Birth pains: emerging school leadership policies in eight school systems of Latin America

An ineffective preparation? The scarce effect in primary school principals’ practices of school leadership preparation and training in seven countries in Latin America

“…However, there is no evidence that increasing the preparation that school leaders receive is effectively translated into improvements in academic achievement of students or into increased instructional leadership for teachers. Professional development programs do not tend to follow-up with their graduates, there is no impact evaluation of these programs (usually there are only satisfaction reports from the participants), and school administrators tend to trust in the benefits of the professional development that is offered or in the prestige of the institutions that offer these programs, without first conducting a detailed analysis of the design of the programs, nor an evaluation of the implementation of the existing programs (Weinstein, Hernández, Cuéllar and Flessa, 2014; Weinstein and Hernández, 2016). In summary, there is very little evidence in the region regarding the effect of school principal preparation programs on their educational leadership.…”

“…A recent report from UNESCO (2014) collected information about school principals in the seven Latin American countries we consider here, focusing especially on those key dimensions of policies aimed at promoting school leadership: performance standards; selection; working conditions; responsibilities; evaluation; and professional development. The results showed that the region is far from having articulated coherent policies for school leaders, but that the trend in the different education systems is the development of initiatives that, although scattered, seek to enhance the role of principals in terms of school improvement (Weinstein and Hernandez, 2016).…”

“…Requirements for curriculum content (and the competencies that participants must develop) suggested by education authorities for school leadership programs vary hugely among education systems and their degree of decision-making centralization (Huber, 2008; Huber and West, 2002; Fluckiger, B., Lovett and Dempster, 2014). It is also necessary to differentiate systems that demand that those who become school leaders have successfully completed some specialized training – such as in Ontario, Canada, in Singapore or in Victoria, Australia (OECD, 2007; Weinstein and Hernández, 2016) – from other systems that are more open and flexible, that only demand that school leaders have basically the same credentials that are required of teachers, even though more specialized training can be desirable – as often happens, as previously noted, in Latin American countries (UNESCO, 2014, 2015). Several authors, such as Bush and Jackson (2002), have pointed out the importance of integrating professional preparation within the career path that school systems establish for becoming a school leader, as well as connecting it with their job performance in that position.…”

Director (a) por primera vez: Un estudio sobre la experiencia y socialización de los directores noveles en establecimientos municipales de Chile

“…• los tipos de socialización y sus fuentes predominantes; • las características de los procesos (o tácticas) y de los métodos de socialización; y • los contenidos de la socialización. Fuente: Elaboración propia a partir de Crow (2007), Van Maanen y Schein (1979), Daresh y Male (2000), Duke (1987), Weinstein y Hernández (2015b), Clarke y Wildy (2013), Greenfield (1985) En la investigación acerca del liderazgo escolar en general, nuevas tendencias han reclamado por una mayor consideración del contexto sociocultural y de políticas de los distintos sistemas escolares (Bush 2012;Hallinger & Huber 2012;Weinstein & Hernández, 2015a), debido a su repercusión en las prácticas y los procesos organizativos (Ahumada, 2012). En esta línea, la temática específica de los directivos noveles debiera abordarse dentro de sus particulares contextos organizacionales, societales, culturales, éticos, de género y estructurales (Walker & Qian, 2006).…”

Interactive leadership in turbulent school climates. An exploratory study of high school principals from the City of Buenos Aires

“…Although school regulations in Buenos Aires consider pedagogical functions, they also include a vast variety of administrative and social tasks (Weinstein and Hernández, 2016; Weinstein et al, 2014). Oplatka (2017) explains that principals in Latin America might dedicate more time to administrative tasks due to the centralized educational policy and hierarchical structures of educational systems where supervision focuses specifically on the accomplishment of these tasks.…”