01. Professional Learning and Development
Paper
Peer Mentoring for Professional Socialisation – Shaping Novice Principal’s Leadership Identity?
Susanne Sahlin1, Maria Styf2, Marcia Hakansson Lindqvist2
1Norwegian University of Science and Technology; 2Mid Sweden University
Presenting Author: Styf, Maria;
Hakansson Lindqvist, Marcia
The concept of principals’ professional socialisation (e.g., Cruz-Gonzalez et al., 2021; Bøje & Frederiksen, 2021) and professional identity has received increased attention in educational research in recent decades (e.g., Crow, Day & Møller, 2017; Nordholm et al., 2023; Ritacco & Bolivar, 2019; Tubin, 2017). Becoming a school leader, as articulated by Bøje and Frederiksen (2021), often signifies a departure from a prior professional identity, typically that of a teacher. Bush (2018) argues that the principal’s role differs from a teacher's. He discusses three different phases of socialisation: (1) aspiring leaders require professional socialisation in preparing to become a principal; (2) they need to change their identity from teacher to principal – a process of personal socialisation; and (3) they need a period of organisational socialisation, learning to lead in a specific school. In-service preparation programs, such as the Swedish National Principal Training Program (NPTP), commonly serve as a central dimension in the professional socialisation of novice school principals.
Building a solid professional identity as a principal has proven necessary for successful leadership and positively impacting results (Ritacco & Bolivar, 2019). Other studies have highlighted that a strong identity can be important for principals to navigate complex situations (Saarukka, 2017). There are several studies with arguments for the importance of continuing research on the construction of leadership identity in principals (Cruz-González et al. (2021), focusing on the barriers and crises they encounter. To address this issue internationally and thus improve the quality of schools, leaders with solid professional identities must be nurtured while acknowledging the influence of politics and context. Another study by Crow and Møller (2017) proposes avenues for future research, emphasising that understanding school leaders' identities can contribute to leadership development. Exploring the influence of cultural, historical, and policy factors on identity development provides a robust foundation for creating leadership preparation and development programs that recognise the complex leadership necessary in uncertain times. Building on this perspective, Whiteman et al. (2015) advocate for leadership preparation programs to incorporate the development of critical reflection and dialogue skills as integral components. Engaging in critical reflection through methods like case studies, role plays, and simulations can assist principals in understanding their identities and honing skills to leverage them in building trust.
In Sweden, the mandatory in-service NPTP is offered for the first time when the participant has a position as a principal, preschool principal, or deputy principal (Brauckmann et al., 2020). The program is a 3-year mandatory in-service program with three courses: school law and governance, governing with objectives and results, school leadership and peer mentoring with professional peers during the training (Jerdborg, 2023).
The potential of peer mentoring in groups to develop novice principals’ professionalisation and leadership identity is evident (e.g. Aas & Vavik, 2015; Styf et al., 2020). Aas and Vavik (2015) suggest that leaders develop greater confidence in their leadership role through personal and contextual feedback from other leaders. Their study focuses on how group coaching can contribute to professional development and construct leadership identity. This paper focuses on novice principals’ peer mentoring for professional socialisation while participating in the NPTP. As an integral part of this program, principals discuss professional dilemmas with small groups of peers to support professional socialisation and leadership identity (Styf et al., 2020). This study explores novice principals’ professional socialisation and leadership identity in Sweden while participating in the mandatory NPTP. Two research questions guide the study:
- How do novice principals depict peer mentoring as support for professional socialisation from a personal, positional, and professional perspective?
- How can peer mentoring support professional socialisation and contribute to developing novice principals’ leadership identity?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe theoretical framework used in this study is based on Saarukka’s (2017) theoretical model. Saarukka uses the model to identify the phenomenon and the person in principalship from a professional perspective, focusing on the person, profession, and position: “trying to understand the individual also from a professional perspective and how the individual interprets the context. As school leadership is a social mission, the professional perspective needs to be broadened to include the position” (Saarukka, 2017, s. 35). In this study, Saaruka's model is used to describe and explain how the school leaders’ professional identity can be understood in relation to the educational content peer mentoring that the principals take part in as part of their education in the NPTP.
