Lessons from the international successful school principalship project. The case of Spain in the ISSPP Project
Abstract
Studies on school leadership are one of the most successful research lines in recent decades. In particular, there is an interesting area of research on how successful school leaders are (Day, 2016b, 2017, Day, Gu, and Sammons, 2016; Moos, Johansson and Day, 2011). The International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) focuses on learning about successful school leadership in the different countries that make up the network. Within this project with an international scope, the present study seeks to know the characteristics both personal and professional of successful school leaders. For this, a qualitative research out of four case studies placed in Madrid (Spain) has been carried out. Semi-structured interviews, discussion groups, questionnaires and observations were also carried out for this purpose. The main results indicate that successful principals are those who a) have a clear direction of the school, b) show human leadership, c) open their schools to the community d) adapt the school to the context and e) exercise a pedagogical leadership.
Downloads
References
Álvarez, M. (2010). Liderazgo compartido: Buenas prácticas de dirección escolar. Madrid: Wolters Kluwer.
Bell. L., Bolam, R., & Cubillo, L. (2003). A systematic review of the impact of school leadership and management on student outcomes. Londres: Cassell
Bennis, W. , & Nanus, B. (2008). Líderes: Estrategias para un liderazgo eficaz. Barcelona: Paidos. Bolivar, A. (2000). Los centros escolares como comunidades. Revisando la colegialidad. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 58(216) 253-274.
Bolívar, A. (2012). Melhorar os processos e os resultados educativos. O que nos ensina a inves- tigação. Vila Nova de Gaia: Fundação Manuel Leão
Bolívar, A., López Yáñez, J. , & Murillo, F. J. (2013). Liderazgo en las instituciones edu- cativas. Una revisión de líneas de investigación. Revista Fuentes, 14, 15-60.
Crow, G; Day, C., & Møller, J. (2016). Framing Research on School Principals’ Identities. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 1, 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2015.1123299
Chapman, C., Lindsay, G., Muijs, D., Harris, A., Arweck, E. , & Goodall, J. (2010). Gover- nance, leadership, and management in federations of schools. School effectiveness and school improvement, 21(1), 53-74.
Darling-Hammond, L., LaPointe, M., Meyerson, D. , & Orr, M. T. (2007). Preparing School Leaders for a Changing World: Lessons from Exemplary Leadership Development Programs. School Leadership Study. Stanford, CA: Stanford University. http://www.walla-cefoundation.org/knowledge-center/.../Preparing-School-Leaders.pdf
Day, C. (2017). Teachers’ Worlds and Work: understanding complexity, building quality. Londres: Routledge.
Day, C, Gu, Q., & Sammons, P. (2016) The Impact of Leadership on Student Outcomes: How Successful School Leaders Use Transformational and Instructional Strategies to Make a Difference. Educational Administration Quarterly, 52(2), 221-258. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0013161X15616863
Day, C. (2016). Teachers and the quality of education: issues in capability, quality and teacher professional development. En M. Mulder (Ed.), Competence-based Vocational and Professional Education (pp. 165-182). Londres: Springer.
Day, C., & Gurr, D. (2013). Leading Schools Successfully: Stories from the Field. Londres: Routledge.
Day, C., & Leithwood, K. (2007). Successful principal leadership in times of change: An inter- national perspective. Dordrecht: Springer.
Day, C., Sammons, P., Hopkins, D., Harris, A., Leithwood, K., Gu, Q., Brown, E., Ahtaridou, E. , & Kington, A. (2009). The impact of school leadership on pupil outcomes. Nottingham: NCSL.
Day, C., Sammons, P., Leithwood, K., Hopkins, D., Harris, A., Gu, Q. , & Brown, E. (2010). Ten strong claims about successful school leadership. Nottingham: The National College for School Leadership.
Drysdale, L., & Gurr, D. (2011). Theory and practice of successful school leadership in Aus- tralia. School Leadership & Management, 31(4), 355-368. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2011.606273
Drysdale, L. , & Gurr, D. (2016). Reflections on successful school leadership from the International Successful School Principalship Project. En G. Lakomski, S. Eacott y C. W. Evers (Eds.), Questioning Leadership: New directions for educational organisations (pp. 187-204). Londres: Routledge.
Foster, W. (1986). The Reconstruction of Leadership. Victoria: Deakin University Press. Fullan, M. (2003). The moral imperative of school leadership. Nueva York, NY: Corwin Press.
Gurr, D., & Drysdale, L. (2003). Successful School Leadership: Victorian case studies. International Journal of Learning, 10, 945-957.
Gurr, D., Drysdale, L., & Mulford, B. (2006). Models of successful principal leadership. School Leadership and Management, 26(4), 371-395. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632430600886921
Hallinger, P., & Heck, R. H. (1996). Reassessing the principal’s role in school effectiveness: A review of empirical research: 1980-1995. Educational Administration Quarterly, 32(1), 5-44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0013161X96032001002
Hargreaves, A., & Fink, D. (2003). Sustaining leadership. En B. Davies y J. West- Burnham (Eds.), Handbook of Educational leadership and management (pp. 431-451). Londres: Pearson.
Hargreaves, A., & Fink, D. (2008). Distributed leadership: Democracy or delivery?. Journal of Educational Administration, 46(2), 229-240.
Harris, A., Leithwood, K., Day, C., Sammons, P. , & Hopkins, D. (2007). Distributed leadership and organizational change: Reviewing the evidence. Journal of Educa- tional Change, 8(4), 337-347. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10833-007-9048-4
Hopkins, D., Ainscow, M., & West, M. (1994). School Improvement in an Era of Change. Londres: EPPI.
