Conference Agenda

As the concept, idea, practice, and goal of ‘innovation’ has grown in dominance in the discourse around leadership and educational change, there remains a scope for exploration as to how innovation is conceptualized, theorized and supported in policy making and practice (Poirier, et al, 2017). Varied societal, systemic, and contextual conditions which influence the work of educators and leaders can come to frame how innovation is understood and manifested. Cultural values, systemic priorities, political norms, and competing demands can enable or inhibit the emergence of innovation in its varied forms (Lu & Campbell, 2020).

Deriving from an ICSEI Educational Leadership Network webinar, and subsequent research group, this session aims to explore how leaders, as sense-makers and influencers within their organizational contexts, are well placed to utilize contextual knowledge, negotiate political demands, and mobilize others in developing and sustaining collective forms of professional learning that can lead to innovation, and the improvement and change that can result (Murphy & Devine, 2023).

What remains, and will be explored through this innovate session, is the need for a critical examination of how innovation is understood and manifested across systems, how this relates to broader concerns of equity, excellence, and professional capacity building in the pursuit of improvement and change, and the lessons that can be derived from varied cultural and systemic contexts.

To facilitate this, the session will be framed around three key questions:

- How is innovation understood and manifested across contexts?

- Which, if any, underpinning concepts relating to innovation could transcend context and system?

- How might we understand the relationship(s) between innovation, leadership, and capacity building?

The session will begin with a brief provocation exploring innovation in the context of Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area drawing upon the work of Lu (2019). Participants will then be invited to collaboratively, in smaller groups, respond to the questions driving the session, and visually represent the common threads and themes for presentation back to the whole group. Following this, avenues for continued exploration of these ideas and themes will be shared; namely through a collaborative research group, Twitter Chats, and subsequent ICSEI Educational Leadership Network activity.

Participants will consider Innovative Learning Environments, the changing patterns of educators’ work, and subsequent implications for professional learning. Drawing on findings from research undertaken in Aotearoa|New Zealand (Charteris, Smardon and Kemmis, 2022), the session will explore contradictions in the practices described by school leaders working in new and refurbished school buildings.

Teachers’ professional work has changed with innovations in school building design, shifting expectations around pedagogical approaches, and revolutions in learning technologies. Taken in combination, these factors contribute to a ‘21st century learning’ rhetoric around ‘21st century skills.’ There is a manufactured urgency that schools need to respond to forces of globalisation and the associated rapid advances in technology. The case for change is premised on the notion that new sorts of learning and forms of knowledge are necessary for students to be active, contributing citizens, and future potential workers. Findings from the research suggest how practices in ‘innovative learning environments’ or ‘new generation spaces’ are shaped through discourses, workplace activities, and power relations.

Participants will be provided with an opportunity to examine and reflect on practice initiatives in the context of new school building design and associated pedagogies. This interactive session will actively engage participants to explore recently published research where there is a focus on leading for change. The format of the session is as follows.

Participants in this session will view summary slides outlining the literature on Innovative Learning Environments and the context of the research with educational leaders. Conversation will be generated through the initial information shared and snippets of data from school leaders. The following prompts may be used to structure conversation:

• Share an example where you have seen one or more of the contradictions and tensions signalled in this research.

• Are there other contradictions or tensions that you have encountered in context when leaders have worked to foster new practices and ways of thinking?

• How might you raise awareness around the contradictions in schooling setting where innovation is a priority?

The session addresses the theme of the conference: Quality Professional Education for Enhanced School Effectiveness and Improvement. There is recognition of the contradictions that leaders encounter when they engage in practices that target educational change. Specifically, the session enables participants to consider how leaders can promote high quality professional learning for teachers and also the influential discourses that underpin organisational change.

Leaders practice in an era characterised by uncertainty and meta-change. Consideration is given to what it means to engage in practices that support continuous improvement, where there is an emphasis on restructuring and reconstructing what has come before. Within the education context, where there is an emphasis on changing practices in new and refurbished school buildings, a new pedagogical imaginary and associated conception of professionalism can be compromised if assumptions are left unexamined.

Knowledge Building is an approach to teaching and learning that places students' questions, ideas and observations at the centre of the learning experience. Students move from a position of wondering to enacted understanding and further questioning.

Being an instructional leader is a key role for school leaders. As Principal, being a Co-Learner along the journey has made the difference; as well as, being intentional in providing Professional Learning for all.

Will highlight experiences in implementing Knowledge Building, for both educators and students, to transform learning environments into authentic places of wonder filled with imagination and opportunities for problem solving and places where children are forever curious, as they explore new learnings based on their questions.

Research: The session builds on Scaradamalia's 12 Principles and the ongoing research in Knowledge Building community. Underlying this approach is that both educators and students share responsibility for learning. When involved in this type of learning, students are better able to take other points of view and to make connections. In doing so, their literacy skills are strengthened as they are involved in purposeful and authentic ways. Knowledge Building involves creating an environment where there is diversity of ideas and the students are researchers in their own learning. Student curiousity is nurtured to create a classroom culture of authentic learning.

Presenters: Cassandra Reda Gavin is a teacher with 7 years experience, who is including Knowledge Building principles and KB circles in her teaching, informed by her research and understanding of the KB pedagogy. Her thesis, "The Implementation of Knowledge Building in the Elementary Classroom" guides the learning.

Silvana Reda, is a former experienced administrator with global experience, who places importance on Professional Learning. Using a Collaborative Inquiry approach through Knowledge Building, to maintain a high level of expectations, develops authentic, relevant and meaningful learning,

Format: Knowledge Building Circles is an approach in allowing for both knowledge sharing and discourse. All participants are sitting in a circle; in doing so, there is the ability to interact with one another and share diverse ideas and perspectives. It adds to the contribution of knowledge in the community.

This will be the format for the presentation. That is, participants will sit in a circle. After a short presentation on Knowledge Building, questions and further learning will be part of the Knowledge Building Circle.

Connection to Conference theme: Principals and Instructional Leaders can make improvements and support the learning for both educators and students, through Knowledge Building. By using the Collaborative Inquiry approach for Professional Learning, administrators and educators work alongside one another, regardless of their official role in the school. It is important for the Principal to be part of the learning, and clearly demonstrate the importance of life-long learning and that learning together and collaboratively is instrumental in making changes. It builds the efficacy for all.

Objectives

- Discuss how an intentional and systematic commitment and approach to supporting the deep learning and reflexivity of staff can prepare them to effectively build cultures of belonging among a diverse student population

- Describe a powerful critical inquiry approach to professional learning with regards to diversity, equity, and inclusion

- Share concrete and practical steps taken as part of the staff-wide critical inquiry as well as emergent outcomes

- Describe key learnings that can serve to guide schools and school systems to increase the likelihood of significant positive impact of efforts to promote more equitable environments

Educational Importance for Practice

The teaching staff at the Calgary Girls Charter School endeavour to make belonging central to our practice. We believe that the psychological need to belong in a school community is antecedent to successful learning. The research widely agrees on the importance of the construct of belonging in schools yet offers few frameworks or models to guide its operationalization in school-based settings (Allen and Kern, 2017). To enact a pedagogy of belonging in our school (Beck and Malley, 1998), we realized that staff members needed to focus on our own inner work before we would be able to be of best support to students and the broader community. We knew that to enhance understanding and truly live these beliefs and values, time needed to be spent analyzing our own stories, assumptions, beliefs, biases (Sealey-Ruiz, 2021) and developing our equity-mindedness. We co-constructed a cascade of critical inquiry questions and challenges that we committed to working through together.

The emergent outcomes have been extremely promising. Staff were able to speak to how this learning made an imprint on them personally and on our learning community as a whole. The ways we interact with one another and the ways that we program for students has shifted because each of us continues to grow and change. To symbolize our learning, staff took their shared vision of a forest, where the ecosystem has individuality, yet is intricate and connected, to a few students who have turned it into a beautiful art piece to live in the school as a reminder of the commitments we have made to ourselves and one another.

Format and Approaches

In this interactive and practical session, participants will engage with the cascade critical inquiry questions developed by CGCS staff and consider the key elements of the professional learning approach that might be adaptable and transferable to their contexts.

Connection to the Conference Theme

We connect to the conference theme: “Leading schools and education systems that promote equity, inclusion, belonging, diversity, social justice, global citizenship and/ or environmental sustainability”. As schools and educational systems around the world grapple with how to promote more equitable outcomes, more inclusive environments and cultures of true belonging, the crucial importance of the inner work that educators must engage in cannot be taken lightly. We are eager to share our learnings about how a critical inquiry approach to professional learning can truly make a difference.

Purpose of the Session

The purpose of this innovate presentation is to provide a discussion and examination of the utilization of auxiliary school leaders. By auxiliary school leaders, we refer to those members of the school team that are not administrators, teachers, or support staff, but rather support students in other ways. In the United States, examples of these leaders include school psychologists, school counselors, school social workers, and school nurses. These leaders are extremely important to the successful operation of a school yet are frequently underutilized or relegated to administrative tasks.

Educational Importance

Auxiliary leaders such as school psychologists, counselors, social workers, and nurses have the potential to greatly alleviate the overwhelming load that is typically placed on school leaders and administrators. Despite their specialized skills, such auxiliary leaders have not been included in the commentary and research about school leaders employing distributed leadership (Hargreaves & Fink, 200; Harris, 2004; Spillane et al., 2007; Tian et al., 2016). By adequately attending to student discipline, social-emotional learning, and counseling to name just a few, auxiliary leaders may alleviate the workload of school leaders (Hochbein & Meyers, 2021). Currently, in many schools in the United States, there is an inappropriate resource allocation at play where auxiliary school leaders are relegated to administrative tasks, while administrators are forced to pick up the burden of student support issues (Wang, 2022). This is an economic and political failure and is leading to inefficient and ineffective educational practices. The appropriate use of these professionals may also lead to positive outcomes, such as more appropriate student discipline practices (Richardson et al., 2019), improved student and teacher mental health (Paternite, 2005), and smaller racial gaps in academic achievement (Zink & Anderson, 2023) as well as disproportionality in exclusionary discipline (Darensbourg et al., 2010). This is due to the specialized training that these professionals have but are not using. The appropriate allocation of these professionals will lead to more effective schools.

Format and Approaches

In this session, participants will be encouraged to share techniques which they have utilized auxiliary school leaders across different educational settings and locations. A discussion surrounding potential professional development options will be conducted, where participants will have the chance to share their ideal utilization of these professionals and suggest recommendations for professional development and training that may aide in obtaining such a utilization.

Connection to Conference Theme

This session is particularly relevant to the conference theme, quality professional education for enhanced school effectiveness and improvement. Improving professional education and professional development for administrators and teachers on the effective use of these auxiliary leaders will help make schools more efficient and safer for students. The appropriate allocation of resources will also lead to a greater productivity by school personnel, as administrators and teachers will be free to pursue other work and auxiliary administrators will be relieved from administrative burdens that lead to a lack of productivity. These auxiliary leaders may also be recruited into leadership preparation programs, which would lead to a more diverse workforce.

The EdEco Initiative is an ongoing experimental process designed to support a deeper level of connection and education ecosystem coherence in South Africa. Initiated in February 2021, and supported within the South African Department of Education’s Innovation Unit, DBE-E3, the initiative supports education actors to co-sense and co-evolve a model to deepen levels of trust, connection, collaboration, systems insight, co-creation, and learning ecosystem emergence within South African education sector, using a variety of systems change modalities.

Participants are drawn from diverse segments of the education landscape, and include Civil Society, Education NGO’s, Business, Philanthropy, and Public Private Partnership actors. The process has successfully fostered dialogue, leading to deeper levels of shared and generative understanding.

To achieve education outcomes fit for an uncertain future (in particular, the critical learning competencies of character, citizenship, collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking), education systems need to transform to allow for more humanised, experiential, and individuated approaches to learning. This requires a reconfiguration of the underpinnings and philosophical approaches to education, with a shift in the ability of all actors to operate collaboratively and coherently towards the transformation of education, understanding their synergistic roles. This is a Systems Transformation process, requiring Systems Thinking and Systems Action capacity to become embedded within the education system itself.

Globally, this systems approach is being explored through the “learning ecosystem” model. The United Nation’s Transforming Education Summit in September 2022, the work of UNESCO’s International Commission on the Futures of Education, the OECD Handbook for Learning Innovative Environments and World Innovation Summit in Education Learning Ecosystems Playbook all reference the key importance of the establishment of education networks able to support the exchange of ideas and facilitate collaboration and shared learning. This work is relatively unchartered in the South African context. It is this transformation towards systems thinking and approach that we are seeking support in South Africa through the EdEco Connect Initiative.

Despite the common perception that alignment around a unified, compelling purpose is sufficient to enable genuinely collaborative, indeed co-creative work to occur, it has proven extraordinarily difficult to achieve multi-stakeholder collaboration and coherence around compelling global issues such as education. As expressed by Jean Oelwang in her book “Partnering”:

“We mistakenly expect groups and individuals to be able to collaborate spontaneously. Yet this is like expecting a group of amateur gymnasts to come together and instantly perform a gravity-defying double backflip in unison, before they have even mastered how to spot each other in a simple cartwheel”.

The EdEco Connect initiative has been designed as a space to explore, discuss, practice, and build a collective capacity for experiencing and stepping into connection, relationship, and trust, as well as for seeding additional spaces that enable this for others within the sector. Our goal, rather than “scaling this initiative” is to diffuse this capacity into the system, through equipping participants to hold similar spaces in their own workspaces, networks, and geographies, and through connecting and learning from others who are doing similar work.

A movement of continuous improvement (CI) is on its way of becoming a new paradigm of school improvement. CI is a label that groups ideas such as Improvement Science, Design-Based School Improvement, Lesson Study, Data-Wise, and the like as a prototypical approach to improving school organizations (Yurkofsky et al., 2020). A dominant “What Works” paradigm (Bryk et al., 2015; Penuel et al., 2011) has positioned leaders as implementers who must create “buy in” for addressing problems and solutions decided from the outside. The CI movement, by contrast, offers opportunities to reframe the role of leaders as to foster agency for internally-driven and participatory change in schools. At its core, CI involves a novel way to navigate complex and dynamic improvement problems for which prescriptive programs or centrally coordinated standards do not necessarily have answers (Mintrop, 2016).

Addressing emergent organizational problems can give school leaders agency to define and diagnose problems and design well-adjusted solutions that respond to local needs. However, given the prevalence of outside-in approaches to change, it cannot be presumed that leaders necessarily have the right skills or mindsets for internal organizational problem solving (Author, 2019; Yurkofsky et al., 2020). Before CI can take off as a method of organizational change, we need to find powerful ways to help educational leaders cultivate an appropriate problem-solving mindset. How to do this depends on understanding what specific core competencies school leaders need to develop to enact new problem-solving skills. To fill this gap, this paper asks: what are the core competencies that educational leaders must develop to successfully implement CI-like strategies of change?

We begin this inquiry by first identifying the purpose and scope of problem solving for continuous improvement at the school level. Next, we review the literature on problem solving, leadership decision making, and continuous improvement in education. Third, informed by the literature review, we consider a particular model of problem solving that captures key thinking steps for CI: the IDEAL model (Bransford & Stein, 1984) which stands for Identify, Define, Explore, Act, and Look. We break down the IDEAL model to understand the specific competencies—knowledge, skills, and attitudes—that school leaders need to learn for applying this model to school organizations.

The findings offer a competency framework for developing a problem-solving mindset. The framework sheds light on skills needed to breakdown the complexity of adaptive challenges at the school level through specific heuristics that can be applied to emergent problematic situations. At the same time, the framework highlights the critical competencies to engage people in continuous improvement dynamics through practice-centeredness, work motivation, and adult learning. These aspects are critical to encourage leaders’ agency in the face of situations for which there are not ready-made solutions. In line with the ICSEI 2024 conference theme of quality professional education for enhanced school effectiveness and improvement, this competency framework shows a promising path to professionalize school leaders who seek to develop a new skillset for improving their schools in the context of growing social complexity.

Research in Danish ECEC practices points to quality differences resulting in different opportunities in what children gain from and experience when participating in childcare (EVA, 2020; Nordahl, Hansen, Ringsmose, & Drugli, 2020; VIVE & EVA, 2023). With research stressing the importance of leadership as an important lever for educational quality (Douglas, 2019; Robinson, 2011; Fullan & Quinn, 2015) the Municipality of Copenhagen initiated the research- and development project ‘Leadership with Markable Impact for Children’ (2021 – 2023). The project is based on a partnership with Laboratory for Research-informed ECEC and School Improvement (LSP), Aalborg University. It builds on systemwide collaborations and obligations using evidence and thinking evaluatively about the impact (DuFour & Marzano, 2011; Fullan & Quinn, 2015; Rickards, Hattie, & Ried; Urban et al., 2011). It has a specific focus on how to foster quality improvement in ECEC by leading staff professional learning and development (Robinson, 2011; Timperley, 2011).

In the project, 2 out of five of the city’s ECEC districts participated, including 2 district leaders, 19 middle-tier leaders (with overall responsibility for 4-7 ECEC centers), 105 ECEC-center leaders and 20 municipal consultants. Together these participants had a shared and distributed leadership of the quality in 100 ECEC centers, including 2000 ECEC staff and 9000 children aged 0-6. The research interest was to investigate the effects on the learning environment of introducing ECEC leaders to knowledge, approaches and tools supporting capacity building for learning environments of high quality in own organization. The participants were i.e., introduced to theory and research about instructional leadership and organizational learning (Robinson, 2011; Timperley, 2011; Timperley, Ell & Le Fevre, 2020), they learned about systematic environmental quality rating scales (ERS), and they were educated in observations gathering data in their own ECEC centers (Ringsmose & Kragh-Müller, 2020). In addition, they were introduced to analyze data and identify improvement goals (Datnow, 2014; Bernhardt, 2013; Nordahl, 2013). This skill was emphasized as an essential tool for making informed decisions and driving improvements in own practice together with staff . Also, they were given a specific task to lead staff professional learning and development (Robinson; 2011; Timperley, 2008; Timperley, Ell, Le Fevre, 2020). Their work in own organization was supported by their district- and middle-tier leaders as well as municipal consultants. With the first data as a baseline, the ECEC-center leaders worked with the data and improvement goals for a year. The work was followed up with a second round of data and analysis.

The learning from the mixed-methods research (Creswell, 2011) using results from observations (n:190), document analysis (n:190) and interviews (n:20) indicates that developing quality ECEC environments building a collaborative approach and evaluative capacity in a whole system effort is important and that educating leaders in ERS, data analysis and leadership raised the awareness of quality in own ECEC center, and an improvement by 10-20 % were identified in many of the ECEC centres. The qualitative data provided insights into what leadership tools and processes were used when the leaders took the lead in improvement.

Leadership and management scholars are concerned with time, how leaders use it and on what (e.g. French & Daniels, 2007; Lavigne, Shakman, Zweig, & Greller; Reid & Creed, 2021; Riley, See, Marsh, & Dicke, 2021). This paper sits within this corpus of work; it complements the argument made by Creagh and colleagues (Creagh, Thompson, Mockler, Stacey, & Hogan, 2023) that it is insufficient to simply quantify hours worked and to attribute negative career and well-being consequences to the sheer number of hours over the average. Rather, it is important to also focus, they suggest, on work intensification, the nature of the work expected and its pace.

This paper takes this argument as its starting point, offering an analysis that explores how work intensification plays out in, and as, ongoing work practices.

The pandemic created new time problems for school leaders, with most reporting both additional time spent as well as new forms of work intensification. This paper brings three iterative studies of school leaders’ work during the pandemic in England (authors, 2021, 2022, 2023) together with Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis. The three studies included two national surveys and over 100 interviews with headteachers, deputy and assistant heads.

Lefebvre (2004) was interested in recognisable patterns which are not identical and not entirely predictable, but which can still be anticipated. For Lefebvre, while the experience of everyday life appears to be linear - one moment after another, one day following the next – it is also made up by a range of different cyclical patterns. Drawing on this insight, the paper explores how the bedrock rhythmic cycles of daily, weekly, termly and annual events which usually structure work and learning in schools were disrupted during the pandemic by an external cycle of virus, government and media.

In ‘normal’ times, school time-space patterns provide knowable, predictable, stable routines for teachers’ work and children’s learning. They provide a solid foundation on which the inevitably serendipitous and reactive work of living and working together for prolonged periods can take place. Such stability is the basis for improvement and for sustainable careers. Part of the job of school leaders is to manage these routines, as a bedrock for cycles of learning and improvement. Leaders must also manage the inevitable but not always predictable arrythmic events that impact on schools – such as a visit from the inspectors, unwanted media attention, or a dramatic change in student population from one year to the next - restoring order and routine so that everyone can get on with their work. The pandemic however was of a different order to the usual crises which schools and their leaders understand: as a result, re-establishing regular rhythmicity proved almost impossible for extended periods. The resulting arrythmia had profound and damaging impacts on leaders’ work and well-being as well as on the longer-term cycles of cohorts, careers and improvement.

We argue that rhythmanalysis has important implications for the recruitment, training and retention of school leaders and offers rich possibilities for further research.

In Africa, progress towards equitable access to high-quality education has been slow. This has been attributed to education systems' inability to address factors underlying the learning crisis such as underprepared students, low teaching quality, a focus on educational resources that do not foster learning, and ineffective school leadership. Effective school leadership is considered essential in addressing all four elements because its key role in influencing education actors to strive towards greater learning and more resilient education systems. To ignite the potential of school leadership on the African continent, the Rwandan government, the Association for Development of Education in Africa, and VVOB - education for development, initiated the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) to assist governments in developing supportive school leadership systems with the goal of improving teaching and, as a result, learning outcomes.

Two studies were carried out to lay the theoretical groundwork for the Centre. The first study was a review of empirical research on school leadership in Africa that provided insights into what constituted effective school leadership on the continent. In this paper, we complement the findings of the review with the opinion of a panel of experts and the consensus that was built amongst these experts on the topic of school leadership in Africa. The findings of the scoping review were rewritten into statements on school leadership in Africa, organized around nine topics. The Delphi method is a group approach that involves a series of surveys between the researchers and a group of selected experts on a certain issue. This study brought together government partners, policymakers, researchers, development partners, and providers of CPD services to African school leaders to collect data in three survey rounds utilizing a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

The results of the first Delphi round, in which the panel of experts was given the opportunity to add additional statements about school leadership and school leadership professional development in Africa, revealed a strong interest in school leadership and school leadership professional development in Africa. In Delphi rounds 2 and 3, most statements and declared aims of the Centre received broad agreement and consensus. This indicates that the examination of empirical research on the subject accurately represents the viewpoints of experts from various countries as well as personal experiences. Statements on which no agreement was reached present prospects for additional analysis, investigation, and research. Of special interest are the statements regarding the potential interplay between gender and school leadership, and statements regarding Ubuntu school leadership as a potential model for effective school leadership, rooted in the African context. Both research avenues offer significant opportunities for exploratory and ground-breaking research.

In conclusion, this study emphasizes the upside of involving policymakers and practitioners in the validation of literature and the initiation of initiatives supporting school leader development, which is aligned with the conference theme, specifically on the subtheme on policy and practice learning to support teacher and school leader development.

Due to various reforms, efforts must be taken to make schools more inclusive. Although countries have different historically developed educational contexts, similar regulations must be implemented internationally. School principals play a major role in this chain of international guidelines, national and finally local implementation (Abrahamsen & Aas, 2019). However, due to different definitions of inclusion and the importance of local contexts, it is not exactly clear what this role looks like (Wermke & Prøitz, 2019). These ambiguities show that it is not possible to clarify what principals should be educated for in terms of designing inclusive schools. In order to give an impetus for this and improve schools on the long term, the study reveals:

1) How is school principals’ responsibility depicted in policy documents in Germany and Norway regarding the implementation of inclusion policies since 1994?

For investigating if the results are relevant for principals, the following question is further examined:

2) How is the discourse of school principals’ responsibility discussed in school leaders’ professional journals in Germany and Norway, regarding the implementation of inclusion policies since 1994?

Due to the Salamanca Declaration and subsequent efforts for more inclusive school systems, the analysis begins in the 1990s. Germany and Norway are particularly interesting for a comparison as both countries have different historically developed educational traditions, but similarities in recent educational reforms, with greater room for maneuver for principals on local level (Wermke & Prøitz, 2021).

For the analysis of legislation and journals, qualitative content document analysis (Bowen, 2009) in the further development of Prøitz (2015) was used. For the first part, school laws and their guiding documents regarding inclusive education were investigated. Principals in both countries are obliged to follow the law and justify their decisions based on the Education Act (Møller & Skedsmo, 2013), so principals’ responsibilities are specified here. The second part of the analysis worked with journals, partially written from principals for principals. The journals show how political implementations arrive in professional daily work life and how policies are understood and interpreted by principals and their associations. The material presents furthermore the interface between intentions and practice.

Preliminary results indicate that principals in Norway have more possibilities for shaping inclusive schools. This is seen in a wider room for maneuver and trust in their decisions. German principals instead are restricted by requirements of school authorities. While the analysis of the Norwegian journals reveals satisfaction on the whole and just some slight adjustments and requested support, German journals show job dissatisfaction in general but are still under more detailed analysis.

The results show what policies in various times and contexts imply for school principals in the implementation of schools for all children. Since the analysis is furthermore not just conducted over time but also during an acute crisis like the COVID-19-pandemic, it will reveal challenges principals are facing in their leadership autonomy on long- and short-term issues. The study can finally present an important source for the education of principals and collaboration between different educational leaders.

This narrative literature review explores the interrelationship between digital exclusion, self-efficacy, and Parental Involvement (PI) in the context of home-based digital learning within European and Irish educational settings. The review critically examines extant literature, identifies gaps in knowledge, and proposes considerations for schools to increase PI in children's digital learning through Digital Technology (DT) based initiatives.

The problem addressed in this review pertains to the concept of digital exclusion, which stems from the theory of the digital divide and its consequent impact on parental involvement (PI) in children's digital learning. While the integration of DT in education has accelerated, a significant portion of parents and families face digital exclusion due to various socio-cultural, socio-demographic, and socio-economic factors. This review seeks to understand the consequences of digital exclusion, particularly on Parental Self-Efficacy (PSE) (Wittkowski et al., 2017), Computer Self-Efficacy (CSE) (Compeau & Higgins, 1995), and their influence on PI, which is crucial for student engagement and outcomes.

Accordingly, this paper addresses the following research questions: How does digital exclusion influence PSE and CSE, and subsequently affect PI in their children's home-based digital learning? What initiatives and approaches can foster digital inclusion and support increased PI in children's digital learning?

The review employs a comprehensive search for pertinent literature, followed by rigorous critical appraisal and synthesis of identified studies. The review incorporates a diverse range of perspectives, drawing on research conducted within International, European and Irish contexts. A reflexive approach is taken to critically examine the limitations of existing literature and identify gaps in knowledge. This approach allows for a coherent and nuanced understanding of the interrelationships between digital exclusion, self-efficacy, and PI. The primary data sources for this review are scholarly articles, research studies, and policy documents related to digital exclusion, digital inclusion, self-efficacy, and PI in education. The theoretical framework encompasses the concepts of social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986), digital exclusion (Van Dijk, 2005; Helsper, 2012), and the parental involvement process model (Hoover Dempsey et al., 2005).

This narrative literature review contributes to the theoretical understanding of digital inclusion, self-efficacy, and PI within educational settings. It explores initiatives focused on fostering digital inclusion and PI though school-based interventions while acknowledging existing barriers. The findings will provide insights into the complex relationship between digital technologies, parental involvement, and educational outcomes. The results and recommendations will inform practitioners, policymakers, and educators on strategies to foster digital inclusion the digital divide and foster an inclusive approach to DT-based education.

This review aligns with the conference theme of quality professional education for enhanced school effectiveness and improvement by addressing the crucial aspects of equity, inclusion, and diversity within the context of DT integration. By exploring the interrelationship between digital exclusion, self-efficacy, and PI, this review contributes to the understanding and implementation of effective strategies for promoting equity and enhancing school effectiveness in a digitally evolving educational landscape.

The last twenty years have seen two significant strands of education-policy reform in England: an increased emphasis on the power of market forces as a strategy for school improvement and the development of new governance structures that may not be based around local areas or communities (Author, 2020). These policy moves are both positioning schools in a competitive market and loosening the links between schools and their local communities. Various forms of area-based partnerships have emerged, where schools are encouraged and enabled to work together with neighbouring schools and community partners (Author, 2018).

In this paper, we report on the Area-Based Partnerships Project (ABPP), which investigates examples of collaborative working in eight regions in England. Our case-study research is framed by the following questions: What are the conditions that facilitate the establishment and sustainability of area-based school partnerships? What are the features and benefits of these partnerships? What barriers do they face and how are these being addressed? And, what are the implications for the creation of effective forms of local coordination within education systems?

A multiple case study design was adopted encompassing eight area partnerships located in different regions in England. Data were generated through documentary analysis followed by interviews and focus-group seminars with key actors, including governors and Trust members, Chief Executive Officers, local- (district) authority representatives and school principals.

We identify key factors underpinning the purposefulness of such partnerships, including the establishment of strong professional networks, often led by experienced school leaders; the contribution of local-authority officers; a commitment to collaborative working; and a clearly-articulated statement of principles. Our findings underline the importance of contextual factors in shaping area-based cooperation. In particular, we draw attention to the historical, political, and cultural characteristics of a locality as key to understanding how and why the partnerships evolved, and whether and the extent to which they can be seen as purposeful and sustainable. We go on to argue that these are crucial factors that need to be acknowledged, understood, and accounted for in addressing social justice within education and wider society (see also Kerr et al, 2014).

This serves to highlight the importance of localised policy enactment and decision (Braun et al, 2011). Notably, these partnerships have no formal status or mandate, instead drawing their influence from soft power and the social capital of the collective capacity of local educational leaders and professionals. While the extent to which these partnerships can be seen as ‘successful’ and/or sustainable is variable between different regions, there are lessons we can draw from this project that will inform thinking around how school systems might be structured in ways that promote excellence through equity.

This paper speaks to the broader conference theme in exploring how school systems can be supported to improve. It also speaks more specifically to the final conference sub-theme surrounding the leadership of education systems that promote equity and inclusion.

Objectives. This presentation shares insights about the design of a professional learning network (PLN) for leaders in six immigrant-serving school districts across the U.S. With the growth of global migration, educational leaders’ responsibilities to support newcomers have also grown. Addressing emerging issues related to educational leadership, policy and practice, our PLN focused on building district leaders’ capacity to serve immigrant-origin students. Here, we answer the research question: How does the design of a cross-district site visit foster professional learning among district leaders about serving immigrant-origin students?

Background & Theory. We ground our work in theories of immigrant integration that highlight the salience of nested contexts of reception in shaping immigrants’ experiences (Golash-Boza & Valdez, 2018; Portes & Rumbaut, 2014). As key points of contact, educational institutions are central influences on the experiences of immigrant-origin youth (Brezicha & Hopkins, 2016; Lowenhaupt et al., 2021). Recently, educators have sought ways to support students coping with heightened anti-immigrant policies and discourse (Costello, 2016; Ee & Gándara, 2018; Rodriguez & Crawford, 2022). In particular, educational leaders influence the experiences of immigrant-origin youth (Lowenhaupt & Hopkins, 2020; Jaffe-Walter & Villavicencio, 2021; Mavrogordato et al., 2020). We conceptualize our partnership as a PLN connecting immigrant-serving districts and providing leadership development opportunities (Poortman, Brown & Schildkamp, 2022; Azorín, Harris & Jones, 2020). We use design-based research and draw on networked improvement tools to facilitate professional learning within and between districts (Fishman et al., 2013).

Methods. In this five-year study, we partnered with six school districts around the country to identify promising practices to support immigrant-origin youth in light of anti-immigrant policies. Each district formed a team of three representatives including superintendents, multilingual program directors, and teacher leaders. In spring 2023, we organized two cross-district site visits. Our goals were to: 1) observe promising practices, 2) reflect together on context-specific considerations, and 3) explore how observed practices might be implemented in partner districts. The research team gathered several sources of data including audio recordings and artifacts from meetings, participant notes, researcher memos, and reflections.

Findings. Our findings highlight design features that facilitated cross-district learning. First, collaborating across districts allowed educators to identify shared and context-dependent practices. Second, the site visits highlighted the value of being in person, which allowed us to speak with and observe people and practices beyond our immediate district contacts, including other educators and staff, students, and families. Third, scheduling opportunities for reflection throughout the visit helped visitors identify how the showcased practices could be applied to their own contexts. Fourth, scheduling time for caring, critical feedback at the end of each visit gave a sense of purpose to the experience.

Implications & Conclusions. Engaging in PLNs is a promising and increasingly common form of professional development and learning, particularly for educational leaders. Still, we have much to learn about how PLNs support capacity building and how their design informs learning. Our participants expressed appreciation for having space to learn about supporting immigrant-origin students and an opportunity where these commitments were shared.

Introduction

From the year 2015 to 2019, there has been a 29% decrease in enrollment in teacher education programs in Chile (OFD, 2021). Given this, a teacher shortage has been predicted. A shortage that is compounded by early attrition is estimated at about 40% within the first five years (Ávalos & Valenzuela, 2016). This situation has prompted a number of policy initiatives. Decreases in enrollment have been attributed to the legal mandate to gradually increase the admissions cut-off scores in the college entrance exam. To address potential inequities associated with this increase, two alternative admission routes were stipulated. The score on the admissions test could be replaced by a student’s high school ranking or by their participation in a special pre-college preparation program available to low-income students. Additionally, to address a lack of interest among high school graduates, universities were encouraged to develop programs specifically designed to attract them to teacher education (PAP program) (Mineduc 2020). We are conducting a study on the effects of these policies by examining policy, institutional and individual factors.

Objective and conceptual framework

The current study examines first-year preservice teachers' motivations to enrol in teacher education programs. Motivation and commitment to teaching are key factors for their educational trajectory, the construction of professional identity and commitment, therefore, they need to be considered in the design of public policies (Heinz, 2015; Wang and Houston, 2021). FIT-choice (Factors Influencing Teaching) developed by Watt and Richardson (2007) is the conceptual framework used in the current study.

Method

This quantitative study analyzes data from 1127 first-year pre-service undergraduate teacher education students from two public and two private universities. They were enrolled in 8 different teaching majors, including Special Education, Early Childhood and Elementary Education, and five secondary majors. Data were collected during the first semester of 2023, using a paper and pencil questionnaire that included FIT-Choice items (Watt & Richardson, 2007) and two other locally developed constructs. Confirmatory Factor Analysis established the validity and reliability of the constructs measured.

Selected Findings

Gender differences: women (66.5%) had higher scores than men in Social Utility motivations (p<0,001), Intrinsic career value (p<0,001), and Self-perceived abilities (p<0,01). Women showed higher Planned persistence in teaching (p<0,001).

Participation in a PAP program: participants (16.1%): showed higher scores in the perception of the influence of national Initiatives to attract students to the teaching profession (p<0,05; p<0,001) and reported a greater number of Work experiences with children and adolescents (p<0,001).

Secondary major: Mathematics Education students showed lower scores in Social Utility (p<0,001), but higher scores on Prior teaching experiences (p<0,001). English Education majors showed lower scores on Intrinsic career value (p<0,001), Self-perceived abilities (p<0,001), and Planned persistence in teaching (p<0,001).

Educational importance

Teachers' role in school effectiveness and improvement is well documented. Attracting candidates to initiate the process of formal professional preparation has become challenging in some jurisdictions. To address this challenge, it is important to understand what motivates prospective candidates, acknowledging differences among people interested in various teaching specializations.

Quality monitoring of education is preferably based on different types of information from multiple sources (Baker & Linn, 2002; Schafer, 2003). In Flanders (Northern Belgium), the following sources are used: the school inspections of the Flemish inspectorate of education, the national assessments and the international large-scale assessments in which Flanders participates. All these sources provide school performance feedback (SPF). Therefore, Flemish schools will receive SPF-reports of various sources. These sources can lead to more reliable decision making about the effectiveness of schools, if, the information from different sources is accurate and consistent (Chester, 2005; Porter et al., 2004). However, it remains unclear to what extent the results of different sources align for Flemish schools. After all, those sources have completely different designs and use different techniques for estimation and analysis.

We examine the alignment between SPF-reports in primary and secondary education at the school level. We focus on sources that address results in mathematics and reading:

• National assessment for reading 2018 (primary education);

• National assessment for mathematics 2021 (primary education);

• National assessment for mathematics 2018 for the general track in the second year of secondary education;

• National assessment for mathematics 2019 for the vocational track in the second year of secondary education;

• PIRLS 2016;

• TIMSS 2019;

• PISA 2018;

• Inspections for mathematics and Dutch in school year 2018-2019 and 2019-2020.

For each school, school effects were first estimated for all national and international assessments the school participated in, using type 0, type A and type B contextualised achievement models (Leckie & Prior, 2022). Based on these estimated school effects, every school was categorised multiple times as below average, average or above average. As such, a school could be categorised as below average for PISA, but average for the national assessment. Note that schools are already classified in four categories by the inspectorate: below expectation, approaches expectation, meets expectation and exceeds expectation. Secondly, we linked the results (i.e. the estimated school effects and/or the categorisation by the inspectorate) of every school by considering the administrative code of each school. In this way, we can compare – for instance – the results of a school on TIMSS 2019 with the SPF from the inspection for mathematics.

Our results indicate that the SPF of different sources align for the majority of the Flemish schools, especially when controlling for background characteristics of students and schools by using a type B model. We find the lowest alignment when comparing different sources based on type 0 school effects. However, for a limit number of schools, the results of multiple sources are different and sometimes even contradictory. Notice that these contradictory results can have a substantial impact on schools, for instance when the results on one particular source determine the attribution of specific consequences (e.g. an additional school audit by the inspectorate).

This paper proposal is most closely related to the MoREi network and the subtheme ‘Leveraging research and data for inquiry, insight, innovation and professional learning’.

During the past two decades, extensive research has demonstrated the importance of a rich and comprehensive home literacy environment (HLE) in students’ reading comprehension development (Dong et al., 2020). Because most of these studies solely assumed a direct association, the underlying mechanisms - including potential mediating factors - remain unclear (Wiescholek et al., 2018). The investigation of mediating factors is nevertheless of crucial importance to gain a deeper understanding through which specific pathways HLE affects students’ reading comprehension skills.

We propose a model that includes both a direct path between HLE and students’ reading comprehension skills and multiple paths that run via two mediating factors, being students’ reading enjoyment and motivation as well as their reading frequency. These factors are likely to influence the relationship between HLE and reading comprehension, as previous research has shown that students’ reading enjoyment, motivation and frequency are, on the one hand, affected by HLE (Baker et al., 1997; Arzubiaga et al., 2002; Altun, 2022) and, on the other hand, might contribute to the reading comprehension ability of students (Becker et al., 2010; Soemer & Schiefele, 2018; Stutz et al., 2016; Yang et al., 2018). Additionally, we considered HLE as a complex, comprehensive construct reflecting various components in students’ home environment that might contribute to their language and literacy development. In line with Burgess and colleagues (2002), we distinguished HLE as either active (e.g. literacy-related activities parents do with their child) or passive (e.g. parents’ reading enjoyment, the number of books at home). These specific aspects were separately included in our model, allowing us to examine their individual contribution on students’ reading comprehension. This study aimed to assess whether students’ reading enjoyment, motivation and frequency influenced the association between various aspects of the active as well as passive HLE and Grade 4 students’ reading comprehension.

We reported on Flemish data (Belgium) of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2021. Participants were 5114 students from 141 schools and their parents. A parallel mediation analysis using structural equation modelling is tested to simultaneously assess relations between the variables under investigation. We demonstrated differential associations between specific aspects of HLE and fourth graders’ reading comprehension. Both an active reading climate (β = .178, p < .001) and the amount of books at home (β = .252, p < .001) were found to be positively associated with students’ reading comprehension. We found no contributions of parents’ reading enjoyment (β = -.006, p > .05), and their reading frequency (β = -.026, p > .05) on students’ reading comprehension. Regarding the investigation of mediating factors in the relation between aspects of HLE and students’ reading comprehension, we only found evidence for a mediating role of students’ reading frequency in the association between the amount of books at home and students’ reading comprehension abilities (β = .006, p < .01).

Our findings confirmed the importance of conceptualizing HLE as a broad, multi-componential construct as well as pointed out the inevitable role of parents in students’ reading comprehension development.

Conceptual framework and context.

School inspections are widespread accountability and educational quality improvement practices implemented worldwide. They involve external evaluation of schools based on standards and site visits, resulting in judgments. Comparative studies have been conducted in Anglo-Saxon and European countries (Ehren et al., 2015; Jones et al., 2017). In general terms, there are different effects found in school inspections: conceptual effect (a significant change in the comprehension about the school), symbolic effect (reinforcement of previous ideas) and instrumental effect (decisions based on inspection’s results) (Penninckx et al., 2016). However, evidence about their impact on school improvement is noticeably mixed. Moreover, educational settings in the global south face different systemic challenges and their school inspections are scarcely researched (Bravo, 2019; Díaz & Rodríguez, 2020).

Aim and research questions.

This study aimed to understand schools’ experiences with inspections in Chile. The issues explored in the research were ‘How do school leaders and teachers experience inspections?’ and ‘What kind of effects are produced by inspections?’.

Methodology.

A mixed-methods approach was developed to answer the research questions. A combination of interviews and non-participant observations were conducted three times during the inspections cycle and 8-12 weeks after. This approach allowed a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon and experiences of school actors (Cresswell & Poth, 2017). 21 schools (public and private subsidized) participated in the study Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed (Braun & Clarke, 2021).

Results, findings, learning.

School actors perceive school inspections in Chile as valuable. They experience some initial stress and anxiety; however, this emotional effect dissipates quickly during the inspection. Inspectors emphasize the formative dimension and orientation. Compared with findings in high-stakes systems, this study shows less resistance to feedback and more acceptance. Moreover, school actors value the external perspective and the opportunity to examine their practices and receive expert feedback. The inspections’ results are generally consistent with the diagnosis held by school leaders. The challenge is that the feedback provided little new information, and the chance to prompt new insights about the school is somewhat limited.

Consequently, the effect is short-term and adjustment to previously planned actions, and less substantial on the institutional capacities. Since feedback frequently reinforces schools’ analysis, these results suggest a noticeable symbolic effect (McCrone et al., 2007). Only in a few cases was observed a conceptual effect when feedback allowed schools to identify blind spots and recognize overlooked management aspects (Penninckx et al., 2016).

The use of information for decision-making and the articulation among educational public agencies are critical dimensions to transform lessons from the inspections into sustainable changes. The potential effect inspections can have on systemic improvement seems limited by insufficient local administrators' and ministerial advisors' involvement and minimal articulation with improvement policies.

Connection to the conference theme.

These findings offer a salient opportunity to understand diverse forms of evaluation and shed light on the role of inspections in professional learning and capacity building.This research is closely connected with the sub-theme "Leveraging research and data for inquiry, insight, innovation and professional learning".

Framing

In school improvement projects, where schools collaborate with university researchers, it is crucial to establish a solid foundation for the collaboration (Barnett et al., 2010; Frerichs et al., 2017; Solvason et al., 2018). Establishing trusting collaborations is seen as essential for integrating research and practice (Kirschenbaum & Reagan, 2001; OECD, 2022). In my project, the collaboration is beneficial for the school leader teams, as the researchers provides them with support in managing their school improvement projects. For us researchers, the collaboration provides access and insights into the school's development processes. In such collaborations, trust plays an important role in securing the quality of the data collected and the validity of the research findings (Cunliffe & Alcadipani, 2016). The establishment of a trusting and open collaboration is, however, a demanding process. It takes time and energy from both parties.

Research questions

Which aspects are of importance when establishing trusting collaborations in school-university partnerships?

Context

The study builds on experiences from a project in which eight school-university collaborations have been established. The aim of the collaborations is to enhance the sustainability of the school improvement projects led by school- and project leader teams as well as to gain insight into the factors important for sustainable school improvement. The interest in writing this paper is not directly connected to the aim of the collaborations. Instead, the interest stems from the experiences gained through the demanding process of establishing them.

Methods and data material

The study is inspired by action research methods, which involve intervening in the practice that we are simultaneously researching (McIntosh, 2010).

This empirical case study draws on interviews, communication data and meeting observations and analyses how trusting collaborations were built between the research team and the school leader teams within the first year of the project.

Findings

The study finds the following three crucial aspects of building trusting collaborations between school leader teams and university researchers: (1) alignment of expectations, (2) the level of demands from researchers to practitioners, and (3) the choice of communication connected to translating theory into practice.

Educational importance

The findings are applicable to the practice of academic researchers or consultants who are to work with school practitioners. Working with a focus on the three aspects contributes to building trusting collaborations in Research and Development projects. The study may be of interest to other conference participants involved in school-university partnerships, regardless the theme and aim of their study, as this study is primarily a methodological contribution.

Connection to the conference theme

The study is related to the parts of the conference theme concerned with engaged and purposeful dialogue between academic researchers and school communities.

Abstract:

The Malaysian education system is in a transition from face-to-face classroom learning to e- learning. E-learning is fast becoming a common method of acquiring knowledge in a local and global environment. Nevertheless, given the inherent complexity of schools, instability during this on-going Covid-19 pandemic and increasing demands on students’ thinking skills, there is a growing importance attached to embed the e-learning in schools. As the frontliners during the recent Covid-19 pandemic the aspiration to arm the students with the 21st-century learning skills thereupon the systems aspirations in the Malaysia Education Blueprint (MEB) could be materialised became more prominent. Global research suggests that current Covid-19 crisis would change the relationship between teachers and their students within the e-learning platform. Current research, however, are largely focused on the expansion of higher order thinking skills and to-date, studies on the relationship of teachers' instructional leadership practices, students’ thinking skills and their attitude to e-learning are scarce. Thus, this study investigates the levels of students’ thinking styles and their attitudes towards e-learning. In this survey study, the data of this non- experimental design’s study will be collected by using three on-line questionnaires. The instruments use in this research are: (1) Teachers' Instructional Measurement Rating Scale (TIMRS) adapted from PIMRS (2) The Yan Piaw Creative Critical Styles Test (also known as YCREATIVE-CRITICALS) for measuring students’ creative and tcritical thinking skills and the last instrument is (3) Students’ Attitude Towards E-learning (SeTeL) to ascertain students’ attitude towards e- learning. Data will be analysed quantitatively using structural equation Modelling (SEM). The findings of the study will serve as an indicator for teachers in secondary schools to determine if instructional leadership is the best leadership style in increasing students' thinking styles and attitude toward e-learning. The study's findings would be useful for related educational institutions and bodies in developing teachers' leadership by encouraging the development of a more structured leadership curriculum for school teachers in general and sharing the implementation with other secondary schools across the country.

Besides, the expected outcome of this is study, which is to capture the instructional leadership practices among teachers in particular, that would contribute to school improvements. In other words, the findings would contribute to upskilling educational leaders who, at their best, would shape a wholistic future thinkers and leaders. The significance of the study is the contribution to instructional leadership practices enacted by the secondary school teachers and its contribution to the implementation of Higher Order Thinking Skills and e-learning among students in educational organisation within the purview of the Ministry Of Education. Finally, the findings of the study can be used as a reference in enhancing Malaysian secondary students’ thinking styles and their attitude towards e-learning for school effectiveness and improvement.

Keywords: Teachers' Instructional Leadership,Thinking styles, Attitude towards e-Learning, School Effectiveness and Improvement, Covid-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic had a far-reaching effect on how children, young people, parents and teachers experience, and engage with, teaching, learning, schools and the education system. Many argue that the pandemic’s effects, which compounded the already present impacts of the 2008/09 financial crisis, climate change, the fourth industrial revolution and widespread polarisation, will be felt by young people well beyond the immediate crisis. Any exploration of the future of teaching, learning and education must factor in the interconnected challenges that these learning communities navigate if “the disconnect between decision making in complex systems and the lived experiences of people affected by those decisions” is to be closed (Scharmer 2018, p.140). Against this backdrop, this paper explores how a diversity of perspectives may be engaged through research-practice collaboration in reimagining the future of education.  

Nine out of ten young people in the world live in low- and middle-resource countries. This paper focuses on the experiences of young people, as well as the school communities they are part of, in the South African context, particularly in the Western Cape province and outlines aspects of an emergent, multi-level research-practice collaboration with four ordinary, fee-paying, public schools, two primary and two secondary schools, in the Metro East District of the Western Cape Education Department in the first half of the 2023 school year (January – June). 

The mode of delivery of the intervention at the core of the collaboration varied across the schools as the approach was adapted to fit each site’s contextual constraints and opportunities. However, a shared objective across the schools was to ensure that the intervention was offered to as many English-speaking Grade 7 or 9 students as possible and that the mode of delivery was organised to be as inclusive as possible.  

The intervention was developed as an embedded activity, with all schools opting to have it run during the school day, and as such the school leaders and staff were essential collaborators. The groups that participated in the intervention were guided through a series of exercises and activities that prompt individual, and collaborative reflection on their identity, how they see themselves as learners, their experiences of learning and the ways they make sense of, and engage with, learning spaces. 

Beyond merely recounting the narrative of a social researcher’s collaboration with two primary and two secondary schools this paper highlights key reflections about the potential of multi-level research-practice collaborations to foster enabling spaces for collaborative knowledge and value creation within schools, with a particular focus on the potential of collaboration with young people.

There has been an increase in the past few decades in the number of international migrants worldwide. Critical crises such as political instability, economic uncertainty, and safety contribute, as seen in recent events in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Haiti, and in the Americas. Migration politics remains contentious in the United States, especially with undocumented immigrants. There are over 10.5 million undocumented immigrants (Krogstad et al, 2019). This population has remained steady since 2008 with the majority from Mexico, however, there is an increasing number from Asian and Central American countries (Capps et al, 2020).

The politics of the US has shaped educational policies, practices, experiences, and post-secondary trajectories of undocumented students. These children have the right to attend a public school in the U.S. until twelfth grade, so schools have the responsibility to provide protected spaces for them (Gonzales, 2011). Fear of deportation, family separation and immigration raids on communities also impact schooling (Ee & Gándara, 2019). Research indicates that undocumented status of children and/or their parent is associated with higher levels of anxiety and depression during adolescence and fewer years of schooling (Yoshikawa et al, 2013), decreases in academic achievement, and bullying (Bellows, 2019; Nienhusser & Oshio, 2019). School leaders, administrators, and educators must understand immigration policies and its impact on students’ lives (Dabach, 2015), families and communities, and develop an awareness for advocacy (Mangual Figueroa, 2017).

Principals’ awareness of the impact legal status has on children and families may lead to decision making processes and practices that create cultures of belonging and care in schools (Jaffe-Walter et al, 2019) and assist with access to resources such as for university or legal counsel (Jefferies, 2014). Without administrative supports, students may feel worried and unsafe to discuss immigration status (Kam, et. al, 2018). Therefore, necessitated is collective leadership that consists of various personnel, including educators and parents, with relevant expertise for problem solving and collaboration (Leithwood & Mascall, 2008).

