# data[].attributes.headline
4.5 Schools shaping each other – School Partnerships & eTwinning

# data[].attributes.subject
4.5 Schools shaping each other – School Partnerships & eTwinning

# data[].attributes.body
The final group of stakeholders we will examine in this module in more detail are other schools and how they can shape our school’s development. Partnering with other schools can be a powerful way to build capacity at your school and to motivate both students and teachers. Such partnerships can happen at local as well as at national and international level. In this section we receive input from Anne Gilleran, senior pedagogical advisor for the eTwinning project and a former school leader who outlines some of her ideas about school partnerships, the role of distributed leadership in shaping such partnerships and in particular the role the eTwinning community in shaping a schools development and leadership.
Linked to this topic please take a look at the School Education Gateway poll about School Networks and Partnerships.  It would be great if you could respond to this short poll which will take no longer than five minutes. The poll is available in 23 languages and open until 1 July here.

# data[].attributes.body
Young people’s involvement in decisions regarding their education is in fact enshrined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child but even so there are still many countries where no formal structures ensure the creation of student unions with a say in school development. But even in schools where student unions do exist, this does not automatically guarantee effective engagement of students in shaping a school. So what mechanisms, actions can be taken at school level to involve students in the running of a school.

In the video below Ferre Windey identifies some general strategies of how to involve students and how students can shape a schools leadership approach. He also addresses how to overcome common challenges.

# data[].attributes.body
The second stakeholder group we look at is arguably the most important stakeholder group – students.

Student involvement in school development and leadership is at the heart of what theOrganising Bureau of European School Students Union (OBESSU) advocates. OBESSU represents student unions across Europe.

# data[].attributes.headline
4.2 Engaging Parents – Live Webinar 21st June 16:30h

# data[].attributes.subject
4.2 Engaging Parents – Live Webinar 21st June 16:30h

# data[].attributes.body
4.2 Engaging Parents – Live Webinar 21st June 16:30h
European Parents’ Association.

# data[].attributes.body
4.1 Who are School Stakeholders?

Before we examine in more detail three groups of stakeholders and consider their involvement in shaping our schools, let us briefly consider who school stakeholders are and to what extent we already engage with them.

Take a look at the below video where Roger Blamire of European Schoolnet outlines what groups are considered as school stakeholders and why.

# data[].attributes.body
By taking on a teacher leadership role, teachers “break ranks” and become visible to colleagues as leaders. Where teacher leadership is new, “breaking ranks” in the flat hierarchy typically found in school cultures commonly results in irritation, on a spectrum from speaking up and attracting attention to designed intervention and resistance. As a result, it is essential that teacher leaders are aware of their impact on others and are supported by the school leadership, particularly when teacher leadership and shared leadership are just beginning to change a school’s culture. It can be helpful for teacher leaders to analyse their activities and behaviours along a “spectrum of irritation”.

# data[].attributes.body
At school level enabling teacher leadership can take many different forms starting with simple recognition of those that act as teacher leaders and ending with comprehensive workshop programmes that stimulate certain reflective approaches and attitudes or outline processes for teachers to become teacher leaders.

In this section, we start by looking at the latter, a step-by-step process of developing a teachers’ capacity to become a teacher leader. Take a look at the video below outlining such step-by-step approach of developing projects for teachers to take on leadership.

he above methodology was created and applied as part of the International Teacher Leadership Initiative run by David Frost of the University of Cambridge. Check out their website for many more useful resources that provide guidance and research evidence about teacher leadership.
Time, space and culture are some of the factors addressed that will enable teacher leadership and they are naturally closely aligned with some of the factors that we looked at in the previous module about developing distributed leadership.

http://toolkit.schoolleadership.eu/teacher_leadership_giants.php

# data[].attributes.headline
2.3 Developing a Participatory Culture & Open Social Environment

# data[].attributes.subject
2.3 Developing a Participatory Culture & Open Social Environment

# data[].attributes.body
Culture is about the ideas and values that people share in an organisation and which influence everyday behaviour. The second key lever involves taking steps to build a set of shared ideas and values that support DL. These ideas and values include valuing leadership from all parts and levels of the school and an explicit commitment to inclusive participation and holistic learning.
2.4 Enabling Institutional Structures & Evaluating DL

The fourth key lever (for the third lever see the next section) is the development of an open social environment which supports DL. This means being open in how you relate to people, recognising and valuing the contributions which everyone makes to achieving the purpose of the school and showing through your actions that the boundaries within the school (of hierarchy, departments and formal roles) are not rigid.

