Educational leadership

The subject educational leadership is a subject not only for those who are considering a career in management, but for anyone who wants to gain increased competence in leadership development and change work in school. All teachers are part of a professional community that aims to engage in collective learning and the development of teaching and classroom leadership. With this course, you will be better equipped to lead or participate in professional learning communities that can contribute to better teaching and classroom leadership.

This course will help you develop into a professional practitioner who can lead learning and professional development work in school, motivate colleagues and students, and contribute to conversations that promote pedagogical and didactic reflections. At the same time, emphasis is placed on how you as a leader manage to build trust and contribute to the development of self-regulated students/teachers through learning leadership. In this course, you will get knowledge of different perspectives on educational leadership both in the professional community and in the classroom. The course will aim to give you broad knowledge and skills to be able to:

1) lead the development of goals and values for the school

2) lead development projects and actions at your own school

3) support and motivate students/teachers/colleagues

4) lead and facilitate professional learning among teachers

5) lead efforts to develop learning-promoting and safe learning environments for the students

The course is offered subject to capacity within the academic environment.

Knowledge:

The student:

• has good understanding of the construct of educational leadership and of different perspectives on this construct (instructional leadership, transformative leadership, distributed leadership, student centered leadership).
• understand the importance of educational leadership
• has broad knowledge of central theories of educational-psychology that support educational leadership (e.g., motivation, social relations, and self-regulation) as well as action theories and theory of cognitive dissonance
• has knowledge of educational development work, learning conversations, and the development of good and safe learning environments and professional learning communities.
• has knowledge of, and skills to, translate theoretical models and perspectives into development and change

Skills

The student:

• can reflect on different aspects of educational leadership and different educational leadership challenges
• can reflect on and analyze the importance of educational leadership for the development of student learning and well-being
• can lead learning conversations and develop professional learning communities
• can plan, facilitate, and lead developmental work at school
• can apply central educational and psychological theories for developing a good learning environment, both in the professional community and in the classroom
• can use theory and models to clarify expectations and frame change and development work for professional learning communities

Learning methods and activities

The learning activities in the course alternate between lectures, seminars, group work, and school visits. Student-active forms of learning will be emphasized in this course. The students are divided into smaller basic groups who work with work requirements between the teaching sessions.

It will be aimed at establishing a close collaboration with Trondheim municipality, both on the school and school owner level.