This study explored the lived and educational experiences of undocumented students at the intersection of public education and immigration policy. The research questions were: 1. How do undocumented students address challenges in educational contexts? 2. What are the contextual dynamics that contribute to the barriers experienced and how are these addressed? In this qualitative study, participants were recent high school graduates who are undocumented and/or lived in mixed status families. Information was garnered from these data sources: recorded semi-structured interviews, content analysis of related documents, and journal reflections. Thematic analysis yielded the following themes, 1. Relations of power and trust, 2. Mechanisms of equity and inclusion 3. Empowerment of educators and students. Each of these themes were discussed within the extant research and through the frameworks of collective leadership and culturally responsive and sustaining practices. It is important to understand how politics, policies and practices shape the experiences and postsecondary trajectories of undocumented students. This multifaceted analysis at the intersection of immigration policy and education praxis unearths inquiries to be addressed for educational research in relation to interrogation of systems and structures whereupon injustice functions.

Objectives

The work of principals across the globe has become increasingly challenging and complex, as they are expected to lead school improvement, manage a host of competing demands, and attend to the needs of diverse stakeholders. Using life history and narrative methods, this paper examines how women principals construct their life histories in relation to educational reform, highlighting their orientations toward leadership practice and development as influenced by multiple contexts and identities.

Perspective

Understanding the complexity of leaders’ professional lives of educators in the context of reform is enhanced by methodologies that capture the dynamics of educational change and center lived experiences and narratives. Life history methods provide a way to understand the co-construction of reform and offer insights on how leaders enact reform as individuals embedded in broader contexts (Clandinin & Connelly, 1998; Optlka, 2010; Scalan, 2012). This is especially important when studying the experiences of women principals, whose experience is shaped by gendered (and in some cases, racialized) identities (Lomotey, 2019; Santamaria et al., 2019). We build upon Smulyan’s (2000) theoretical framework, examining the interaction between agentic individuals, social-cultural systems, institutional contexts, and educational change in how women principals construct their leadership practice.

Methods

Using life history and narrative methods (Berger, 2008; Clandinin & Connelly, 1998; McAdams, 2008; Optlka, 2010; Scalan, 2012), this paper draws upon data from 16 semi-structured interviews with 8 women public school principals from the U.S., conducted during 2022-23. Adapting McAdam’s (2008) life history interview protocol, we focused on participants’ life histories in relation to educational reform and leadership experiences. Each interviewee participated in two 60-90 minutes semi-structured interviews. We used narrative analysis to understand principals’ significant professional moments, educational change memories, the role of identities, and perceptions of future work.

Results

Women principals’ leadership experiences were inextricably linked to institutional change that drove large reform movements as well as their community and school contexts. For example, shifts in curricular reform occurred simultaneously with shifts in broader contexts as evident in the new emphasis on social emotional learning and use of technology for teaching and learning due to the pandemic. The women principals negotiated multiple and sometimes conflicting demands within the educational system, as well as between their professional, personal, intersectional identities. They constructed their leadership practice by drawing on their most salient identities, which varied in emphasis along gender, race/ethnicity, class, and religious faith. Principals’ narratives carried strong themes of agency, with leadership orientations that highlighted their caring and collaborative and social justice orientations.

Significance

The findings have the potential to inform the field about how principals construct stories of their lives and work, and make decisions about school improvement through multiple periods of reform. The findings also have implications for supporting principal sustainability in the profession.

Connection to Conference Theme

The paper dovetails with the ICSEI sub-theme on leadership development (i.e., exploring the evolving research and evidence base for leadership education and capacity building) as well as the theme on ongoing system and school implications arising from the pandemic.

There is a growing consensus among scholars and practitioners that newly appointed headteachers can be considered a »vulnerable« group of headteachers due to their lack of experience and feeling of isolation (compare e.g. Catagay & Gumus 2021, Lokman et al 2017). Also, many of them have not yet become members of the (in)formal networks which could help them reduce stress and build leadership capacity. In addition, research on the effectiveness of diverse approaches on the professional and career development of headteachers shows that traditional (mass, frontal) forms can no longer meet the needs of the individual in a rapidly changing time and environment and that individual, group and team forms of headteacher support need to be strengthened (compare, for example, Earley 2020, Bainbridge et al 2019). Recently, coaching has been suggested by many scholars to be a viable form of support for novice headteachers as it (amongst other things) strengthens mental resilience and improve their well-being (see van Nieuwerburgh et al 2020, Lofthouse & Whiteside 2019, Forde et al 2012). The contribution focuses on the inquiry of coaching for newly-appointed headteachers, which was first implemented by the Slovenian National School for Leadership in Education (NSLE) at the National Education Institute during the covid-19 epidemic and has so far involved more than 50 headteachers. The coaching »packages« in a form of 5 or 7 one-hour coaching sessions in a row once or every second week are regularly (each year) undertaken by two trained and licenced coaches employed at the Slovenian NSLE. The paper outlines the implementation of coaching and presents the effects and impacts on leadership that we have monitored and evaluated over the years. The coaching experience was researched using a questionnaire for the coachees and an evaluative discussion (focus group) with the coaches. The article focuses on the presentation of the execution of the coaching process, the emerging themes/challenges of the coachees, perceived benefits, valuable aspects and impact of the coaching experience, beliefs regarding the most beneficial attributes of a coach and potential solutions related to future regular headteachers' coaching support at the Slovenian NSLE. The research found that the themes/challenges discussed by the headteachers with the coachees can be organized in 6 main areas, i.e. human resource management, organisation of work, pedagogical leadership, well-being, cooperation with various stakeholders and general management. The perceived benefits were identified and grouped into effects related to headteachers' well-being and personal growth (e.g. building resilience, figthting workload, more energy, personal satisfaction, sense of control, gained self-confidence) and enhanced leadership practice and skills (e.g. better decision making, clarity in direction, better delegation of tasks, new ideas, bigger picute, development of listening skills). Based on the research data, it can be argued that this form of support is highly useful to headteachers, improves the quality of leadership, and also has a significant impact on the resilience of headteachers. In the future, it would be beneficial to consider this kind of support to be offered to experienced headteachers as well.

The role of district leaders across contexts is to provide multi-dimensional support for teaching and learning. One of the dimensions through which the support is transmitted is the circuit managers, whose role as principal supervisors is to work collaboratively with principals and educators in schools to give management and professional support and help schools achieve excellence in learning and teaching, among other things. These district leaders are recently realised as “anchors and drivers of district-wide transformation” (Honig & Rainey, 2019, p. 17).

Recent studies have highlighted the significance of circuit managers in school improvement (Bantwini & Moorosi, 2018; Mthembu, 2018). Moreover, although good evidence exists on the value of instructional leadership at the school level (for example, see Leithwood & Seashore-Louis, 2012), there needs to be more coherent evidence on instructional leaders at the circuit managers and advances in their practice. This is despite recent evidence confirming that these professionals are essential for effective system leadership and reform and play a key role in taking effective education interventions to scale (see, for example, Honig & Rainey, 2019). While this is the case, South African studies suggest they are the weakest link (Bantwini & Moorosi, 2018).

The paper reports findings from an ongoing project that examines district leadership’s capacity to support principals in effectively leading teaching and learning. The paper focuses on the circuit management sub-directorate in a thriving rural district in KwaZulu-Natal to understand the influence of this sub-directorate on learner performance in schools.

We (authors) positioned ourselves within the interpretivism paradigm to engage with the first-hand experiences of circuit managers. In keeping with this paradigmatic positioning, the narrative inquiry, a research methodology that allows researchers to engage narratively with people’s lived experiences, was adopted to engage circuit managers in this study. Also, narrative ways of generating and analysing data were used.

The study revealed that circuit management has a strong influence on improving performance in schools. Four significant practices through which the participating circuit managers influence learner practices. Firstly, they direct intervention initiatives to all grades while not losing sight of grade 12. Secondly, they have direct involvement in monitoring learners’ work. Thirdly, they expose principals to learning opportunities. Lastly, they recognise and reward good performance. Considering these findings, we conclude that the participating circuit managers adopted an approach of working through and with principals to influence learner performance in schools.

This session considers views in relation to entry requirements for individuals with ambitions to become teachers before they enter professional education for the achievement of a teaching qualification.

The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTC Scotland) is the teaching profession’s independent registration and regulation body in Scotland. The work of GTC Scotland is set out in legislation, with article 29 of The Public Services Reform (General Teaching Council for Scotland) Order 2011 detailing GTC Scotland’s responsibilities in relation to programmes of teacher education. GTC Scotland is required by the Order to determine provisions about the admission of individuals to courses resulting in a recognised teaching qualification for teachers of school education.

The Memorandum on Entry Requirements to Programmes of Initial Teacher Education (2019) outlines the minimum standards of qualification required by candidates wishing to apply to programmes of ITE in Scotland. The current Memorandum relates to teacher education programmes starting in academic year 2020 and beyond, until such time as a new memorandum is published. The content of the memorandum is periodically reviewed, and this is achieved through strong partnership working between GTC Scotland, partners in ITE, and other stakeholders who have an interest in the qualifications required for the admission of individuals to programmes of ITE. This review operates on a five-year cycle with the intent of aligning with the review of professional standards for teachers.

A current review of the Memorandum is underway involving targeted engagement with stakeholders and there is a growing expectation for change set within a broader context of national education reform (Scottish Government, 2023). Expectations from partners vary about what constitutes effective means for determining candidate suitability for entering a programme of education leading to the achievement of a professional standard and award of a teaching qualification.

These various views will be summarised along with the process of the review of arrangements with the aim of generating participant considerations of what it means to enter the teaching profession and the implications for high quality initial teacher education and teaching standards.

During the practicum element of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Ireland, pre-service teachers work alongside one or more co-operating teachers. According to the Teaching Council of Ireland, the role of the cooperating teacher (CT) encompasses many different elements supporting the pre-service teacher (PST) to plan for teaching and learning appropriate to the pupils’ needs. In practice, the role of the cooperating teacher remains ambiguous with little practical support to guide the teacher enact the true potential of the relationship. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to explore the potential of a collaborative inquiry approach to the development of pedagogical content knowledge, specifically in the post-primary Mathematics classroom. The study is guided by the following research questions:

1. How can a collaborative inquiry model support the development of pedagogical content knowledge for a PST in the Mathematics classroom?

2. How can a collaborative inquiry model support the enhancement of pedagogical content knowledge for a CT in the Mathematics classroom?

3. How can a structured, collaborative inquiry support model promote a dialogic reciprocal relationship between both PST and CT?

The overarching concept underpinning this research is the idea of collaborative professionalism. Collaborative professionalism is, essentially, when two or more teachers work together to improve teaching and learning. Hargreaves and O’Connor clearly differentiate between professional collaboration and collaborative professionalism by stating that the latter is “organized in an evidence-informed, but not data-driven, way through rigorous planning, deep and sometimes demanding dialogue, candid but constructive feedback and continuous collaborative inquiry.” (2018, p. 4) The contention in this paper is that both PST and CT have an opportunity to learn in partnership, in a model of collaborative or co-inquiry. A key element of this research, therefore, is a co-constructed intervention to scaffold and support dialogic professional conversations.

Educational Design research or design-based research is the chosen methodology in this research study which is situated in a Higher Education Institution in Ireland, during the practicum element of an Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme. The population under consideration is a cohort of students studying for the Professional Master of Education (PME), with subject methodology in Mathematics, alongside the Co-operating Teacher assigned to them in their placement school. A multi-methods approach will be used in this study, where the quantitative data collected first, will explore that ‘what’ in terms of participants experience and practice. The qualitative data will then examine ‘how’ those practices play out in the specific classroom contexts.

The benefits of this research are that it will add to the insights on the PST-CT collaborative relationship. It is hoped that a dialogic model for future use will emerge from this research which would support reciprocity further in the PST-CT professional relationship, as well as enhance the partnership model between universities and the sites of practice for the practicum element.

Building collaborative relationships between PSTs and their CTs, as well as strengthening partnerships between schools and HEIs, is clearly linked to the conference theme of “Quality Professional Education for Enhanced School Effectiveness and Improvement.”.

Harris and Jones made an urgent plea for research into Welsh all-age school leadership, stating that "targeted development, support, and training are currently missing for those who lead All-Through schools or aspire to this school leadership role" (2022, p. 233). This doctoral research examines the claims made about the leadership benefits of the all-age school model through the question “What are practitioners' perspectives on the leadership approaches, attributes and competencies required to lead an all-age school in Wales?”.

All-age schools in Wales cater to pupils aged three to 16 or three to 18 (Lloyd, 2023). The research has been conducted in Welsh all-age schools between 2022 and 2023. There are 1,470 maintained schools in Wales including 1,217 Primary schools, 182 Secondary schools, and 26 all-age schools (StatsWales, 2022). The research participants were 10 all-age school headteachers and the Senior Leadership Teams (SLT) from five all-age schools.

The Welsh government is commited to improving pupil outcomes in Wales (Welsh government, 2020) following years of poor pupil outcomes (OECD, 2020). System changes include a new curriculum, new teaching and leadership standards, research based ITE provision, and a national professional learning strategy. Semi-structured interviews with participants captured their perceptions (Munhall, 2008) of the leadership approaches, attributes, and competencies required to lead an all-age school. This included their professional learning journey and its contribution to their leadership practice.

Adopting an interpretative ontological lens with a social constructionist epistemological perspective, this research employs a case study methodology with five individual schools as cases (Stake, 1995; Yin, 2018; Thomas, 2021). Qualitative data was collected using an online questionnaire, 10 semi-structured interviews with headteachers, and five focus group interviews with SLT members. Thematic analysis was applied to the research data to identify known and emerging themes from the interviews and questionnaires.

Leading an all-age school involves navigating complex relationships with national and local governments, communities, staff, pupils, and parents. The successful establishment of new all-age schools can be hindered by community resistance (Reynolds et al., 2018). Additionally, expectations of improved cross-phase teaching may sometimes be exaggerated (Estyn, 2022). The implementation of the new curriculum necessitates collaboration between generalist primary phase teachers and subject specialist secondary phase teachers. Furthermore, the language used by school staff and the physical layout of the school significantly influences how leaders integrate the primary and secondary phases. Leadership professional learning support for all-age school leaders is currently inconsistent, as existing structures are primarily designed for either primary or secondary school leaders.

The introduction of the New Curriculum for Wales offers policymakers an opportunity to re-evaluate traditional schooling models. The research provides insights into effective strategies for establishing all-age schools, fostering a shared understanding of leadership experiences, and supporting professional learning strategies to maximise the benefits and minimise the disadvantages of all-age schooling. The initial findings of this research align with the conference themes of leadership and professional learning, seeking to enhance professional learning opportunities for current and aspiring all-age school leaders, as well as improving pupil outcomes.

This contributon to a roundtable session will focus on an PhD-project about Student Voice and Student Participation. The project is in it’s early start and it would be useful to share thoughts and reflections that could have impact on design, outcome and impact of the project. The doctoral study will examine the interrelationship between leaders’ practice and students’ voices to promote student agency in the context of democratic citizenship education. The roundtable session is linked to the ICSEI congress sub-theme Leading schools and education systems that promote equity, inclusion, belonging, diversity, social justice, global citizenship and/ or environmental sustainability, and it is connected to the ICSEI network Educational Leadership Network.

Background, purpose and policy focus:

The extant literature evidence that student voice and participation is a key factor for students’ motivation and belonging (well-being) at school. Successful engagement for meaningful exercise of student voice requires recognition of school leaders as cultural architects who create the culture needed for students to be involved in their own learning processes.

Main Questions:

• What are the key factors that enable student voice and participation in schools from the student’s perspective?

• How can school-leaders as cultural architects enhance student voice and participation to foster a belonging school-culture?

This project aims to find out:

• Why student voice is important (purpose)

• To map what is currently known about the facilitators and barriers to student voice (systematic review)

• To illuminate the key factors that enable student voice as seen from the students’ perspective (student voice)

• To examine how school-leaders respond, and how they perceive that they can facilitate the enhancement of student voice based on the knowledge from students' perspective? (leader voice)

Context, Scientific Content and Theoretical Framework

This project will make an important contribution to school development nationally and internationally. Several factors provide context for this work; the Norwegian new curriculum, the Future of Education and Skills OECD and UNs Sustainable Development Goal Quality Education.

The envisaged impact of this study entails:

Theoretical contribution: International perspectives on student voice and participation in democratic practice

Methodological contribution: Use of mixed methods

Policy contribution: Creation of policy to support leadership development that fosters student voice and democratic participation

Practice contribution: Education of future leaders in democratic practice and student voice

The project will examine student voice and participation through three conceptual lenses, of Trust, Psychological Safety and Belonging that impact the student and the leader. The fourth dimension focuses on the Leader as Cultural Architect and looks specifically at how leaders create, foster and influence school culture.

Research design

This PhD project will employ mixed methods; a systemic review, semi-structured interviews of students from Ireland and Norway and a quantitative survey with school leaders in both countries.

Questions for the roundtable session

• How do you think this PhD-project can be of interest globally?

• What is missing, what would you add or confirm that is of interest for the congress sub theme?

A two-year, government-grant funded pilot project has been launched providing robust professional social and emotional learning (SEL) and support for teachers and students equipping them with the knowledge and tools needed to regulate emotions, support executive functioning needs and manage stress, as an on-going response to COVID-19. As part of our multi-stakeholder approach to SEL, we are supporting parents by designing and sharing resources with the goal of enveloping students with wrap-around support from home in addition to school. It is our aim to use this data from the two year project to support similar projects in all schools and communities, helping all students to be socially and emotionally healthy and ready to learn. Our project adheres to six key conditions in supporting mental health in schools which are to enhance academic achievement and school attendance, to increase academic confidence and engagement in learning and in community life, to reduce high-risk behaviors of children and youth, to increase community involvement and citizenship, to enhance respect and appreciation for diversity and individual differences, and to create a welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environment. A Wellness Task Force has been created comprised of teachers, instructional design leads, school mental health leads, researcher leads and assistants and a Wellness Specialist. This Task Force facilitates enhanced social emotional programming, using the CASEL approved MindUp program for grades K-8. In addition, this task force facilitates the development of free, online micromodules on social-emotional wellness for teachers, parents and members of the community. Several teachers and support staff are trained and certified in MindUp, who then facilitate and support all teachers with the program implementation in classrooms, increasing teacher, school and system capacity. Effective implementation is optimized by providing assessment and feedback in an iterative process, pre-, during and post- program implementation on an ongoing basis. The Wellness Task Force serves as the mentoring and coaching unit who helps to build professional learning networks in the school and ensuring SEL is infused into daily practice. These networks, along with our university partnerships allow for “knowledge mobilization, collaborative school improvement planning and evidence informed policy that respects and promotes teacher professionalism (ICSEI, 2024)”. Mind up is an evidence-based program that has been shown to increase pro-social actions, decrease aggressive behaviors and improve academic achievement, especially in math and language arts. In addition to positive effects for students, educators have benefitted from these trauma-informed training practices and the implementation of these programs in classrooms. This is evidenced by lower levels of burnout, greater improvements in sense of personal accomplishment, self-efficacy and self-care and a reduction has been shown in emotional exhaustion compared to educators who were not trained or did not teach these wellness programs in their classroom.

Research indicates that leadership development programs often have disappointing results in terms of the application of ideas, leading to changes in practice and subsequent impact. Indeed, in their meta-analysis, Lacarenza and colleagues (2017) reported that only a small minority of organisations believed that their leadership development programs are effective. In this session, we will explore a leadership development program that has obtained highly promising results in the two years of its implementation with over 100 participants from a wide range of leaders from various primary, secondary, co-ed and single-sex schools, located within the Melbourne Archdiocese (MACS).

The ‘Igniting Leadership Potential Program‘, based on Five Ways of Being (Danvers, De Blasio, Grift, 2020), has been demonstrated to have a significant impact on not only the knowledge but the practices of participating leaders. And ironically, perhaps, through its primary focus on ‘being’, it has bridged the knowing/doing gap, perhaps supplying a hitherto missing link in leadership development programs.

The purpose of this session is to provide participants with increased knowledge and understanding of the specific design and delivery features that have led to the success of this agile and research-informed leadership development program. These features include, but are not limited to:

- The extended nature of the program (over 5 months), spaced training sessions, regular check-ins between participants and facilitators, needs analysis, regular and ongoing feedback, attendance policy, deliverables expected of participants, regular small group coaching sessions;

- Evaluation (ongoing and iterative), immediate feedback and agile capacity to respond and adapt in the moment and from one session to the next;

- Inbuilt and ongoing accountability and commitment measures and requirements;

- Co-constructed design-– delivering a bespoke leadership program

- Going beyond competency checklists to focus on who we need to ‘be’ and ‘become’ and the consistent and intentional embodiment of our leadership identity/ies;

- Focusing on the compelling why: connecting participants to meaningful work and contribution.

This paper shines a light on the issues related to leadership development programs, in particular, the implementation gap: the gap between 'knowing' (what I know and have learned) and doing (how I am applying that learning in my leadership practice) and impact (how I know that my leadership is having an impact). In so doing, it offers a model that can potentially be applied to improve the impact of existing and or new leadership development programs: a model that with its celebration of being human also offers hope to extinguish the flames of disillusionment and despondency that can afflict and engulf leaders in our challenging times.

Program lead and co-author, Heather De Blasio, will engage participants in a direct experience of some of the strategies and protocols of the Five Ways of Being Igniting Leadership Potential program, as well as exploration of the evaluative data.

Objectives

Extend and expand upon our ICSEI 2023 session by:

1.Discussing key elements of an innovative inquiry approach to nurturing the thinking and practice of school leaders.

2. Sharing themes from our data to describe:

a) the competencies that school leaders self-identify as important to developing their inquiry-based thinking,

b) the contexts and processes which invited, supported the development of those competencies.

3. Sharing research findings and stories from participating leaders related to the key features and approaches taken within facilitated inquiry groups that led to significant impact on their leadership thinking and practice.

Educational Importance

Leithwood (2020) has affirmed that strong leadership had the strongest effect on positive outcomes for administrators participating in network learning. Seven Oaks School Division in Manitoba, Canada and Superior Greenstone District School Board in northern Ontario, Canada have adopted a powerful approach to supporting school leaders that nurtures an inquiry habit of mind as they explore their challenges and learn the power of interrogating their own practice.

Louis and Robinson (2012) affirm that professional learning opportunities need to develop in principals the capabilities required to engage in effective instructional leadership. These include the capacity to challenge, support, reflect on, and change their professional practice (Robertson, 2010). Robertson (2010) calls for deep leadership learning that will “facilitate the self-awareness to create the disposition to change one’s practice” (p. 223).

In both districts, various opportunities were created for authentic inquiry including Leadership Inquiry Groups, Critical Friends sessions and 1:1 coaching. Each provided sustained opportunities for school leaders to think collaboratively with colleagues about their leadership moves. Small groups allowed for building a climate conducive to critical inquiry, responsive coaching and meaningfully connecting with colleagues.

Our initial data is revealing that participants strongly value the structures and opportunities for facilitated critical inquiry into their practice. As facilitators of professional learning of school leaders, we seek to identify the key features and approaches taken within learning opportunities that led to significant impact on their leadership thinking and practice.

Format and Approach

In this interactive Innovate session, we will share our key learnings with respect to processes and contexts that administrators report has had a significant positive impact on their leadership development and practice. We will engage session participants by inviting their own personal reflection and facilitate a discussion on how the critical inquiry approach supports school leaders.

Connection to the Conference Theme

We connect to the subthemes:

“Exploring the evolving research and evidence base for leadership education and capacity building” and “Policy and practice learning to support teacher and school leader development”.

Objectives or purposes of the session

The field of professional learning networks (PLNs) is heavily populated by theory and research. While this evidence-base is critical, this session seeks to complement the research with lived experience. Reflecting on their collective experience from over 80 collective years of leading networks in Africa, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, the 5 presenters will share their stories of challenges and opportunities in leading large-scale PLNs. During this session the presenters will explore the following issues:

• Practical experience with the nuances of leading networks

• How to navigate and actively create conditions to support a “living” network for effective change

• Similarities and differences among a wide geographical range of PLNs across Australia, Africa, USA, UK and Canada; and

• Inherent tensions to manage at different stages of PLN development, growth, and change

Educational importance for theory, policy, research, and/or practice

There is an acceleration of what is being published on PLN theory, research methods, design principles and elements, and effectiveness, but far less about what is happening on the ground for network leaders. This session addresses this gap by focusing on the experience of 5 women educational network leaders from different countries and continents as they navigate and respond to a variety of policy and practice challenges.

The format and approach(es) that will be used in the session to engage participants in the exploration of the area of practice

This presentation will be highly interactive, dynamic and responsive with a focus on collective sensemaking by the presenters and the audience. The audience will be invited to be a part of the collective storytelling experience by adding words to the “Pandora’s Box” and responding to the reflections by the presenters.

The session will engage the participants through four stages.

1. The Pandora’s Box. Presenters and audience will sit in a circle with a ‘Pandora’s Box’ in the centre. Audience members will be provided with blank cards and invited to write words that come to mind when they think of network leadership. The presenters will have already provided a collection of words (e.g. disruptive, opportunistic, fortuitous, engagement, juggling, abstractness, humour).

2. Individual wisdom – One by one, the presenters will pull a word from the ‘Pandora’s Box’ at random and use the word drawn as a stimulus to share their experience of leading networks in their context. Each word chosen will then be placed in the middle of the circle.

3. Collective sense-making – As the words in the middle of the circle increase, the presenters and audience will be invited to categorize the words chosen and include reflections and/or responses to create a collective and living story of network leadership.

4. Collective wisdom – the presenters will lead the audience in drawing out insights and key take-aways to support ongoing conversations.

This study examines the impact on cultivating professional capital and culture of teachers and schools raised by the initiatives of Professional Graduate Projects (PGP) of University of Fukui, Japan. The design of Fukui PGP stands out as it adopts the idea that teachers are reflective practitioners whose learning comes by doing (e.g., Dewey, 1910; Schön, 1983). This initiative adapts the continuous reflective mode of Lesson Study (Kimura & Kishino, 2019) at its core structure to allow for collaborative inquiry-based action research with teachers and schools.

Our graduate students who are pre-service and in-service teachers engage into reflective practicum and conduct action research at partner schools. Especially, in-service teachers’ practicum and research are conducted at their working places (schools). Finally, they write the Longitudinal Reflective Practice Record to keep track of their practices, which can serve as an evidentiary basis for identifying the quality of learning at each phase and how the level of learning has evolved throughout the Lesson Study. Based on this context, the study aims to address the following research question: how did the Fukui PGP influence teachers at different career stages and support their professional capital development, advance Lesson Study practice at their workplaces, and involvement in professional learning communities and culture?

This study uses qualitative data collected from the Longitudinal Reflective Practice Records written by three graduate students enrolled as: new entrance teachers, in-service teachers, and school leaders to evaluate the Fukui PGP’s impact on teachers and schools. To clarify research questions, this study uses the concept of professional capital (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012) as the analytical framework. Professional capital broadens the idea of teacher expertise from the individual to the organizational level and the idea of teaching skills and knowledge to a whole range of qualitative abilities, including social relationships. These aspects will clarify the impact on cultivating professional capital and culture raised by Fukui PGP. As case study, three records were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis approach that focuse on interpreting and understanding the subjects’ agency attainment and professional development through episode narratives. To be more specific, episodes relating to critical moments such as “turning point”, “change”, and “development” were extracted from their practice reports and displayed in timelines to compare and interpret the characteristics of their respective professional developmental journeys based on the concept of professional capital.

As results, the collaborative inquiry School-University partnerships in Fukui PGP, including the systematic curriculum and activities designed for facilitating teachers’ collaborative inquiries as social capital at schools and universities, turns out to be critical in attributing to teachers’ agentic enactments as human and decisional capital leading to school reforms through data analysis. The analyzed Longitudinal Reflective Practice Records featured three common dimensions aligned to narratives and episodes found in the reflective writings. Expressions to identify pivotal moments in their learning included; “experience of change”, “motivation for professional growth”, and “concrete sense of development”.

These findings show that high quality teaching and learning of teachers can be supported by collaborative inquiry school-university partnerships.

Despite nearly two decades of study, there remains a lack of empirical investigations of KMb efforts (Powell et al., 2018), which is especially pronounced for approaches that rely on sustained interactions among research producers, intermediaries, and research users (Beckett et al., 2018; Oliver et al., 2019). A key factor contributing to this knowledge gap is the paucity of evaluation tools with strong psychometric and pragmatic properties that could enable comparisons across contexts, support informed decision making for increasing the effectiveness and sustainability of interactions, and provide evidence for the outcomes and impacts of mobilizing knowledge among diverse research actors (Davies et al., 2015; Durose et al., 2018; Hoekstra et al., 2020). This purpose of this paper is to build out the argument that research impact assessment in education could make rapid strides with modest changes to current practice.

The methods in this paper build upon an earlier review of impact assessment tools designed for collaborative research approaches (Author, 2021). Due to the volume of primary studies focused on collaborative research, particularly over the last 10 years, the review was structured as an overview. Analogous to systematic and scoping reviews of individual studies, overviews provide a way of “bringing together reviews in a transparent and systematic way and aiding informed decision making by gathering, appraising and systematically analysing this evidence” (Hunt et al., 2018, p. 2). In total, after screening an initial set of 1,223 abstracts followed by 141 full-text articles, eight reviews were analyzed (Boivin et al., 2018; Buchanan et al., 2016; Granner & Sharpe, 2004; Hamzeh et al., 2019; Lawlor et al., 2019; Lewis et al., 2015; Sandoval et al., 2012; Squires et al., 2011). I extend the overview’s analysis of these eight articles by focusing on tools that meet the following criteria: (a) developed or applied within the past five years, (b) intended for use in K-12 education settings with multiple audiences (e.g., researchers, practitioners, policymakers), and (c) strong psychometric and pragmatic properties.

While the analysis phase of this work is still underway, five instruments will be examined and compared, followed by a discussion of enduring challenges for assessing impact. Those five tools are the following: (1) Brown et al.’s (2022) Research-Use Benefits, Costs, and Signification Survey; (2) Brennan et al.’s (2017) Seeking, Engaging with and Evaluating Research; (3) Neal et al.’s (2020) Archival Search of Use of Research Evidence; (4) Penuel et al.’s (2016) Survey of Practitioners’ Use of Research; (5) Farley-Ripple’s (2017) Survey of Evidence in Education for Schools.

Current quantitative approaches to measuring the impacts of research collaborations in education are failing to do so in ways that are meaningful, consistent, rigorous, reproducible, and equitable. This paper makes a first step in addressing this issue by exploring promising impact assessment tools from fields of study with conceptual similarities to research collaboration.

This paper proposal presents results from a study on experienced Swiss teachers’ workplace learning triggered by continuous professional development. It addresses the question of how teacher workplace learning takes place in the specific contexts.

Workplace learning of teachers is seen as embedded in daily classroom activities: Both, formal and informal workplace learning are considered (Hallinger & Kulophas, 2020). Research on workplace learn-ing has expanded considerably in the last years and can nowadays be considered a broad and interdis-ciplinary sub-discipline. A central aspect of the scholarly debate is the question of sustaining teachers' professional competences, with much attention being paid to the link between formal and informal learn-ing (Geeraerts et al., 2018).

The context of the study refers to a professional development procedure called STEEV (simultaneously teaching and evaluation that is effective and visible; in German: LUUISE) (Beywl et al., 2023). STEEV draws on research on teaching (e.g., Helmke & Weinert, 2021) and further education (e.g., Lipowsky & Rzejak, 2021). In addition, it fosters "evaluative thinking" (Dunn & Hattie, 2021, Hattie, 2023: teachers plan ahead, thinking about how they can assess and also promote the success of their teaching by means of collecting relevant data in a way that is integrated into existing classroom practices. The change of perspective, "seeing through the eyes of the learners" (Hattie, 2009), is crucial. This process strengthens the expertise of teachers by supporting them to address pedagogical challenges effectively and to achieve high teaching goals. Specific features of the program are a high practical orientation with close support of the participants by coaches during the planning of a data-based teaching intervention, the implementation in the classroom, which usually lasts several weeks, and the collegial reflection.

Methodologically, a grounded theory research approach was adopted corresponding to the pragmatistic line of Strauss & Corbin (1990). Through narrative and focused interviews STEEV-experienced teachers are asked about their experiences. Applying theoretical sampling and theoretical sensitivity, the inter-view data was analysed to develop concepts and then elaborated into categories. Finally, a learning model was developed. It suggests the importance of the connection between learning-oriented action and reflection by the teacher. This is similar to the experiential learning cycle of professional develop-ment (Kolb, 1984). The results of the study indicate on the one hand the effect of work-based learning and on the other hand effects on effective teaching.

Findings from this study can inform research and practical interventions in various contexts as the un-derlying theoretical assumptions are based on international evidence (e.g., Hattie 2023). It makes teacher workplace learning tangible (in the specific context) and points to the benefit of teacher (con-tinuing) education process involved for quality professional education as well as school effectiveness and improvement. Moreover, attempts can be identified how teacher workplace learning can be support-ed externally. Furthermore, it contributes to the expansion of scientific work in still young academic field of teacher workplace learning.

Contemporary education is moving towards a stronger connection with research, driven by policy and the recognition of the positive influence of research-informed educational practice (RIEP) on teachers' professional development. However, the practical integration of research into everyday school life is still in progress across many contexts. This paper examines the participation of teachers and school leaders in RIEPs that support inclusive education.

We take RIEP to refer to the utilisation of academic research by teachers and school leaders to inform their teaching methodologies, decision-making processes, leadership approaches, and ongoing professional development (Brown, et al, 2022).

We issued a survey to a total of 534 teachers and school leaders from Catalonia (N=343), Poland (N=112), and England (N=79). We have adopted Baudrillard's (1968) theoretical framework as a deductive lens. Firstly, we examined the benefits that the teachers and school leaders perceived as associated with using research in their professional practice, particularly in terms of: improvements in teaching, pedagogical understanding, and inspiration for using innovative approaches. Secondly, we explored the costs that the teachers and school leaders perceived as linked to using academic research in their professional practice, including: limited financial and logistical resources and teachers’ lack of preparedness in using research. Lastly, we examined the teachers’ and school leaders’ own sense of aspiration to use academic research in their professional practice, involving factors such as a perceived prestige or sense of professional identity associated with using research.

The findings of the study indicate that in terms of the benefits of using RIEPs, the items that received higher scores are associated with: the practical utility of research in guiding the development of new practices (M=4.09 – up to 5), enhancing the learning experience of students (M=4.14), and providing teachers with new and innovative ideas (M=4.9). Additionally, respondents expressed that there was a greater likelihood of them utilising research when it aligns with the objectives of the school and the specific needs of their students.

Regarding the costs associated with research use, respondents acknowledged the challenges they face in effectively translating research findings into practitioner-friendly language (M=3.90) and integrating those findings with their practical knowledge as educators (M=3.92).

Furthermore, respondents perceived research evidence to be significant primarily when its utilization aligns with the expectations of school leaders and the improvement priorities of the school itself. They viewed RIEPs as a ‘hallmark of an effective profession’ (M=3.76), contributing to the enhancement of their ‘school’s reputation and attractiveness as a place for both professional growth and learning’ (M=3.88).

The study findings highlight both the positive and critical attitudes the teachers have towards employing RIEPs in their professional practice. On the one hand, they recognized research and the potential positive impact research can have on teaching practices and school development. On the other hand, they articulated the challenges and considerations that teachers face if incorporating research into their professional activity. This study draws recommendations from the respondents’ contributions, offering them up for adaptation and practical application in the ongoing bid to nurture more inclusive education systems.

International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) receive considerable attention from the media and policymakers globally. Critiques of these studies and their influence on policy have been widely discussed (e.g. Gorur, 2016), though some see potential synergies between ILSAs and other methodological orientations to the study and pursuit of educational effectiveness and improvement (e.g. Kyriakides, Charalambous & Charalambous, 2021). This paper takes a critical perspective and draws on findings from a specific example of a recent ILSA to illustrate two not-uncommon issues arising: Troubling/puzzling findings related to teacher professionalism and professional learning, and how to constructively engage with those findings and avoid their misuse.

The Progress in International Literacy Study (PIRLS), conducted in 5-year cycles since 2001 (Mullis et al., 2023), is an ILSA that compares overall reading achievement at approximately age 10 across about 60 participating education systems and across study cycles. Results from the 2021 cycle of PIRLS, specifically those relevant to teacher characteristics (qualifications, years of experience, job satisfaction) and their relationship to pupils’ reading achievement, are used to problematise:

1) What explains some possibly counter-intuitive or discouraging findings concerning teacher characteristics; and

2) How multiple stakeholders (academic researchers, government funders, policymakers, politicians, school leaders and teachers) can play a role both in making meaningful use of these research findings and avoiding (or even actively combatting) their misuse.

While PIRLS 2021 took place across 57 participating education systems, the context for this paper is predominantly national, given the author’s research role in PIRLS 2021 in England. Data come from a nationally-representative sample of 178 teachers and 4150 pupils in 162 schools. Reading achievement is based on pupil assessments, while teacher characteristics are based on self-report questionnaires.

Initial findings in England (Author et al., 2023) showed no clear relationships between reading achievement and teacher qualifications, years of experience, emphases in formal teacher education (on language, pedagogy, and/or reading theory), participation in reading-related professional development, nor job satisfaction. This seems counter-intuitive, and conflicts with some previous research (e.g. Kini & Podolsky, 2016). Several possible causes for these null relationships include problems of measurement (categories that do not work well in context) and analysis (where alternative statistical approaches might provide different results) as well as genuine underlying issues in the education system. The final paper will discuss insights from an exploration of each of these alternatives, including activities currently in progress to engage directly with headteachers, teachers and policymakers to discuss study results, questions raised and practical implications.

The educational importance of this work lies in its contribution to lessons learned both about problems of ILSAs in relation to teacher professionalism and professional learning and the possibilities afforded by open dialogue about ILSA findings across professional boundaries. Connection to the conference theme and sub-theme of “Leveraging research and data for inquiry, insight, innovation and professional learning” is tightly bound to the active and open engagement with different stakeholders around PIRLS 2021 findings in England in an effort to make meaningful and responsible sense and use of results in policy and practice.

The purpose of this research is to shed light on collaboration and support given by the municipal education authority to schools regarding school improvement in upper secondary schools in Norway, and school owners' follow-up of the schools cf. their overall responsibility for quality work (Education Act § 13-3e). The study will provide an example of how a change in thinking can contribute to better cooperation between local school authorities and upper secondary schools. This presentation fits in with the theme of the conference: continuing professional development for school leaders. Several studies have shown the importance of support between the different levels in the education systems, such as at district and municipal level (Anderson and Young, 2018; Hargreaves and Shirley, 2020; Louis et al., 2010; Moos, Nihlfors et al., 2016), and how support from management at district level is important for schools' improvement efforts (George & Kincaid, 2008; Wilkinson et al., 2019). In the Norwegian context, through the national quality system, the local educational office has a great responsibility for quality in education (Ministry of Education, 2017). Datnow, 2012, points out that the relationships between the actors at the various levels are of decisive importance for cross-level cooperation in the education system. The research project started in 2019. Point of departure was that the leaders and advisors at municipal education office wanted to develop themselves as learning leaders. During the years 2019 to 2023, in collaboration with researchers, and based on a knowledge base of "learning leadership" and "genuine inquiry" (Argyris & Schon,1978; Emstad & Birkeland, 2021; Robinson, 2011,2020), they practiced having a “learning approach” in their in meetings with the schools. This means that they have placed emphasis on being a professional learning community (PLC), and developing their own communication. By recording conversations and meetings, analyzing and disclosing their own theories of action, they aimed to become genuine listener and being respectful towards the school's and their knowledge, but at the same time having respect for their own knowledge and their responsibility as school authorities. All the way researchers observed meetings, gave feedback and new input. The study can be described as intervention research, with continuous feedback loops where data is used both for the participants and the researchers to adjust their own course and assess necessary input in order to reach the desired goal: to be a better support for the county's schools, and to ensure good quality in the teaching. The data material consists of leaders' presentations of their own analyzes and evaluations in the PLC-meeting with the researcher, observations of meetings with the schools, timeline of activities with defined turning points (change in communication or actions), feedback notes from the researchers and school leaders, reflection notes). In 2023 principals and middle leaders were asked to send in reflection notes on their experience of change – if any. What was particularly emphasized was that the meetings between the local authorities and the schools' leadership groups have become more characterized by trust than by supervision and control.

School self-evaluation (SSE) is considered a key lever to promote bottom-up school improvement (Chapman & Sammons, 2013; Jacobsen et al., 2003). In recent years, many countries have promoted centrally mandated SSE aiming at school improvement in official discourse, even though accountability and economic logics in top-down models for SSE are in place (McNamara et al., 2022).

In the Italian context, the National Evaluation System requires schools to draw up SSE reports and school development plans, according to a common theoretical framework. A centralized professional development programme (PDP) with five online courses has been designed by the National Institute for School Evaluation. The program was aimed both at supporting the implementation of the aforementioned system mandated SSE and at providing opportunities to make sense of the SSE process. The main contents were: SSE, school improvement, accountability and reporting, external evaluation, students’ assessment, evaluation theory, social research methodology, data use, communication and collaboration skills. In SY 2021-22 attended the program 320 teachers and 73 school principals.

This explorative study aims at understanding how the PDP intercepts participants’ needs, as well as how it can support them to implement SSE.

Four online focus groups with a merit sample of PDP’s participants were carried out in July 2022. The sample consisted of 25 teachers and 5 principals. According to a common protocol, one moderator, one co-host assistant and one co-host observer were present (Authors, 2023). The audio recordings were transcribed and the transcripts underwent an abductive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Thompson, 2022). The analysis combined an inductive approach (descriptive codes emerging from the reading of the text) with a deductive approach (interpretative categories grouping codes thematically related) (Authors, 2022).

As for the relationship between PDP and participants’ needs, the contents were widely appreciated for their comprehensiveness, richness, and theoretical soundness. In all focus groups some participants perceived the asynchronous modality as a crucial affordance to enhance their self-paced learning. Furthermore, teachers highlighted the usefulness of the practice-oriented e-tivities. On the other hand, some teachers lamented the scarcity of operational tools and individual feedback to carry out SSE and students’ assessment. Finally, several teachers and principals struggled to cope with the instructional pace, perceived as too stringent.

Moving to the impact of the PDP in real contexts, the reluctance or the unpreparedness of most teachers to work cooperatively on SSE were indicated as the main obstacles to school improvement. The lack of support at national and local level to guide SSE resulted in a further constraint for the implementation of evaluation competences. Nevertheless, the PDP provided participants with valuable opportunities to reflect on their evaluation practices. In this respect, two significant insights correspond to the rethinking of working practices to involve new colleagues in SSE and the inclusive re-design of the assessment and evaluation strategies.

Such preliminary results suggest that the PDP was functional to consolidate individual knowledge rather than to implement a cooperative SSE. Indeed, this latter appears as a system constraint that needs further attention both at policy and research level.

This paper critically examines the complex interplay between centralised/de-centralised governance structures, mechanisms and infrastructures to diffuse educational improvements across a system, and partnership configurations that facilitate or challenge system improvement, intentional or otherwise. Drawing on Mary Douglas’s Cultural Theory (1992,1996) and recent Learning Sciences’ theories on infrastructuring (Penuel,2019;Bielaczyc,2006), we focus on Singapore’s translational and mobilisation efforts for research innovations that occur at both system and school levels to highlight the relationships between power dynamics and diffusion processes in an education system driven by strong-state principles (Gopinathan,1994).

Research translation and mobilisation have become a global educational imperative for education research (Coope,2014), with research funding creating new system structures to scale up school innovations or university-school partnerships to drive improvements. Singapore’s two decades of governmental research funding has evolved to a stage where translation and mobilisation has become a central pillar of accountability, creating opportunities and challenges for school- and system-based solutions to problems of practice and policy.

Set in this context, three case studies of government-funded research studies are presented along with analysis of the governance structures that aim to exploit and explore system resources for translation/mobilisation in Singapore. We argue that these case studies signify different ways of organizing and perceiving social relations distinguished by Cultural Theory: hierarchy, egalitarianism, individualism, fatalism. Cultural Theory argues that these four ‘ways of life’ are underpinned by two dimensions of sociality – grid (status differentiation) and group (collectivity) (eg,Cornford, Baines & Wilson used cultural theory for network governance). Concomitantly, recent work into Research-Practice Partnerships have begun to shift attention away from educational infrastructures that are developed to support partnership processes, towards infrastructuring (i.e.,how practices shape infrastructures). Infrastructuring takes on a relational and praxeological perspective on infrastructures as cooperative activities and socio-cultural-technical arrangements that create “conditions that support educators in making innovations into working infrastructures for organizing learning activities” (Penuel,2019,p.660). Seen this way, both infrastructuring and Cultural Theory can be mobilised to better understand how social-cultural-political configurations, such as partnerships and governance structures, may generate different nuanced translational pathways and solutions that disrupts the long-standing linear perception of research translation drawn from the health sciences.

The three case studies are unique in scale and partnership models, lending themselves to analysis using our theoretical framing. Case study methodology along with interviews with key actors in the cases and document analysis are used to critically examine and map them to Cultural Theory/infrastructuring. The first is a large-scale longitudinal classroom-based study into teaching and learning in Singapore schools, with a hierarchical partnership model driven by top-down needs from the centralised government. The second is a self-sustaining Research-Practice Partnership that thrives through bottom-up school needs. The third draws on different partnership processes to spread school innovations. Each maps onto 3 of Cultural Theory’s dimensions, with implications for how they engage in infrastructuring processes. In examining these cases, we will discuss how systems can encourage broader partnership approaches that can lead to wider translations and meaningful impact across the system.

Objectives

Educating multilingual learners (MLs) is a pressing issue across the globe, particularly given increasing immigration. Europe and Asia are currently the largest destinations for international migrants, with approximately 86 million migrants in each region (Nataranjan et al., 2022). Many migrants speak languages other than the language of the host country, increasing cultural and linguistic diversity in schools (European Education and Culture Executive Agency, 2019). In the US, MLs represent an increasing demographic, with 10.4% of students classified as English Learners (Office of English Language Acquisition, 2020). MLs in the US face a myriad of educational challenges, including inadequate school resources, low expectations, and poor home-school communication (Garver & Hopkins, 2020). School and district leaders are tasked with the urgent need to promote equity-informed policies and practices that prioritize ML educational outcomes. Therefore, this paper asks: how do school and district leaders promote educational equity for multilingual learners?

Framework

This study builds upon Ishimaru and Galloway’s (2014) framework of equitable leadership practice. Using an asset-based orientation, Ishimaru and Galloway (2014) identify “high leverage” leadership practices including enacting an equity vision, supervising for equitable teaching and learning, fostering an equitable school culture, allocating resources and personnel, and family collaboration. While this framework is primarily focused on school leaders, we extend its application to examining district leadership as well. Existing research reinforces that district and school leaders are critical in supporting educational improvement for MLs. Leaders can foster equity for MLs by “recognizing that their language and culture should be considered a resource and right” (Cruze et al., 2021, p.113). Leaders also support MLs through teacher capacity building (Garver & Hopkins, 2020) and fostering critical consciousness about inequities (Callahan et al., 2023). How leaders work together systemically to accomplish these goals is less understood.

Methods

This qualitative study draws from a Research-Practice Partnership involving a US school district serving approximately 20,000 students, 3,100 of whom are multilingual, mostly Hispanic and from low-income families. We have collaborated with the district for 6 years, gathering multiple forms of data. In this phase, we are conducting semi-structured interviews with school and district administrators (N=16). Interviews were recorded and are being coded using MAXQDA software to examine leadership practices and policies supporting the improvement of education for MLs.

Results

An analysis of the data reveals several distributed leadership practices to systemically advance educational equity for MLs. Leaders (1) adapted an asset-based approach towards MLs, as reflected on an organizational level, (2) elevated ML community voices to inform priorities, (3) fostered collaboration to ensure a shared responsibility for MLs, and (4) promoted collective uptake of research-based approaches for educating MLs. These findings have important implications for how district and school leaders work across contexts to support MLs.

Connection to Theme

This paper is relevant to the ICSEI theme of “quality professional development” as the leadership findings can inform principal preparation and training for school and district leaders. This will ensure leaders are ready to support the growing demographic of MLs and challenge existing inequities.

Educational leaders play a vital role in improving student outcomes (Harris et al., 2021; Leithwood et al., 2020). Yet, many systems internationally struggle to attract, develop, and retain effective school and system leaders (Drysdale & Gurr, 2021). Recognising the importance of building individual and collective capacity and capability (OECD, 2019), research increasingly highlights the value of educational leadership frameworks (Drysdale & Gurr, 2021; Jensen et al., 2017). Ground-breaking work aligning teacher career pathways and professional frameworks is emerging (e.g., ET2020 Working Group Schools, 2020). However, leadership-specific research is relatively underdeveloped. Further, the nature and implementation of leadership frameworks vary considerably internationally. Frameworks ideally span from early identification of potential future leaders—requiring articulation with teacher career progression—to supporting ongoing professional growth of school and system leaders, regardless of career stage.

This paper critically examines contemporary international leadership research, policy, and practice in high-performing systems, and presents case studies to illustrate promising leadership framework applications. Cases involve partnerships with state and national education bodies in two different regions. The first focused on the development and implementation of a capability framework, the second on a leadership meta-framework and career progression model. Specifically, we consider leadership frameworks that speak to individual and collective capability, capacity, and practices. Capacity speaks to the number of individuals undertaking school or system leadership responsibilities, whereas capability speaks to what these leaders know, can do, and are like (Taylor-Guy et al., 2022). Practices concern the context-specific goal-oriented activities or behaviours of leaders or teams (Leithwood, 2017). Our analytical lens was the OECD (2019) frame, which brings together (1) HR policies and working environments, (2) individual and collective capacity and capability building, and (3) effective leadership, teaching and learning.

Findings corroborate the value of growth-oriented capability frameworks to support ongoing professional growth. We highlight the importance of articulating how different frameworks complement one another to drive the system’s vision for leadership. Another critical point is the need for frameworks to target the collective by considering interactions across staff functions and articulating expectations for identifying and nurturing potential future leaders. Development and implementation of frameworks requires frequent and intensive consultation and/or co-construction with a wide range of stakeholders, supported by tailored professional learning. The career progression model provides a world-class example of how leadership frameworks can be integrated to drive ongoing professional learning and growth. Through educational and HR policies and processes, it integrates the evidence-based components of (a) opportunity, (b) capability, and (c) motivation (ET2020 Working Group Schools, 2020; OECD, 2019.) Specifically, the career progression model aligns career pathways, a competence framework, professional learning opportunities, and rewards to attract, develop and retain leaders.

This paper addresses the conference theme by drawing synergies between school and system foci in relation to frameworks, to holistically support ongoing leader professional learning. It makes an important conceptual contribution by disentangling the nature of leadership frameworks as they relate to individual and collective capacity and capability building. Seminal case studies provide valuable insights for advancing research, policy, and practice internationally.