In a participatory culture and open social environment:

People view leadership as emergent

Participation is valued

Core values of equity and democratic citizenship are explicit commitments

Respect for all is fostered

A sense of trust and belonging exists

Co-creative and co-operative attitudes are fostered

Flexible and open ways of working are promoted

# data[].attributes.body
The first key lever in the development of distributed leadership for equity and learning is the facilitation of a clear and shared understanding of the concept of DL itself.
DL needs to be continually cultivated and nurtured in supportive ideas and values that people genuinely share and are committed to.

# data[].attributes.body
Five key levers work together to support the development of distributed leadership for equity and learning in action

Each of the five key levers links to a tool which a possible starting point for policy-makers and school leaders to begin or continue dialogue around DLE and to translate this dialogue intoaction which transforms leadership and learning in schools.

1. Key lever #1: Facilitating the development of a shared understanding of DLE
2.Key lever #2: A participatory culture for DLE
3. Key lever #3: Enabling institutional structures for DLE
4.Key lever #4: An open social environment that supports DLE
5.Key lever #5: Evaluating and sharing the impact of DLE

# data[].attributes.body
The image reminds us that new initiatives need to be rooted in a well-prepared ground. Equally, in order to bear fruit, developments need to be nurtured. They may not always flourish immediately but, with time and attention, can grow strong.

# data[].attributes.headline
Module 2: Developing Distributed Leadership

# data[].attributes.subject
Module 2: Developing Distributed Leadership

# data[].attributes.body
Learning Objectives in this module are:

1. Understand the conditions and steps to developing DL at school

2. Reflecting on the areas of development at own school

3. Investigate the level of agreement with own assessment of school’s leadership approach

4. Investigate the level of accessibility of institutional structures at own school

5. Evaluating compatibility of existing own school structures with DL

6. Identifying existing school values

For more details about the areas covered in this module see this section of the School Leadership Toolkit upon which this module is based.

# data[].attributes.headline
1.3 Factors influencing Distributed Leadership in Schools

# data[].attributes.subject
1.3 Factors influencing Distributed Leadership in Schools

# data[].attributes.body
“how can I create the conditions in my organisation where people will feel able to offer their expertise and contribute to the development of the school?”

Such conditions can be created via the following factors:

Co-ordination and planning - A strong degree of co-ordination and planning of roles, expectations and modes of working

Cohesive culture - A cohesive culture, which has shared goals and values

Core purpose: learning for all - A focus on the core purpose (learning for all), so that a strong link is created between leadership and learning

Capacity building - Capacity building for distributed leadership for equity and learning, which involves developing the capabilities of staff and students to be involved in leadership and the capacity of senior leaders who need the capabilities to develop and support distributed leadership for equity and learning.

Internal accountability -  Effective internal accountability, so that staff and students feel committed to making changes work, and senior leaders are open and transparent about decisions and in that way are accountable to others in the organization.

# data[].attributes.headline
1.2 Why use Distributed Leadership in Schools?

# data[].attributes.subject
1.2 Why use Distributed Leadership in Schools?

# data[].attributes.body
visitthe School Leadership Toolkit here.
At a specific school level, distributed leadership can help schools respond to major policy challenges they face - being accountable for learning, enabling innovation and promotingdemocratic citizenship.

# data[].attributes.body
Leadership is the process of mobilising people and resources in order to bring about change directed towards achieving a goal or purpose. This process involves creativity, initiative and action, but it is not necessarily undertaken by one individual.

Leadership is a characteristic of an organisation as a whole, not just the individual actions of the few who are labelled 'leaders'. Distributed leadership is based on the proposition that whatever we may think, the reality of life in organisations is that leadership is the outcome of lots of people's actions and interactions. The power of senior leaders is mediated by what people do, or do not do, across the organisation.

Distributed leadership includes leadership by students, teachers and support staff, each of whom brings their unique skills, ideas, and experience, and emerges from a particular combination of supportive organisational features.

Distributed leadership is fostered in a school culture that views leadership as emergent and participatory, and is explicitly committed to core values of equity and democratic citizenship.
in other words, there can be degrees of distributed leadership.

It is helpful to see these degrees of distributed leadership as stretching along a continuum. At one end, distributed leadership is fully developed and in its most democratic form: this is the same as democratic leadership based on a model of holistic democracy where all decisions at school level are taken by equal vote of all school actors. At the other end, the opposite of distributed leadership is what we call rigid hierarchical leadership where decisions are made by one or a few leaders at the top of the hierarchy.

