Aims of the Network

State of Affairs

Successful learning depends on the quality of school life and con­­sequently on the quality of leadership. In a continually more complex environment and as a result of the European tendency to give individual schools greater autonomy, school leaders are facing additional challenges. 
The importance of school leadership has become clear in recent years from the large amount of leadership and management concepts and appropriate initial and further qualification measures that have been de­veloped in Europe.
The focus of these measures is not only on honing the admi­ni­strative and organisational skills, but also on the improvement of individual professionalism in decision-ma­king and taking ac­tion. School inspection has shown that sustain­able leadership should be directed towards the establishment, anchoring and making use of effective communication paths and to the acceptance of decision-making and taking responsi­bility.

Leading the Way

The network has systematically gathered information and organised communication on existing models, concepts and programmes in this core area of school develop­ment.
In the first year, examples of school leadership and concepts of initial and further qualification of future school heads have been documented, weighted and pub­lished in a synopsis. Thirteen partner countries (DE, AT, DK, EE, ES, HU, IE, IT, NO, PL, RO, SI, TR) worked in the network. More countries were involved through a tandem model, so that the EU as a whole is represented.

Means of Dissemination

All project findings have been published on the network website and on respective national websites. Thus, the network website offers a supply of information for all those professionally interested in the status and findings of the research activities.
The annual network conferences offered a forum for the cir­culation and evaluation of the findings and for discussing urgent questions on leadership topics. Further COMENIUS action projects and target groups were invited to join these conferences, so that the network was extended and optimised and a European Corporate Identity "Leadership in Education" was established.

This website now offers a comprehensive information system for all specialists interested, covering the concepts and programmes to qualify school leaders across Europe. The main result of the project is the Framework of Reference focussing on school leadership which forms the basis of a consensual network decision together with Recommen­dations to the European Commission and to political decision-makers.