How to foster a leadership culture in your school

A strong leadership culture can have a significant effect on learning. It has the power to improve teacher performance, help students achieve goals and transform the school environment. Research consistently shows that every kind of school can benefit from the right guidance and direction.

We heard from various speakers on the topic of leadership in education at our latest Schools Now! conference. Dr. Naomi Adjepong, Kathleen O’Hare, and Vivian Bawuah all discussed effective leadership practices for staff, students and the wider community.

Indeed, Dr. Naomi Adjepong says it’s only by becoming leaders in our community that schools can effect real change. You can view her full address here.

How can educators go beyond standard management practices to empower others? Inspired by these talks, our guide explores how any school can foster a leadership culture. Read on to learn five approaches you can implement among your own staff and students.

Five ways to promote leadership in your school

Different situations call for different leadership styles. However, there are some universal approaches to education and leadership:

Personal and professional development

There’s an idea that some people are “born leaders”. Actually, leadership is a mix of skills such as delegation, communication and problem-solving that anybody can develop. They just need the right tools and resources and the willingness to learn.

Extracurricular programmes and activities can provide students and teaching staff with the opportunities to develop good leadership skills. Naomi has her students participate in voluntary work in the community at local libraries, hospitals, and rural schools. Here, they can collaborate alongside different people and overcome new challenges, taking them outside their comfort zone and helping them in their personal and professional development. 

Vivian Bawuah discusses professional development programmes specifically for teachers, and how taking part in these programmes can give teachers the confidence they need to be leaders. She arranges for IT specialists to come and train her staff so they have the right knowledge to pass on to their students. This helps teachers develop more authority and confidence in their skills. 

Providing your teaching team with a variety of professional development opportunities allows them to explore possible career paths and sets them up for success.

Coaching

People adopt different leadership styles to suit their personality or the type of organisation they lead. Some leaders are great at encouraging and building enthusiasm for innovation. Others are better at providing consistent support and establishing firm boundaries for the people they lead.

Kathleen O’Hare suggests coaching is a great way to enhance leadership skills. One-on-one  (peer-to-peer) coaching helps people nurture their own leadership style. Rather than telling the person what to do, the coach helps them build on what they know. It’s more tailored to the individual’s personal needs and goals than other forms of training like mentoring and tutoring. As a coach, you facilitate the upskilling of other leaders giving them the space and time to work through challenges in order to find the answer themselves. A good coach will resist telling their subject what to do and also be a skillful questioner who is mindful of  needs as well as culture.

A great way to build leadership in any school is to arrange coaching sessions between senior staff and aspiring leaders. Consider the personalities of the people you pair up. They don’t need to be an exact match but they should complement each other. That way the coach can draw on their own experiences and skills to help the other teacher find their natural leadership style. This system builds sustainable leadership models across the school. As the success of any organisation depends greatly on the strength of middle leaders / management, it is hardly surprising that high performing schools invest in this type of coaching.

Empowering staff

Involving teachers in decision-making can help cultivate a more collaborative, distributed leadership culture at your school. That means giving your staff a voice and implementing their suggestions. For example, where do they think you should allocate your budget for resources? Are there any issues with current school policies?

It’s important to create an environment where staff feel safe to speak up and valued for their contributions. Make sure you maintain upfront and transparent communication at all times about both the decision-making process and its outcomes.

The language you use is important. Say “we” when appropriate rather than making the distinction between “you” and “us”. You can use questions to encourage feedback and demonstrate that you’re interested in staff opinions. When a teacher has a good idea or gets results, recognising and broadcasting their achievement will encourage everyone to get more involved in decisions.

Networking

Networking can serve two purposes: School management can learn from other experts on best practices and innovative methods in education. They may discover how teachers have solved the issues they’re facing.

Such events are also an opportunity to build more resources and support for your school, thereby developing a more collaborative leadership culture. You could arrange cultural exchanges, invite guest speakers to your school, or attend events elsewhere. Staff and students can benefit from other leadership styles and share their own experiences.

One example is the British Council’s Principals’ Forums, an annual meeting arranged by many Partner Schools across key markets. There are talks on a variety of topics relevant to senior management and networking opportunities where you can get inspired by your peers. In recent years, schools in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, Ghana and Rwanda have hosted the event.

Another example is the UK Study Tours which gives British Council Partner School leaders the chance to meet and learn from one another during a trip to the UK. Previous events have involved visits to local schools and universities as well as cultural exchanges. Our UK Study Tour for school leaders from the Middle East and North Africa region has been going for nearly a decade, and we have recently added tours for Partner Schools in Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia.

Sharing resources

Most schools only focus on their own staff and students - understandably so! The learners in our classes require a lot of our time, attention and resources.

However, it’s hard for educators to have a broader social impact if we limit our efforts to our own institutions. We have to find a balance between prioritising our students and seeing where we can help others. That’s why Naomi discusses some ways that schools can benefit the wider community without stretching their own resources.

Dr. Naomi mentions the following initiatives from her own school:

• Sharing school facilities like computer labs or sports venues
• Inviting outside teachers to staff training sessions
• Volunteering at nearby schools
• Hosting events for children in your neighbourhood
• Introducing community scholarships and schemes

Programmes don’t have to be free if you have limited funding. Just offering more options can make a difference. For example, a local family may be unable to afford full-time school fees for their children to attend your school - but after-school activities could be within their budget.

Final thoughts

Fostering the right leadership skills in our schools can have a profound and far-reaching impact. You can build a more supportive learning environment, help others in your community, and inspire your teaching staff to become leaders. 

Sometimes, local initiatives can even end up having an impact on learners on the other side of the world. Just look at Dr. Naomi Adjepong. After her talk at the Schools Now! Conference, teachers from all over the world discussed how to introduce her ideas.

For more resources on leadership in education, visit our Online Support for Schools platform. If you’re not currently a member, contact your local British Council office.