OBJECTIVE, RESEARCH QUESTIONS and CONTEXT

This paper presents the results of a research that seeks to understand how school leaders "make sense" during the initial phase of a large-scale reform that has begun to be implemented in Chile, called the New Public Education. The research questions were: i) What is the sense that school leaders assign to this reform, ii) How does this sense-making evolve during the first years of implementation of the change, and iii) What are the factors that influence this sense-making process?

This study is developed in the context of the public education reform in Chile, which transfers the responsibility of managing public schools from municipalities to a new institutional framework: the Local Public Education Services (SLEP). The objective of this reform is to accumulate, develop and institutionalize professional and technical capacities in each territory, so that intermediate levels drive the continuous improvement of schools (Bellei & Munoz, 2023).

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

One of the relevant conceptual perspectives to account for the way in which actors relate to educational policies or reforms is that of sense-making, the ongoing process through which people work to understand issues or events that modify their routine and generate a new scenario or context (Maitlis and Christianson, 2014). School leaders would be one of the main "sense-makers" of educational systems, by implementing an interpretation of policies according to local interests, which affects the way in which reforms are implemented (Bridwell-Mitchell, 2015; Ganon-Shilon and Schechter, 2017).

METHODS AND EVIDENCE

Qualitative research was developed based on four case studies. In each of them we interviewed (at three points in time, in the years 2021, 2022 and 2023) their principals, and at an intermediate milestone (2022) the management team and a sample of teachers, through group interviews. A transcription of each of the interviews was made, which allowed an open coding of the interviews and later a cross-sectional analysis of the data obtained.

RESULTS

- Three predominant types of meaning associated with this reform were identified: "paradigm change" "pedagogical change" and "bureaucratic change"

- Three types of variables or factors are involved in the sense-making process: i) individual dispositions, previous experience, and characteristics of the leaders, ii) the characteristics of the policy and its implementation, and iii) the school context in which the whole process takes place.

- The meaning assigned to the public education reform evolves marginally as implementation progresses, since an important part of the meaning and adherence to this policy was generated in the first steps of its application.

EDUCATIONAL IMPORTANCE AND CONNECTION TO THE CONFERENCE THEME

The research highlights the value of considering the involvement of school leaders as a priority of any reform to generate a shared sense of the change that these reforms propose at the level of principals (Ganon-Shilon and Schechter, 2017; Henriksen, 2018). The research connects with the theme of the congress because it highlights the role of school leaders in systemic educational improvement, for which it is essential to enhance professional development processes.

The Purpose

This presentation is based on a study aimed at contributing to how school leaders can be prepared to work effectively with newcomers (immigrants and refugees) who are culturally and linguistically diverse. It focuses on data that were gathered from school principals and newcomer families, including the role of a school division’s central office in strengthening leadership supports for newcomers.

Research Questions :

The research was guided by questions that (i) explored the experience of principals and newcomer families with school leadership in Saskatoon and (ii) used the essence of the experience to establish how both principals and newcomer families can be supported to ensure newcomer students’ success.

Perspectives :

Studies have shown that when a parent or guardian is engaged in a meaningful way in their child’s learning, teachers and school leaders receive the support they need from families, students do better, and everybody benefits (Epstein, 2010; Izzo et al., 1999; Leithwood et al., 2010). That is why school and education system are working at finding ways to engage parents in the teaching and learning activities a meaningful way (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010). Consequently, the demographic changes that are occurring in societies due to immigration are compelling school leaders to engage with newcomer families from the diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds as they facilitate the success of students (Epstein & Sander, 2006; Lopez, 2015).

Methods:

Phenomenology as an approach to qualitative (Piem, 2018; van Manen, 2014, 2015) was used to explore the experience of school leaders and parents with the assumption of a commonality in the human experience of any phenomena. The phenomenon in this study was school leadership-newcomer family interactions. Data were gathered using semi structured interviews, and focus group discussions with 24 principals representing two school divisions and newcomer 25 families. Consultative meetings were then held with leaders from the central office leadership.

Data Sources: Field notes and transcripts of audio recordings from the interviews, the focus group discussions and consultative panels.

Findings: revealed how the newcomers experience the education system as structured, bureaucratic but stable. For meaningful engagement to occur, the education system and its leadership needed to be more accountable and communicate guidance about expectations more clearly. Leadership needs to create a sense of community, be accessible , open and inclusive of diverse culture and create more opportunities for culturally diverse families to engage or be more involved and relationship building. They also need foster family learning and investing in newcomer settlement agency partnerships

Educational Importance:

The study provides insights for researching and programming for school leadership development that equips principals for work with culturally diverse newcomers. With appropriate skills, the school leader will be able to facilitate the educational success of culturally and linguistically diverse newcomer learners. Documenting and mobilizing knowledge about these experiences of school leaders and newcomer families and the associated recommendations could inform policy on effective ways of supporting Newcomers to settle and participate in society. The knowledge will enhance their ability to coordinate and provide targeted assistances services.

Objective, aims, and theoretical framework

The aim of the study is to investigate how profiles of teacher stress and teacher-student interactions (TSI) at baseline predict the quality of implementation in the INTERACT individual video-based teacher coaching intervention.

TSI can be organized into three domains: teachers’ emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support (Pianta et al. 2012). Studies of teacher stress and TSI quality indicate a negative association between the two phenomena (Corbine et al. 2019). Further, a meta-analysis documents the effects of video-based teacher coaching (Kraft et al. 2018). Still, the level of perceived stress may affect teachers’ performance in the classroom (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984). Consequently, there are reasons to assume that subgroups of teachers exist with different stress and TSI quality profiles. Little is known about the impact of teacher stress and TSI on the ability to implement a teacher coaching intervention with the quality needed to improve TSI.

Participants, data sources and methodology

The sample consists of 99 teachers (49 intervention group teachers) and 10 coaches participating in a cluster randomized control trial (cRCT). During the academic year, the teachers focus on emotional support, classroom organization, instructional support, and student engagement in seven coaching cycles using a strength-based approach. The intervention group teachers participated in the coaching cycles with an assigned coach about every 3rd week throughout one academic year. Each cycle consists of six steps. The coaching cycles are based on video recordings from the teacher’s own teaching and have a strength-based approach.

The intervention was implemented in the academic year 2022-2023. The current study draws on the baseline teacher reports of TSI (emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support), as well as stress (due to workload and student behavior) collected prior to randomizing teachers. Further teacher and coach reported on the quality of implementation at the end of each of the seven coaching cycles. Teachers were recruited from 12 upper secondary schools in two Norwegian counties. Teachers at both academic (25%) and vocational tracks were included.

Findings

Exploring which profiles can be identified regarding the teachers’ reports of stress and TSI, four profiles were identified using latent profile analysis (LPA) using Mplus 8.10. The profiles represented groups of teachers with qualitatively and quantitatively different profiles of stress and TSI. It is reasonable to assume that teachers with different profiles may differ in their ability to implement an intervention with high quality (Humphrey et al 2016).

Theoretical and Educational relevance, and connection to conference theme:

Knowledge of for whom and under which conditions an intervention is effective, allows teacher coaching interventions to support TSI interactions to be more targeted and indicate for whom interventions may be particularly useful. Further, findings from the study may contribute to the understanding of the complexity of the association between teacher stress, TSI, and the quality of implementation of video-based teacher coaching interventions. This knowledge may be useful for teachers and school leaders to make data-informed decisions on teachers’ professional development.

Purpose and Research Questions

This year’s ICSEI explores the role and impact of quality professional teaching and learning, which can be supported through the mobilization of knowledge. Knowledge mobilization is the process of moving knowledge (i.e., evidence derived from research, data or practical experience) to where it will be most useful (Ward, 2017). Knowledge brokers, defined as actors that trade knowledge between entities not immediately connected (Weber & Yanovitzky, 2021), are central to this deeply relational process (Rickinson & Edwards, 2021; Ward, 2017). While previous literature illustrates the importance of social networks in the dissemination of knowledge (e.g., Authors, 2022; Farley-Ripple & Yun, 2021; Poortman & Brown, 2017), less is known about how knowledge brokers could harness the power of social networks to mobilize knowledge if presented with curated data and visualizations. Therefore, this study explores the following question: How do knowledge brokers harness social networks for the mobilization of their resources?

Theoretical Perspective

This study employs a social network perspective, which asserts that “relational ties among actors are primary and attributes of actors are secondary” (Wasserman & Faust, 1994, p. 8) in the study of the social environment and processes. A social network consists of actors that are connected through relationships (Wasserman & Faust, 1994).

Methods and Data

We selected six evidence-based and equity-focused organizations that are recognized as experts in their respective fields, and intentionally mobilize their resources to different levels of the education system, from K-12 schools to state-level policy contexts. We analyzed data from 41.5 hours of semi-structured interviews with these knowledge brokers. Some of these interviews were about how the participants would use the Twitter social networks that were visualized and organized around clusters in their work of mobilizing knowledge. We then coded the transcripts with an inductively developed codebook (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).

Findings

Through the social network analysis and visualization, the knowledge brokers were able to learn more about the content of what their audiences were engaging in, and how they were connected. This understanding led them to strategize and plan several uses of this knowledge for their online and offline knowledge mobilization efforts. Online applications of the presented data included (a) honing social media presence to be more targeted, (b) which users and content to amplify, (c) strategically growing their online networks, (d) understanding the reach of their resources. Offline uses that they discussed included (a) informing their content, (b) updating their editorial calendar, (c) identifying people for collaborations (e.g., conferences, special issues). They were confident that these measures would improve their knowledge mobilization outcomes.

Implications

We demonstrated how knowledge brokers could use curated social network data and visualizations to improve their knowledge mobilization efforts. By highlighting the applications in online and offline spaces, this study provides evidence that knowledge brokers work on a social continuum where the movement of knowledge between online and offline is fluid (Authors, 2019). This understanding provides another perspective and approach to supporting knowledge brokers in their profoundly relational efforts for school effectiveness and improvement.

Educational accountability systems that assess school quality through academic performance metrics are ubiquitous. Recently, systems have deployed data instruments capturing functions of schooling beyond academic achievement: Chile’s DIA measures schools’ capacity to provide for students’ socioemotional needs (Weinstein & Bravo, 2023); the EU’s NESET developed a framework for socioemotional education recommending assessments of student learning (Cefai et al., 2018); the U.S.’s ESSA “school quality” indicators spark a potential shift toward evaluating care and equitable resource distribution (e.g. ISBE 5Essentials Survey). Such data use intends to challenge systems’ sole focus on achievement, which, on an individual level, shortchanges students’ holistic development (Datnow et al., 2022); on a societal level, scholars argue this focus diminishes trust and contributes to inequalities (Au, 2016; Ozga, 2013). Yet, even in systems pushing innovations in measuring climate and curriculum, metrics remain rooted in outcomes-based standardization (Author, 2023; Espeland & Stevens, 2008). Obscuring affective and structural dimensions of schooling, outcomes-based performance metrics assume communities have similar needs, interests, and resources — a myth eliding context-specific characteristics and historically-produced inequities (Espeland & Yung, 2019; Spade, 2015; Leonardo, 2007). The incommensurability of building school cultures of care and equity and collecting data about climate and curricula through performance metrics is troubling given that climate and curricula can themselves reproduce social norms and values (Keenan, 2017; Freire, 1970; Durkheim, 1956).

This paper argues that performance metrics — even those targeting non-academic purposes of schools — are ill-equipped to execute a new, important job: the deinstitutionalization of an exclusive focus on achievement and institutionalization of care and equity (Oliver, 1992). Accordingly, this paper imagines a path forward in school effectiveness and improvement by proposing a theory of “process metrics” — distinct from performance metrics — as a mechanism to disrupt the institutionalized relationship between status quo norms and values, administrative attention, and resource distribution. Integrating queer, critical, and institutional theories, I offer process metrics as “formalized system[s] of abstraction” that can be evaluated in terms of their quality and functionality in capturing both subjectivities and systems (Stinchcombe, 2001; Colyvas, 2012). Process metrics produce qualitative data (e.g. narratives) that reflect affect through evolving, student- & community-centered protocol (Vasudevan et al., 2022; Ghaziani & Brim, 2019; Tuck & Yang, 2013); they center relations over outcomes, assume relations are ever-changing, and are adaptable across organizations.

Upon developing process metrics, we should not expect them to stick. Innovation scholarship shows implementation is fraught, especially when challenging durable systems centered around dominant groups (Klein & Sorra, 1996). This paper shares principles for measuring care-based, equity-oriented, and youth-centered educational processes but also offers propositions for their institutionalization. It holds: institutionalizing process metrics (1) is a multi-level process; it does not happen only at individual schools but is embedded in educational systems’ infrastructure (Spillane et al., 2019); (2) is a process and outcome; it varies not only in its strength (reliability) but in its breadth, reach, and range (Anderson & Colyvas, forthcoming); (3) requires sustained collaboration through coupling, bundling, and nesting modes of reproduction (Anderson & Colyvas, 2021).

Problem: Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) policy, practice, and research all emphasise the importance of adult-child pedagogical interactions at home and in ECEC settings for children’s development. However, separate bodies of knowledge have emerged concerning these interactions at home and in ECEC settings. Ongoing development of inductive statistical methods offer a means of bridging these bodies of knowledge. These methods provide a practical and efficient means of understanding how interactions in both locations work together to shape development. Thus, the use of these methods has the potential to yield new ECEC insights, innovations, and practice.

Research question: In what ways can adult-child pedagogical interactions in the home and preschool combine to shape the development of preschoolers’ verbal reasoning?

Context: Advancement of contemporary knowledge that informs ECEC policy and practice.

Methods: Secondary statistical analysis of a nationally representative dataset using a contemporary inductive statistical method: Mixture Regression Modelling.

Data Sources/evidence: Data from the Effective Provision of Preschool Education (EPPE) study: 2,857 children and families using 141 ECEC settings across England from ages 3 (entry to preschool) to 4 years (exit from preschool).

Results: Four distinct groups were identified when considering the contextualised associations between adult-child pedagogical interactions at home and preschool and the development of verbal reasoning from 3 to 4 years of age.

Confirming previous EPPE research, adult-child pedagogical interactions in the home mattered for all – particularly how frequently a child was read to – and irrespective of a child’s verbal reasoning at 3 years or the development of this reasoning to age 4 years.

Extending the previous EPPE findings, the four groups also differed from each other in how verbal reasoning developed from 3-4 years and how this development was related to adult-child pedagogical interactions in homes and preschools. Three (inductive) findings stood out:

First, adult-child pedagogical interactions in ECEC settings were found to matter more when there were less frequent interactions in the home, and when interactions in preschool were higher in quality. This suggests possible preschool-origin boosts to equity in preschoolers’ development of verbal reasoning.

Second, that adult-child pedagogical interactions in preschool concerning ‘language reasoning’ and ‘science and the environment’ may have a prominent role in this equity boost.

Third, that family income was only weakly related to adult-child pedagogical interactions: Both richer and poorer families could experience more/less frequent pedagogical interactions in the home and higher/lower quality of pedagogical interactions in preschool. Thus the above equity effects matter for more children.

Educational importance of this research for theory, practice, and policy: Findings from EPPE have shaped ECEC policy, practice, and research for two decades. Therefore new EPPE findings matter -- especially because the EPPE data may be more comparable to conditions in England now versus 6-7 years ago. The ongoing development of inductive statistical methods aids the identification of conditions under which ECEC can facilitate equity in child development.

Connection to the conference theme: This paper illustrates how contemporary inductive statistical methods can help researchers: innovate in education, generate new insights/inquiries, and inform professional learning.

Critical thinking in education has been much discussed for its benefits in enhancing the quality of students learning and life opportunities (OECD, 2019). Critical thinking is essential in early childhood for many reasons; for one, the ability to think critically reduces the chance of children being guided by false or misinformed information. Although critical thinking is considered a core 21st competency that could be supported at all levels of education, there is the lack of research on critical thinking at a preschool level (O'Reilly et al., 2022). This paper aims to describe and present findings from a pedagogical intervention designed as part of a PhD project to nurture critical thinking in preschool children based on oral storytelling with dialogic inquiry. For this paper we will address two research questions: (1) what critical thinking skills are observed in preschool children? and (2) what conditions draw out critical thinking in preschool children? Seventeen preschool children and two preschool practitioners volunteered to participate in this study. From a sociocultural perspective, central to this research is the idea that children are capable, competent and willing to engage in critical discourse when provided with the right conditions to nurture this type of classroom interaction. The study was conducted as a design-based research intervention; this approach is interactive and participatory (Bakker, 2018). Research instruments include classroom observations, audio-video recording and textual data. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, which allows reflection on data in context (Braun & Clarke, 2021). Results indicate that oral storytelling combined with dialogic inquiry and educator scaffolding provides the conditions for preschool children to engage in critical thinking. The elements of critical identified include; communicating with clarity and accuracy, constructing ideas, inferring, reasoning, and problem solving. The research makes a significant contribution to early childhood research, policy, and practice as the first study in the Republic to identify specific elements of critical thinking in preschool children together with a teaching strategy to nurture these skills in the early years. The results generate future research in teacher education and continued professional development for teachers and school leaders to implement strategies to nurture critical thinking in preschools at a national level. In addition, findings call for further research to explore how policy and practice could work in partnership to improve young children's opportunities to engage in critical thinking in the classroom. Ethical permission was granted in December 2020 by the Trinity College Dublin research committee. This research was funded by the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship GOIPG/2020/19.

It is widely accepted that all schools possess a particular duty of care towards their students. However, this duty of care falls unevenly across schools, with those serving working-class communities experiencing it most acutely within the wider context of structural social inequalities (Crean et al., 2023; Moss et al., 2020; Reay, 2022). Moreover, these care-related responsibilities experienced by such so-called disadvantaged schools coexist alongside an increasing emphasis on performance in standards-based assessments, arising from neoliberal reforms targeting the effectiveness of schools in education systems across the globe (Lynch, 2022; Devine & McGillicuddy, 2016; Noddings, 2005). Previous research has conceptualised these responsibilities as competing areas of interest for schools serving working-class communities, creating the impression of a binary opposition between the two (Jeffrey et al., 2013; Martin & Amin, 2020). Distinctions have also been drawn between different forms of caring in schools (Antrop-González & De Jesús, 2006; Valenzuela, 1999), ranging from those which centre on children’s academic learning to those more concerned with their well-being and welfare. Others recognise the need for schools to carry out a dual role and cater for both forms of caring (Crean et al., 2023; Devine & McGillicuddy, 2016), conceptualised by Antrop-González and De Jesús (2006) as ‘hard caring.’ In this paper, we further conceptualise the nature of care in disadvantaged schools, drawing on the broader literature base to propose a ‘nurturing pedagogies typology,’ a biaxial continuum along which some of the aforementioned conceptualisations of care can be situated. The vertical axis of the typology represents the degree to which schools emphasise academic outcomes in their enactment of care, while the horizontal axis reflects the extent of affective relationships between children and teachers. While we concur with critiques of an academically instrumentalist enactment of caring in schools (Dadvand & Cuervo, 2020), we argue that hard caring, characterised by high levels of caring in both the academic and affective domains, is necessary in order to enable children to flourish in schools. In addition, this paper presents findings from the Children’s School Lives study (www.cslstudy.ie), Ireland’s first national longitudinal study of primary schooling. We draw on qualitative accounts from children, their families, and school personnel to highlight the application of the typology in practice with respect to three DEIS Band 1 primary schools, the most severe categorisation of educational disadvantage in the Irish context. Our findings point to differences between schools in relation to the nurturing pedagogies typology, with factors including school leadership, culture, and mission being particularly influential during the period of Covid-19 school closures. Further, we present findings relating to children’s varying perspectives on caring across the three schools. Cumulatively, the conceptual framing and findings presented in this paper offer valuable implications for educational policy and practice, supporting the effectiveness of schools serving working-class communities in pursuit of social justice for the children under their care. Moreover, with this paper, we aspire to stimulate purposeful discussion around the recognition of nurturing pedagogies in initial teacher education and continuing professional development for teachers and school leaders.

Purpose – In an ever-changing and complex external environment, the importance for principals to be able to adapt and change while addressing challenges becomes critical. When these challenges arise as adaptive problems or challenges, leaders and their followers must use alternative approaches to problem-solving instead of known solutions to technical problems. The protracted nature of the COVID-19 pandemic over 2020–21 created a situation where principals in Victoria, Australia, had to rapidly engage in strengthening the internal integration of their schools while sustaining continuous strategic transformation facilitated by enhanced organisational agility. During the COVID-19 crisis in Victoria, Australia, the complexity of school leadership increased greatly for school principals. Emotionally intelligent leaders recognise, understand and respect their staff's needs, values and aspirations and build stronger, healthier, self-managed teams within their institutions. Principals with high levels of emotional intelligence create strong cooperative relationships and are effective in developing transformational change within their respective schools. Emotionally intelligent leaders understand their own emotions and that of others, enhancing their thinking processes and the effectiveness of their leadership practices. This study focused on the lived experiences of mid-career principals in the independent school sector from March to November 2020. It investigates these leaders’ transformative work in leading their schools over a protracted crisis.

Design/methodology/approach – The study builds on crisis leadership, adaptive leadership, agile leadership and emotional intelligence constructs, exploring the leadership approaches undertaken by twenty mid-career principals in Victoria, Australia. The main research question of this study is, “What kinds of emotionally intelligent leadership approaches were identified in mid-career school principals during the Covid-19 global pandemic?” Using a narrative inquiry approach, across three temporal points in 2020, storied productions drawn from the findings present four emergent types of emotionally intelligent leadership approaches undertaken by these principals. These leadership approaches are presented as the commander-leader, the conductor-leader, the gardener-leader and the engineer-leader, with each approach demonstrating both organisational leadership approaches as well as individual leadership styles used by these principals as they led their schools.

Evidence – The findings have direct implications for professional development programs focusing on continuing principals with emphasis on the importance of developing and sustaining emotionally intelligent skillsets in principals for use during periods of rapid change or high crisis in schools.

Educational Importance – These findings provide insights into the kinds of emotionally intelligent leadership approaches used by mid-career school principals with implications for making use of these findings in developing elements of emotion training in teacher and principal preparation and professional development programs. The findings present insight into the support useful for mid-career principals who have completed more than five years of principalship.

Perspectives – The invisible labour of school leadership must be recognised, and existing policies and systems strengthened to help mid-career leaders during a crisis and post-crisis as they lead their schools during adaptive and agile times because the leadership styles required across each of these periods of change are different.

Connections to conference theme – This study uses a unique emotional intelligence approach to understand school leadership during and after a crisis.

Purpose – Over the three-year period of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a severe impact on global efforts to ensure all children receive a quality education. Pakistan is no exception. School closures to limit the spread of COVID-19 have directly impacted an estimated 40 million school-going learners from pre-primary to higher-secondary levels in Pakistan, where school enrolment, completion and quality of learning are already low, especially for girls. As stated in the ASER 2021 (ASER, 2021) report, “School closures to limit the spread of COVID-19 have directly impacted an estimated 40 million school-going learners from pre-primary to higher secondary levels, in a context where school enrolment, completion and quality of learning are already low, especially for girls” (p.6). Girls experienced greater learning losses than boys during the school closures. This served to halt or even reverse an increasing trend in learning outcomes for girls who had, in some cases, outdid boys. On average, about 60 per cent of children enrolled in schools spent less than an hour a day on their studies during school closures.

Research question – What has been the impact of COVID-19 Learning Loss across the Pakistani Catholic School Sector?

Context - This study aims to collect baseline data on seven Catholic diocesean schools in Pakistan as it interrogates the extent to which the pandemic has influenced this sector in both urban and rural settings. This study will select Catholic schools in Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pukthunwa in its sampling. There are currently 244 schools in Pakistan across the seven dioceses with 95304 students enrolled, of which 56,557 are male students, and 38747 are female students.

Approach to inquiry – It is envisaged that using an online survey tool will assist the researchers in gauging the extent to which learning deficits and challenges are currently being faced within these schools in 2023, after having been three years through the pandemic. The survey tool will also identify viable school strategies that were used to address these challenges. This survey tool will be administered over August and September 2023 to a stratified sample of school leaders, teachers and administrative staff in this school sector.

Evidence – The baseline data collected through this study will contribute towards laying the groundwork towards establishing communities of practice across the seven dioceses. Initially, in 2023 focus will be on developing leadership capacity across the diocesan schools. From 2024 onwards, targeting the development of teacher pedagogy in Mathematics and English and/or Urdu will be made. These communities of practice will develop teaching and learning resources together within each diocese to assist with addressing the learning deficits of their students identified through the baseline data collected through this study.

Educational importance – Through the findings of this study, more targeted work for school improvement will be developed at the diocesan level, school level, subject level and individual student level.

Connection to the conference theme – The study will contribute to the ongoing system and school implications arising from the COVID-19 crisis in education within the Pakistani Catholic school sector.

Purpose: This proposed paper describes a prevention model for reducing school employee sexual misconduct and the evaluation data on the effectiveness of the model. The model was built from the results of study 1 and tested using the results of study 2. Sexual misconduct may be physical, verbal and/or visual behaviors (including technology assisted) directed toward a student. In the United States, two 2023 studies found between 11.7 and 17.4% of current students have experienced at least one incident of sexual misconduct by a school employee; that’s 6.4 to 9.4 Million students.

Research Questions. (1) Under what school conditions does school employee sexual misconduct occur? (2) Do these conditions offer suggestions for prevention? (3) Is the prevention model effective?

Methods: This paper is a report of two studies conducted by the author.

Study 1. The model of prevention described in this paper is based upon a set of data that allows an internal examination of cases of sexual abuse of students by employees Having served as an expert witness in nearly 200 cases of school employee sexual abuse over a twenty year period, I have had access to school policies, police reports, depositions of school administrators, parents, targets/victims, teachers, and abusers. For each case, I analyzed policies in place and how they were followed; documented hiring practices as well as firing practices; viewed and critiqued training; documented response to red flags of boundary crossing and sexual misconduct by school employees; and coded levels of supervision on a scale from none to appropriate. I was able to hear, in the voices of the offender, the victim/target, other school employees, other students, and administrators what happened and how it happened. I have permission from plaintiff attorneys and IRB approval for this completed study.

Study 2: Funded by the CDC, a study of 10 school districts including 50 schools and 2,500 employees that collected data pre-post the intervention of training, policy review, internal communications, hiring practices, and supervision. Pre-post surveys included a scale on appropriate and inappropriate behaviors as well as scales on self-efficacy, normative beliefs, and intentions to report.

Evidence/data sources. Results from study 1 informed the model of prevention which includes: school policies directing appropriate behavior between adults and students and consequences for not conforming to expected behavior; training on boundary crossing, red flags, and reporting; supervision and monitoring; preventative hiring and preventative firing; and internal communication, both vertical and horizontal.

Results from study 2 indicate that the more components of the prevention model that are in place, the fewer the reported instances of boundary crossing with students occur. In schools and districts where all staff received training, employee respondents decreased reported boundary crossing, strengthened attitudes toward prevention, indicated stronger self-efficacy to report as well as intentions to report and actual reporting.

Connection to Conference Theme: School effectiveness and improvement cannot occur in an unsafe environment. This presentation targets the obligation of schools to provide safe learning environments.

Based upon competency models of school leadership and improvement in Canada and Australia, the Diocese of Down and Connor (Northern Ireland) designed a Self-Reflective Framework to enhance the ethos and mission of faith-based schools.

Since its implementation in 2014, this Self-Reflective Framework seeks to engage school Principals and practitioners in assessing and developing their own school in embedding the following areas:

(i) School Mission

(ii) Religious Education

(iii) Catholic Leadership

(iv) Learning and Teaching

(v) Inclusion and Diversity

(vi) Social Justice and Respect for the Environment

(vii) Partnership and Community Outreach

This paper examines the effectiveness of this self-reflective framework in taking forward school development in faith-based schools.

It begins with an examination of the competency models of leadership and development that provided the foundations for the development of the Self-Reflective Framework. Particular attention is given to how this process of self-reflection compares and contrasts with earlier inspectorial models of school development in faith-based schools.

The paper continues by outlining the structures of accountability within the self-reflective framework and considers how this relational approach provides new opportunities for engagement with schools as they take personal ownership of self-identified areas for development.

This research draws upon qualitative data gathered from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with practitioners in schools, school boards of management, educational trustees and diocesan support services to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of this new model of school improvement.

The research demonstrates how this Self-Reflective Framework not only provides a particularly useful model in taking forward school improvement and its implications for existent support structures for faith-based schools and institutions. The research also demonstrates how this self-reflective and relational approach towards staff development provides a viable and more effective alternative to inspectorial models that facilitates collaborative styles of leadership.

Objectives

Literacy coaches play leadership roles through managing literacy programs, organizing professional development activities, and helping school leaders (Ferguson, 2013). In the Chinese context, literacy coaches are called jiaoyanyuan and are considered as teacher mentors and teacher researchers (Zhang & Yuan, 2019). Diener (2009) believed that it is essential to learn about people’s work-related well-being, however, there has been a lack of research about literacy coaches’ well-being. This gap is significant because literacy coaches can contribute to teaching and school improvement significantly. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to understand the well-being of literacy coaches in the Chinese school context.

Research questions

The main research questions of this research are:

How do Chinese literacy coaches perceive their own well-being?

What are the factors affecting these literacy coaches’ well-being?

How do Chinese literacy coaches deal with challenges to their well-being in different career stages?

Theoretical framework

Well-being has been studied through a combination of subjective theories and objective theories, which have suggested that individuals’ well-being is the objective part of subjective life experiences. In the six-factor model of psychological well-being proposed by Ryff (1989), individuals’ well-being is measured by grades in six aspects, including “autonomy,” “environmental mastery,” “personal growth,” “positive relations with others,” “purpose in life,” and “self-acceptance” (Ryff & Singer, 2006). Literacy coaches’ well-being is influenced by many internal factors like their attitude toward their job and external factors like school culture. Literacy coaches’ subjective well-being may be influenced by their goals in their jobs. The six-factor model of psychological well-being is a great model for uncovering the subjective and objective factors that may influence individuals’ well-being. This study will also take account of career stage using the four career stages scholars have outlined: exploration phase, establishment phase, maintenance phase, and disengagement phase (Savickas, 2002).

Methods and data sources

Semi-structured interviews were used to answer the research questions. Eight well-experienced literacy coaches were selected through the snowball method. Each interview lasted for 45–90 minutes. Comparative analysis was used to conduct the data analysis.

Findings

According to the data analysis, literacy coaches have three career stages including the exploration phase, establishment phase, and maintenance phase. In these three stages, happiness is the main factor that affects teacher professional development and school improvement. Working pressure, income, and social relationships were identified as the three main factors that affect the literacy coaches’ well-being. This study also identified the strategies literacy coaches use to deal with challenges to their well-being such as exercising and talking with peers.

Significance

This research may contribute to knowledge about teacher leaders’ professional growth in the workplace. In addition, studies about literacy coaches’ well-being may provide implications for district leaders, policymakers, principals, and teachers by pointing out how to effectively collaborate with literacy coaches. Moreover, research about literacy coaches’ well-being is beneficial for school improvement.

Connection to the conference theme

Through this exploration, evidence can be offered to schools and education bureaus to help literacy coaches’ have a better emotional state, which will benefit school effectiveness and improvement.

Background and Framework

Women have populated the majority of the educational workforce, yet men have assumed a disproportional amount educational leadership roles (Bailes & Guthery, 2020; Tallerico & Blount, 2004; White, 2023). Women working as educational leaders are not only under-represented, but also earn lower salaries than their male counterparts (Grissom et al., 2021; Loder, 2005; Pounder, 1988; Sanchez & Thornton, 2010). To help eliminate gender employment and salary gaps, research needs to identify factors that may be contributing to these disproportionalities.

Purpose and Research Questions

The purpose of this study is to examine individual-, school-, and district-level factors that may be related to the salaries of principals. Specific research questions examined if factors at all examined levels contributed to principal salary and the gap between men and women school leaders.

Methods and Data Sources

The data analyzed in this paper come from one state in the United States. We analyzed datasets published by the Pennsylvania Department of Education for the year 2021-2022 which included demographic and salary information for individuals identified as principals. In our hierarchical regression models, we included annual salary as the outcome variable. The first model included only individual characteristics. The second model added school-level characteristics and the third model added district-level characteristics. The final sample included only principals leading schools identified as traditional public schools.

Results

Women accounted for 42% of the sampled principals. Among the 1,112 principals who identified as female, 70% worked at the primary level. In contrast, 47% of the 1,518 principals who identified as male worked at the primary level. Approximately 14% of both women and men principals held a doctoral degree. However, women principals averaged more years of experience than their male counterparts, as well as held posts in schools with fewer students.

The results of the hierarchical regression models returned several significant and meaningful results. First, the results indicated that male principals were consistently and significantly paid more than their female counterparts. After including school and district characteristics, the gender discrepancy in principal salary increased to an average pay differential of $3,121 (p < .01). Second, results indicated a positive association between school enrollment and salary, $10.53 (p < .01). With women principals leading schools with approximately 100 fewer students than men, women would average an additional $990 less than their male counterparts. Third, the number of women principals employed by an LEA has a negative association of $931.00 (p < .01) on the average annual salary of their colleagues.

Educational Importance and Conference Theme Connection

Based on these results, educational governing bodies should advocate for more equitable hiring and compensation practices. Such practices might include more formal training on how to select school leaders, as well as increased public data reporting and monitoring. This study connects with the conference theme of ensuring quality professional education for enhanced school effectiveness and improvement. The underrepresentation of female principals, as well as the pay gap, artificially limits the size and quality of the effective principal labor pool.

Introduction

This paper reports on the ways in which teaching principals in rural schools in Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, Canada enact instructional leadership within the five leadership domains conceptualized by Robinson, Lloyd, and Rowe (2008). Although participants suggested that they were “not where they wanted to be” in their efforts to enact instructional leadership, their actions demonstrate exemplary practice in this regard. The primary research question that guided this study was “In what ways do the dual roles of teaching principals (administration and teaching) impact the way in which teaching principals conceptualize and enact instructional leadership?” Further, we were interested in the ways that remaining engaged in teaching duties informed principals understanding of instructional leadership and in their sense of self efficacy as instructional leaders.

Methodology

This phase of our study employed the qualitative approach (Merriam, 2009) of interpretive description. We conducted school observational visits and face-to- face semi-structured interviews with 10 principals from rural schools in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Participants worked in school configurations that included elementary/middle schools, high schools, and K-12 composite schools. Enrollments ranged between 40-170 students, staffed by 4.75-9 full time teaching equivalents and 1-4 full- time support staff equivalents. The only selection criterion for participants was that the principal must have at least 20% of his/her work assignment as a teaching assignment. The respondents held teaching responsibilities between 20%-70% of their full-time load. Seven of the 10 participants were in their first three years of the role. Interviews lasted between 60 to 90 minutes, were digitally audio-recorded, and then transcribed. The transcripts of the interviews were coded for themes and categorized for conceptual patterns (Stake, 2000) related to the five leadership practice dimensions of instructional leadership (Robinson, Lloyd, & Rowe, 2008).

Findings

The findings of the study are organized around teaching principals’ senses of guilt in not achieving their vision of being an instructional leader, as well as evidence in their actions of the five leadership practice dimensions: establishing goals and expectations; planning, coordinating, and evaluating teaching and the curriculum; promoting and participating in teacher learning and development; resourcing strategically; and, ensuring an orderly and supportive environment. The teaching principals in our study are highly cognizant of, and focus their efforts on, building relational trust with staff, parents, and students in their local rural communities, and they integrate their leadership knowledge to solve the complex problems found in these schools. Teaching principals have integrated these leadership capabilities in their enactment of instructional leadership in a plethora of ways—they simply have not been recognizing it as such. School districts and teachers’ associations must change the nature of the discourse around instructional leadership so that teaching principals do not measure their efficacy as instructional leaders based only on their ability to visit classrooms. The constitution of the role of the teaching principalship must be reconceptualized to make recommendations on optimal parameters within which instructional leadership expectations are realistically manageable.

Objectives:

Data is the lens through which we increasingly view our world. Yet, understanding how to engage with data can be challenging. There is a need to provide students with authentic experiences to investigate their own science questions using a variety of datasets (NASEM, 2016, p. 2). Researchers in Puerto Rico have been developing a professional learning network of teachers, scientists, and learning scientists to support teachers in implementing the Data Jam model (Bestelmeyer et al., 2015) in which students use long-term ecological data about the El Yunque national forest in Puerto Rico to develop their own investigations and use data as evidence for a scientific argument. The objective of this session is to introduce participants to the outcomes of the professional learning network and engage the participants in a sample professional learning network activity centered around a data-based investigation of an environmental phenomenon in Puerto Rico.

Educational importance for theory, policy, research, and/or practice

The guiding theory for our work engaging students in authentic scientific practice is legitimate peripheral participation (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Lave and Wenger define all learning as movement from the periphery of a community to centrality within the community. Their framework reveals several key characteristics engaging students in communities of practice in formal education settings: (a) engaging students in scientific practices, (b) using scientific tools, (c) learning the language of science though building social bonds with other members of the community, (d) developing learning sequences in which students learn scientific practices in the opposite order than how they are completed in practice, and (e) supporting development of scientific identity.

Teaching is a profession where teachers are isolated from the communities that they are teaching about. This work extends the notions of professional learning networks to include not only a peer network but also practicing scientists and learning scientists. To support teachers in shifting their practice towards authentic scientific practice, we first engaged teachers in authentic scientific practices through professional development and then embedded teachers within a professional learning network with other teachers, practicing scientists and learning scientists. As teachers implement Data Jam in their classroom, they bring samples of students’ ongoing work and data analyses to monthly Virtual Lab Meetings to discuss issues related to their teaching practice and students’ scientific investigations. Through structured protocols, teachers receive input from their peers, scientists, and educational researchers. Our findings reveal that exposure to authentic practices through student investigations and interactions with scientists develops teachers' scientific identity and capacity to support student investigations.

The format and approach(es)

We will provide a short presentation on the theoretical background, Data Jam model, and teacher outcomes. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in a simulated virtual lab meeting with student artifacts to gain experience with the professional learning network model to support legitimate peripheral participation.

Connection to the conference theme

This presentation fits within the Professional Learning Networks Network and addresses the overall conference theme of providing a model of professional education to support school improvement in data science.

The Networks of Inquiry and Indigenous Education (NOIIE) started in 2000 as a school-to-school network in British Columbia focused on changing the outcomes of learners through formative assessment. Twenty-three years later, our focus has expanded to changing the experiences for all learners by using a shared framework, the Spiral of Inquiry. Central to this work is our shared commitment to equity, quality and social justice that is reflected in one of our three main goals: Every learner will cross the stage with dignity, purpose and options.

The Network has grown to include schools in several international jurisdictions. Our joint mission is closely connected to the Congress theme of quality professional education for enhanced school effectiveness and improvement and, in particular, to the sub theme of leading improvement collaboratively and sustainably.

Increasingly we are witnessing a phenomenon across the networks that we describe as catalytic affiliation. Catalytic affiliation is a conceptual idea that can unpack the complexity of relational ties that thrive in inquiry networks. It also helps explore how social practices such as kindredness, authenticity, relational agency and reciprocal aligned beliefs work in tandem to deepen and accelerate systemwide improvement and innovation. Catalytic affiliation is more than a practice of individual leaders; it is a characteristic of networked learning spaces deeply anchored in shared repertories of learning, action and commitment, attracting and broadening professional engagement.

The purpose of this innovate session is to illustrate the ways in which the phenomenon of catalytic affiliation is evident in the experience of network leaders through imagery and metaphor. In the process, we invite others to explore the concept of catalytic affiliation and the implications that this has for high quality professional learning in very different policy environments

We live in a time of rapid and complex social, economic and political change. Compounding challenges such as technological advances, population growth and sustainability require new ways of thinking and working. Many students will go on to work in jobs that don’t yet exist. Creativity, communication, critical thinking, adaptability, and teamwork are already recognised as key attributes. There is a disconnect between the current educational experience for many students and what they need to thrive in this increasingly uncertain world. What and how student learn needs to be re-designed in many instances.

Quality professional education must support Educators to not just react to these fundamental challenges, but to reimagine and lead change. Teachers and school leaders need their own creative mindset so they can improve teaching & learning to support students to capitalise on the opportunities in life now and in the future. To achieve this, there needs to be a mechanism for supportive, high-quality professional education that does not just reinforce the status quo but challenges Educators to think differently about what, how and why we educate young people today.

The UCD Innovation Academy has ten years experience in delivering a Professional Certificate & Diploma in Creativity & Innovation in Education. This programme invites Educators to revisit and reimagine their education practice in an immersive, experiential environment. Specifically, they have the opportunity to develop their creative mindset, explore new approaches to teaching & learning and develop their leadership capacity for effecting change.

This programme is based on robust evidence of what makes effective professional learning for Educators. Active learning underpins the design of the programme. Educators are engaged in the same style of learning promoted for students, often going through their own transformation with regards to how they view themselves as both learner and teacher. Collaboration and community of practice is at the heart of the programme, with time to share and learn together, as well as individual reflection built in. The programme culminates in an Action Learning Project whereby Educators are supported with mentoring and coaching to contextualise and embed the learning for their setting.

This Innovate session will be a hands-on workshop. Attendees will participate in a 30 minute creativity sprint which will demonstrate some of the active-learning methodologies that we use in the Professional Certificate & Diploma in Creativity & Innovation for Educators course. Attendees will engage in creative collaboration, explore their own creative mindset and experience first-hand a range of teaching techniques that develop student attributes such as communication and critical thinking.

The significance of this course from the UCD Innovation Academy should not be underestimated. Retaining high-quality educators, who are committed to and have the capacity to lead change is essential. Educators who have completed the programme often remark that it has reignited their passion for the job, they have reconnected to their moral purpose and are now more confident in their ability to lead school improvement. Professional education is not just for the minds, it must also be for the heart.

This paper presentation focuses on results from the first two years of pan-Canadian research seeking to examine how teacher education programs support, nurture and sustain well-being. In keeping with antiracist and anti-oppressive calls to action in Teacher Education, a holistic model focusing on mental, emotional, physical and cultural conceptions of wellbeing guided the research questions. In year 1, the questionnaire was disseminated to the Senior Administration of Teacher Education Programs. In year 2, the questionnaire was disseminated to teacher candidates enrolled in Teacher Education programs. The results provide insight on the theory and practice of preparing teachers with well-being as a foundation for their professional lives as leaders in education.

The theoretical framework for this study is interdisciplinary, drawing on research in positive psychology (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008; Ben-Shahar, 2008; Keyes & Annas, 2009; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), positive organizational scholarship (POS) (Carr, 2004; Gallos, 2008; Luthans & Youssef, 2007; Roberts & Dutton, 2009), and work-related learning (Fenwick, 2008; Smith, 2020). Supported by this framework that connects wellbeing and professional learning, this research responds to a need to examine pre-service programs across a variety of educational settings, and to explore future policies and practices from a more holistic perspective (Alexander, Gerofsky & Wideen, 1999; Authors, 2010).

This multi-year research project is designed using a mixed-method approach (McMillan & Wimmer, 2008) to identify and describe programs, practices, and policies for promoting well-being across teacher education sites in Canada. Qualitative data from the questionnaires were inductively analyzed using the constant comparison method (Gay & Airasian, 2003; Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Quantitative data analysis included frequency counts, means, standard deviations, and percentages. Finally, the data were compared and contrasted with the themes derived from the review of related research on fostering well-being in teacher education programs.

Based on responses from administrators and students across teacher education programs in Canada, wellbeing is a consideration in the design and delivery of pre-service preparation. While intellectual, social, and emotional wellbeing tend to be the most familiar aspects for including in programs and policies, attention to cultural and spiritual wellbeing emerged through the survey responses emerged as important areas for further consideration. Student responses varied and at times, provided responses that were contrary to the administrators’ responses. Findings from this study highlight the importance of supporting and promoting wellbeing as a foundational part of formative and early professional learning experiences in pre-service teacher education. Overall, the findings inform initial recommendations for a holistic perspective to support and promote teacher well-being during pre-service education that take into account multiple pillars of wellbeing. Survey results provide additional insights on the theory and practice of preparing teachers with well-being as a foundation for their professional lives as leaders in education.

Recognizing the importance of professional learning as pathway towards school effectiveness, the findings from this study inform policy and practice to support teacher development from a foundation of wellbeing as integral to initial teacher education and continuing professional development for teachers.

The under-representation of minority ethnicities in the teaching workforce in Scotland has been a long-standing and persistent issue (e.g. Hartshorn et al 2005; BBC 2015; Hepburn 2017, Arshad, 2021). The aim of the study reported in this paper was to contribute to ongoing discussions about this issue. Informed by semi-structured interviews with minority ethnic teachers in Scottish schools, the study offers insider perspectives into the factors that affect recruitment, retention and progression of teachers from minority ethnic backgrounds, with a specific focus on teacher education and the probation year. Kholi (2021) suggests a need to understand how minority ethnic teachers negotiate their professional identities, and considers whether their personal identities actively or consciously affected their teaching. Whilst schools can be important sites for children and young people to encounter social justice, so too, are they sites for teachers to encounter social justice. Yet some minority ethnic teachers appear to feel confident in utilising their cultural and linguistic skills while others choose to assimilate in order to ‘fit in’. This potentially oppresses minority ethnic teacher’s identity (Beijaard and Meijer, 2017).

This paper draws on qualitative research conducted with minority ethnic teachers from the West of Scotland. All were educated in Britain but selection criteria ensured a mix of different cultural and religious backgrounds. Focus groups enabled their responses to be analysed, in order to explore their experiences and perceptions of their contribution to the profession. It was also important to seek their views on responding to the needs of the minority ethnic children they teach and whether they felt that their cultural, religious and linguistic skills were of benefit to all the children they teach. Critical race theory provided a useful lens to examine the teaching lives of minority ethnic teachers, with respect to the particular issues they face because of their culture, religion and language (Ladson-Billings, 1995; Bhopal, 2018).

Findings throw light into the influences that shape the participants as developing professionals and enable them to negotiate the complexities associated with their minority status. In addition, findings show that equality of opportunity symbolised by the offer of a place in a teacher education programme is not sufficient to ensure that individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds have a fair chance at completing the programme and the probation period. Unless the challenges associated with their minority status are recognised and appropriate support is put in place to counteract them, these aspiring teachers are less likely than their majority-status peers to experience success. An unsuccessful outcome can be devastating on a personal level and will contribute to the perpetuation of existing disparities in the representation of minority ethnicities in the teaching workforce in Scottish schools.

The recommendations for Teacher Education Institutions and Local Authorities arising from this study can be useful not only in relation to student teachers and probationers from minority ethnic backgrounds but also in relation to aspiring teachers from other under-represented groups.

The concept of teacher academic optimism (TAO) is gaining importance as a framework for understanding in-school factors that influence student achievement. It emphasizes the interplay between teacher efficacy, teacher trust in students and parents, and academic emphasis, and has been shown to be a crucial determinant of a teacher’s ability to optimize learning opportunities (Chang, 2011; Hoy et al., 2006; Woolfolk Hoy et al., 2008). Even after controlling for background variables such as socioeconomic status (SES) and migration background, research shows a positive correlation between TAO and student outcomes (Ates & Unal, 2021), underscoring the significance of academically optimistic teachers. Despite the potential promise of the concept, there still is limited understanding of the factors that influence TAO and whether teachers are equally optimistic in different classroom contexts. Therefore, this study focuses on the extent to which the subconcepts of TAO vary with classroom composition, educational track, and with teachers’ perception of academic optimism at the school level.

Data were collected in Antwerp, the largest city in Flanders (Belgium) and with a (for this study) relevant variety of secondary schools in terms of ethnicity and SES. Via stratified clustered systematic sampling a total of 1061 teachers from 37 secondary schools participated in the study. The adapted (and validated) Survey for Academic Optimism (Lelieur et al., 2022) was used to map out teacher and school academic optimism (SAO). We also surveyed the compositional features and the educational track of the class group the respondents had in mind answering the TAO items. Data were analysed through Bayesian multilevel structural equitation modelling. Model comparison showed a clear hierarchy of fit, as measured by the dWAIC (McElreath, 2020), in favour of the model with intercepts, school random effects, fixed effects, and school academic optimism effects for each one of the sub-scales within teacher academic optimism.

Our results illuminate the importance of considering the effects of educational track in understanding variations in teacher trust in students and parents. In schools with a similar level of SAO, educational track, rather than students’ background characteristics, plays a determining role. Specifically, students in the vocational finality have teachers with lower levels of TAO compared to students in other finalities. Previous research has highlighted the heightened risk of lower learning achievements among students in vocational tracks (Van Houtte & Demanet, 2016), but the presence of optimistic teachers has the potential to reverse this trend. Additionally, our study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the pivotal relationship between SAO and TAO. To foster inclusive and effective learning environments, policymakers and educators should prioritize investing in SAO. This includes cultivating a teaching team that believes in its ability to educate all children, fostering a trusting environment that actively involves students and parents, and maintaining high expectations for all students, regardless of their background characteristics or educational track.

This proposal is closely related to the subtheme: Leading schools and education systems that promote equity, inclusion, belonging, diversity, social justice, global citizenship and/ or environmental sustainability.

Chile has a highly privatised and marketised school system where schools are individually accountable for their performance and, ultimately, responsible for their sustainability (Carrasco & Gunter, 2019; Falabella, 2016; Zancajo, 2019). In this context, which would propel schools apart, recent policies and reforms are deliberately encouraging them to join mandated networks and work collaboratively under shared goals (Bellei, 2018; Pino-Yancovic et al., 2019). Nevertheless, to date, questions on how schools relate to others in such contrasting conditions have not been empirically addressed.

Considering this, this paper aims to explore to what extent schools build relationships of collaboration and support; and, if so, inspect who they turn to, and examine the motives driving them to get together.

To fulfil these purposes, this study adopted a Mixed Method Social Network Analysis approach (Bellotti, 2014; Borgatti et al., 2018), a conceptual and methodological framework concerned with the relational structures schools and their communities are embedded in. Empirical data was yielded between November and December 2022 through Ego-centric Network Map interviews (Altissimo, 2016) with sixteen primary school headteachers from an urban school district in Santiago, Chile. Interviews aimed at collecting data on relationships schools forge to support the work they do daily, acknowledging features of the networks, drivers, and the content of these bonds.

Findings show that schools and school leaders make use of both policy-framed and individual means to engage with schools that are similar in terms of their structural characteristics, forging networks that are mainly locally rooted, and diverse in terms of their size and the strength of their ties. Moreover, the research reveals four main ends driving schools to work along with others: i) to innovate in teaching and learning processes, ii) to provide administrative and managerial support, iii) to secure students’ smooth transitions to secondary education, and iv) to organise joint extra-curricular activities.

