By Deborah Kimathi – Chief Executive Officer, Dignitas

Part One

In the last quarter of 2022 I had the immense privilege of learning from, and sharing with, colleagues, experts and friends from Global Schools Forum, Global School Leaders, British Council and Centro Lemann.  With 2023 kicking into full gear, and an exciting year ahead for Dignitas, I’ve been reflecting on the what I gleaned from these interactions, and how it might shape our work moving forward.

Many of these conversations were centred around the current global learning crisis, and the fact that post-Covid, in some regions, only one in ten children can read a simple sentence by age 10.  All of these conversations brought us back to the critical role of the education workforce, and in particular the central role of instructional leadership in driving whole school improvement.

In each of these forums, we had the opportunity to present Dignitas’ work and impact, which resonated strongly and made a clear case for investment in instructional leadership.  I’ll be sharing some thoughts in a 2-part blog series. 

Welcome to Part One!

From the discussions, both formal and informal, over coffee and in plenary, and sometimes in passionate debate, there were a number of emerging themes as we consider the importance of School Leaders.  It was quite intriguing that these themes resonated globally, and struck a chord with practitioners, educators, researchers and policy makers alike.  These themes emerged as an important checklist that informs the design and deployment of programs intended to support and equip the education workforce.

1. School leaders are over-burdened, and barely have time for the most critical tasks.  Sadly, school leaders are often asked to do so much administrative work, including attending meetings out of the school, that they barely have time to think about influencing instruction across the school, much less actively leading it.  There is an urgent need to refocus school leadership on teaching and learning, particularly given the pandemic learning loss.
2. Training school leaders without the provision of follow up support, and an intention to translate that theory into practice will never transform learning.  We hear repeatedly the failure of traditional cascade models of training that are lacking in time and opportunity for practice and modelling, and do not consider the provision of follow-up coaching support.  However, we also know that at a systems level, many countries and particularly those who want to train on a national scale, have struggled to develop alternative mechanisms to shift leadership and classroom practice at scale. 
3. We can’t fully develop a country’s human capital if we don’t give attention to the role, expertise and potential of women.  Across Sub-Saharan Africa, whilst women are well represented at a teacher level, they are not well represented in positions of leadership.  There is emerging evidence that women actually make better leaders, but social, cultural and systemic barriers to women taking on leadership roles remain and must be addressed.  As we design school leadership training, it is imperative that we embed gender transformative leadership as a core practice, and not as a not a one-off, add-on module.
4. Professional Learning Communities are common, but not always well supported.  At Dignitas, we see these kind of functions that embody peer accountability and learning as critical for long term impact and a sustained pursuit of school improvement. These interactions need to be structured, with an intentional focus on peer learning, goal setting that is tied to teaching and learning, and data driven decision making that influences instruction across the school.
5. Currently, in many countries, in-service or continuous professional development for school leaders does not align to a core set of professional standards or competencies in the same way that teacher training and support does.  This means that continuous professional development opportunities for school leaders are typically adhoc, not aligned to what really drives improvements in teaching and learning, and therefore ineffective in addressing the global learning crisis.

We need to refocus school leadership roles on teaching and learning, and equip school leaders to lead instruction with excellence, and in a manner that ensures every school becomes a vibrant place for children to thrive and succeed.