Chapter six offers an analysis of policy briefs from 15 EU countries that were drafted by the EPNoSL partners. In this chapter it is provided an analysis that acknowledges that policy is in part extemporized, and in part the attempt to promote a “de-stated” account of governance. Important questions have to do with how do we ensure that change is led and managed successfully - what do we need to consider when leading and managing the change process? Chapter five on policy response explores the concept of policy, and considers what is meant by policy response. In chapter four the focus is on the leadership and management of change within organisations. Following those trends is a trend to empower school leaders more in the style of private sector top down management and leadership. This autonomy has been established according to bureaucratic and market place logics, using new social technologies like tests and quality reporting or inspection. The couplings to local, municipal and national authorities have been loosened on how to spend public funding, how to manage staff and how to run schools, but the aim and curriculum of education has been tightened at the same time: standards are being detailed more and there are more control and accountability. It is identified a trend of restructuring following New Public Management patterns of redistribution of power and governance between the State, local authorities and organisations. In chapter three, decentralisation is discussed in relation to school autonomy types and the space for manoeuvres to schools and school leaders in related to critical issues such as finances, staff management, curricula etc. As it is argued, the causes of inequality are of course multiple and complex and not all under the control of school leaders, but the latter have the opportunity to minimise or exacerbate inequality. In chapter two it is argued that as the issues Europe faces become more testing, so schools are faced with intensifying difficulties in offering an equitable education to all. This chapter cautions that literature on the efficacy of school leadership and equity may help constitute a “de-stated” account of governance that places onus on school leaders to take responsibility for social processes that may, in reality, lie beyond their control. Chapter one offers a review of the literature on school leadership and equity in order to help provide policy with an evidence base on school leadership from the perspective of equity. Under the EPNoSL’s perspective, within the framework of educational goals, leadership is present at all levels of an organization, directed at serving the most important stakeholders, through inspiring others in the organization to take part in the management process. It is more about relationships rather than people or processes. The EPNoSL project considers school leadership as a multi-faceted process of strategically using the unique skills and knowledge of teachers, pupils, and parents, toward achieving common educational goals. The objectives of this WP were a) to review and define critical factors for the implementation of LLL Strategy and Policy under the scope of equity and learning and the perspective of school leaders (SL), b) to reflect on the need for a renewed research agenda on SL, and c) to critically review the knowledge base for the construction of a common European Policy Indicators Framework on/for SL. This study was developed in the frame of the European Policy Network of School Leadership (EPNoSL) project’s second work package (WP) entitled “The State of Affairs on School Leadership in Europe”. The paper interrogates the evidence through the lens of the 2008 OECD study on school leadership and poses questions about the relevance and value of the OECD perspective. For this innovation to be successful, active curriculum leadership by school principals is seen as crucial. Furthermore, maintaining TY's coherence and integrity in the face of threats from more established programmes offers particular challenges. However, exercising the collegiality both roles demand goes against established cultures of isolated individualism in Irish schools. Based on data from an extensive study of TY operating in six different schools, programme co-ordinators and school principals are identified as having key roles in the successful implementation of TY. Transition Year is an innovative, optional, one-year programme taken by approximately half the 15–16-year age cohort in schools in the Republic of Ireland. Introducing an educational innovation into any school context involves some challenge to existing practices.
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