Unlike most research addressing school networking where the networks under study are setting the boundaries of the inquiry, this study provides an account of all the social worlds in which schools are intertwined. By doing so, this research seeks to expand current notions on the way schools relate to others, challenging assumptions on individualisation that usually are part of scholarly discussions on processes of privatisation. At the same time, it sheds light on relational perspectives to understand processes of school improvement that are not commonly addressed by the literature.

Considering the above mentioned, this paper seeks to contribute to the ‘Leading improvement collaboratively and sustainably’ ICSEI congress sub-theme.

Ensuring that every learner learns successfully is an urgent global challenge. To address this, ACER has committed its expertise and resources to make a significant contribution internationally. We work in partnership with education systems to drive ongoing, sustainable improvements in teaching and learning. This work is underpinned by our suite of evidence-based holistic improvement frameworks (tools), which assist education systems, schools, and school leaders in their improvement journeys. Such frameworks help establish common understandings of what improvement looks like in terms of observable, measurable practices to guide improvement foci, strategies, planning, and monitor progress.

Our flagship improvement framework is the National School Improvement Tool (NSIT). The NSIT reflects the interrelatedness of a broad range of practices at different levels in a school (highlighted in research, Robinson et al., 2017, Yatsko et al., 2015) and has been used successfully by schools and education systems in Australia and internationally since 2013. It consists of nine domains of practice with accompanying performance levels to support schools to deeply reflect on their current practices, paving a clear pathway for improvement. ACER determined a need to develop a second iteration of this tool, renamed the School Improvement Tool (SIT), drawing on the most recent international research, including our own, to ensure its fitness for purpose in informing sustainable school improvement.

This presentation highlights key learnings from research and practice that informed the development of the SIT. A comprehensive review of research on school improvement, school effectiveness and school leadership confirmed the robustness of the nine-domain framework. The SIT reflects learnings from an extended evidence base, new developments in the field, changes to common terminology and 10 years of evidence from NSIT school reviews.

Examples of themes that have been strengthened across the SIT include a more explicit focus on student wellbeing and engagement as well as student learning. Inclusive practices and the consideration of student perspectives to support sustainable school improvement have also been amplified. Fundamentally, it reflects a shift in the focus of school improvement research from student academic achievement outcomes to educational outcomes more broadly (Scheerens & Ehren, 2015). Another key theme that has been strengthened is collective efficacy and collaboration, reflecting compelling research findings in relation to school cultures characterised by high expectations (e.g., McAleavy et al., 2018) as well as distributed leadership (Leithwood et al., 2020), and ongoing professional learning of teachers and school leaders—directly related to the conference theme.

The SIT was published in 2023. Feedback from professional learning with school and system leaders and its application in schools across three Australian jurisdictions strongly endorses the shifts in emphases from NSIT to SIT and the value of the SIT as a tool to guide school improvement.

The SIT is a practical tool that can be used in any school setting internationally to enable schools to make judgements about where they are on their improvement journey and guide improvement-focused actions. At a policy level, it provides a unifying framework that can assist in ensuring system-wide consistency in school improvement efforts.

A school district's most important work is to ensure the highest quality of instruction for students. School district leaders typically don't invest in meaningful, ongoing development of building leadership capacity within their own team (Meyer & Vandermolen, 2021). The intent of this study was to shift that reality through the development of a thought partner relationship between superintendents of local school districts and former school administrators from a regional intermediate school district. The purpose of this partnership was to build strong leadership capacity to include a laser focus on learning and teaching. Results include superintendents appreciation of having a thought partner, an increase in classroom observational practice and various indicators of moving the needle toward instructional leadership.

Research questions included the following:

How to increase leader capacity for cohesive and collaborative leadership in support of improving teaching and learning for all?

Does having a focused though partner/coach have a positive impact on superintendent instructional practices? What is the impact?

How do superintendents influence the improvement of instruction and what leadership is needed for superintendents to better be able to focus on learning and teaching?

How does leadership coaching evolve over the course of the coaching relationship?

The theoretical perspectives for this study included Hall and Hord's (2011) Six Shared Functions for Facilitating Change as well as Smith and Smith's (2018) Big-Five High-Impact Instructional Leadership Practices and the Web of Support for Learning Improvements (Knapp et al., 2014). The authors also used language from Marzano's District Leadership Map (Marzano, 2018) and Cognitive Coaching (Thinking Collaborative, 2023) since those were frameworks local districts used for growth goal setting and evaluative purposes.

This study was a case study including multiple data sources to enable investigators to understand how superintendents utilized the knowledge, skills, behaviors and strategies they acquired by engaging with their thought partner on a consistent basis.

Primary data sources included semi-structured interviews. The tool used to conduct these interviews was the Concerns Based Adoption Model. Additional data sources included weekly huddle artifacts such as minutes, agendas, meeting recordings, data collection instruments and self assessments in which both the superintendent and the thought partner utilized on a consistent basis.

A principal is the second leading indicator of student performance falling only to fall behind the classroom teacher (Grissom et al., 2021). Similarly, when there is high principal turnover or a less effective principal leading a building, student achievement is negatively impacted (Grissom et al., 2021). Therefore, it is important to support building level leaders with professional learning that is meaningful and will bring results of increased leader performance. The purpose of this practice and subsequent study was to build the capacity in superintendent and central office leadership and support so that they may, in turn, engage in strategies and instructional focus to support their building level leaders (and teachers and students).

The conference's theme is "Quality Professional Education for Enhanced School Effectiveness and Improvement." Through this study, the investigators strived to provide quality professional learning to impact learning and teaching.

Focus of Inquiry

Staying in Science is a ten-year, longitudinal study funded by the National Science Foundation that investigates how authentic, mentored science research experiences in out of school settings may support youths’ persistence in STEM. The study encompasses youth who are currently in college or early in their careers in the workplace. The goal of the research is to understand youth persistence in STEM, and to identify the specific practices of educators, professors and mentors and features of institutional settings that either support youth in STEM careers, or divert them from their path.

Theoretical/ Conceptual Perspectives

We investigate core concepts in community of practice theory such as identity, sense of belonging, practices, and peer and mentor relationships (Lave & Wenger, 1991), and explore the degree to which those elements impact STEM persistence. In this second stage of the study, we focus on institutional practices and educational experiences that contribute to a sense of belonging or othering and strengthen or attenuate youth identities as someone who can do STEM work.

Data & Method

Our mixed-methods study gathers data from participating youth (N=358), including annual surveys, social network analysis, and interviews (N=30). We include a group of youth as co-researchers who provide feedback on instruments, analyze data, and report findings. Survey instruments includes a bank of items that gather data on youth sense of belonging or othering, experiences with microaggressions and racism, as well as flourishing. Interviews explore students’ educational and work experiences at the course, degree/major and institutional level.

Findings

Participants represent groups historically marginalized in STEM: 76% identify as people of color, 46% have one or more parent born outside the US and 39% are first generation college students. Participants in our study intend to remain in STEM: 75% of participants planned to or were majoring in STEM in college. Survey and interview data revealed a set of strategies and practices by educators and educational institutions that either contributed to youth sense of belonging or othering, and that supported and guided them or diverted from their paths. For instance, our social network analysis revealed that STEM mentors named as effective in youth networks were not simply providing guidance and advice, but helping youth feel a sense of belonging and acceptance in their field of interest.

Educational Importance for Practice and Theory

Our participants represent a population at the center of concerns about equitable science participation; they are passionate about STEM and have strong prior records of achievement in STEM. A network of knowledgeable adults able to support their development and persistence is critical to their success. This project shares findings about the practices, routines, and structures that educators and mentors have enacted that have been either critical to youth success or diverted them from productive pathways. We focus on sharing strategies that K-12 educators, as well as college and university faculty, can implement in their educational settings to support students who have been historically marginalized, responding directly to the ICSEI call for research that can inform leadership in education.

Context

During the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers and school leaders sought to maximize the effectiveness of remote teaching and of technology-enabled teaching. As Covid-19 recedes, such innovations can be retained to help shape education reform.

Doucet (2020) highlights formative assessment and timely feedback to online learners as crucial elements of remote learning. Remote schooling proved problematic for some students’ self-regulated learning (SRL) - how students are metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviorally active participants in their own learning. If implemented successfully in class, formative feedback—the process by which students learn how well they are achieving and what they need to do to improve their work—can help develop students’ SRL and improve their achievement. This study explores the link between digital formative feedback and SRL and how school level initiatives amongst staff in one jurisdiction might foster enhanced practice. Three questions guide the research.

1. To what extent can digital feedback enhance students’ performance, especially in relation to high school chemistry?

2. To what extent can digital feedback enhance students’ SRL?

3. What school-level strategies are employed to develop the capacity of high school chemistry teachers in relation to digital feedback?

Methodology

The study adopts a qualitative approach, including two data collection methods: a systematic literature review (Gough et al., 2012); and analysis of selected school websites. The literature review examines the relationship between digital feedback, students’ SRL and performance. The research is framed through Zimmerman’s (2002) conceptualization of SRL as a three-stage process involving Forethought, Performance, and Self-reflection, exploring how these stages are reflected in digitally-mediated formative assessment in practice. The study is situated, in part, in the context of chemistry teachers in International Schools in China. Relevant professional development and assessment policies drawn from school websites in two Chinese cities are examined to determine how formative assessment, and particularly, digital feedback, is used in teaching and what collaborative capacity-building practices are employed across teachers within a school. Qualitative data are being generated and thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) is used to extract relevant themes and draw conclusions about the research questions.

Emerging findings

Preliminary findings from the literature review highlight the dearth of information specifically related to digital feedback in chemistry, suggesting an under-researched area. Some research shows that digital formative feedback is beneficial when applied in classroom (Barana & Marchisio, 2016; Bhagat & Spector, 2017); facilitates mastering knowledge and skills by influencing students’ motivation; and helps inform subsequent instruction. The review is being broadened to include conference proceedings and grey literature. Some studies link students’ self-regulated ability to enhanced teaching and learning generally, but with relatively little focus on the digital context and remote learning evident during the pandemic and since. There is evidence of some inconsistency between teachers’ technological content knowledge and how to embed technology in practice (Wagner, 2021). This study aims to bridge that gap, including an emphasis on the policies and shared practice in schools that are used to inform and facilitate teachers in building their confidence and competence in digital formative feedback.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences and concerns of three teachers from one post-primary school engaged in the Instructional Leadership Programme. Although the literature reports on a variety of contrasting views on professional learning it also identifies common characteristics of effective professional learning designed to bring about a change in teachers´ instructional practice (Borko, 2004; Desimone, 2009; Wei et al., 2009; Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 2011; Darling-Hammond, 2017).

The Instructional Leadership Programme (ILP), a two-year professional learning programme, is designed to extend and refine the instructional practices of post-primary teachers in Ireland. Teachers and school leaders attend the ILP on a voluntary capacity. The programme provides schools with the opportunity to address specific school improvement requirements around teacher practice. Schools benefit from school improvement when school principals and teachers have the opportunity to identify and pursue their own specific professional learning needs.

The Concern Based Adoption is the framework used to explore how an individual’s concerns influence implementation of an innovation. It provides information on how teachers will adapt to change and provides a framework to anticipate future needs (Hall & Hord, 2015).

Research questions

1. What are the concerns of teachers engaged in refining/extending their instructional practices?

2. What experiences supported teachers engaged in a professional learning programme?

A case study approach informed the design, data collection and methods of analysis for this study. The Stages of Concern questionnaire was administered three times over a year and a half to the three teachers to understand their concerns. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain an understanding of the teachers experiences of changing their practices.

The data collection and analysis was aligned into four phases.

Phase 1- Stages of concern questionnaire in October 2019

Phase 2- Stages of concern questionnaire in March 2020

Phase 3- Semi-structured interviews between June and October 2020

Phase 4- Stages of concern questionnaire in June 2020

Findings

Teachers highest and second highest scores report that teachers are working towards implementation of instructional practices. The results also showed high-levels of collaboration among the teachers to learn more information about their new practices.

Teachers’ experiences of the characteristics of the ILP and professional learning supported them with implementation of instructional practices (the extended period of time, adequate period of time between sessions, teachers attending the programme in a team and modelling of the practices).

This study provides a unique perspective of teachers implementing instructional practices while engaging in a professional learning programme. Exploring these perspectives is important for two reasons. First, the results identified teacher concerns implementing instructional practices on their post-primary classroom while engaging in the ILP. This provides insight into a largely undocumented area of research in Ireland. Findings from this paper have the potential to contribute to research on teachers’ response to change and can contribute to future design of professional learning programmes.

Second, given the paucity of research related to professional learning in the Irish education system this study encourages further exploration into educational change focused on instruction in Ireland.

1. Introduction.

Karlsudd (2021) introduces ‘inner inclusion capital’ as the factors related to the teacher’s

competency in inclusive education (IE), for example, knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy. Malaysian

Education Development Plan 2013-2025 for IE requires the involvement of both government preschool

teachers (GPT) and non-government preschool teachers (NGPT). A study by Amar Singh et al. (2018)

highlights that the parents of special educational needs (SEN) pupils get the lowest support and

assistance for full inclusion (FI) from government schools compared to non-government schools. This

study focuses on the ‘inner inclusion capital’ of GPT and NGPT towards teaching the preschoolers with

autism as these pupils are the most in FI at government preschools (MOE Special Education Data 2020).

2. Problem statement.

Findings of past studies show that GPT have low levels of ‘inner inclusion capital’ to teach

preschoolers with autism in IE (Mariani et al., 2017; Jongkulin et al., 2019; Al Jaffal M., 2022). The

conditions of the ‘inner inclusion capital’ of NGPT are not known to the researcher. There is a need to

determine the current levels of ‘inner inclusion capital’ of GPT and NGPT and whether there are

differences that affect FI in preschools.

3. Research objective.

The research objective is to determine the levels of ‘inner inclusion capital’ of GPT and NGPT

and to identify differences between them for FI in preschools.

4. Research questions.

i. What levels of knowledge about autism do GPT and NGPT possess?

ii. What are the levels of attitudes and self-efficacy do GPT and NGPT have towards FI in

preschools?

iii. Are there significant differences for the knowledge about autism, attitude, and self-efficacy of

GPT and NGPT towards FI in preschools?

5. Research method

This research was conducted as a questionnaire survey. With the help of two State Department

of Educations, the questionnaire was distributed to 150 teachers through a google. form during the

covid-19 school closures. From the demographic information obtained, the respondents consisted of 75

GPT from non-FI preschools and 75 NGPT from FI preschools. The data was analysed using descriptive

and inferential statistics.

2

6. Research findings

GPT have low score levels for knowledge, moderate for both attitude and self-efficacy.

Meanwhile, the score levels for NGPT are moderate for knowledge, high for both attitude, and selfefficacy.

One-Way ANOVA analysis between the scores of GPT and NGPT showed significant

differences (p < 0.05) for the attitudes and self-efficacy, but insignificant for knowledge. Both GPT

and NGPT failed to score more than 50% correct answers to the knowledge of autism construct.

7. Educational importance

Results show that the attitudes and self-efficacy of NGPT with FI environment are higher than

the GPT in non-FI environment. It indicates that establishing more preschools with FI settings can

improve the ‘inner inclusion capital’ and the quality of preschool teachers’ professional education in

enhancing the effectiveness and improvement of IE in Malaysia.

This research project is situated within the context of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Ireland and seeks to understand the changes made to ECEC practice during Covid-19 restrictions. Given the relational nature of ECEC, Covid-19 restrictions impacted key aspects of ECEC, such as emergent curriculum and child-led practices, partnership with parents and wellbeing of both children and educators.

In particular, the research explored:

How did educators experience the closure and reopening of ECEC settings?

What changes were made to practice?

Did educators see an impact of such changes on children?

This paper focuses on findings that have significant implications for practice currently and into the future.

The chosen research design was a qualitative approach and set within an interpretative paradigm. This approach allowed for ECEC providers’ (i.e. owners, managers and educators) experiences, interpretations and shared meaning to be captured through semi-structured interviews, held at three points in the period March to December 2021 and analysed using inductive reasoning and thematic analysis.

Research suggests that COVID-19 has caused trauma, individual as well as collective (Sherwood et al., 2021), both in society at large and in ECEC environments. Traumatic experiences may leave a legacy which lasts for years, resulting in emotional distress, difficulty sleeping and behavioural challenges (Barnardos, 2018). Indeed, research exploring children’s response to crises indicates that the effects may even be experienced across their lifetime (Kar 2009; Le Brocque et al. 2017). This is particularly true for young children who may lack the cognitive and verbal capacity to process such monumental events (Durbin 2010). Yet, UNESCO (2020) frames the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to rethink such areas as curricula and learning. Inspired by a report from ERSI (Darmody, Smyth and Russell, 2020), examining the impact of Covid-19 closures on ECEC, and a study by ECI (2020), looking at the implications for children’s wellbeing, this research presentation directly explores the lessons learned from adapting ECEC practice during the Covid-19 pandemic and specifically draws out implications for future practice and further research.

Findings arising from the research include:

Educators’ well-being was significantly impacted by a multitude of factors relating to Covid-19. The pandemic exasperated feelings of burn-out and frustration in the ECEC sector, contributing to an existing staffing crisis, the impact of which is currently being felt.

Emergent curriculum and child-led practice were challenged, yet important learning regarding physical environments and play equipment also emerged, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of the environment as a third teacher.

Educator wellbeing appeared to impact on educators’ perception of child wellbeing and educational provision, including educators’ ability to implement high quality practice and being attuned to children’s needs and wellbeing.

Relationships and partnerships with parents were impacted, including drop off/collection times, informal conversations with parents and inviting parents/family members into the setting. Many settings have since been reluctant to go back to an ‘open door’ policy regarding parents.

The research has informed an Erasmus funded project investigating sustainable, inclusive practices post-Covid, exploring lessons learned from the crisis response to Covid.

The purpose of this ongoing research is to study politics of belonging (Yuval-Davis, 2006; 2011) in the policy and practice of Swedish early childhood education and care (ECEC). Belonging has been described as “fundamental to any child’s well-being and happiness” (Woodhead & Brooker, 2008, p. 3) and is related to connectedness, community and engagement (Allen et al., 2018). Previous research on school belonging has pointed out its importance for both educational outcomes and students’ engagement (Nix et al., 2022). In a society characterised by globalisation and social inequalities, belonging has become a highly contested and topical issue (Yuval-Davis, 2011). At the same time, there are high expectations that high quality ECEC will prevent social exclusion (Morabito et al., 2013). While belonging is a central concept in ECEC frameworks in countries like Australia and New Zealand (Erwin et al., 2022), it is less commonly used in the Nordic countries (Piškur et al., 2022). Results of recent research has shown that Nordic ECEC educators think that it is important to support children’s belonging, but there are complex power relations and potential value conflicts embedded in this work (Berge & Johansson, 2021; Eek-Karlsson & Emilson, 2023).

This research project consists of four sub-studies, which are guided by the following research questions:

1) What is expressed in transnational and Swedish national policy documents regarding children’s belonging?

2) Which contextual factors influence early childhood educators’ work to promote children’s belonging?

3) Which innovative processes and critical incidents can be identified in early childhood educators’ work to promote children’s belonging?

4) Which ethical and political value systems regarding children’s belonging are expressed at the macro-, meso- and microlevels of ECEC?

The study is based on a critical ecology of profession (Urban, 2008), which provides a systemic understanding of the professional work of ECEC educators. The meaning-making of educators is in focus when studying how their pedagogical work is related to policy and contextual factors influencing their work. Politics of belonging (Yuval-Davis, 2006; 2011) is used as a conceptual framework to analyse processes where belongings are constructed and negotiated. According to this framework, belonging is viewed as a power-loaded, multi-layered phenomenon (Yuval-Davis, 2006; 2011). A multimethodological approach is used, which includes policy analysis, focus groups with ECEC educators, participant observations in ECEC centres and stimulated recall where video observations of educators’ interactions with children are used as stimuli in interviews with educators. The focus groups, observations and stimulated recall will be carried out in three Swedish ECEC centres. The research is currently at an early stage, which means that this presentation will focus on the overall systemic perspective of the research topic, with tentative results from the first sub-study (policy analysis). The overall study has implications for both policy and educational practice, since it offers insights on how children’s belongings are constructed and negotiated through ECEC policy and the work of ECEC educators.

The research and development initiative, Culture for Learning (CFL), is aimed at fostering a culture of optimal development and learning for children in early childhood education in the former Hedmark county. CFL involves early childhood education authorities, the educational-psychological service, kindergarten leaders, and all staff members across 22 municipalities.

The objective of CFL is to ensure that children and youth grow up in a culture that promotes educational attainment and active participation in societal and professional life. A coordinated and innovative effort to enhance children's well-being, learning, and development contributes to the achievement of the following goals:

• Enhancing children's linguistic and social competence, preparing them for future educational and societal engagement.

• Facilitating the professional development of all early childhood education through collective and coordinated competence-building within professional learning communities.

• Actively utilizing various assessment results and other data at all levels of the education system to improve pedagogical practices.

Moreover, the CFL project in early childhood education serves as a longitudinal intervention study, complementing its focus on improvement efforts. The purpose of this intervention study is to examine the extent to which the various interventions within the CFL project have realized their intended objectives.

A comprehensive online survey has been conducted in all kindergartens, encompassing assessments by children, staff members, leaders, and parents regarding the quality of kindergarten provision. Three surveys were administered at three distinct time points: T1 (2017), T2 (2019), and T3 (2021) across more then 150 kindergartens. Approximately 8,000 four- and five-year-olds, 12,000 parents, 1,800 staff members, and 160 kindergarten leaders have participated in these surveys. The surveys cover a wide range of factors that research has shown to significantly correlate with well-being, development, and learning. Kindergartens have access to their own results through an interactive online result portal, enabling them to extract results for all respondent groups.

Pedagogical analysis serves as a core tool for analyzing and developing interventions in kindergartens within the Culture for Learning framework. Collective professional development initiatives have included learning caravans and workshops targeting different levels within the kindergarten sector. Furthermore, various online competence packages have been established for leaders at both kindergarten and municipal levels, as well as for all kindergarten staff, providing relevant theories and research-based knowledge. The implementation of competence packages has occurred within professional learning groups in each individual kindergarten. These packages have covered thematic areas such as relationships, language, parent collaboration, and pedagogical analysis.

There has been a positive development across all areas assessed by the survey respondents from T1 to T3. This includes improvements in children's social, linguistic, and motor skills. Four- and five-year-olds themselves reported experiencing an enhanced learning environment, with an average improvement of 0.15 standard deviations from T1 to T3. Additionally, there has been a certain degree of improvement in staff collaboration on pedagogical activities involving children, as well as their satisfaction and competence. Moreover, there has been a positive development in the pedagogical leadership in kindergartens, as assessed by both the leaders and staff members.

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.

Education is central to securing a better future for students in Out-of-Home Care (OOHC; ‘students in care’). Education is essential both for a person’s own development and well-being; and for their contribution to society. However, the educational outcomes of students in care lag well behind other students internationally (Garcia-Molsosa et al., 2021; O’Higgins et al., 2015) and in Australia (AIHW, 2015; Knight & Rossi, 2018; Townsend et al., 2020). We argue that any intervention intended to improve school outcomes for students in care has a crucial prerequisite: that these students actually are at school and in class. Previous research has shown that:

a) Double the amount of absence per term: average of 7 days versus 3.4 days (Armfield et al., 2020).

b) More than four times the amount of chronic truancy (defined as 10+ days unauthorised absence in a school term): 46.3% versus 10.7% (Armfield et al., 2020).

c) Almost four times the proportion of students suspended: 23% versus 6% (Graham et al., 2020).

Children are placed in OOHC by relevant state/territory child protection services when the service determines that they are unable to live safely at home due to risk of abuse or neglect. There are three main types of OOHC provision in Australia: relative/kinship care (with a relative), foster care (with a non-related carer), and residential care (small group homes). There are 36,084 school-aged children (age 5-17) in care in Australia (AIHW, 2022). Of these, 14,949 (41%) were Indigenous (AIHW, 2022), which is a significant over-representation.

Educational outcomes for students in care are poor. Fewer students in care meet the National Minimum Standard in NAPLAN-Reading in year 3 (82% versus 95% nationally) and the gap grows for Year 9 (69% versus 93%) (AIHW, 2015). Only 57% of young care leavers (aged 18-25) completed Year 12 (McDowall, 2020), while 85% of 20-24-year-olds nationally have completed Year 12 or equivalent (ABS, 2020).

Addressing educational improvements for our most vulnerable cohorts of learners at system, school leadership, school community and teacher knowledge and capacity levels is an ongoing but often unresolved issue in schools with indicators that disruptions due to covid have made this an even more challenging space for schools.

This innovation presentation will discuss the research work being undertaken within ARC LP220100130, Fostering school attendance for students in Out-of-Home Care and the Learning Without Barriers Education Strategy. lwb.org.au/ctfassets/2SBT8kE6V77cWne8HWZnum/ Where the author leads the national education strategy as Executive Director of Education for Life Without Barriers and is a Lead partner with the ARC team in his capacity as an Adjunct Researcher at the University of Tasmania. This research will bring politicians, policymakers, educators, and the child protection sector together to shape innovation that ensures each young person in care meets their learning potential.

The focus of The SOL (Student Ownership of Learning) foundation has been on educational culture. During previous ICSEI sessions we were able to share our thoughts and practises on how to identify the educational culture of a school or a school system. Using the theoretical framework of John Macbeath, we developed a table game that can be played by all the participants of the school community: students, teachers, and school leaders. The game is not only an excellent tool to stimulate a debate on ownership, but it also generates data about how the whole school community thinks about ownership of learning. Is the school a formal, a pragmatic, a strategic, an incremental, a competent or a cultural school? The result of the game is then used to produce graphs and charts that help the specific school define the direction it wants to follow.

Currently our research path focuses on the ‘experience of ownership’. How does it feel to have ‘ownership” This is a more psychological, a more inward-looking angle. We developed a questionnaire to find out about these experiences. This is a new tool that can be used in different schools with different educational cultures.

The most interesting question is of course: how are the school culture and the experience of 'ownership of learning' related? That is what SOL’s new research is about. The first set of schools that SOL would be looking into is a group of so called ‘Agora schools’ in the Netherlands. These schools can be described as democratic schools. In the Netherlands exist twenty schools where students not only determine their own leaning content, but also their own learning style, and pace of learning. They are an interesting group to work with. SOL wants to investigate the relation of Agora’s liberal educational system with the kind of ownership students experience.

Further on in the process, Sol will also continue the same research with other types of schools. The outcomes will help to sharpen ideas on what the effects on school culture are to the experiences of learning.

During this innovate session we will share the theoretical framework of school culture, the way we use the board game, the way we define the ‘experience of ownership’, the Agora school system and the first outcomes of our new research with those schools. We are very interested in the feedback of all members of the ICSEI community.

A strategic priority for ICSEI involves supporting regional and virtual conferences and events that build on and extend the conversations and networking between our annual Congresses. To build on the conversations from the ICSEI 2024 Congress in Dublin, we are working on a regional event for July 5-6th, 2024 in Wales that will focus on issues of social justice, central to ICSEI’s purpose: “To enhance the quality and equity of education for all students in schools in all countries.” This invited innovate session will showcase the theme of the regional event in Wales, considering different aspects of the challenge of repurposing education for all children.

This regional conference is for educators who are willing to step up and step out of their local or national comfort zone, to lead the change with others, to share knowledge and to cross boundaries by learning from others working in different education systems. This conference is aimed at school leaders, teachers, policy makers and academics, who are interested in contributing to a cross-national, international, and global community. The programme will have a deep social justice theme and will focus on the possibilities of enhancing school effectiveness and improvement for all rather than for some. The conference will also have a practical orientation and will facilitate the sharing of knowledge and experience about leading educational change at the micro and macro level.

While educational inequality and inequity persists, our collective mission must be to create a world where success for every child in every setting is not just an aspiration but a lived reality. We cannot do this alone or independently. Working collaboratively is essential. Isolation is the enemy of improvement, so it is important that we learn across systems not to policy borrow or to replicate but rather to collaborate authentically and meaningfully across educational boundaries and fault lines. The moral imperative is to ensure that now, and in the future, all children and young people learn and live well, whatever their context, setting or circumstance. Education has never been so important locally, nationally, and globally right now. Creating the right educational future for our learners to survive and thrive depends on collective learning and collaborative action to lead the way for school effectiveness and system improvement.

This Innovate Presentation will examine the development of a school improvement framework for a network of 12 non-government schools in Australia. The complexity of this network is evident in that the schools operate in six different jurisdictions each with their unique regulatory and governance parameters. Central to the development of the framework is a broad understanding of governance consistent with words like networks, rules, power, authority, and its value as a central organising framework (Bevir, 2009; Stoker, 1998; Watterston & Caldwell, 2011).

In just three years the commitment and energy of visionary executive leadership and principals has enabled the enhancement of the capacity of school principals in developing whole system school alignment. The introduction of the resource, “School Improvement – A Learning Conversation”, has animated principals and executive leaders to consider how to link strategic intent to ensure improved learning outcomes for students. This process has been supported using the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER) School Improvement Tool (2023) which describes the practices of highly effective schools and school leaders.

As the recently appointed Director of School Improvement for Marist Schools Australia (MSA), I have been charged with developing the initial strategic thinking of school principals and executive leadership for the implementation of new school improvement framework. The presentation will highlight the growing efficacy of school principals in the co-construction of a school improvement framework. This includes the development of metrics to judge the nature and efficacy of pedagogy, integrated reporting of specific data, its impact on leadership, strategic directions, decision making, and student feedback to enhance learning outcomes. Critical to success will be the efficacy and ultimately aligned professional learning for leaders and teachers to that end.

Two key questions have guided the meta-strategic processes used to develop whole school improvement and alignment:

How do we create an ongoing school improvement framework that celebrates and demonstrates the effectiveness of a school’s long term strategic growth in learning?; and

How can a school improvement framework and process be distributed, accessible, meaningful, and owned by all stakeholders?

This session will invite participants to engage in conversation in response to these questions. It is anticipated that participants will reflect on their own approach to school improvement to provide insight and further exploration of practice and policy in this critical area of leadership.

Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) is a large, multi-school system responsible for the education of 78000 primary and secondary school students in Australia that was faced with underperforming National Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Program (NAPLAN) data among its students. Determined to make a positive impact on learning and teaching outcomes, BCE initiated a system-wide review of each of its 146 schools using the National School Improvement Tool developed by the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER).

This momentous decision was a catalyst for change. BCE underwent structural transformation, establishing a School Improvement unit and reorganizing its Learning Services directorate for targeted school support. Each school was coached in the development of its own Explicit Improvement Agenda, drawing on insights and guidance from the National School Improvement Tool.

The journey was far from easy, but BCE persevered. Over the past three years, BCE has experienced tensions, discoveries, and necessary pivots. The presentation will provide an honest account of the highs and lows of this period of change, with insights that will be relevant to school leaders and policymakers around the world.

In recent years, BCE has transitioned from intervention to inquiry. The focus has shifted towards equipping schools with the tools to own their improvement agenda to lift system performance. This recent phase has witnessed a maturation in BCE's approach, fostering agency among principals and school leadership teams. Lessons have been learned about authentic collaborative work between BCE and its schools and the importance of peer accountability to enhance professional practice.

A key outcome of this improvement agenda focus has been the imperative of cultivating partnerships in the design of learning and teaching methodologies. These understandings have informed BCE's next steps, which look to the future with renewed purpose in delivering high performance across the system to maximize student achievement.

This presentation will be of interest to anyone who is passionate about improving student achievement. It will provide insights into the challenges and opportunities of system-wide change, and the importance of building leadership and teacher capability to drive improvement.

Objectives or purposes of the session:

We will present a program for leadership training for leaders and leadership groups. The purpose of this session is to challenge how educational leadership programs usually are conducted and to engage the participants in the session, helping us with coherent thinking, active support, feedback, and involvement to innovate future prototypes on leadership training.

Educational importance:

Educational research tells us that educational leadership is important to increase the students’ learning, and recent findings shows that there is a need of more practical training on leadership skills to accomplish this.

The format:

We will facilitate a process where the participants contribute by exploring what we have done so far, and what we should further address. Municipality leaders will present their use of this collective leadership development that have included their school leaders who have taken part in this development. School leaders will present their use of the program and we will present the objectives and goal for the program.

Our submission is connected the conference sub-theme “Policy and practice learning to support teacher and school leader development”. We will present our work through an involving method as an innovate session. The network this session will connect with is Educational Leadership Network.

Part 1: Practical, International Leadership Development (PILD)

The purpose of PILD is to develop leadership that provides leaders with efficacy and skills to achieve more equity and inclusiveness in their education systems. We do this to develop personal and professional competences in the leadership role. Together with the researchers we provide practical exercises to develop leadership skills on different theme. The participants get access to direct dialogue and sparring with the researchers regarding the municipality's/county municipality's, early childhood centers or schools’ challenges and initiatives.

Part 2: How municipality leaders use the program to develop collective leadership

In this part of the session municipality leaders/district leaders, will present how they have worked with the school leaders within their municipality to improve their leadership skills, both individually and as a group. The municipality leaders will demonstrate how they have been on a personal and professional journey exploring new ways of conducting their leadership, and how they have worked on developing the professional learning communities for their school leaders.

Part 3: How school leaders use the program to develop schools

In this section, school leaders will present how they have used their expertise to lead their own schools’ development. During the session they will demonstrate some of the tools they have used in their schools and present the way they have seen change among their teachers and discuss the next step for their development.

The format and approach(es) that will be used in the session to engage participants in the exploration of the area of practice:

During the innovate session we will engage the audience in various activities to demonstrate and to explore new ways of developing leadership training in education.

Target 4.5 of the UN sustainable development goals focuses on the fact that all individuals should have equal opportunity to enjoy education, achieve at equal levels and enjoy equal benefits from education. Unfortunately, research suggests that educational disadvantage exists across the life course and education sectors including the transition from second to third level with limited research available on the effectiveness of interventions which increase second-level students’ aspirations and progression to third level (Ní Chorcora, Bray and Banks, 2023).

Trinity Access Programmes' (TAP) Schools of Distinction programme aims to address the challenge of low progression rates to further and higher education, among students from low socio-economic backgrounds. By implementing evidence-based core practices in mentoring, leadership in learning, and pathways to college in partnership schools, TAP aims to increase aspirations and progression for groups that have been marginalised.

This paper presents research on the observed impact of the SOD programme on students’ college readiness. It aims to provide guidance for school leaders, policymakers and practitioners on what types of interventions work.

Methods

The paper uses data from a broader study on widening participation (Tangney et al., 2022) which surveys over 3600 students attending schools which have a disadvantaged status in Ireland. All schools included in the study are linked with the university widening participation outreach programme. Students were asked about their level of engagement with the core practices, as well as self-reported educational outcomes on their college readiness. College readiness in this instance refers to four validated self-reported measures; active engagement in education, educational aspirations and goals, college application efficacy, and students’ confidence in college success.

Findings

Preliminary findings suggest positive effects of certain WP outreach programmes on students’ college readiness. There was a significant difference in college readiness scores when comparing students who had a college student as a mentor and those that did not, even after controlling for students’ mother’s education. Students who reported having a college student as a mentor or having a staff member from their school as a mentor reported having statistically higher scores on all four college readiness measures. Findings showed that students who engaged in three or more Pathways to College activities had significantly higher scores on all measures of college readiness.

Educational importance

These findings give important insights into the roll out of mentoring programmes in schools and which types of mentors can be most impactful for young people from disadvantaged areas. Discussion of the analyses point to the fact that short, day-long events such as college fairs, campus tours, application clinics and college talks can be effective in increasing college readiness if they are embedded into school life.

This paper is relevant to the 3P network conference themes and specifically leading schools and education systems that promote equity, inclusion, belonging, diversity and social justice. The School of Distinction programme gives a template and structure to school leaders working in disadvantaged areas who want to cultivate college going cultures in their schools with the ultimate aim of increasing college readiness and post-school progression.

The purpose of this paper is to enhance engaged and purposeful dialogue between politicians, practitioners, policymakers and researchers in developing policies for school improvement by providing new insights into the role of politicians as policymakers in the development of large-scale education system reform.

The focus of inquiry is how the Minister for Education in NSW, Australia, developed the Local Schools, Local Decisions (LSLD) reform, the political considerations that arose and how they were addressed, and insights that might be relevant to policy development in other contexts or jurisdictions.

While there is general agreement that politicians are integral to public policy development, very little systematic research exists on the politics of reform. How politicians manage the political context, and their relationships with other education system actors during the policy development process, are “still largely a black box” (Busemeyer & Trampusch, 2011, p.432).

This study builds on the small literature of the politics of education, and the extensive literature on large-scale system reform and public policy development, to explore the role of politicians as policymakers, and how the political context shapes education policy development.

The methodology is a qualitative descriptive case study of the development of LSLD, which had major impacts on the governance, funding and decision-making authority of all 2,200 NSW government schools. It takes an historical narrative approach, drawn from the epistemically-privileged perspectives of insiders to the process: the Minister; his staff; and key stakeholders. Such voices are almost entirely absent in the research. The data is mainly from primary sources, including: public policy documents; private contemporaneous notebooks; the Minister’s (unpublished) memoir notes; and interviews.

Five key cross-cutting themes are identified through Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2013). They show that policy development depends as much or more on the politics of the reform process as on the technical reform design; demonstrate the importance of the Minister’s leadership in establishing the reform direction and determining the final policy; illuminate the value of his strong, active and respectful relationships and continual formal and informal engagement with a wide range of stakeholders; and reveal the messy, complex, intricate “policy dance” (Bridgman & Davis, 2004) that occurs between the Minister and the public servants. Building on my analysis, and on Ball’s (1993) conceptual lens of policy as both text and discourse, I theorise a new framework which describes each stage and focus of the policy development process.

The research contributes new knowledge to the politics of education and education policy fields on the role of politicians as policymakers and how policy development is shaped by the political context within which it occurs. This may enhance collaboration between politicians, practitioners, policymakers and researchers in improving education systems by giving practical guidance regarding the most effective engagement strategies to use at each stage of the process.

The paper connects to the conference theme regarding the impact of research/policy/practice collaboration for enhanced school effectiveness and improvement; and to the sub-theme of “engaged and purposeful dialogue between politicians, policymakers, academic researchers, educators, and wider school communities”.

Objective and focus of inquiry

Many governments recognize the limitations of centralized policy in motivating school improvement and turn to ‘network governance’ and the establishment of interorganisational networks in education to improve educational outcomes. Relying on such networks has far-reaching consequences for existing accountability structures, most of which were developed to support hierarchical control of individual school quality. This paper presents a systematic literature review which looked at the introduction of new accountability arrangements for networks and whether/how these improve education.

Perspective(s) or theoretical framework

The added value of inter-organizational networks in addressing complex issues has been well established in the literature (Ehren & Perryman, 2018), including in education. School-to school networks or other types of local partnerships can enable more localized decision-making to address complex problems that require interactions of multiple actors. Many studies have however also outlined the unintended consequences of such networks (Kenis & Raab, 2020), such as substantial coordination and transaction costs and reputation and legitimacy concerns for the member organizations (Tunisini & Marchiori, 2020). Accountability is expected to incentive and legitimize collaboration and orient members’ contribution to the purpose of the network and address these concerns (Ehren & Perryman, 2018). For the purpose of this paper we take a broad perspective on accountability: “Accountability refers to the diverse relationships between parties involved in, or affected by a program/action, in which each party has an obligation to explain and justify his/her or their conduct, and other parties can pose questions and pass judgement and the party may face consequences” (Tran, 2021, p.10).

Methods and data sources

This paper presents the findings from a systematic literature review of peer reviewed sources -both conceptual and empirical papers- about the accountability of purpose-oriented inter-organizational networks. An initial search of Web of Science and Eric resulted in 5819 sources. A screening of titles and abstracts resulted in a set of 60 papers of which 54 sources were included for full coding.

Findings

The findings of the review first describe the types of accountability described in the studies and the types of networks (according to maturity, size, formal/informal and public nature of the partnership) in which these were introduced. We then explain the types of outcomes indicated by the various types of accountability (e.g. improved collaboration, network-level types of educational outcomes) and the conditions under which these emerge (trust, regulatory frameworks, alignment between levels of evaluation and accountability).

Educational importance

Many governments are moving towards ‘network governance’ to coordinate their education system in an attempt to address the limitations of centralized policy. The change in coordination also implies the need for other types of accountability to ensure networks can meet their joint purpose. This paper offers an overview of literature in this area and whether and how accountability can improve the functioning and outcomes of educational networks.

Connection to the conference theme

The paper provides further insights into a particular aspects of collaboration and partnerships in education systems around the world and how their accountability can enhance school effectiveness and improvement.

This paper presentation addresses the conference theme of ongoing professional learning and growth through focussing on the processes and outcomes to date of a partnership between the Centre for School and System Improvement (CSSI) in the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the School Improvement Division of the Northern Territory Department of Education (NTDoE). The CSSI focuses on investigating and supporting system transformation (Sengeh & Winthrop, 2022). The partnership between our organisations spans many decades. However, in 2018, the NTDoE embarked on a deliberate strategy to grow expertise in using ACER’s National School Improvement Tool (NSIT, 2016; now the School Improvement Tool, 2023) to review and analyse school performance for school improvement planning across differentiated improvement journeys. The SIT is a research-based framework which makes explicit good practice in school improvement in nine interrelated domains, each with four performance levels. Schools can use the Tool to pinpoint their current levels of practice in each domain and plan for improvement, based on evidence collected from a range of sources and stakeholders.

School communities in the (Northern Territory) NT have the greatest degree of remoteness and lowest socio-economic levels in Australia (ABS, 2022; Goss & Sonnemann, 2018). They also have the lowest educational outcomes in the country. 0ver 29,000 students are enrolled across 154 government schools in the NT (NT Government, 2022). Fifty per cent of students in NT government schools are Aboriginal. Approximately 71% of these schools are in remote and very remote areas. These circumstances bring unique challenges for school improvement. The Education NT Strategy 2018-22 (NTDoE, 2017), and the subsequent continuation of this agenda in the Education NT strategy 21-25, aimed to accelerate school improvement by ensuring that each school was focused on a “sharp and narrow set of priorities” and that, in turn, the system would provide schools with differentiated support to achieve performance goals and targets (NTDoE, 2019, p. 4) so that the NT would become the most improving education system in Australia. The NTDoE-ACER partnership was to support this overarching goal. Given the contextual complexity and high historical teacher and principal turnover, the partnership focussed building sustainable expertise within the system, contributing to the development of a pipeline of school leaders, and enabling culturally responsive improvement approaches. Strategies focussed on:

• Building a system-wide shared understanding of and practice in improvement

• Ongoing professional learning in school improvement practice using ACER tools across a broad range of stakeholders

• Culturally sustainable practice

• Differentiated support and resources to schools

• Growing a pipeline of leadership from within the system

• Monitoring for impact.

Independent evaluation shows that the impact of this approach has been positive with clear indication of improvement over a relatively short period. Successful outcomes have been observed particularly in growing expertise within the system. This has enhanced leadership and teaching capability, as well as staff attraction and retention rates, which have positively influenced student outcomes.

This contribution focuses on the views of teachers who participated in three professional development courses on school self-evaluation, conducted as part of the ValueE for School (VfS) action research (European Found Project 2014-2020).

We investigated participants' views on the training received and on its impact on the work of school data teams and the evaluation culture of schools, comparing the differences in relation to the sample context variables and the courses characteristics.

The literature highlights some aspects of the self-evaluation process that are decisive for school improvement: a) supporting schools during this process by adopting a decentralised perspective; b) building evaluative capacity in school staff; c) developing an evaluative culture in the places where learning takes place (OECD, 2013; Schildkamp, Poortman, Handelzalts, 2016). Therefore, it is important to adopt training models based on the needs of schools, offering collaborative activities and building shared knowledge within the school community (Brown & Poortman, 2018). Teacher training plays a decisive role, especially if it takes place within communities of practice engaged in a collaborative professional learning (Duncombe & Armour, 2004).

The three VfS courses aimed to strengthening the teachers evaluation capacity of the teachers and offer insights to policy makers on networking, training and support models for school self-evaluation. The project targeted 400 teachers from 42 schools. As part of the evaluation design, 13 online focus group were carried out. A merit sample of 101 teachers participated and debated the strengths and limitations of the training course.

The analysis was set from a phenomenological-interpretative perspective (Merriam, 1998), using a qualitative approach to the content analysis (Mayring, 2014). A computer-aided text coding methodology was developed (Fereday, Muir-Cochrane, 2006), which combines an inductive/bottom-up approach (first-level descriptive codes, emerging from the corpus) with a deductive/top-down one (second-level interpretative categories, grouping codes thematically related). Case distributions in the codes were analysed by means of contingency tables and covariation/correlation indexes with respect to the participants background, with the aim to offer insights into which training features fit to specific targets.

Results show that peer learning supports the evaluative culture of schools (2=2.885, p<0.09) and improves data literacy and collaboration among schools, fostering decentralization of viewpoints.

Training activities have fostered involvement and dialogue within schools. Differentiated results are noted in relation to the roles played by participants in the school, with greater attention by data teams to the methodological aspects of evaluation and by school staffs to school governance (climate, collaboration, organization, participation). Career seniority also appears to be relevant. We observe that teachers with less and more experience are more oriented to an evaluative school culture (2=9,852, p<0,05) than teachers with average experience: this group is more interested to technical and methodological issues (2=6,975, p<0,08).

Promoting teachers’ evaluation capacity building is important to strengthen their understanding of the role of evaluation for improvement and the use that can be made of its results.

It is well known from school development research that school change and organizational learning can be supported by, among other things, stimulating and absorbing innovation from outside (Easley Ii & Tulowitzki, 2016; Fullan, 2016; Pietsch & Tulowitzki, 2017). Nevertheless, there is an ongoing debate about how organized transfer and how to achieve sustainability. In our paper, we refer to a large-scale training program for selected students (peers/scouts) in secondary schools, that was designed, introduced and implemented by an external, independent government agency in a German state with the help of external trainers. The aim was to train students as peers to support media literacy and to provide internal services to other students on current challenges of digitalization (cyberbullying, cyber grooming, fraud, privacy, etc.). Our research question was related to the evaluation of the program, touching also on aspects of the program's impact on schools. Our formative and summative evaluation of the program with 183 participating schools (references not disclosed for blind review) found that the program itself, the school-specific implementation, and the roles and responsibilities of the peers had a impact on school development processes. In particular, awareness of the challenges of developing media literacy in schools, the development of a participatory school culture and the use of digital content for teaching have been influenced.

In this paper, we will present the results of the “moulding forces” of external triggers on school development. We build our empirical study on the concept of "absorptive capacity" (Zahra & George, 2002) from organizational research. It describes the ability of organizations (schools) to absorb external impulses and make them usable for internal change processes.

Various survey instruments (quantitative and qualitative) have already been developed, applied, and evaluated for this purpose. Transfer to the school context has occurred in initial studies - primarily in the U.S. (Da’as & Qadach, 2020; Farrell et al., 2019; Lenart-Gansiniec et al., 2022) - and has been applied to quantitative school leadership research in Germany (Pietsch et al., 2022; Röhl et al., 2022). In contrast to the mainly quantitative approaches, we followed a mixed-methods design with surveys of 166 teachers in school who are the responsible coordinators of the program, 42 school leaders as well as 8 interviews with teachers in school.

Our main findings show that the programme has an impact on school development in three directions: a) the student peers and the coordinating teachers provide impulses in terms of content for the design of media education in schools; b) the format of (inter-school) collaboration and peer-to-peer learning serves as an example of good practice in schools and promotes exchange and sustainable networking within schools; c) different learning arrangements (online, face-to-face, hybrid) provide innovative ideas for the development and design of lessons. This is consistent with current research on media literacy (Groeben & Hurrelmann, 2002; Hugger, 2021; Jeong et al., 2012; Ossenschmidt et al., 2015).

School systems internationally are considering curriculum change in response to a fast-changing world, recognising the need to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to address 21 Century global economies and societies (OECD, 2018, 2020, World Economic Forum, 2020, UNESCO 2021). The British School of Brussels is a not-for-profit international school with a strong ethos; its aim is to be a force for good. Internal and external reviews informally and formally identified areas in which we could improve the learning experience for students in line with our Guiding Statements. Undertaking a curriculum review challenged the school to ask: does our current curriculum and our teaching and learning methods enable this to happen?

The paper seeks to provide examples for how the school as a professional learning community has supported the process of the review and faced the challenges of sense making and pace. Based on theoretical insights from Sinnema and Stoll (2020), the OECD (2020) and UNESCO (2015,) amongst other international curriculum thinkers, the author will showcase how enacting a curriculum review in line with quality professional education, can enable enhanced school effectiveness and improvement.

Though a culture of inquiry, exploration, and innovation, whether it be through commissioned projects, autonomous professional learning initiatives, department led goals or school wide priorities, much has been achieved which helped the school community learn from each other, establish commitments and enact school wide change. Through a process of researching, exploring, provoking, modelling, trialling, experimenting, recommending, and encouraging, the community considered the purpose of the curriculum to make recommendations and commit to future developments.

Empirical evidence was gathered from the school community (staff surveys, 1:1 interviews, observations / evidence collected from professional learning days). The author has referenced and aligned their thinking alongside a review of literature that supports the paper objectives.

The paper exemplifies the ICSEI theme of how high-quality teaching and learning can be supported by a professional learning community, collaborative school improvement planning, and evidence informed policy that respects and promotes teacher professionalism.

Curriculum implementation can be a complex process; however, we have seen how stakeholders are the main drivers of curriculum change (OECD, 2021) and collective capacity can be built from effective collaboration. The review enacted a system wide approach to enable teams of teachers across the school to pursue projects and enact change. The direction of travel for BSB was created by staff which has helped to make meaning of the curriculum changes.

The author hopes that by sharing their learning and inviting like-minded colleagues to contribute to discussion, it will enable others in similar situations to take back new knowledge and ideas to implement. In addition, the author hopes that by engaging in critical dialogue, they can continue to develop ways to support the realisation of the curriculum aspirations for them to be sustainable. The author is keen for points raised in the paper to be used as tool to create partnerships targeted at leading improvement collaboratively and sustainably.

This paper proposes a research study that applies the theoretical framework of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) to a school project with participants from across the school. While PLCs have been extensively studied within individual schools (Stoll et al., 2006), there is a need to explore their potential application to cross-school projects that involve participants from different grade levels, subject areas, and roles. This study aims to investigate how PLCs can be effectively utilised in such projects to promote collaboration, shared learning, and project success. The British School of Brussels roots its PLC in the overarching concept of ‘One-schoolness’ - an approach to involving all members of the learning community in all school initiatives. The research will examine the key components of PLCs, adapt them to this specific cross-school context, analyse their impact on participant collaboration and project outcomes, and identify the factors influencing their successful implementation. The findings of this research will provide insights for educators and school leaders seeking to leverage PLCs for cross-school collaborative projects, ultimately enhancing project outcomes and fostering a culture of collaborative professional development.

