Being an InstructionalLeader

University of Helsinki24th April 2018

Emeritus Professor Stephen DinhamOAM PhD

Melbourne Graduate School of Education

“I came to the realisation that there was amajor disconnect between leadership andteaching, and between teaching andlearning. I realised I needed to know moreabout learning, how teaching facilitates this,and how teaching can be supported byleaders, whose main function shouldn’t bemanagement.” (Dinham, 2016)

Background

(Dinham, 2008)

Dinham (2016)

Leading Learning and Teaching

ContentsPart A Research Evidence on Teaching for LearningPart B The Importance and Impact of Educational

LeadershipPart C Professional Learning in EducationPart D School Improvement and Educational

ChangePart E Leadership Preparation and Development

“Up until the mid-1960s, the prevailing view was thatschools made almost no difference to studentachievement. What students could achieve in theireducation was largely predetermined by heredity, wherethey lived, their socio-economic background and familycircumstances. Measured ‘IQ’ was considered apowerful predictor of student achievement and seen aslargely innate and fixed by the time young people got toschool.”

(Dinham, 2016)

Do schools make a difference?

• Equality of Educational Opportunity Study (1966)[Coleman]http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/06389“…concluded that the quality of schooling wasresponsible for only about 10 per cent of the variance instudent achievement. The powerful conclusion drawnfrom this study was that schools could exert only a smallinfluence on student accomplishment.”

(Dinham, 2016)

The ‘Coleman’ Report

• Heavy investment in education post WWII.• Concern over the varying performance of students and

schools.“When ‘like’ schools were compared, despite similarclientele, resources, curricula and administration, someschools were clearly more successful than others whenit came to student performance on standardisedmeasures. Whatever was responsible for this disparity,it wasn’t just the students, and it wasn’t just resources.”(Dinham, 2016)

SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS RESEARCH

“While attention was focused for a time at the schoollevel – including the influence of leadership … asresearchers began to ‘drill down’, it was becomingapparent that student achievement also variedconsiderably within seemingly successful schools, andin fact within all schools. It was found that thedifferences within schools were actually greater thanthe overall differences in student achievementbetween schools. (This phenomenon remains true inmost schools to this day.) … By the late 1980s, thebelief that schools, and by implication teachers, madeno difference to student achievement had beenpowerfully refuted.” (Dinham, 2016)

SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS RESEARCH

Prof John Hattie (UoM): Meta-analysis of StudiesMajor sources of variance in student

achievement:• Student: accounts for 50% of variance in

student achievement• Home: 5-10%• School: 5-10% (principals, other leaders an

influence)• Peer Effects: 5-10%• Teachers: 30%

Research Evidence

‘... the most important factor affecting student learning isthe teacher. ... The immediate and clear implication ofthis finding is that seemingly more can be done toimprove education by improving the effectiveness ofteachers than by any other single factor’.

Wright, S.; Horn, S. & Sanders, W. (1997). 'Teacherand Classroom Context Effects on StudentAchievement: Implications for Teacher Evaluation',Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education, 11, pp.57-67.

It’s the Teacher …

}As a result, there has been a major internationalemphasis on improving the quality of teachersand teaching since the 1980s.}We now know how teacher expertise develops

and we know what good teaching looks like.However we also know that teacher qualityvaries within schools and across the nation.}A quality teacher in every classroom is the

ultimate aim, but how to achieve this is thebig question and challenge.

SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS DO MAKE ADIFFERENCE

The Big Challenge

“Thus, the major challenge in improvingteaching lies not so much in identifying anddescribing quality teaching, but in developingstructures and approaches that ensurewidespread use of successful teachingpractices: to make best practice, commonpractice.” (Dinham, Ingvarson & Kleinhenz, 2008).

What is Teaching?

Thomas Edison

Thomas Edisoninvented thephonograph in 1877.He predictedrecordings wouldmake teachersredundant.

It’s Still the Teacher …

“Technology is just a tool. Interms of getting the kidsworking together andmotivating them, theteacher is the mostimportant.”

Bill Gates

Four Fundamentals of Student Success(Dinham, 2008; 2016)

FOCUS ON THESTUDENT

(Learner, Person)

LEADERSHIP

QUALITYTEACHING

PROFESSIONALLEARNING

}The Declaration articulates two important goalsfor education in Australia:◦ Goal 1: Australian schooling promotes equity

and excellence◦ Goal 2: All young Australians become:■ successful learners■ confident and creative individuals■ active and informed citizens.

