Supporting emerging leaders
9th December 2024
Teachers consistently indicate that support from the school principal is a key success factor in the implementation of digital learning in their school. But school leaders can’t do everything themselves so they need to find ways of supporting emerging leaders in leading digital learning.
Having others in the school who are willing and able to lead digital learning is important for the ongoing development of digital learning. Some school leaders will be able to delegate responsibility for digital learning to another leader, such as the deputy principal. Even if this is not possible, many schools will be able to build a digital learning team (DL team) in the school. This approach shares responsibility and drives forward a digital learning agenda through distributed leadership.
Supporting emerging leaders to take on leadership roles
A key role for the principal then becomes one of empowering staff to take on and carry out leadership roles, as outlined in the Digital Learning Framework (ref: Leadership and Management dimension, domain 4, standard 2).
But how can a principal empower staff to take on and carry out leadership roles? One way is to support emerging leaders, such as the DL team members, to undertake professional learning which enables them, in turn, to take on a leadership role.
Online courses and Croke Park Hours
Oide Technology in Education has three key courses in the leadership area which can empower participants to lead digital learning in their school. Crucially, school management can support teachers in undertaking these courses through arrangements to use their Croke Park hours for independent study, perhaps with additional time for the DL team to get together to consider subsequent actions afterwards.
Self-paced, online courses that can be classified as ‘Leadership’ courses from Oide Technology in Education are:
- Leading Digital Learning (four hours). An essential course for anyone leading digital learning in the school and providing an overview of all major areas of concern. You can dip in an out, spending less than four hours, if you just need a quick overview or a reminder of certain aspects.
- Developing a Digital Learning Plan for your School (four hours). Step by step guidance through the DL planning process in full – for school leaders and/or those on the digital learning team with delegated responsibility for developing/updating the DL plan.
- AI for Schools (one hour). A short and essential introduction to AI for school leaders as well as the DL team members.
The principal can also facilitate the DL team to share their learning, and any new initiatives that may result, with the whole school team during Croke Park hours. Good practice videos featured in the above courses are a useful discussion stimulus in this regard.
Digital Learning Framework Standards
Undertaking the steps outlined above of enabling and supporting distributed leadership will go a long way towards meeting the ‘Effective Practice’ standards (domain 4, standard 2) in the DLF, quoted below.
The principal and other leaders in the school encourage teachers to take on leadership roles and to lead the use of digital technologies for learning, teaching and assessment, and is willing to distribute significant leadership responsibilities.
They develop organisational structures to facilitate and encourage the sharing of practice and peer mentoring in the use of digital technologies for learning, teaching and assessment.
They identify and support opportunities for staff to actively engage in the process of building digital capacity, innovative use and engage with research.
