasing complexity in expectations of school leaders and greater demands for accountability, the researchers say.

They argue that the quality of school leadership has seldom mattered more, and yet it has been possible to gain school principal positions with little formal training in school leadership, because Australia has no systematic program for preparing school leaders across most states and territories.

“Many attempts are being made in Australia, as elsewhere, to use standards to guide professional learning. The challenge is to find methods of professional learning that are effective in helping future leaders develop toward those standards and show that they have met them. To this end, Australia must act urgently if it wants well-prepared principals,” Ms Anderson said.

“The teaching profession must play a strong role in not only developing, but operating, a national system for the professional development of its school leaders and principals. The system must be guided by profession-wide standards and it must provide a certification that holds respect and credibility with all education authorities as a valid indicator of a principal’s demonstrated leadership abilities,” Dr Ingvarson said.

Dr Lawrence Ingvarson is a Principal Research Fellow, and Michelle Anderson is a Senior Research Fellow, in the Teaching and Learning Program at the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER).

Download the conference paper.

Leadership standards the key to preparing better principals