The proposed paper will review the specific project of the Wild Garden at the British School of Brussels through interviews and reflections with the participants. Project participants are students, teachers, leaders and operational staff from across the school. The data collected will enable a comprehensive exploration of the impact of cross-school PLCs on collaboration and project outcomes and facilitate the identification of meaningful conclusions and recommendations.

This research seeks to fill the gap in the existing literature by examining the application of PLCs to cross-school collaborative projects. The findings will provide insights into adapting and implementing PLCs in the unique context of such projects, enhancing collaboration among participants and improving project outcomes. The study will be of value to educators, school leaders, and policymakers looking to utilise research and data of specific projects for inquiry, insight, innovation and professional learning through a cross-school collaborative professional development approach that creates supportive environments for shared learning and continuous improvement.

The author is an operational staff member of the British School of Brussels and member of the school’s Professional Learning Community. After 20+ years working in education in other-than-teaching roles, the author has returned to university to study in the Master of Education Studies programme at the KULeuven in Leuven, Belgium.

PURPOSE

In the United States increased public and political hostility toward teaching contributed to historically low teacher morale (Merrimack, 2022, 2023). These negative sentiments have caused many teachers to leave the profession, thus hindering efforts to improve schools and sustain change initiatives. We argue that one way to address this issue is by fostering a sense of belonging in teachers. Being in a supportive and nurturing professional community when facing challenges fosters resilience and success (Day & Gu, 2014). Moreover, a sense of belonging could serve to mitigate negative feelings and improve well-being (Allen, 2020, Bjorklund, 2023). This qualitative study adds to the literature on sense of belonging by exploring how teachers experience belonging at their school and what schools can do to foster feelings of belonging.

FRAMEWORK

Sense of Belonging

Feeling a sense of belonging is a fundamental human need (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Over the past decade, researchers have found that positive relationships and a sense of belonging are important for peoples’ physical and mental well-being (Allen, 2020; Holt-Lundstad et al., 2010). Research exploring the antecedents and outcomes of sense of belonging in K-16 contexts identifies benefits of sense of belonging for students (e.g., Allen et al., 2021; Bjorklund, 2019; Goodenow, 1993; Strayhorn, 2012). However, few have explored educators’ experiences of belonging (e.g., Bjorklund, 2023; Pesonen et al., 2021; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2011, 2019).

DATA & METHODS

This paper examines interviews with 39 elementary school teachers from one school district in the Western United States. All participants were hired by the district in the past five years and ranged in teaching experience from 2 to 20 years. Interviews were conducted from January through May 2023. Questions probed participant experiences of belonging at their school site and how the school helped or hindered their sense of belonging. Using the analytical software, MAXQDA, we engaged in a two-cycle coding process (Miles et al., 2014; Saldaña, 2016) to create and finalize our codes. We then used thematic memos to flesh out our findings.

FINDINGS

Preliminary findings suggest four themes related to how the school organization fostered feelings of belonging: Creating space for socialization between school staff, principal support, creating time for collaboration between colleagues, and showing trust in teachers. Participants all mentioned the importance of school leadership to their sense of belonging at the school.

IMPORTANCE FOR PRACTICE AND THEORY

This work offers implications for school leaders and researchers. School leaders are well-positioned to impact teachers’ sense of belonging and thus should be attentive to signs of belonging or not belonging among teachers. In the paper we identify specific strategies school leaders might consider. Future research might explore critical questions such as: What constellations of belonging networks exist within the school and what opportunities for inclusion or exclusion do they create for new teachers? What are the power dynamics of belonging in schools? How can school leadership help minoritized teachers feel a sense of belonging? Answering such questions may be the key to improving teacher job satisfaction and school change goals.

The authors are members of a team of researchers conducting a national evaluation of the impact of the National Council for Special Education’s (NCSE’s) frontline services in primary post-primary and special schools in Ireland. The general functions of the NCSE include planning and co-ordinating education provision and support services for children with special educational needs; disseminating information on best practice in relation to the education of children with special educational needs and assessing and reviewing the associated resources required including ensuring students’ progress is monitored and viewed. This national evaluation is particularly significant as Ireland in its ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 20 March 2018, places an obligation on state parties to recognise the right of persons with disabilities to education and their inclusion in the general education system. Building teachers’ capacity as educational leaders remains critical in achieving the transformation of the school system required to realise Ireland’s duties and responsibilities in this regard.

Data were collected through document analysis, surveys, interviews with parents-carers, school staff and other professionals. Ten case studies were also conducted in primary, post-primary and special schools involving children and young people, parents-carers, principals, teachers, special needs assistants (SNAs) and other professionals who were supporting children with special educational needs in the case-study schools. Based on the authors’ belief and previous experience that involving teachers as co-researchers in the evaluation of national policy related to education contributes positively to teachers’ educational leadership capacity, six teachers were recruited as co-researchers for the case-study element of the research. Additionally, the research process is greatly enriched by the close-to-practice expertise that teachers bring to the research and evaluation process, which cannot be equalled by a researcher who is more distant from the practice. Crucially, the combination of teachers and researchers working together as co-researchers is a powerful combination that can ultimately effect positive and dynamic practice and policy change.

This paper reports on the innovative methodological design developed by the authors which included an online professional learning programme co-delivered online via Microsoft Teams by the authors; the co-construction of the case-study elements by the authors and the teachers, which included Individual and Focus-Group Interviews; Participatory Encounters with Children and Young People; Document Review and Observation Schedules. The findings of the case-studies suggest that adopting participative approaches to the evaluation of national policies yields findings that are attuned with the acoustic of practice; provides validation for both participants and teachers as co-researchers and challenges the responsivity of existing policy. The potential impact of this methodological approach on educational leadership capacity is interrogated through the lenses of the model for educational leadership proposed by the Centre for School Leadership and the impact on the person of the leader and the practice of the leader considered. Professional Standards; Reflection on Practice; Relevant Experiential Learning; Individual and Collaborative Learning; Cognitive Development and Flexible and Sustainable Professional Learning are identified and interrogated in the context of their inextricable links with teachers’ educational leadership competence.

Distributed leadership (DL) employs a broad perspective of leadership, conceptualising it as a practice that is spread across leaders, followers, and the situation (Spillane et al. 2001). The construct is exceedingly popular and is a prominent discourse in both policy and practice spheres (Harris 2013). DL is endorsed in school policies internationally including Ireland (Barrett and Joyce 2018; Department of Education 2022). Yet little is known about how DL is currently being enacted in Irish post-primary schools as well as the potential impact that it is having on school life. The aim of this doctoral research was hence to explore DL in Irish post-primary schools.

This aim was achieved using a mixed methods research design underpinned by an interpretivist approach. While interpretivism is typically associated with qualitative research, it can also be employed for mixed methods research (McChesney and Aldridge 2019). The study comprised three phases, namely a scoping review of international empirical literature on DL, an online survey with post-primary school personnel working in Ireland (n=363) which was based on an adapted version of the Distributed Leadership Inventory (Hulpia et al. 2009), and semi-structured interviews with post-primary school principals and deputy principals working in Ireland (n=15). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke 2008; Braun et al. 2022).

There are several outcomes of this study. A map of recent international empirical research on DL including research trends and implications is outlined. An overview of Irish post-primary school personnel’s interpretations of DL is presented, highlighting differences regarding what is shared, who it is shared with, and how it is shared. The varying degrees and models of DL enactment in this context are presented, noting challenges regarding the culture of leadership in schools, the complexity of relationships among staff, variations in the enactment of teacher leadership, and the threat of ‘tick-the-box’ DL. An overview of the challenges to the sustainability of the role of school leaders is outlined due to administrative overload, policy proliferation, and the complexity of the role, with DL suggested by participants as a tool to aid these challenges.

This research has implications for research, policy, and practice. Areas of future research are identified along with the suggestion to replicate existing research and use new methodologies in new contexts to build on the existing corpus of literature. Tensions between policy and participants’ interpretations and enactment of DL are identified. Theoretical implications include the identified need to further conceptualise the culture required for DL to flourish, the way in which labour is divided, and the use of DL as a sustainable practice. A framework for enacting DL as a teacher empowerment practice is presented and the need to rethink the role of school leaders and create further collaboration between school leaders and policy makers was identified.

This research links to the conference theme as school leadership is integral to effectiveness and improvement in schools. This research is particularly linked to the subtheme of leading improvement collaboratively and sustainable through the shared practice of DL.

Objectives, problem of practice and purpose

In a recent study on novice principals’ coping strategies during the Covid-19 pandemic Sahlin et al. (submitted) concluded that the principals’ coping strategies were based on adaptive leadership (Harris, 2021), as a way of handling situations that were rapidly changing and unclear. The uncertainty and stressful situations the principals experienced demanded adaptive leadership strategies and emotional management and leadership, as suggested by Optlaka and Crawford (2021). Adaptive emotional leadership and management are necessary for the principals to maintain resilience in handling stress and be flexible and adaptable in all situations during a low-intensive crisis, where ‘good enough’ is based on and reflects upon professional decisions rather than personal emotions of fear and stress. More research should be focused on conducting a follow-up survey study after two years to the same principals and investigate what they continued to work on, what were their most important lessons and what they changed in their leadership practices based on their experiences of leading during the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore principals’ perceptions of their leadership during the pandemic and how it has changed their leadership practices today.

Perspective(s) or theoretical framework, or context

In this study, adaptive leadership theory (Heifetz et al, 2009; Obolensky, 2014;Yukl & Mashud, 2010) and the concept of leadership as practice (Spillane, Halverson & Diamond, 2004) is used to understand the findings of the study and to analyse the empirical data.

Methods, techniques, modes or approach to inquiry

The study is based on a qualitative research approach using a digital questionnaire which will be sent to all the principals (n = 193) who were studying at the national training program in Sweden during the Covid-19 pandemic and who was a part of the initial study (Sahlin et al., submitted).

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Results, findings, learning

This follow-up study has not yet been completed but is based on a previously completed study on novice principals coping strategies and leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic (Sahlin et.al., submitted).

Educational importance of this research or inquiry for theory, practice, and/or policy

For educational research, this paper contributes valuable knowledge about key factors for principal leadership during a low-intensive crisis in a Nordic context, for both practitioners and policy makers.

Connection to the conference theme

This paper connects to the “Educational Leadership Network” and to crossover sub-theme of the conference: “Ongoing system and school implications arising from the COVID-19 crisis”.

Over the last several decades, the educational systems in Ireland and the United States have undergone significant reforms leading to new forms of educational leadership that take a distributed approach to school improvement. In the context of shifting student demographics, accountability movements, and the recent upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, both formal and informal leaders have been central to addressing the evolving needs of youth (Spillane & Lowenhaupt, 2019; Mehta, 2013; McLeod and Dulsky, 2021). At the same time, systems-level improvement efforts have sought to leverage leadership across roles and levels, relying on these leaders to implement instructional and organizational reform.

We draw on distributed leadership theory as we consider the dynamic ways in which leaders across positions influence school improvement (Spillane et al., 2002, Harris et al., 2022). According to this theory, “leadership practice is constituted in the interaction of leaders and their social and material situations. (Spillane et al., 2001, p. 27). As such, leadership occurs across individuals, interactions and the artifacts that mediate those interactions. This emphasis on leadership as practice that is distributed across relationships has led to research studies, policy initiatives, and changes in the infrastructure of educational leadership (Harris et al., 2022). At the same time, there is much to learn about how to build capacity among leaders to engage in distributed leadership.

Our presentation spans two distinct educational systems with differing approaches to distributed leadership. In Ireland, policymakers have devoted considerable attention to supporting senior school leaders including a particular focus on distributed leadership and a review of formal middle management/leadership roles being undertaken by appointed teachers (Department of Education, 2018, 2022. In the United States, the proliferation of emerging leadership structures such as instructional coaching, leadership teams, and teacher leadership has led to a growing set of possibilities and roles, in many cases without formal infrastructure to support the leadership demands of this work (Woulfin & Rigby, 2017; Lowenhaupt & McNeill, 2018). Taking a comparative approach, we use qualitative case study methods to examine the distributed nature of leadership in these two contexts with a focus on two preparation programs in each site (Yin, 2009). Through document analysis (Bowen, 2009), we will examine how distributed leadership is conceptualized in policy documents and program materials. Drawing on our own experiences with the design and implementation of leadership preparation for middle and non-traditional leaders, we will examine common themes across contexts and surface distinctions with implications for distributed leadership capacity building in the two educational systems.

In our findings, we will examine how these systems have built capacity for distributed leadership. We examine the relative affordances and challenges of explicit infrastructure for distributed leadership in the Irish case as compared to the organic evolution of informal leadership opportunities in the US case. We explore how this difference has shaped educators’ positions and dispositions for taking on leadership roles. We end with implications for policy and practice given the ongoing reliance on distributed leadership for school improvement in an increasingly complex education landscape.

In the context of growing interest in improvement research in education and continuous improvement, one core problem to address is how to bridge gaps in improvement knowledge and expertise. A second problem to address is the tension between traditional accountability metrics-driven improvement systems and more progressive performance-based and continuous improvement systems. As New York state policymakers seek to use improvement research in their accountability system redesign and spread continuous improvement expertise among practicing professionals, backbone organizations that function as diverse stakeholder boundary-spanners, improvement knowledge generators, and improvement capacity builders, are, arguably, necessary. The purpose of this paper is to describe the New York context and raise questions about two main challenges framed as research questions.

Research Questions:

What are the optimal strategies for communicating and disseminating equity-oriented research findings and recommendations to diverse stakeholders? What structures and strategies can policymakers, local school system leaders, and improvement researchers employ to facilitate improvement research and continuous improvement utilization?

Perspectives:

As a number of scholars have highlighted (e.g. Haverly et al., 2022), leading instructional improvement is an endeavor fraught with challenges and considerations that influence what is prioritized in the day-to-day functioning of a school. While pragmatic considerations may be high on the list of drivers for behavior, moral considerations are as well. Such moral considerations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and in light of social justice imperatives especially among youth of color and those most vulnerable or marginalized, can drive an equity-focused improvement shift.

Such a shift relies upon innovative research methodologies and frameworks (Ishimaru, 2022; Eddy-Spicer et al., 2022).

Approach to Inquiry:

In this chapter I used autoethnographic methods to chronicle and surface my experiences leading a backbone organization situated in a higher education institution and funded by the state of New York to “inform, inspire, and improve” in the P-12 education space. I did this work reflexively and using an ecological lens (Adams, et al., 2017; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006).

Findings:

I have discovered the following present as high leverage activities: 1) direct engagement with stakeholder groups representing large numbers of members through presentation and publications in member communications; 2) direct engagement with state education department agents in the role of “thought partner” as well as co-designer of continuous improvement professional development opportunities. In relation to question two I have discovered the importance of 1) surfacing a theory of improvement through dialogue with multiple policy agents to encourage sense-making and build coherence across entities and organizations with regard to improvement initiatives, 2) thoughtful integration of practice-oriented expertise with improvement research knowledge and improvement expertise in the development and delivery of continuous improvement-focused professional development, and 3) building improvement infrastructure from an equity-center.

Importance

This presentation provides one example of the developmental journey of a backbone organization in the New York state context and with discussion of current and “on the horizon” opportunities and barriers to building sustainable research-informed improvement infrastructures.

Connection to Theme:

This presentation focuses on a backbone organization promoting equity-oriented and improvement-research informed professional education opportunities.

Three professional practice standards are Ministerial Orders in Alberta, Canada—Superintendent Leadership Quality Standard, Leadership Quality Standard, and Teaching Quality Standard. The three standards are interrelated, interconnected, and interdependent among the nested levels. Complexity theorists argue that nested systems exhibit emergent properties. The interactions, relationships, and feedback loops between the nested levels give rise to the system's overall behaviour. Changes or disruptions at one level can propagate and impact other levels, creating a complex web of dependencies and influences. The theoretical framework for the design and analysis of this study was informed by complexity theory. The conceptual framework, which is consistent with complex organizations, was adapted using implementation science detailing three implementation drivers (competency, organizational, leadership) that supported implementation of the three standards (Fixsen et al., 2019; Sims & Melcher, 2017).

A four-year, longitudinal, convergent mixed-methods study was conducted using three methods to gather data: surveys, case studies, and document review of school authority and provincial documents. Surveys were gathered from teachers (n = 5536), school and system leaders (n = 1832), and superintendent leaders (n = 108) in 35 school districts. Case studies (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) were carried out in up to 10 school districts each year. Superintendents, system leaders, principals, assistant/vice principals, and teachers (cumulative n = 536) participated yearly in either focus groups or interviews from the participating school districts. The data were gathered concurrently and analyzed separately (Bazeley, 2018; Creswell & Plano-Clark, 2018; Onwuegbuzie & Teddlie, 2003). Complementary analysis was used for integrating the data in response to the following three research questions: How well and in what ways are the professional practice standards being implemented? What barriers and supports do teachers, principals, and system leaders identify in the implementation process? What impacts are evident from the implementation of the professional practice standards?

One of the key merged findings was that participating teachers and leaders became more proficient with collecting and applying numerous sources of evidence to inform, improve, and strengthen their daily practice. In school districts where educators focused on sources of multiple sources of evidence that provided outcome data, as well as fidelity data, participants used their daily practice as the site of their continuous professional learning and development (Brown et al., 2021; Timperley, 2015). Results indicate that cultivating a culture of daily evidence-informed practice was crucial not only for successful implementation of professional practice standards towards optimal teaching and learning, but also enabled educators to predict student achievement more accurately.

Objective/Focus: The ETBI’s program is designed to refine and extend the instructional practices and classroom management practices of secondary teachers in Ireland by having a team of teachers and principal attend 12 days of training over a two-year period. That training being guided by the research on educational and systemic change.

Questions:

1. Has attending to change wisdom been successful in guiding the program initiation,

implementation and shift to continuation/sustainability?

2. What blocks and supports educators within a system working to enact and sustain change

wisdom focused on extending/refining teachers’ instructional repertoire?

3. Has the ‘program’ been able create the internal capacity to sustain change?

4. What must change to facilitate the program extending beyond seventeen years?

Paper Structure: Three components: (1) the objective, purpose and research guiding the design and implementation of the program; (2) the rubrics designed from change research to guide and facilitate the discussion of the results; and (3) the identification of what is, and what is not working juxtaposed with five other systemic change projects in two other countries.

Methods: This qualitative research process is motivated by Ellis’ (2001) work in this text, Research on Educational Innovations. He describes three levels of change. The ETBI’s focus is on Level 3 which focuses on researching the impact of innovations on a system. Elmore argued that Level 3 research is rare, and when attempted, usually fails.

We also design and analyze our efforts using change rubrics constructed from change research, e.g., Levels of Use innovation from Hall and Hord’s Concerns Based Adoption Model; the factors from Fullan’s work on the initiation, implementation, and sustaining change and the peer coaching process from the work of Showers and Joyce. In another paper, we discuss the research on teacher and principal Stages of Concern from the work of Hord and Hall (201 ).

Data Source/Results Findings, Learning: Data from our efforts is analyzed applying rubrics constructed from change research from the Concerns Based Adoption Model. The rubrics have three levels: (1) Mechanical Use, (2) Routine Use, and (3) Refined more Integrative Use. From that we can ascertain what is working and where we are falling short. A discussion occurs after each of the rubric.

Perspective/Problem of Practice: The findings presented in Cuban & Usdan’s (2003) text, Powerful Reforms with Shallow Roots, confirms Ellis’ findings. Cuban and Usdan also reported on the rarity of sustained systemic efforts…they found that when the grants disappear, the effort disappears.

Importance of Study: We are working to act on the extensive research related to educational change to extend the thinking and action related to longer-term, systemic-level change with a focus on improving the life chances and learning chances of students. In parallel, the research also identifies extending/refining all teachers instructional practices within a system as a key focus for the content of systemic change (Fullan, 2011; Leithwood et al., 2009).

This paper asks: how can school leaders facilitate school environments that help school populations to respond ethically to shared challenges?

The purpose of this paper is to explore how leaders can enact their agency to create school environments which are emotionally supportive, ethically aware and relationship focused, in ways that enable both staff and young people to lead and participate.

Learning to live together well is a present-day ethical imperative, in the global context of growing inequalities, the climate crisis and increasing polarisation of political beliefs (Booth, 2018; Samanani, 2022a; UNEP, 2021; World Health Organisation, 2021; IEA, 2022). School environments can function as important learning spaces, within which this imperative can be addressed. They can also function as invaluable sources of emotional support and relationship growth, for both staff and students. However, reports of discontent, alienation and disconnect in English state secondary schools bely the limited realisation of these functions at present, and indicate the need for an ethical recalibration.

Dewey theorises a vision for school environments as ‘miniature communities’: spaces of joint activity and shared learning, that are co-constructed and continually renegotiated (1941). This paper draws upon my first year of doctoral study, in which I critiqued and combined agency, care and community, to introduce an agential ethic of care as a promising ethical bedrock for participatory school environments. In addition to adult-led caring services, this research considered how, or why, we might encourage all members of the school population to act in care. Moreover, by exploring the relationship between care and agency, this research also problematised the material conditions of caring, paternalistic caring practices and ethical orientations within the English education system at present.

This paper will then draw upon initial findings from the first term of a participatory action research project in a school in England. This project has been designed to create a participatory opportunity to learn from lived experiences of care, agency and community within schools. By re-framing caring as a collaborative, non-hierarchical, agential practice, this project has been designed to make a unique contribution to urgent discussions of how we can learn to live together well – while making a substantial contribution to education and care theory.

The initial findings will help school leaders to understand barriers to and opportunities for co-creating community within their schools. Significantly, they will offer bottom-up rather than top-down lessons for leadership: learning from the practices, perceptions and experiences of care and agency amongst staff and students within their schools. This research responds to calls for an urgent transformation of our education system, in light of global challenges (Higham, 2021; Tannock, 2021; UNESCO, 2021; Bajaj, 2018; Jerome and Starkey, 2022). The discussions generated by this paper will help researchers, leaders and policymakers to imagine school environments that enable and empower school populations to live, care, and act together.

Schools with better leadership practices achieve better results. Yet, limited evidence exists on how to improve these practices, especially in low- and middle-income countries (Global School Leaders, 2020; Leithwood et al., 2008). To address this gap, and fitting with the ICSEI network on “Methods of Researching Educational Effectiveness and Improvement (MoREI)”, we carried out a study on a large-scale school leadership programme for head teachers in public schools in Rwanda using a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) and a Differences-in-Difference (DiD) design.

The school leadership programme aims to enhance the leadership skills and practices of school leaders, with the goal of improving the teaching environment and ultimately boosting student abilities and test scores. In this study, we analyse the programme’s impact on student test scores of primary school leavers, as well as identify which school characteristics have a greater influence on the effectiveness of the programme. Through our study, we aim to provide evidence on how school leadership professional development can positively affect student and community education outcomes.

Low and middle-income countries face challenges in terms of school leadership quality and student learning outcomes (Bloom et al., 2015; Lemos et al., 2021). To address this issue, school leadership programmes have gained attention in recent years, with a growing body of literature examining their impact on student scores. These programs aim to increase knowledge and skills of school leaders, in particular in areas such as leadership, management and communication. A recent systematic review by Anand et al. (2023) analyses 14 studies on school leadership and management programmes from emerging countries. Whilst the average effect is positive, the majority of individual studies had statistically insignificant effects, highlighting the importance of large sample sizes to be able to measure small but still economically meaningful effect sizes. Further, just three studies were conducted in a low-income country, highlighting the value of new evidence from such low resource contexts.

Our study contributes to this literature by providing evidence on a large-scale school leadership programme. The programme targeted over 2,000 headteachers and deputy headteachers, aiming at improving student outcomes in Rwanda. We compare test scores of students across 350 schools, where school leaders from about 175 were randomly assigned to receive training. We make use of three years of national test scores, including a total of 90 000 students. Our paper will also be the first to look at the impact of the school leadership programme after the COVID-19 pandemic. Did trained school leaders successfully respond to the challenges of COVID?

With the unique character of Hong Kong in a postcolonial context, where eastern philosophies and approaches meet those of the west, it could be presumed that it is an ideal system for generating innovative ideas and practices (Lu & Campbell 2021; Bautista et al. 2022). However, understanding the role, influence, and impact of teacher education as a career-long pursuit in Hong Kong remains both contested and under theorised (Bautista et al. 2022). While Hong Kong enjoys a complex and sophisticated teacher education infrastructure which includes a range of opportunities and legislated time to dedicate to the varied forms of teacher education throughout a teachers’ career, such opportunities are frequently reported on as a being too demanding, rigid, or unrelated to practice (Lu & Campbell 2021; Pang et al. 2016). Drawing upon critical policy analysis and key informant interviews, the questions driving this study are:

• How are the forms and purposes of teacher education in Hong Kong understood in the domains of research, policy and practice?

• What is the role of the historical and contemporary socio-political context in understanding the effectiveness and future possibilities of teacher education in Hong Kong?

Drawing upon postcolonialism as an interdisciplinary political, theoretical and historical academic toolkit, this paper argues that colonial rule, and the aftermath of it, paved the way for international influence in education in Hong Kong, with significant implications for how the purposes and underpinning values of education are understood, and how this is reflected in teacher education. With this arises tensions in the extent to which this does, could, and should reflect the complex and unique character of Hong Kong (Lu & Campbell 2021; Bautista et al. 2022).

This paper illuminates the complex and wide-ranging expertise that teachers develop and draw upon in and through their practice, and how new forms of teacher education in a complex socio-political context might support this. Through the development of more varied forms of teacher education in Hong Kong, focused on making sense of the complex influences and drivers of the varied forms teacher learning and education can take, more relevant forms of teacher education may be able to emerge and be sustained through formal and informal means (Ho & Lu 2019). In the policy context, further critical analysis of how teachers are positioned in the system, how this relates to the forms and purposes of teacher education, and whether or not this relates to shifting demands placed upon teachers and schools, is needed (Lu & Campbell 2021). Consideration is also needed of the means through which various groups with a stake in teacher education in Hong Kong are able to come together in order to build a more sophisticated understanding of the varied and emerging professional learning needs of teachers, and how this can and should influence the development of teacher education in the SAR.

School leadership is a largely unknown or poorly understood among French principals and policy-makers (Normand, 2021a, b). The aim of this action research was to transfer the main findings of the international research on school leadership to practitioners by involving them in a 3-year Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme. (Huber, 2009; Moos & oth., 2011) The research was inspired by systematic reviews of the research literature showing the conditions for effective CPD (Cordingley, 2006, 2008, Timperley, 2008, 2011). Practitioners were expected to reflect collectively and change their representations and practices in their daily work in secondary schools.

Workshops were used to develop peer learning and mentoring activities (Hall, 2008). The CPD programme focused on the iterative, reflective and projective dimension of professional knowledge hybridised with scientific knowledge. The production of shared professional knowledge was fostered by exchanges and interactions between peers, while principals were expected to move away from their bureaucratic stance and culture and to expore margins of autonomy away from top-down prescriptions and rules from the Ministry of Education and State local authorities (Normand, 2021c).

At the end of the Continuous Professional Development programme on school leadership, interviews were conducted with participants. The aim was to gather their accounts of training sessions, as well as their experiences in changing their outlook and practices as principals, by testing their ability to develop (or to reflect on) leadership in their schools. 20 interviews were conducted over a period of 12 months.

Principals were then invited to share their experiences by writing a 30-page paper on French-style leadership. This action research is important in the French context because it is the first time that practitioners had access to international research on school leadership. It also led to the organisation of the first European symposium on school leadership, organised by the Advanced Institute for Education and Training (French MoE), which is responsible for all initial and in-service training for principals in France. The trained practitioners were also involved in the organisation of parallel workshops within this European conference.

The research findings show the importance of informal leadership practices of French principals, even if those are not recognised and visible by their hierarchy and State local authorities. It is proved how specific features in the French culture, the bureaucratic environment, and lack of training prevent them from appropriating and using some disseminated concepts such as instructional and transformational leadership and their related research findings.

Objectives

The purpose of this study is to improve understanding about school leaders’ capacity to directly influence student outcomes. To achieve this purpose, the study focused on assistant principals (APs) and students at risk of dropping out of school (SARDOs). Specifically, the study exploited the random assignment of SARDOs to a mentoring intervention conducted by APs to study the effect of leaders to prevent dropping out.

Background and Framework

Several areas of research informed the framework for the development, implementation, and study of this intervention. Overall, the intervention relied on the framework of high reliability organizations (Orton & Weick, 1990), with a focus on school implementation (Stringfield et al., 2008 & 2012). The development of the intervention relied on evidence from the dropout literature to accurately and reliably identify SARDOs (Bowers et al., 2013; Dynarski et al., 2008). Expanding on evidence about the influence of school leaders (Silva et al., 2011) and mentoring (McDaniel & Yarbrough, 2016; Robertson, 2016), the intervention used APs to mentor SARDOs.

Research Questions

The study included two research questions:

1. Do differences in academic outcomes, as measured by grade point average (GPA) and on-track status, exist between SARDOs who experienced the mentoring intervention and those in the control condition?

2. Do differences in non-academic outcomes, as measured by attendance and office discipline referrals (ODRs) exist between SARDOs who experienced the mentoring intervention and those in the control condition?

Methods and Data Sources

The study examined the effectiveness of a year-long mentoring intervention in a suburban secondary school. The research design exploited the random assignment of 75 SARDOs to one of three AP mentors. Given the random assignment, we used analysis of variance to examine differences in two academic and two non-academic measures between the intervention and control groups. Academic factors included the students’ GPA and course completion. Non-academic factors included students’ attendance and ODRs.

Results

Analyses indicated that the entire sample exhibited improvement in GPA and ODRs, but also poorer rates of attendance. However, the analyses did not reveal statistically significant differences in the overall sample between SARDOs in the intervention and control groups. Further subgroup analysis did reveal positive effects of the intervention for historically marginalized students, including students identifying as economically disadvantaged and from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Educational Importance

This research contributes important findings to discussions of theory, practice, and policy. First, the study provides insights about how school leaders can help ensure students graduate from secondary school. Second, the implementation in a suburban school context expands the current research, which examined mostly urban contexts.

Conference Theme Connection

This research presentation connects to the conference theme in multiple ways. First, the work included school leaders attempting to learn how to lead a more effective school by developing and evaluating a pilot intervention. Second, the school leaders involved with the intervention leveraged existing research evidence and local data to develop, implement, and evaluate the innovation. Finally, the efforts to assist SARDOs demonstrated the school leaders’ and authors’ commitment to promoting equitable and just schools.

The area of trauma-informed positive education (TIPE) is a recently emerging field in educational studies, though there is a paucity of literature that considers the convergence of TIPE and professional learning, especially in different global contexts. Schools serving communities contending with educational inequity have many students identified as trauma-affected with significant unmet learning and social emotional needs. However, as research continues to track students made more vulnerable due to COVID-19 health concerns, and other COVID-related associated family instability and violence, inadequate education provision of online and distance learning, and lack of access to technology, there is now even greater priority placed on the development and practice application of trauma-informed education for all students (Berger & Reupert, 2020).

This paper will focus on how two schools (a secondary school in Australia and a primary school in the Republic of Ireland) have led professional learning in TIPE and its whole school implementation. The two schools are at different stages of the TIPE journey with one having first implemented TIPE in 2019 while the other is still undertaking the initial TIPE professional learning and starting to implement practices in the classroom, providing an interesting cross-contextual insight.

Teachers often interpret resistant student behaviour as a ‘choice’ the student is making to assert themselves in the classroom. However, trauma-informed perspectives prompt teachers to reflect on the impacts of trauma on learning and the underlying causes of student behaviour. TIPE helps to guide school practice so that leaders and teachers understand the impacts of adverse childhood experiences. This then enables leaders and teachers to proactively work towards effective interventions (in learning, behaviour and socially) in the classroom and across the school to embed whole-school strategies to support the learning and growth of their students.

We will draw on interviews and existing school data (student wellbeing and staff surveys) from 2019-2023 for the Australian school and 2021-2023 for the Irish school. We will present insights as to how leaders actively supporting professional learning in TIPE have brought about significant changes to the learning and social environments of the schools. We draw heavily on interviews with the school leaders to fully understand and make sense of their role in this process of research-informed leadership of school change.

While both schools have had similar initial professional learning in TIPE, there have been differences in continued professional learning and TIPE’s implementation in the classroom and school. We will discuss the impact of setting up TIPE teams to collaboratively lead its implementation, the development on whole school non-punitive responses for behaviour management, the development of a TIPE instructional model to guide teachers in their pedagogical practice, and considerations of quality professional learning, including ongoing professional learning and coaching. The approach we describe has led to students reporting increases in connectedness, inclusion and student voice and agency while both teachers and students report increases in effective teaching time and an orderly classroom environment. Based on these observations, we reflect on policy, practice and research implications for TIPE and quality professional education.

This paper explores the strategies employed by German-speaking cantons in Switzerland to redesign their school system in compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. CRPD Article 24 requires signatory states to ensure “an inclusive education system at all levels.” However, Switzerland ratified a slightly different wording in 2014, replacing “inclusive” with “integrative.” This means that children with disabilities in Swiss schools are granted equal access to high-quality and free education in the primary and secondary schools in their community – but not necessarily in the same classrooms.

The research presented aims to identify similarities and differences in the cantonal approaches to the integration of children with ‘special educational needs’ in regular schools and to assess how inclusive these approaches are. This analysis forms part of a larger mixed-methods study on the development and management of integrative schools in Switzerland. It consists of a document analysis examining official programmes, conceptual frameworks, and websites published by the 20 German-speaking cantons that outline their implementation of ‘integrative support’ and ‘integrated special education’. Statements of purpose and reasons given in support of their approach were analysed based on the four understandings of inclusion put forth by Piezunka et al. (2017), and objectives were captured using the Index for Inclusion (Booth & Ainscow, 2002). Measures were recorded inductively, and their (planned) implementation was coded as inclusive or segregated, consistent with the terminology laid out by the UN (CRPD General comment No. 4, 2016).

The analysis reveals that compliance with the law and enhanced academic performance are the most frequent reasons given in support of educating children with ‘special educational needs’ in regular schools. Only a small minority of cantons prioritise social participation over academic performance. Objectives focus heavily on cooperation, coordination, and individualised teaching, while broader, less academically focused approaches to inclusivity, such as tackling all forms of discrimination, stigmatisation, and bullying, receive little to no attention. The results show great variety among the 20 cantons, with some striving to provide not just integrated support within the school but inclusive, needs-based support in the classroom. However, all cantons still maintain at least some measures of temporary segregation and thus fall short of providing a fully inclusive classroom setting that is equally accessible to all.

The findings can inform the political debate surrounding special education and highlight areas in which the professional education of teachers, head teachers, and school administrators can be adapted to promote not only integration but also diversity, belonging, and inclusion. The study sheds light on the manifold approaches to integrated education in Switzerland and identifies cantons whose strategy reaches beyond the legally required minimum. If successful, they might serve as models to help Switzerland fulfil its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and ensure that all children have an equal opportunity to learn alongside their peers, be part of their local community, and grow up to fully participate in society.

Objectives Of The Session

- Discuss what we might affirm and refine about our current practices related to gathering and responding to student voice.

- Examine potentially impactful practices for increasing student agency in creating more equitable, inclusive, and supportive classrooms, schools and systems.

- Share practical and powerful approaches for elevating student generated data as a central element of our school and system improvement planning.

Educational importance for Theory, Policy, Research, and/or Practice

The demands on teachers, principals, and senior administrators to engage with data are significant and are often seen as unwelcome accountability measures causing resistance or mere compliance. However, by redefining data as guidance, we can adopt a powerful approach that encourages every member to actively seek, gather, and comprehend data, empowering them to feel confident and competent in critically analyzing their own practices. In these efforts, engaging with student-generated guidance and feedback is key.

As schools and educational systems face increased expectations to use data as part of intentional improvement planning, student voice data is often sought but practices to thoughtfully gather, analyze, interpret and respond to the data collected remain limited in scope and impact.

Research has pointed to approaches that connect student voice with curriculum development, agency, and student leadership (Biddulph, 2011; Quinn & Owen, 2016), and focus on student voice participation and the knowledge they carry as researchers at schools and broader communities (Bahou, 2011). The general agreement in the literature is that young people have unique perspectives on learning, teaching, and schooling and should have the right to shape their education actively (Cook-Sather, 2006). However, many questions are yet to be answered about their level of involvement, authenticity, the extent of co-creation of data gathering and analysis methodologies, and which student voices are being listened to. Engaging genuine student voice is work that centers students to identify, analyze, and inform action about issues in their schools and learning that are considered relevant to students (Cook-Sather, 2020). It is crucial to deepen the examination of the spectrum of practices that involve student voices and their role in school and educational system change.

Format and approach

In this interactive session, participants will engage with the critical inquiry question: How might we meaningfully centre student experience and effectively use their guidance for our planning? They will examine a powerful approach to engaging students in providing feedback and guidance to inform school and system improvement and consider connections to their own contexts.

Connection to the conference theme

We connect to the conference theme: “Leading schools and education systems that promote equity, inclusion, belonging, diversity, social justice, global citizenship and/ or environmental sustainability”. Data can act as both a window, providing insight into the lives of students and their school experiences, and as mirror, helping us to see ourselves and the impact of our practices more clearly through students’ eyes. Meaningful efforts to promote more equitable and inclusive environments will require us to find ways to investigate both the window and the mirror provided by student voices.

The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTC Scotland) is the teaching profession’s independent registration and regulation body in Scotland. GTC Scotland works to maintain and enhance trust in teaching, through teaching standards and registering and regulating the teaching profession. The Standard for Provisional Registration (GTC Scotland, 2021), the Standard for Full Registration (GTC Scotland, 2021) and the Code of Professionalism and Conduct (COPAC) (GTC Scotland, 2012), together, provide the framework for teacher professionalism. Becoming a teacher, including mandatory teacher education is underpinned by this framework.

This paper highlights work undertaken with the teaching profession to prepare for policy review, highlighting strengths of the approach alongside the need to divert initial plans in light of feedback about current implementation. Consideration is given to the tensions between individual policy content and policy use as well as relationships with existing policy with regard to professional ethics.

A refreshed suite of Professional Standards for teachers in Scotland was published in 2021.The current version of COPAC has been in place since 2012. Its revision in 2012 was not a detailed review and it did not significantly amend what had been in place before. Along with the work to refresh professional standards for teachers, a revised professional code was subject to public consultation in late 2019. The outcome of this was that further review should be considered.

The 2012 version of COPAC, with much of it seen as exemplary at the time, received international recognition(1). However, GTC Scotland believed that revision should be considered to ensure that the messages and the tone articulated well with the refreshed 2021professional standards.

A new two-year strategy was devised. A systems approach was adopted in recognition of the complexity involved in any meaningful consideration of a contemporary professional code. During the first year all teachers and college lecturers were offered the opportunity to engage with professional learning opportunities and discussion sessions. In the second year, all would be included in the wide consultation on the first draft of any revised/new policy produced. Notably, time and space were to be devoted to collaborative learning before attempting to revise or replace the existing COPAC.

However, the data gathered showed that there was no consensus about the need and scale of required change. This led to a decision to retain COPAC in its current form, republished in a modern digital format reflecting up to date terminology. At the same time, planned year two work was refocused to allow education about and engagement with COPAC through GTC Scotland’s Education and Standards work. This work to support the embedding of COPAC and its effective use, aims to support the creation of conditions that will benefit future exploration of a more significant revision to COPAC alongside greater consideration of how it works along with the professional standards to define what it means to become, be and grow as a teacher in Scotland.

(1) Recognition from both Committee on Standards in Public Life (2013) and Council of Europe (2016) ETINED Council of Europe Platform on Ethics

Currently, within the education system in Wales, professional learning and system leadership remain at the epicentre of contemporary education policy. This paper builds on an initial, conceptual paper, presented at ICSEI 2020, to outline the inception, development and implementation of the National MA Education (Wales) that has been co-constructed and co-delivered by seven Welsh Universities working in partnership. The main intention of the paper is to outline the way in which the National MA Education (Wales) is internationally ground-breaking in design and delivery through offering accredited professional learning at scale. The National MA Wales is a new system-wide, post-graduate qualification that is intellectually rigorous but also close to practice with the core intention of building professional capacity and capital throughout the system. The paper will highlight how the National MA Education (Wales) is of international importance in its design, delivery, and impact. The paper will highlight how the National MA Education (Wales) has positively redefined and reshaped the accredited professional learning offer in Wales. The implications for research, practice and policy will be considered along with a commentary and analysis of professional learning at scale.

This paper explores a phenomenon we have traced in our research with educational professionals involved in inquiry in professional learning networks. Described as 'catalytic affiliation' we identified features of network and leader practices that enabled an acceleration of commitment to inquiry-based professional learning and a growth in network participation. We see this work as primarily relational - as Daly and Stoll (2017) have argued, relational links through which change moves are understudied and require a deeper exploration of the quality of networked, relational ties.

This paper is based on a multi year study of the connections amongst educators involved in the Canadian based Networks of Inquiry and Indigenous Education. (https://noiie.ca/ ) This voluntary professional inquiry network has been functioning since 1999 and now includes schools in several international jurisdictions. The main goals of NOIIE are linked closely to the conference themes of equity, inclusion, diversity, social justice and sustainability. Because many of the 60 BC based network leaders are graduates of the Transformative Educational Leadership Program at UBC https://telp.educ.ubc.ca/, NOIIE also serves a function in sustained leadership development and capacity building.

We believe that catalytic affiliation is a conceptual idea that can unpack the complexity of relational ties that thrive in inquiry networks such as NOIIE. It also can help us explore how social practices such as kindredness, authenticity, relational agency and reciprocal aligned beliefs work in tandem to deepen and accelerate systemwide innovation.

Our investigation illuminates how catalytic affiliation is more than a practice of individual leaders but is a characteristic of networked learning spaces deeply anchored in shared repertoires of learning, action and commitment - attracting and broadening professional engagement. Catalytic affiliation is operationalized through enabling structures, symbols, social and cultural tools and practices that curate connections. It is a function of right relations, creating shared relational spaces through which to collaboratively and inclusively build common horizons of purpose. These ideas are developed more fulsomely in the paper that follows.

This paper aims to gain insights into the development of collaboration in school environments and asks which types of collaboration, collaborating stakeholders and effects of collaboration can be identified. From an organisational-psychological perspective collaboration is defined as “…goals or tasks to be achieved together. It is intentional, communicative, and requires trust. It presupposes a certain autonomy and is committed to the norm of reciprocity" (Spieß, 2004, p. 199). The greater independence of schools and shared goals of school development intensifies relationships not only outside, but also within the institution. It is essential for stakeholders to develop and improve collaboration to ensure sustainable school development. Management, as well as the teaching staff and the students, represent the school and thus help to strengthen the school's prestige, competitiveness and learning outcome. Promoting collaboration among the staff and the students is crucial. Previous research has shown that collaboration in schools enhances school development and learning outcomes (Huber, 2012).

While multiple studies already exist, this paper offers an in-depth qualitative approach through a large-scale longitudinal study at schools in challenging circumstances. Due to their location and the composition of their student body, these schools are exposed to difficult conditions and are particularly challenged. In example, schools in challenging circumstances have a high percentage of students from non-privileged family situations (measured in terms of the educational and financial circumstances of the parents). These poorer socio-economic circumstances are often associated with special compensatory services provided by the school to cope with low graduation rates, poorer learning outcomes and dysfunctional characteristics (Holtappels et al., 2017).

Central research questions:

1. What types of collaboration can be identified throughout the environment of schools in challenging circumstances and which stakeholders are involved?

2. How does collaboration develop between stakeholders inside the school and out-of-school contexts?

3. What effects are achieved through identified forms of collaboration?

Methodology and Method

The qualitative longitudinal study examines the development of collaboration in the context of school environments in Germany (75 Schools). A biannual collection of semi-structured interviews with principals, teachers, pedagogical staff, parents and students addresses the above-mentioned research questions through the analysis of individual cases and cross-case comparison. The schools were chosen based on their status as schools in challenging circumstances. Over a multiple-year period (since 2016) a total amount of 659 interviews have been collected. Currently, the presented research project is at an early stage of qualitative content analysis (Kuckartz & Rädiger 2019). Therefore, this paper focuses on three “most diverse” cases/schools (approx. 45 interviews) which have been chosen based on the results of a quantitative co-study with the same timeframe and cohort groups.

Conclusion

Due to the early stage of the project, first, a theoretical framework will be presented that links cooperation with possible effects and school development. Second, the collaboration stakeholders in the context of school environments will be outlined. In addition, collaborators outside of the school environment will be investigated. Third, a first typification of different forms of collaboration in school environments between stakeholders will be reconstructed and discussed.

Objectives

Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) are emerging globally to address the disconnect between research and practice in education. RPPs “connect diverse forms of expertise and shift power relations in the research endeavor to ensure that all partners have a say” (Farrell et al., 2021, p. iv). Since RPPs aim to flatten hierarchies between researchers and practitioners, we examine discourse patterns for evidence. By conducting an international cross-cultural comparison of RPP meetings in the US and Switzerland, we ask: What do discourse patterns in RPPs reveal about issues of power between researchers and practitioners? What differences are observed in RPPs across contexts? How do meeting artifacts shape power and discourse features?

Framework

We use a practice theoretical approach where “bundles of practices and arrangements are the central unit of conceptuality and analysis of social life and social phenomena” (Schatzki, 2019, p. 27). Discourse is one observational category of practice (Reckwitz, 2016) which can illuminate power dynamics within a context. Ultimately, power and status differences influence all types of collaborations (Yamashiro et al., 2022; Eshchar-Netz et al., 2022). Research has documented power asymmetries between researchers and practitioners in RPPs (Klein, 2023; Vetter et al., 2022). Examining discourse within RPPs can illuminate how communication is distributed and roles are negotiated (Farrell et al., 2023). Artifacts used in RPPs, such as shared documents, can be explored as boundary objects that redistribute power and raise productive tensions in discourse (Tabak, 2022; Wegemer & Renick, 2021).

Methods

Sixteen Meetings from US and Swiss RPPs were videotaped and coded using MAXQDA software. Each RPP involved researchers and school practitioners, a focus on improving instruction, and participant involvement in defining the work. We analyzed discourse in RPP meetings coding whether it was generative, non-generative, or structuring (e.g., opening a meeting) (Lefstein et al., 2020). We also coded data to determine who has a voice and who contributes generative dialogue, considering relational power and identity. While there are different ways to operationalize power differences, we focus on the share and type of discourse of groups of participants.

Results

Meetings in both RPPs were rich in generative utterances (47.4% in US RPP; 44.6% in Swiss RPP) in which participants engaged in collaborative problem solving. Despite efforts to give more voice to practitioners, researchers spoke 60% of the time in the US case and 78% in the Swiss case, reflecting their proportion in the group. While researchers spoke more in meetings, practitioners were responsible for their representative share or more of the generative discourse (58% of generative utterances in US RPP; 24% in Swiss RPP). RPP agreements also defined meeting situations and the use of artifacts (e.g,, Google docs) engaged more practitioner voice, but did not necessarily shift power. The positional authority and identity of participants also influenced power dynamics, beyond researcher-practitioner distinctions.

ICSEI Connection

This paper is relevant to the ICSEI theme of “quality professional development” as RPPs are intended to promote capacity building. The call for proposals also notes the influence of partnerships globally (e.g., RPPs).

Purpose: To explore gaps regarding principals' experiences of developing their identities, capacities, and sense of agency while leading diverse schools through transformation and inquire into why principals’ voices have been underrepresented in education leadership discourse (Bryman, 2004; Crow, Day & Moller, 2017; Hallinger, 2014, 2018; Quaglia, 2016).

Perspective: Canada’s K-12 education landscape is liquifying (ATA & CAP, 2014; C21 Canada, 2012; Dugan & Humbles, 2018; Hannon & Peterson, 2021; Hargreaves & Shirley, 2009; Kaser & Halbert, 2008, 2009; OECD, 2018; Pollock, Wang, & Hauseman, 2014; Safir & Dugan, 2021). Navigating “permanent white waters” (Vaill, 1996) requires professional development. Principals need strong identities, capacities, and agency to create collaborative, equitable learning cultures for diverse learners (Safir, 2017; Stoll, 2009; Timperley, 2011) while navigating uncharted waters, work intensification, and unprecedented critical events (Pollock, Wang, & Hauseman, 2014; Safir & Dugan, 2021). However, across BC’s diverse districts, it is unknown how principals develop the means to influence change in their schools (Leithwood, Handford & Airini, 2018) nor how current discourses are influencing them (Karp, 2013) as they are “negotiating who they are for others as well as for themselves” (Moller, 2012, p. 456). The social construction/deconstruction of their identities is understudied (Karp, 2013; Karp & Helgo, 2009).

Ponderings: What are the experiences of British Columbia’s principals leading K-12 school transformation? How are BC Principals developing their sense of identity, capacity, and agency? How do research methods mute or amplify principal voice?

Processes: Research about principals often involves “looking at” their actions, not “listening to” their diverse stories (Bryman, 2004; Crow, Day, & Moller, 2017; Hallinger, 2014). Diversity in voices may present counter-narratives to popular or political discourse (ATA, 2017; Sugrue, 2009). Using metaphorically framed, social constructivist/critical narrative inquiry (Clandinin, 2007, 2013), in-depth, semi-structured interviews (Anderson & Kirkpatrick, 2015; Beuthin, 2014), and discourse analysis, this study amplifies diverse voices. Transcripts were analyzed through a narrative analysis (Riessman, 1994), discourse analysis (Gee, 2001, 2011; Rogers, 2011), and poetic analysis and poetic representation (Faulkner, 2007, 2017, 2019; Hopper & Sanford, 2008; Lemon, 2020; McKenna-Buchanan, 2017; Richardson, 2012; Ward, 2011). Ten participants shared stories (1) of being a principal/vice principal during the pandemic; (2) of leading change from a self-selected significant time in their career; and (3) of how they started as principals. They shared a metaphor that they felt described their experience of leading transformation. They reflected on those stories to describe how they developed their professional identities, capacities, and sense of agency during these events. Verbatim excerpts were written in a poetic representation as “stories from the river”.

Potentialities. Principals are diverse yet key points of leverage for ensuring successful, equitable education systems (Wahlstrom et al., 2010); they’re “at the centre of a rapidly changing society and the impact it is having on its children” (ATA & CAP, 2014, p. 1). Deep changes are impacting on their (re)figured worlds (Holland et al., 1998). With rising principal attrition and burnout (Wang, 2022), these gaps in understanding could put principals and the education transformation movement at risk.

For three decades, policymakers, scholars, and educators have been attracted to the benefits of the learning organisation concept and its potential for school improvement and supporting school leadership functions (Senge et al., 2012; Stoll & Kools 2017).

The concept has been explored to varying degrees in several countries to date, with Wales (UK) highly prominent. Unlike Wales, it appears Ireland has not applied the School as Learning Organisation (SLO) concept to support education policy reform, at least not explicitly. However, there is frequent reference to learning organisations in the recent Irish school self-evaluation policy “Looking at our School 2022”.

