Image: VOLKER Weihbold
A study from Vienna shows that the decisive factor for success is that the headmaster has a clear vision, that the teachers feel responsible for the learning success and constantly work together to improve teaching. In the late 1990s, in large English cities like London, many public schools had massive problems with gangs, drugs, violence and radicalism. These schools also performed correspondingly poorly in the nationwide GCSE performance tests for under-16s and in school inspections. In the 2000s, however, numerous locations with a particularly large number of young people from socially disadvantaged families with a migration background managed to achieve a sustainable trend reversal. In 2013, London students were already achieving the best GCSE scores in the country, with the improvements being particularly strong among disadvantaged students. Top marks were also achieved in the proportion of students who remain in further or higher education.
In search of the success factors, a team led by Roland Bernhard, Professor of School Development and Leadership at the Church University of Education (KPH) Vienna/Krems, interviewed 22 managers in eleven English schools who achieve particularly good learning results despite the challenging framework conditions. For Bernhard, the results can serve as a model for Austria to achieve more educational justice quickly and sustainably. “Radical improvement in learning performance is always possible, even in the most adverse circumstances.”
Pedagogical leadership and teaching quality
On the one hand, the educational leadership of the school administrations was decisive for the success of the schools examined. In the interviews, they emphasized the importance of having a clear vision aimed at helping students learn better. School management and teaching staff also assume responsibility for their learning outcomes, despite the unfavorable circumstances of the students.
At the same time, the study shows a consistent focus on teaching quality at these schools. In addition to further training, the classrooms are always open according to the motto “Learn from the best”, teachers give each other feedback and particularly successful teachers show how excellent teaching works. In addition, there are numerous indications in the data that decisions on school quality development are made using research that has already been published or that smaller research projects are carried out at the school itself.
“Hardly possible in Austria”
The study emphasizes that in Austria school management is relatively restricted in their options for action due to a lack of freedom, time and resources. “If school administrations are ‘covered up’ with administrative activities – this is a common complaint from school administrations in Austria – real pedagogical leadership will hardly be possible,” Bernhard calls for the administration to be relieved and middle management to be introduced.
The managers interviewed for the study, on the other hand, are “cleared” by their schools for evidence-based school development and research engagement. There are also other people who are responsible for school development and whose teaching commitments are reduced for this. They can also draw on research results from organizations such as the Education Endowment Foundation, which have been prepared as practical modules. The authors of the study hope that such approaches would also be helpful here in Germany in order to be able to anchor research results more firmly in practice.
Source: Nachrichten
