Leadership learning for complex organizations
Many school leadership programs are set and delivered in specific modules or workshops in order to achieve a pre-determined set of competencies, knowledge, and skills. In addition, these programs are driven by the faculty member and the prescribed content. As Singapore schools become more complex in the roles and responsibilities to educate the future of the nation, new ways to develop school leaders is needed. This study investigates the effects on leadership learning based on a complexity theory based design leadership program. The learning outcome emerged as practical leadership knowledge that participants generated as they actively participate in the leadership program. A serious implication of complexity-based design would mean shifting from an “objective and course-driven” learning to “learning that emerged and process-driven.”
Complexity-based learning: An alternative learning design for the twenty-first century
In programme delivery, while the international trend in education has seen a shift from teacher-centred to student-centred learning and from transmission to reflective approaches, most leadership programmes have remained heavily teacher-centred. A key feature of teacher-centred learning relies on practices of course-driven programmes. This feature has been remarkably resilient over the years in the face of efforts to effect change in programme delivery and a new understanding of complexity in the world of education. The complexity theoretical framework provides us the advantage of an alternative design for leadership development programmes that is able to meet current and future challenges. Yearly, billions of dollars are spent on training and development. It is important to ensure that the outcome of training, learning and development must yield practical outcomes that are relevant, innovative and implementable solutions.
Examining e-learning in schools through the Organisational Change Model
In the Singapore education system, e-learning is fast becoming the next frontier for schools. E-learning has the potential to add great value to education, allowing modes of learning that have never been possible in the traditional classroom context. However, before we hail e-learning as the definitive step forward in education and plunge headlong into it, educators have to understand e-learning and its implications in school leadership, management,curriculum, resources and pedagogy. While a well thought through approach will bring great gains to a school, blindly plunging into it may bring great pains because the process of change can be fraught with subtle pitfalls. Using the Organisational Change Model, this article provides a framework for schools to systemically and systematically consider the issues related to the implementation of e-learning in schools and the process of change. It argues that school leaders should consider the goals, business, culture, processes, and enablers (working tools) seamlessly and coherently in order that e-learning could be anchored in the school to bring real sustainable benefits.
Exploring the relationships between instructional leadership and teacher competences: Singapore primary school teachers' perceptions
This article presents part of the findings drawn from a larger study on school leadership in 28 Singapore primary schools. This article discusses the perceptions of 224 key personnel (i.e. teachers with formal leadership titles) and 462 teachers (i.e. classroom/subject teachers without a formal leadership position) of their school leaders’ enactment of instructional leadership and the predictive relationships between instructional leadership and teacher competences. The key findings were (i) Singapore school leaders were perceived to adopt a selective instructional leadership approach and (ii) instructional leadership practices that focused on promoting professional development and positive school climate were strongly associated with teacher competences. The article contributes to the growing knowledge base on the enactment of instructional leadership in non-Western settings and specifies the relationships between instructional leadership and teacher-level variables.
Distributed leadership in ICT reform
This study examined distributed leadership in Information Communication Technology reform in a government school in Singapore. The study adopted a naturalistic inquiry approach, involving the case study of a school. The study found that leadership for ICT reform is distributed according to functions of transformational, instructional, emotional and strategic management of resources. The key enabling factors are an official leadership position, access to expertise, support by senior management, and interpersonal synergies amongst the leaders. Transformational leadership is performed mainly by senior management. Instructional leadership is performed mainly by middle management. Both senior and middle management provided emotional leadership.