This paper focuses on problematising the concept of SLOs informed by the literature and policy documentation available. This will serve to explore the research and evidence base for leadership education and capacity building as it relates to the SLO. Data from a pilot study is used to further explore the SLO concept. There appears to be a gap in knowledge regarding the usefulness and application of the SLO concept. The study will aim to address this gap, particularly as it relates to teacher leadership and school improvement.

This paper will focus on how applicable and useful the SLO concept is in school effectiveness by addressing the following research question:

Is the School as a Learning Organisation (SLO) concept relevant for school improvement and school leadership?

This paper is based on a review and scoping of existing literature in the field which informs a preliminary pilot study for a larger research project. The extent to which the characteristics of SLO exist – particularly in relation to school leadership and school improvement – may be considered as unexplored to date. A review of the literature and policy documentation will further define the SLO concept and highlight its usefulness as a function of school improvement, particularly as this relates to the role of school leadership.

The paper is framed by a pragmatic approach that utilises the Kools et al. (2020) SLO survey instrument and will focus on two jurisdictions in the primary school context (Wales and Ireland). Data sources include relevant literature and empirical data from the pilot study. Adopting a mixed methods approach the pilot uses three instruments, a quantitative survey, followed by qualitative focus groups and semi-structured interviews.

Findings from the pilot may support the SLO model’s potential application in the Irish education context, and offer learnings based on its implementation (to date) in Wales. Interpretations of the possibilities and permutations of SLOs to support school improvement in national education systems may offer useful insights for international and national policy makers, researchers and educators.

The research is significant given the heightened attention to the application of the SLO concept within a number of jurisdictions globally, including the emergent aspirations within an Irish context. This research may offer new insights and interpretations regarding SLO potential for supporting Ireland’s recent primary curriculum reform (Government of Ireland, 2023). This in turn has implications for school effectiveness and improvement and may inform educational policy and practice globally.

Purpose

Leaders of primary and secondary schools across the globe are responding to increased expectations for continuous improvement and evidence-informed policy and practice to ensure instructional effectiveness and learning (Schildkamp et al., 2013). An essential component of instructional leadership involves using various forms of data associated with student learning to guide internal policies, school cultures, and capacity building. Principals’ data use practice largely involves supporting teachers’ data use by establishing norms, expectations and clear vision for use in instructional decisions. Principals also support teacher growth and capacity by providing time, tools, professional development and modeling effective routines and strategies (Drake, 2022). Grigsby and Vesey (2011) found that less than 30% of school leader preparation programs, however, focused on data use and the preparation of leaders to make data-informed decisions, or evidenced-based policy or practice broadly (Brown & Greany, 2018). Research on preservice leader preparation remains limited (Dexter et al., 2022). We examined preservice leader preparation programs in one US state to understand how data use is addressed in leader preparation.

Methods & Data Sources

We used qualitative methods to explore how 20 pre-service leader programs provided by 16 colleges or universities in Virginia focused on data use. The study involved two phases. The first was a review of published course descriptions for each program (N = 163). This phase included an in-depth review of 23 syllabi from six universities. Next, we conducted individual semi-structured interviews with seven program coordinators to understand how the field experience course prepared preservice leaders to use data. Data were analyzed using deductive coding and narrative analytic approaches.

Findings

Preservice leaders are receiving little preparation in data-informed decision making. Stand-alone courses on data use and decision-making were rare. We found that two of the 20 programs had courses focusing on data use and data-informed decision making. Approximately, 8% of course descriptions referenced data use and data-informed decision making. Of these, 38% focused on school improvement, 31% on generally approaches to data-informed decisions across different leader domains, and 23% related data use to curriculum, instruction and student learning. Several programs offered related courses including research design, assessment, program evaluation and statistics content that could support school leaders’ data use – these accounted for 5% of all courses. Interviews with program coordinators revealed the importance and heavy reliance on the field-based internship experience to support preservice leaders' development in data use skills and practice. Yet, these experiences were highly variable and dependent on placement school needs, indicating that not all preservice leaders had similar opportunities to develop data-informed decision making skills.

Significance & Connection to ICSEI 2024

The study findings demonstrate that gaps in school leader preparation to engage data-based continuous and school improvement efforts persist. Our findings coupled with other research literature demonstrate the need to further examine field-based experiences of pre-service school leaders. This study closely aligns ICSEI 2024’s focus on school improvement by investigating gaps in school leader preparation to effectively lead data use.

Principals face increasing expectations for enhancing student outcomes, heightened community needs, and implementation of a range of policy reforms. Further, there is a growing disquiet with current practices demanding a rethink of the narrative of leading schools. One principal professional organisation, the Queensland Association of State School Principals (QASSP) in Australia recently commissioned an exploration of a new narrative for leading primary (P-6/Elementary) schools into the future (Turner, 2021). A jointly developed project with members of the Leadership Research International (LRI) team at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), designed a three-phase study using a sequential mixed method approach (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018). The research questions for this study were: What is the contribution of primary education to the future economic and social performance? and What is the contribution of school leadership to the achievement of quality primary school student outcomes, academic and social?

Phase one in response to the first research question comprised an extensive literature review of national and international literature about primary school leadership (Bauman et al., 2022), the outcome of which developed a framework of 12 hypothesised capabilities and their associated indicators. Phase Two focused on the second research question and involved a survey of measures to empirically test the 12 factors (capabilities) and indicators of the hypothesised framework. Participants were principals of public and independent primary schools in the State of Queensland. Principal axis factoring was used to initially identify a model which was subsequently subjected to confirmatory factor analysis and resulted in a refinement of the School Community-Oriented Leadership Framework with eight capabilities: Agility, Relational Collaboration, Advocacy, Visionary Commitment, Creative Innovation, Life-long Learning, Critical Decisiveness, and Courageous Communication. Each capability required more focused definition to reflect the expertise principals need for their complex work roles. Phase Three comprises two steps: a) an invitational workshop of leaders from the field; and b) purposive sampling of principals for individual interviews.

The focus of this paper is evidence derived from the first step of Phase three. This commenced with initial data collected from a workshop that invited principals and other school leaders to reflect on their individual experiences in relation to the eight capabilities. Small group discussions also provided evidence of implications for this framework in practice. This step was extended with an invitation for data to be collected from other contexts/countries and this paper presents findings from two countries - Australia and Canada. It is anticipated that these findings will strengthen the purpose and conduct of the individual interviews which form the basis of the second step of Phase Three. It is proposed that the interviews will result in case studies to discern the applicability of the School Community-Oriented Leadership Framework as a new narrative for primary school leaders. Ultimately, the purpose of this research partnership is that the findings will provide a capabilities framework for primary school principals that could assist system policy and leadership development designers with a point of reference for ongoing dialogue on leadership effectiveness for now and into the future.

The main objective of this research was to explore teacher perspectives of the role of creativity in education, with specific focus on how it is defined, understood and employed across the Irish education system. The focus of this paper is to identify the challenges and opportunities for nurturing creativity as school leaders, while also examining whether creativity contributes positively to school effectiveness and improvement. Creativity plays an increasingly important role in our economic, personal and civic lives (Robinson, 2016). Innovation is integral to how we live our lives while creativity contributes positively to our wellbeing and to the good-functioning of democratic societies (Likar et al, 2015). While creativity creates novel approaches and ideas, critical thinking evaluates and judges statements, ideas and theories (Vincent-Lancrin, 2019). Increasing focus on creativity and critical thinking in our broader societies has resulted in the emergence of educational policies (see OECD, 2019, 2023) and measures (such as PISA 2022 Creative Thinking assessment) to increase awareness and enhance its implementation across education systems internationally.

This study adopted an in-depth qualitative methodology drawing on semi-structured interviews to explore the role of creativity in education. A total of 11 teachers (9 female/2 male) working across the education system (primary/post-primary schools) participated in the research and thematic analysis was undertaken to identify key themes and topics emergent from the data. Sources this paper include previous research, policy documents and analysis of the CreatEd study dataset.

Findings from this study identify the critical role school leadership plays in facilitating, supporting and nurturing creativity across our education systems. Trust, agency and empowerment are critical to leading creativity in educational practices and pedagogies. Confident and secure leadership was identified as playing an integral role in nurturing the optimal conditions where creativity could flourish and thrive. However, there was a tension between pushing boundaries and “not going too wild”. The absence of guidelines on creative practices and approaches in schools resulted in a fear of getting it wrong, which was especially pertinent when “keeping the inspector happy”. School culture was especially important whereby comfort and safety was identified as especially important to creating dynamic spaces promoting collaboration and contributing to more creative learning environments.

Findings from the CreatEd study identify key themes of particular educational importance for theory (the importance of broadening our definitions and understanding of creativity in education), for practice (creating safe spaces where creative practices and pedagogies can be nurtured and supported) and for policy (to support teacher and school leader agency in promoting creativity in schools).

This paper posits whether creativity for school effectiveness and improvement proffers transformative possibilities not only in enhancing pupil/student learning, but for our wider societies. Quality professional education for leaders and teachers emerged as a key theme from the CreatEd study, with specific implications for policy and practice to support teacher and school leader development.

Background

This study focuses on school leaders’ pedagogical leadership while initiating and conducting local school improvement using action research. The study has been conducted within a one-year advanced continuing education course at Karlstad University during 2021 - 2022. The course was directed towards school leaders within Swedish municipal adult education, MAE, requested from the Swedish National Agency for Education. The reason for this request is that since 2010, a Swedish Educational Act is regulating that all education should be based on scientific foundation and proven experience (SFS 2010:800, chapter 1 §5). This requires accessible research on school improvement and more focus on school leaders as pedagogical leaders. There is however no coherent definition of school leaders’ pedagogical leadership (Grice, Forssten Seiser & Wilkinson, 2023) and no research on Swedish MAE from a school improvement perspective (Fejes & Loeb Henningsson, 2021).

The course was developed to meet these challenges. The entire course was set up as an action research project and aimed to collectively, as well as individually, develop MAE school leaders’ pedagogical leadership while initiating local school improvement, based on local challenges, by using action research. In the end of the course, the school leaders wrote individual popular science articles about their local action research processes and reflected on their pedagogical leading practice’ influence on other practices and how altered pedagogical leading practice may enable local school improvement processes.

Aim, theoretical framework, and research questions

The aim of the study is to describe the MAE school leaders’ pedagogical leadership along their local action research processes to improve their schools through the lens of theory of practice architecture. The research questions are: How did the MAE school leaders’ pedagogical leadership evolve in their action research processes on their local school? What aspects of their pedagogical leadership enabled and constrained their action research processes?

Method

Qualitative data consist of eight school leaders’ individual written reports. Data were coded into sayings, doings and relatings in accordance with the theory of practice architecture (Kemmis, Wilkinson, Edward-Groves, Hardy and Grootenboer, 2014). Analysis focused on the interrelatedness between arrangements related to sayings, doing and relatings, in which practice architecture and its enabling as well as constraining traits emerged.

Preliminary findings

Findings reveal a practice architecture in which enabling and constraining traits lie in the school leaders’ view on themselves as pedagogical leaders, how they relate to the legal act to lead education based on scientific foundation and proven experience and, how they understand action research as an approach to school improvement. More precisely, relating pedagogical leadership equivalent to instructional leadership constrain the action research processes and school improvement. Contrasting, relating pedagogical leadership as setting the arrangements for professions to be co-owner of the action research process enables school improvement. Results are discussed in relation to Kemmis’ (2023) idea of the mosaic of leadership.

Findings will be used for improvement of future advanced continuing education courses for school leaders’ professional learning.

In Switzerland the formal role of school leadership was in most regions only introduced about 30 years ago (Hangartner & Svaton, 2013), changing traditional roles and responsibilities in the organization and development of schools. Today, in German-speaking Switzerland, school leadership and management responsibilities can be described as a (somewhat) shared mandate and thus the subject of negotiation between school board, school leaders and teachers. Findings on the nature, perception and extent of this shared responsibility in practice are limited, despite international empirical findings suggesting that the distribution of school leadership and participation of different stakeholders in decision-making processes are relevant for school organization and school development (Ärlestig et al., 2016; Capaul, 2021).

This study aims to investigate the leadership-related collaboration between school leaders, school board members and teachers in a school in German-speaking Switzerland with the following research questions guiding the research:

1. How are responsibilities/competencies between school board, leaders and teachers officially regulated?

2. How is the assumption of responsibilities and competencies shaped in practice?

3. How do actors perceive the distribution of responsibility, competencies and roles?

Collaborative practices and perceptions are being investigated using a distributed leadership perspective (Diamond & Spillane, 2016), understanding leadership as interaction between individuals, their mutual influence and the situation.

Data is collected using a multi-method approach, so as to ascertain insights into the “official” distribution of tasks and responsibilities based on legal regulations and school-specific policies, as well as to provide insights into lived experiences and stakeholders' perspectives. The following sources were used:

1. Official documents on the distribution of responsibilities and accountability. Cantonal legal texts serve as a basis, supplemented with location-specific elaborations and regulations.

2. Data from approximately 15 interviews with school leaders, board members and teachers on perceptions of leadership practices, decision-making processes and responsibilities.

3. Shadowing-type observational data from day-to-day school activities of school leaders and teachers.

Initial findings suggest that while the legal framework in the Canton of Argovia implies a distribution of responsibilities in school leadership, with school principals being entrusted with operational leadership, the school board assuming strategic leadership and teachers being encouraged to engage in school development tasks and take on responsibilities at the whole-school level, this is partially perceived only as orientation or guidance. In practice, legal frameworks are executed differently, even among leaders at the same school. The legally anchored distribution of strategic and operative leadership between the school board, school leaders and teachers varies and may be impacted by degrees of trust amongst the various actors.

International findings highlight the importance of studying school leadership in practice, to «enhance the current evidential base», contribute to the «future development of distributed leadership» (Harris & DeFlaminis, 2016, p. 141) and gain a better understanding of how current and future qualification and professional development measures can be adapted and improved to strengthen school leaders and teachers in assuming and distributing leadership. The findings of this contribution can serve to inform international research on leadership practices and professional development measures for teachers and school leaders.

Focus of Inquiry: This paper explores how collaborative engagement with youth as co-researchers in a longitudinal research study of youth STEM trajectories provides unique opportunities to center youth voices, knowledge, and perspectives and to cultivate a sense of belonging for youth in supportive learning environments. Co-researchers are researchers from populations of the research itself, including: youth, teachers, and school leaders. Drawing on seven years of collaboration with six youth co-researchers at various stages of college and graduate school, we highlight the key features of youth participation, how youth participation shaped the design, implementation, and dissemination of the research, and in what ways this collaboration supported a sense of belonging between youth and adults over time. This paper responds to the ICSEI sub-theme “policy and practice learning to support teacher and school leader development,” by shedding light on features of the collaborative co-research process that may inform educators seeking to build partnerships with youth and cultivate a sense of belonging for youth in learning spaces that may have traditionally excluded their perspectives.

Theoretical/ Conceptual Perspectives: We draw on the core concepts of a community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991) framework, including practices, mentoring relationships, identity and sense of belonging (Good et al., 2012) to design our collaborative co-research process and understand how and in what ways youth feel acceptance and membership in our research community of practice. We also draw on key features of youth participatory action research (Caraballo, Lozenski, Lyiscott & Morell, 2017) to center youth voices and perspectives and position young people as collaborators bringing critical expertise and intimate knowledge about their own lives.

Data & Method: Data are drawn from a case study of a seven-year education research fellowship that prepared six youth who are study participants in Staying in Science to expand their STEM research experiences into an education research context. We draw on multiple sources of data, including interview transcripts, recordings, written reflections of our collaborative process, and historical documentation of the ways youth participated in the design of surveys and interview protocols and co-conducting interviews with study participants. Using this data, we identify the key features of our co-research process that support youths’ sense of belonging both to the study and to the process of research.

Findings

Analysis revealed a set of strategies and practices educators utilized that contributed to and/or hindered youth being key collaborators on a longitudinal study exploring their and their peer’s STEM trajectories. For example, we found that adult researchers authentically addressed power in adult-youth co-researcher relationships by actively inviting input, communicating when input was not incorporated, and clearly articulating adult and youth roles.

Educational Importance for Practice and Theory

This project shares findings about the practices, routines, and structures that adults and youth have enacted that have been critical to a productive collaborative co-research process. We focus on sharing strategies that teachers, school, and college educators can implement in their educational settings to support the process of centering youth voices and perspectives and promote inclusion and belonging in education.

Literacy is tied to productivity, employment, and earnings potential, but performance on reading assessments has been stagnant or declining for years within the US (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012, 2022). Despite multiple decades of attention (“Editorial: Overcoming Racial Injustice,” 2020), historically underrepresented student groups’ outcomes are especially poor.

Researchers have identified teaching practices that consistently support student growth in reading comprehension (Graham et al., 2018; Graham & Hebert, 2011). Among them, a strong factor is the use of student-centered practices (Davis, 2010), including those that leverage writing instruction, such as pair/trio sharing where students can try out ideas in a “low risk” setting (Matsumura et al., 2022). However, these student-centered routines are not commonly found in reading instruction, raising the question of why implementation at scale is not occurring for proven practices.

Networked improvement communities (NICs) have become a popular approach to addressing major problems of practice in education (Bryk et al., 2011, 2013; Russell et al., 2017). NICs combine the organizational routines and analytic lenses of improvement science with the collective knowledge and coordinated effort of networks, offering a potentially powerful method for managing complex problems. Although improvement science has been well-researched in other industries (Ogrinc et al., 2012; Rother, 2009) and networks have been explored for educational improvement (Muijs, 2010), more studies are required to test the use of NICs, specifically. This need for research on the effectiveness of NICs is particularly critical for NICs focused on instruction inside the classroom, where there is significant complexity in all elements needed to productively shape student learning. Recent work suggests NICs can improve classroom instruction, but has not focused on explicit analysis of the relationship between implementation and student outcomes.

In this study, we examine two years (2021-22, 2022-23) of student outcome and teacher implementation data in a large NIC. Depth of implementation was assessed using teacher self-reported implementation of six core teaching practices and student outcomes were measured using NWEA’s MAP Reading assessment. This NIC focused teachers on a set of six student-centered routines to understand their impact on student reading outcomes. The network led professional development sessions and held network-wide convenings, fulfilling an essential NIC function by creating inter-organizational spaces for productive collaboration (Russell et al., 2017). Teachers were introduced to these instructional practices and learned how to embed them in their classrooms during professional development sessions. In network convenings, network members came together to align on group norms and share their successes.

The findings show that the benefit of having a high-implementing teacher was only slightly less in magnitude than a typical four months of learning at the national scale. Results also showed consistent benefits across both study years for student groups with power. Benefits for underpowered student groups (students with special needs and Black students) were positive but noisy. This study has implications for practitioners as they decide how to implement high-quality professional education to support interventions, as well as for researchers’ theory-building about the impact of using a NIC-based implementation approach.

Introduction

As the world emerges from the pandemic, the negative impacts on student learning and education structures are evident. Educators and researchers face the challenges resulting from the disruption to learning. As students resume in-person schooling, a key emerging challenge is their adjustment to being back in classrooms (Rapanta et al., 2021). These challenges encompass the socio-emotional state of students, including difficulties in sitting for extended periods and engaging meaningfully with their peers. Believing that peer interaction and collaborative classroom learning are crucial for student growth (Laal & Ghodsi, 2012; Wood and O'Malley, 1996, Vygotsky, 1987) our paper asks: How do teachers understand the change in student social behaviors in classrooms since their return to in-person schooling?

Context

This study involved five teachers from schools in India's capital, Delhi. Delhi had one of the worst impacts of Covid-19. Some estimate that approximately 4 million people lost their lives between April 2020 and January 2022. Therefore it is no surprise that schools in India were restricted to online classes for most of the past three years.

Methods and Analysis

In this qualitative study, we interviewed five school teachers from three private schools. These schools experienced significant closures during the pandemic, including one school being the epicenter of COVID-19 cases among Delhi schools in 2021. The forty-five-minute interviews aimed to capture teachers' classroom experiences in the past six months. Recorded interviews were transcribed for analysis. We utilized the constant comparative method (Glasser, 1965) to identify overarching themes of teacher perceptions about student behavior.

Findings

Analysis revealed four prominent themes. Firstly, teachers noticed a rise in "shy" students, resulting in quieter classrooms and reduced student enthusiasm. Secondly, students exhibited decreased teamwork skills, displaying impatience and reluctance to compromise. Interestingly, a third theme emerged, indicating that online pandemic-formed groups led to exclusive cliques within classrooms. Finally and most concerningly, all teachers in the study talked about how they were especially worried about the students who had been isolated even before the pandemic. Coming back to classrooms after spending more than a year in a home environment has been especially difficult for students who, pre-pandemic, also felt isolated by their peers and regressed in their social growth over the past two years.

Implications:

Most people expected the pandemic's long-term effects to dissipate upon returning to normal. However, this study highlights a new normal with fresh challenges for teachers and students. Based on our findings, we make the claim that there needs to be support for all returning students that goes beyond helping them “cover-up” academic content and explicitly centers students’ socio-emotional growth. Furthermore, administrators must assist teachers in working with students who are especially struggling with reintegration into in-person classes.

Importance and Connection to ICSEI theme:

This study is connected to the themes of the need for continued professional development (CPD) and the subtheme of the ongoing system and school implications arising from the COVID-19 crisis. This reserach speaks to the teacher's perception of the long-lasting social impact of school closures and online school.

Beliefs about gender norms can result in disproportional exclusionary discipline when educators over-policing students whose behavior deviates from teachers’ gender expectations. Using the inclusivity professional development framework, we outline core elements of effective professional development theorized to influence school disciplinary rates. Despite several case studies suggesting IPD may be an important component in developing supportive educator-allies for LGBTQ+ youth (Greytak et al., 2013; Mangin, 2019; Payne & Smith, 2011), few quantitative studies have connected IPD with improvements in disciplinary outcomes.

Purpose

This study examines a large, U.S. school district’s implementation of an IPD program in elementary schools. The program trains educators in preventing bias-based bullying, learning about LGBTQ+ identities, and creating welcoming classrooms for all families. Our cross-sectional study addresses two main research goals: First, we investigate differences between which schools in the volunteered for the IPD program by evaluating school demographics and other characteristics each year (2018-2019). Second, we examine whether participation in the IPD program contributed to disciplinary outcomes.

Methods

School data comes from two sources: 1) the administrative and discipline data for 33 elementary schools, and 2) district training records. Using demographic data from the School Report Card, we examine the balance of school demographics between IPD and Non-IPD schools using t-tests. Next, we examine IPD's contribution to school disciplinary outcomes using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) multivariate regression analysis controlling for race, SES, and special education enrollment.

Results

IPD schools enroll fewer low-SES students (t(33) = 3.348, p = 0.002), and marginally less special education students (t(33) = 2.013, p = 0.053). Non-IPD schools have less white students (t(33) = -2.208, p = 0.035), more Black/African American students (t(33) = 3.336, p = 0.002), and more students with two or more races (t(33) = 3.464, p = 0.002) than IPD schools.

OLS Multivariate Regression Analysis

When controlling for school demographics, IPD schools have lower suspension (β = -1.592, p = 0.032), assault (β = -1.098, p = 0.049), and endangering behavior rates (β = -0.284, p = 0.027) than Non-IPD schools. There are no significant differences in other school violations (β=-0.157, p = 0.209) and weapon-related incidents (β = -0.045, p = 0.191) between IPD and Non-IPD schools. Overall, our results suggest the IPD program contributes to lower behavioral performance of students even after controlling for school demographics.

Discussion

Effective instruction of K12 students requires pedagogical expertise and appropriate understanding about how students’ identities and social statuses influence their school experiences (Gay, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 1999; Shulman, 1987). The IPD curriculum aims to enhance educators’ understanding of how and why school structures should change to reach

For over two decades, Chilean policymakers have used extrinsic incentives as the main lever to regulate teacher work. Despite the mixed effects of these kind of policies for improving teacher performance and qualifications (OECD, 2013), in 2016 Chilean authorities put in place the Teacher Professional Development System (TPDS), which is a schema for promoting teachers on a career ladder. TPDS is a high-stake extrinsic incentives system to hold teachers accountable for their individual performance. The implicit theory of action drawn from this policy design stipulates that the power of summative evaluation, performance scores, and awarding (or denying) the promotion (monetary salary increase) on the career ladder based on performance scores would motivate teachers to improve their professional qualifications. For these kind of policies, it is expected that teachers make a connection between extrinsic incentives and their intrinsic motivation for the quality of their work (Podgursky & Springer, 2007). In this context, we ask: To what extend extrinsic incentives from TPDS connects with teachers’ intrinsic drive for improving the quality of their work; if so, under what circumstances extrinsic incentives connect with intrinsic incentives?

Theoretically, this study drew on the literature of work motivation. We study the connection between extrinsic incentives and intrinsic motivation using the model developed by Harackiewicz & Sansone (2000). They conceptualize a connection between extrinsic incentives and intrinsic motives based on the perception of competence. We also theorized that this connection can be reinforced at the school level through a professional technical culture and leadership practices that support teacher learning (McLaughlin & Talbert, 2001; Tschannen-Moran, 2009).

The research design consists of an in-depth multiple case study (Yin, 2009) of three publicly funded schools from Santiago, Chile. Within each school we interviewed six teachers and two administrators, having a total sample of 24 educators.

Following Harackiewicz & Sansone (2000)s’ model, we found that there is widespread fear, anxiety, and concern about the evaluation process that teachers must go through under the TPDS. Although money is welcome, it does not seem to motivate teachers to improve their craft. When it comes to improve their teaching, more altruistic motives seem to be a stronger driver. Regarding the connection between TPDS-like incentives and the intrinsic desire to improve, we identify two groups of teachers: i) The ones who do not recognize any connection between the evaluation process and improving their craft ii) and the others who, despite the evaluative threat, face the evaluation process in a less dramatic way. For the former, the evaluation does not cue competence, for the latter the evaluation standards are seen as valid, which cues competence as a result. Organizational characteristics such as a pedagogical leadership and extra support for teachers who are going through the evaluation process seem to facilitate the connection between extrinsic incentives and intrinsic desires to improve. In line with the ICSEI 2024 conference theme of quality professional education for enhanced school effectiveness and improvement, understanding how and under what conditions incentives-based policies can motive teachers to improve their craft is paramount.

Teacher professionalism attracts a great deal of interest these days from both scholars and policymakers worldwide due to the significant role played by teachers in improving the education system and enhancing student achievement (Fullan, 2016; Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012; Oon Seng, 2015; Schleicher, 2011; Smylie, Bay, & Tonzer, 1999). With the global movement toward UN Sustainable Development Goals, countries need to ensure the quality of their education systems, and this involves updating the content and undergoing education reforms. Governments, accordingly, are raising teacher professionalism and teacher quality to the top of their agendas to accomplish this goal. Now, more than ever, teacher quality cannot be neglected, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated very clearly that nothing can replace teachers. In the past two decades, Kuwait has made significant investments in reforming its education system in order to develop human capital and decrease reliance on hydrocarbon revenues; however, the reform agenda has neglected teacher policies and professionalism. A look at the reform agenda illustrates that no reform policies were launched concerning teacher professionalism, and this is assumed to have had a significant negative impact on teacher practices. This ongoing study aims to examine the current state of teacher professionalism in Kuwait in light of leading practices, so as to provide recommendations to policymakers for developing and enhancing teacher professionalism in Kuwait. As Hargreaves (2000) argues, policymakers need more studies to realise the importance of professional learning for teachers and to understand its ongoing process. In this research, an in-depth analysis of policy documents and literature was conducted, using the qualitative comparative approach, to evaluate teacher professionalism in Kuwait. Furthermore, this study compared and analysed teacher professionalism in Singapore and Finland to extract valuable insights that could be used to enhance teacher professionalism in Kuwait. It is worth noting that policy learning is a frequent practice in comparative research (Harris & Jones, 2018; Steiner-Khamsi, 2012). The initial findings of this research reveal the low level of teacher professionalism in Kuwait, as well as the lack of a comprehensive system overseeing teacher training. Here, we argue that achieving the goals for education is impossible without acknowledging the significance of teacher training and development and comprehending the process involved. This research contributes to the teacher professionalism literature, as it focuses on an under-researched case that had not been studied well in the literature previously. Moreover, this research attempts to provide a framework for teacher professionalism in Kuwait, based on lessons learned from leading countries in this field. Finally, the research provides policy and practice learning to support teacher and school leader development, because policymakers, politicians, and practitioners need to work together to ensure that teachers maintain a high level of professionality and are capable of achieving the desired educational outcomes.

Internationally, teacher shortage appears to be a major societal problem, including Sweden (Boström et al., 2022; See & Gorard, 2020). According to the United Nations (UNESCO, 2016), the world needs at least 69 million new teachers to reach the education goals of Agenda 2030. In Europe, there is a shortage of teachers in basically all countries (Federičová's, 2020; The European Commission, 2020; OECD, 2020). In Sweden, the Swedish Na-tional Agency for Education [Skolverket] (2019; 2020) and Statistics Swe-den (2017a, b) have alerted to the problem. Various actors (media, politi-cians, opinion leaders and trade unions) have in Sweden expressed their definite and different views on the matter (Kungliga Ingenjörsvetenskap-sakademin,2020). The voices of researchers, teachers and principals are though to a large extent absent (Boström, 2023). At the same time, all stakeholders agree on both the existence of teacher shortage and the im-portance of educated teachers in schools for creating the best possible con-ditions for students to learn.

Our interest is to delineate the specific aspects of the teacher shortage's concerning causes and possible solutions according to professional groups in the field, i.e., that have concrete experience of teacher shortage and its consequences. The research questions for this study are:

• According to seven different professional groups, what are the causes and solutions of teacher shortage?

• Are there differences and similarities between the various professional groups regarding causes and solutions? If so, in what respects?

Theoretical framework for the study is ”wicked problem” (Rittel & Web-ber, 1973). It refers to complex, open-ended, and ambiguous problems that are difficult to define, have no definitive solution, and are interconnected with other problems and societal issues. Wicked problems are characterized by their complex nature, the presence of multiple stakeholders with con-flicting interests, and the lack of clear problem boundaries. The wicked problem theory emphasizes that traditional approaches to problem-solving are often insufficient for addressing complex problems. Instead, it encour-ages a more holistic and collaborative approach, involving various stake-holders, disciplines, and perspectives.

The study is based on a web survey, answered by 605 informants, consist-ing of 40 items about causes and possible solutions based on previous re-search and dialogue meetings with regional and national policy actors. The selection of participants included both academic and practical professions as well as a representation of teacher students. Data are analyzed by de-scriptive and inferential statistics. The results are reported with descriptive statistics and significance testing. Descriptive statistics presents an overall picture of the various items at a group level. Mann–Whitney U- test inves-tigates the distinctions between professional categories.

Preliminary results indicated that items were differently relevant for differ-ent professional groups. Three professional groups diverged largely from other groups, namely health staff, uneducated teachers, and teacher train-ers. The results confirm the importance of seeing the problem as “wicked” and therefore engaging diverse stakeholders in the problem-solving process to foster collective intelligence and shared responsibility. The connection to the conferences is evident, i.e., the role and impact of educated teachers in the context of school effectiveness and improvement.

This qualitative study contributes to systematic knowledge about online education in public upper secondary schools. By conducting a thematic analysis of eight interviews with online teachers in a large region in Norway, the study aims to explore how these teachers experience teaching and learning online in their curriculum-based subjects. In the absence of Norwegian research, the study draws on international studies of online teaching in schools and theories of digital agency to provide a knowledge base for understanding the teachers' teaching context, as well as their pedagogical and technological choices and actions.

Four themes that emerged from the analysis are summarized and discussed in a model for digital maturity in online teaching and learning. The main findings of the study indicate that acquiring professional digital competence in school and education is a good, but not sufficient, starting point for teaching in an online school. The online teachers demonstrated individual professional digital agency, which manifested in the development of new teaching designs, increased utilization of digital tools, independent student work, and oral interaction. These changes contributed to strengthening student engagement and self-directed learning within the framework of each individual subject.

The teachers also exhibited collective transformative agency through collaboration in the development of the online school. Experience sharing and problem-solving during joint gatherings contributed to an enhanced common understanding of online teaching and assessment. The online school represented a digital transformation, wherein the teachers' participation resulted in changes in how the online school organized and structured its subject offerings for all students at school owner and school leadership levels.

Objectives

Research has also shown that principal resilience is crucial not only for dealing with professional challenges and uncertainties but also for enhancing desirable individual and organizational well-being and performance (Glazzard & Stones, 2021; Wells & Klocko, 2018). The current study aims at investigating the relationships between principal resilience, psychological contract with their school and work-family conflict.

Research questions

1) What are the relationships from between principal resilience, psychological contract and work-family conflict.

Theoretical Framework

The 8-item psychological contract survey developed by Liu et al. (2008) measures the mutual expectation or agreement between individuals and organizations on mutual responsibility obligations. It reflects that school principals try to keep a balance between contribution and income with schools. The 5-item work-family conflict survey was developed by Netemeyer et al. (1996). The survey examined work influence on family life. A 6-point Likert agreement scale was adopted ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Previous research identified that human resilience may positively predict to psychological contract (Hind et al., 1996; Mccoy & Elwood, 2009) and negatively connect with the work-family conflict (Billing et al., 2021).

Methods

This paper involves a sample of 698 principals working in schools from Hong Kong and Mainland China. Among these participants, 375 (53.7%) were male and 323 (46.3%) females with an average age of 44 years and 7 years of working experience. More than half (66.3%, n = 334) of these principals had less than ten years of working experience, 27.4% (n = 138) had ten to twenty years, and 6.3% (n = 32) had more than twenty years. The majority of them (66.9%, n = 467) held a bachelor degree, 32.1% (n = 224) of them held a junior college degree or below, and 1% (n = 7) held a master degree and above. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the data. A multi-criteria approach for acceptable model fit was adopted (Marsh, Hau, & Wen 2004). All analyses were carried out in Mplus 8.

Results

All dimensions from principal resilience are positively related to the psychological contract scale (r ranged from .46 to .88) and negatively related to the work-family conflict scale (r ranged from -.78 to -.31). The SEM model showed that the dimensions of the PRI positively predicted the psychological contract construct and negatively predicted the work-family conflict construct.

Implications

This project is critical and timely particularly during the post-pandemic period in that the ways for enhancing the outcomes of school principals via the lens of resilience will be reinforced to help them cope with the everyday challenges and adversities that principals encounter.

Connection to the conference theme

This project fits well with the conference theme of ‘Leading improvement collaboratively and sustainably’ via the means of principal resilience.

Objectives. This paper shares insights from a cross-sector partnership to support youth well-being in Chelsea, MA, where institutional and community leaders formed a Children’s Cabinet in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our objective in this paper is to explore the barriers and contributors to collaboration in crisis, exploring how cross-sector partnership at the systems level works through a close analysis of qualitative interviews with Cabinet members. Specifically, we ask, “How do distinct and blended institutional logics inform engagement in a cross-sector collaboration to support youth well-being and school improvement?”

Cross Sector-collaboration. A growing body of literature about educational reform has focused on how cross-sector, community partnerships support strategic responses to challenges and coordinate networks of social services (Miller et al., 2017). These initiatives have emerged as a way to bring together systems that influence youth outcomes within particular neighborhoods with a focus on aligning the multiple services youth access (Boyer et al, 2020; Impellizeri and Lee, 2021; Sharkey & Faber, 2014).

Institutional Logics. Institutional logics describe the ways in which discrete institutional orders create a system of motive, reason and justification for decisions, priorities and beliefs of an individual or group, together forming a logic of working (Friedland & Alford, 1991). While often discussed in singularity, logics can also co-exist and even compete (Reay & Hinings, 2009). More collaborative forms of institutional logic development also exist as key stakeholders of a problem establish and share common norms, culture and goals that lead to initiatives that change an existing logic or lead to blended logics (Currie & Spyridonidis, 2016).

Study Context. The city of Chelsea is a primarily Latinx community (67%), with the vast majority of youth speaking a language other than English at home (88%). A tight knit, vibrant community, Chelsea has long relied on its institutions, social service agencies and community-based organizations. Hard hit by the pandemic, school district leaders established a Children’s Cabinet in 2021 composed of administrators, social service and health agencies, city government, and non-profit organizations.

Methods. We conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with cabinet members in April and May of 2021. Each interview lasted approximately 40-60 minutes and was conducted over Zoom. Drawing on our theoretical frameworks, our iterative, open-coding process was conducted by two independent researchers who identified salient themes across interview transcripts and arbitrated any disagreements (Strauss & Corbin, 1998).

Findings & Conclusions. Our findings show how leaders across sectors voiced shared logics, blended logics across institutions, and conflicting logics hindering collaboration. First, a dominant and shared ethic of care was named as central to building cross-sector collaboration in the aftermath of the pandemic. Second, individual leaders presented their rationale for collaboration via blended logics that were not necessarily aligned with dominant logics within their respective institutions. Third, despite these overlapping logics, individual roles shaped leaders’ sense of possibility such that they felt constrained to engage in collaboration beyond their established responsibilities. Through our study, we show how collaborations with school, government and community can elevate local leadership and solutions to crisis.

Objectives

Principal well-being worldwide is under increasing threat due to the challenging and complex nature of their work and growing demands. This paper aimed at developing and validating a multidimensional Principal Well-being Inventory (PWI), and examining the state and consequences (work engagement; intention to leave) of principal well-being.

Research questions

1) What are the elements of the PWI?

2) What is the situation of principal well-being

3) How does principal well-being connect to work engagement and intention to leave?

Theoretical Framework

Recently, The World Health Organization (WHO) (2014) defined well-being as a state of being in which every person sees their potential, can handle everyday life stresses, work productively and fruitfully, and positively contribute to their local community. The OECD (2020) subsequently utilized the multidimensional well-being framework for mass testing students and teachers, but not school principals. The multiple-dimension well-being concept is adopted in this project to design the Principal Well-being Inventory (Pollock & Wang, 2020; Wells & Klocko, 2018).

Scholars have focused on identifying influential organisational and individual drivers of principal well-being, mainly using quantitative methods (Aravena & González, 2021; Beausaert et al., 2021; Collie et al., 2020). Much of their work has examined work-related drivers. For example, in a longitudinal study involving 2,084 Australian and 829 Irish principals, Beausaert et al. (2021) found a that social capital had a significant impact on principal well-being. Moreover, the consequences of principal well-being have also attracted research attention, although not a great deal. Limited evidence shows that more investigations of principal well-being have focused on the relevance of principals as individuals (Beausaert et al., 2021)

Methods

This paper involves four independent samples of principals working in schools from Hong Kong and Mainland China. The research design consisted of four phases with four sequential empirical studies. Phase 1 was to establish the content validity (literature review and Study 1); Phase 2 was to test the construct validity (Study 2 and Study 3); Phase 3 was to build the criterion validity (re-use the data from Study 3), and Phase 4 was to test the cross validity of the PWI (Study 4).

Results

A 24-item PWI was created via a theoretical-empirical approach of test construction covering physical, cognitive, emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual well-being. The principals in this project generally reported a higher level of their occupational well-being except for physical well-being. This project released that principal well-being significantly predicted work engagement and intention to leave via eight regression paths. Particularly, physical, emotional, psychological, cognitive well-being significantly affect work engagement. Emotional, social and spiritual well-being significantly impact intention to leave.

Implications

This theoretically and empirically validated inventory serves as a robust tool for comprehensively understanding principal well-being and a fuller exploration of their well-being literacy, drivers and outcomes.

Connection to the conference theme

This project fits well with the conference theme of ‘Exploring the evolving research and evidence base for leadership education and capacity building’. Particularly, this project will contribute to the well-being capacity building.

Problem of practice, connection to conference theme, and research questions

Many schools reacted to the COVID-19 crises by creating structures to strengthen student-teacher relationships in efforts to provide students with targeted support. Having recognized the positive impact of these structures on students, schools are now struggling to concretize them as infrastructural. We address this problem through a two-phased study in partnership with a group of New York City educators, examining educator-made “micro-innovations”. Micro-innovations are adaptations and inventions new to the contexts in which they are developed (Author, 2021; Rogers, 2003). Our research questions ask:

What micro-innovations have educators developed to strengthen student-teacher relationships during the COVID-19 crisis?

How are they sustaining those micro-innovations now?

What challenges and problems have they had to address along the way?

In phase one of this project, we identified and described educator-made micro-innovations. Now, in phase two, we focus on how schools are working to sustain those innovations, and the challenges they have encountered in doing so.

Perspectives

We root our inquiry in research showing that the conventional “grammar of schooling” both creates and constrains the development of new educational practices (Tyack & Cuban, 1995; Cohen & Mehta, 2017). The grammar of schooling describes institutional forces that reinforce conventional school practices. The affordances of conventional practices – or, the constraints that shape behavior with particular objects in particular contexts (Gibson, 1977) – help explain why schools change slowly and incrementally. However, we argue that, when sustained, educator-made micro-innovations can contribute to broader and long lasting educational transformation (Author, 2021).

Approach to inquiry & data sources

We interviewed 20 educators and coaches from schools taking part in a “Continuous Improvement” Network (a pseudonym). This network aims to increase the numbers of Black and Latinx students who graduate high school, and recognizes student-teacher relationships as critical to reaching that goal. We asked participants to describe their schools’ structures that support student-teacher relationships, how these structures transformed through the COVID-19 crisis, and the challenges they face and strategies they are developing toward making these structures sustainable.

Learnings

We found that educators’ efforts to sustain one micro-innovation often created a series of new problems. For example, some educators created structures for one-to-one check-ins during remote instruction. However, in order for that structure to be effective in person, educators had to engage in collaborative improvement planning, which led to challenges with scheduling, professional development, and progress monitoring. Though each challenge seemed to stall progress, each had to be addressed in order to sustain the structure and deepen its impact. Ultimately, schools’ engagement in a continuous improvement process to identify and solve a specific problem turned into a continuous problem-finding process.

Educational importance of research for practice

In order to make systemic change that reflects structures supporting student-teacher relationships, schools must recognize that continuous improvement is not linear, nor guaranteed. In understanding continuous improvement as a continuous problem, schools and educators can develop the priorities and make changes that foster real infrastructural improvements.

Research has clearly indicated the importance of functional reading skills as a tool for personal, social and economic development and empowerment (Nelis et al. 2021). However, although Ireland ranked second in relation to overall mean reading achievement in Progress In International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2021 (Mullis et al., 2023; Delaney, et al., 2023), a considerable difference in literacy achievement continues to exist between children in disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged schools, particularly in relation to reading development (Nelis & Gilleece, 2023; McNamara et al. 2021; Karakolidis et al. 2021; Kavanagh et al., 2017). This is despite a sustained policy focus in recent decades on initiatives designed to narrow the gap, such as the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy (Department of Education [DE] 2011), and the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) Strategy (DE 2005; DE 2017).

This poster presents the key concepts, methods, findings and conclusions in relation to a research study which explores literacy practices in urban socio-economically disadvantaged schools situated in Ireland. The aim of this research is to investigate what existing literature in this area indicates concerning the adaptations that can be made to the literacy practices utilised in mainstream urban DEIS primary schools in Ireland for reading instruction, to more effectively support the reading development of students experiencing socio-economic disadvantage. The poster first asserts and contextualises the problem and purpose statement of the research. Relevant policy documents and research illustrating the current reading achievement gap between DEIS schools and non-DEIS schools are drawn upon, to give readers an insight into the current context in Ireland in which this research has been conducted.

A brief overview of the research methods is then outlined to capture the research design, and methods of data collection and analysis which were used within this study. This research consisted of a qualitative desk-based thematic analysis, which utilised secondary data sets that were identified within an in-depth literature review of the research topic. This is followed by a findings and discussion section which details four key themes which emerged within the findings of this study: (i) teacher autonomy in the implementation of reading instruction, (ii) configuration of a Balanced Literacy Framework, (iii) whole school approach to literacy education, and (iv) literacy as a socio-cultural practice. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the significance of the research for professional learning networks such as DEIS primary schools. This discussion recognises the challenges which exist in relation to reading instruction in mainstream urban DEIS primary schools; and highlights the policy and curricular context in which adaptations to school literacy practices must be made.

One important finding in a study investigating how the ongoing digitalization of schools affects teaching and learning in public schools in Malmö, Sweden, is that teachers see many opportunities to use digital tools and resources to create inclusive environments that are more accessible to their students (Ideland et al, 2023b). On the other hand, the study also illuminates large differences between schools in terms of organization, school culture, teaching and development processes related to digital tools and resources. Teachers often state that they want to learn how to use and teach with digital tools together with their colleagues and in connection to their own subjects and teaching practices (Ideland et al, 2023a). Although this view is in line with research on learning in practices (Kemmis et al, 2013) this is not how all schools organize professional learning. Researchers have pointed out that teacher groups working with professional learning and development often need support from external experts (e.g. Timperley, 2011) and can benefit from networking and learning together with other schools and teacher groups interested in the same questions and issues (Brown & Poortman, 2018). Furthermore, it is important to involve teachers to bring about a clinical practice-based research (Bulterman-Bos,m 2008) that can contribute to new teaching methods and ways to meet students as well as new knowledge of e.g. teaching and different student groups (McKenney & Reeves, 2014).

The aim of this roundtable discussion is to highlight and discuss interesting aspects, constraints, and possibilities in a professional learning network (PLN, Brown & Poortman, 2018) that is started up during the fall of 2023. Through this PLN special needs teachers and lead teachers from five schools in Malmö collaborate and are supported by each other as well as by central ICT-developers and researchers from the local school administration. The special needs teachers and lead teachers organize and lead professional learning communities (PLC, Brown, 2017) at their schools, focusing on the use of digital tools and resources to create inclusive and accessible learning environments, in collaboration with the central ICT-developers. The researchers organize and lead meetings and discussions in the PLN together with the central ICT-developers. They are also responsible for bringing in relevant literature and research methods to anchor the learning and development processes in relevant research and make the PLN contribute not only to new methods for teaching but also to new knowledge about teaching, learning and ways to create inclusive learning environments. This knowledge should be of interest for both professionals in schools and researchers. Questions to discuss at the table might be:

- How do the organizations of schools and support from the local school administration facilitate, hinder or shape PLN:s?

- What forms of collaborations and research methods facilitate or hinder learning and progress in PLN:s?

- How do relations between participants with different roles shape PLN:s?

- How can this kind of PLN contribute to research?

Objectives

The Wāhkōhtowin teacher education model was created to decolonize teacher education in Saskatchewan, Canada, utilizing a Nēhiyawak (Cree) worldview. It was informed by Indigenous Elders and responds to Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2015). Teacher candidates, university and school partners work together to decolonize their thinking, teaching practice and relationships in order to (a) foster student learning; (b) develop Nēhiyaw teacher identity, and; (c) understand colonial truths for reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. This presentation reports on a research study examining the extent to which the model is achieving these objectives.

Perspective

The TRC (2015) admonished Canada’s education system as being designed to “kill the Indian in the child,” in order to assimilate Indigenous peoples into society (TRC, 2015). Although significant changes have been made, scholars continue to critique teacher preparation programs as privileging whiteness and reifying colonial assumptions that perpetuate inequitable experiences for Indigenous peoples (Cottrell & Orlowski, 2014; Pratt & Danyluk, 2017; Wallin & Peden, 2014). To offset this critique, the Indian Teacher Education Program at the University of Saskatchewan worked with partners to conceptualize a model from a worldview supported by Nēhiyaw māmitonēyicikan, or Cree thought and philosophy. The Wāhōhtowin model was developed through oral teachings provided by First Nations Elders. Cultural traditions such as mentoring and relationships with Elders are integral (Restoule, Gruner, & Metatawabin, 2013), and are governed by Nēhiyaw Law (Innes, 2013). Partners work together in a spirit of love, respect and humility for teacher candidates and students. The foundational constructs of the model include relationality, ceremony, language, and child-centredness, and is designed to help Indigenous teacher candidates feel comfortable in the school setting (tipéyimisowin), support them in cultural learning and identity (kīwēwin), and foster their pedagogical growth as teachers (mamáwi kiskinomāsowin).

Methodology and Methods

Our research employs a qualitative mixed methods approach (Merriam, 2009) of interpretive description informed by Indigenous perspectives (Kovach, 2009). We frame the research as “practice research” (Goldkuhl, 2011) and hold to a spirit of research as ceremony (Wilson, 2008). Research activities include: observations of meetings, professional development opportunities, cultural events and lessons; feedback surveys; sharing circles/interviews, and; analysis of student and employment data. We hold an annual research gathering where participants share learning related to ceremony, language, culture, and teaching identity and development. The culminating research project is a digital storywork documentary (Archibald, 2009).

Results

Selected lessons focus on:

• Privileging field experiences key to an Indigenous epistemology;

• Responsivity to changing needs and perspectives across systems;

• Diverse personal experiences and comfort with Indigeneity;

• Language, cultural, land-based and Elder engagement;

• Anti-racist education

• Indigenous placements in religious-based schools.

Significance

The findings have the potential to: mitigate intergenerational effects of colonial policies; (b) increase educational and employment outcomes; (c) provide direction for successful partnerships, and (d) offer strategies for decolonizing teacher education.

Theme

The presentation focuses on partnerships invested in the provision of quality education conceptualized through an Indigenous worldview. Its intention is to decolonize teacher preparation to improve teacher development and student educational outcomes.

Increased emphasis on the use of research in the educational sector has challenged researchers, teacher educators and other actors to clarify how research can support professional development. This article draws attention to epistemic interrelationships between research-based and experience-based knowledge in the educational sector. These interrelationships are visible through tensions between the expectations of knowledge development and school development. The ability to combine different knowledge forms and knowledge relationships in both academia and the field of practice is central. Fekjær et al. (2022) have emphasised the need to specify these knowledge forms further. This research aims to highlight this gap from the perspective of a local authority related to education, such as national departments, counties and municipalities, focusing on decision-making through processes of assessments based on broad knowledge bases. To make knowledge-based decisions, these professions require experience from the field combined with knowledge extracted from research. In addition to these two, experience from these professions is the advantage of knowing the "tools of the trade" as a researcher, which recognises both processes and outputs of research as important. The research questions we pursue are: Which educational practices do local educational authorities move between? Which forms of knowledge are mobilised in various educational practices, and which epistemic relationships are relevant to support knowledge development?

This article examines conceptual descriptions of local authorities' various practices through a duoethnographic methodology, allowing two researchers to collaborate to provide a common understanding (Norris & Sawyer, 2012). The analytical perspectives that will shed light on these practices are epistemic relationships and boundary work in various contexts between schools and academia where local authorities work to support knowledge development. With these analytical perspectives, we seek to increase the understanding of how research and research competence may be relevant to support knowledge development in the contexts of local authorities.

The project looks at the use of Literature in the Second Language and at the ways this element can help students to improve their writing skills. The use of literature can contribute effectively to the developing of students’ writing skills, fostering not only their language abilities but also their knowledge of the culture they are learning (Paran and Robinson, 2016). However, literature is not regularly included in second language instruction, leading to a disconnect between the study of language and that of literary texts.

