This document discusses strategies that other countries have used to improve outcomes for disadvantaged students and develop teacher and leadership quality. It focuses on examples from New Zealand, Austria, Israel, and England. Key strategies included investing in teacher quality through rigorous selection, development and accountability systems, creating new leadership roles to improve instruction, and using coaching models to build leadership skills focused on equity and learning.

1. Experiences of Other Countries
Confronting Issues of
Poor Students’ Achievements
Professor Louise Stoll
Professor Coleen Jackson
Professor Jan Robertson
National Leadership in Education Forum
6 March 2014

2. 2
Below average maths performance
Above average equity in education
Below average mathematics performance
Below average equity in education
Above average maths performance
Above average equity in education
Above average mathematics performance
Below average equity in education
PISA 2012 Mathematics – student performance and equity
30 25 20 15 10 5 0
Greater
equity
300
650
500
550
600
450
400
350
UK
Australia
Japan
Korea
Canada Hong Kong
China
Liechtenstein
Macau
Finland
Estonia
Singapore
Lithuania
New
Zealand
Mean
maths
score
OECD
average
OECDaverage
Austria

3. Andreas Schleicher - OECD
• “Nowhere does the quality of the school system
exceed the quality of its teachers.”
• How they select teachers and develop teachers
• How they improve the quality of teachers
performance
• How teachers work together to develop and share
knowledge of great teaching
• Recognition for good teaching and results
• Valuing good teaching in the profession

4. Professor John Hattie
• Meta-analysis of research studies of what makes a
difference
• After what the child brings to the school experience, the
teacher contributes more than any other factor to student
achievement.
• But it is the expert teacher, not simply the experienced
teacher, who makes the great difference!
• Expert teachers “engage students in learning and develop
the student’s self-esteem as learners”. And it is certain
things that the teacher does. Effective instruction and
certain components of feedback, dialogue between the
teacher and the student, contribute substantially.

5. The focus of investment in New
Zealand?
• Teacher quality
• Head teacher/ Director quality
• We know some teachers and some leaders are
more effective than others. How do we use
these effectively across the system for
leadership for learning? Investment of
resources where they make a difference.

6. New roles to enhance pedagogical
responsibilities, enhance career diversity
• Executive principal – Highly capable, Proven
track record of lifting achievement; 2 days per
week to work in other schools in community
• Expert teacher – highly capable; proven track
record and experts in science and maths; work
with EPs and with Ts in others classrooms 2 days
per week
• Lead teacher –Highly effective. Open classroom.
Role model for others Ts =own school and others.
• Change principal – employed to lift achievement.
Turn school around. Paid bonus by Government
to trun school around.

7. Key outcomes
• Raise profile of teaching profession
• Greater career differentiation – more opportunities
and recognition for good teaching
• Attract greatest talent to challenging classrooms
and schools
• Innovation in pedagogies - shift knowledge around
pockets of innovation
• Motivation to improve own performance and that
of colleagues
• Collaboration between teachers and schools -
networks
• System leadership for NZ school system

8. High accountability systems
• Teacher standards – measuring what matters
• Principal standards – instructional leadership,
sharing leadership, building community partnerships,
competencies for monitoring instruction, projects
between schools, advice to parents
• Appraisal and performance management systems
• New standards developed for new positions –
teachers evaluated on student results, teacher and
peer appraisal, classroom observation, principal
appraisal, teacher portfolios (great data and
professional judgment)
• School evaluation and school self-review on annual
targets set with Ministry of Education

9. Sutton Trust-EEFToolkit
 Accessible summary of educational research.
 Guidance on how to use resources to improve attainment of
disadvantaged pupils
 Supports teachers to make informed choices and adopt more
‘evidence-based’ approach
 Average impact, additional months progress expect pupils to
make over a year as result of using approach
0 (low/no effect) to 12 (.96+ very high effect)
 Cost estimation, based on approximate cost of implementing
approach in a class of 25 pupils £ very low to £££££ very high
 Evidence, based on availability, methodological quality,
magnitude of impact, reliability or consistency of impact across
studies * (very limited) to ***** (very extensive)