Leadership across schools to diffuse an education innovation: Applying complexity leadership theory with ecological leadership
This paper examined leadership practices which supported the diffusion of an innovation in a cluster of schools in Singapore, through the lenses of complexity leadership theory (CLT) and ecological leadership. The approach is a qualitative case study, with the unit of analysis bounded by the innovation and a cluster of schools involved in the diffusion effort. The case study involved investigations mainly at four ecological levels: the ministry (macro), the cluster (exo), school/subject department (meso) and teacher (micro), involving nine observations of the cluster’s community of teachers in 2019, and interviews or focused group discussions with 33 participants, including ministry officers, school leaders, key personnel and teachers. Findings and Implications: The findings illustrate the diffusion of an innovation through the interactional dynamics of administrative, adaptive, and enabling leadership, how these three CLT roles were performed by formal and informal leaders, deliberately or emergent, and across ecological levels. These leadership roles enabled learning and adaptions across and within ecologies. The study also reinforced the importance of the moral and emotional aspects of leadership in providing teachers with the motivation and support to cope with changes. The affordances, challenges, and limitations in applying CLT are elaborated.
Computer simulations for e-learning: A case example of "organizational structures"
Learning need not be a serious matter. The use of computer simulations provides evidence that learning can be interesting, meaningful and engaging (Ng, 2001). In this paper, the authors explored the design and use of a computer simulation called "Organizational Structures" as an e-learning tool in the field of leadership preparation programmes. The simulation is able to provide the context and practice platform for learning the skills of configuring organizational structures.
Redefining successful teaching and learning in Australia’s education system
This paper proposes a redefinition of successful teaching and learning within Australia’s evolving educational system, framed by the context of global economic, societal, and environmental changes. It highlights the interconnectedness of these shifts with the Australian education system and introduces six essential habits of practice that can effectively prepare learners to navigate and shape their futures. To ensure the success of education in Australia, it is critical not only to respond to current challenges but also to equip students with the ability to make contributions to society, the economy, and the environment. The paper emphasises the importance of embedding these six habits into educational practices, which are critical for fostering the necessary skills, knowledge, and values in students. Furthermore, it discusses how the economic, social, and environmental contexts of Australia will demand specific capabilities from individuals, which can be nurtured through targeted educational practices.
The role of school leadership in Singapore's future-ready school reform
In this paper, we propose that successful education needs to fulfil three purposes while being cognisant of time and context: (1) learning, (2) lifework and (3) well-being. An education system is successful if it can develop future-ready individuals who will continue to learn beyond graduation, take on future lifework, and thrive in a changing society and environment. The future is context-situated and context-dependent. We have chosen to examine the economic, social and environmental context of Singapore to provide insight on the values, skills and knowledge that are required of future-ready learners. We have compared the trajectories of other high-income nations with those of Singapore. Traditional teaching and learning practices no longer serve us well in the new realities that emerge. Education practices need to evolve in tandem to meet the demands of the 21st century. The roles that school leaders play include creating teaching and learning environments where these practices can be implemented. In our review of leadership practices and concepts, we have found that it is important for school leaders to question existing assumptions of teaching, learning and leadership practices in order to advance the development of 21st century skills, knowledge, values, and habits in learners.
Tensions in distributed leadership
Purpose: Distributed leadership has grown in popularity over the past decade. Much of the literature to date has presented distributed leadership as a desired leadership practice and generally unproblematic. This paper suggests that the distribution of leadership encounters tensions within the hierarchical structure of schools, when leaders are faced with conflicting or overlapping goals, and organisational norms which govern the behavior of actors by prescribing role relations. The value of this paper is that it adds to the body of knowledge of distributed leadership, illustrating contexts in which leaders encounter tensions and how they resolve these tensions.
Research Methods: The study adopted a naturalistic inquiry approach involving the case study of a school in the process of implementing a project using Information Technology (IT) for instruction. The setting involved an elementary school in Singapore which was at the start of implementing an IT project at the Grade 4 level. The leaders identified included the principal, vice principals, and middle managers, including a senior teacher. Activity theory was used as the interpretative lens for data analysis.
Findings: Tensions were identified between activity systems at the structural and at the process levels, mainly as a result of conflicting or overlapping needs or objectives. However, the existence of tensions also gave rise to innovative solutions to resolve such tensions. This paper highlights three ways in which tensions were balanced in the distribution of leadership.