This qualitative interview study used a purposive sampling method to include school leaders participating in peer mentoring for professional development in the NPTP in Sweden. Focus group interviews were carried out to capture, problematise, and create an understanding of how peer mentorship for professional socialisation can contribute to supporting and strengthening school leaders’ professional leadership identity. Data was collected for one year and consisted of focus group interviews with 35 school leaders participating in the national school leadership training program in their peer mentoring groups. A total of 7 focus group interviews, lasting about 60 minutes each, were conducted during 2020. All interviews were recorded, saved as separate digital audio files, and transcribed verbatim. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse this study, and the collected empirical data was analysed with a deductive approach (Miles et al., 2014).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe preliminary findings show that in their position as school leaders, peer mentoring is seen as a tool in the work in practice at school. Peer mentoring can create a forum for making issues visible and widening knowledge and experience for individuals and groups. For school leaders, peer mentoring provides opportunities related to the profession. School leaders see peer mentoring as professional development, as they are often alone in their role. This takes place through the exchange of knowledge and experience between professionals. Peer mentoring offers training in professional meetings and is a tool to use in their professional role. In terms of person, school leaders see support in their role as school leaders through personal development. This involves peer mentoring as support in confidence, confirmation, and professional identity of their role through exchanging experiences and taking on new perspectives.
Implications for further research will be considered. For European educational research, this paper contributes valuable knowledge about critical factors for school leaders’ work concerning educational leadership and leadership development in a Nordic context for practitioners and policymakers. Moreover, this paper contributes knowledge for school leader educators, which may be of value in both course and program development in leadership professional development programs in national and international contexts.
ReferencesAas, M., & Vavik, M. (2015). Group coaching: A new way of constructing leadership identity? School Leadership & Management, 35(3), 251–265.
Brauckmann, S., Pashiardis, P. & Ärlestig, H. (2020): Bringing context and educational leadership together: fostering the professional development of school principals, Professional Development in Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2020.1747105
Bush, T. (2018). Preparation and induction for school principals: Global perspectives. Management in Education, Vol. 32(6), 66–71. DOI: 10.1177/0892020618761805
Bøje, D. J. & Frederiksen, F. L. (2019). Leaders of the profession and professional leaders. School leaders making sense of themselves and their jobs, International Journal of Leadership in Education, DOI: 10.1080/13603124.2019.1591515
Crow, G. & Møller, J. (2017). Professional identities of school leaders across international contezts: An introduction and rationale. Educational Management Administration and Leadership, Vol. 45(5), 749-758. DOI: 10.1177/1741143217714485.
Cruz-González C, Rodríguez CL and Segovia JD (2021) A systematic review of principals’ leadership identity from 1993 to 2019. Educational Management Administration & Leadership 49(1): 31–53.
Gary Crow, Christopher Day & Jorunn Møller (2017). Framing research on school principals’ identities, International Journal of Leadership in Education, 20:3, 265–277, DOI: 10.1080/13603124.2015.1123299
Jerdborg, S. (2023), Participation in the Swedish national principal training programme: How does it intertwine with principals’ practice? Educational Management, Administration and Leadership, 51 (4): 000-000.
Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M. and Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook (3rd ed). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Nordholm, D., Real, M. & Bezzina, C. (2023). Newly appointed principals’ professional identity - insights from a Swedish perspective. Educational Management Administratoin & Leadership, Pre-published online January 27.
Ritacco M and Bolivar A (2019) A dual and discontinuous professional identity: School principals in Spain. International Journal of Educational Management 33(5): 806–827.
Styf, M., Sahlin, S. & Håkansson Lindqvist, M. (2020). Professionsutvecklande handledning, att utveckla en rektors professionella ledarskapsidentitet [XXX]. In Leo, U. och Amundsdotter, E. (Eds.), Perspektiv på handledning för ledare i förskola och skola [XXX] (s. 123-142). Malmö: Gleerups Utbildning.
Saarukka, S. (2017). Understanding school principals' leadership. Doctoral dissertation: Vasa: Åbo universitet.
Tubin D (2017) Leadership identity construction practices: The case of successful Israeli school principals. Educational Management Administration & Leadership 45(5):790–805.
Vetenskapsrådet [Research Council] (2017) God forskningssed. [Good Research Practice] Stockholm, Sweden: Vetenskapsrådet.
Whiteman, R., Scribner, S., and Crow, G. (2015). Principal Professional Identity and the Cultivation of Trust in Urban Schools. Chapter 39.In Handbook of urban educational leadership.
01. Professional Learning and Development
Paper
Professional Learning Communities of School Leaders Within Inter-school Networks: Opportunities and Conditions for Sustainable Professionalization
Els Tanghe, Wouter Schelfhout
University of Antwerp, Belgium
Presenting Author: Tanghe, Els
School leaders experience numerous school policy and school development challenges under the pressure of a complex social context (Plavčan, 2020). Furthermore, they are pressured by their societal duty to provide quality education (Gurr & Drysdale, 2020). To best perform this challenging task, school leaders would benefit from the support and input from peers within a sounding panel as well as from concrete policy stimuli that encourage quality and innovation (Vekeman et al., 2022). Inter-school networks can also provide a significant added value (Brown & Poortman, 2018; Harris & Jones, 2021), as they increasingly encourage schools to engage in structural collaboration (Brown & Flood, 2020; Levin et al., 2020; Rincón-Gallardo & Fullan, 2016). In Flanders, school communities offer such an opportunity for collaboration.
