Conference Agenda

Extended education is an emerging field and being the principal of School-Age Educare Centers (SAEC) does not only mean pedagogical, operational and administrative responsibility, it includes also the responsibility for the aspect of care provided to the children during their stay at SAEC. In the educational practice of SAEC staff with heterogenous professional background act in various learning environments. The principals' knowledge and perceptions of the SAEC is decisive in order to drive organizational educational change (Meyer et al., 2022). Leadership in SAEC seems to be more complicated than in school (Boström & Haglund, 2020). Research on principals' work in SAEC is sparse in Sweden (Glaés-Coutts, 2021; Jonsson 2018, 2021) and non-existent in Switzerland. On the other hand, there is extensive research on how prevailing discourses influence successful schools: if principals and staff embrace the same rules, norms and beliefs over time and if there is mutual cooperation (Lomos et al., 2011; Scheerens et al., 2007; Seashore & Murphy, 2017). Therefore, it is both important and relevant to study this field.

The objective for this study is to analyze and compare principals' perceptions of their mission with a focus on SAEC. The aim is to generate knowledge about this unexplored area and to compare the professional practice internationally.

The theoretical perspective is based in school improvement theory (Fullan, 2010; Bredeson, 2002). Critical parameters emphasized are structure, culture and leadership (Höög, & Johansson, 2014). Internal improvement capabilities which seem to be particularly important for school improvement are communication, cooperation, skills development and leadership (Björkman, 2008; Grissom et al., 2021).

In this study a comparative content analysis (Krispendorff, 2016) is used as research method to analyze and compare the principals’ views on SAEC and their leadership. This method allows us to draw meaningful sense-making processes (Weick, 1995) and comparisons to make inferences about the similarities and differences between the two contexts. The sample consists of twelve interviews with six principals in each country.

The preliminary results show a growing awareness of the pedagogical role as principal in Sweden, emphasizing the whole school day. This blurs the boundaries between the school and SAEC which becomes problematic for maintaining the distinctiveness of SAEC. In Switzerland, principals acknowledge their lack of professional knowledge on the function of SAEC and the workforce’s skills. Principals face the dilemma to mainly serve parental needs as a professional and empirical orientation. The results also pinpoint how cultural values, norms, or ideologies are reflected in principals’ perceptions about their leadership.

The educational importance of the study is to extend the principals’ vision on SAEC and view a child’s entire school day to serve its individual needs. The connection to the conferences theme is that quality for professional education for enhanced school effectiveness and improvement begins in principals' understanding and leadership of their mission.

In recent decades, distributed leadership has become a prominent area of research and practice in education, generating significant attention, debate, and controversy in the field of educational leadership (Harris et al., 2022). Distributed leadership continues to receive global attention in the educational context, although its implementation and effectiveness vary across different countries and local contexts and, in some cases, is influenced by official policies.

This study explores the implementation of distributed leadership in different countries, comparing government-supported models with those primarily implemented through scientific processes. Focusing on Irish and Turkish schools as case studies, the study aims to understand leaders' styles, priorities, support systems, and perceptions of distributed leadership. It investigates the impact of distributed leadership on schools, compares it to other leadership practices, and explores strategies for enhancing its effectiveness in education.

Our study utilized a qualitative research approach, employing semi-structured interviews as the primary data collection method. We conducted interviews with school administrators who hold or continue their Ph.D. degrees in educational administration science and have experience with distributed leadership in schools in both Ireland and Türkiye. In this context, this study is based on a comparative case study. As Bartlett and Vavrus (2017) noted, the comparative case study approach provides the opportunity to compare and analyse different cultures and contexts using horizontal, vertical, and transversal dimensions.

The interviews were conducted with seven participants from each country, for a total of 14. To analyze the data obtained from the interviews, we employed meta-theme analysis, a qualitative method specifically designed for cross-cultural research (Wutich et al., 2021).

Among the common leadership approaches identified in the interviews with school principals in Ireland, there is a collaborative and inclusive style, emphasis on shared responsibilities, focus on the development and cooperation of all individuals, and open communication. In Türkiye, where more autocratic tendencies are observed, the leadership of the central bureaucracy at schools has a certain degree of leadership. was confined to the frame.

Distributive leadership in Irish schools shows regular formal meetings between middle and senior leaders, as well as informal discussions in hallways and staff rooms. There is a focus on sharing information, staying connected, and involving staff members in the decision-making processes. However, there are concerns about how leadership is distributed, the recognition of teachers' contributions, and the need for clear facilitation and support to create a positive and inclusive atmosphere for distributed leadership. On the other hand, distributed leadership practices in Türkiye feed school culture and improve decision-making processes. However, it has been concluded that the fact that schools are under the influence of central policies prevents school principals from demonstrating their competencies as leaders.

