Role of Instructional

Leadership

Purpose of Session

Explore the term Instructional

leadership and what it means to
our roles
Examine research of what is
effective instructional leadership
Link instructional leadership to
the current agenda regarding
improvement, improvement
improvement ..

What is it?

Educational leadership
Instructional leadership
Curriculum leadership
Leader of learning
Transformation leadership
Transactional leadership
Its whats behind the title that
matters!

Instructional leadership

Instruction = the process or act

of teaching: education

Leader = a person who rules,

guides, or inspires others
Collins Dictionary

Leadership Matters!

A highly effective school leader

can have a dramatic influence
on the overall academic
achievement of students.
Michael Fullan 2005

Leadership Matters even more!

It is now more than 20 years

since leadership was identified
as one of the key components
of good schools by HMI, who
stated that, without exception,
the most important single factor
in the success of these schools
is the quality of the leadership of
the head.
Dept of Education & Science

Why the importance of this

type of leadership?

Improved classroom
instruction is the prime factor
to produce student
achievement gains
Odden & Wallace

Why the importance of this

type of leadership?

Another great irony of public schooling is

that the office of curriculum and instruction
traditionally has so little influence on.
curriculum and instruction. Results Now M Schmoker

Too much of the educational leadership

literature is long on harmony,
consensus and sentiment, feel good
pressures that float high above the hard
fundamental necessities of school
leadership. Most especially, leaders need
practical ways to monitor and requireeffective instruction and high quality
curriculum.
Results Now M Schmoker

Why the importance of this

type of leadership?

When leadership is focused on

results, on urging a formal,
frequent review of the impact of
instruction, teaching improves.
Results Now M Schmoker

For school improvement to

occur instructional leadership
needs to be in existence.
A Mission of the Heart, Public Agenda

What are the elements of

Instructional Leadership

Resource provider, instructional

resource, communicator and visible
presence (Smith and Andrews)

Encourager, facilitator of the study of

teaching and learning, facilitator of
collaborative efforts amongst
teachers, establishing coaching
relationships with teachers, using
research to make instructional
decisions & using adult learning
principles (Blas & Blas)

What are the elements of

Instructional Leadership contd

Direct assistance to teachers in

their day to day activities,
development of collaborative
groups amongst staff, designing
effective staff development,
curriculum development, & use
of action research
Glickman, Gordon and Ross-Gordon

What are the elements of

Instructional Leadership contd

Defining schools mission, managing

curriculum and instruction, &
promoting a positive school climate
Hallinger, Murphy et al

Understands effective practices in

curriculum, instruction and
assessment and the ability to work
with teachers on the day to day
problems that relate to these topics.
Elmore

Leadership Matters!

Sustainable leadership doesnt

equivocate. It puts learning at
the centre of everything leaders
do. Students learning comes
first, then everyone elses in
support of it.
Stoll, Fink and Earl 2003

Instructional Leadership
Practice :Viviane Robinson 2007

Establishing goals and expectations

Strategic resourcing
Planning, coordinating and
evaluating teaching and the
curriculum
Promoting and participating in
teacher learning and development
Ensuring an orderly and supportive
environment

Instructional Leadership
characteristics : David Hopkins

Ability to articulate vision and

values about student learning
and achievement, and to make
connections to behaviour
Understanding of pedagogy
Understanding of development
and maintenance
Strategic orientation and to plan
medium term

Instructional Leadership
characteristics contd: David Hopkins

Understanding capacity and its role

in sustaining change
A commitment to promoting enquiry:
the how rather than the what
Commitment to professional
development and managing a
teachers life cycle
Ability to engender trust and provide
positive reinforcement

Target

Focus on
Learning

M
a
k
co e da
u
nt ta

Set Direction

&
n
te nd
s
i
L po
s
Re

Think
Systemically

o
dt
ten e
At ltur
Cu

Le Sha
ad re
ers
hip

Resources

What does instructional

leadership look like?

If you were to go into a school

/preschool where there is
effective instructional leadership
what would you see, feel, hear?
Make a list of 8-10 concrete
bits of evidence?
Would it look different in the
different sectors i.e. preschool,
primary, secondary?

School improvement is most

surely and thoroughly achieved
when teachers engage in
frequent, continuous and
increasingly concrete talk about
teaching practices... capable of
distinguishing one practice and
it's virtue from another.
Judith Warren