Project

Leadership; Education; Schools; Training; Technology; Distance Learning; Reform

Lead
Les directeurs/directrices d’école constituent une importance cruciale pour la réussite de l'école et des élèves et doivent être spécialement préparé-e-s à leur rôle. Cependant, la plupart d’entre eux/elles, en particulier dans les contextes à faibles ressources, ne reçoivent aucune formation particulière. Ce projet, basé sur des études de cas générées par des directeurs/directrices eux-/elles-mêmes dans quatre pays non occidentaux, crée et teste un site Web de formation adapté aux portables.
Lay summary
De nombreux directeurs/directrices d’école dans le monde ne sont pas professionnellement préparé-e-s à ce rôle, ce qui les rend mal équipé-e-s pour faire face aux dilemmes quotidiens et stratégiques auxquels ils/elles sont confronté-e-s, qui vont de la réduction des taux d'abandon à la protection des écoles contre l'occupation militaire. Des «études de cas pédagogiques» sont développées autour de problèmes identifiés par les directeurs/directrices sur place et comprennent du matériel d'apprentissage comme des vidéos, des transcriptions des interviews, des jeux interactifs et des documents scientifiques. Ensuite, les études de cas seront testées par des directeurs/directrices d’école pour évaluer la pertinence et l'efficacité dans chacun des quatre contextes nationaux: quartiers pauvres de Buenos Aires, Argentine, camp de réfugiés de Kakuma au Kenya, anciens «townships» de Johannesburg, Afrique du Sud et régions rurales et nomades de Mongolie. Le projet vise à former plus de 100 directeurs/directrices d’école et espère en fin de compte améliorer les résultats de milliers d'enfants les plus vulnérables du monde.

Direct link to Lay Summary

Last update: 16.09.2020

Replication Data for Comparative Educational Leadership Lab

Author	Magno, Cathryn
Persistent Identifier (PID)	https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/LSYTTX
Repository	Harvard Dataverse
Abstract

This dataset contains all case study materials gathered, including primary and secondary sources from Argentina, Kenya, Mongolia and South Africa. Data includes interview transcripts, videos, narrative descriptions, newsletters, working documents, articles, agenda and project notes.

Active participation

Active participation

Self-organised

Communication	Title	Media	Place	Year

Title	Year

Project SummarySchool leaders, second only to classroom teachers, are catalysts for student success (Leithwood, Day, Sammons, Harris & Hopkins, 2006; Bush, 2018). However, many school leaders around the world have not been professionally prepared for this role, making them ill-equipped to address both the daily and the strategic dilemmas they face (Bush, 2018; Magno, 2013) which range from reducing drop-out rates to protecting schools from military occupation (UNESCO, 2016; Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, 2018). This SPARK project will assist school leaders in poor and under-resourced regions by providing unique case study training material via an unconventional smartphone-based virtual learning platform. The project ultimately aims to improve outcomes for hundreds of the world’s most vulnerable children. The project has two main goals:1)to create online “teaching case studies” that include multimedia features and focus on “hot topics” facing leaders of underserved schools across four countries (Kenya/Kakuma Refugee Camp, South Africa, Argentina, Mongolia), and2)to test the “teaching case studies” with practicing school leaders in these countries, in order to gauge the effectiveness of this original applied knowledge via smartphone technology.The method used to achieve these goals is the development of problem-based “teaching case studies.” The applicant will train project partners based in each of the four country contexts in the method, and in the field, project partners will collaborate with practicing school leaders (to whom they already have access) to actually create the teaching case studies. They will do this by identifying problems facing school leaders, collecting data about those problems (interviews, videos, etc.), and fashioning learning materials out of them (interactive games, documents, etc.). The approach uses distance learning technology (similar to MOOCs but more flexible and personalized), and takes the form of a training platform website (the Comparative Educational Leadership Lab, or CELL). The applicant will oversee all case study development through virtual communication; once created, the applicant will test the case studies in each country context to determine content adequacy and delivery effectiveness, using a feedback template. Finally, the applicant will analyze testing feedback templates, explicate recommendations for improving the case studies as well as the platform, and initiate wide (global) dissemination. This type of professional training platform for under-privileged school leaders is the first of its kind. As an open source website, it has the potential to reach hundreds of school leaders, and in turn improve outcomes for thousands of students, around the world.