Building quality partnerships between the school leaders of a school community is not self-evident (Azorín et al., 2020; Harris & Jones, 2021). Because of its multidimensional and multilevel character, it is difficult to define, develop, and operationalize a PLC (Antinluoma et al., 2021). How do we initiate and sustainably support them? What difference does a professional development program initiating and supporting professional learning communities (PLCs) for inter-school collaboration make in terms of depth of (peer) learning and longevity?
Research on methodologies to intensify collaboration within existing inter-school networks is limited (Chapman, 2013). We examined how PLCs as a mode of formal collective learning (Schelfhout, 2017) develop within existing school networks throughout a professional development trajectory (PDT). We explored the perceived (learning) outcomes and which variables influence longer-term sustainable development.
The PLCs originated both in the context of school communities (formally government-based) and of self-selected inter-school networks, allowing a comparison between two organizational forms of school networks.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe study used a mixed methods research design. The combination of quantitative and qualitative data increases relevance and provides an opportunity to substantiate the relationship between variables.
Before the PDT, participants completed an initial questionnaire. Open and closed questions surveyed to what extent participants already participated in structural inter-school networks, and whether a need for more cooperation within their school community existed. After the first year of training, the desire for the continuation of a PLC after the end of a PT was examined by using scale questions. At the end of the two-year PDT, a survey with closed and open-ended questions was conducted, focusing on experiences with the organization and approach of the PLC, the perceived effects on the outcomes, and the desire for sustainable continuation. Furthermore, experiences with participation as an inter-school network were surveyed. 133 of the 138 participants (n=96%) who participated during the second year completed the final survey.
In-depth interviews with school leaders were organized in May 2023, aiming to further question and explain trends that appeared from the quantitative data collection. The semi-structured online interviews were conducted using a question protocol based on the literature review and observations during the PLC meetings (Morris, 2015; Seidman, 2006). In-depth interviews were recorded with participants' consent. A total of 42 school leaders, five superintendents, and two participants combining school leadership with a position as a superintendent participated, evenly distributed across the different PLC groups.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsResults indicate that the quality of collective learning increased significantly during the two-year trajectory. Most explanatory for further sustainability of the PLC as a professional network for school leaders is the organization and didactic approach of the PLC during the PDT and the approach used by the process coach. The initial situation and the facilitating role of the inter-school network as experienced by the participants influence structural choices regarding future continuation and approach. Linked to the initial situation and the facilitating role of the inter-school network, at the end of the PDT differences are observed in how the continuation of a PLC is ensured, more specifically in terms of the organization and approach as well as expected commitment and shared leadership. In school communities where the superintendent played a facilitating role before and (participated) during the PT, the PLC will be continued, although it is not always clear what exactly this facilitating role will entail and who should fulfill it. Regarding the choice of an (external) coach, the experience with one's process coaching during the PT, the expertise in the field of process coaching among PLC participants, the availability of coaches from the educational advisory service, and financial resources are taken into consideration. It is recommended that the participating school leaders and superintendents make conscious and well-founded choices for the sake of the quality of collaborative learning and invest in sustainable collective learning. Further longitudinal research into the sustainability of PLCs within inter-school networks and the quality of coaches is recommended.
ReferencesAntinluoma, M., Ilomäki, L., & Toom, A. (2021). Practices of Professional Learning Communities [Original Research]. Frontiers in Education, 6.
Azorín, C., Harris, A., & Jones, M. (2020). Taking a distributed perspective on leading professional learning networks. School Leadership & Management, 40(2-3), 111-127.
Brown, C., & Flood, J. (2020). Conquering the professional learning network labyrinth: what is required from the networked school leader? School Leadership & Management, 40(2-3), 128-145.
Brown, C., & Poortman, C. L. (2018). Networks for learning: Effective collaboration for teacher, school and system improvement. Routledge.
Chapman, C. (2013). From one school to many: Reflections on the impact and nature of school federations and chains in England. Educational management administration & leadership, 43(1), 46-60.
Gurr, D., & Drysdale, L. (2020). Leadership for challenging times. International studies in educational administration, 48(1), 24-30.
Harris, A., & Jones, M. (2021). Exploring the leadership knowledge base: evidence, implications, and challenges for educational leadership in Wales. School Leadership & Management, 41(1-2), 41-53.
