Sustaining leadership effectiveness in schools

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Leadership is a fundamental factor in a school’s ability to improve, develop and grow. For many years, the emphasis in the English-speaking world has been on leaders rather than leadership, i.e. the focus has been on the characteristics of individuals who occupy positions at the top of the hierarchy. This approach is now being questioned for a number of reasons:

• the increasing difficulty in recruiting individuals to fill senior posts
• the growing complexity of the demands on leaders in schools
• a recognition that a focus on 'leaders' may be inappropriate in schools that are committed to learning
•  the demands that the role makes on individuals

One response to these imperatives has been to see leadership as a collective capacity in the school with the emphasis shifting to the idea of shared or distributed leadership. However, structural changes have to be set alongside a focus on enhancing the capacity of the individual, whatever their leadership role, to maintain and sustain their personal effectiveness. This course explores the basis of personal effectiveness in the context of school leadership.

The aims of the course are:

1. to review and analyze existing models of personal and leadership effectiveness
2. to develop an understanding of the role of trust in developing leadership sustainability
3. to identify the learning and development strategies that are appropriate to sustaining personal and leadership potential
4. to review strategies for personal sustainability

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