Think about your own school, where along this spectrum would you place it? Identify your answer briefly in the poll below so that we can see the current situation of fellow course participants.

On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being a rigid hierarchical leadership and 10 being a fully democratic leadership, how would you characterize your own school’s leadership approach?

# data[].attributes.body
3.1 What is Teacher Leadership and why enable it at school?

Teacher leaders are highly effective teachers who accept responsibility beyondclassroom instruction for a task or function which contributes to quality development at their school.

These teachers act as leading professionals, drawing upon external and experiential knowledge to continually improve their practice with a focus on equity and learning. They are sources of inspiration for their colleagues and ambassadors for their schools.

Take a look at the following case study from Scotland where teachers and school leaders talk about what teacher leadership means to them and why it is important to enable it at school.

SCEL - what is teacher leadership? from SCEL on Vimeo

Teacher leadership is visible in a teacher’s informal and formal role-taking and role-making. Teachers who act informally or formally as teacher leaders take on four roles:

as teachers they are oriented consistently to the achievement of their students,

as professionals they continually develop their own practice in relation to current external and experiential knowledge with a focus on effectiveness,

as role models they inspire colleagues and have a positive influence on others' development, and

as ambassadors they communicate the vision and goals of their school internally and externally.

# data[].attributes.headline
2.4 Enabling Institutional Structures & Evaluating DL

# data[].attributes.subject
2.4 Enabling Institutional Structures & Evaluating DL

# data[].attributes.body
The third key lever focuses on the development of institutional structures that support leadership from across all parts of the organisation. This means taking steps to make changes that help to create enabling institutional structures. Structural changes can work in tandem with the cultural changes addressed in the previous section to support this development.

Institutional structures include roles, procedures and working arrangements (such as teams and committees), as well as the allocation of resources and the opportunities offered for professional development and training. These can have a powerful impact on how people connect and work with one another.

Examples of change that helps create enabling institutional structures include:

Widening membership of committees, teams and working groups - This includes enabling ad hoc working groups to be set up easily by staff and/or students that bring together different people relevant to an initiative, and creating forums through which ideas, research and learning can be shared

Allocating resources in ways that support DL - This includes allocating resources that help staff and students to develop capabilities in leadership, collaborative working and innovation and to try out innovative ideas

Supporting formal and informal teacher and student leadership roles - This includes giving more responsibilities and scope for initiative to middle leaders, and developing and recognising the role of teacher leaders and student leaders

The fifth lever to consider is about evaluating the impact of DL and sharing results. As part of this it is important to ensure that evaluation of DL is:

Participatory: Evaluating distributed leadership for equity and learning needs toinvolve staff and students, but also other school stakeholders

Examining the degree of DL and hierarchy: Recognise that developing DLE is a journey and that schools will have both hierarchy and open social relationships, so evaluation examines the degrees of DLE and hierarchy in a school

Focusses on student learning and inclusiveness

# data[].attributes.body
Distributed leadership is:

“a form of shared leadership that is underpinned by a more collective and inclusive philosophy than traditional leadership theory that focuses on skills, traits and behaviours of individual leaders”

(Jones, Harvey, Lefoe & Ryland, 2012)

This course is based to a substantial extent on the content developed by the EPNoSL network for the School Leadership Toolkit which you can access directly here. The course takes parts of the content and organizes it into a more interactive experience. The Toolkit is owned by theFoundation for Research and Technology in Greece (FORTH) who has authorised the use of the Toolkit for the purposes of this course.

# data[].attributes.body
1 - Netiquette
Code of Conduct, Use Policy and Honour Code
2 - Copyright
website by Childnet International.

And what happens when you create your own material? Would you like to share it with other fellow colleagues but protect it from any misuse? Take a look at Creative Commons which can help you answer these questions. It is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of materials and resources through free legal tools. Learn more about the different licenses and what they mean. On their website, they have a simple tool that will help you choose the type of license you need. Once you have picked the one you need, you can download it in high quality and different formats here.
3 - eSafety
this guide which includes advice and interesting question to reflect on regarding your online reputation.

For more information about eSafety as well as lots of resources to use with your students check out the following links:

1. eTwinning Featured Group: Bringing eSafety into eTwinning projects (you need to be a member of eTwinning to join the group)

2. Better Internet for Kids

3. Web We Want

4. eSafety Label

5. Safer Internet Day