Explore
Participate
Change

The conference will reflect NEPC’s working approach based on EXPLORING education with the aim of creating adequate recommendations and proposing evidence-based solutions, PARTICIPATING in international debates about education and advocating for participative policymaking and proposing effective and sustainable CHANGE in education systems.

PCE#3 Conference Program

The Conference program is now available

Background

A wide body of research indicates that school leaders have significant impact on creating inclusive school cultures, catalysing teachers’ motivation and commitment resulting in better students’ achievement (Robinson, Lloyd, & Rowe, 2008; Ryan, 2006; Shields, 2010). School leadership is second only to classroom instruction among all school-related factors that contribute to what students learn at school (Leithwood et al., 2006; Louis et al., 2010). NEPC has been exploring school leadership within its two recent studies on school governance¹ (Gabršček, 2016; Lenskaya, 2017). The studies on the one hand showed the great power and important role school directors/principles/heads have in school governance while on the other hand confirmed a lack of professional support available to them. The studies also show that across the NEPC region² there is a tendency towards a more participatory model of school governance, present in policy, yet not fully implemented in practice. Research confirms that leadership plays a crucial role in the life of every school across the globe. Whatever the leadership style is, whatever the educational system is like and regardless of geography, it is school leader(s) who set the tone of schools and provide vision.

NEPC understood school leadership as the process of engaging and guiding the capacities and strengths of students, teachers and parents toward achieving a common educational goal, enabled by progressive school heads and/ or autonomous educational systems. In the context of inclusion this requires:

1. a clear vision for the school based on social justice principles;
2. commitment to shared leadership and participatory school governance;
3. dedication to building and maintaining inclusive school culture;
4. conscious effort to build meaningful partnerships with parents and communities.

^1The studies were conducted in the following countries: Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mongolia, Moldova, Montenegro and Russia
^2NEPC region http://www.edupolicy.net/members/