The Melbourne Declaration (2008)

• SES and home environment do have moderate/largeeffect sizes (= 0.52)

• SES is about:– Foundations/advantage– Opportunity– Support– Role models and encouragement

• SES is not about:– Innate ability– Social-biological determinism– Potential

What About SES?

Reading Score

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800

SES-2.5 -2.0 -1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

PISA 2000PISA 2000(PISA Aus)

Reading Score

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

SES-2.5 -2.0 -1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

PISA 200))(PISA Aus

} Poor student performance is spread across the SESspectrum} Schooling represents an obstacle course. Some

students have certain advantages and others haveobstacles.

“Life isn’t fair, but good teaching and good schools are thebest means we have of overcoming disadvantage andopening doors of opportunity for young people.”

(Dinham)

Facts About SES

Dangerous Assumptions

“This is a working class school in a working class area.Don’t expect too much and you won’t be disappointed”.

- Principal to new teacher (2013)

ØThe teacher and the quality of his or her teaching aremajor influences on student achievement, along with theindividual student and his or her prior achievement (allhave large effect sizes).ØSchool-based influences (beyond the classroom) have

weaker effects on student achievement.ØStructural and organisational arrangements (open vs

traditional classrooms; multi-age vs age graded classes;ability grouping; gender; class size; mainstreaming) havenegligible or small effects on student learning. It is thequality of teaching that occurs within these structuralarrangements which is most important.

Effect Size Research: Key Points

ØExamples of ‘active teaching’ (reciprocal teaching;feedback; teaching self-verbalisation; meta-cognitionstrategies; direct instruction; mastery learning; testing)have large to moderate effects on student achievement.ØEffect sizes are negligible or small for ‘facilitory

teaching’ (simulations and games; inquiry-basedteaching; individualised instruction; problem-basedlearning; differentiated teaching for boys and girls; web-based learning; whole language reading; inductiveteaching).ØStrategies to promote and remediate literacy figure

prominently. Literacy is the foundation of studentachievement.

Effect Size Research: Key Points

Implications

• No instant recipe for teaching success, yet muchcan be learned from successful teachers andfaculties – a framework for reflection and action

• “Overall, the quality of the teacher and the qualityof teaching (large effect sizes) are much moreimportant than structural or working conditions(negligible or small effect sizes), demonstrating thefutility and waste of ‘fiddling around the edges’ ofschooling without sufficiently addressing the qualityof teachers and the quality of teaching withinschools and classrooms.” (Dinham, 2008)

• “Quality teaching matters and it’s time we startedacting like it.” (Dinham, Ingvarson & Kleinhenz,2008)

“Learning andleadership areindispensible to eachother.”

John F. Kennedy

‘ … leadership is the ‘big enabler’ in successful schools.You can have good teaching without having a goodschool, but you can’t have a good school without goodleadership … professional learning is the lever that helpsleaders create the conditions in which teachers can teacheffectively and students can learn.”’(Dinham, 2010)

Leadership for Learning andTeaching

Leadership for Learning and Teaching

• Marzano, Waters and McNulty found (2005):A highly effective school leader can have a dramatic

influence on the overall academic achievement ofstudents. ... a meta-analysis of 35 years of researchindicates that school leadership has a substantial effect onstudent achievement and provides guidance forexperienced and aspiring principals alike.

• Yet Hallinger (2005) observed that despite interest ininstructional leadership - leadership of and for teaching andlearning - arising from research into effective schools goingback as far as the late 1970s (2005):

During the mid-1990s, however, attention shifted somewhataway from effective schools and instructional leadership.Interest in these topics was displaced by concepts such asschool restructuring and transformational leadership.

Leadership for Learning and Teaching

• However findings from international research have caused a re-examination of the worth of instructional leadership. Robinson, Lloydand Rowe concluded from their work on the impact of variousleadership approaches (2008):

The comparison between instructional and transformationalleadership showed that the impact [on student outcomes] ofthe former is three to four times that of the latter. The reasonis that transformational leadership is more focused on therelationship between leaders and followers than on theeducational work of school leadership, and the quality of theserelationships is not predictive of the quality of student outcomes.Educational leadership involves not only building collegial teams,a loyal and cohesive staff, and sharing an inspirational vision. Italso involves focusing such relationships on some very specificpedagogical work, and the leadership practices involved arebetter captured by measures of instructional leadership than oftransformational leadership.

