The learning journey: Lifelong professional learning for leaders in faith-based schools

Abstract

Over many years research has highlighted the increasingly complex and multifaceted nature of the roles and responsibilities of leaders in all types of schools and school systems. Recent educational reforms have added to the complexity of leadership and have demanded that leaders need new kinds of knowledge, skills and attitudes. In many international settings changing expectations of the leader and reformulated visions of educational leadership in the context of lifelong learning have emphasised the need for leaders to develop a deeper understanding of a range of areas pertaining to the exercise of leadership in schools, particularly in regard to learning. Work of international and intergovernmental bodies such as the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD 2007) has highlighted the need to review the ways in which the conceptualisation of leadership roles and the allocation of responsibilities and tasks meet both the needs of the school and the quality of learning provision for students and the various personal and professional stages of individuals’ careers, lives and professional lifelong learning needs. As the literature reviewed in this chapter reveals, there is a need to develop, support, renew and revitalise leadership exercised at all levels of every school and across all stages of an individual’s lifelong learning journey.