Effective, Sustainable School Leadership

According to research from Global School Leaders, Students with an effective school leader, learn 25% (3 months) more, as opposed to less effective school leaders. 

Coaching, mentoring and collaboration with others have a profound effect on the effectiveness of school leadership. 

In Aotearoa New Zealand, school leadership is a complex undertaking. The need for our workforce to be sustainable in the face of change is more important than ever.  Sustainable leadership requires the following: 

• The role of leadership to be clearly defined 

• The structures and resources must be in place to support the practices of leadership

• Leaders must be enabled to focus on their core purpose - to lead teaching and learning 

• The capability for distributed leadership must be available to all schools

• The practice of leadership should not impact the leader's health and wellbeing 

In our current climate, being distracted from our core business of leading teaching and learning is a threat to the notion of sustainability. 

Questions to assist you in reflecting on your leadership

What purpose does leadership seek to serve? 

What does sustainable leadership look like for you? What models of distributed leadership exist in your school, or could you employ, to assist your leadership to be more sustainable?

How much agency do you have as a leader, and in turn, how much agency do your teachers have? 

Jen Rodgers, Jason Miles, Stephanie Thompson, Leanne Otene