By intending learning as a social process, I will look at how the use of literature in a collaborative learning context can foster students’ writing skills. To do that, I will adapt the workshop structure developed by Lucy Calkins (1994) for American middle school to the KS3 British curriculum adopted by my school.

Calkins’ model draws on collaborative learning and on the use of mentor texts as a model for students and on the use of workshop model during English lessons. The project will also lead to the redesigning of the KS3 curriculum, integrating in a more purposeful way the study of language and literature.

The purpose of this session is to explore an approach that will support schools to measure progress and improvement through a collaboratively designed measurement tool being trialled in Aotearoa | New Zealand. The approach holds importance for educational practice in that school leaders collaboratively set a balanced scorecard for measuring, monitoring and supporting strategic decision making.

Aotearoa | New Zealand’s schools are self-managing, self-governing entities. For a small nation, we have struggled with the measurement of progress and improvement in schooling. This has become both divisive and politicised with frequent concerns arising regarding comparison and ranking of schools.

During 2021 and 2022 Springboard Trust embarked on a new way of thinking and exploring this measurement challenge, trialling and adapting a tool from the business sector which enabled school principals to develop their own balanced scorecard for their school. In this pilot programme, school leaders took the balanced scorecard concept to develop measures for their school’s progress across four perspectives. The principals learnt alongside other principals, supported by volunteer subject matter experts, as they developed this key communication tool.

Through collaboration with their school stakeholders, Boards of Trustees, parents, teachers and students, school principals determined four clear, measurable objectives that were aligned with the school’s vision.

The subject matter experts, volunteers from the business sector, scaffolded the school leaders to gain clarity in this process, to de-jargonise their language and to determine clear lead and lag measures. As a result, educational practices of school leaders were enhanced through this sharing of knowledge.

The piloting of the programme occurred through four iterations over the two years resulting in an online delivery format that is currently utilised, and still improvement focussed. Some 50 schools have completed the process.

Participants in this session will view summary slides outlining both the Balanced Scorecard for Schools Aotearoa and the development of leadership learning practices. As well, a range of short video clips will be shared where principals/school leaders:

• Present their dashboard on a page at the conclusion of the programme.

• Share insights regarding their leadership learning and the development and early utilisation for their school.

Participants will have the opportunity to practice using the tool with a context they are familiar with

Conversation will be enabled through the presentation, followed by an interactive Q&A session.

Connection to the conference theme: Enhancing educational practices of school leaders – knowledge mobilisation through collaborative school improvement practices.

Purpose and Educational Importance

The purpose of this innovate proposal is to use research evidence about school leaders and school operations to consider how to improve school leader preparation. Specifically, the session will consider how increased instruction about management skills and effective practices could enhance school leader training and development.

An extensive amount of research has identified the importance of school leaders to school effectiveness and improvement. For instance, Grissom et al. (2021) concluded that principals were the most important school-based factor contributing to educational outcomes. From their meta-analysis, Liebowitz and Porter (2019) found principal behavior influenced several student and teacher outcomes. Similarly, a substantial amount of research has identified policies and practices that contribute to effective and improving schools. Studies such as Stockard et al. (2018) and Stringfield et al. (2008) provide evidence about specific initiatives that support effective or improving schools. In addition, works such as Reynolds et al. (2014) and Bryk et al. (2009) have provided more general guidelines for operating effective or improving schools.

Despite knowledge about the importance of school leaders and effective schools operations, the formal preparation of school leaders has not reliably produced graduates with the capacity to lead effective and improving schools (Grissom et al., 2019). In addition, observations of and reports from practicing school leaders have indicated that they spend more time in managerial activities than instructional ones (Hochbein et al., 2021). While many school leaders feel like managerial responsibilities detract from the effectiveness of their instructional leadership (Wang, 2022), evidence indicates a positive association between school leader time dedicated to managerial tasks schools and educational outcomes (Horng et al., 2010, May et al, 2013).

Approach to the Session

These disconnects between the importance of school leaders, knowledge about effective schools, and school leader time use calls for reconsideration of how to reliably train effective school leaders. To ultimately create a focused discussion on ways to meaningfully improve the preparation of school leaders, the first portion of the session will ask attendees to consider a series of questions about school leadership and school operations, such as:

1. What activities would you expect to see from an instructional leader?

2. What could a school leader have done to improve your school experiences?

3. How would you define a noninstructional activity for a school leader?

The attendees will formulate their answers and then publicly share some responses. I intend these questions to create cognitive dissonance in the attendees and help focus attention on the disconnect between school leader activities and management of school practices. From these responses and discussions of evidence, I will lead a discussion considering the need to better incorporate management training into school leader preparation and development.

Conference Theme Connection

This innovate proposal directly connects to the conference theme of “Quality Professional Education for Enhanced School Effectiveness and Improvement”. The presentation will use attendees’ experiences and existing evidence about school leader and school effectiveness to consider how improved managerial training could enhance the education and professional development of school leaders.

Higher education (HE) in the Republic of Ireland experiences ongoing challenges in achieving wider participation by some groups as outlined in the desired intentions of national policy (HEA, 2015; Fleming, Loxley and Finnegan, 2017; Colum and Brennan 2022). This is mostly palpable within initial teacher education (ITE) where there is a lack of representation from diverse backgrounds or in the preservice teachers’ personal educational experience (Keane and Heinz, 2016) and further consolidated by data reporting that a mere 0.1% of the student body comprises Traveller young people accessing HE (HEA, 2015). Essentially, students from the Traveller community are almost non-existent in ITE programmes. In order to address the disparity, the Higher Education Authority (HEA) called on HE institutes to develop initiatives to identify and support students from pockets of society typically underrepresented in ITE. It was within this context that the TOBAR programme (phase one 2018 – 2021) in Marino Institute of Education was conceptualised and in 2021 expanded to partner with Trinity College Dublin (phase two 2021 – 2024).

The poster will address the following key concepts:

1. What is TOBAR? An overview of this access initiative in MIE/TCD.

2. Supports offered by the TOBAR programme: identification of specific supports offered to TOBAR students.

3. Challenges for students from the Traveller community to and through ITE programmes: the ongoing and persistent challenges for students.

4. Success stories: A showcase of four students from TOBAR, now newly qualified teachers, from the Traveller community.

5. Next steps: future directions for the TOBAR project and for TOBAR graduates.

Methods

The poster highlights Irish Travellers’ journeys to and through the TOBAR and ITE programmes via a narrative approach from a sample of four TOBAR students. It will highlight research on the engagement of TOBAR students in ITE (namely Colum and Collins, 2021; Colum and Brennan, 2022; Uí Choistealbha and Colum, 2022; Burns, Colum and O’Neill, 2023). Much of the literature exposes both the supports and the continuous specific barriers that Irish Travellers face to and through their higher education (HE) journey.

Findings and conclusions

Findings comprise:

(1) The importance of programmes like TOBAR : having a dedicated programme for ethnic minority groups are crucial in order to identify bespoke, individual supports.

(2) The value of the relational space: the importance of having caring, trusting relationships with students and families.

(3) Challenges to and through ITE programmes: experiences of TOBAR students to and through HE.

(4) Post TOBAR journeys: retention in the school system as NQTS and the new challenges that follow our students.

Conclusions:

(1) Entrench dialogue on HE and ITE at the upper end of primary and early post primary years. Have partnerships with schools to encourage students from the Traveller community to access third level education.

(2) Draw on the expertise of families, bring them in as experts, discuss aspects of culture and how we can support students.

(3) Work with Traveller advocacy groups to provide information and direct support students.

(4) Have substantial bursaries in place to ease the financial difficulty.

(5) Have academic supports in place from primary school up to third level.

Purpose: Research shows that parents engage girls more frequently in spatial tasks than boys (Thomson et al., 2018), and that children’s math identities are formed as early as the K-4 years (Dou et al., 2019). Early math skills have also been found to impact later career development (Pritulsky et al., 2020). Few studies have examined how sociolinguistic factors relate to children’s gendered socialization. Understanding how home language practices align with classroom practices could provide opportunities for educators and parents to co-create enriching activities that enhance children’s math achievement (York & Loeb, 2018). This study examines: 1) parental perceptions of play, 2) child gender mediation of parental language during a puzzle play task, and 3) parent/child task engagement for boys and girls.

Methods:

This study draws from home visits conducted the summer before kindergarten in a larger research practice partnership (Wishard Guerra et al., 2020). Parents were asked to play with their child (n (girls) = 8, n (boys) = 12) using three sets of toys. Data includes play interactions in a tangram puzzle task. Children’s quality of involvement was analyzed using a Play Experience Scale (The Lego Foundation, 2019). Child language outcomes were measured with the WJ-ECAD (Schrank & Wendling, 2018). Parents’ verbal input (frequency of conversations and total words spoken) was measured using The CLAN (Computerized Language ANalysis) program (MacWhinney, 2000). Parent interviews examine patterns of parental learning perceptions.

Results:

Parents spoke more frequently (t(28) = 2.45, p = .02) and used more words (t(28) = 2.22, p = .04) with their daughters compared to their sons during the spatial task. Similar patterns were found within Hispanic and Spanish bilingual families. Preliminary results from the puzzle task indicated that girls were more actively engaged in the task, (t(18) = 2.27, p = .04). Girls had higher expressive language scores (t(33) = 2.0, p = .05). Future analyses will include parent interview data on beliefs about learning through play and gendered language differences.

Educational Importance

Our study suggests that girls’ levels of expressive language are related to their task engagement. Also, boys were not as engaged in the spatial task, nor were their parents interacting verbally with them as frequently as girls. Educators can use these findings to develop spatial awareness tasks in the classroom that address low task engagement, as well as at-home parental involvement for boys. The sociolinguistic data can inform teachers why this may be the case and how they can support parents in enhancing their engagement with all children. Future research can also juxtapose these results with math achievement scores to identify a relationship among them.

Connection to the Conference Theme

Our findings align with the conference theme by urging educators to account for gendered differences in math performance. Teachers’ professional development must address how at-home sociolinguistic practices relate to math performance. The insights gathered from the parent interviews can provide important feedback for teachers as they develop their mathematical pedagogy. It is imperative for teachers and parents to leverage data like ours as they support children’s math growth.

As part of a major social and economic regeneration initiative in Dublin’s North-East Inner City (NEIC), the P-TECH pilot initiative was launched in 2018 to provide post primary students in the area with an enriching educational experience to develop new skills and to help them to connect to new learning and career pathways.

P-TECH is an innovative model of education-industry collaboration that was developed in the USA by IBM and local educators to build technology skills. In Ireland, the model has been adapted within a partnership collaboration across HE, schools, government and industry. The National College of Ireland (NCI), as academic partner, has had the responsibility of designing, developing and supporting the delivery of a new Certificate in P-TECH programme. On completion of the programme - which spans the senior cycle in post primary schools - students gain a 10 ECTs higher education award.

On the Certificate in P-TECH programme, students learn about the worlds of work and higher education and have experiences in both environments to build their familiarity, sense of belonging and cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1997). Students have opportunities to develop skills in areas such as technology, business, communications, design thinking and project management. They also have a highly structured work experience which is completed with one of the industry partners as part of their school's Transition Year programme.

For the P-TECH students, the programme offers unique opportunities and pathways for learning to enhance their potential. In addition to their development of specialised skills and knowledge, students participating in the programme also have important personal development opportunities which build their confidence, resilience, self-awareness and learning skills. This aspect of the programme represents an underlying belief that students’ learning will be enhanced with a continued emphasis on their wellbeing and ongoing personal development (Sen, 1999; Nussbaum, 2011).

The key to success of the development and delivery of the Certificate in P-TECH programme is an ambitious and innovative curriculum which is supported by a committed partnership approach across participating industry partners and schools. The industry partners provide a range of supports including mentoring, digital badges and work experience opportunities as part of their commitment to supporting students. The participating schools have also made significant commitments including the timetabling of classroom hours for the programme and the support of teachers to complete a bespoke P-TECH teaching award.

The focus of the presentation is to share the innovations of the P-TECH curriculum and to explore the experiences, impact and learning of the school and industry partners. Recent stakeholder research will inform the discussion but speakers will also share examples of learning and practices. The format will comprise a presentation on the Certificate in P-TECH curriculum innovations (NCI), industry partner experiences and school experiences of P-TECH.

As the pilot comes to a close, this exploration and discussion is timely and useful. It is hoped that by sharing the experiences and learning, it will offer ideas and opportunities for further innovative developments and partnerships in the education landscape.

Objectives

Extend and expand upon our ICSEI 2023 session by:

- Discussing key elements of an innovative approach to online professional learning that engages teachers in inquiry learning about anti-racism and using critical inquiry to decenter white narratives in primary literacy

- Sharing completed learning modules created through collaborative development

- Share findings from participating teachers

Educational importance

Critical Race Theory (CRT) investigates the systemic nature of racism by questioning how it creates racist structures and status quos that further the interests of white supremacy (Stefanic & Delgado, 2012). CRT also contains an activist element that calls us to both understand systemic racism and change it. In her work on CRT in education, Ladson-Billings (1998) urges scholars and teachers to bring CRT out of academia by translating theory into classroom practice.

The Limestone District School Board (LDSB) in Ontario, Canada has answered CRT’s call to action by developing anti-racism professional learning focused on building primary teachers’ capacities to decenter white narratives and develop student racial literacy. LDSB collaborated with Usha James (The Critical Thinking Consortium) and Clarissa de Leon, an anti-racist teacher educator, to develop a critical inquiry approach to learning about anti-racism. Critical inquiry is a powerful approach that, when properly implemented, deepens student understanding, increases engagement and develops competency in critical, creative and collaborative thinking (Gini-Newman and Case, 2015).

As part of this project, a series of online modules were created. These modules involve identifying and disrupting how white supremacy manifests systemically in education and beyond, including biases present in primary literacy and normative racial narratives reinforced in children’s books.

In these modules, teachers are prompted to:

- Interrogate their own identities and positionalities;

- Work through challenges encountered during their journeys towards anti-racism;

- Explore mentor texts that decenter white narratives and question how to critically use “imperfect” texts;

- Engage with critical inquiry questions related to anti-racism and primary literacy

- Use a Thoughtbook (Gini-Newman et al., 2016) to develop and observe their own growth.

Format and Approach

In this session, participants will engage with the critical inquiry question: What are the most powerful decisions I can make to decenter white narratives in the primary years in order to increase student racial literacy? At the end of the presentation, participants will share their thinking.

Connection to the conference theme

We connect to the subtheme of “Leading schools and education systems that promote equity, inclusion, belonging, diversity, social justice, global citizenship and/ or environmental sustainability”. Critical learning experiences about systemic oppression and racism often require space for vulnerability and meaningful connection. Current educational circumstances have made it increasingly challenging to create these spaces for teachers due to factors such as limited release time for synchronous professional development. This presentation explores how online learning may be reimagined to capture the deep reflection and community needed for anti-oppressive and anti-racist teaching and learning while remaining accessible to teachers.

Objectives

Expand upon our ICSEI 2023 session by:

• Describing a transformative framework and an innovative approach to collaboration that supports improved outcomes for First Nations students.

• Sharing 120+ collaboratively developed resources for 6 high school courses that embody culturally relevant, responsive and respectful pedagogy and content and explore their key features

• Sharing a powerful decolonized approach that is designing a Traditional Knowledges course directly with Matawa First Nations community members, Knowledge Keepers, and Elders.

• Sharing early findings on the impacts of the teaching and learning materials.

Educational Importance

“... it is precisely because education was the primary tool of oppression of Aboriginal people, and miseducation of all Canadians, that we have concluded that education holds the key to reconciliation.” (Sinclair, 2014)

The 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action clearly highlights the significant role that education must play in the process of reconciliation. While it is true that “on average” students in Canada consistently perform well on provincial, national, and international standardized assessments, these measures do not accurately reflect the quality of education for Indigenous students in Canada with Indigenous students graduating at approximately half the rate of non-Indigenous populations (Assembly of First Nations, 2011; Styres, 2017).

First Nations students who relocate to urban centres experience an educational environment and curriculum that is not reflective of their cultural identity. Students face significant obstacles including discrimination and racism; difficulty in securing shelter; shortage of healthy food; and the inability to access mental health and addiction support services. These barriers often result in students abandoning personal and academic goals. The Matawa Education and Care Centre (MECC) is striving to mitigate these areas of concern by implementing a culturally responsive and holistic approach that promotes mental health support and a safe space to succeed academically.

The Critical Thinking Consortium (TC2) and the MECC are continuing their successful partnership to encourage meaningful collaboration with Matawa communities, Elders and Knowledge Keepers to develop engaging, culturally relevant and respectful resources across many subject areas. These resources guide and support teacher practice helping them nurture high quality thinking, centre students’ identities, histories and experiences to intentionally ensure the proper reflection and respect of Indigenous perspectives and worldviews.

Our successes to date include:

- Significant increase in achieved/completed credits

- 75% in-person regular attendance each week

- Overall improved student wellness

- Engagement with 16 school boards and other educational organizations across Ontario

- Development of a website to freely share resources freely

Format and Approach

In this interactive Innovate session, we will engage participants in critically examining our collaboratively developed resources to surface key components and provide thoughtful feedback on our approach.

Connection to the Conference Theme

We connect to the subthemes of this conference: “Engaged and purposeful dialogue between politicians, policymakers, academic researchers, educators, and the wider school community”. We have discovered principles and approaches that support the development and implementation of effective teaching and learning resources and professional learning that promote equity, inclusion, diversity, social justice, global citizenship, and environmental sustainability.

Linking closely to the overarching conference themes, this presentation looks at creative and innovative practices that offer an impactful alternative to how time is currently spent covering teacher absence from school and other learning loss issues emanating from Covid days residue.

Studies on learning loss in Covid pointed towards employing a multi-faceted approach which takes in contextual realities as guiding drivers for impactful practice. (Blainey, (2021), Grima, & Golding, (2021), Hanushek, & Woessmann, (2020)).

Chiswick House School and St Martin's College in Malta, a whole-through 2-18, co-educational independent learning organization worked tirelessly internally and externally to combat learning loss between March 2020 and June 2023.

From devising focus groups per subject per level, counselling sessions, individualised and intensive catch-up classes and family support groups, we were able to construct an evidenced-based picture of our state of play with regard to learning loss. Both young and adult learners' needs were and are considered.

Working closely with two newly recruited teachers, the Principal looked at the number of lessons "lost" due to the statutory provision for teachers for sick and special leave. Estimating, on average on actual data, a loss of 10% of learning time for children, a new Replacement Curriculum is being devised to combat learning time loss and to relieve teachers from an outdated administrative practice that frustrates learners, teachers, parents and leadership.

Weekly 2 hour meetings over 6 months (approx 20 weeks) with two newly recruited teachers co-constructed and changed the concept of CPD to DPC - Developing Professional Creativity Davies, C (2022).

Three Streams of Learning Plans for Cultural Cohesion, borrowing from the IDG Inner Development Goals Framework (2021) which include the 5 Dimensions that have been adapted to offer over 50 lessons per year in each Stream for 3 Replacement teachers to use and explore. The Streams include Stream 1: Being and Thinking - Wellbeing and Ways of Being. Stream 2: Relating and Collaborating - Caring for Others, the World and Cultural Cohesion ( World Canons) and Stream 3 : Acting - Agency, Change and Real Life Snapshots.

Participants will be invited to actively engage in a short, simulated task of deconstruction, construction and co-construction from the Curricular Plan and the Professional Creativity Process through Project Based Learning principles Larmer, J et al (2015).

This interactive session for practitioners - teachers, educational leaders, professional educational coaches and mentors and curriculum planners aims at offering an impactful and engaging conversation that shed new light on school improvement.

This contributon to an Innovate Presentation focus on sharing practical experience based on testing recommendations from a R&D project about Student voice, presented at ICSEI 2023. The R&D looked at student voice from two perspectives; student voice in learning processes and student voice in democratic processes, both in school. The project concluded that the role of the student council (SC) must be strengthened. This Innovate Presentation will look at practical experience from testing some of the recommendations for increasing student voice in school democracy.

Background, purpose and policy focus:

In the R&D students, teachers, school leaders and owners all describe the SC as an important arena for student voice and the most important body for democratic processes in their school. It gives students the opportunity to influence issues that are important to them and give them experience with democratic processes. However, there are great variation in how the SC is used, and in which areas the students feel that they can contribute to school development. There are also great variations in how the students are chosen for the council and at what level all students feel that they have an impact. Several interventions in the R&D project recommended to strengthen the SC role and to train students voice in democratioc processes.

We would lik to share experiences and explore together with participants at the ICSEI 2024 the following bullet points:

• Get knowledge about the topic “student voice in democratic processes in school”

- The concept student voice in democratic processes at school will be defined in every class, with the teachers and school leaders

- The head at each school will visit every class befor the selection of the SC and tell them about what is expected from each in SC and how the selection should be done

• Involve all school levels, including the political level:

- The school owner together with politicians will gather all the SC in the municipality and give them training in political processes

• Practice:

- The SC will be involved in broader topics than before, like how to increase reading competence, collaboration between kindergarden and schools etc.

Experience from the testing will be evaluated with students, teachers, school-leaders and school-owners.

Purpose

To increase student voice in democratic processes in schools, in order to create engagement, competence and motivation to be active in democatic processes aslo as adults and as a consequence preserve democratic societies.

Educational Importance

Sharing our experience and to have dialogue at ICSEI will be important for how we move on further with this project. It might also be of inspiration for other school-communities on how to increase students voice in democratic processes, and also how to train for democratic societies.

Approach for the session

We would like to explore the area of practice via use of digital sharing, like mentimeter (www.mentimeter.com) and padlet (www.padlet.com) , combined with dialogue in pairs and whole groups. We will then be able to hear every voice and to build a climate for innovation and new ideas.

Addressing climate change is a global concern. Climate change is a complex interdisciplinary issue that requires experts to collaborate from different academic disciplines. Climate education integrates knowledge from the sciences, economics, the social sciences, and education to develop curricula and approaches to educate students, teachers, citizens, and policy makers. By understanding these different sectors and their concerns it may be possible to develop climate change education approaches that minimize the politics around climate education and lead to better outcomes. Climate education can increase awareness and understanding of the complex issues surrounding climate change. Understanding is key to making informed data-driven decisions and policies. High-quality climate education is more likely to engage the populace to critically evaluate the science and policies that are enacted to mitigate or even reverse current climate trends. At the global policy level, climate education is a key component of UNESCO's sustainability agenda. It aligns with UNESCO's focus on education for sustainable development, climate change education, and capacity building. UNESCO's goal is to empower individuals with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to address climate change and work for a sustainable future. One global network is the GLOBE Program. This network has over 120 partner countries that engages students, teachers, scientists, and citizen scientists in studying and addressing climate change. Member countries sign bilateral agreements to share data. It is likely that everyone attending the ICSEI conference is from a GLOBE Partner Country. The GLOBE Program plays a significant role in sustainability and climate education by promoting hands-on scientific research, fostering interdisciplinary learning, encouraging global collaboration, and providing professional development opportunities. By engaging students in real-world environmental investigations, the program inspires a sense of environmental stewardship and empowers the next generation to address the challenges of climate change and contribute to a more sustainable future. The GLOBE Program promotes a cross-disciplinary approach to learning by integrating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education with other subjects, including social sciences and arts. This interdisciplinary approach helps students understand the broader social, economic, and cultural dimensions of sustainability and climate change. It encourages critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity, empowering students to address complex environmental challenges. In spite of its large size, the network is not well known outside the environmental and climate science communities. This session will provide an overview of the program. Participation in this network is free and there are resources including curricula, databases, visualizations, etc. available to educators and policymakers for implementation or adaptation to support climate education. All materials are available in the 6 UN languages. Examples of teacher and student artifacts will be presented to demonstrate how GLOBE can enhance climate education within school systems or through a citizen scientist approach.

Research Objectives and Questions

Studies on inter-school collaboration are increasingly applying network tools to capture how school leaders’ collaborative relationships can enhance the brokerage of social capital (i.e. resources) and therefore community improvement (e.g. Daly et al., 2015; Sinnema et al., 2020). However, little is known about how individual leaders perceive their roles and operate in evaluating, synthesizing and mobilizing social capital that emerges from the wider community. This research paper employs a mixed-method social network design and examines the brokerage roles of school leaders in sharing resources within and beyond the PLN community.

RQ1. What are the different models for brokerage in a PLN, based on the leadership level and site/school?

RQ2. What strategies do school leaders use to broker resources in a PLN?

Theoretical Framework

The paper draws evidence from social capital (Burt, 2002) and social network theory (Daly, 2010). Rodway et al. (2021) explained that although formal leaders (headteachers) seem to have the responsibility to bridge ties (outdegree) and seek expertise from external groups (indegree), teacher leaders can also mobilize innovative ideas (social capital). This study adopted Gould and Fernandez’s(1989) brokerage roles: Liaison, Consultant, Coordinator, Gatekeeper and Representative.

Methodology

Design

The present study utilized a case study design, attempting to capture the complexity of the unit (Yin, 2009)- the Lakeside PLN. The Lakeside includes 5 schools that comprise a Multi-Academy Trust. The member schools have developed several community connections (e.g. unions, local politicians) to expand the community impact of the organization in the locality.

Instruments and procedure

Social network survey: Participants were provided with a complete list of names of all the leaders that work across the PLN (N=147) on a 4-point Likert-type scale and invited to nominate their colleagues with whom they collaborated to improve their professional practice. This survey was used to purposefully select participants (i.e executive, senior, middle and administrator leaders that work in one of the schools or across PLN) for the interviews (N=13).

Semi-structured interviews: The interview focused on interactions within and beyond (e.g. teachers, politicians) the leadership teams. Respondents were invited to note the people they collaborate to improve their professional practice, use post-it notes and place them onto an A3-sized paper with three concentric circles (indicate frequency), to discuss the content, challenges and strategies.

Data analysis

The NetDraw, VennMaker and UCINET software packages (Borgatti 2006) were used to visualize the networks and calculate in-degree (incoming ties), out-degree (outgoing ties), and brokerage roles based on the leaders’ role and site/school. The qualitative findings were analyzed thematically.

Results

Brokerage strategies and models differ based on the needs and responsibilities of individual leaders. Senior leaders seem to have the formal responsibility to liaise with disconnected groups (e.g.year groups) formalizing collaboration, acting also as gatekeepers communicating with community partners. The hierarchical structure of governance hinders the development of vertical relationships between senior and middle leaders.

Implications

The research provides insights regarding how school practitioners can strengthen knowledge brokerage within and beyond school partnerships, and investigate how collaboration in PLN supports school effectiveness and improvement.

Introduction

In-service, peer-to-peer professional learning and development (PLD) are critical to school improvement. Understanding how teachers collaborate, occupy expert roles, share and receive expertise, and learn from one another is vital for advancing knowledge on workplace learning and organizing collegial learning (Horn & Kane, 2019; Horn & Little, 2010). This presentation explores collaborative PLD among high school science teachers learning in an emergent professional learning network (PLN) to develop inquiry-based teaching practices (Brown & Poortman, 2018; Hargreaves, 2019). We ask: How do participants enact professional identities during collaborative learning? How are professional identities mobilized for peer learning?

Analytical Framework

To answer these questions, we focus on how participants communicated in peer-to-peer sharing interactions. To do this work, teachers enact situational and institutional-specific roles and identities in their talk. By borrowing discourse analytic tools from conversation analysis and interactional sociolinguistics (Schegloff, 2016; Tannen, 2007) and applying these tools to teacher-to-teacher conversations occurring in collaborative lesson plan development and broader group discussions, we provide a detailed picture of how teachers occupy professional roles, orientate these roles to an emergent understanding of the work of teaching, and leverage them for professional development. By cross-referencing our discourse analysis of peer-to-peer interaction with researcher-led interviews, our analysis provides insights into how teachers constructed their professional identities within a PLN.

Methods

The PLN included eleven participants: three novice teachers, five experienced teachers, the school board science consultant, and one pre-service teacher, all working in a suburban school board in Quebec, Canada. Author 1 is a part-time science at the school board, a co-facilitator and faculty lecturer who acted as a boundary spanner, moving across the school, university, and school board communities, navigating the research-to-practice divide (Bednarek et al., 2018). Author 2 is a facilitator and university lecturer. The research team organized and facilitated eight lesson study and lesson planning workshops from October 2022 to May 2023. Whole group and working group interactions were recorded and transcribed.

Results

Our results focus on exchanges between PLN participants as they developed inquiry-based teaching practices and provided constructive, critical, or supportive but superficial feedback. We examined exchanges between teachers as they commented on each other's video-recorded classroom teaching; we follow teacher interactions and how these interactions demonstrate the face-threat co-incidental with critical peer feedback for both the feedback-receiving and -giving teachers as they navigate their professional competence and politeness norms. Our study examines tensions of practice, with a focus on how teachers navigated developing sophisticated new pedagogies.

Discussion and Conclusion

This paper advances the research on PLNs by analyzing teacher discourse, providing important insights into the PLN experience. We explored teachers' talk as they co-constructed their practice through dialogue and experimentation, occupied professional and expert roles and recognized those of others. This research extends the literature on PLNs, suggesting that teachers' talk during per-to-peer learning highlights the structures that can potentially elevate in situ learning and classroom practice. These insights can inform stakeholders on how teachers learn and enact sophisticated pedagogies during collaborative professional learning in a PLN.

Focus of Inquiry

For educational systems to embrace educational innovation, they need to constantly create, access and share new information and resources (Ariyani & Zuhaery, 2021). Taking a social network perspective, we stipulate that social media can contribute to such a process (Authors, 2021; Manca, 2020). Moreover, we argue that knowledge brokers, defined as actors who connect otherwise disconnected people (Weber & Yanovitzky, 2021), hold instrumental positions in sharing innovative information. Yet, it has been argued that more research is required to better understand knowledge brokers and the type of information they mobilize (Rycroft-Smith, 2022).

Theoretical/ Conceptual Perspectives

Social Media, such as Twitter, can foster the mobilization of innovative resources (Authors, 2021) and knowledge brokers can mediate this deeply relational mobilization process (Ward, 2017). Drawing on network science (Scott, 2017) and natural language processing (Manning & Schutze, 1999), we introduce a methodological approach that first identifies two types of knowledge brokers (active: being contacted; passive: contacting others) then investigates the content and topics they mobilize within their networks.

Data & Method

Accessing the Twitter API, we used a combination of hashtags (e.g. #education, #teachertwitter, #edutwitter, #edchat, and #edtech) for an initial Twitter data collection. We collected data from April 20, 2023 to May 26, 2023, resulting in a total of 397,415 tweets and 173,963 unique users. First, we conducted social network analyses (SNA), including community detection (De Meo et al., 2011) and betweenness centrality (Abbasi et al., 2012). We categorized knowledge brokers, based on their betweenness and overall centrality scores. We then employed lexicon-based sentiment analyses (Khoo & Johnkhan, 2018) and topic modeling (Xue et al., 2020) to determine the general sentiment and the type of information the two types of knowledge brokers shared.

Findings

Our lexicon-based sentiment analyses revealed statistically significant differences in the sentiment being shared by the two types of brokers. While active brokers exhibited more “positive” sentiment and “anticipation,” passive brokers showed signs of “anger”. The topic modeling added another valuable level to the analyses, as it revealed that passive brokers touched upon different topics (e.g. “donations”) than their active counterparts (e.g. “teacher projects”).

Educational Importance for Practice and Theory

Knowledge brokers are one key solution to mobilize knowledge (Rycroft-Smith, 2022) as they have valuable insights into the communities that they are connecting (Monod-Ansaldi et al., 2019). Moreover, a wide range of educational initiatives have already been launched that actively incorporate knowledge brokers in policy processes (Wollscheid et al., 2019). Our results provide valuable insights for policymakers and educational leaders to better understand knowledge brokers’ types of brokering (active or passive), their topical foci, and the general sentiment surrounding their brokering. These insights can in turn be used to more effectively select the knowledge brokers best suited to disseminate knowledge and resources and to support educational initiatives that strive to further improve schools and provide new and innovative information.

The purpose of this paper is, to describe, through the lens of educational change research, two long-term projects aimed at extending and refining the instructional practices of teachers and to share a developing framework based on change theory that we suggest could be used to inform the design, monitoring and assessment of educational change initiatives.

In this paper the authors expand on research first shared in 2018 (AERA, 2018), describing and reviewing how educators in Ireland and Australia are working to systematically refine and extend teachers’ instructional repertoires based on a common programme of action through enacting current research related to change and systemic change.

In Ireland the project is called the Instructional Leadership Programme (ILP) and is an ongoing project that currently involves a total of 185 post-primary schools in Ireland (approximately 25% of all public post-primary schools). In Western Australia, the project is known as the Instructional Intelligence Professional Development Program (IIPD). It ran from 2005-2011 and involved ten vocational education and training colleges (100% of the state public-funded college system). The rationale for each initiative is our focus on ‘working at’ impacting student learning through teacher learning.

We offer insights, from both settings, to change implementation, with the Irish project now in its 15th year, and the Australian project, which ran for seven years. We avail of and seek to contribute to an evolving framework based on change research that has been used to guide our thinking, our actions and reviews of each project. In reviewing our efforts, we believe our work resonates with the theme of the conference, Quality Professional Education for Enhanced School Effectiveness and Improvement and in particular the subtheme of Educational Leadership Network. We believe our paper offers unique and useful stories and lessons on the process of large-scale systemic change, aimed at enhancing teacher and school effectiveness.

We initially draw on the theoretical frame offered by Huberman and Miles (1984) who describe three evolving phases of change: (1) initiation (decisions made prior to starting), (2) implementation (actions taken once making the decision to start), and (3) institutionalization (actions taken to embed and build internal capacity to not only sustain but respond to the never-ending press of educational change). Fullan (2015) ascribes to these three phases, collectively describing them as the “Triple I Model” (p. 54) and uses these as a base from which to build and develop his theoretical and conceptual perspectives on educational change. Concomitantly, we have employed them to frame our approach to critiquing our systemic efforts.

A critique of the projects is offered and we share our self-review through the change lens and the factors previously outlined in this paper. In so doing we contend our work contributes to a better understanding of what factors require attention when efforts are made to enhance school effectiveness and improvement. We believe our research will be of interest to researchers, practitioners and policymakers.

Professional Learning Communities are important to introduce new initiatives and bring about change within a school. How a school leader ensures that this change is sustainable, deep lasting and genuinely staff-led is a greater challenge than the introduction of the initiative itself and has the potential for its results to be immensely powerful and far reaching.

This paper draws on the experiences of educational leaders at the British School of Brussels (BSB) who have created, lead, and sustained an effective whole school PLC for the last 6 years. Since the outset, leaders have intentionally created a whole school Professional Learning Community built on genuine sustained collaboration that enables trusted creativity, purposeful reflection and focused analysis of learning and leadership.

Since 2017, the school has undergone a cultural shift. In terms of PL, we have moved from a sporadic, directed model of PD for teachers, to an ongoing, intrinsically motivated, self-accountable model of PL for all. The PLC model in this setting is a ‘whole school model’ that fosters staff interdependency, self-directed learning and is underpinned by distributed leadership.

Approaching PL in this way has been part of a wider cultural shift. We witness that staff relationships are strong, they feel trusted and supported to approach their learning in creative, collaborative, and welcome peer accountability. Staff purposefully and actively engage to co-create an ethical future-focused vision of education.

This is an effective model. Data collated over time demonstrates a compelling correlation between the PLC ways of working and improved practice and outcomes.

This paper reports on the analysis of qualitative data, viewed through multi-dimensional framework of self, others and organisation. Data is gathered from and triangulated with multiple sources. Additionally, since 2018, BSB has invited the critique of external trusted partners and critical friends who have openly shared their perspectives to our approaches.

In this paper we identify deliberate leadership interventions and exemplify several enabling processes that ensured success. Key learning from our inquiry shows the importance of collaboratively creating and sharing a vision, creating supportive and trusting environments, knowing our staff well, recognising the strengths of each individual, allowing for risk-taking and innovative approaches, building connectivity, providing the resources needed for growth and creating structures and process that sustain a learning culture across the organisation.

We offer here a humanistic and ‘transformational’ leadership model that supports at all levels of the school organisation and deals with the concepts and cultures that matter rather than administrative detail. It is our belief that by getting the culture right, everything will follow.

We recognize that the strength of a PLC lies in understanding the context and nuance of each setting, but we aim that by sharing our examples, along with the wider theoretical framework, that we will empower other schools to enact genuine deep and lasting change in line with the ICSEI 2024 theme: ‘Quality Professional Education for Enhanced School Effectiveness and Improvement.’

Into Headship is Scotland’s national professional learning programme for principalship, a masters level qualification aligned to the General Teaching Council for Scotland’s (GTCS) Professional Standards, leading to the award of the Standard for Headship, a pre-requisite for all newly appointed headteachers. The programme is rooted in the GTCS Standards which are underpinned by core principles of agency, criticality, strategic leadership and social justice. This paper presents the findings of a research project which investigated the experiences, responses and impact of Into Headship on a group of aspiring principals, during the Covid-19 crisis. This study is rooted in a pragmatic constructivist paradigm which recognises that the purpose of inquiry is the advancement of understanding rather than the search for absolute truths. The methods used to gather data were questionnaires and semi-structured online interviews. Data was analysed using a thematic analysis approach and themes categorised using the ecological agency model. Initial findings from the study signal the importance of the social aspects of learning, the place of values within educational leadership and the relational dimension of leading a school community while also highlighting tensions within the system. Conclusions are drawn from the emergent themes and implications for the future of leadership development programmes are presented.

An ecological model of agency was used to shape the research design process and analyse the data to reveal ways in which this sustained headship professional development programme fostered the agency of the participants in leading school improvement processes. Details of the Into Headship programme are outlined then the methodology which underpinned the study are discussed and findings presented. The paper concludes that the underpinning values, concepts, design processes and practices of the programme, enhanced the agency of participants in a variety of ways and provided them with key understandings about the political tensions they faced while also equipping them with strategies to navigate a way through these competing demands and expectations, to lead school improvement.

Objectives

This paper reports the development work in cooperation between school and university at an introductory programme in Sweden. The introductory programme is an alternative educational path to support students who do not qualify for the national upper-secondary programmes. These students, for instance, migrant students or students with intellectual disabilities, belong to groups that are at-risk and have been marginalised in different ways during their school paths. An important challenge that we focus upon is that a majority of the students do not reach the goals set in the national curriculum for eligibility for a national programme or establishment in the labor market. More specifically, a narrow focus on eligibility for the national programmes implies that eligibility is measured in grades. Many students attend the programme for several years without achieving grades, even though they develop competences that are relevant and may facilitate transitions to future educational and professional paths.

This paper aims to investigate and shed light on alternative methods to map and assess students’ progress in ways that are not constrained by the formal curriculum.

The research questions are:

1. From a practice perspective, is it possible to develop alternative assessment categories?

2. If so, what categories were put into practice?

3. Why were these categories selected?

Perspective

Grades can constitute external motivation for students to engage in short time learning (Stan, 2012). However, when students run the risk of not reaching grades they often stop trying. Therefore, there is a need to develop methods both to motivate, and to show progress for students who experience failure to reach grades. Beyond assessing student achievement, data can support the development of teaching practices (Datnow & Park, 2018). This study investigates what such data could be and how the awareness and use of it is developed by teachers.

Methods

This paper draws from engaged scholarship (Van de Ven, 2007) and collaboration between practitioners in schools and researchers. Different techniques have been tested in the study to create matrixes and templates that support teachers and students in their reflective work on their learning and development. These tools were created after discussions and testing and an iterative process. Interviews were conducted with teachers and students to document this process. The data is compiled from continuous notes and documents generated during the process.

Findings

Preliminary findings show that the process of designing, testing, and implementing templates for assessment is long and complex. It implies that teachers need to come to a shared understanding of relevant data that reflect students’ success and not only their failures. An important consequence is that the process facilitated teachers’ and students’ engagement in deeper conversations about their learning, and the factors that may bring successful transitions for this student group. One challenge is that the process is time-demanding and requires planning and needs a focused investment by the school leadership in order to be implemented. Hopefully, the results of this study can provide an example for others who struggle to promote equity, inclusion and citizenship in their education.

Formal (i.e. systematically collected) school performance feedback (SPF) (such as test scores from central tests) can be a powerful tool for data-based decision making (Schildkamp, 2019). The assumption here is that school leaders and teachers (can) use SPF as a mirror to identify strengths and weaknesses in order to inform and drive teaching and school improvement (Coburn & Turner, 2011; Hulpia & Valcke, 2004; Schildkamp & Teddlie, 2008). However, research has found that both school leaders and teachers mostly fail to translate this data into meaningful information (Goffin, Janssen, & Vanhoof, 2023; Mandinach & Gummer, 2016; van der Kleij & Eggen, 2013). As a result, critical signals may not be picked up, or worse, incorrect or invalid inferences may lead to wrong decisions.

Sensemaking is a crucial stage in the cycle of data use (Mandinach & Schildkamp, 2021; Schildkamp, 2019), in which school leaders and teachers try to understand what the data means for the school or the classroom (Datnow, Park, & Kennedy-Lewis, 2012; Spillane, 2012). In this, comparing school’s performance against a well-chosen comparator, such as other (comparable) school’s performance (i.e. norm comparisons), can support users in understanding what the SPF means (Neumann, Trautwein, & Nagy, 2011; Schildkamp, Rekers-Mombarg, & Harms, 2012; Vanhoof, Mahieu, & Van Petegem, 2009). After all, only after SPF is interpreted (and analysed) it is transformed into information that can be used as a basis for data-based decision making (Mandinach, Honey, Light, & Brunner, 2008; Schildkamp & Poortman, 2015). Although education professionals commonly compare their school’s performance to that of a reference group (Goffin et al., 2023), literature shows that interpreting such norm-oriented information in SPF presents challenges (Hellrung & Hartig, 2013). In addition, it appears that data use processes are hampered when the norm-oriented comparator for SPF is not perceived as 'fair' (Vanhoof, Verhaeghe, & Van Petegem, 2009).

Given these considerations, in this study we explore the importance of comparing SPF in sensemaking (RQ1) and describe - from a user perspective - appropriate indicators and operationalisations for valid norm comparisons (RQ2). To this end, we conducted a Delphi study with two systematic rounds of consultations with both (future) feedback users and educational scientists. 18 informants participated in the study. Their responses were initially (round 1) analysed inductively according to the principles of Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) and subsequently (round 2) deductively according to principles of framework analysis (Miles & Huberman, 1984). Preliminary results suggest that norm comparisons mainly help to understand the broader context of a school’s performance. In addition, the importance of comparing both 'gross' and 'net' school test scores appears to be endorsed. Finally, informants underline - in pursuit of valid comparisons of SPF - the importance of taking into account (mainly) pupil intake characteristics. As school feedback from central tests only proves relevant when the SPF is interpreted (and used) meaningfully and validly, these findings give rise to a discussion of theoretical lessons and policy implications.

Introduction

Over time it has become evident that peers and networks of students play a key role in their social and academic development (Bhargava et al. [2022], Calvo-Armengol et al. [2009]). Hence, analyzing social networks in classrooms is important to understand and leverage the benefits of these connections (Zarate [2023]). However gauging and collating this information can be daunting for teachers, especially when they have to cater to large classroom sizes and multiple administrative responsibilities in schools (King and Nomikou, 2018). Hence we ask a dual question; What are the social networks of students in Indian classrooms? Second, How do teachers engage with the network data of their classrooms?

Context

This study involved 24 classrooms and teachers from three schools with a total of 584 students in total. Participating classrooms ranged from grades 1 - 10. The schools from the states of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh were selected to represent three different economic brackets (low, middle, and high income).

Methods and Analysis

The study utilized a mixed-method approach to answer the research questions. Quantitatively, we used the method of social network analysis (Jackson et al. [2023]) to unpack and visualize these networks.

Additionally, we conducted semi-structured interviews with teachers as they were making sense of the visuals of their classroom network data. The qualitative data were analyzed using a constant comparative method (Glasser, 1965) to surface the different themes in the ways that teachers engage with their classroom data and connect it to daily practices.

Findings

Through our network analysis, we found that there was considerable dispersion in degrees across several dimensions. At least 20% of students in each classroom get nominated by only one other individual as a very good friend. On the other end of the spectrum, 20% of the students within each classroom get nominated by more than 6 individuals as very good friends. Similar levels of dispersion are seen in academic help and recess networks.

In our interviews, we saw teachers being surprised about the students who were isolated in their classrooms. While they had an idea of the “popular” students in their classrooms, they were less aware of the students who were at the margins. Second, teachers were making tangible connections between the data and their future practices. These prospective practices ranged from making seating plans according to the data to nominating isolated students to take a more active part in school events.

Implications and Connection to ICSEI Theme:

Through our network analysis, it is evident that there are students in classrooms who do feel isolated and need more support. Additionally, our engagements with teachers speak to the fact that they value data that is specific to their classrooms. We see teachers making nuanced inferences from the data and relating it back to tangible practices. This study connects to the overarching theme of the conference to create professional support and training for teachers utilizing data. Additionally, it also directly connects to the sub-theme of leveraging research and data for inquiry, insight, innovation, and professional learning.

To improve successfully, schools should engage in data-informed school improvement, and research shows that principals are key players when it comes to such data use in schools (e. g. Datnow & Hubbard, 2016; Demski & Racherbäumer, 2015). Only few schools engage in data-informed improvement systematically (e. g. Demski, 2019), and the implementation of such practices seems to be contingent on several factors (e. g. Altrichter & Maag Merki, 2016; Bremm et al., 2017). The question therefore is how principals (and their schools) can be supported and trained so that their practice is more data-informed. So far, the discourse regarding school improvement in Germany has focused on the responsibility that individual schools have for their own improvement, whereas the tasks and responsibilities of superordinate actors in the local and regional school administration (LRSA) have hardly been addressed (Authors 1). According to German law, LRSA have supervisory responsibility for the schools (Ackeren et al., 2015, p. 97; Authors 2). However, there is no coherent strategy or a common understanding of the role and tasks that LRSA have with regard to school improvement (e. g. Brüsemeister & Gromala, 2020; Authors 1). Instead, there is a lack of concrete guidance at the policy and legal level, on how to shape the role of LRSA, e.g., with regard to their support services for schools (Authors 1). Their self-perceptions primarily involves a controlling, possibly advisory function, but no responsibility for enabling schools to improve (Authors 2). And although “‘data-based’ governance has become a large part of contemporary school supervision” (Dabisch, 2023, p. 65), the support practices of LRSA with regard to data use are highly heterogeneous (Dabisch, 2023; Huber et al., 2020). Moreover, there is little theoretical input or research on how LRSA can and should be trained if they should function as supporting agency for school improvement (Authors 1). Consequently, most schools currently are on their own when it comes to school improvement capacities, such as data-informed school improvement (ibid). This paper therefore aims to explore what LRSA in Germany can or should do to support schools in developing a data-informed approach to improvement. To do so, we used guided interviews (Mayring, 2015) with principals and teachers of successful schools to understand the prerequisites of data-informed practices in schools. We moreover used observation protocols of expert workshops with experts from administration, practice, and research, in which they discussed what structures, resources, and professional support schools need to develop data-informed practices based on the interview data. Initial findings point to the importance of school-wide – and possibly cross-organizational – structures, networking between schools as well as between different actors in the field, and collaboration as relevant organizational structures that need to be supported by LRSA. Moreover, LRSA must cultivate positive attitudes toward data and improvement in principals and teachers, which necessitates that LRSA actors model that attitude. Since LRSA often are not specifically trained for their task, it is also vital that they acquire knowledge about data (use) as well as helpful structures for effective data use first.

Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to enroll in higher education, and those who enroll are less likely to graduate. Although this can partially be attributed to a lower level of academic preparation and financial constraints, there is evidence that the lack of information, support, and encouragement also play an important role in schooling decisions (Dynarski et al., 2021; Carrell and Sacerdote, 2017; Bettinger et al., 2012). This paper evaluates the effects of two interventions designed to tackle these frictions on disadvantaged students’ postsecondary educational trajectories. Finding effective ways of promoting postsecondary opportunity for all students is important as this can dramatically improve their life trajectories.

The evaluation was carried out using a large-scale randomized control trial (RCT) implemented in Chile during the 2021 academic year (March – December). 81 schools were randomly allocated to a pure control group, 74 to an information-only treatment group and 74 to an information-and-mentoring treatment group. Students in the information-only group received an information package in their senior year of high school highlighting funding opportunities and the benefits of attending higher education. Students in the information-and-mentoring received the same information package and a sub-sample of them were randomly allocated to a mentorship program designed to guide students throughout the college application process. To evaluate the results, we used administrative data and all students were invited to answer baseline and exit surveys.

Our results are threefold. Firstly, we find that providing information alone improves students’ understanding of the higher education system but does not make a difference in their probability of applying to, or enrolling in, college. In contrast, providing information and mentoring increases students’ probability of registering and taking the college admission exam by 12.8 percentage points, of applying for funding by 10.3 percentage points, and of enrolling in higher education by 4.7 percentage points. Finally, the design of the RCT also allows us to study spillovers of the mentoring program on the classmates of treated students. Although we do not detect changes in enrollment in higher education in these students, we find that they become 5.1 percentage points more likely to register for the college admission exam and 5 percentage points more likely to take it. We will study social spillovers in greater detail with a second wave of our mentoring intervention.

Schools have an essential role in students’ trajectories and school counseling can address inequitable postsecondary opportunities (Owen, L. & Westlund, E., 2016), especially in countries as Chile where the higher education system is complex. This program is an example of how schools can improve students’ postsecondary educational trajectories and promote equity through reducing the lack of information, support, and encouragement. To strengthen counseling capacities of the participating schools, in 2022 the same information-and-mentoring intervention was implemented, this time through training teachers, counselors and leaders for them to deliver the program to their students.

Identity-based data collection in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) began in the 1960’s due to community advocacy for recognizing and dismantling systemic discrimination. Over the years commitments for such collections increased. In 2006, as a result of a Board motion, the introduction of the Student and Parent Census occurred. As of 2023, the Census has been administered four times and collects identity and school experience data for all students across the TDSB. However, while this data can be very useful, it also presents the possibility for perpetuating colonial patterns of control, surveillance, and damage centered narratives of communities. Communities are experts and holders of valuable knowledge - and hold their own stories (Wilson, 2008). The space researchers occupy is not to discover new narratives for communities, but to uplift systemically silenced narratives to facilitate a platform for change-oriented policy making. To work towards this goal and policy focus, the TDSB Research Department is re-envisioning large scale system surveys, data stewardship and governance practices associated with such data collection. Questions the team are exploring include - how to collectively build a system wide survey where all communities see themselves represented? How can community members and researchers collaborate on research questions, data analysis, and knowledge mobilization efforts? Where is there room for change within system policies and provincial legislation to validate Indigenous and community-based data governance models?