Leadership for Learning and Teaching

• While original conceptions of instructional leadership focussedpredominantly on the principal, the notion of distributedleadership – the leadership practices and effects of others informal leadership positions in schools.

• Attention is increasingly turning to the impact of teaching andleadership on student outcomes along with teacher leadership– has become prominent.

• Hattie found (2009):‘School leaders who focus on students’ achievement and

instructional strategies are the most effective … It isleaders who place more attention on teaching and focusedachievement domains … who have the higher effects.’

Leadership for Learning and Teaching

• Robinson, Lloyd and Rowe (2008) offered a similar view:‘The more leaders focus their influence, their learning,

and their relationships with teachers on the corebusiness of teaching and learning, the greater theirinfluence on student outcomes.’

• Barber et al. (2010) found:‘High-performing [‘top’ 15%] principals focus more on

instructional leadership and developing teachers.They see their biggest challenges as improvingteaching and curriculum, and they believe that theirability to coach others and support their developmentis the most important skill of a good school leader.’

Leadership for Learning and Teaching

• However penetrating the often closed classroom doorremains a challenge for principals and other leaders.Wahlstrom and Louis have commented (2008):

‘In the current era of accountability, a principal’sresponsibility for the quality of teachers’ work issimply a fact of life. How to achieve influence overwork settings (classrooms) in which they rarelyparticipate is a key dilemma.’

A Case Study of Instructional Leadership

The AESOP Project

Dinham, S. (2007). Leadership for ExceptionalEducational Outcomes. Tenerife, Qld:Postpressed.

• Principals and other leaders facilitate qualityteaching, student achievement and schoolrenewal and improvement through:

FINDINGS

• Openness to Change and Opportunity• Develop Productive External Links

1. External Awareness andEngagement

• Using Discretion, Bending Rules, Procedures• Bias to Experimentation, Risk Taking

2. A Bias Towards Innovation andAction

• Leaders have positive attitudes which arecontagious

• Intellectual Capacity• Moral Leadership• Assist, Feedback, Listen to Staff

3. Personal Qualities andRelationships

• Treat staff, others professionally• Expect high standard of professionalism in return• Model professionalism• Others don’t want to “let down”• Provide professional, pleasant facilities

3. Personal Qualities andRelationships

Other Personal Qualities• High level interpersonal skills• Generally liked, respected, trusted• Knows, use names, shows personal interest• Demonstrates empathy, compassion• Available at short notice when needed• Epitomises the “servant leader”, yet unmistakably

in control• Work for school , students, staff, education,

rather than for themselves.

3. Personal Qualities andRelationships

• “Expect a lot, give a lot”• Clear, agreed, high standards• The standard things done well• Recognition of student, staff

Achievement• Creates a culture, expectation of success

4. Vision, Expectations, Culture ofSuccess

• Investment in Teacher Learning• All Teachers can be Leaders• Responsibility recognition, empowerment, staff

development• Trust an aspect of mutual respect

5. Teacher Learning,Responsibility and Trust

• Centrality of Student Welfare• Support by leaders essential• Leaders Find Common Purpose• Pockets of like-minded staff, collaboration

6. Student Support, CommonPurpose, Collaboration

• Focus on students as people (personal,academic, social)

• Teaching and learning prime focus of school• Creates an environment where teaching and

learning can occur.

7. Focus on Students, Learningand Teaching

• Leadership Takes Time• Leaders Build on What is There• Consistency, Yet Flexibility in Policy• Stand for Something!

7. Focus on Students, Learningand Teaching

• Two aspects to leadership:– Highly responsive to people and events– Highly demanding of self and others

• Principals and other leaders help create conditions,climate, where success can occur.

• Characteristics both product (output) and process (input)variables leading to upwards cycle of success.

Comment

AuthoritarianLeadership

AuthoritativeLeadership

UninvolvedLeadership

PermissiveLeadership

RESPONSIVENESSLow

High

Low

HighD

EM

AN

DIN

GN

ES

S

Relative impact of leadership dimensions(Robinson et al, 2008)

0.27

0.84

0.42

0.31

0.42

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

5. Ensuring an Orderly and SupportiveEnvironment

4. Promoting and Participating inTeacher Learning and Development

3. Planning, Coordinating andEvaluating Teaching and the Curriculum

2. Resourcing Strategically

1. Establishing Goals and Expectations

Effect Size

1. Establishing goals and expectations

2. Resourcing strategically

3. Planning, coordinating and evaluatingteaching and the curriculum

4. Promoting and participating in teacherlearning and development

5. Ensuring an orderly environment

Viviane Robinson, The University of Auckland

Core Beliefs of Instructional Leadership

1. Instructional leadership is learning-focused, learning forboth students and adults, and learning which ismeasured by improvement in instruction and in thequality of student learning.

