ICSEI: Day 2 - some thoughts

A very stimulating and provocative day!

Some of the key themes emerging included:

• the development of school cultures focused on learning at all levels of the school.
• the importance of trust and building relationships.
• the significance of practitioner inquiry, and creating cultures of inquiry. The place of appreciative inquiry and the need to develop skills to do so.
• the role of networks in building innovation and professional learning.

More later ...

ICSEI Day 1

Day 1: Some random thoughts (sent from my iPod touch).

Usual suspects:

• raising standards
• improving teacher quality
• assessment and accountability
• principal leadership.

Emerging suspects:

• early years and pre-schooling
• establishing curriculum standards for early years and pre-schooling
• distributed leadership.

Of interest:

• Do we measure school effectiveness based on school effectiveness of previous years, rather than for contemporary learning?
• Are we working towards sustainability of obsolete models of schooling?
• Are policy makers adequately trained to do their work?
• Is the Fourth Way more about the need to think and act both globally and locally in improving schools?

Empowering Schools for Learning: From Improvement Policy to Effective Practice.

The 23rd International Congress of School Effectiveness and Improvement takes place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (5th January - 8th January). The theme for the congress is Empowering Schools for Learning: From Improvement Policy to Effective Practice. I particularly like this cross-cultural aspect of this conference.

I have chosen to attend the following sessions throughout the conference:

• Signposts: Research points to how Victorian Government schools have improved student performance (Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, Dahle Suggett)
• Transformation through innovation and networks: Structural change for school improvement in the most challenging settings: Rhetoric or reality? (Daniel Muijs, Mel Ainscow, Christopher Chapman)
• The role of the "knowledgeable other" in improving student achievement, school climate and teacher efficacy: Case studies from a Canadian and Swiss perdspective and experience (Lyn Sharratt, Giorgio Ostinelli, Angela Cattaneo)
• Networking schools for learning - going deeper (Louise Stoll, Lorna Earl, Steven Katz, Judy Halbert, Linda Kaser, Helen Timperley, et. al)
• Data-based decision making around the world: Challenges and opportunities (Stuart McNaughton, Lorna Earl, Steven Katz, et.al)
• Innovating leadership development for system transformation (Tony McKay, Valerie Hannon, David Jackson)
• Leadership development that makes a difference: The research and the experience (Tony McKay, Graham Marshall, Barbara Waterston)

I will post a summary of the conference upon my return.