LEADERS’ EXECUTIVE CONGRESS 20 TH OCTOBER 2006

LEADERS’ EXECUTIVE CONGRESS 20TH OCTOBER 2006 • PURPOSE OF THIS PRESENTATION: • Connection with last Congress and Models of Effectiveness • Link with Michael Fullan’s work on tri-level • Implications for the work of this Congress

LEADERS’ EXECUTIVE CONGRESS 20TH OCTOBER 2006

Apparent retention rates - Years 10 to 12, full-time by socioeconomic status of local government area of school location All schools, Adelaide 2003 Government of South Australia. (2006). Success for all: Ministerial Review of Senior Secondary Education in South Australia SACE Review Final Report. Adelaide.

Apparent retention rates - Years 10 to 12, full-time by socioeconomic status of local government area of school location

MODELS USED TO SUMMARISE INPUT FROM LAST CONGRESS

MODELS USED TO SUMMARISE INPUT FROM THE LAST CONGRESS Model B is at the low end of each – effectiveness resulting largely from luck and the particular culture the people bring to the organisation. Loosley coupled organisations that are unpredictable.

MODELS USED TO SUMMARISE INPUT FROM THE LAST CONGRESS Model A is at the high end of each – effectiveness through managed and engineered change. Schools as organisations have an effect on student outcomes and also can generate effects independent of many societal and community factors. Some schools are effective and others not.

MODELS USED TO SUMMARISE INPUT FROM THE LAST CONGRESS Model C is in the middle of each – effectiveness related to context and capacity of the school. Schools in different contexts will have different capacities, potentials and limits. The extent to which all schools can be made effective is to be interrogated. The extent to which schools can mediate external forces is investigated.

LEADERS’ EXECUTIVE CONGRESS 20TH OCTOBER 2006 Model C - Effects are related to context and capacity of school Improvement - looks for link between capacities, potentials and limits and specific social contexts. Schools in similar circumstances would be investigated to identify the extent to which schools can mediate external forces and be relatively autonomous. Case studies from other schools are sources of critical reflection not recipes. If there are identifiable characteristics then the question becomes how knowledge of good practices can be shared.

LEADERS’ EXECUTIVE CONGRESS 20TH OCTOBER 2006 Process of improvement: Data is used with greater weight placed on ‘like schools’ to identify how schools in similar circumstances deal with issues and to identify the extent to which schools can mediate external forces and be relatively autonomous. The key is to use the variation – not just the average - to inspire investigation into what can be changed There is a key role for Districts and Central Office in this.

Learning about context is not just about individual schools. The kind of effort required to reduce the gap between low retention and high retention is not going to be achieved through individual schools working by themselves – this is a system issue.

LEADERS’ EXECUTIVE CONGRESS 20TH OCTOBER 2006 Table 1: Year 12 estimated completion rates, by socioeconomic status and gender, 2003 (%)

LEADERS’ EXECUTIVE CONGRESS 20TH OCTOBER 2006 • Fullan talks about how changing context relates to the moral purpose of education. • Collective moral purpose has three aspects: • Raising the bar and closing the gap of student learning • Treating people with demanding respect • Altering the social environment for the better – commitment to improve the whole district not just the school

LEADERS’ EXECUTIVE CONGRESS 20TH OCTOBER 2006 Michael Fullan’s work can be aligned with Model C Large scale reform will not succeed unless capacity building is a central component of the strategy for improvement. There must also be school and district leaders who are committed to interacting laterally with other schools and districts in order to learn from each other and identify with the larger purpose of educational reform Context and Capacity is not just about individual schools (predominantly Model A) . The capacity building needs to be considered within schools and ‘whole-system’. It is not just the context for local schools – context change at all three levels is important .

LEADERS’ EXECUTIVE CONGRESS 20TH OCTOBER 2006 Setting targets will change only a tiny slice of the context and is neither large enough nor powerful enough to motivate or give people the capacity to succeed. ‘New capacity and actions are required at all three levels and in their interactions across levels’ (p17 L&S)

LEADERS’ EXECUTIVE CONGRESS 20TH OCTOBER 2006 Michael Fullan argues that if a system is striving for both 'high equity and excellence' then policy and practice have to focus on system improvement. Sustained improvement of schools is not possible unless the whole system is moving forward

LEADERS’ EXECUTIVE CONGRESS 20TH OCTOBER 2006 • DISCUSSION SESSION • In pairs, take an opportunity to reflect on what you have heard this morning and try to identify: • What are the three significant things that you have heard that you will take into the groups after morning tea? • What has challenged your thinking? • What do you have concerns about? • Are their other questions you have? • RECORD ANY RESPONSES YOU WOULD LIKE TO ON THE PARKING LOT GRID

LEADERS’ EXECUTIVE CONGRESS 20 TH OCTOBER 2006