Sustainable Leadership
Sustainable Leadership Project Update - June 2024
In keeping with our core purpose of enhancing leadership capacity, effectiveness and sustainability, a key focus for IPPN’s advocacy work has been to seek progress on the implementation of the recommendations in the Sustainable Leadership report.
IPPN published its progress report on the project in November 2023. The purpose of the progress report was to
• reaffirm the rationale underpinning the project
• highlight what actions had been undertaken and what progress has been made since the publication of the original report
• provide an up-to-date evidence base that demonstrated an ongoing need for urgent action.
At the IPPN/NAPD symposium on education and leadership in January 2024, the DE acknowledged that it accepted the data and analysis with regard to the unsustainability of school leadership roles and that the focus now needed to move to actions and solutions.
To that end, IPPN developed discussion documents with specific proposals. The following is by way of summary of those specific proposals;
Leadership Effectiveness Reflection Tool
This Reflection Tool seeks to establish a common understanding of the roles of school leaders with reference to the Quality Framework for Leadership & Management (LAOS 2022). It is not envisaged that a job specification would emerge but rather that consensus might be reached as to what it is that school leaders should be focused on in order to render them as effective as possible in their leadership roles and also that those leadership roles would be more sustainable.
IPPN fully accepts that there are leadership and management dimensions to all school leadership roles and that their needs to be a balanced focus on both dimensions.
The list is not exhaustive and the tool is provided in Word format so it can be tailored to meet the needs of each individual school. Feedback is very welcome to project@ippn.ie.
Sustainable Leadership – What you told us - January 2024
Click here to view/download the article, which was published in Leadership+ Issue 131
Sustainable Leadership Progress Report - Nov 2023
As the professional organisation for primary school leaders, IPPN’s mission is to enhance leadership capacity, leadership effectiveness and leadership sustainability as all the research confirms that effective leaders mean effective schools and effective schools mean better outcomes for children.
If we can ensure the existence of that leadership capacity, effectiveness and sustainability, we can empower existing school leaders to thrive in your roles, while also encouraging greater numbers of potential or aspiring leaders to embrace leadership roles in our schools. However, our direct engagement with you has highlighted that this isn't the case and that is what prompted us to undertake this Sustainable Leadership project.
This time last year, we published the Sustainable Leadership report - Primary School Leadership: The Case for Urgent Action – A Roadmap to Sustainable Leadership.
Sustainable Leadership Project Update - June 2023
The importance of school leadership as an influence on and key determinant of pupil learning has been clearly established. The equation is simple – effective school leadership leads to school effectiveness which, in turn, leads to better outcomes for children. It is, therefore, a priority that school leaders should be empowered and supported to deliver that effective leadership in our schools, thereby maintaining their focus on what is most closely aligned with their core purpose – leading teaching and learning.
