Leading school improvement: collaboration matters
Media release 29 Aug 2017 3 minute readResearch findings to be presented at Research Conference 2017 in Melbourne today reveal that school-university partnerships and other forms of collaboration support school leaders in their improvement strategies, and lead them to empower others through a shared leadership model.
Research Conference 2017
29 August 2017: Research findings to be presented at Research Conference 2017 in Melbourne today reveal that school-university partnerships and other forms of collaboration support school leaders in their improvement strategies, and lead them to empower others through a shared leadership model.
The annual research conference of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), commencing on Sunday 27 August, addresses the theme, Leadership for Improving Learning: Insights from research.
Professor Jo-Anne Reid from Charles Sturt University will report on research on a leadership model for collaborative learning for pre-service and early career teachers.
“Research on school-university partnerships shows that formal collaboration enables school leaders to share, learn and lead, and to collect evidence of progress towards regional and state priority outcomes, as well as their school improvement plans,” Professor Reid said ahead of the conference.
According to Associate Professor Bev Flückiger from Griffith University, research investigating the Age Appropriate Pedagogies program in the early years of school in Queensland indicates that school leadership practices that are implemented collaboratively have positive effects.
“When education systems, schools and universities work together, leadership practices have a positive impact on teachers and their teaching, and on learners and their learning,” Associate Professor Flückiger said.
Research reported by Griffith University’s Professor Tony Townsend also identifies the importance of school leadership programs that focus on specific leadership practices.
“The research on the Principals as Literacy Leaders (PALL) strategy for improving reading engagement and achievement in Australian schools demonstrates that school leaders who have the required knowledge about how to improve student learning in reading and the ability to develop trust, foster collegial and teacher-student relationships, and share responsibility can have a real impact on student learning, not just in reading but across other curriculum areas as well,” Professor Townsend said.
Griffith University Associate Professor Karen Martin and Stuart Fuller from Cherbourg State School, Queensland, will report on research showing the importance of collaboration in supporting the learning of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
“Our research indicates the ‘X-factor’ with high impact on the learning of young Indigenous Australian children is contextualisation. This is strengthened when school leaders and teachers, and parents, share expectations about the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment,” Associate Professor Martin said.
Research Conference 2017 takes place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 27 to 29 August.
Further information is available from www.acer.org/rc
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Media enquiries: Steve Holden, 03 9277 5582 or 0419 340 058 communications@acer.org