Leithwood, K. (2005). Educational Leadership. A Review of the Research. Toronto: The Mid-Atlantic Regional Educational Laboratory.
Leithwood, K., & Jantzi, D. (2006). Transformational school leadership for large- scale reform: Effects on students, teachers, and their classroom practices. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 17(2), 201-227. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09243450600565829
Leithwood, K., & Riehl, C. (2005). What do we already know about educational leadership. En W. Firestone y C. Riehl (Eda.), A new agenda for research in educational leadership (pp. 12-27). Nueva York: Teachers College Press.
Leithwood, K., Seashore L. K., Anderson, S., & Wahlstrom, K. (2004). Review of Research: How Leadership Influences Student Learning. http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/Pages/How-Leadership-Influences-Student-Learning.aspx
López-Yáñez, J., & Lavié, J.M. (2010). Liderazgo para sostener procesos de innova- ción. Profesorado: Revista de Currículum y Formación del Profesorado, 14(1), 71-92.
Møller, J. (2016). Norway: Researching Norwegian Principals. En H. Arlestig, C. Day, y O. Johansson (Eds.), A Decade of Research on School Principals (pp. 77-101). Londres: Springer.
Moos, L. (2009). Hard and soft governance: The journey from transnational agencies to school leadership. European Educational Research Journal, 8(3), 397-406. http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/eerj.2009.8.3.397
Moos, L., Johansson, O., & Day, C. (Eds.). (2011). How school principals sustain success over time: International perspectives. Londres: Springer.
Mulford, W., Silins, H., & Leithwood, K. A. (2004). Educational leadership for organisa- tional learning and improved student outcomes. Londres: Springer.
Muñoz-Repiso, M. (1995). Calidad de la educación y eficacia de la escuela: estudio sobre la gestión de los recursos educativos. Madrid: Ministerio de Educación.
Murillo, F. J., & Hernández-Castilla, R. (2015). Liderazgo para el aprendizaje:¿ Qué tareas de los directores y directoras escolares son las que más inciden en el apren- dizaje de los estudiantes. RELIEVE, 21(1), art 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.7203/relieve.21.1.5015
Murillo, F. J. (2016). La investigación sobre liderazgo educativo: una mirada desde el presente proyectada al futuro. Revista Fuentes, 14, 9-14.
Robinson, V. (2007). The impact of leadership on student outcomes: Making sense of the evidence. http://research.acer.edu.au/research_conference_2007/5
Robinson, V. M., Lloyd, C. A., & Rowe, K. J. (2008). The impact of leadership on student outcomes: An analysis of the differential effects of leadership types. Educational Administration Quarterly, 44(5), 635-674. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0013161X08321509
Silins, H., & Mulford, B. (2004). Schools as learning organisations-Effects on teacher leadership and student outcomes. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 15(3- 4), 443-466. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09243450512331383272
Spillane, J. P., Camburn, E. M., & Stitziel, A. (2007). Taking a distributed perspective to the school principal’s workday. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 6(1), 103-125. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15700760601091200
Spillane, J. P., Diamond, J. B., Burch, P., Hallett, T., Jita, L., & Zoltners, J. (2002). Managing in the middle: School leaders and the enactment of accountability policy. Educational Policy, 16(5), 731-762. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/089590402237311
Stoll, L., & Fink, D. (1998). The cruising school: The unidentified ineffective school. En L. Stoll (Ed.), No quick fixes: Perspectives on schools in difficulty (pp. 189-206). Londres: Falmer Press.
Storey, J. (2016). Leadership in Organizations: Current Issues and Key Trends. Nueva York: Routledge.
Swann, R., Gurr, D., Ford, P., Drysdale, L., Hardy, R. y Di Natale, E. (2003). Successful school leadership in Victoria: three case studies. Leading and Managing, 9(1), 18-55.
Thyssen, O. (2003). Organisationens usynlighed. Distinktion: Scandinavian Journal of Social Theory, 4(2), 65-74.
Vázquez Toledo, S., Liesa Orús, M., & Bernal Agudo , J.L. (2016). El camino hacia la profesionalización de la función directiva: el perfil competencial y la formación del director de centros educativos en España. Perfiles educativos, 38(151), 158-174.
Wang, L. H., Gurr, D. , & Drysdale, L. (2016). Successful school leadership: case stu- dies of four Singapore primary schools. Journal of Educational Administration, 54(3), 270-287. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JEA-03-2015-0022
Weick, K. E. (2001). Leadership as the legitimation of doubt. En W. Bennis, G. M. Spreitzer y T. G. Cummings (Eds.), The Future of Leadership: Today’s Top Leadership Thinkers Speak to Tomorrow’s Leaders (pp. 91-102). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Copyright (c) 2017 RIE
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The articles and scientific documents published in RIE abide the following conditions:
1. The Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Murcia (the publisher) has the property rights (copyright) of all the documents published and allows the reuse under the user’s license indicated in point 2.
2. All documents are published in the digital edition of RIE under a Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 3.0 España (legal document) license. These documents can be copied, used, distributed, communicated and explained publicly if: i) the author(s) and its original source of publishing (magazine, publisher and URL of the document) are cited; ii) it is not used for commercial purpose; iii) the existence and the specifications about this license are mentioned.
3. Auto-archive’s conditions. The authors are allowed and encouraged to digitally distribute the pre-print versions (a version before evaluation) and/or post-print (a version that it is already evaluated and accepted to its publication). This promotes circulation and distribution earlier and can increase the citations and significance within the academic community.
