Sustainable school leadership: comparing approaches to the training, supply and retention of senior school leaders across the UK

英国中小学的高级领导人在塑造儿童的教育经验和成果方面发挥着至关重要的作用，特别是在最具挑战性的社区。这些领导者本身就是教师，也影响着学校更广泛的教师和员工的工作条件，从而影响着他们的培训和留任。即使在新冠肺炎疫情爆发之前，人们就担心许多现有的领导者会提前离开这一行业，而潜在的未来领导者往往会因为压力和工作量而选择不申请校长职位。疫情加剧了这些压力，增加了校长继任危机的风险。此外，在多样性方面也存在挑战，某些领导群体面临更多的晋升障碍，而在最具挑战性的情况下，学校往往面临更多的招聘挑战。英国各地的政策制定者优先采取行动，以提高高中领导人的供应，质量和多样性。这些方法反映了一种更广泛的全球趋势，即通过国家校长标准和培训方案等方式，界定和促进对“有效”领导的单一解释。但这些国家框架可能存在问题，因为个人、学校和地方的需求差异很大。本研究将对英格兰、苏格兰和北方爱尔兰的中小学高级学校领导--特别是校长--的培训、供应和保留方法有更深入的了解，并将为这些方法在哪里以及如何得到加强提供一个愿景。英格兰、苏格兰和北方爱尔兰是如何招聘、培训和留住学校领导的？2.这些方法在多大程度上考虑到了个人、地方和系统的需要，特别是在领导力供应的可持续性、多样性、公平性、质量和对未来的适应性方面？混合方法比较研究将包括：i.高中领导发展之国际文献与实务回顾。与来自教育和更广泛部门的决策者和领导力发展专家的访谈iii.发展一个原创的理论框架，将个人传记，学校和更广泛的政策背景的工作结合在一起，理解这些如何在不同的基于地方的背景下形成。研究每个国家现有的培养领导能力的方法，包括通过：文件分析，以评估当前的政策和做法;对现有数据集进行二级分析，以审查领导人才队伍的构成、参加国家培训方案与感兴趣的成果之间的关系，以及校长招聘和留用的模式;以地方为基础的个案研究，包括与领导力发展提供者和雇主的访谈，与有抱负和在职校长的访谈和焦点小组，以及对领导力发展活动的观察;以及对学校领导人的全国性调查，并在可能的情况下将答复与二级数据集联系起来。v.比较分析，使我们能够完善我们的理论框架，并解决研究问题。在威尔士，我们将进行访谈，全国调查，并举行政策研讨会，建立在正在进行的国家审查的基础上。我们将在整个研究过程中与主要利益攸关方合作，包括通过三个国家专家咨询小组，为研究提供信息，并确定影响和对未来发展的实际建议。在这些关系的基础上，我们将向研究、政策和实践受众公布和传播调查结果和建议，并将努力确保产生影响。这将包括开发可用于加强地方和国家领导人继任规划工作的网络工具和资源。

Senior leaders in primary and secondary schools across the UK play an essential role in shaping educational experiences and outcomes for children, particularly in the most challenging communities. These leaders are teachers themselves and also influence working conditions - and thus training and retention - for wider teachers and staff in schools.Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were concerns that many existing leaders are leaving the profession early, while potential future leaders often choose not to apply for headship, due to the pressures and workloads involved. The pandemic has exacerbated these pressures, raising the risk of a headteacher succession crisis. Furthermore, there are challenges in terms of diversity, with certain groups of leaders facing additional barriers to promotion, while schools in the most challenging contexts often face increased recruitment challenges. Policy makers across the UK have prioritised actions to enhance the supply, quality and diversity of senior school leaders. These approaches reflect a wider global trend towards defining and promoting a singular interpretation of 'effective' leadership, for example through national headteacher standards and training programmes. But these national frameworks can be problematic, given that individual, school and local needs differ widely. This study will develop a deeper understanding of approaches to the training, supply and retention of senior school leaders - in particular headteachers - for primary and secondary schools in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland and will offer a vision for where and how these approaches can be enhanced.The research questions are: 1. How do England, Scotland and Northern Ireland recruit, train and retain school leaders?2. How well do these approaches take account of individual, local and systemic needs, in particular in relation to the sustainability of leadership supply, its diversity, equity, quality and fitness for the future?The mixed methods comparative study will include: i. a review of international literature and practice on senior school leadership developmentii. interviews with policy makers and leadership development experts from education and wider sectors iii. development of an original theoretical frame which draws together work on individual biography, school and wider policy contexts, with understandings of how these are shaped across diverse place-based contextsiv. research into existing approaches to leadership development in each nation, including through: documentary analysis to assess current policy and practice; secondary analysis of existing datasets to examine the composition of the leadership workforce, how participation in national training programmes is associated with outcomes of interest, and patterns of recruitment and retention for headteachers; place-based case studies, involving interviews with leadership development providers and employers, interviews and focus groups with aspiring and serving headteachers, and observations of leadership development events; and national surveys of school leaders, with responses linked to secondary datasets where possible. v. comparative analysis which allows us to refine our theoretical framework and address the research questions.In Wales we will undertake interviews, a national survey and hold a policy seminar, building on an ongoing national review. We will work with key stakeholders throughout the study, including through three national expert advisory groups, to inform the research and to identify implications and practical recommendations for future development. Building on these relationships we will publish and disseminate the findings and recommendations to research, policy and practice audiences and will work to secure impact. This will include the development of web-based tools and resources that can be used to enhance local and national leadership succession planning efforts.