Newsletter 4: 19 March 2024
Dear Colleagues
Supporting our school leaders
There has been much commentary in recent times regarding teacher and school leader shortages in Australia. Whilst some of the trends are showing signs of improvement, the country’s predicted continued growth in population will ensure this challenge remains for some time. Over the past 8 weeks, it has been a privilege to work closely with almost all of our Marist Principals across the country in various settings and to have the opportunity to speak with other current and emerging Catholic school leaders in the Archdiocese of Sydney. The calibre, quality, and commitment of the people encountered inspired hope and gratitude.
Research into the efficacy and influence of school leadership on the success of student learning has long been a focus in education. A sustained meta-analysis led by Kenneth Leithwood with a group of esteemed academics in the UK is often referred to in scholarly literature and professional learning discourse in relation to the important role and function of school leadership. Leithwood et al make 7 strong claims linking characteristics of successful school leadership and their influence on improving student learning outcomes. In brief those claims are:
1. School leadership is second only to classroom teaching as an influence on pupil learning.
2. Almost all successful leaders draw on the same repertoire of basic leadership practices.
3. The ways in which leaders apply these basic leadership practices – not the practices
themselves – demonstrate responsiveness to, rather than dictation by, the contexts in
which they work.
4. School leaders improve teaching and learning indirectly and most powerfully through their
influence on staff motivation, commitment and working conditions.
5. School leadership has a greater influence on schools and students when it is widely
distributed.
6. Some patterns of distribution are more effective than others.
7. A small handful of personal traits explains a high proportion of the variation in leadership
effectiveness.
This research has been evolving in different iterations for almost 14 years. Whilst parents, staff, students, and people associated in various ways with a school, have views on school leadership, the complexity, challenge, and privilege of school leadership is naturally only ever fully apparent to those who have held senior positions, and particularly the role of Principal.
Accepting the vital role of the Principal in the success for every student, invites everyone in a Marist school community to reflect:
How am I actively seeking to support the Principal and senior leaders in my school
in our core purpose of making Jesus known and loved
through quality Catholic education
with the young people in our care?
As we near the end of this first term for 2024, it is important to acknowledge once again the witness, commitment, service, and leadership, of our Marist Principals. Thank you for accepting the privilege and the challenge of school leadership.
As we enter this Holy Week, the following prayer is commended to you.
Blessed are you, Mary our good mother, silent witness of Easter!
At the hour of pain and death you kept the flame of hope burning.
Teach us also to be, amongst the incongruities of passing time,
convinced and joyful witnesses of the eternal message of life and love
brought to the world by the Risen Jesus.