Through this ongoing work, the team aims for large scale identity-based data collection to amplify marginalized voices, expose systemically silenced narratives, and facilitate a platform for change-oriented policy making, but also to provide opportunities for educators, researchers, and system leaders to (un)learn about themselves in relation to students and strive for a cooperative future in disrupting systems and structures that have maintained inequities. To ground the teams work, five guiding principles sit as foundational:

Centering Community

Recognize, Confront, and Disrupt all Structures of Oppression

Use Critical Research Methods and Intersectional Analyses

Decolonize Research Practices

Lobby for Action-Oriented Outcomes and System Accountability

This paper presentation will elaborate on the application of the above noted guiding principles; sharing reflections on the census consultation and pilot process, the important space community occupies in applied research, as well as begin sharing experiences with participatory data analysis, such as: how schools are involved in the co-analysis of student identity-based data and school experience data; and, how these efforts shape professional learning and school improvement planning processes. Specifically showcasing how collaboration is leveraged to increased opportunity for shared inquiry, insight, innovation and professional learning. Through the guiding principles noted above and collaborative work to follow, the Census team hopes to explore where there is room for change within system policies and provincial legislation to include Indigenous and community-based data governance principles and practices. The team welcomes dialogue on building a community-centered approach to data interpretation, narrative building, and community data governance.

Lytle and Cochran-Smith (1992) describe the concept of “Teacher research” as a powerful way for teachers to understand how they and their students construct and reconstruct the curriculum. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in pre-service teacher research in teacher education (Van Katwijk, et al., 2021). In the framework/curriculum for teacher education in Norway, one of the skills students must develop is to: “alone, and in collaboration with others, use relevant methods from research and development work, for continuous development of their own and the school's collective practice, as well as carry out limited research projects under supervision”. And during their 4th year in teacher education they all have to plan and report on a R&D (research and development) project, and in their 5th year they do their master degree project. In this study, we have investigated how Norwegian prospective teachers understand the concept of teacher research, and how they feel ready and prepared for taking on this role when they begin their professional life. The sample consists of Norwegian student teachers at the end of their fourth or fifth year of teacher training, so they all have completed an R&D project, and some have submitted their master's thesis. The data material consists of responses to a questionnaire (n=23) and two focus group interviews (n= 9), asking about their understanding of the consept “teacher research” and how they see themselves as one when starting to work as a teacher. The analyzes show that there is great variation in how the students understand the concept of being teacher research, but they all have a common understanding of the contribution of teacher research in the school. They also agree on which parts of teacher training have been important for being a teacher researcher, but there is variation in whether teachers see themselves as a future researcher or not. The latter is linked to lack of confidence about their competence, or they think it will a questions about time. Still ¾ of the participants in the study are and the support and culture among leaders and colleagues in the school they come to. They say that if there is a culture for this, where there is support from managers and colleagues, then this is something they would certainly consider doing as part of their work. The latter is independent of the experience of being sufficiently prepared or not. This is a small study, with a limited number of participants, but it gives an indication that future teachers see researching their own practice as important for their students, so regardless of whether they feel sufficiently prepared or not, this is something they can imagine participating in. But it requires that the school they go to has a culture for this. They have ideas for what they can think of to research, and they think that they can be a resource for the school when they come up with new ideas and thoughts about good teaching.a

Objectives and Connections to Theme:

Data systems can play a role in teacher confidence; contribute to improved, differentiated instruction; and ultimately improve schools. This presentation explores these ideas through the example of a government-led literacy initiative in the U.S.

Context:

Much has been written about the promise of teacher’s data use internationally (Poortman, Schildkamp, Lai, 2016). Furthermore in the 2018 PISA, at least 70% of students attended schools where student assessments guided instruction (Peña-López, 2020). Some studies connect teacher data use to student achievement (Reeves, & Honig, 2015; Poortman, & Schildkamp, 2016); and one recently found professional development increased teacher data use specifically in reading (van Kuijk, et al., 2016). However, data-use capacity has been questioned (Van Gasse, & Mol, 2021; Datnow, & Hubbard, 2016).

Investment in “the Science of Reading” in the U.S. provides opportunities to explore how “Multi-Tiered Systems of Support in Reading (MTSS-R)” influence teachers’ data-use (Fien, Chard, & Baker, 2021). Teachers use MTSS-R to screen students for reading difficulties, diagnose needs, place students in intervention groups, and monitor progress (Leonard, et al. 2019).

Since 2013, 31 states passed legislation about the Science of Reading and four have policies in process (Schwartz, 2023). States typically focus on evidence-based instruction including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, and also implement MTSS-R. Could implementing MTSS-R relate to teachers’ data use and confidence in teaching?

Questions, Methods, Data Sources:

Q1: To what extent are elementary teachers confident teaching reading content, and how does use of MTSS-R relate to confidence?

Q2: What do leader interviews and document reviews reveal about successful implementation and use of MTSS-R?

This presentation describes an evaluation of a state-funded reading initiative that requires use of MTSS-R. We surveyed elementary teachers in 24 districts (37% response rate, n=339) about confidence teaching 10 aspects of reading and about use of MTSS-R. We analyzed the data through descriptive statistics and Chi Squares. We used content analysis to examine district documents and leader interviews.

Results:

More teachers reported confidence teaching comprehension and vocabulary compared to other aspects of reading (Figure 1). Confidence teaching phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, oral reasoning, and complex text was significantly related to reported use of MTSS-R (Table 1).

In interviews, district leaders believed schools made progress on MTSS-R but the systems were not fully implemented. Several noted that teachers weren’t always “on the same page” about assessments and their purposes. Documents showed that MTSS-R typically relied more heavily on measures of phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency than on other aspects of reading.

Significance:

This presentation discusses

• How countries can learn from the promise (and implementation challenges) of data systems, such as MTSS-R in the U.S.

• How data systems may help teachers gain confidence, particularly in areas directly related to the measures in the data system (e.g. phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency) or tangentially related areas where confidence was low (e.g. verbal reasoning and complex text)

Theoretical framework

The use of data, such as data from students’ perceptions of teaching quality (SPTQ), can help teachers improve their teaching quality and support students’ learning (Röhl, 2021). SPTQ data can help teachers identify areas of improvement and initiate improvement-oriented actions (Helms-Lorenz & Visscher, 2021).

However, teachers need a complex set of competencies (knowledge, skills, and beliefs) to use students’ feedback data (Röhl et al., 2021), which is called Data Literacy (Mandinach & Gummer, 2016). In this study we pay attention to beliefs about SPTQ data, because they allow teachers to engage in using their knowledge and skills to use this source of data to drive their professional growth. The theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991) will be used to study the effect of a professional development program on teachers’ beliefs.

Objectives of research

In this presentation we will present preliminary results about a teacher professional development program aimed at improving teachers’ beliefs about students’ perceptions of teaching quality.

Research question

The research question that will guide the present study is: What are the effects of a teacher professional development program on teachers’ beliefs to use SPTQ data?

Methods

Teachers will participate in a four months teacher professional development program. The sample encompasses 20 Chilean schools, and around 60 teachers from 7-12th grade, from different subjects. We will use a pre-and post questionnaire about beliefs relative to SPTQ data, grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991).

We will use a pre and post-intervention test to measure the impact of our teacher professional development program on teachers' beliefs regarding SPTQ data. The professional development includes workshops for the professional learning communities (PLC) coordinators, as well as a detailed manual. Each teacher will conduct a data-use cycle, which is a set of steps that helps to systematically improve instructional practices based on SPTQ data. Results will be discussed in their PLCs consisting of six to eight teachers, and the PLC coordinator.

Expected results

We expect the intervention will improve the three predictors of intention for using students’ perceptions of teaching quality data: attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control.

Educational importance

This research addresses a crucial aspect of educational practice, which is the use of student feedback for instructional improvement. The study will illuminate how teachers working in professional learning communities can influence teachers' beliefs and subsequent utilization of SPTQ data. Besides, the results of this study will add to our knowledge of how teacher beliefs interact with data use, an area that has been recognized but not sufficiently explored.

Connection to the conference theme

Aligned with the ICSEI 2024 theme, this study examines how to develop competencies in teachers to improve their instructional practices. Teaching quality is a crucial component in the research on educational effectiveness (e.g., Muijs & Reynolds, 2017). This study will enrich the conversation about how to develop teacher professional development able to improve teachers’ beliefs, which is key for effective data use (Datnow & Hubbard, 2016; Mandinach & Gummer, 2016; Prenger & Schildkamp, 2018).

Theoretical framework

The use of data, such as data coming students’ perceptions of teaching practices (SPTQ), can help teachers improve their teaching quality and support students’ learning (Herbert et al., 2022; Röhl, 2021). However, teachers need support in improving their teaching using SPTQ data (Bijlsma et al., 2019). The greater the support, the more probable it is that teachers will optimise their teaching using SPTQ data (Röhl, 2021).

We designed a teacher professional development program to support teachers in improving their teaching quality through the use of data in professional learning communities (PLC).

Objective of research

The aim of this study is to share initial findings on the effects of a teacher professional development program on teaching quality.

Research question

The research question that will guide the present study is: What is the effect of a data use teacher professional development program on teaching quality?

Methods

Teachers will participate in a four months teacher professional development program. The sample encompasses 20 Chilean schools, and around 60 teachers from 7-12th grade, from different subjects. We will administer a pre - and post questionnaire in which students give their perceptions about teaching quality.

The teacher professional development program includes workshops for the professional learning communities coordinators, as well as a detailed manual. Each teacher will conduct a data-use cycle, which is a set of steps that helps to systematically improve instructional practices. They will discuss each of the steps of the data use cycle in their PLC.

Expected or preliminary results

We expect the four-month intervention will improve teaching quality in the dimensions targeted by teachers during the program.

Educational importance of this research

This research addresses a crucial aspect of educational practice, which is the use of student feedback for instructional improvement. The study will illuminate how teachers working in PLCs can improve their practices in the classroom using students’ perceptions of teaching quality as a source of feedback.

Connection to the conference theme

Aligned with the ICSEI 2024 theme, this study examines how to develop competencies in teachers to process students’ feedback and improve their instructional practices. Teaching quality is a crucial component in the research on educational effectiveness (e.g., Muijs & Reynolds, 2017). This study is the first in Chile to estimate the effect of a teacher professional development program on teaching quality by means of SPTQ. This study will enrich the conversation about how to develop effective teacher professional development to improve teaching quality.

Ratification of the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989 initiated academic, political and community interest and commitment to advancing advocacy and support for children, their rights, their voice and their participation in all decisions which affect them [1]. Accordingly, children’s policy developments in national and international contexts centered on listening to the voices of children and young people to achieve better outcomes for all. However, the voices of children with disabilities are rarely consulted [2], they have been described as the missing voice in policy, research and practice [3] [4]. Children with disabilities tend to be the end users of policies and practices developed and implemented in their name without their consultation or participation [4][5]. This is evident in education policy. With an increasing number of students with disabilities in mainstream schools and with National Council of Special Education (NCSE) exploring a move towards full inclusion, it is timely that we listen to the voices of children with disabilities to examine what is working well and what needs to change to enhance inclusive practice.

Consequently, this research sets out to explore the perceptions and experiences of 15 students with intellectual disabilities (ID) in mainstream post-primary schools in Ireland. All students in this study access a special class for all or part of their week. This research seeks to implement students’ right to express their views and have their views heard [6]. It aims to understand if these experiences are barriers or facilitators to participation in the life of the school, including decision making. Framed within the transformative paradigm this research situates children with ID as co-researchers and agents of change. However, research with children, particularly children with disabilities can pose methodological and ethical challenges [7]. Consequently, Photovoice as a participatory visual research method was chosen to support students to voice their experiences. It’s use operationalises Lundy’s Model of Participation [8], which serves as the theoretical and methodological framework for this study by providing space, voice, audience and influence which are necessary for children as right bearing citizens to express their views and have their voices heard in an ethical inclusive manner.

Preliminary findings from this study highlight the importance of the special class to students with ID in mainstream schools. They enhance students’ participation in learning, their sense of safety and belonging and their socialisation with peers. Yet, this system of separate education provision is in breach of our obligations under Article 24 of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD) [9]. Ratification of Article 24 by the Government of Ireland necessitates a move to full inclusion with the removal of separate education provision [10] such as special classes. However, Article 24 was developed without input from children with disabilities. The absence of children’s voices in the development of international instruments is problematic [11]. Therefore, this research seeks to address this by listening to the voices of students with ID to identify the barriers and facilitators to participation in in school.

This is my Doctoral Research Thesis which is in progress.

Research Question: To what extent can an entrepreneurial mindset be cultivated in a primary school setting using action research?

Research Aims:

The main aim of this research is to explore, using action research, to what extent can an entrepreneurial mindset be cultivated in a primary school setting?

Research Objectives:

1. To design entrepreneurial education workshops with teachers, students & school leaders at a Change Maker Primary School.

2. To deliver three full day entrepreneurial education workshops with teachers at a Change Maker School towards the development of an entrepreneurial mindset in a primary school setting.

3. To iterate the workshops in response to feedback to implement incremental change over the course of the three workshop cycles.

4. To support teachers to implement entrepreneurial education workshops with their students at a Changemaker School.

5. To generate qualitative data on the attitudes, perceptions and experiences of teachers, students and school leaders on the design and implementation of entrepreneurial education workshops aimed at the development of an entrepreneurial mindset in a primary school.

6. To develop an entrepreneurial mindset framework and teaching blueprint that could be shared with other primary schools in Ireland.

This research will explore whether, through the development and delivery of a set of entrepreneurial education training workshops with teachers at a Primary school in Ireland could assist in the cultivation of an entrepreneurial mindset in the students, teachers, and school leaders using and an action research approach. Qualitative attitudinal measurements will be taken before and after the workshops in the form of student and teacher focus groups based on entrepreneurial domains and competencies drawn from the literature (Rae, 2006, Garman, 2020, Jiatong et al., 2021, Lubik, 2022) which will feed forward into the action cycle for the workshops. Following the design, iteration and delivery of these workshops, teachers will deliver workshops in their classrooms creating the environment to potentially develop an entrepreneurial mindset in their students. Based on the outcomes of this research project, the researcher aims to produce an entrepreneurial mindset framework / teaching blueprint which could be a transferable piece of work that could be shared with the CM primary schools in Ireland. The research will be interpretive in nature as the research is based on the belief that knowledge can be socially constructed, subjective, and influenced by social interactions of the situation being researched (Creswell, 2014). This research will not necessarily be for the purpose of discovering new facts or theories, but to acquire information and knowledge that could have a practical application to the development of teaching and learning in a primary school setting (Stringer, Genat, 2004). This research is aligned with the purpose of educational action research, which is to change, improve and transform teaching practice, teachers’ understandings of their practices and the condition in which they practice in (Kemmis, 2009). This research aligns with the main conference theme of enhanced school effectiveness and improvement.

In today's rapidly changing world, education plays a vital role in shaping societies, empowering individuals, and driving sustainable development. While Africa is rich in diverse cultures, traditions, and educational practices, there remains a pressing need to address the unique challenges and opportunities within the continent's education systems. As we embark on this journey of building a research hub dedicated to education in Africa, we invite researchers, educators, policymakers, and practitioners to join forces, collaborate, and co-create knowledge that truly reflects the realities and aspirations of African communities.

The establishment of this research think tank signifies a collective commitment to advancing educational research and practice in Africa. We firmly believe that by convening African researchers and fostering collaborative research interest groups, we can pave the way for transformative change, grounded theories, and impactful research that emanates from the African context. Our aim is to break away from the traditional research paradigms that often overlook African voices and experiences, and instead, cultivate a research ecosystem that celebrates and amplifies the African perspective.

Within this research hub, we envision a vibrant and inclusive community of researchers who are not only willing to collaborate but are passionate about co-authoring articles and editing books together. By pooling our collective expertise, insights, and diverse perspectives, we can delve into the heart of educational challenges and opportunities in Africa. This collaborative approach enables us to bridge the gap between theory and practice, ensuring that our research truly addresses the needs of African communities, and contributes to evidence-based policymaking and implementation.

Our research journey will be guided by a quest for grounded theories that reflect the rich educational traditions and practices in Africa. We recognize that education in Africa is deeply rooted in cultural heritage, indigenous knowledge systems, and community values. It is our responsibility to explore, document, and honour these traditions while seeking innovative solutions to address the ever-evolving educational landscape. By grounding our research in the realities of African contexts, we can develop theories and frameworks that are meaningful, contextually relevant, and actionable.

Beyond the pursuit of knowledge, we are driven by a shared commitment to creating real-world impact through our research endeavours. We understand that quality education is a catalyst for societal progress, and our work must align with this broader vision. By conducting rigorous research, generating evidence, and advocating for evidence-based policies, we can drive positive change in education systems, improve learning outcomes, and foster sustainable development across Africa.

Objectives for the AVD Africa Education Research Think Tank:

1. Empowering African Research Voices

2. Knowledge Generation

3. Research Collaboration and Network Support

4. Capacity Building and Mentorship

5. Policy Influence

6. Profiling Innovation and Best Practice

7. SDG Alignment

8. Community Engagement

9. International Collaboration

10. Knowledge Dissemination

Research-Practice Partnerships have recently emerged as one of the promising strategies to address equity in learning and bridging the widening gap between research and practice (Coburn et al., 2013). Furthermore, as in many developing country contexts (Gomez et al., 2020), education systems leaders are under pressure to improve learning outcomes and address other multiple demands on schools (Fleisch, 2018). Politicians increasingly demand that senior and mid-level system leaders deliver tangible and measurable change. To address these challenges, governments at various levels are entering both formal and informal partnerships with universities to help them navigate the new complex environment.

This roundtable discussion is drawn from the two research-practice partnerships that seek to collaboratively address the problem of improving teaching and learning improvement South Africa. The first case reports on the factors essential to forming university district partnerships for school improvement that seeks to build knowledge collaboratively with a rural education district in one province in South Africa in partnership with university researchers in Johannesburg and California. The collaborative network model is grounded in research and experience leading effective leadership networks of district leaders (Bryk, 2010; Fullan, 2021).

From the practice side, district leaders shared that engaging collaboratively with the university has facilitated valuable discussions around how the education system can improve; what supports might be needed, and what shared practices and norms would help build professional capacity for system improvement. Notably, one participant shared that the collaborative session "helped me to think deeply about aspects that should be introduced to improve working together with school [leaders] and my colleagues at the district level," while another expressed an interest in opportunities for district leadership an opportunity to "talk about their practice and challenges they come across in the process of implementing it".

From the universities’ side, we are finding that researchers need to be mindful of ensuring that practitioners become equal partners in the partnership. Practitioners’ perspectives are invaluable to determining leverage points for improvement. For instance, developing and agreeing on norms in initial meetings helps the group begin to work collaboratively together. This includes coming up with notes collectively to make progress in subsequent meetings. Can we agree on the ways that we should work together? This could be done by collectively negotiating all players' norms and roles. Also, developing trust seems vital for both parties. How improvement is discussed is important and impacts whether partners take on defensive postures relative to discussions of improvement efforts.

The other partnership focuses on the long-term informal relationship between university academic and senior system leaders in South Africa. Drawn from the experience of an insider/outsider, this case study documents the evolving university/government relationship from 2010 to 2023. Over time, the relationship centered around sharing and contextualization of new international research evidence on new system-wide improvement approaches and specific assistance in systemic-level improvement planning. From the university side, the relationship provided unique and direct access to schools and teachers and provided an upfront opportunity to understand the dynamics of large-scale change.

Teachers enter the education profession with high levels of intrinsic motivation, and without careful attentiveness, intrinsic motivation is not sustained or decreases. Teachers are motivated to grow, and their wellbeing is supported when their psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness are satisfied. Coaching that meets the teachers’ psychological needs enhances intrinsic motivation. My research explored the environment for and the implementation of coaching programs in three diverse schools in New South Wales. This qualitative, multiple-site case study encompassed thematically coded interviews and corresponding coaching documentation, exploring coaching programs and learning environments to increase the learning and wellbeing of early career teachers. With limited coaching theories, the motivational theory of Self-Determination and the Four-Capital Framework for developing and retaining teachers structured this study, linking and extending contemporary coaching theories and knowledge.

This study indicated that the early career teachers' (ECTs) primary motivation for professional growth stemmed from a positive learning environment that facilitated coaching, which principals, coaches, and ECTs perceived as effective professional learning that supported wellbeing. The principals across all three schools had solid beliefs and a strong commitment in specific areas, creating a positive learning environment. Initially, all schools evaluated the current issues and needs and continually reviewed their context after implementing coaching. School-embedded coaching required strategic planning and resourcing that increased together with the program’s effectiveness. Coaching requires effective communication, a clear purpose, aligned policies, procedures, and defined roles and responsibilities. Examining the benefits and barriers of the applied coaching program determines whether the purpose, program or practice needs modification or expansion. So, should schools create a conducive learning environment before implementing coaching, or does coaching create the learning environment?

Learning Objectives:

After participating in this session, attendees will be able to…

• Transfer and apply the Model of Professional Relationship and Professional Learning to their own school context and staff culture.

• Plan and prepare for structured, solution focused professional conversations between school leaders, special education teachers and general education teachers.

• Prioritize actions to support positive professional relationship among co-teachers, whilst also identifying professional learning opportunities.

Workshop Overview - Educational Importance and Approaches

The provision of Special Education Teachers (SET) in Ireland has recently undergone monumental change with government guidelines promoting a predominately co-teaching approach and no longer emphasising the withdrawal of students by SET (Department of Education, 2022). This model, although used sporadically across schools, has been met with some resistance, misunderstandings and without adequate professional development. School leaders noted tensions amongst SETs and general education teachers (MacConduibh, 2019).

This session will look at the Model of Professional Relationship and Professional Development (Uí Chonduibh, 2018) developed during a Collaborative Action Research (CAR) doctoral project. This research was conducted in a wide range of Catholic schools; Irish medium, disadvantaged, urban, rural, and special schools. CAR engaged the participants in co-teaching lessons and professional development meetings across school settings. The research identified opportunities for professional learning and shared professional responsibility between teachers and school leaders. Collaborative practices were developed and fostered in-school and across school settings which impacted on participants’ professional learning and teacher self-efficacy. Findings suggest that tensions which teachers face in professional relationships were dealt with during scaffolded reflections. Sharing of professional responsibility and professional conversations, whilst still fostering needs of teacher education during co-teaching, also added to the continuing professional learning of all staff. A central innovation of the research was an exploration of solution-focused coaching strategies for the development of professional relationships in school.

This workshop explores and examines models of co-teaching (team teaching) and how they are or might be put into action. It also focuses on how co-teaching, as a central method for in class support teaching, can benefit and develop professional relationships while also creating a platform for continuous professional development. The workshop will examine Collaborative Action Research as a tool to structure and schedule planning, implementation and review of in class intervention and support programmes. How to engage in collaborative reflective practices and professional dialogues will be addressed. The workshop explores practical ways to foster and utilise co-teaching in class to benefit both student and teacher learning. The workshop will allow for the opportunity to share and receive ideas for best practice, it will create a space to think of co-teaching and Collaborative Action Research and their impact on school effectiveness and improvement.

Evaluative Thinking and Teaching (Hattie, 2023: Teaching with Intent) provide a well-researched framework for data-based processes for the schoolwide enhancement of teaching and learning. The Steev-Approach (Simultaneous Teaching and Enquiry that is Effective and Visible) translates this framework into a feasible 5-step process which allows teachers to optimize their teaching, and thus strengthen student learning and progress. Application of the Steev-approach leads to an amplification of teacher professionalization as teachers reflect - in practice - on practice while connecting to and considering scientific evidence. Collective teacher efficacy is fostered as teachers collaborate more intensively and make educational success schoolwide visible.

The latest developments of the approach include a practice-theory hub which allows users to access both sources of expertise directly, efficiently and effectively. Basis is a ten-year collaboration process between researchers / higher education specialists of the teacher college and more than 1.000 teachers from more than 100 schools. Core products are 36 published “tried-and-tested examples” of teacher implementations of the Steev-approach in their classrooms. These project-reports are mostly product of continuing professional development / in-service training. In these short reports, the researchers have worked out which of the 357 influences on school learning currently prepared by John Hattie are activated. For a selection of 35 of these influences, a matrix shows in which examples they are used or activated. (300 connections).

This combination of experiential and research-generated evidence aims to contribute to bridging the often-lamented gap between pedagogical theory and practice. It provides suggestions for both initial teacher education and continuing professional development: How can research- and practice-generated evidence reinforce each other and deepen professional learning?

The presentation offers an introduction to the 5-steps of the Steev-approach. It is put up for discussion together with the newly added practice-theory hub. Participants are invited to examine Steev’s potential for initial teacher education, continuing professional development, school effectiveness and improvement within their own educational contexts. The benefits for student learning, teacher and school development will be explored.

Format of the innovate presentation: short presentation of the Steeve-approach and implementation process, supported by concrete examples. Supplementary materials will be made available on an interactive board (Padlet) even beyond the duration of the conference. Participants ask questions and comment on the interactive board, to prompts like "Which innovative elements are applicable to your own research/practice? "What objections/reservations/questions come up?" As many questions as possible will be answered or discussed already in the session.

An important link with the conference theme is that an example is given of an innovative partnership between universities and schools. The role of teachers and school leaders from practice in cooperation with researchers / teacher training colleges should be clarified and strengthened. The aim is to show that there are new, particularly productive, and efficient ways for universities to further develop pedagogical theories which will prove relevant to teachers' practice and be validated by them.

The objective of this session is to have participants experience a participative research method for exploring professional identity, aimed at ‘the bigger picture’, inspired by the approaches Kelchtermans (2009), Ruijters (2015) and Vandamme (2009) take on the professional, who is driven by a greater cause.

Our practice based research takes place within a project in a neighbourhood of a town in The Netherlands (approx. 228.000 inhabitants in total; approx. 12.700 in this part of the town). The project is aimed at creating a healthy, vibrant and educative surrounding for all the children and their parents in this neighbourhood, which characterises as culturally and sociologically diverse. Children in this area often come from families that need extra financial and pedagogical support. For many pedagogical professionals in this area, work is more than earning a living: they describe it as a vocation, a way to have impact on the young lives of the children. They are ‘actively engaged’. Gallup research shows that only 23% of all professionals describe themselves as such (Gallup, 2023). But this group is also vulnerable for stress: they report ‘to take the problems home’; ‘to have troubles to let go’. Our research aims at their professional identity: how do they describe themselves in their roles? What makes it worthwhile and what attributes to staying in the job? As Bakker & Oerlemans (2015) state: “individuals who are engaged (vs. burned-out) in their work are better able to satisfy their basic psychological needs through their work activities, because there is congruence between the person and the situation.”

The importance for policy, research and practice lies the connection between people and in sharing stories about professional identity, before and while working together in a network. Also, this way of making sense of ‘what is going on’ is connecting to participative reflexive inquiry as described by Griffin & Stacey (2005). The researcher also takes part in the sessions, writing about their own professional identity and sense of belonging in the project. In order to deepen the understanding of each other’s professional identity in a diverse network of pedagogical professionals, we designed a workshop. At the conference, we would like to share this intervention with the participants.

In the session, participants will start with writing down what is important to them in their actual projects. By using guiding questions, they will then deepen their reflection and connect it to their greater sense of urgency/ deeper assumptions and values. They will then share these with others in the group. Although the participants in this workshop won’t share the same work surroundings, they will still be able to questions themselves and others about what really drives them to create impact in their work and what contributes to their work happiness.

The aim is to connect professional identity development to creating learning environments that promote equity, inclusion, belonging, diversity, social justice, global citizenship and environmental sustainability, and as such are also ‘good places to work’.

Research focus and objective

Researchers pay particular attention to educational interventions that create and maintain a classroom climate that promotes learning (Charltonetal., 2020; Thapaetal., 2013). In fact, the scientific community will, for instance, explore the way in which rules and procedures are introduced in the classroom (Voight & Nation, 2016), study the ways in which classroom layout is arranged (Yuanetal., 2017) and classroom material is used by teachers (e.g., textbooks, teacher-prepared worksheets, etc.) (Matsumoto, 2019), or analyze the relationships that students develop and cultivate with their peers and their teachers (Nurmi, 2012).

Teachers who use humor when interacting with their students find it easier to create a relaxed atmosphere (Martin & Ford, 2018). The use of humor has a very positive impact on social interactions in the classroom. It is not unrelated to the fact this strategy is one of those that students appreciate most in a teacher (Martin & Ford, 2018). Humor is a concept that has been examined so far in several fields of study such as health, philosophy, or history, to name a few. This study provides a conceptual analysis of this concept in the context of educational sciences. The objective of this study is to identify the defining attributes of the concept of humor in the field of education to better understand it and to foster its use by teachers.

Data sources and methods

Walker and Avant’s (2011) framework for concept analysis was used to analyze the concept. In the present context, it is a question of determining the defining attributes emanating both from the field of educational sciences and, to a lesser extent, from other related fields of research.

Results

Humor can be identified by five attributes: (1) a skill; (2) a way to communicate; (3) an educational strategy; (4) a personal perspective; and (5) a positive emotional and behavioral response.

Significance

This concept analysis clarified some of the ambiguities of humor found within the educational literature and proposed a definition of humor that is unique to classroom management. Our findings nonetheless lead to a more comprehensive understanding of humor in school, thereby constituting the first step in the study of its related concepts.

Connection to the themes of the congress

School staff and administrators are being increasingly encouraged to implement evidence-based strategies, and our study along with others, provide insights into the understanding of teacher humor that spurs a “purposeful dialogue between politicians, policymakers, academic researchers, educators and the wider school community”. Our presentation is thus directly linked to the theme of the conference: Quality Professional Education for Enhanced School Effectiveness and Improvement: International Perspectives and Approaches.

How can teachers and researchers work together to research educational practices and development? This is the starting point for this presentation about an action research project about co-operation between different teacher categories in the early school years in Sweden. The presentation explores how teachers can participate, not only in the development of their own practice, but also in researching the central phenomena, in our case co-operation.

Three schools took part in the project which aimed to develop forms for co-operation between teachers in preschool class, school age educare and primary school. The researchers, together with the teachers at each school, carried out reflection meetings throughout a three-year period. However, at the end of the project, a question arose: “how can the teachers contribute with their developed knowledge of co-operation and not just knowledge of participating in action research?” Since action research emphasizes the active role of the participants (cf. Kemmis, 2010) in the research process as well as an interaction between development and research, this is an important question.

To find ways to allow participants to be involved in interpretation processes and of producing research results can contribute to broader (and different) understandings of the phenomena than if this is done solely by researchers. But how do you produce scientific text in this context? We encountered two obstacles, firstly, the number of participants in the project was large (25 teachers), and secondly, the teachers were not used to writing this kind of texts. To make use of the teachers’ experiences, a writing group was formed during the last six months of the project. Through an analysis and writing process, where the researchers and five of the teachers (1-2 from each school) met recurrently (seven occasions), research results have been developed and processed in a joint process. This was done based on two types of data, firstly a qualitative survey with questions focused on overall experiences of co-operation for all staff at the schools (118 staff received the survey, 67 answered), secondly the accumulated project experience. The way of working can be compared to what Larsson (2005) calls respondent validation. Respondent validation is a way of working with quality in results by returning interpretation to the participants and get their assessment of the reasonableness of the interpretations. The interpretations and conclusions that the participants contribute and their experiences as such are central as the anchoring in the perceived problems and challenges of practice is a central point of departure. Through this work, teachers' work does not just become an object for others to study, but the teachers themselves get tools and the opportunity to study their own work (cf. Rönnerman, 2020).

This presentation contributes with experiences and dialogue about how teachers’ experiences can be utilized in research results (Lago et al., 2022) contributing to multiple perspectives and approaches in research about professional development. Such insights can contribute to leveraging research leading to insight, innovation and professional learning.

This paper presentation builds on experiences from a pilot program in the municipality of Malmö, Sweden, to support practice-based research and development in schools. Through this program groups of teachers and/or educational staff have been able to collaborate and be supported by researchers at the local school authority and nearby universities. The intention has been that the projects carried out within the program (n=6) should contribute to a deepened professional learning and development in schools, as well as a clinical practice-based research and collaboration with researchers and universities (e.g., 2015; Bulterman-Bos, 2008). The aim of this presentation is to highlight some “soft” aspects that stand out as important and have contributed to fruitful processes and project as well as some tensions that can arise when schools, local school authorities and universities collaborate. The empirical basis consists of a) four focus group interviews (approximately 1h each) with participants from four project groups and b) reflections/analyses by researchers at the local school authority who led the pilot program and supported the groups (Ideland, in progress).

The results indicate that the projects have created new niches in the ecological system of schooling and research (Kemmis et al, 2013) in Malmö. Through these collaborations different groups and professions have come together to work, discuss, and learn from each other in new ways. The projects have contributed to new methods and ways to meet their students as well as new knowledge of e.g. teaching and different student groups (McKenney & Reeves, 2014). Mutual respect, involving participants as experts, and the researchers' ability to follow and be sensitive to their group's needs are examples of aspects highlighted as central and important to the process by both participants and researchers. This way of working with practice-based research and development thus has many similarities with aspects highlighted in research on relational aspects of learning (Ljungblad, 2021). However, the sensitivity and flexibility asked for can easily be limited by the project´s relations to other practices and material-economic arrangements in the ecological system (Kemmis et al, 2013). The need for applications for funding and ethical approvement within the “traditional” academic system where research questions, methods, etc. often must be defined in advance has, for example, structured and/or limited the possibilities to collaborate and publish interesting results. The experiences from the pilot program thus indicate that there is a need for researchers, research and development leaders, universities, and local school authorities to find ways to work flexibly and relationally with professionals in schools - to be able to involve them and make room for their knowledge and development in projects and collaborations that contributes to a “real” development and understanding of pupils, teaching, schooling and professions (e.g. Bulterman-Bos, 2008; Kemmis et al, 2013).

Taiwan has been undergoing educational reforms since the 1990s in response to global changes. A significant milestone in this journey was the promulgation and implementation of the comprehensive 12-year curriculum guidelines in 2014 and 2019, respectively. One of the crucial aims of these reforms has been the adoption of competency-based learning.

Joining the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (NPDL) global partnership in 2019, Taiwan currently has 33 schools participating in the network. However, integrating this global framework into the local education policy context has posed a challenge for schools.

This study investigates the integration of the NPDL global framework into the local context of competence-based education. The research focuses on a community of principals and professionals actively working to adapt the NPDL framework to fit the Taiwanese education system. Employing a constitutional logic approach, this study analyzes the construction of epistemic objects and explores the key elements and causal factors that contribute to the formation of knowledge.

Qualitative methods are employed to collect data from principals and teachers involved in NPDL implementation. Through interviews and deep dialogues, the study examines the challenges faced by Taiwanese practitioners in adopting NPDL, particularly in relation to deep learning design based on the six core competencies (6Cs): character, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, citizenship, and creativity. The findings reveal that while the NPDL framework provides a comprehensive learning framework, practitioners found it ambiguous and disconnected from the local education context.

The constitutional logic approach recognizes knowledge as socially constructed through interactions, power dynamics, and the contestation of ideas. By investigating the constitutive causes and elements, this approach sheds light on how knowledge is constructed, facts are established, and norms and rules are developed and enforced. It highlights the role of agency and social processes in shaping our understanding of the world.

The research also explores the concept of epistemic objects, referring to knowledge that is contingent upon the deliberations and interpretations of the actors involved. It investigates the deliberations, interpretations, and strategies employed by practitioners and professionals during the co-construction process of the learning progressions. Situational factors, including social, political, and cognitive contexts, are taken into account to gain insights into how knowledge is generated.

Through collaborative efforts, the collective naming of "enabling deep learning" has emerged, indicating the adaptation of the global framework to the local context. A comprehensive professional development program has been designed to enhance teacher capacity in competence-based education, ensuring cultural responsiveness in the integration efforts. The study reveals how different contexts influence the presentation and interpretation of epistemic objects and how these representations shape understanding and interaction within local practices.

This research contributes to the educational importance of understanding the process of integrating global frameworks into local education contexts. It emphasizes the need for theory, practice, and policy alignment, highlighting the transformative potential of NPDL implementation in Taiwan's educational reform journey. By shedding light on the challenges and strategies involved in this integration, the study provides insights that can inform future educational reforms and initiatives both in Taiwan and globally.

This paper examines the characteristics of leadership that underpin an effective Professional Learning Community (PLC) in Northern Ireland (NI). In light of a renewed focus in NI on Teacher Professional learning (TPL), PLCs are increasingly being seen as a vehicle for school improvement, and promoted as such within policy (Department of Education, 2016). However, exactly how effective PLCs are to be cultivated and developed remains elusive, with many potential pitfalls (Eaude, 2019; Gray et al., 2016). With this as a backdrop, recent discussion on the topic of PLCs in schools has focussed on the role of school leadership teams in facilitating PLCs that stimulate inquiry, reflective dialogue and a commitment to positive change (Azorín et al., 2020).

The research question was therefore identified as: How is leadership manifested in an effective Professional Learning Community?

The paper is a case study of a large, comprehensive post-primary school in Belfast, NI. In this school, the recent adoption of the formal PLC model coincided with a new management structure: a principal and vice-principal supported by five assistant principals who each oversee one area of development. Consensus from non-hierarchical, open PLC meetings is fed back into formal management structures for inclusion in the school’s development plan.

The study used a qualitative approach within an interpretivist paradigm. Semi-structured interviews with school leaders (principal, vice principals) and teaching staff were conducted in order to elicit and explore the particular characteristics that contributed to the effective functioning of a PLC in this context. The approach was one of looking for strengths, and sought a practical understanding of the nature of leadership within an effective PLC, while also recognising the need to examine critically a phenomenon that has often been overapplied. Interviews were coded thematically using a Braun and Clarke analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

Results coalesced around several main themes, which were further structured into the why, the how and the what of effective leadership. The why was concerned with ethos and values, particularly the centrality of a service ethic among leaders. This emanated forth in the how: distributed leadership, collegial trust amongst staff, and between staff and leadership, and in school structures that enabled professional learning to be dispersed across the staff body. Finally, the what examined the results of effective leadership of the PLC: powerful teacher professional learning, increased teacher agency, and, ultimately, positive impact on pupils.

The results of this study shine a light on the shape of effective leadership in the implementation of PLCs. The study has importance for schools seeking to journey along this path, and for those responsible for policy development in the area of school leadership and TPL. With its emphasis on leadership for professional learning in service of wider school improvement, this paper connects clearly with the theme of ICSEI 2024. In particular, it contributes to the conference sub-theme of Leading improvement collaboratively and sustainably, by providing insight into a successful approach to collaborative, sustainable leadership.

Introduction

Continuing professional development for school leaders, based in their specific leadership contexts is essential for school effectiveness and improvement. This research explores a professional learning and research intervention program between two researchers and three diverse Australian schools that form our cases, as school university partnerships over a one year period, and longer. The overarching goal was for leaders to work well together to support the development of people, pedagogy and wellbeing in their school. These goals were specifically aligned with the strategic plans of each school. The aim was for middle leaders to develop a collective framework for long term change, as they made decisions about their interactions, cultural norms, and improvement practices and the individual and collective habits about people and pedagogy that underlie practices and develop knowledge and skills that could enable them to lead learning together in a sustainable way.

Background literature

Middle leaders in schools have the capacity to directly influence pedagogical practices that enhance student outcomes whilst supporting the wellbeing of students and colleagues. At the same time, the role of middle leaders in schools is not always certain or consistent. Middle leaders are the key enactors of curriculum reform and professional learning in schools as they lead their colleagues in classrooms and the students in their learning area (Grootenboer, 2018). Middle leaders bridge the academic and pastoral spheres of learners. Learners are both teachers and students. Middle leaders do not lead effectively in isolation, even if they are excellent. When middle leaders develop their full capacity to work together with leaders, teachers and students, increasing their sphere of influence, they lead beyond the middle, as they advocate for excellence, which we believe is advocating for the most appropriate learning needs of students and teachers (Day & Grice, 2019). This form of collective efficacy is in contrast to middle managers, who administrate in silos, confined to their teaching team, and remain ill-equipped to share in the enactment and ownership of a whole school strategic plan. Middle leaders who are leading beyond the middle (Day and Grice, 2019), inspire teachers and students to further develop their learning strengths through professional relationships that are supported by carefully planned school structures, communicative learning spaces (Sjolie, Francisco & Langalotz, 2019), and architectures over time.

Findings

Our work is centred around a continuous research and evaluation framework. Interviews and surveys with participants have given us insights into the role and impact of quality professional education in the context of school effectiveness and improvement, and the strengths and limitations of a partnership approach from a researcher perspective. Research and professional learning opportunities supported the middle leadership team to grow in their collective efficacy, and was dependent upon the leadership conditions, interactions, and beliefs within each of the schools. Findings support the growing body of international evidence demonstrating the impact of research/policy/practice collaboration and partnerships on improving the effectiveness of education in schools, particularly in diagnosing school readiness for professional learning partnerships.

This paper explores perspectives on politically cognisant leadership for school effectiveness and improvement, internationally and through a university and school district research/policy/practice professional learning partnership. Principals worldwide are navigating a complex global landscape in which volatility and inequity have been heightened through and since the Covid-19 pandemic. Given such global challenges, reflected in glocal policy trajectories, political literacy is increasingly essential in principals/headteachers if they are to reconcile the fundamental and escalating tensions around the purpose(s) of education and learning, not least the paradox of Equity and Excellence. Political astuteness, as a leadership attribute, is promoted in many systems globally, including Scotland, where the General Teaching Council for Scotland’s (GTCS) mandatory professional standards for headteachers (principals) highlight the imperative of leadership that is research informed, with leaders who are adept at interrogating and navigating the complexities of education policy and politics. Articulations of the principal role are underpinned by social justice, and a recognition of the power of education to challenge pervasive political and social injustices that undermine inclusion and equality.

This paper uses Scotland’s context as a case study to report on an innovative university/district partnership; the Enhanced Political Awareness (EPA) programme, designed to realise the prescribed GTCS standards around political literacy to improve student learning and school effectiveness. EPA aims to nurture school leaders’ political astuteness and their knowledge, confidence and capacity to foster critically conscious school communities that will advance and enact positive social change. It strengthens participants’ understanding and interrogation of the political foundations of education and social policy, and how policy mandates can support or undermine social justice and equity, in education leadership and in society. This paper illustrates, through three participant perspectives (a district lead, a school principal, and a school curriculum lead) the impact of the EPA programme on inclusive education leadership practice and critical literacy in students. It reports on how the expansion of participants’ critical consciousness has led to deeper understanding of complex glocal and global challenges to education, including the intersections between poverty, inclusion, race and all protected characteristics. EPA has also increased confidence in nurturing critically conscious school communities that will challenge discrimination in all its forms. The paper concludes with a proposition to the ICSEI community around the importance of supporting professional learning and leadership that will enhance students’ and school communities’ capacity to recognise, understand and critique policy and social injustices, to prepare our students for courageous and ethical living, learning and leading in politically and socially volatile times.

Collaboration has long featured as a policy mechanism, an organisational structure, a tool to support professional practice, and a dominant discursive concept in the field of education (Campbell, 2021). Alongside this has been an emphasis on the role of collaborative processes in the leadership of change in educational organisations (Kaufman, et al, 2020). With this comes significant expectations and anticipated outcomes when it comes to how collaboration is understood and mobilised. With much emphasis across the domains of practice, policy, and research highlighting the forms collaboration takes and a values driven orientation to its use, this paper offers a critical examination as to the positioning and possibilities of varied form of leadership to enable collaboration that achieves the intentions behind its use. Drawing upon critical policy analysis and empirical work with primary school headteachers in Scotland, the questions driving this study are:

• How is collaboration understood across the domains of research, policy and practice?

• What is the role of leadership, in all its forms, in processes of educational change?

Deriving from an interpretivist paradigm and articulated within the frame of pragmatic social constructivism, a novel theoretical framework was created, emphasising the contextual influences centred around leadership that enable collaboration to happen. This was utilised in order to analyse how collaboration is understood in the literature in relation to leadership and educational change, and subsequent analysis of data collected. A critical policy analysis focusing on key policy texts, using Scotland as a context of study, drew upon both the novel theoretical framework and an original analytical framework emphasising policy drivers, mechanisms, and consequences. Through these frameworks, this study offers critical insight into dimensions of the leadership of collaboration that are rarely examined. This includes insight into and analysis of the lived reality of the varied forms leadership of collaboration can take through semi-structured interviews with primary school headteachers from two Scottish local authorities, and an exploration of the commonalities and contradictions, with the insights derived through critical policy analysis.

What this study has begun to demonstrate is the limited advancement of thinking in recent years on the meaning and conceptualisation of collaboration, and the role of leadership. To achieve its intended impact, collaboration requires a complex consideration of the varied political and organisational influences on and drivers of collaboration in a range of forms. Through the articulation of an alternative framework for understanding collaboration within the domains of practice, policy, and research, the results of this study offers a new frame through which the complex forms, drivers, and influences of collaboration can be understood, and the implications for those exercising leadership of it from a variety of positions and standpoints within a system. In doing so, the study demonstrates the need for further critical examination of where power is situated within systems in order to enable more responsive approaches to collaboration to emerge from within the communities they are intended to impact, and in doing so, more successfully strive towards broader systemic goals.

We present an existential provocation concerning the interlinkage of practice, procedure, policy, theory and system change of constructivist initiatives in and of school education. Our focus is the constellation of approaches which constituted major school reform efforts in each of Ontario, Canada and Scotland, United Kingdom extending for approximately fifteen years in the first two decades of this century. Neither formally began nor ended, but each had central organizing focus on ‘Knowledge Building’ (Scardamalia, 2002) and ‘Building the Curriculum’ (Scottish Executive/Government, 2006-2010) respectively, as the dynamic focus of the reforms in each nation/province. The former is an applied theory based on twelve principles through which all members of school communities, including especially the students, build knowledge. The latter is a policy enactment refocusing schooling to promote four capacities of student potential of responsibility, confidence, contribution and learning through seven explicit principles of curriculum design. These were to be ‘built’ locally. There was a five-stage themed five-year Building the Curriculum national process.

Co-author is a primary school teacher and was school principal/head teacher during the active years of the development of these reforms in Scotland, United Kingdom. Co-author is a former school principal who was in post during the active developmental phase of the cognate initiative in Ontario, Canada. Both became long-standing participants in Knowledge Building International and ICSEI.

We give a flavour of these developments, anchoring them conceptually and theoretically and drawing linkages. Both systems sought that schools and educators, school communities and on to the students, would be active co-constructors of the processes to enable and shape envisaged policy changes. These derived from societal changes. The guiding ideas were pupils/students engaging with what has come to be known as twenty-first century skills and wider capacities extending far beyond attainment. For both, major emphasis was given to collaborative pedagogies, transcending individualized learning. The role of the authors was as lead teachers, steering and ‘building’ the reforms at school level, working with colleagues, students, communities of interest, partner schools, external bodies and agencies of our respective District, Council, Provincial and National administrations.

We affirm that schools must own the constellations of practice, policy and procedure which they, that is we, identify as fitting our needs and potentials, as authentic self-evaluation. We recommend that policy be reconceived as principles. We seek alignment and harmonization of professional development for educators, institutional development of schools, and system change roles of wider governing bodies. These would merge and integrate external with self-evaluation and reframe accountability as institutional and system professional development through mentoring, peer review and inquiry. We commend Knowledge Building as applied in Ontario and Building the Curriculum as applied in Scotland which pioneered these approaches. We now seek that each system build on the applied insights of each other, extending far beyond to a globalized context. Our insight and recommendation are that the evidenced and theoretically refined practice of practitioners responding to societal and policy shifts be viewed and valorized as major research and inquiry projects in themselves. These would build policy.

Education inequality is a fundamental factor contributing to social inequality. In China, the "Quality and Equity in Compulsory Education" project is considered an important institutional initiative by the government to promote fairness in basic education. In this context, this study focuses on a project for the High-quality balanced development of compulsory education, in which five teams of education scholars from universities have been commissioned by the government to enhance the "endogenous" capacity-building of weak schools. After six years of exploration, these projects have developed relatively mature models and strategies, effectively promoting the development of endogenous capabilities in recipient schools and successfully disseminating their experiences and achievements to the respective regions. This serves as strong evidence for university education scholars in selecting schools for continuous improvement. The distillation of key elements and practical strategies for university education scholars' involvement in educational balance actions will contribute to the refinement and consolidation of research outcomes for sustained endogenous development in schools.

Empowerment theory was initially applied in the field of sociology（Rappaport,1984）, emphasizing the analysis of the disadvantaged groups' state and developmental direction from the perspective of power deprivation. In the field of education, empowerment refers to teachers' ability to achieve self-discovery with a positive attitude, enhance their own capabilities through reflective action, actively participate in decision-making, and ultimately become professionals with their own educational philosophy and wisdom(Bogler R, Somech A,2004;操太圣,卢乃桂，2006). Based on individual empowerment and combining it with Ecological Systems Theory, researchers proposed the theory of organizational empowerment in order to address the issues of fragmentation and narrowness in traditional empowerment theories.（Peterson, N.A,Zimmerman,2004;Forenza, B,2017; Wilke, L.A. and Speer, P,2011）This study attempts to clarify the main strategies and core elements of scholars' intervention in improving weak schools in a region from four dimensions: "teacher empowerment," "organizational empowerment" "shaping school culture" and "community support".

The methodology of “multiple case study”and “best practice extraction”was combined used in this study.

Multiple sources of data were included in this study such as in-depth interviews, field observations, and documents.The data were transcribed by the first author and then analysed using a qualitative inductive process (Strauss & Corbin, 1998).

Through the extraction of multiple case experiences, it was found that the reason why scholars' involvement in the high-quality balanced education project has been successful lies in their possession of nine core elements: critical thinking, facilitating inquiry, belief-driven, organizational transformation, institutional empowerment, cultural consolidation, distinctive exploration, resource linkage, and network building.

This study offers insights to inform understandings of school empowerment among researchers, policy-makers and the broader education community, with a particular emphasis on interrogating Western notions of organization empowerment.

The presentation falls under the “Leading improvement collaboratively and sustainably” theme and the 3P Network for policymakers, politicians, and practitioners

The crisis in foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) has gained significant attention in the Global South in the past decade. United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal 4.4 for example, aims to achieve universal literacy and numeracy. The World Bank now regularly tracks “learning poverty”—the number of children who cannot read with comprehension by age 10 (World Bank, 2019).

The problems of early grade learning in South Africa are now widely recognized and there is an emerging research tradition attempting to provide robust evidence to address it system-wide. Since 2011, the Early Grade Reading Study (EGRS) and its predecessor, the Gauteng Primary Literacy and Numeracy Strategy have been building a robust knowledge-base on cost-effective approaches to system-wide improvement to early grade reading in children's mother tongue and English as a second language. Using a combination of regression discontinuity design studies, cluster randomized control trials, in-depth qualitative case studies, and longitudinal student tracker studies, the EGRS team has successfully tested a structured pedagogy change model that combines the provision of standardized lesson plans and high-quality learning materials, with centralized training and one-on-one instructional coaching. This model has become known in South Africa as the Education Triple Cocktail (Fleisch, 2016 and 2018), a tribute to the successful intervention for managing AIDS in the health sector.