The research aims to explore the conceptualization and implementation of distributed leadership in schools, aligning with the conference theme of "Leading improvement collaboratively and sustainably" by examining how distributed leadership practices contribute to collaborative and sustainable improvements in school effectiveness and educational outcomes.

Due to their location and the composition of the student body, schools in challenging cir-cumstances face more difficult conditions. As a result, quality characteristics can differ. With a high proportion of students from non-privileged family situations (usually measured by the educational attainment and financial circumstances of the parents), these poorer so-cio-economic circumstances are often associated with special compensatory services pro-vided by the school. These schools need external support. The necessary additional support from the system can be provided within the framework of professionalization and advisory services. School leadership also plays an important role not only in school development and building up school development capacities but also in accessing external resources and moderating and mediating external interventions.

This paper examines the quality and benefits of a support program designed for schools fac-ing challenging circumstances, including various interventions and their impact on school leadership, school development and school quality.

This five-year longitudinal mixed methods study is based on a sample of around 150 schools in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Over a period of three years, half the schools experi-enced further measures to professionalize school leadership (coaching of principals, profes-sional development program) and support school development (additional financial re-sources, school development consultancy). The study assesses the quality and the change in the quality of school characteristics and examines the contribution of the interventions to these changes.

The analyses are built on two different surveys of staff and school leaders on the work situa-tion and on the interventions assessed each year. In addition to a descriptive evaluation of the quality assessments of staff and school leaders, autoregressive regression analyses are conducted to examine the impact of specific program components/interventions on selected school quality characteristics during the program period. Since the program was implement-ed at the school level, the analyses were conducted accordingly.

The results of the study show the very positive assessment of the program’s quality and ben-efits and its positive consequences on the quality of the organization. The regression anal-yses demonstrate that positively perceived outcome qualities of the interventions are associ-ated with improvements in numerous dimensions of school quality, such as cooperative leadership. For example: The school members’ positive perception of the benefits (β = .26**) and achieved goals (β = .28**) as well as their perception of an increase in compe-tence development (β = .25**), behavioral (β = .27**) and organizational (β = .15*) change through the school’s work with a process consultancy for school development is associated with an improved coordination of actions of the steering group as perceived by the employ-ees. Furthermore, when examining the effect size Cohen's d, it becomes evident that most schools involved in the program showed better development over time than the comparison schools, some of which even experienced negative development.

Overall, the findings provide evidence for the effectiveness of school development programs on school leadership and school improvement. Based on these results, the interventions will be discussed in terms of their effects and the necessary conditions for successful implemen-tation, along with their practical implications.

A significant concern in many education systems internationally, is the recruitment to and retention of sufficient numbers of suitably qualified and experienced teachers in principal roles. This is a longstanding global issue and Scotland’s system is no exception. This paper reports firstly on findings from the authors’ research with experienced principals in Scotland through a Life History Narrative (LHN) approach, that illustrates key issues around support for new and long serving principals, with strong advocacy in the co-produced LHNs for mentoring to support principalship. Crucially, there is a need for mentoring support to be structured as an opportunity and an entitlement, with value placed on mentoring through allocation of time and resources, and facilitation of a safe space for critical conversations around the role and the challenges of headship.

Secondly, the paper reports on a district and university partnership in Scotland: 'The Headteacher (Principal) Mentoring Programme' from the perspectives of the university researchers, a district lead and a school principal. Development of the programme was supported by learning from the experience of colleagues in the Republic of Ireland, and lessons from the district’s previous mentoring model where lack of a formal structure or training meant that the mentor/mentee partnerships were not deemed to be impactful or sustained. The rationale and content of the programme was underpinned by this learning and also data from the authors’ LHN research. The programme involves:

• Full training for mentors: an ongoing professional learning experience for experienced principals in the district

• Mentoring for all principals new to principalship, as an offer and an entitlement in the district

• System leadership opportunity for the mentoring design team (comprising representatives from the university, district and schools).

Finally, the paper will present research methods and findings to date on the impact of the partnership programme, through a formative evaluation of year one. This research amplifies the voices of long-serving principals (mentors), new principals (mentees) and the mentoring design team (experienced principals representing all sectors in education) in six impact criteria around experience of the partnership, professional growth and practice, development of new skills and knowledge, confidence and wellbeing, motivation and job-satisfaction, and impact on student learning in schools and in the wider education system. The findings have implications for principalship support and continued professional learning, in particular relation to the design of mentoring or similar programmes at a local or national level. There are also propositions for the ICSEI community around how such a partnership may change the perception and representation of the principal role, in a time when the recruitment and retention are deemed by the World Bank to be at crisis level.