2. Instructional leadership must reside with a team ofleaders of which the principal serves as the "leader ofleaders.”

3. A culture of public practice and reflective practice isessential for effective instructional leadership and theimprovement of instructional practice.

Core Beliefs of Instructional Leadership

4. Instructional leadership addresses the cultural,linguistic, socioeconomic and learning diversity in theschool community.

5. Instructional leadership focuses upon the effectivemanagement of resources and of people — recruiting,hiring, developing, evaluating — particularly in changingenvironments

– http://info.k-12leadership.org/4-dimensions-of-instructional-leadership

• There is a challenge for educational leaders to deal withsituations where learning has atrophied.

– McBeath has noted (2006: 19):“It is hard for teachers to shed an outer skin which has calcified

over many years in the classroom where dialogue is a rarecommodity no matter how hard teachers strive for it, and inwhich ‘instruction’ is the norm”.

• Building a learning community is not about ‘fixing’teachers.

Implications and Conclusions

Conclusion

• Quality teaching lies at the heart of attempts to raise studentoutcomes and to close achievement gaps associated withfactors such as socio-economic status, family background,geographic isolation, non-English speaking background andAboriginality.

• Research findings are increasingly compelling on therelationship between instructional leadership, effectiveteaching and student outcomes yet much work remains to bedone.

• As teaching becomes more evidence-based, clinical andinterventionist in nature, it is imperative that school leaders areequipped to guide, support and lead teachers in this process.This central role is recognised in the Australian ProfessionalStandard for Principals in Australia.

Conclusion

• Twenty First Century educational leaders need to be ableto ‘talk the talk’ and more importantly, ‘walk the walk’ onapproaches that place the individual student and his orher advancement at the centre of the school.

• In order to make best teaching practice common practice(Dinham, Ingvarson & Kleinhenz, 2008), preparation forand the enactment of instructional leadership must becongruent with teachers’ initial and ongoing professionallearning to ensure evidence-based, clinical professionalpractice occurs in every classroom and for every student.

“The biggest equity issue in Australianeducation today isn’t computers, newbuildings or equipment. It’s each studenthaving quality teachers and quality teaching inschools supported by effective leadership andprofessional learning in mutually respectfullocal community contexts”.

Dinham, 2010, ‘Teachers Make A Difference’, Teacher.

Key Point

One Response: Master of InstructionalLeadership (UoM)

Professional Certificate in Instructional Leadership [twosubjects – Hattie & Dinham]Master of Instructional Leadership [eight subjects]• http://education.unimelb.edu.au/study_with_us/profession

al_development/course_list/instructional_leadership

Current Project “I’m The Principal”

“I’m the Principal”Principal Learning, Action, Influence and Identity

Researchers/Authors:Stephen DinhamKerry ElliottLouisa RennieHelen Stokes

Available:ACER Press 2018

Dinham, Elliott, Rennie & Stokes (2018)

References

Dinham, S. (2008). How to get your School Moving and Improving: Anevidence-based approach. Melbourne: ACER Press.

Dinham, S. (2016). Leading Learning and Teaching. Melbourne: ACER Press.Dinham, S. ‘Walking the walk: The need for school leaders to embrace

teaching as a clinical practice profession’, in ACER (2012). ACER 2012Research Conference Proceedings: Camberwell: ACER. Available at:http://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1137&context=research_conference

Dinham, S. (2013). ‘Connecting Instructional Leadership With ClinicalTeaching Practice’, Australian Journal of Education, 57(3), pp. 220-231.

McLean Davies, L.; Anderson, M.; Deans, J.; Dinham, S.; Griffin, P.; Kameniar,B.; Page, J.; Reid, C.; Rickards, F.; Tayler, C. and Tyler, D. (2013).‘Masterly Preparation: Clinical practice in a graduate pre-service teachereducation program’, Journal of Education for Teaching, 39(1), pp. 93-106.

Robinson, V., Lloyd, C., and Rowe, K. (2008). The impact of leadership onstudent outcomes: An analysis of the differential effects of leadership types.Educational Administration Quarterly 44(5), pp. 635-674.

Might be of interest

• Australian Institute for Teaching and SchoolLeadership (AITSL)

– https://www.aitsl.edu.au

- Kiitos! -

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