Leadership in School Erasmus Project

Project Title

Leadership in School

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Quality Assurance; Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development)

Project Summary

In the light of the growing individual autonomy of schools, the topics of school management and school leadership are now an important theme on the political agenda in Germany, Austria as well as in other countries. As a consequence, the school leadership is confronted with different requirements and also the demand for support services and programs for further training has greatly changed. Central to this project is the theme of Leadership as a concept to actively structure the educational process in order to promote learning and equity. The main actors are school supervising authorities in collaboration with the members of school management, as well as institutions for the training of school executive personnel/school directors. The collaboration of these actors will guarantee great improvement in quality and quality assurance in keeping the achieved standards high.
The project builds on the achievements of the Comenius Network “European Policy Network on School Leadership (EPNoSL, 2011-2014)”. The project will set into practice and promote the dissemination of fundamental ideas /assumptions and the conceptual approaches developed by the above mentioned network. The following questions introduce the content framework of the project. Which political and cultural expectations are placed on school management and how are they interpreted within the school and applied to the school´s objectives? How are staff members motivated and how is their good work appreciated? How is the school structured and how is its academic culture developed? How does the school collaborate with its partners and its surrounding environment? This content builds on the assumption that the strengthening of self-responsibility of school directors and executive personnel, as well as appealing framework conditions for these managerial positions will result in a substantial improvement of learning and teaching at school.
The different dimensions of Leadership constructed the framework and pattern for two intense job shadowing activities of both school principals/directors involved, – respectively in Vienna and Berlin. Good practice and obstacles were able to be identified though feedback forms, and solidified in collaborative analysis and evaluation later on. In bilateral small-group work, the participants established examples which should make the respective dimensions in everyday-school life visible.
Furthermore there were different instruments introduced, used to support leadership action and it’s applicability. They were tested by the two school principals in everyday school life, analysed through questionnaires/surveys and subsequently evaluated and summed up in bilateral groups. Here, applicability and transferability of the respective instruments were paramount.
There were four content-related/contentual project meetings carried out as well as reciprocal work shadowing. The project results at hand support the clarification and classification of current challenges. It is not about a general recipe or scientific investigations, but about the stimulating, the helpful and the useful: from standard practice for standard practice.
Ideally the project results could deliver impulses to improve competences of people in leadership positions and leadership teams in collaboration with school supervising authorities and school administration as well as to the participating educational facilities.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 82629,65 Eur

Project Coordinator

Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Wissenschaft Berlin & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Europa Büro, Stadtschulrat für Wien