Hooge, E. H., Janssen, S. K., van Look, K., Moolenaar, N., & Sleegers, P. (2015). Bestuurlijk vermogen in het primair onderwijs. Mensen verbinden en inhoudelijk op een lijn krijgen om adequaat te sturen op onderwijskwaliteit. TIAS School for Business and Society, Tilburg University.
Levin, S., Leung, M., Edgerton, A. K., & Scott, C. (2020). Elementary School Principals' Professional Learning: Current Status and Future Needs. Learning Policy Institute.
Morris, A. (2015). A practical introduction to in-depth interviewing. Sage.
Plavčan, P. (2020). The comparison of pirls, timss, and pisa educational results in member states of the european union. Proceedings of CBU in Social Sciences, 1, 191-195.
Rincón-Gallardo, S., & Fullan, M. (2016). Essential features of effective networks in education. Journal of Professional Capital and Community, 1(1), 5-22.
Ritzema, L., Maslowski, R., Bosker, R., van Geel, M., Rekers-Mombarg, L., & Visscher, A. (2022). Behorend bij de deelrapporten van NRO-onderzoek naar bestuurlijk vermogen en professionalisering in het VO.
Seidman, I. (2006). Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences. Teachers college press.
Schelfhout, W. (2017). Toward data for development: A model on learning communities as a platform for growing data use. Data Analytics Applications in Education; Vanthienen, J., De Witte, K., Eds, 37-82.
Vekeman, E., Devos, G., & Tuytens, M. (2022). Raamwerk voor de opvolging van professionalisering van schoolleiders.
01. Professional Learning and Development
Paper
Developing Leadership Through Effective Learning Conversations
Lizana Oberholzer1, John Macklin2, Raj Mestry3
1University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom; 2University of East London; 3University of Johannesburg
Presenting Author: Oberholzer, Lizana;
Macklin, John
Hattie (2012) points out that leadership makes the second biggest difference in learners’ outcomes. This paper aims to explore how mentoring and coaching can enable school leaders to develop through professional learning conversations. Connor and Pokora (2016) point out that coaching and mentoring are learning relationships though which leaders work collaboratively. Hargreaves and O’Connor (2018) highlight that collaborative professionalism can make a profound difference in developing learning conversations. If school leadership is important for the benefit of learners' outcomes, and staff's ability to flourish, effective learning relationships and conversations need to be embedded in the professional learning of leaders, especially at a time of uncertainty, to ensure that positive ways forward are developed. This paper aims to explore aspects of mentoring and coaching conversations that can enable leaders to flourish.
Weick (1995) outlines the importance of sense making and Macklin (2020) emphasises that leaders often are required to make sense of their teams or policy directives, and give sense at the same time to enable teams o move forward. However, the process of sense making is often taking place in isolation for school leaders. Coaching and mentoring provide a safe collaborative professional (Hargreaves and O’Connor, 2018) space where leaders can develop their strategic approaches through learning conversations, to enable them to support their teams. Especially at a time of uncertainty, sense making and strategic leadership skills are important to develop through mentoring and coaching as an intervention to develop leaders to support their teams and organisations effectively.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis qualitative case study, will explore how coaching and mentoring, can help to unlock strategic thinking for school leaders, to make the most of their teams. Qualitative data was collected for this study through semi-structured interviews involving senior leaders. All the necessary ethical considerations and approvals were in place as per the BERA (2018) guidance, prior to any data was collected.
Participants were recruited from the researchers' partnership schools who engage with teacher education, and development opportunities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted via Microsoft Teams. which is fully GDPR (2018) complaint. Interviews were recorded and transcripts were generated from the recordings.
Transcript data was thematically analysed using the 6 phase framework by Braun and Clarke (2006). Key themes were drawn from the analysis through a grounded theory approach, to critically explore how professional learning conversations can promote strategic thinking in senior leaders and support their professional learning.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsData revealed that participants benefitted from co-constructive learning conversations, where they were able to engage with key challenges they faced in a safe, trusting learning environment. In addition, the study revealed that these safe learning environments aided strategic thinking through coaching conversations, and it supported leaders with developing their confidence to enable others, and make the most of their talents. The study indicted that school leaders will benefit from regular coaching and mentoring support to continue to develop their strategic thinking.
ReferencesBraun, V and Clarke, V (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3 (2). pp.77-101. ISSN 1478-088.
Connor, M. and Pokora, J. (2017), Coaching and Mentoring at Work: Developing Effective Practice. (3rd edition). London: Open University Press.
Hargreaves, A and O’Connor, M., (2018), Collaborative Professionalism: when teaching together means learning for all. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Weick, K. (1995), Sensemaking in Organisations. London: Sage.
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