11. FOCUSING
What does our focus need to
be? Where are we going to
place our attention?
DEVELOPING A HUNCH
What is leading to this
situation? How are we
contributing to it?
LEARNING
[New professional]
How and where can
we learn more about
what to do?TAKING ACTION
What will we do
differently?
CHECKING
Have we made
enough of a
difference?
SCANNING
What’s going on for our
learners?
What’s going on for
our learners?
How do we know?
Why does this matter?
Spirals of Inquiry
For equity and quality
Halbert and Kaser (2013)

12. Reform project Neue Mittelschule -
New Middle School (NMS)
 Fundamental reorientation of
instructional and organizational system
of teaching and learning for 10- to 14-
year-olds
 Dissolving structure of tracking in lower
secondary schooling, creating
homogenous groups
 Creating new roles – learning designers,
helping school director shift from
teaching to learning
 Focusing on individual child
 Creating professional learning
communities
 Backward mapping – keeping the end in
mind
Austria

13. Core
values
Social
awareness
Relationship
management
Responsible
decision-
making
Self
awareness
Self
management
Critical and inventive
thinking
The 21st Century Competencies (21 CC) Framework
Respect, responsibility, integrity, care,
resilience, harmnoy
Social and emotional
competencies
Emerging 21st century
competencies

14. PISA 2015 collaborative problem solving
Students will be tested on their proficiency in:
 Establishing and maintaining shared
understanding
 Taking appropriate action to solve problems
 Establishing and maintaining team organization

15. Leadership for Learning:
The Role and Power of
Educational Leaders
Professor Louise Stoll
Professor Coleen Jackson
Professor Jan Robertson
National Leadership in Education Forum
7 March 2014

16. The power of
leadership
for learning
Effecting change through the New Zealand
Aspiring Principals’ Programme
230 leaders each year –
now in fourth year (1000 school leaders)

17. To coaches …
• “You have to work with
them so that they are more
than you have ever been
able to be yourself…”
• “Be open to learn from
them.”
• “Change our practice from
their experiences.”
• “So they can fly …

18. Coaching leadership for
change• The model is that of a
partnership
with two-way learning .
•
The leader is a learner
in this model – an important
leadership disposition.
• (What can I learn through
my leadership? What do I
need to learn to be a better
leader?)
(Robertson, Jan, 2008, Coaching
educational leadership: Building leadership
capacity through partnership. London:

19. The action – for leadership for
learning
• Every leader focuses on students who are under-
achieving in their school.
• Decides on a school-wide inquiry action research
project in negotiation with Director.
• Leads teachers in transformative changes in
classroom practices – “what are you doing
differently that will effect change?”
• Reflects regularly with experienced coach and peer
coach – through online journals and forums, skype,
school meetings, regional forums.
• Gathers data and reports on effect of leadership to
colleagues and school Board at end of year.

20. Connected nation-wide
• System leaders
• Commitment to NZ
education, not just own
school
• Collaborative – support
and challenge
• Sharing and creating
innovative practice and
new knowledge

21. Then we research what we do and
what the most effective learning
experiences are.
• How do we develop “moral purpose for equity” in
leaders? What works? What do we do?
• How do we develop confidence in leaders that
they can effect change?
• How do we develop leaders who have a
disposition to learn?
• And then how do we develop coaching tools for
the coaches that are intentional and focused on
what we know works.

22. Leadership for 21st Century Learning:
critical for change and innovation
Design, implement and sustain
powerful innovative learning environments
Create conditions for 21st century learning
and teaching at the core of practice
Demonstrate creativity and often courage
Model and nurture 21st century professionalism
Social and connected, including team leadership
Involve diverse non-formal partners
Involve complex multi-level chemistry,
distributed throughout system
OECD - Istance and Stoll (2013)

23. Systemic
capacity
building
hierarchical system
heads
inspectors
ministry
Austrian Leadership
Academy (LEA)
Schratz and Schley (2007)
dynamic
system
traditional
system

24. Connecting the levels and teams
Austria - The Leadership Academy and
Lern Designers
Israel – The Ministry of Educational
Experiments and Entrepreneurship Division
Catalonia – Juame Bofill Foundation and
30 stakeholders
England – Creative Leadership Learning –
team development